Marketing Tips - Part 3 - Spreading The Word

I think the most asked question on Etsy is, where do you promote your shop to get more business? First let me point out that promoting takes time, patience and some hard work. Shops that have been successful know, it doesn't happen overnight either. Today I'll list some of the ways you can promote your shop in brief detail so you'll have a starting point to work with.

Etsy Forums

If you haven't joined in, now is the time. A few pieces of advice, when posting, don't just post your item and run, go back through and actually click on everyone else's work and comment. If you are posting a link to a thread someone else has started, make sure you actually look at their item and comment before posting your link.

Blogging

Blog your little heart out! Yes, we do want to read about your life as well as your business. I like when people mix up the two and I like to learn about new artists all the time. If you post links in the forums about your blog, be sure to go back through and read the other blogs. Subscribe or 'follow' and post comments on the posts that you find interesting.

Twitter

Ok, I admit, I was skeptical of this one at first, but I have to say that I'm loving it! There is something about the instant gratification of posting and having 15 people immediately click on your link! I have gotten many views and some hearts in my shop since joining and several direct replies and retweets. It's a great way to meet fellow artists and just post about anything and everything, even the boring lunch you just ate!

Myspace

Myspace is a great way to get your work out there through friends and family. You can either opt to have your Myspace page completely about your business or throw in some pics, links and blog posts every now and then. I'm in the process of redoing my page and will post links once I'm up and running.

Facebook

All right, well here's one I just don't get. Only your friends can see your profile so I'm not sure how big of a role Facebook plays in the promoting game so if you have Facebook and have gotten results from it, please post a link here.

Project Wonderful

Project Wonderful is geared toward adding advertising space to a blog or existing website where people bid to put up their advertisment. Now, the banners can be made in several sizes; however, it is up the owner of the blog or site to determine what size is allowed on their site. I've heard a lot of mixed reviews on this and personally, I tried it, got a lot of clicks, but that was about it. If you have had success with this, please post a comment so others can learn about it.

Business Cards

Hand them out to everyone and anyone that will take one! It's a great way to get your info out there and let's face it, if you want something inexpensive there are plenty of sellers on Etsy that offer great packages or you can even go to a commercial printer and get a good deal.

Newsletters

Add a newsletter to your email, send it out to family and friends and ask that they forward it to anyone they think may be interested. By no means am I suggesting you spam all of your friend's friends! You can add a link that says subscribe/unsubscribe so if they want to continue to receive your newsletter they can do so very easily, if not, unsubscribing is just as easy. Create a link on your blog to let people sign up so they don't have to keep coming back to read your posts, they'll get it right in their email!

Website

Show of hands, how many of you knew that you could get an ad free, customizable website, totally free? Did you also know you could get your own .com web address for the first year free also? Well, officelive.com will give you all of this free! Yes, free! They have many templates available so you don't have to be a web designer to get a nice looking site either. You can use this to showcase your work, kind of like a portfolio, or you can even sell your products directly on your website! How cool is that? I would suggest using it as a portfolio until you gain a good following. We all know how great it would be to have a website all our own to sell our wares but let's face it, getting found on Etsy is hard enough, can you imagine how hard it is to get a website off the ground? The key is to start small and dream big!

My I have really rambled on this time. In the future we'll be visiting these topics in more detail, I just wanted to give you a good starting point and hope to see you back for more indepth information on how to get your business out there!

Marketing Tips - Part 1 - Banners and Avatars

You've opened your shop, you're all excited to get that first sale and hover around the computer checking your views, your hearts and wondering if the sales fairy will come while you're asleep. Sound familiar? There are so many wonderful shops on Etsy, which makes it pretty hard to stand out amoung the crowd to potential customers.

You spend so much time taking photos, editing them to make them perfect, putting as much detail into your listing as possible and finding the right tags so people can find you by doing a search. Not to mention the time and creativity making your product. If you haven't already done so, now is the time to give your shop the one thing that will make you stand out, a banner and avatar. Imagine if you will, you went to a mall, and every storefront had the same look, not very interesting. How would you define the difference between them? Large companies know that marketing is the key to success in a world where you can purchase just about anything whether it be from a brick and morter store, or a website.

If you have a photo editing software program, you can easily make your own banner and avatar fairly easily. For Etsy the banner size is 760 x 100 pixels and the avatar is 75 x 75 pixels. Don't have the time? Not computer saavy? Not to worry, there are tons of shops where you can get a great banner with matching avatars! A few tips on what to look for when researching graphic designers for the perfect look. There are plenty of shops that offer premade banner sets, one thing I would suggest is to check the listing or ask the seller if the item will be relisted and resold to anyone else. Remember, the key is to make your shop unique, why pay for something that any other seller could have? If you know exactly what kind of look you are going for, have a custom set made.

Your banner is your first introduction to your customers, the last thing you want is for someone to happen upon your shop and find a banner that is blurry, almost illegible because of font choice or size and unappealing. Once you have your awesome new banner and avatar, it's a good idea to keep them consistant. Constantly changing the look of your shop is fun, but once you start promoting in the forums and on different sites such as Myspace, Twitter and Facebook, you want your customers to immediately recognize you. You can easily have matching sale, vacation and holiday banners and avatars made up as well as listing graphics that can be used for custom orders, reserved listings and feedback.

Stay tuned for more great marketing tips on image editing, business cards and product tags, the benefits of joining Twitter and whatever else pops into my crazy little head!