Treasury Power!

I must admit, I was a big slacker when it came to treasury making on Etsy.  Maybe this was because I found the old process difficult because you had to copy item numbers.  Now it's easier than ever to make a treasury, and only takes a matter of minutes.  

The results are beneficial and plentiful:  a great way to promote items, create hub-bub, share your treasury on social networking sites and have a chance of getting your treasury on the "front page!"

 Today I created this treasury in a matter of minutes, by going to the main page on Etsy, and looking for "Treasury" on the lower left side.   You can then hit the "Create a List" button or click HERE.    

First, you create a title for your list.  Then, add a description.  I like to put my blog in and talk a little about the treasury, in this case, telling people I'm presenting treasures from the Etsy Recyclers Guild Team!

Make sure the privacy tab is set to everyone so that everyone can see!  Then, add tags so people will find your item.   Now it's time to add items.  Some people choose items based on theme, or color, or style.  Today I looked for upcycled wares from my team, however, the color blue was on my mind, so I picked things BLUE and UPCYCLED!


Adding the items themselves are now the easiest part.  You only need to cut and paste the URL, and NOT worry about the item number like back in the day....

Cutting and pasting the URL is easy as pie.  I use Mozilla Firefox browser so I can jump back and forth in between windows so much easier.  Once your items are all cut and pasted, then you click on SAVE.  Now you can share your items on many social networking sites and you should at the very least twitter it and post it to your facebook profile!

As a courtesy and for more promotional value,make sure to notify the people that you have included, so that they make share the treasury, and tell their friends, who will tell their friends....and watch and track your results.  See how many people "viewed" the treasury or how many people "clicked" on items. 


This is such a free and easy way to promote our team and your own items (it used to be that you were only allowed to include one of your items in a treasury at at time, now it appears they suggest on the "Create" page that you should not include any of your own items) so really you should be making treasuries as much as you can!  Use it as often as you can!

Was It a Great Craft Show to Be In or NOT?!?

For many crafters and artists, summer marks the start of the annual craft show circuit. If you're like me, you've done 3 or 4 a year, thought about doing 5 or 6 other shows and agonized over whether it was the right showcase for your artistic products. I recently came across this article that provides such an interesting twist to determining whether a show is "Good" or not, I felt compelled to share it with all of you.

"The best and worst thing about vending at a craft show is that you have absolutely no idea how you'll fare, sales-wise, at the show. Signing up to be a vendor at any given craft show is a crap shoot. You pay your booth fee, however small or nerve-wrackingly large that may be, and then you show up that day and hope for the best. No matter how well you've planned for the day--all the work you've put into making amazing products, tagging and packaging each one, devising meticulous displays--you can't control about a zillion other factors that go into whether or not your day will be a success.

Generally, the goal is to sell (gross) about 10 times what the booth fee was for whatever show you're selling at--which is to say expectations will vary from show to show, of course. How did I arrive at this number--10 times the booth fee--and really, do I exist on another planet with that expectation?

Here's something to think about . . . .

When you sell your work through a gallery or boutique, whether on wholesale or consignment terms, the gallery is going to pay you anywhere from 50-80% (typically), and take the remaining as a fee for not only paying for the overhead costs of rent, utilities, marketing for the gallery, etc., but also to provide displays and staff the shop to actually sell your work for you. It's something of a luxury fee for not having to do the selling yourself.

When you sell your work online, you typically pay the venue you're selling through a smaller percentage of your gross. For example, we all know etsy charges 3.5% + $0.20 (or more, depending on how often you renew your items to stay visible in the never ending flow of relistings). Let's call it about 5% of your price. Then paypal charges another similar fee on the amount paid to you for processing the payment. So, let's round that up and say that 10% of your price has gone to web fees. This makes sense--they provided you the service of hosting your items while you provided "displays" (in the form of your photos), salesmanship (in the form of the item listing information), and delivery (actually housing the product and getting it to your customer).

In many ways, a craft show is providing a similar service to an online venue, in terms of selling your work to the general public. They have a venue, they do some marketing and advertising, and they give you an opportunity to make your wares available to the adoring masses. So 10% is a perfectly reasonable cut to expect to give them of your total sales for the day. And that is how--drum roll, please--I arrived at the magic number that 10 times the booth fee is a fair goal.

Can a show be worthwhile if you make less than the magic 10 times number? Absolutely! You can make great connections, form relationships, give shoppers an opportunity to see your work in person (thus inspiring confidence in future online purchases) and much more. So making say, 8 times a booth fee (in other words, giving an organizer 12.5% of your gross) isn't such a bad deal, either, of course.

All of which raises the big question--Is there a point to all of this? Of course there is! At a few shows I've done lately, I've heard other vendors mention that they thought a show was "okay" and they'd consider vending at it again, since they made back their booth fee. Now, let's REALLY think about that--if you sign up for a show, pay a booth fee in advance and then show up the day of the show to sell and then only sell the amount that you paid for the opportunity to sell there, you've just given away however much the booth costs in products, and much more if you consider time spent making the products, schlepping the products there, and sitting and selling (not much) all day. You might be a charitable person, but you would have done better to just pay your booth fee and not even shown up, really!"

I don't know about each of you, but I've been known to say, "Well, at least I made my booth fee back--that wasn't so bad!" So the next time you're considering which shows you want to vend at--especially if you've done the show in previous years--you may want to ask yourself, "Is this a 10 times the booth fee show?"

Have a great and productive summer show season!!

How to Promote Other Members While Promoting Yourself - "Straight Up Pimpin' Plan" by Ira Mency

I am in the middle of travel and chaos and busy season, but wanted to address a lot of convos and emails asking "How can I promote members?"  The name of this plan may upset some of you but in this case, the Straight Up Pimpin' Plan is just that- all above board 100% legal promotions of another shop besides your own.  

The name is bound to get your attention as it did mine once.  I received an email a year ago  ago (name withheld) that said, "I'm gonna pimp out your shop."  Now you must realize me reading that and being that I live in Baltimore City where "real pimping" is a sad realization of the street corners (sigh) I found it to be a strange choice of words and was almost offended.  

However, this person being in they younger genre did just that, she straight up pimped out my shop--- she blogged, talked about, linked and BOOM, after being on Etsy a year selling maybe 50 items in RetroChalet, the next year and a half I made 580 sales. So now after two and a half yeras I'm at  630.  After she put me in her banner and after a year on Etsy selling my sales increased 200%~!  I was honored to be "pimped out" and I ♥ u!


So to get down for it, here are a few suggestions:

1.) Add a member to your shop announcement.  It's a great way to show some love and help another member.  For the past few months I had promoted www.ChersPassion.etsy.com, www.ReduceReuseRepurpose.etsy.com, and www.42things.etsy.com.  This month I changed it up to www.GreenTrunkClothing.etsy.com.   It's fun to help other members grow their stores!  If you are worried about selling against that member, choose a shop who has different items than you offer. I plan to switch it up every so often.

2)  Use your listings as promotions. If you have bought something on Etsy from a fellow member, use that item as a prop in your listings.  Note this wonderful listing showing an upcycled journal I bought from Sarah @ Relove and mentioning her shop in the actual listing from www.ReLove.etsy.com!   Note: This is a highly classified double "pimpin" maneuver which is promoting her not only in a photo, but in the listing too! 

3.  Keep making treasuries!  These pictures are worth a thousand words. I love when members do this and feature people from our team.  Like this one back in April, featured so many members!

4. Share your favorite listings on Facebook and other social networking sites.  When you have a lot of friends, and you cut and paste a link to something cool on Etsy, this will pop up for all your friends to see.  What a great way to promote your favorite sellers!

5.  Talk about another member's stuff every chance you get in blogs or in online articles.  Use the buddy system, you promote their stuff on your blog and vice versa. 

Pictures do it all .... Case Study . . SweetLoveVintage Shop on Etsy by Ira Mency

Let's talk pictures.

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS. 

Shopping is fun with SweetLoveVintage, the descriptions are funny and photos amusing.

See this $58 barn pulley HERE on Etsy.  Doing a search for this type item, this pulley catches my eye, and I will immediately pull this up first even if the others are priced lower. It just looks more interesting.

ALL TOO OFTEN you wonder why your items underpriced and not selling?  You checked your tags, your categories, your descriptions, but nothing's doing.  You moan, you grown, and you are wondering why.  The "competetion" has higher priced items and are selling just crazy stuff in hoards and meanwhile you are wondering why you can't make any sales.  Perhaps if you really look at your pictures, they may fit one or more of the following words: 

Dirty, dingy, dark lighted, poor quality, fuzzy, grainy, one dimensional, lack of details, lack of photos, or perhaps just downright borrrrrrrrrrrrrrringggggggggggggggg.

\

This book availalbe at SweetLoveVintage HERE for only $14,  but do notice how the lollipop sucks you in...For a moment you may be thinking of a memory from childhood past...making the book and this listing seem all that more interseting. Book may be $14, but lollipop is priceless!

SweetLoveVintage makes you want to buy from her shop.  She makes you want to love her items.  She makes you want to shop with her.   I read one description and was on her site for a half and hour before I wrote this, and I need absolutely no more vintage, my RetroChalet shop is overflowing, but something about this shop.....

Never did I fathom wanting a tissue holder so bad.

Sweet Love Vintage offers this for $20.  Go HERE to see it.

Below, Level $16  and Fan $32

Mice $16

Add color and this "Smashed up mug" $10 comes to life.

These cats make you just want 'em. Pair of MOD ringholders for $15 HERE.

The box looks so much better with color added.  Schoolbox $48

So, as you can see, a picture is worth a thousand words. 

Advertising 101 -What Google Anayltics Helped Ira Mency Learn the Hard Way

Question: What is the best advertising campaign that you can launch for your Etsy Shop?  

Answer:  Yourself.

I learned this the hard way, so now I will share the results with you. For one month featuring my RetroChaletStudio upcycled "art store" on Craftopolis, here are the results. First you must understand how it worked.

Cost: $54 for 4 weeks.

Users: Are mostly Etsians wanting to make treasuries.  I figured, those who use Etsy sell on Etsy and often shop on Etsy.

Ease of Use: Excellent, upload a small banner and you are all set. In this case it was this one:

Note: I kept it basic, though I had some other ideas such as these, I didn't use them:

Both of these ideas were nixed, though I liked them a tad better I wanted to keep it simple. 

So, when you clicked on the small banner I had uploaded, you could go direct to the shop.  Additionally, a "Mouseover Feature" enabled people to go direct to see one of my "3 Etsy featured items" 

Both of these features run each day for 4 weeks.

Note: The banner only shows a percentage of the time, according to Craftopolis, you get "at least 100,000 impressions a week. Most of the time ads get around 110,000, but we guarantee 100,000. "

Now for the results:  

new views = 57
New Hearts = 12 (unsure how many from Craftopolis)
Sales = $40, only $20 of which I could attribute to Craftopolis.
Percent of total monthly visits to my store = 7.25%

Overall I must say Shannon & the staff there were definately helpful and easy to work with.  Though I didn't see a huge increase in sales, I'm not extremely dissapointed, as my art has it's own niche' - and I was hoping for at least a 10% increase in traffic.   Realistically, I ended up with almost 2 new visits per day. 

Now, I wonder how it would work if I was selling something highly desireable , like upcycled purses or vintage items instead (and not funky artwork?).

SELF PROMOTION
Now, let's backtrack as for the same month I decided to "promote" my own shop, but my other shop that sells Vintage, which is RetroChalet.

RetroChalet sells some of my art and jewelry, but mostly vintage goodies.

So, I decided to use these avenues: Facebook, My personal web, and FLICKR

Here are those results:

Facebook brought me 78 visits, Flickr 24 and My own site referral at 56.  Altogether that's 158 new visits from my self alone.  So it just proves that you are your own best advertising. 

I should add you have to do some work on each of your sites to do this.

FLICKR - Upload photos and make sure you are using tags , so that people all over FLICKR can find your items.  For instance I tagged a Vintage Cast Iron Mailbox as industrial, blue, cast iron mailbox, griswold, etc.  So, anyone on Flickr searching for cast iron griswold mailboxes woudl have found mine.  Ironically, it sold quickly.

FACEBOOK - I used my main account which is under my real name, Cindy Fahnestock-Schafer, which has almost 1800 friends.  That's a lot of friends (some I gained by playing a facebook game, then to put your items out to.  I also  use the free application with "MY ETSY" on it. 

I also use both the Ira Mency (for the Etsy Recyclers Guild Team page) and Cindy Fahnestock-Schafer account to link to sites who have 10,000 or more users, sometimes commenting on a photo and saying "I love this item, (or this fabric, or this idea, etc) my shop
http://www.retrochalet.etsy.com/ sells a lot of these. Thanks for sharing this photo!".

Now you have added a link to your own store onto a site or page that gets thousands of views.  Of course you can't do this twenty times on the same page, but just once in awhile.   Also if the user allows you to add photos you can do so, and put something like "this wonderful item available in my RetroChalet shop on Etsy."

USE OF PERSONAL SITE:  Whenever you have your own website, make sure you are using keywords so that googlebot can find you.  If you are using a web hosting service, make sure they are taking advantage of that.  On Verizon, they use a really easy web builder which gives you a space under "Page Properties" to describe keywords on each page for the search engines to find you.  Also make sure to use a tab and redirect.   For instance, I used to talk about my Etsy shop on my website, show pictures of recent items, blah blah blah, but now I have a tab that says BUY VINTAGE in the sidebar on http://www.iramency.com/ and just to click on it, you are redirected RIGHT to the shop.  I do think a redirection works better and these results are proof positive it does work better.

ADDITIONAL MARKETING TOOL:

Cherri Miele of http://www.cherspassion.etsy.com/ had also told me about using the same type comments  with your URL links on other websites and on direct blogs that get a lot of users. 

In other words, go to a site that gets a lot of hits, for instance, http://www.everythingetsy.com/  (a very cool site by the way and one of her faves)  where you can browse around and leave a comment about something you like.  It will ask for your name and URL link, there you can put a link to your shop, blog or personal web.  (keeping in mind all of these sites should direct people to your Etsy store!!!)  Do keep in mind, most of the comments must be approved by the moderators so you want to keep it really on the up and up and not spam out sales and all that jazz.   

I really never tried this before until Cherri mentioned it to me, because for some reason it never crossed my mind that all these blogs and personal sites DO INDEED have places for comments on their articles or posts.  I must admit I tried it and went to Poppytalk (a cool design site on Blogspot which gets  a ton of hits each month) .  I later tried the Everything Etsy also.   I left a comment, a nice message and my URL. 

RESULTS:

As of now, I have gotten 3 referrals from each of these to my store according to Google Analytics in the past month.

SO REALISTICALLY:

If I had the time to visit 50 blogs a month and do this, and could get 3 direct hits from all 50 blogs, that's another 150 hits to my store.  

 If I could then visit 25 websites and do this, and hope for 3 new referrals that's another 75 hits to my store. 

Add that to my already 150 FLICKR'd, DIRECT SITED, and FACEBOOKED driven visits, and that's  300-325 NEW hits I could be expecting a month! 

That's better than most PAID advertising out there.

GOOGLE ANALYTICS:

I urge you to use this, it's wonderful and over time you can learn what everything means.  It has really helped me a lot.  Go HERE to read more.

Positive Thoughts : Achieve Your Dreams

Positive Thoughts:  Some to Inspire You, We all need them from time to time...

I'm always amazed by people who have great ideas, but rely on someone else telling them they can't do something. Sooner or later they chalk up their great idea based on someone's opinion.

But why?

YOU can do what YOU want and if you do it WELL you will SUCCEED.

I'm here to tell you that you CAN do anything you set your mind to. If you are willing to WORK at it YOU CAN ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS.

If you don't believe me, why not ask these folks what hard work and determination has done for them?

Lance Armstong

Obama

Amputee Runners who run Marathons!

From Forbes magazine I quote, "Almost two-thirds of the world's 946 billionaires made their fortunes from scratch, relying on grit and determination, and not good genes." Read that article HERE.

No excuses people. You must believe in yourself. The Internet is loaded with rags to riches success stories. Some best selling movies in Hollywood were made based on real people's lives. Not everyone is "born into success" but everyone, yes EVERYONE has the opportunity to achieve it.

The only difference that makes you famous or infamous is your will and desire.

I truly believe that if you are determined to succeed and do something you love and believe in, the good fortune will follow.

Case in point, my own husband said my art looks like a third grader made it. He thought I was crazy for putting blocks together and says I should have focused on something that "really pays the bills." I didn't listen to him. My friend (name I won't mention) liked the fact I created things, but he's a fru-fru fantasy painter and to him, my art was...uh....sort of crappy. My own family was like "forced smile sure it's great" but would much rather look at a DaVinci copy associating art with famous people, than some would-be-famous-someday-dream-of-an-assemblage sculpture. You may even think "That is just awful. Her family should have been more supportive..." Truth is this is the common reaction of many of us.

Now, you didn't see any of this stopping me NOR should it stop you! I remember working for my husband (as he's somewhat famous) and sneaking off to create art in the wee hours of the night. My office proved a worthy retreat for studio space.

Making art isn't always about money or getting rich and famous. It is a way to do something you love, alleviate stresses of daily life and somewhere though your art, your voice is heard.

My husband, friends, and family now appreciate the work I do but I never expect them to fully understand a day in the life of the artist. We are a special bunch aren't we?

Now, as for the professional field, I know galleries who would cringe at my artwork, and others who just adore it. You too will encounter this problem (unless you are super lucky) but should not let it get you down. To each his own opinions! Read my other article on HOW TO GET YOUR ARTWORK DISPLAYED PROFESSIONALLY for steps on how to get in the door. I will just say this, if an abstract painter keeps hounding the realism gallery for display of his art, but keeps getting turned down, he only has himself to blame.

The key is finding your niche, and where does your art fit in? It does fit in somewhere. You just have to do a little sleuthing to find it.

Your best support system is going to be other artists that work in your medium who can encourage you and inspire you. (I'm not saying other artists who don't won't be great a great support system as well.) There are situations were the abstract painter and the realism painter do get along quite well, (but while sipping coffee the realism painter is afraid to ask the abstract painter just what those blobs on canvas really mean?)

So if someone tells you:

You're nuts. Dream on. Get a life. Get a grip. Give up the fantasy.

It's your choice NOT to listen and work harder at achieving your goal. If you don't, you have just let that person hold you back from a big wide world of artist opportunities.

:)

xoxoxox

Ira Mency

Top Etsy Seller Study: Emily Martin of the Black Apple

Adorable Kitten Doll by Emily Martin aka The Black Apple . As he grins, he may tell us the secrets to his creator's success.

We all want to know how to be the next 'it' store. There are a lot of great resources for promoting your shop, for free, available to you. I think it's how much work you put into it and how you sell yourself, and your items. Many people complain they aren't selling anything at all, others have stores they can't keep up with. Let's start at the beginning. See who's selling.

If you go to the EtsyWiki page, you can find the top sellers, browse their store and see what they do. Most people look at this page and see the top sellers as being supply sellers and immediately freak out. Think about this: a supply seller who is offering $1 items, has to sell sixteen $1 items to equal your one $16 item, so don't let the numbers cloud your mind. My goal here is to show you HOW to increase overall sales by using examples of successful sellers.

I will use one ART example for this article because I hear all the time people aren't selling their art or handmade on Etsy and they are frustrated with no sales. Are you someone who wishes you had more sales? You've tried the Showcases and tried to sell but it's just not working? First ask yourself: Do you treat your store like a business or a hobby? I have to admit I don't put enough time into my art shop as I should, therefore, it is what it is. I put more into my vintage shop, and it treats me better. So folks, you can only blame youself if you are treating it like a hobby, and not a business. It's not all about listing items, so let's go to a Case Study.

So let's use this wonderful example to talk about: THEBLACKAPPLE - Emily Martin, Portland, Oregon

"Tea for Two", Print by Emily Martin, $16 TheBlackApple on Etsy

STORE INFORMATION:

Sales as of Today 26961

Member since July 2005

Average Price of Item=$16 most art prints, other items average more or less. .

Average Items in Shop : 160-170 at a time, they sell so fast.

Summary: This artist offers adorable art prints, dolls, notebooks, jewelry, original art, and the like at a GREAT and FAIR price point to customers.

MILESTONE #1 Early on Emily was known for her cute and easy to make doll kits and dolls. By Oct 2007, she had made 8500 sales and was featured in TheStorque on Etsy which you can read Emily's secrets HERE.

Cute Handmade Dolls by Emily Martin.

MILESTONE #2 Soonafter, March 2008, she was on the Martha Stewart Show making her cute dolls with Martha !

MILESTONE #3 Spring 2009 she was secretly working on a cute series for Aladdin which has recently been unveiled on her blog and is available for purchase here.

Emily' Martin's Aladdin Series in the market Nov 2009 for sale!

TODAY Emily's shop is still going strong so I went to check out her current offerings and see what was the secret to her longevity.

BARGAINS GALORE: I could not believe her prints were only $16. Not only are they downright adorable, but a bargain price. I'm wondering how she can afford to sell that low when you figure in costs of making these on high quality papers with archival inks. (Printers can easily run $1000 or more, and papers alone can cost $2 and up each.....not to mention the cost of fancy inks.) Then Emily says they are shipped in a cello sleeve and flat mailer. A true bargain for the buyer! I soon realized she is selling MORE by offering for LESS. Better prices encourage more sales, repeat customers, so in this case, LESS has become MORE and then MUCH MORE and finally WAY MORE. She has built up a clientele and made a name for herself and just think of the amount of her artwork that is out there.

"Girl and the Bunny Print" by Emily Martin, The Black Apple at Etsy

I then checked out her listings. What stood out to me is that SHE truly CARES about her customers. She explains about the archival ink lasting 82 years and talks about the quality of paper. Explanation to the customers about the quality of the item indicates she cares about what they are getting. Her profile page also lets you know she cares about making the customers happy. It goes on to explain if you are unsatisified in any way, she will make things right. Also, she offers print SETS at a very good price (even a bigger bargain) caring enough to give you the best deals possible! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE is written all over this store.

GOOD PHOTOS. She also cares about showing you what you are getting with professional looking photos that show close up of detail and are crystal clear.

When I noticed her main store page it said she had a blog called "Inside A Black Apple." Note she has chosen yet again the Black Apple name which is attached both to her blog and her store. A great tool for CROSS-PROMOTION. The blog is cute, consise, and markets her well. You can learn about Emily, see that the blog itself cross references her Etsy shop and anything she is currently doing (craft fairs, new works, etc.) She cross-promotes her store and offers support to other artists/sellers also.

Newer creations by Emily Martin of The Black Apple.

Lastly, I went onto Google and googled her name. Her name and shop name came up in some FLICKR photo results. It appears she is offering some transfers via Sublime Stiching and her photos were appropriately labeled with her name and shop name ---a great way to get in the Google search results. Cross promoting and name branding via photos is also a great tool that many people overlook. Why not join a few FLICKR groups ang tag your photos? EXAMPLE: "Ira Mency of Retro Chalet Studio presents this Trash Art Umbrella..." (If you are interested in seeing Emily Martin's Transfers on Sublime Stiching GO HERE.)

Combine all of that with the fact that she has absolute true artistic talent, Emily is sure to stay in Etsy's Wiki for top sellers for a very, very, very long time.

So remember:

LESS IS MORE!

CARE ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMERS!

CROSS-PROMOTE!

STAY POSITIVE AND FOCUSED ON YOUR GOAL!

(and lastly, but more importantly, YOU MUST WORK AT IT)

Kudos to you Emily for having a super cool shop!

Note: All images are Copyright Emily Martin, The Black Apple, and used with permission for means of this article only and versions of this article I may publish on Associated Content about The Black Apple.

10 Step Selling Guide by Ira Mency

IRA MENCY 10 STEP GUIDE TO PROMOTION

Maybe this will lead you into new territory, or something you haven't tried. I"m not going to lie to say that running a succesful shop is hard for most of us. Unless we are lucky to have our work catch on right away, the road to repeat customers may be difficult. If you believe in your product, and are willing to take the time to get your store off the ground, then you may want to consider the following steps. Even if you store is doing great, and you want it to do better, consider a few of the following:

1.WEBSITE - PROBABLY FREE FROM YOUR INTERNET PROVIDER

I made my own website from scratch, because my internet provider offered me a point and click easy to build site. I found this is common with most carriers you are with. You probably have access to some personal webspace pages that you could be using to put your name out there and drive traffic to your store. Often times once published to the web, crawlers like Google will come across and pick it up. It can't hurt, only help, and if yours is as easy as mine, won't take you but an hour to do a quick background, artist or vintage seller statement, and a link to your Etsy store. Make sure to read the fine print, some web carriers won't let you run a store off of it, but you can make it a personal site and make links to your Etsy shop/s.

When you do this, make sure to submit your sites to SEO - that stands for Search Engine Optimization, and here's a great article on it, and also you can do lots of free Submissions. If I had waited for Google to crawl me I'd still be waiting, so I added it myself to Google, and it took awhile but finally it picked me up.

Depending on what free website or web pages you are using, there should be something in there about SEO. Mine is called Sitebuilder, and it allows you to go into the pages and put keywords for "web crawlers" to see. If you have sock monkeys, and your name of your store is Alice, you would want to keep these key terms in mind so you can associate your account with sock monkeys.

2. FLICKR:

Adding your photos to Flickr is helpful. We have our own Flickr Group for the Etsy Recyclers Guild that is found HERE. I never knew how to do this, so I read this great article here which is called "Newbie's Guide to Flickr" by Josh Lowensohn. Is Flickr really helpful? I can only say I found a necklace on there I just had to have, and found out it was made by a seller on Etsy called Urban Woods Walker, who I bought the necklace from and recruited to the group. So you decide. HELPFUL HINT: When adding photos to FLICKR make sure to tag them with your artist name, or Etsy Shop, for google exposure. In other words "Ira Mency handmade Pendant" . PROMOTE PROMOTE PROMOTE!

3. BLOGGING 101

I never knew what a blog was, until now. Sites like Blogspot and Blogger, offer free tutorials. I was scared to initially do one from WordPress or Typepad because one of them asked me to download software. Until now, this is WordPress and very easy. Don't forget, Greechi gives you all one for free, under your MY BLOGS tab you can create your own. It's easy, trust me. Otherwise, check out the tutorials on some of the mentioned sites above.

4. YOU TUBE, or anywhere else with VIDEOS.

Creating a video sounded hard to me at first. There are two ways for dummies like myself to cheat and do it easily.

a) Put your camera on video mode. Start shooting. New digital cameras have this function. All you have to do is then connect your cable to your computer, and you should be able to import your video. Sometimes newer computers come with free software like Movie Maker, or you can check out the free versions with Windows here . (Some are compatible with XP, and Windows Live includes a free version) which allows you to edit out the bad parts. *By doing a start point, end point". If you are happy with your video, publish it by creating a free YouTube account and upload it. Remember, it's just another way to draw attention to yourself and your store, and to have some fun! Note; There are better movie programs out there, I like Movie Maker because it's so easy to use. NOTE: Don't worry about being an idiot on the video itself. I've already beat you to it doing zany and wacky things online.

b) Piece 'em together. I take a few snippets of video, then take some pictures and use my Movie Maker free software to drag and pull them where I want to go. It allows you to add captions, colors, and fade ins/outs. Final product: A video full of some video, some stills. Then you can publish to your YouTube account.

5. FACEBOOK

Most of us live on this or Myspace.

FACEBOOK - If you have a Facebook account, there's a great FREE feature where you can add to your Etsy to your Facebook. Just found out about this, as far as I know it will only let me add one of my two shops. It shows as a page on your home page so that your friends can view what is for sale. This is great if you belong to a big gaming ring or group that has access to your page. It can only help, not hurt. Instructions for doing that are located on Facebook HERE. Etsy also had a news release about it HERE.

6. MYSPACE users - Make sure to talk up your Etsy site, add links and even add a tiny Etsy Wdget to your site, commonly called an Etsy Mini. Unsure how? Read below.

7. WIDGET up EVERYTHING. The Etsy Shop Widget is called the ETSY MINI and easy instructions are found here. Normally the Mini is found under your "MY ETSY" page, under PROMOTE. You can create a mini for just about anything. You can add it to your blog, your website, your myspace, social networking sites, etc. etc. Here I made one 4 rows wide by 4 rows high in a GALLERY VIEW.

Vintage Ephemera - ... RetroChaletStud... $14.95	Cranky Gnome PENDAN... RetroChaletStud... $19.95	Original Collage -... RetroChaletStud... $24.95	Chicken of the Sea ... RetroChaletStud... $14.95
Tyo - BUTTERFLY PEN... RetroChaletStud... $14.95	SAILBOAT - Upcycled... RetroChaletStud... $18.00	Ningyo - Vintage Ja... RetroChaletStud... $12.95	HOTARU Firefly PEND... RetroChaletStud... $12.95
STINGRAY MANTA RAY ... RetroChaletStud... $11.95	Vintage Japanese Wo... RetroChaletStud... $12.95	Little MONKEY PENDA... RetroChaletStud... $13.95	Vintage Japanese Ch... RetroChaletStud... $14.95
Abstract Pendant - ... RetroChaletStud... $10.95	I love New Jersey P... RetroChaletStud... $10.95	Big Fat Daddy's... RetroChaletStud... $14.95	Bird Lover PENDANT ... RetroChaletStud... $12.95
Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade RetroChaletStudio.etsy.com

You can choose the amount of rows and format, for instance, this is called a THUMBNAIL here I decided on a 3 row x 3 column high one. Isn't it cute?

Etsy Buy Handmade RetroChaletStudio

<8. Make sure to take advantage of linking your Etsy to the Google Analytics Site. This will give you information on the traffic your site is getting. Sounds confusing, but it's really not. Read more on it here on ETSY and here on WIKIPEDIA.

9. LINKS/ FREE PUBLICITY

OFF OF ETSY: Try to find sites to promote you or link your site for FREE . This is not so easy becasue if you type in "Free Links for Website" into Google, 99% of these companies want you to pay them. Howver, it i's possible. A lot of art sites, vintage sites, or indie crafter sites would be happy to link your site for free if they like your site. Others may be sweetened up with you making them a cool set of earrings.

ON ETSY: This doesn't always have to be off site. Try going to one of your favorite stores that sells a bunch and ask them to put your name up as one of their favorite shops to help increase your sales and you will send them an item of choice or do a swap with them and give them double credit. TheBabyKitties did it for me and don't laugh, it worked. Thanks Erica :)

10. NING IT UP

You can find some free NING sites to join, and once you are in, you can post some photos, and links to your store. Sometimes you don't even have to contribute, but you just being there for all to see is more free promotion.

REMEMBER -PROMOTION WILL FAIL IF YOU DON'T MAINTAIN THESE KEY ELEMENTS:

a) Good quality service - communicate to each and every customer. It's nice to send them a thank you for their purchase, when their package will be shipped, and use Paypal to print out labels so they can track it easily.

b) Send a thank you card, or note. I do this with every customer. I even send out thank you envelopes with clippings of old magazines, scrap paper, or items I don't like enough to sell, (you know, that pin you made that bugs you because it's a wee bit off center..) but have lovingly made. It's not always what you send, but the thought that counts.

c) Make every customer feel like coming back to your store. Much of my business is repeat customers. They will mark your items as favorites and come again and again, if you treat them right.

d) If you have a second shop, stick a card or note in to check out your second store. If it's doing crappy then why not send a coupon $2 off my other store, convo me first and I'll adjust the price. It can't hurt, right?

e) List and relist. Change your keywords, switch around your photos/title to better accomodate your listing. When my items go thru two cycles, I drastically reduce them and put the words sale and clearance in the title. Promote, have sales, and have fun.

f) How about pictures?

READ ALL ABOUT PICTURES HERE ON MY PERSONAL BLOG  (these pictures credits:
Talk of the Town Melmac Cups by bamboobettie, Avocado Green Melmac Mugs by YerUglyMug, Vintage Mallo Ware Pink Bowls (limes not included) by OhHelloVintage, Rose Melmac Platter by kitschcafe, The Best Part of Waking Up (boontonware mugs) by RoomServiceVintage, and Melamine Daisy Saucers by VirginiaJane.)

If you have any other great suggestions that worked for you, feel free to comment below. Also if you find any links are broken, comment on that too.