How to Get into Thousands of Treasuries

PoleStar says:

This post stems from a few posts I have seen where sellers are astounded at others being featured in thousands of treasuries. I was going to post IN a recent thread but I thought the advice deserved it's own post. Everyone here should NOT feel like small potatoes for only being in a few treasuries. We all start somewhere! There are unlimited treasuries now so the potential for how many treasuries you can end up in is infinity! If you want to be in more treasuries some things that help are, 1. of course, great pictures. Set a mood with your photo, if you had a store front, how would you stage the front window? That is what you want to reflect in your shop pictures, of course with out being cluttered. Someone who posted in the other thread is AmyArtz, her avatar is gorgeous, it makes me want to click, to find out, what is this cool looking cube textured pendant. 2. Of course a well made product and some cohesion in your shop. After a while people will know your shop for a great photographed version of a product. I sell wire wrapped jewelry. As do A WHOLE LOT of other jewelry sellers on Etsy. I love what I make of course, am obsessed with making it and I do like to run it as a business for profit as well. That is why I am here on etsy selling it instead of piling it on my bed and rolling around in it a la The Proposal or whatever that movie was. My category is swamped. But guess what? I don't let that get me down, I just try to do the best that I can do in my shop. I take unique photos and people know my shop look and come to my shop for items to put in their treasuries. I know this, b/c they tell me so :D. I also have a large variety of colors in my shop. From neutrals to bright yellows, etc. I make what I love. I love owls, Etsy loves owls. I made an owl necklace b/c I LOVE owls. I love foxes, but I am not feeling a fox necklace, just not wanting to go there. And for SURE I will never EVER make a mustache necklace. If I do, slap me like the passengers do the freak out lady in Airplane b/c I will have done lost my marbles. If you feel like you want to express a trend, do it! If not, don't! It is important that you do what you love and follow your instincts. 3. Network. Especially network with other people who love to make treasuries. At the heart of the treasury is people loving to curate lists. Be it through your favorites, a challenge through a team, etc. It is a challenging yet fun experience. It can fulfill your need for window shopping and artistic expression as well! Network by joining a team, START a team! Twitter, Facebook. I have made so many FRIENDS through teams, such good friends, I could go stay with them overnight and sleep at their houses w/o worrying they would be a psycho killer even though I know them only through the internet. 4. Make treasuries and let everyone know you are in them! Pimp them out. That involves convoing people who you featured, tweeting your treasury lists and facebooking them. Even if you only do one a week it will help. 5. Pay it back and forward. If you are featured in a newbie treasury, make one with newbies; if you are featured by another bow maker who loves your bows, make a treasury with that bow maker. 6. Use the Etsy Merchandising terms. http://www.etsy.com/storque/search/title/merchandising/ Personally, I go through the articles and pick out "key words" and email them to myself and when I make a treasury, I skim the list and include the relevant tags in my treasury. I am by NO means curating a ton of front pages even though I would like to. But those help me nonetheless. I love being on the front page, but you know what feels even better? CURATING a front page. That is such a rush, awesome feeling. 7. When you feel inspired, make a treasury about it! If you think, "oh this was such a great sunny day" make a sunny day inspired treasury. If you see a show on discovery about alligators, make a gator treasury! If you feel strongly that unibrows should usurp the mustache in status not just b/c they are higher on the face, then make a unibrow treasury. I have made a few. }:) You get the point. 8. Renew your items. Even if you only renew one item a day that is photographed and tagged well, you will end up in more treasuries. 9. Look how people tag the treasuries that end up on the front page. If it applies, use those tags in your treasuries and products. If it applies to your product, then tag it! One of the terms for September was "earth tones" if you have earth tone items, then TAG that. DON'T tag your hot pink item "earth tones!" lol. But you know what else is hot on Etsy during spring and summer though? NEON< style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "> 10. When someone notifies you they featured you in a treasury, ALWAYS go comment on it. They took the time to make it, and it is an honor to have your item included, whether you are in one treasury or in thousands. I hope these tips help, I may copy past this list and add to it as I think of other tips. I am one of those people who are in THOUSANDS of treasuries. I do not know any admin personally, but I have been selling on Etsy for 2 years and networking and making friends for the same time while listing hundreds of items and keeping in mind merchandising themes in my tags. I do all of the above and I know that if you do all of the above too you WILL be in thousands of treasuries faster than you think. Jen

From Knotworkshop: I just hit 200 sales. My tips...

knotworkshop says:

1) Inject your personality into your shop if you can. I am sure that it is my humor that is bringing customers in, not my mad crochet skillz (although they are pretty awesome). 2) Cruise the forums at night. You'll meet some of the funniest (and drunkest) folks. And even venture to Etc. occasionally as cool stuff is hidden down there sometimes. 3) Play the game or don't play the game. It's up to you. But acknowledge there is one. There will always be cronyism and underhanded dealings in every business. Your own shop on here is not immune. Do what you need to do, but just admit it. As my homey fivelittlegems once said 'take care of you and yours cause nobody else will.' 4) Have good enough photos. Seriously, my shop looks more like a copy of Mad Magazine than an Anthropologie catalog. And that's okay. I'm doing fine and I'm holding true to my style. You can too. 5) Sometimes the wolves are in sheep's clothing. Don't understand that? Sometimes the owls are dressed up like felted acorns. And one can claw your eyes out and the other is a squirrel's worst nightmare. So be. on. alert. 6) Our long lost comrade goat once said, 'Etsy is not your boyfriend.' I agree. Etsy is not any one person to love or be loyal too. It is a venue for your business. And remember, even your boyfriend can cheat on you and leave urine all over the toilet- or worse in the corner of the family room if he's really drunk. So keep all your options open. 7) Have fun. Life is too serious. As the great philosopher Ferris Bueller once said, "A) You can never go too far. B) If I'm gonna get busted, it is not gonna be by a guy like that." Rock on my fellow Etsians.

Etsy Success Reading List and a Thought About Big Brands

daniellexo says:

I recently read a blog post about Levi's Worshop, a space dedicated to supporting culture and community.http://designmind.frogdesign.com/blog/nothing-is-what-it-seems.html "Many companies are beginning to acknowledge the shift from just making good products to providing meaningful experiences," says the author, Kristina Loring. Creative independent business owners usually don't have to make a shift. We have direct access to each and every customer, so making conversations and transactions meaningful and personal should be natural. My advice is to be careful not to copy the archaic language and practices of business past. Be yourself and make big brands jealous! And here are my top five helpful blog posts I found this week: 1. How to Rebuild Your Attention Span and Focus http://lifehacker.com/5596964/how-to-rebuild-your-attention-span-and-focus 2. 15 Ways to Get Inspired http://freelancefolder.com/15-ways-to-get-inspired/ 3. One Small Step to Move Ahead http://goodwolve.blogs.com/moxieworks/2010/08/one-small-step-to-move-ahead.html 4. If The Price Is Right… http://bloggertone.com/marketing/2010/08/16/if-the-price-is-right/ 5. Unofficial Etsy Featured Seller - Cottonmonster http://analliteration.blogspot.com/2010/08/194-unofficial-etsy-featured-seller.html

Etsy Admin Give Advice to New Sellers

HeyMichelle

says..............

Hi everyone,

The most common questions that I'm asked in our Newbie Chat sessions in the Virtual Labs are about how to get more views, and make more (or any) sales. Here are my best tips:

MORE EXPOSURE

1. List more items in your shop! Your items are the most likely way that a potential buyer will find your shop. Think of each listing as an ad that may bring buyers to your shop. They may not buy the specific item but something else from your shop instead. The more listings that you have, the more opportunities to be found! Relist sold items that you can make again.

2. Your Search Terms (tags and titles):

a. Use all 14 tags with good search terms that buyers might use. Use especially important words in the title.

b. This article will help you brainstorm words that might be helpful:

http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/guidelines-tips-tagging-on-etsy-281/

You can also use this article and add any accurate terms:

http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/seller-how-to-tag-o-rama-with-descriptive-keywords-5474/

c. Use the Search Suggestions feature to come up with search terms. Start typing what you sell in the search box (with Handmade, Vintage, or Commercial Supplies selected) to see the suggestions. These are based on recent buyer search terms. You can use any that are accurate.

d. Your tags determine what sub and sub-subcategories your item is in. Your item can be in multiple subs and sub-subs. Click any words that are accurate for your item while listing, or go look in the category where you've listed to see what's available, and add any that are accurate, exactly as written, as a tag.

e. If your items fit in multiple categories, try listing some in one, and some in the other, for exposure across categories.

f. To help your items be found in Google, use good keywords in the title (while still keeping the titles attractive and in line with the image in your shop)

g. Use your shop stats to see what's working- what search terms are getting views for you? To set up the shop stats, go to Your Etsy > Web Analytics. Here's a link if you need to troubleshoot:
http://help.etsy.com/app/answers/list/kw/google%20analytics/search/1

Set it up so it will tell you what search terms are working for you on Etsy. Follow #2 here to set this up:
http://www.etsy.com/storque/etsy-news/tech-update-etsy-web-analytics-enhancements-3350

h. You'll hear a lot in the forums about SEO (search engine optimization). This is a fancy term for helping google and other search engines find you. This can be a very complex topic, made all the more challenging because Google is continually changing their algorithm. Here is the short version of SEO:

i. Have a title that describes what the item is (try to put more relevant words near the beginning).
ii. In the description, describe the item as if you are speaking to someone who can't see it.
iii. Use a variety of keywords throughout the shop. Don't title every item nearly exactly the same! This will help you diversify where you item appears. Think of every keyword, and the potential combination of words as ads for your item. Using the same words over and over is like placing lots of ads all in the same magazine! Instead, you'd place ads in lots of magazines- do the equivalent of this by varying your titles. Use the Etsy and Google search suggestions to come up with alternate words that buyers might search. Try adding different types of words to the titles, such as the size, etc and watch the effects in Google Analytics.

3. Your Photos:

A good, clickable photo will get more hits for your item.

a. Try searching for your item, and see the other items that are listed around it. Does your photo make you want to click? Which ones do? What can you learn and apply from this?

b. Check out some tips here for an appealing photo:

http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/etsy-holiday-how-to-4-photographing-your-items-413/

http://www.etsy.com/storque/search/title/seller-handbook-photography/

4. Ship Internationally:

I read a while back that 30% of transactions involved a buyer and seller from different countries. Since buyers can choose to show only sellers who ship to them, having international shipping will increase your exposure. Here's a good tutorial for US sellers:

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5354738

If you're not in the US, you might search the forums or start a new thread asking for help from sellers from your country.

YOU'RE GETTING VIEWS, BUT NOT SALES

1. Perhaps the buyer has questions that are not answered in the listing. Between the photos and the descriptions, the buyer should know everything they need to to make the purchase decision. If you get a convo with a question, consider that there may have been more buyers with the question, but they didn't want to ask! There are so many things I could list here; here's a sample of some things I've seen:

- Of what is shown in the photo, what will I actually receive if I make the purchase?
- What size/how big is it? Measurements?
- If a bag or clothes - how will it look on?
- art: what will the actual piece of paper that the artwork is on look like?
- if listing requires knowing the buyer's size: give a size chart, ring sizing info, etc. If the buyer has to look for a measuring tape or figure out her ring size, that takes her away from the listing! Most people can figure out their size when presented with a size chart.

http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/best-of-the-etsy-forums-20-questions-your-buyers-are-asking-7024/

If you find that you're getting views but no sales, post in the Critiques forum or come to one of the Critique sessions in the Virtual Labs so others can take a look and give you some feedback.

2. Shop policies that are blocking the sale: for example, saying that you're not responsible if the item doesn't arrive will turn the buyer away. If you're using PayPal for the transaction, it may be against their policies and they will side with the buyer if the item doesn't arrive.

3. "Convo me before purchasing": do everything you can to set the listing up so the buyer can just purchase it.

4. Add more items to the shop. Buyers like selection!

5. Prices are unusually low or high (I rarely see prices that are "too high"- almost not worth mentioning). Very low prices are more common, and may make the buyer question the quality of the item, and whether it's actually handmade.

6. Shipping is unusually high: you can use this article to help figure out your shipping prices:

http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/seller-how-to-shipping-6074/

Double check your shipping prices with similar items from sellers from your country to make sure you're in the ballpark.

A FEW EASY IDEAS MAKING MORE SALES WITH YOUR LISTINGS

This in itself could be a book, and there is a ton of fabulous info in the forums and in the Seller Handbook.

Here are a few easy ideas that you can do with your listings to get more sales:

1. Encourage custom orders. Put a line in your listing that says something like, "Would you like this in another color? Please let me know, as I can most likely get any color you'd like." Create a color/fabric/yarn chart with available options so buyers can choose.

2. Upsell! Would this necklace look great with another in your shop? Would this art print look great as a set with some others in your shop? Take a photo of them together to encourage the buyer to get both. Provide a link to the other listings and be clear about what's for sale with this listing.

3. Put a link to your shop or one of your shop sections in the listing and encourage the buyer to check them out.

4. If it doesn't cost you any extra to ship multiple items together, have free shipping with additional item to encourage the customer to see what else they might like to buy from your shop.

5. Show additional uses in the photos to show the buyer how useful and necessary the item is! Would the brooch look cute pinned on a bag? In the hair? Hem of a short dress? As a scarf pin? Draping a loose garment? With a bunch of other brooches from your shop? Would the scarf look good as a belt, tied as a bow around the neck? Etc etc.

Anyway, just a few pointers! I hope this is helpful!

Here are some great links that you may want to check out:

http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/etsy-success-for-beginner-sellers-5142/

http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/the-etsy-seller-handbook-all-our-how-tos-about-selling-2383/

Oh! And we'd love to have you in the Virtual Labs! Please see our schedule here (in your local time):

http://www.etsy.com/storque/etsy-news/tech-update-etsy-web-analytics-enhancements-3350/

h. You'll hear a lot in the forums about SEO (search engine optimization). This is a fancy term for helping google and other search engines find you. This can be a very complex topic, made all the more challenging because Google is continually changing their algorithm. Here is the short version of SEO:

i. Have a title that describes what the item is (try to put more relevant words near the beginning).
ii. In the description, describe the item as if you are speaking to someone who can't see it.
iii. Use a variety of keywords throughout the shop. Don't title every item nearly exactly the same! This will help you diversify where you item appears. Think of every keyword, and the potential combination of words as ads for your item. Using the same words over and over is like placing lots of ads all in the same magazine! Instead, you'd place ads in lots of magazines- do the equivalent of this by varying your titles. Use the Etsy and Google search suggestions to come up with alternate words that buyers might search. Try adding different types of words to the titles, such as the size, etc and watch the effects in Google Analytics.

3. Your Photos:

A good, clickable photo will get more hits for your item.

a. Try searching for your item, and see the other items that are listed around it. Does your photo make you want to click? Which ones do? What can you learn and apply from this?

b. Check out some tips here for an appealing photo:

http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/etsy-holiday-how-to-4-photographing-your-items-413/

http://www.etsy.com/storque/search/title/seller-handbook-photography/

4. Ship Internationally:

I read a while back that 30% of transactions involved a buyer and seller from different countries. Since buyers can choose to show only sellers who ship to them, having international shipping will increase your exposure. Here's a good tutorial for US sellers:

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5354738

If you're not in the US, you might search the forums or start a new thread asking for help from sellers from your country.

YOU'RE GETTING VIEWS, BUT NOT SALES

1. Perhaps the buyer has questions that are not answered in the listing. Between the photos and the descriptions, the buyer should know everything they need to to make the purchase decision. If you get a convo with a question, consider that there may have been more buyers with the question, but they didn't want to ask! There are so many things I could list here; here's a sample of some things I've seen:

- Of what is shown in the photo, what will I actually receive if I make the purchase?
- What size/how big is it? Measurements?
- If a bag or clothes - how will it look on?
- art: what will the actual piece of paper that the artwork is on look like?
- if listing requires knowing the buyer's size: give a size chart, ring sizing info, etc. If the buyer has to look for a measuring tape or figure out her ring size, that takes her away from the listing! Most people can figure out their size when presented with a size chart.

http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/best-of-the-etsy-forums-20-questions-your-buyers-are-asking-7024/

If you find that you're getting views but no sales, post in the Critiques forum or come to one of the Critique sessions in the Virtual Labs so others can take a look and give you some feedback.

2. Shop policies that are blocking the sale: for example, saying that you're not responsible if the item doesn't arrive will turn the buyer away. If you're using PayPal for the transaction, it may be against their policies and they will side with the buyer if the item doesn't arrive.



4. Add more items to the shop. Buyers like selection!

5. Prices are unusually low or high (I rarely see prices that are "too high"- almost not worth mentioning). Very low prices are more common, and may make the buyer question the quality of the item, and whether it's actually handmade.

6. Shipping is unusually high: you can use this article to help figure out your shipping prices:

http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/seller-how-to-shipping-6074/

Double check your shipping prices with similar items from sellers from your country to make sure you're in the ballpark.

A FEW EASY IDEAS MAKING MORE SALES WITH YOUR LISTINGS

This in itself could be a book, and there is a ton of fabulous info in the forums and in the Seller Handbook.

Here are a few easy ideas that you can do with your listings to get more sales:

1. Encourage custom orders. Put a line in your listing that says something like, "Would you like this in another color? Please let me know, as I can most likely get any color you'd like." Create a color/fabric/yarn chart with available options so buyers can choose.

2. Upsell! Would this necklace look great with another in your shop? Would this art print look great as a set with some others in your shop? Take a photo of them together to encourage the buyer to get both. Provide a link to the other listings and be clear about what's for sale with this listing.

3. Put a link to your shop or one of your shop sections in the listing and encourage the buyer to check them out.

4. If it doesn't cost you any extra to ship multiple items together, have free shipping with additional item to encourage the customer to see what else they might like to buy from your shop.

5. Show additional uses in the photos to show the buyer how useful and necessary the item is! Would the brooch look cute pinned on a bag? In the hair? Hem of a short dress? As a scarf pin? Draping a loose garment? With a bunch of other brooches from your shop? Would the scarf look good as a belt, tied as a bow around the neck? Etc etc.

Anyway, just a few pointers! I hope this is helpful!

Here are some great links that you may want to check out:

http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/etsy-success-for-beginner-sellers-5142/

http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/the-etsy-seller-handbook-all-our-how-tos-about-selling-2383/

Oh! And we'd love to have you in the Virtual Labs! Please see our schedule here (in your local time):

http://www.etsy.com/virtual_labs.php

Sampler Packs Now Available

Sampler Packs Now Available, originally uploaded by She's Batty.

www.BattysBath.com

How to Turn Your Twitter Profile Page into an SEO Masterpiece

How to Turn Your Twitter Profile Page into an SEO Masterpiece

Etsy Opens Doors, But it is up to you to enter

HautTotes says:

Etsy opens doors, but it is up to you to enter, push through the crowds and up the stairs! Etsy offers us a great place to showcase our items, but listing on Etsy is akin to staring through the open door of opportunity. It’s true that some can simply list items and make sales. For almost a whole year that is all I did and I sold ok. But, I wanted to do more than ok and i realized that to do that *I HAD TO BRING PEOPLE TO MY SHOP!* I had to make my way through the Etsy crowds and try for the stairs. At my one year mark in Sept. I had 400 sales, now 4 months later I have over double that! How? ****I realized that for many buyers, buying handmade is as much about the artisan as the item. **** People who buy handmade like the idea of the human hands that created their item. They want to know about you, they want to know what makes you create!! **Never forget, Buyers are INCREDIBLY LOYAL to brands/artists they feel a connection with!!** Social media is perfect for this!! Social media is all about connecting with people, not just being seen by them or talking to them but actually CONNECTING with them. So, I joined twitter... As someone who *has* now been able to make Etsy my day job I miss the adult interaction during the day, twitter is an outlet for this and a great way to forge the connections that can lead to $ales. But, it’s important to think of people on twitter as possible friends first and possible customers second. Use your picture as your avatar, remember you are a human and your picture makes you real and approachable. You are running a business though, so don’t forget to use your items as your background ;) Tweet about you and your life, don’t just link to your items. People are there to connect with others, not just look at what they’re selling. They however LOVE to look at the stuff people they chat with make, it’s a fine line worth finding!! I tweeted about a stray dog & my attempts to locate his home. I posted pictures and talked about falling in love with him. People became so invested in the story that when no one came forward to claim him and we kept him I could hear (and literally read) hundreds of cheers that went up all over. I get at least a dozen tweets a day asking how he is doing (very well thank you!) For quite some time whenever they see a pug they’re going to think of me (and my bags) When I tweeted that my 6 year old daughter had forged my name on her reading log for school or when I overheard her asking her dad if you could fill a bathtub with spit (“Depends on how many people you have” was his answer) I got TONS of people telling me about the first time they forged their parents signature or other funny kid stories. I’ve made some real friends on twitter, connected with other parents who's kids have the same disability as my 10 yo daughter laughed with them and even cried on a few cyber shoulders about her upcoming surgery. I’ve also tripled my sales! Do give aways, people love contests & to win stuff and it's nice to give stuff away! And don’t forget to do a little quid pro quo, retweeting another sellers link or promo is good Karma! I also create a facebook fan page and highly recommend it. Again, don’t just post photos of your stuff! Show pictures of new materials, this gives people the opportunity to see it first and even leads to sales of items that haven’t even been made yet! Post pictures of your workspace or studio, everyone is a bit of a voyeur and likes to see “behind the curtain!” I post photos of my prototypes & ask for opinions, it’s a great way to get feedback from my customers without lots of time or money. Plus people love to feel that they are playing a part in the evolution of a line. Let your fans post pics!! I've had people post pictures of everything from them vacationing with my bags in Fiji to a picture of my bag filled with flowers. Make your posts interactive! It's fun & when people respond to you on fb, their friends notice they've posted on your page & come over to see what's being chatted about. When we decided to keep the pug I asked for name suggestions and got over 80 on fb, and countless more on twitter. It was totally fun, and led to connecting with lots of people! We named the pug Sir Floyd the Flatulent (in case you were wondering) One of the best (and funnest) way to get somewhere is in a group, getting your friends, fans, and followers invested in your success is a great way to gain momentum! So if I could set one goal for you this year as a handmade artist it would be to get out there and share with your potential customers what makes you YOU! Good luck, Melissa http://twitter.com/HautTotes http://www.facebook.com/HautTotes http://cuttheclutter.blogspot.com/