Three Carts - 5 X 7 Fine Art Photo Print

Etsy is always improving the seller and buyer experience.  They have recently announce that they are releasing a new checkout system… Here are the details!

ericds says:

Hi everyone,

Checkout is one of the most important parts of Etsy. It’s the backbone that enables everyone to buy and sell all of the amazing, unique items that have made Etsy what it is.

In the past, there have been many pain points with Checkout. There have been requests, and there have been complaints. We’ve been listening.

I’m excited to announce we just started rolling out a new Checkout experience to a small percentage of Etsy visitors. The new Checkout addresses many common complaints and issues with the current Checkout.

—–Here’s an overview:

We retired the idea of committing to buy, so submitting an order is no longer separate from paying for the order. When paying with PayPal, you submit an order after authorizing payment at PayPal and items aren’t marked as sold until the payment is complete. We also removed the confusion created by entering a shipping address on Etsy and Paypal. When paying with PayPal, you enter the shipping address once at PayPal.

The current shopping cart can make it difficult for shoppers to feel comfortable making a purchase decision and proceeding to checkout. We made changes to improve that. In the cart, we include shipping costs and an order total, and we provide a space to write a note to the shop with any info needed to complete the order.

In the new Checkout, you can purchase from one shop without having to remove everything from your cart that you’re not ready to buy. We also streamlined inline registration so it’s easier for new members to check out.

—–And here are the details of the new Checkout:

When shoppers view their cart, their items are grouped by shop.

For each shop, shoppers see the following in their cart:

- the items from the shop
– space to write a note to the shop (similar to the old “Message to Seller”)
– a drop-down menu to choose their Ship to country
– choice of payment methods (depending on the shop’s preferences)
– an order summary with sub-total for items, shipping cost, and order total
– a Checkout button

In this version of Checkout, shoppers purchase from one shop at a time.

Read More about the new Etsy checkout HERE

stonesforcozumel says:

Today is my 100th day on Etsy and I have finally topped the 1000 sale mark, sitting at 1003 right now (this has been an immediate goal of mine for a while now).

I know there are people with far more experience than I on Etsy, but I felt it was worth sharing a few tidbits of my own that may help others in their Etsy business. I sell jewelry supplies, so i realize that the volume of business will be different for handmade goods, but these thoughts are good for all Etsy businesses. Some of these ideas you hear all the time, but this is because they do work and others well I go against the group on abit, so take them as you may and hopefully you will find something that helps you in some way

- List new items…List lots of new items! If its not in your store you cant sell it. If you only have a few items then you will only have a few sales. I currently have over 800 items for sale and I need more! I want to have over 1000 items for sale very soon. If you sell handmade items I would strive to have a minimum of 100 items in your shop, if you already have that many try to get to 200, etc. Continually add new merchandise to your shop, this gets you to the top of the searches and gives your customers more options

- Relist items as soon as they sale…that is of course if you have another one or can make another one…if you sell one of a kind, but can make something similar, make it and list it

- Renew if you have nothing new to list and no sales to relist. I do not renew! I always have new items to list and relist my sold item. I list/relist 20-50 items every single day. Make sure that you are listing/relisting/renewing everyday, this way you don’t get buried

Read More Here:

The Etsy forums are packed full of amazing information.  Etsy Forum Rewind brings these buried posts back to life so more people from the community can benefit from the information.  Read, Learn , Apply!

Antique Brass Pendant with Red Crystal and White Pearl Dangle Necklace by Plum Beadacious

LeAllyson Meyer jewelry designer and owner of Plumb Beadacious has been selling on Etsy since February 2008.   Since recently joining Handmade Spark she has seen an increase of traffic to her Etsy shop and even sales.  Here is what she has to say about Handmade Spark over on her blog.

LeAllyson Meyer says:

I can’t prove it, but I think Handmade Spark is one of the best things going for Etsy sellers!  I joined Handmade Spark on July 29, 2010 paying only $6.00 for a month’s membership.  This site allows an Etsy seller to have a mini-site on www.handmadespark.com.

This site has good articles and SEO, which means it gets traffic!  So….

I signed up on 7/29/10.  At that time I had sold 23 items on my Plumbeadacious Etsy site in two years.  I have been listing/relisting about five items a day for several months, and my last sale was on July 15.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE! I sold three items to different new customers from the time I signed up on 7/29 through yesterday, August 1.  Hooray!

Each of these items has been listed on Etsy for a long time.

So lets dig a bit in to LeAllyson’s story and show why she is seeing these results.

As every Etsy seller knows it is difficult to get traffic and sales if you are not being found on Google.  In LeAllyson’s case her Etsy shop was not showing in the first 10 results of Google even when you typed in her shop name exactly.  This is where Handmade Spark comes to the rescue.  With our top notch SEO on every Mini-Site and Product Page , Etsy sellers are being found on Google.

Below you will seen a screen shot of a search for LeAllyson’s Etsy shop name. View the Google Search HERE.

You will notice that after only a few days of joining Handmade Spark LeAllyson’s MySpark Mini-Site is showing up in the top 5 search results on Google.  You will also notice that her Etsy shop does not show in the top 10 results.  But with the her Mini-Site being so high in the search, she will be seeing an increase in traffic to her Etsy shop through her Mini-Site.

The Starred results are just pages that I have recently navigate to.  They are not a direct result of the Google Search.

Let’s take a look at an individual item from LeAllyson’s shop.  When you search specifically for this Antique brass necklace the results are amazing.  Notice that I even shortened the search phrase to “Antique Brass pendant with Red Crystal” instead of the full item title.  In the Google Search Results you can see that the Etsy listing only shows in the shopping results, but the Handmade Spark product page shows numbers one.

When people want to search for handmade, vintage and supply items they generally go straight to Google (or the other search engines). So, Handmade Spark uses top-notch SEO making your product pages have a greater chance of showing up at the top of web searches. For every item you list on Etsy you get a coinciding product page.  Our product pages are similar to Etsy listings. We’ve also added a few things to what Etsy offers, removed a few things, and done a few things differently. The result is that our Product Pages often get better search engine results than the same Etsy listing.

To learn even more about how Handmade Spark can help your Etsy business grow click HERE.

It has been along journey, but Camden Reid Adam has arrived. Christina and Camden are both doing great.  We came home yesterday!

When Christina and I were designing Cam’s room, we wanted  a modern look with bright  colors and clean lines.

Above is  a look at Cam’s room from the door.  We love the old door knobs and large base boards that are throughout the house.

Here are a few before and after shots of Cam’s room.

Wall are painted green and the stripes are not done just yet.

Here is the final design.  The stripes were painted by Christina’s sister while we were in the hospital.

White Ikea crib painted black.

You may have noticed the black dresser that is doubling as the changing table.   This amazing 1950′s solid built dresser was a $25 Craig’s List purchase.  Here are some before and after shots!

For this beauty we lightly sanded the wood veneer, and spray painted it a gloss black.  We did not want to see brush strokes, so the spray was the way to go.

Notice the amazing metal work on this dresser!  I removed all the handles and metal and sprayed them with a nice silver.

Here is our little guy!

Camden a few mins old

me, mommy, and Cam

Big Yawn

Our journey has just begun!  Thanks for joining us for as we decorate our new home with handmade and vintage  goods from around the world.

Honey I Washed The Kids Lush Dupe Cocoa Butter Soap | By: MyNaturesArt

by: My Natures Art

Ok, so we have all seen and done the macro setting posts about your pics, get up close and personal, yes? Well one of the most important tips from professionals is the “Rule Of Thirds”. What is that? Well lets see what Wikipedia says!

The rule of thirds is a compositional rule of thumb in visual arts such as painting, photography and design. The rule states that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections.

Proponents of the technique claim that aligning a subject with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the composition than simply centering the subject would.

Click here to see the example image and article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds

Hope this helps!!

The Etsy forums are packed full of amazing information.  Etsy Forum Rewind brings these buried posts back to life so more people from the community can benefit from the information.  Read, Learn , Apply!

Sparkle and Rain - 8 x 8 inch square print | By: elgarbo

By: elgarbo

I’ve read a lot about this topic, but never really seen anything on the subject posted here so I thought I might share.

There is promoting and then there is EFFECTIVE PROMOTING. I’m going to try and break down the differences between the two.

When a potential customer is surfing the web, their mind will be meandering across all sorts of different topics. Not all of these mindsets will be condusive to wanting to purchase from your store. For example: if I am browsing Facebook, my priority at that particular moment is to catch up with my friends and colleagues, relax and engage in some online social activity. Spending money on your handmade goods is probably not very high on my list of priorities.

For this reason, paid advertisements on Facebook can often be a monumental waste of time and money.

The same can be said for a vast array of other paid advertisements. You want to capture a potential customer when their mindset is tuned into spending their money on handmade (or vintage or supply) goods. You’re unlikely to find people with that sort of mindset on sites such as Twitter, or those Etsy information style sites such as Craftopolis. Why? Because the people who are using those sites will be engaged in whatever it is that those sites do best.

So the question remains: where can you find a website that lets you engage with people who want to spend their hard earned cash on handmade goods (or vintage or supplies?)

The answer is really simple: Etsy.

The typical (non-store-owning) person who visits Etsy will be here for a reason: they want to shop. The mindset is there – now all you need to do is get your totally sweet product in front of their eyes. The easiest way to do that, as we all know, is to hang out at the top of the pile… hence renewing (and relisting, and listing new products) is the best form of easy promoting currently available to Etsy sellers.

Read More HERE:

The Etsy forums are packed full of amazing information.  Etsy Forum Rewind brings these buried posts back to life so more people from the community can benefit from the information.  Read, Learn , Apply!

Raspberry Lemonade Shea and Cocoa Butter Cold Process Soap

By: soapdeli

Giveaways are fun. They create excitement and can be a great tool for getting consumers to visit your online shop. The more traffic you can bring to your shop, the higher your chances of making a sale. And while all giveaways don’t mean sales, what they do equate to is great exposure, name recognition, and possible sales down the line. Running a successful giveaway, however, can be trying and I know a lot of indie business owners who have been disappointed by how little traffic their giveaway has yielded. Because of this I’ve decided to share my tips on how to run an effective giveaway for promoting your shop.

Decide on a prize. First and foremost you need to decide what type of item you’d like to offer as a prize. While it’s tempting to offer that bracelet that never sold and sat in your shop until it expired, this is not the type of item you want to give away. Look over your shop or inventory and pick a product that has gotten a lot of positive attention. Even pick an item that you have sold and re-create something similar. Why? Because you want people to want to take the time to enter your giveaway and most will only do this if you’re offering a product they like and can use. Think about who your target market is and what they would want. Also, be sure to keep in mind the retail value of your prize. People like big prizes – things they wouldn’t necessarily be able to afford or justify buying without knowing the business or the product. Further, the broader the appeal of your prize, the more entries you’re likely to receive as well. Remember that if you can’t get consumers to enter your contest, then you’re missing out on potential new traffic sources for your shop. Then decide on a prize.

Host your contest. Now that you’ve decided what you’re going to give away, you’ll need to decide how to host your contest. If you have a blog or website, that’s the best place to start. Not only will you increase traffic to your blog and potentially gain new followers, but you can set the terms you want for entering your contest as well. Don’t discount having other sites host your contest for you though. Other blogs and sites often have different audiences which ensures you are reaching new people and not the same ones over and over again. If you don’t have a blog, now would be a good time to start one with the giveaway giving you a big introductory push. There are free blogs that cost little to nothing such as Google’s free blogging platform, Blogger. I highly recommend using Blogger for a first time blog as it’s easy to work with and will automatically be indexed by Google.

Setting up your giveaway. Setting up a giveaway really isn’t difficult. Writing the copy is the easy part .After all, you already know everything there is to know about your product. However, what you do need to think about is what you want to gain from the giveaway. Do you want to increase traffic, gain sales, expand your social network? All of these are important things to consider. Personally I’d never pass up the opportunity to expand my social network through sites like twitter and facebook. Friends share things that interest them with their friends and so on, which can lead to a lot of indirect marketing the larger your network grows.

Read More Here:  Be sure to check out the rest of these great tips.

The Etsy forums are packed full of amazing information.  Etsy Forum Rewind brings these buried posts back to life so more people from the community can benefit from the information.  Read, Learn , Apply!

The Bella Wallet in Parisian Damask

Reaching your first 100 sales on Etsy is a great milestone to reach.  It can however be a tough one to reach, but with the proper knowledge it can be done.  Here are few tips from an Etsy seller that has reached and passed the 100 sale milestone.

By: blissbyheather

I know that alot of posts are written asking for advice on how to kickstart or improve sales. I thought I’d share some tips that I have used over the past 4.5 months since I started selling on etsy. Please feel free to add your own too, as I’d love to get some new ideas!

1)Spend some time on your pictures: You don’t have to be a great photographer, haha I’m not, or have an expensive camera to do it. I’ve found that white backgrounds seem to show off my products the best. I purchased 2 pieces of white bristol (or poster) board for less than $2. Now I photograph most of my items in front of, and on top of this board. I then use the free editing software that came with my camera to crop the photos, zoom in and adjust the brightness of the picture

2)Come up with a detailed description of your item: Note the dimensions of your product. If it’s difficult to tell the “true” colour of your item, mention what colours it really is.

3)”Sell your item”: Remember you can have an awesome, unique product but because you don’t have the opportunity to speak to your customers in person you you need to try and convey this message through your description. Instead of saying “small zippered bag”, you could talk about all of the numerous uses the customer could get out of your bag (change purse, makeup bag, ipod pouch, cellphone protector etc.)

4)Buy the domain name for your store. My etsy store address is http://www.blissbyheather.etsy.com but the etsy part is difficult for strangers to remember. I spent $9.99 to purchase the domain name www.blissbyheather.com and now when I run into friends or random people who ask about my purses I can now tell them an easy to remember site address. (After I purchased the site, I chose to redirect it to my etsy store)

5)Post new items in the forums once in awhile. I think that a certain portion of my sales (maybe 15-20%) have come from fellow etsy’ers. It’s helps to show off your new items once in awhile (major emphasis on once in awhile). I don’t know about anyone else, but I ignore posts from sellers who have 15 new posts in one day. It seems like a bit of overkill. On the otherhand, I’ve run into stores with incredible products, good prices that have a low number of sales and I can only imagine it’s because people don’t know about their store, or else they’d be buying it out

6)It’s possible to advertise without spending a dime! I have yet to spend a cent on advertising although I’m off to go order some business cards on Monday. I’m not suggesting that people go this way, but for those of you who are just starting out and don’t want to put a large initial investment into your store (as was my case), know that it is possible to not spend money, but still make sales. Ways that you can advertise include myspace, facebook, livejournal, posting on different forums etc.

Click HERE to read more.

The Etsy forums are packed full of amazing information.  Etsy Forum Rewind brings these buried posts back to life so more people from the community can benefit from the information.  Read, Learn , Apply!

If you are looking for a inexpensive yet stylish alternative to your old bathroom towel bar, here is a great how-to just for you.

By : by stephanie lynn

I’m back in my little guys bath trying to pull things together as it is still a work in progress. I needed a towel bar that could hold up to rough and tough tugging little hands. We have a wall along side the tub that seemed to be the perfect spot, until we discovered the placement of the studs. From experience, I do not put a whole lot of trust into the plastic wall anchors for items that will be yanked and pulled daily. This quick little solution works perfectly, plus it added a little shelf for more decor!

We began with 1/2 inch thick select pine boards. The width of your boards will determine the width of your shelf {we used 4 inch} and the length can be as long as you need. Our boards came in 24 inch lengths which fit perfectly on the wall so we did not even need to cut them. The 1/2 X 4 X 24 Pine Boards costs only $2.20 each and we picked up two at our local hardware store for this project.

Read the Rest of This How-To HERE:

1. running your business vs. pursuing your hobby
2. Get a website in a weekend
3. 6 ways to beat the SEO blues Part 1
4. 6 ways to beat the SEO blues Part 2
5. Use Benefits to Pump Up Your Product Descriptions