I opened my Shop at Etsy about an year ago, with only a couple of items, and, because I had other venues to sell my jewelry (Shows, Galleries) I forgot about Etsy for a while. I started to be active only in February of 2008, when I decided to give it a new try and I started listing more pieces in my shop, taking care of my Appearance, Shop policies, etc. I immediately had a sale , a Heart Brooch, right before Valentine’s Day. Shortly after I discovered Etsy Beadweavers Team ad I signed up for membership, because I knew how important is for an artist to belong to a group, to a community. I participated in the March Challenge, Stormy Weather, and I was happy to see that EBW Blog visitors would vote for my Brooches. I even sold an other Heart Brooch, The Purple Eye of a Summer Storm - Amethyst Brooch (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9974696) as a result of the Challenge.
Needless to say, at the beginning I was kind of lost at Etsy. I had to figure out a lot of things, from how to improve my pictures to how to make a Treasury. I did my homework every day, looking at statistics (how many people are visiting my Shop, hearting my shop or my pieces, etc.), visiting my fellow EBW members shops and blogs, in order to know them better, commenting, in a word, being active in any way I could. Usually I don’t talk a lot, but I tried my best to be in touch. I made many Friends in the group, and I would like to thank Adri, Amber, Ann, Anna, Caraway, Carol Dean, Carol Holmes, Claire, Dawn C., Dawn N., Eddy, Jane, Joni, Kerrie, Linda, Lolos, Kim, Marilyn, Marilyn, Marlaine, MaryLou, Miriam, Patricia, Regina, Sarah, Smadar, Susan, Stacy, Triz, for your friendship and comments.
I appreciate our moderators for their hard work, for the extra hours they are volunteering for this group. Thank you, Dawn N., Marlaine, Patricia, Sarah! My special thanks go to CarolDean and MaryLou who were always first to answer my questions in the group, even when they were no longer moderators.
It was a sad day for me the day Carol Dean left EBW. She helped me so much directly or just by her presence and input in the group. I admired her from the start, she is both a talented artist and business woman. Her expertise was/is valuable to me, and to many others in the group. As a result of her advise my sales recently started to pick up. I like to think of her as a friend and a role model.
Having an Etsy Shop and being constantly successful requires hard work. I will try to list here a few things that I learned at Etsy and in the EBW group. I am trying to implement them in my every day activity.
- get good pictures, not to dark, pictures that would catch the buyer’s attention in the few seconds of her/his visit. The first picture “should be the one in which the item takes up much of the available space”. The work is much more “effectively shown” in close up pictures, so show them first! (Carol Dean). Have a detailed description of your piece.
- list/re-list every day, so people can see your presence
- try to write in your blog at least once a week
- comment as often as you can in the EBW Blog and other members blogs
- check often the Forum for News concerning Treasuries, Blogs, New Listing and other events
- learn how to do treasuries. Until you get to do that, comment in as many Treasuries as you can.
And the list doesn’t end here… Please comment and add more suggestions!
Happy beading,
ileana
To read about the History of my Art of Jewelry, go to my Blog’s Archives:
http://www.enchanted-beads.com/blog/?p=31
