Promoting Your Etsy Shop

Lisa & I are so new to selling on etsy that we have been really focused on finding new ways to promote our shop and to ge the word out about it. 

I have to admit that there are so many things that I loved and will miss about ebay, mostly in the ease of listing and creating similar listings, the ability to list so many photos in the listings, and the sophistication of the search engine.

But, I finally decided to do some serious research on how to promote our etsy shop.  So, I decided to actually look at each of the applications available through etsy.  http://developer.etsy.com/applications is where you will find the apps.  The easy way to get there is to go to the bottom left of "your etsy" and click "applications".

Automatically Renew Listings 

With etsy you really are searching by default of newly listed.  So, unless you decide to make the most or least expensive items, you have to make sure that you list often. 

This is a real pain in the rump unless you use the awesome tool called clockbot from statsy.org. 

This tool will allow you to schedule listing renewals.  I cannot tell you how great this is.  We have already seen huge benefits from this is just a couple of days.  Instead of going onto etsy twice a day and renewing 5 items, Lisa is spacing the items out for renewal every hour and it is really boosting sales.  http://statsy.org/clockbot.php will take you directly to the tool.  Statsy also has a tool that will email you if you are featured on the front page of etsy, tell you who your biggest fans are, and track your listing views (you can see how many times each item is viewed and hearted).

Create a Sale

Previously, to create a sale you had to either change the prices manually, create a bogo, or give free shipping.  Now, with this awesome NEW app. you can actually put items on sales for fixed periods of time.

Etsy on sale is AWESOME.  I mean it.  Now shops can actually run sales.  Our shop is having a sale right now that I posted on facebook, our blog, and twitter.  I love this new app.  Finally, etsy fans are coming up with some serious apps to help out sellers.

Email Marketing

 

Etsy teamed up with mailchimp to create a free promotional emails for your store.  Lisa and I actually used this to create an email promotional flier that we send out with every sale that links to our blog, twitter, facebook, and newest, hottest items in our etsy shop.  I can tell you that this has increased our blog traffic. 

Copy Listings

Etsyhacks has some great tools.   Specifically, there is a tool that helps you copy content from one listing into a new listing.  This is nice if you sell lots of similar items.  How many descriptions can you really write about a paper bag album?  Really? 

Just for Fun

http://www.craftcult.com/ has a fun app, the heartomatic.  It shows you who likes you and what they like.  Which is a great way to determine what listings are going to get renewed by clockbot.  We pick listings that are getting lots of traffic and lots of hearts to draw people into the shop. 

Other Resources

Facebook and twitter are both ways to promote your shop.  For facebook you can install etsy mini on your facebook page (which is a mini etsy shop that shows your items.)  You can also make a page that all of your friends and customers can like.  Maybe Lisa can do a post on this and show you our boutique page on facebook.  I didn't do any of that, so I truly don't know how to, but I do know that it drives traffic to our shop and to our blog. 

Twitpic is another fun app from twitter that lets you tweet a photo.  I like to take pics of our new products from my cell phone when they are finished and tweet about them. 

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/ is a great way to showcase your crafty skills.  You can list projects you have made, put together tutorials, and enter crafting contests.  I also love looking at the hot 20 on this site to get a feel for what it new and excting in the crafting community.  People like your projects and can share them on facebook and twitter. 

Treasuries

Make treasuries on etsy and share them on your blog.  With every treasury we make we end up with sales and new fans of our etsy shop and our blog.  Lisa had the brilliant idea to let people know via convo that we featured them in an treasury and on our blog.  It is a great way to help other sellers, make interesting blog content, and bring people into your shop. 

Feature the treasuries on your blog with http://www.whalesharkwebsites.com/tools/treasury.php.  It's that app I am using below to feature this treasury of etsy newbies on our blog.

'Pop Their Etsy Cherry' by c1h8r9is

Yes, I know that my title is a little on the vulgar side, but it's also fitting because these are all sellers just waiting, hoping, lusting after that first sale. Since I just did a blog post about using the great tools on etsy to increase shop sales, I wanted to give a helping hand to some newbies. This treasury is posted on our blog www.boutiqueit.blogspot.com as well.

The Element of Wate... treetalker $16.00	Cherries ACEO Frame... AmyVanGaasbeck... $35.00	Multicolor pendant ... Yarellespinoza $30.00	BIRTHDAY GIRL BOW NewMommi $7.00
Kerrin Damask whimsicaldezig... $79.00	Georgina Brooch NonaCraft $39.00	Jean - Save the Dat... SweetAzaleaBou... $20.00	Metal Laundry Cloth... ShellyNewYork $14.95
Vintage Inspired Be... MadaboutMaybel $12.00	Cute wool felt red ... sugarplumfairy... $10.00	Pinky Promise LazyDaisyCreat... $15.00	10 dollars OFF. Bab... babywearing $25.00
Mad about Plaid CorumFray $23.00	90-16 Pewter Baby ... blackfishpewte... $10.00	Scandinavian Pewter... BlessSomebody $65.00	$

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites.

D is For Darts

When sewing garments and accessories darts are an essential technique to master in order to create a great fit/shape. Darts can be straight or curved depending on desired effect. A straight dart will give you an easier, looser fit while a curved dart will be more form fitting.

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Check out this tutorial on one of my personal favorite sites, Sew Mama Sew. This blog is amazing! Full of great tips, tricks, and tutorials. I have to admit I like to check it out every day! It goes over the importance of darts in the fit of a garment with and easy to follow picture tutorial and instructions. The triangle areas seen in the photo below represent the actuall dart placement on the garment pieces, in this case a dress. Darts will be used in this instance to take in the fabric where each dart is placed to create a formed fit.

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eHow has a great, easy to follow tutorial for sewing darts into any fabric project.

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Joanna over at Stardust Shoes has a great tutorial showing you how to take in your pants using butt darts.

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Check out this fun and elegant pleated bag tutorial from Lisa Lam (which is funny because that's my name too!!) at U Handbag. With a change of fabric, this would be perfect for a wedding or holiday party. In this instance, the darts give the bag a fun shape and detail.

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Threads Magazine has a great video collection. Included in this collection are two videos that would be useful for marking darts and sewing darts in your fabric projects. This collection is a super valuable tool for novice and intermediate sewers.

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Happy Crafting!

DIY Hair Bow Holder Tutorial

After sewing 6 dress up ponchos and making 2 new sewing patterns today, I was totally burned out on sewing.  I decided to look for an apple hair bow to make for Kamille's apple orchard field trip on Friday.  Looking through photos of hair bows inspired me to get moving on a project I have been wanting to do for a while - hair bow holders. 

I have about 5 tutorials/ideas here for making your own holders.  Call me crazy or just plain cheap but I almost had a heart attack when I saw that people were paying $10-$30 for these things.  I get it, the hand painted ones have some work involved (not as much as you think - I just painted an entire play kitchen in 2 hours).  But, seriously, this is a NO SEW - Hot glue project that is ideal for using up scraps you have around the house.  This one is really a freebie if you are a crafter because you probably have all of this stuff.  If not, you could get everything you need: glue gun, felt, appliques, flowers, ribbon, hot glue sticks, beads, etc. from the dollar store. So, even if you have to buy everything, you can make a fancy hair bow holder for less than $10 easily.  I think that these would be great birthday or Christmas gifts.  I might make a fancy one for each girl in preschool for Christmas.  

All of these were made with stuff I have lying around the house.  I also want you to keep in mind that you could make this with a LETTER INITIAL - They sell them already painting at Michael's, JoAnn's and Hobby Lobby - Plus a million other places.  I think I have seen them at Meijer.  So, you could just glue to ribbon onto that and have a personalized hair bow holder.

You could also use the little mini canvases.  I made a couple into photo frames with some scrapbook papers. 

mytatteredangels.com - one of my favorite blogs for mixed media/scrapbooking has this great little canvas just to give you an idea of what I am talking about, but you could just use one of the prepainted canvases - they are everywhere.  I know Target had little prepainted canvases that matched Kamille's comforter and I have seen them with initials and many other things.

But, you could really get into this project and make a beautiful canvas with a family photo and then glue the ribbons down from that. 

Upcycled CD 

For this project I made the standard round hair bow holder.  Instead of painting it, I used felt. 

I traced around a CD and the cut my felt out - 2 layers.

I cut a length of 2 types of ribbons. One is fatter than the other so I can layer them. 

I glued the double layer of ribbon down onto the back piece of felt.  I left a tail at the top about 1" so that I can put a nail in it to stick in on the wall.  Then I glued over the whole backing piece.

 I stuck the CD down onto the backing piece and then I glued to front piece of felt down.  This way I used up a useless old CD and made a stiff and perfectly round circle for my hair bow holder.



 

Now it's time to decorate.  I didn't feel like putting an initial down so I just ironed on a glitter heart applique I had.  If you wanted an initial, you can buy many different premade varieties or you can just print out the size and style of letter you want to a word processing program and use it as a pattern piece to cut out the monogram out of fabric. 

Then I glued down a big bow.  I am going to tell you how to make corker ribbon now.  It's so easy (but you could just buy a fancy bow at the dollar store)

Take the ribbon you want to use and clip it onto a small dowel.  You can get a 20 pack for a couple of bucks at the craft store in the wood section.  You can use binder clips of clothes pins.  It doesn't matter.  Twist it around in a spiral.  Bake this in the oven on a cookie sheet (I cover mine in fresh foil just in case there is any residue on it) at 200 for 20 minutes.  Once the pieces are cool, unwind it.  The ribbon will stay twisted up.  Secret revealed.

Then I just tie a few short pieces of the corker ribbon onto a bow.  Seal the ends of the ribbon with a lighter to keep them from fraying. 

This isn't the best photo, but I also glued a small bow at the bottom.  It took me about 10 minutes (the bows were already made and sitting around here).

Premade Wooden Bow Holder

 

I also have a bunch of prepainted wooden dodads lying around.  They are like $1.00 already painted at the craft store. 

I basically did the same thing. 

I took the painted wooden bird and glued a bow onto her head.  Then I glued my ribbons onto the back and put a bow on the bottom. 

I added some buttons to make it a little cuter. 

Photo Frame Bow Holder

This is a little 4x6 frame that would work well holding baby bows or little barrettes.  I would use a bigger frame for bigger girls.  I had this one lying around.  I actually saw a really beautiful one that used a really ornate frame and I might make something similar for Kamille dress-up area. 

I started out with a frame and removed the glass and cardboard.  I put it face down on some fleece (because I have it and I am out of batting).  I used 2 layers to give it some fluff. 

Then, I glued the fleece onto the frame base.  See how I cut it a little smaller that the back of the frame.  If you don't it will be too bulky and it won't fit back into the frame. 

Next, I took a piece of fabric (if you are making this for a baby - use one of the receiving blankets you got.  I had sooo many that just went unused.)

 I glued it on to the back gift wrap style. 

Then I cut a few pieces of ribbon (rick rack would have been cuter, but I'm out).  And tacked those down on the back of the frame backing.  This is where you clip the bows so you don't want to glued onto the front, only the back. 

Then I shoved the whole thing back into the frame.  It took a while to get it in there because of the bulk, but I did.  I glued a bow onto the top just to give it a girly touch. 

TUTU HAIR BOW HOLDER

Everyone has seen this one.  It is actually really easy to make and there are so many things that you can do.  It would have been super cute with some flowers added onto it, but it is getting late and my enthusiasm is waning. 

I freehand sketched out the shape of the bodice onto a piece of cardboard (it's a mailing envelope I am recycling because I get about 10 of these a week in the mail from clients.  I hate throwing them out.)

 I cut it and 2 layers of fabric out at the same time.  Then, I glued one of the pieces of fabric down as the backing. 

 I used tulle by the spool (it's a buck) to cut several lengths of tulle for the tutu skirt. 

 I folded the tulle in half lengthwise and then glued it down onto the cardboard.  On top of that I glued a few strips of ribbon for more decoration.

Then, I glued down the front piece of fabric over the whole thing.  I pushed it down to have less bulk where the tulle is.  I glued down some trims to make it more decorative.  You could also use bows, flowers, gems, etc.  I glued a handle onto the back with a little loop of ribbon

 Now the bows can clip onto the ribbons and you have a cute tutu style holder. 


HAPPY CRAFTING!