So You Want To Open an Etsy Shop…Part 3

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List new items.  Every time you list a new item, your shop grows and you become a more viable shop.  Successful shops usually have at least 25 listings or more.  And if your listings have great pictures of awesome items, you will get noticed faster!

Renewing items. You might have checked out other shops and seen that nearly all that shop’s items were listed, um…today?  How is that possible? you wonder.  Renewing, my friend.  Shops that make a lot of sales renew their items frequently.  Sometimes several times a day.  Renewing an item costs .20 each time per item.  So it adds up, especially if you are renewing all the time.  But you have spend money to make money.

Since I didn’t want all my money to go into Etsy fees,  I would just track the times when my views were normally the highest and try to renew during those times.  Once you renew an item, it goes to the ‘most recently listed’ itemizer and gets seen much easier.  And I would only renew when I knew I could afford it, when I need more orders, and when I was first starting out.  I remember renewing all the time at one point and being frustrated that it didn’t seem to be getting me anywhere.  Once you reach this point, you might want to consider a different strategy, which we will talk about later.  However, renewing along with my other advertising efforts brought me a lot more success.

Pay attention to your “hearts” and views.  You may have a particular item that gets more hearts than the others (hearts are Etsy’s way of ‘favoriting’ an item) or more views.  You want to promote that item above the others.  You will want to renew that item every time you renew.  That item will bring people to your shop, and maybe they will stay and view other items, and maybe even purchase!  (You can see who is hearting your shops and items with Etsy’s “Activity Feed” link!)

Heart other shops and other shop items.  Surf Etsy for awhile and give hearts to other sellers.  Sometimes other sellers (especially newer shops) will see that you hearted their shop and go visit yours.  That’s part of the networking in Etsy.

 Create a Treasury.  Okay this is something I never actually did.  But lots of sellers do it and I think it works well for them.  A Treasury is a collection of Etsy items that have a similarity.  Read more on Etsy about How to Create a Treasury.   Sellers create treasuries and then tell each shop that they included their items.  They include one of their own items they hope to promote, so it’s a nice way to get people to look at their items on Etsy, and also another good networking effort.   And sometimes if you’re really lucky, your treasury (or one you’re in) will make it to Etsy’s front page, which will bring you a lot of exposure.  Here is one treasury I was included in (you can’t see my item now since it’s no longer listed.) It’s common courtesy to check out the Treasury and thank the seller for including your item.  Karma, people.

Showcase Your Item.  Also something I never tried.  I can’t recommend it, since I actually heard that it was kind of a waste of money.  You pay about $7 to put your item on a select Etsy site for a day.  You can try it, see how you like it.  But if you don’t, you’ll be fine.  🙂

A Watched Pot Never Boils.  It will be tempting to spend hours on your shop or Etsy, trying to do everything you can to make more sales.  Here’s what you need to do:  Get off the computer.  Go outside, go eat an apple, go make your bed.   Better yet, go make something to sell in your shop!  Just go do something that will take your mind off your lack of current sales.  Obsessing over Etsy will drive you crazy.  You won’t make more sales by spending more time on the computer.  You will make a better business by spending more time making items to sell and improving your methods and quality.