Periodic Table Alphabet

LuminousDreamDesigns says:

1. Refreshing constantly will drive you crazy!

Your store most likely won’t change much every 5 minutes so refreshing or checking up on your store that often is going to be a waste of time and will slowly break down your mental stability.

I must admit that I was one of those obsessively refreshing “OMG I got another view!” people. In all honesty I still am a little too obsessive compulsive about my store. You know who you are! Just stop. I promise you that you won’t miss anything.

That being said you still want to keep tabs on your shop. Make sure that you have your email notification turned on for when you receive convos. This way you will be notified if anybody has any questions about your product.

I also highly recommend signing up for Featurator on Statsy (http://statsy.org/featurator.php) so you know when you have been featured on the front page.

2. Getting on the front page is both difficult and very awesome. Tag your way to victory!

I have somehow managed to make the front page twice in my 6 weeks. Though there could have been any number of reasons why I made it up there I am pretty positive it was because of my tagging.

There are two things that I think you should keep in mind while deciding your tags. The first thing you should focus on doing is maxing your tags. These are how your customers will find you. If you aren’t maxing your tags then you are missing out on a potential customer. If you are having trouble figuring out tags for an item then you should try using Craftweasel’s tag finder (http://craftweasel.com/TagToolQuery.do) or asking opinions in the forums.

The second thing to consider while tagging is to think outside the box and find themes in your products and different names for colors. These types of tags work out very handy for getting into treasuries and the front page. Is your product beachy? Rustic? Instead of putting just red, green or blue try using tags such as ruby, chartreuse, peridot, sapphire, aqua, etc.

I would highly recommend keeping an eye on the Etsy merchandising desk Storque article. Here you will find the “themes” for the month that will drive the gift guides and front page features. Here is a link to September’s: http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/from-etsys-merchandising-desk-septembers-seasonal-shift-4563/ Both of my front page items were tagged with at least one of the “themes” for August so I can’t recommend this enough.

3. Your item might be lovely but your pictures are not!

Though I feel tagging is very important for getting found it doesn’t matter how often you are found if your pictures don’t draw the customer (or treasury maker or admin) in. I still struggle with my pictures. Taking good pictures is hard and a ton of work. Almost every tip I hear or read emphasizes the importance of pictures. Pictures! Pictures! Pictures! Natural lighting near a window seems to be the most highly recommended type of lighting. You can also use an Ott light or create your own lightbox. Lighting is of the utmost importance but so is product staging and photo composition.

Remember that your photo is going to be cropped in two different ways. In list view your photo will be cropped as a square. In gallery view it will be a rectangle with the same proportions as a 10×8. This might not be a big deal for some depending on your product but as an art print store a bad crop can definitely make or break my first picture.

If you are having trouble with your photos then ask in the forums. There are so many helpful people that can give you advice!

4. Shop/item hearts =/= sales.

I see this a lot in the forums and I myself have been guilty of thinking it but the fact is that shop and item hearts do not equal sales. They are still awesome to get and I am always delighted to see a new heart but there are so many different reasons why someone might heart your shop. For my own shop I have had 7 sales. Of those 7 only one had hearted me. So it works both ways as well. Just because you aren’t getting shop or items hearts doesn’t mean people don’t like your work either.

5. If you don’t take yourself seriously why should anybody else?

Two things here: 1. Register with your state to collect sales tax. 2. Fill out your policies.

In regards to the sales tax this varies from state to state but as far as I know most states require you to register no matter how much money you are making (or not making :P). I am from PA and it seriously took me about 10 minutes and I did it online. Now I am a fully registered business and yes, it is another thing to deal with but it surprisingly felt really good to say “I am officially a business owner!”

Your policies are also a vital thing to have properly filled out. Not only does it give your store a more professional appearance but it can also help limit buyer questions and confusion. It also can protect you as a seller. Having a clear shipping, payment and refund policy is crucial to ensuring smooth transactions.

Don’t lose your hard earned profit to state fees or having to “eat” costs associated with poor transactions. Make sure you have all your ducks in a row.

6. Etsy is a place for your store not a promoter of it!

If you are planning on listing your products, kicking back and letting the sales roll in then you might be in for a rude awakening. Try searching on your type of product and see how many stores are selling the same thing. Sure, Etsy will select items on occasion to feature in their various promotions or the front page but your chances of being picked are small and it is hardly enough if you really want to turn your store into a profitable business.

The fact is that there are so many free promotional tools that there is no excuse to not pursue them. Sign up for Twitter (but don’t spam please), create a Facebook page, write a blog, submit product images to craftgawker (http://www.craftgawker.com), make a Squidoo page, join we love etsy (and/or one of the other Etsy/handmade social networking sites), submit your Etsy store to the various directories, make treasuries, submit your product to blogs, add your products to google base…. The list goes on and on and on.

If you have a few bucks join the Handmade Highway (http://www.handmadehighway.blogspot.com), get a webpage (if you use GoDaddy you can get Facebook, Google and Microsoft ad credits), hold a giveaway, create a short term ad with Project Wonderful, Facebook, Google or Microsoft.

There really are so many options and it can be overwhelming sometimes but getting your name out there is an absolute must if you want to be successful. Just remember to keep a balance or you will burn yourself out.

7. Get to know and support your fellow Etsians!

One of my favorite things about selling on Etsy is the community. There are so many helpful, generous and talented people here so support them! There is benefit in it for you as well! I wanted to see how the checkout process would work so I purchased an item (a very lovely art print from JooJoo). Not only did I get to see what my customers would see but I got feedback, saw how she shipped and packaged her print and ended up with a beautiful print. I would also recommend joining a BNR and making treasuries as often as you can.

8. Research your product, costs, shipping and pricing. I mean REALLY research.

When I first started I kind of just dived right in. I looked up the cost of a professional printer in order to do my own prints and said “Holy cow! No way I will be getting that.” Lump sums are scary. So I found a printer to outsource to. Fast forward to now and that printer that I looked at 6 weeks ago is currently on its way to my house. A number of dollars later I realized that not only was outsourcing eating up my profit but it was drastically increasing my shipment times and costing me a fortune to get samples for color testing and photos. I also found out that I wanted more control over my printing and to not have to rely on another business.

I wasted a few hundred dollars figuring that out so don’t make my mistake. If I would have considered some other aspects of my business rather then just focused on one I would have bought that printer 6 weeks ago. Outsourcing printing works just fine for a lot of people but it didn’t work for me so make sure you fully research all your options! Don’t forget all the little things too like shipping packaging (not just postage), business cards, etc. They all add up.

9. Doing all the above makes running an Etsy store feel like a full time job.

Quitting my day job is a wonderful fantasy so that makes running my Etsy store that much harder. Tweeting, Facebooking, running to the post office during lunch, blogging, renewing, listing, blah blah blah. Be prepared to spend a lot of time on your shop if you really want to be successful. Enlist friends and/or relatives to help you out. My fiance has been a lifesaver.

10. It is all worth it!

The Etsy forums are packed full of amazing information.  With posts like this we are bringing  these buried posts back to life so more people from the community can benefit from the information.  Here is the Original Etsy thread