Shop Talk Wednesday - Tips for a Successful Etsy Business

Whether your Etsy shop is a hobby or your "full-time" job, we all want it to succeed and make profits.

Check out one of our previous blog posts for some helpful tips on how to have a successful Etsy Shop.

There are also some fabulous tools to be found on Pinterest!  This is one of my favorites, and I try to utilize it in my own business every day.

10 Tips for Etsy Businesses

The Homefront Team will be featuring several articles in the next few months, concentrating on building skills for a successful Etsy business.  Here is the first installment:

I was introduced to Etsy, 4 years ago, while I was at a craft show.  One of the sellers and I struck up a conversation about the other ways we were selling our items and she mentioned she used Etsy.  After a few email conversations afterwards, and me checking Etsy out, I went ahead and opened up my very own shop. Through these 4 years, I've learned so much, but by no means a "jedi-master" of the Etsy world.  

Here are 10 tips that I have found helpful for my experience as an Etsy shop owner.

1.  Knowing your product

   Wouldn't it be great if Bob Barker or Drew Carey could tell you what you should be selling your item for?  There are many factors that come into play when pricing your items, so knowing your product is crucial. You need to know how much it costs to make your item, how much time you spend making it, and how much it costs to ship.  These are just a few things to keep in mind when filling out the pricing section of your listing.

   But that's not all.  You have to know what niche your item fits in.  Sure you sell jewelry, but have you seen the search results if you just were type in "jewelry".  What makes YOUR jewelry different?  The key to having a successful business is to know what you are selling and how it's unique/different from your competitors and enterprising on that.

  Plus, know your market.  Who are you trying to sell to?  It may be easier to start out with a smaller audience, so you can build your brand and your customer service, then branch into another field.

2.  Promote like a maniac

   I believe you can never promote yourself enough!  There are so many online tools out there that can be utilize for free, you would be a chump not to use them.  Get a Facebook Business Page, start a blog, get onto twitter, etc.  The best part of some of these applications, you can link them together so you feel like you're doing A LOT of work, but you're not.  Post once, and it will get posted on all your different accounts - easy peasy.

   Do you like newsletters?  Chances are your customers do too, so make one.  Mailchimp is a great resource to do this, and it's pretty simple.

   You can never have too many business cards, either.  Keep them on you ALWAYS.  Seriously.  And it doesn't really matter if they are made with your printer, or you order them from online (Vistaprint is always having great deals and every once in awhile you can snag some mini Moocards from Moo for shipping cost only), just as long as they have the pertinent information: Your name, your shop, your email, and your URL's.  

Awesome idea for getting your business cards out is to put them in books that you returned to the library, give a stack to your local coffee bar, sign-up for a business card group.

   Want to be even more creative?  You can also get magnets or pens with your business name on them.

   Is this your "full-time" job?  Don't be ashamed to share that with other people!  It's taken me a few years to actual tell people what I do, instead of just saying "I'm a stay at home mom."  I even put it on my last application/resume when I had to rejoin the workforce this past fall.

3.  Photography

   Great photography comes with time and skill.  A simple way to achieve good pictures is with a modest set up of using white paper, white matboard to bounce the light off of, near a big north-facing window.  You can edit with free photo-editing tools, like pixlr.com.  You don't necessarily need a camera with all the "bells and whistles", just figure out what all the settings do on yours to get the best image possible.  If all else fails, your cell phone or iPod has a camera built in, and sometimes will take better pictures then your camera (I learned this lesson just a few days ago, and found that I preferred the pictures from my cell then my husband's Fuji camera).  And invest in a tripod, it's worth it!
   In a few weeks, we will have a more in depth article on proper photography.

4.  Descriptions are everything

   So you've heard that a picture is a 1,000 words, right?  Well a 1,000 words is also a 1,000 words.  I'm not saying you need to have a novel for your description, but the key is to describe your item as if there was no pictures in your listings.  Tell me what color it is, how big it is, what it smells like, etc.  Is this a really unique item?  Tell me about the process you took to make it, or to find it, then.  The more you tell me, the more I realize (as a buyer) how much you are into your craft and assured that I'm getting a great item.

5.  Build Inventory

  I was reading an article on www.WAHM.com that said:

"One of the things that sinks Etsy businesses all the time is lack of inventory.  You can make a few weel-crafted things and sell them, but your business will lose momentum when you come to an empty queue."

   Thinking back, there has been many a time that I have left a shop because they had minimal listings.  To a buyer, low inventory a) doesn't give me very many options and/or b) makes me feel that the seller may not be very serious with their craft.  Of course, as a seller I understand that sometimes it's hard to keep up inventory, because life happens.  However, when you have less things to sell, you have less chances to be noticed on searches and the obvious less things to sell to make a profit.

6.  Organize, Organize, Organize

   This one has less to do with your actual Etsy shop, but a lot to do with your business (although in hindsight you could also relate this to the appearance of your shop, too).

   Having an organized workspace helps; this doesn't mean it can't be cluttered.  I struggle with this on a daily basis, lemme tell ya!  But knowing where all your shipping supplies are, where you can find your invoices on the PC, etc, helps you use your time wisely, and your sanity in check.  

   Also, organize your finances.  Here's a tip from Etsy's Blog:

"Even if your business is a small, one-person operation, Morgan Evans says it’s important to set up good bookkeeping and organization systems from the get-go and keep straightforward sales and expenses records. “You’ll establish an organized, logical foundation to build upon when it’s time to do taxes, hire an accountant, or take your business to the next level.”

7.  Offer FAQ's and Up to date Policies

   If you've ever shopped online, you know how important it is to have policies and even FAQs (frequently asked questions).  You want to know when your order will be shipped, how it will be shipped, when you should expect to receive it, what if it doesn't fit, is there a person you can talk to, and the list goes on.  Your Etsy shop is no different.

   Important things to include in your policies:

   1.  Payments

   2.  Shipments

   3.  Return/Refund Policy

   4.  Custom Order Policy

  

  And, go ahead and put a link to your policy page IN the description of the listing, to make it easier on the customer to go straight to where they want to go.

8.  Do you know the way to SEO?

   I'll admit that I haven't really figured out all the ins-and-outs of SEO (search engine optimization), but I know this one is important for geting noticed and boosting sells.  You can find LOADS of resources on SEO on Handmadeology, but here's a brief synopsis of what to do:

   1. Use words that people interested in your item are searching for.

   2.  Look at the search volume of the keyword or phrase you want to use.  The less competition you find            using that word, the better chances you will be found.

   3.  Just because a keyword has a high search volume, doesn't mean you shouldn't use it.  Check out how many competing pages are using that word.

   4.  Use 2-3 word phrases to help make a small niche and less competition.

9.  Customers are Golden

   Without customers, there would be no sales.  So it's important to keep customer service at it's highest!  Other than being nice, and thanking them, here are some ideas of how to get appreciated for stellar customer service:

   1.  Respond to questions/emails quickly.  I try to answer customers as soon within a few hours (if not sooner), but the average time should be no longer than 24 hours.

   2.  Be professional in responses.  I always start off by saying "Thank you for showing interest in my shop..."

   3.  If you feel that a customer is being difficult, step away from the keyboard, take some deep breaths and ask a friend/fellow business owner for some tips.  Sometimes we read too much "tone" in online communication and get a little personal.

  4.  Have a posted set of policies to refer back to whenever you need to.  

10. Have Fun 

   A lot of times, small business owners get muddled into day to day things (mostly because they are a one-man organization) that they forget why they got into it.  Remember to take some time away from your shop, even if it's only an hour or two a day, and relax.  Remind yourself WHY you are an Etsy shop owner.

This article was written by Guinivere Norrington, owner of Camelot's Treasures.  You can find her on  her business page of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Blogspot, and her own website.

Build A Twitter Following for your Etsy Shop

Have you ever thrown a party and been afraid no one would come? 
Building a following on Twitter is sort of like that.  You want a fabulous scene with lots of guests—people who will eventually connect with what you say, do, or sell.  
But how to do this?  Following is a list of ideas to help you build your Twitter party.  Some I’ve made up and others have been given to me.  Try a few and see what happens.  (Note:  If you haven’t set up your Twitter page, go here to learn how. If you’re really don’t get Twitter, watch this.)  By the way, my name is Barbara (I go by Sally in my vintage shop) and I am a Homefront Team Member!  I hope you’ll find some useful ideas here. 
Focus on Quantity First
A party in full swing is likely to attract more people.  For this reason, I advise getting a critical mass of followers to your Twitter page first – even if those people will never be customers.  Build the happening party and your target customers will come.     
The basic method for getting followers is to follow people first.  To get followers you have to be one.  The problem with this is the old idea of “those without experience need not apply.” If you have zero followers, who’s going to follow you?  Here are some easy ways to prime the pump. 
• Ask people you know.  In the search box on top of the Twitter page, type in names of old classmates and weird cousins.  Follow them and ask them to follow you.  It kind of doesn’t matter who these people are, at this point.  Just follow them.  
• Visit the the Etsy Twitter teams.  These mutual back-scratching societies are a great place to trade follows.  Other sites off of Etsy will also have similar teams.  Read and follow the rules carefully.  
• Follow Twitterers in your town or state.  Find them by entering #yourtown in Twitter search.  (Note:  words preceded by a # are called hashtags and can be used to search for just about any topic on Twitter.  More about hashtags later.)  
• Lastly, and this is the most controversial, consider paying for followers.  There are loads of services online that do this.  The upside is that you can get your numbers high, fast.  The downside is the followers may not be real people, but rather the service owner’s multiple accounts.  Still, social marketing isn’t always pretty.  Just as in Japan, families hire mourners to make their dead relatives’ funerals look good, buying followers can be a reasonable strategy for building a foundational mass of numbers.  Just be sure you pick a service that doesn’t require you to share your Twitter password.    
Invite Your Market to the Party
Now that you have a few followers (of maybe-questionable quality), it’s time to look for people to connect with.  Again, the basic strategy is to find people to follow.  Now you want people in the target market for your product.
My favorite way to do this is to brainstorm magazines or big websites that cater to same demographic as my customers.   For instance, for my vintage clothing shop I went to Anthropologie and Chictopia, thinking that people who shop at these places might like my products.  Once I find a site’s Twitter page, I scan the list of people who follow it, reading the blurbs people write about themselves.  I’m looking for people who aren’t obviously selling something themselves—just nice regular folks.  Twitter makes it super easy to follow them right there, with one click.  
Another way to find people to follow is to search hashtags that relate to what you sell.  Remember, a hashtag is like a keyword that people attach to tweets to allow them to be found.  Typing #handmadeashtray into the search box will get you tweets relating to handmade ashtrays.  You can then decide if you want to follow the people tweeting about them. 
The downside to searching hashtags related to your product is you might get mostly tweets from other sellers.  But it’s worth a try.
Balance followers to Following
So, I’ve followed a few hundred people but not everyone is following me back.  In fact, lots of people will never follow me.  That’s normal and should not be taken personally.  But, ideally, I want to end up following only or mostly people who also follow me.   
The solution is to purge my followers list periodically, unfollowing people who, after a few weeks, haven’t followed me back.    
There are lots of online services for this.  You want a site that identifies people you’re following who aren’t following you, and unfollows them for you (you can’t do this within Twitter).  The one I use is Manage Flitter, and it works with Firefox.  Here’s a link to a list of others.  
By continually following new people, and occasionally purging your non-followers, you will build up your Twitter following. Which leads us to: 
Content, content, content—or What the Heck do I tweet about
You’ll often hear that content – in other words, the stuff you post -- is the key to building a social network presence.  This is true, but – you don’t need to be Ernest Hemingway to deliver adequate content.      
For purposes of Etsy shop owners, the main point is not to spam people with constant sales pitches.  You want to send out several  non-promotional tweets for every promotional tweet.  A standard rule of thumb is 10 non-promotional to 1 promotional.
The problem is it takes time to craft thoughtful tweets.  Moreover, even fascinating people sometimes have nothing to say.  Here are some ideas about how and what to tweet. 
•  Respond.  At least a couple times a day, I’ll just tweet back to people I follow (their tweets show up in the Timeline).  If someone tweets “Making butternut squash burritos…” I might respond with something profound like “Yum!”  It’s just friendly contact, but it all counts.  Note:  this is engaging with people I follow, who will hopefully also be following me. 
• Share ready-made content.  Set up automatic tweets from high quality blogs (or news sites, or whatever…) you think your followers will like.  I use Twitterfeed for this.  I have it scheduled to tweet blog posts from 4 or 5 good blogs, twice a day.  That way, I share 8 or 10 non-promotional tweets without even being on Twitter.  And I’ve noticed that a lot of these tweets get retweeted – that is, shared by my followers with their followers. This proves at least some of my followers are seeing and engaging with them. 
Twitterfeed is pretty easy to use and well worth the effort to figure out.  Sharing content this way works.  For almost a year I was virtually gone from Twitter, with only my Twitterfeed posts going out.  In that time, I did not lose my Twitter followers, and even got a few new ones.  While I don’t think it’s a good idea to rely only on automatic tweets, they are a wonderful and time-efficient way to share content.  Just be careful to choose good quality sources to share.   
•  Ask questions.  This is a tried-and-true way to engage followers in social media.  Asking open-ended yet specific questions gets people thinking and interested.  This post has great ideas for good Twitter questions. 
•  Retweet other people’s tweets. 
•  Commit random acts of Twitter kindness.
good Promotional Tweets 
So now we can think about how to bring people to our Etsy shops from Twitter.  How do you make the most of those promotional tweets? 
•  All the facts, please.  As a Twitter user, one of my pet peeves is that many tweets don’t give enough information to make me want to click through.  I am lazy; I get tired of clicking all day, and if you can save me some effort I’ll respect you for it.  So, when you post a link to an Etsy listing, cram in as much info as you can—item, color, size, and most importantly, price. I haven’t tested this formally but I feel I’ve gotten more click-throughs with my promotional tweets since I started including prices.      
• Get to know Twitpic.  If Twitter has a disadvantage it’s that it’s not very visual.  Twitpic is an application where you download photos and then post links to them on Twitter.  Twitter then displays the four most recent Twitpics on your Twitter page.  As Etsy shop owners, we would do well to take advantage of this visual aid. 
• Download and use bitly.  Bitly is an application that shortens long URLs (links) to tiny little phrases.  When you only have 140 characters in which to get your point across, Bitly is invaluable.   
• Use hashtags.  Since people search Twitter for tweets on certain subjects, it makes sense to include a few in your promotional tweets.  Which ones to use?  I’m not a hashtag expert, but in my opinion the shorter ones are best.  For instance, I thought #vintageclothing would be good for my shop, but it turns out that #vintage is used more often. 
There are a lot of websites out there that purportedly help you find relevant hashtags, but I find these sites difficult to use.  One easy way to research hashtags is simply to think of a word that might be a good one and type it into Twitter search, preceded by a #.  Look what kinds of tweets come up, and decide if you want yours to be in this company.  Think broad and general.
Note:  I’d advise against using #etsy as a hashtag, but this is a personal thing.  I’ve heard rumors that non-Etsy Twitterers tend to resent the influx of Etsians on Twitter.  I don’t know how true that is, but to be safe I don’t use #etsy as a hashtag.  You decide.
A few more thoughts…and more resources
There are many strategies for maximizing Twitter that I have not covered here, including whether to follow everyone who follows you, and whether to thank them personally with a message.  And many more, I’m sure, that I’m not even aware of. 
For more help on using Twitter for your Etsy shop I’d suggest you take a look at the Etsy Twitter Guide, compiled in late 2011. 
Lastly, if you’d like to follow me on Twitter, please do so here!  Mention this post and I’d love to follow you back. 
Love,
Sally
p.s.  my shop is Chronologie Vintage:  www.chronologievintage.etsy.com