A little Secret about Promoting

Photo: 3 Gorgeous Silver Keys by StarofSupplies

Yesterday I was talking to my sister about how to promote her Etsy Store. I had already given her a long list of ways to promote, including using facebook, twitter, blogging, giveaways and the Etsy forums (see the end of this post for useful links to these) which she is already doing.

My sister was asking if there was anything else she could do, and then it dawned on me that there was something else. Something that I had not ever really considered "promoting" as such, but it had definitely helped me become a relativity well known face on Etsy.

What is this secret you ask? Well, it is sharing tutorials and bits of advice... a just like I am doing right now. By giving back to the community you become better known and at the same time you are helping what I like to call your Etsy Karma. Giving your time to help others really is a reward in it's self, a little bonus is that you become known for being a helpful person, which can only help your brand.

"But what advice can I give?" You say to me "Everything has already been written! There are already loads of articles and blog posts about every aspect of Etsy and running a business"

Well yes, this is true! I am not certainly not the first to write articles on how to compile your Shop Policies, or how to make a light-box and edit your photos. But I did not copy these other authors (Plagiarism is a plague on the internet, please do not lower yourself to this level - people will be able to tell when the writing is not yours) I simply wrote from my own experience and understanding. I include things that I have discovered for myself, and share my knowledge in a way that I hope will help other sellers succeed on Etsy.

Still stuck? Here are a few ideas to get you going:
- Choose a topic you are interested in. Readers will be more interested in your subject if you are
- Share tutorials on how to make things, use lots of photographs.
- Is there something you know that could help other Etsy sellers? Perhaps you found a useful website to help you collect together data, did you discover a clever way to pack shipping boxes faster? Share with your fellow sellers and they will remember you.
- If tutorials and blog posts are not your thing, is there something else you could do for the community? (this is why making treasuries is such a beautiful idea, you are helping others and boosting your Etsy Karma)
- Has someone asked you for help with something recently, or expressed a frustration that they don't understand an aspect of Etsy properly? Did you know the answer? This is a great way to find ideas on what knowledge you have to share.
- Did you spend hours trying to figure something out when you first started on Etsy? Share what you know!
- DO NOT directly copy other people articles or use their photos. Doing this and getting caught (and you will get caught) will only serve to make your store very very unpopular! The Etsy community does not take kindly to this kind of behaviour.

So there it is, a little secret that could make a big difference to your store and help others at the same time.

~-~

Here are the other links I promised:
Get the Etsy Sales you want: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6356278
Pimp your shop: http://tinyurl.com/yghs9kh
Places to promote: http://tinyurl.com/crj8ya
Etsy forum threads on promotions:
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6120752
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5797668
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5453881&page=2

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Written by Anna from The House of Mouse

Stop saying you don't have a live model...

written by blythehopesvintage.etsy.com

You do. Yourself.

If you really want to show off your creations on a model, it may be time to put on your big girl panties and learn how to use the self timer on your camera.

Yeah yeah, I hear a cry of 'But I look terrible in pictures!'

Very likely you do - and that's because modeling is actually a skill, not a gift of genetics. Okay, it helps if you look like Kate Moss, but it isn't necessary in order to take a good shot of what you're selling. But I can assure you that even our dear Kate had to LEARN how to take a good picture. Just like how you learn to use your camera, you need to learn how to model.

They have classes at the big agencies for just this purpose. I used to teach one.

So here are some basic things you can master:

1) Nerves - nothing looks worse in a photo than nerves. One way I beat this is reminding myself that it's not about me, it's about the product. No one is coming into my shop to see how ugly/skinny/ridiculous I look, they're coming to see the clothes. Therefore I need to do my job to show off the clothes in the best way.

2) Angles - Y'know how we're always told never to shoot our product straight on and centre? Same with a person. Limbs bend in many different ways - use them.

3) Hands: One major thing that people have trouble with is their hands - usually the more you think about relaxing them the tenser they get, so try bending your middle fingers slightly - your hands will instantly relax and look natural.

4) Think about negative space - if your arms are straight down the sides of your body, you now look as wide as your body plus two arms. Do you want to look wider? Yeah, didn't think so. Aim to separate your arms from your body a little bit so your figure is visible. For example:


One arm is by my side, but held slightly away so there's space between my waist and my arm, the other is on my hip. Another point is not the break the 'line' of the outfit - always place your hand under the waist line slightly - not on it.

5) The most flattering pose is going to be one that makes your body look longer - there's a reason most models are very tall, clothes look better in photos on a long body type. However, if you're titch like me you can cheat. Check out my dear friend Alex in this picture:


See how her body makes an 'S' almost? I swear this looks good on everyone, the trick is to put all your weight on one foot and rest just the toes of the other on the floor, and move your shoulders off to the side without the weight.

6) Facial expression - forget the camera is there and think about something or someone nice - run a little day dream in your mind while the camera clicks. Looking off to one side is always gonna be more flattering than straight on:


7) Most importantly, learn to be self critical. That doesn't mean focusing on all the things you don't like about yourself - we all have issues with the way we look, but I promise no one is looking at your nose. Look at the picture as a whole, and decide if it's showing the PRODUCT to it's best advantage. Take lots of photos, you can always delete them.

written by blythehopesvintage.etsy.com

How To Install A Scrolling Shopping Cart Widget on Your Blog

written by cricketscreations.etsy.com



There's a new widget for our blogs from http://cr8tivity.com/ that creates a scrolling "Buy" shopping cart direct to our Etsy shop (see the "3 Product" widget at upper right)! Here's a step by step instruction tutorial on how I placed this scrolling photo shopping cart on my blog, Crickets Creations Handknit Scarves:
I went to http://cr8tivity.com/

I typed in my etsy shop username into the white field and hit the "helpers" button

I clicked "Widgets" in black font at upper left of screen
I clicked "3 Product" to have 3 items shown at a time (choose how many products you would like to see displayed on your own blog)

I placed my cursor in the "Original Version" text field and hit Ctrl + A at the same time on my keyboard to highlight all of the text in that field.

Then I hit Ctrl + C at the same time to copy that text

Then I went to my blog and logged in (I use blogger/blogspot)

I clicked "Layout" and then clicked "Add a Gadget"

I clicked the "+" sign next to "HTML/JavaScript and a new field appeared

I placed my cursor in the Content field and hit Ctrl + V at the same time on my keyboard to paste in the coding I had copied from the Cr8tivity site.

I added a Title (Shop with Crickets) and clicked to "Save"

I THEN (very important, all your work will be lost without this last step!) clicked the orange "Save" button on the "Add and Arrange Page Elements" page

Then I clicked to "View Blog" to make sure I did it all correctly. :)
Lastly, a made a donation to Troy at http://cr8tivity.com/ as a thank you!

Hope this is helpful for your Etsy online shops and blogs,
Celeste (Crickets)

written by CricketsCreations

Sellers Assisting Sellers Team now on facebook!

Custom Logo Cupcakes by shortbreadnyc

The Sellers Assisting Sellers Team is now on facebook! As well as linking to our new blog posts, we’ll also be sharing other useful business resources and announcing upcoming live critique sessions! You can find our facebook page here


Love Letter Necklace by SimonDesigns

Also, to make it easier to keep up with the articles published on this blog, you can now subscribe via email so that you don’t miss anything (in the box on the right panel). We’ll soon be interviewing some of The TeamSASsy mentors so that you can get to know the team and hear their best etsy tips.


If you’d like to join the team and become a mentor yourself, we’d love to have you! You can find information about how to join here

Le Gros Chat Noir Pendant by SuperVery

Posted by morphologica.etsy.com

Interview with a TeamSASsy Mentor: KreatedbyKarina

Interview by morphologica.etsy.com, adapted from a post on
The Etsy Business Tips Blog



Karina of KreatedbyKarina is a seller of luscious bath and beauty products with over 1900 sales on etsy. She kindly agreed to do an interview to share her perspective on achieving success on and off etsy.

How did you get started making bath and beauty products and what did you do before you started selling on etsy?
During a trip to England I came across a local soap-making class and took it on a whim..I immediately fell in love. Short, but sweet. Before I found Etsy, I was living in Toronto, Canada where I'm originally from and started selling my own bath and body products on the side at craftshows while maintaining a fulltime job as a caterer. I discovered Etsy in 2006 after I'd moved to the US, set up shop and haven't looked back since.


Chocolate Espresso Shea Butter Vegan Soap

How much of your business is conducted through etsy?
Etsy is the only venue I can be found online. It's a large part of my business but much of my income is through craftshows (roughly I do about 2 shows a week during the busy season), wholesale accounts and private soap home shows. Last year I started doing Virtual Soap Shows held through my Etsy shop (it's like a soap party, but held online). What's wonderful is that Etsy has introduced us to doing wholesale as retailors contacted us through them.


Coconut Cream Shea Butter Vegan Soap

As someone who has been able to ‘quit your day job’, what is the main advice you would give to someone wishing to go full time with their business?
Develop a business plan. You can find free templates as well as a LOT of support through www.sba.gov . Your business plan will cover your ideals and goals for your business, budgeting, marketing plans, fiscal projections for several years ahead, start up costs, etc. After you've done this, if you're wondering if it's possible to survive on your craft income alone, a good idea is to bank your regular job paychecks for a period of one year, and live off of what you make with your sales. This will give you a good idea on how much money is coming into the household versus what's going out, and if you can still live within your means.


Handmade Soap of the Month Subscription

Do you have any tips for sellers wishing to pursue the wholesale angle?
You may want to tag your items with the word "wholesale"..as I've said before, all of my wholesale buyers discovered me through Etsy---so retailors ARE searching on the site. You can also approach wholesale buyers yourself, by determining which stores "fit" the type of items you offer and then calling ahead to set up an appointment with the store's merchandise buyer. Don't just walk in and expect them to drop everything to look at your stuff, no matter how cool and wonderful they are. They won't have the time, and you'll leave feeling frustrated that you never had their complete attention and excitement over your items. Making an appointment is beneficial to both of you. Also, before diving into wholesale, be certain that you can afford to. If you're buying your supplies at retail cost, there's no way you're going to be able to make any sort of profit after lowering your cost per item to entice wholesale buyers. Remember, they will traditionally expect about 40-50% off the final cost. Source out wholesale suppliers for your materials, and buy in bulk when you can to lower your own costs.


Candied Ginger and Orange Peel Body Souffle Whipped Soap

Can you share your top tips for online promotion and how much importance would you place on this aspect?
I don't do a lot of online promotion---and in fact I'd say that most of it can be a waste of time, resources and energy. While it's great to join networking groups and participate in several crafting forums, mostly it's made up of other sellers--some of whom are your direct competition. Instead, I focus on offline promotions---doing plenty of craftshows, handing out business cards, and participating in sampler distribution companies (where you send in 50-100+ samples of your work and they sell them to interested parties). These things work the best for me. I recently put up a fanpage www.facebook.com/SoapThatMakesScents and have gotten a lot of hits from that. Also, try to be featured in as many blogs or print magazines as you can---you can email the blog owner and ask them about their requirements for being featured.

Is there anything you would do differently with the benefit of hindsight?
I would have started a Newsletter much, much earlier than I did. I used to write in a blog, and it got frustrating because I never had any idea if people were even READING it...plus it can be time-consuming to have to write in it everyday to keep it looking fresh. A newsletter is better, in my opinion, because you're already sending it to people who have expressed an interest in what you do and want to learn more about you. A good place to set up a free Newsletter is www.Bravenet.com which allows you to maintain a list of 500 subscribers for free, and offers some statistics on who's opened and read your mailing updates.


Mocha Java Shea Butter Lip Balm

Can you tell us something surprising about the lady behind the soaps?
I love doing everything I can by hand. All of my invoices are hand-written instead of printed out, all of my product labels are printed at home, handcut and then either hand-stamped or hand-colored (you wouldn't believe how much money this saves in colored printer ink yearly!!)...is it a lot of work? Definately. Surprisingly, it's also therapeutic in a way...I prepare several hundred labels every few months so that they are done ahead of time and I think it adds to the aspect of my business being "handmade". It's not uncommon to see me sitting behind my booth at a show with my clipboard, coloring away inbetween customers! It's a good conversation-starter too. :)