Most people who start their own craft/handmade business don't know where to start. This tutorial is designed as a spring board to help you get views and introduce you to what promoting on Etsy and other sites can do for you.
You're making something really lovely, but NO ONE knows about it. No one can find it. This is where you start.
You're making something really lovely, but NO ONE knows about it. No one can find it. This is where you start.
Promotion on Etsy
1. Teams
- Join relevant crafting teams
- beading, crochet, jewelers, metalsmiths - find others like you so you can share your work and your struggles/successes
- Join business teams
- You can learn so much from these teams, search the forums and read a ton.
- Get involved in the discussion boards. If you're confused, ask someone!
- Join local teams
- Local teams may have meet-ups to connect with other Etsy members
- Learn about local arts and craft shows
- Post your work or sales
- Most teams allow you to promote your items on certain threads. Make sure you follow the instructions of the thread. Any exposure you can get is helpful.
2. Support others
- Favorite other items and shops on your teams
- Don't randomly favorite, but as you're going through the teams, find some work you like and favorite it and/or favorite their shop.
- This will help build connections to other artists, and they will often support your work in return.
- Make Treasuries
- Don't feature your own work, only other artists
- Builds up your Etsy karma
- Helps you get exposure
- Post tips on the teams/forums
- Have you learned something fabulous that really helped your business? Spread the word.
3. Build your circle
- Add people to your circle who has similar tastes in favorite items & shops - you will then see their favoriting activity on your activity feed.
- If others add you to their circle, the benefit comes when a person hearts your shop or an item in your shop, then everyone in their circle sees that activity.
- Being active on the teams, supporting other shops, and adding others to your circle will all contribute to being added to other circles.
4. Find a Role Model on Etsy
- Maybe it's someone doing a similar craft, or someone who is a really successful seller on Etsy. A resource on Etsy's top sellers is located here.
- Study how they are promoting themselves.
- How many circles are they in?
- How many people are favoriting their shop?
- How long have they been in business?
- How many teams do they belong to?
- Are they on Facebook? How many fans? Are they active on facebook? What are they posting about?
- Are they are Twitter? What are they tweeting about? How many followers?
- All of their connections and sites where they promote are directly related to their success.
- Google their shop name. How many different sites can you find them on? Do they have a blog? Are they featured in other blogs?
- Aspire to their level of visibility - what can you do now to promote yourself in similar ways?
Other Promotional Sites
1. Facebook
- Start your own Facebook page, separate from your personal facebook
- Post pictures of your work (linked to your Etsy page) or a work in progress
- Promote sales
- Promote your blog
- Visit other artists/crafters' facebook pages and comment and like their posts.
- *Important* - Link your Etsy store with your Facebook page, so others can "like" you on Facebook directly from your Etsy shop page. Go to "Shop Settings" and "Info and Appearance" to link to your Facebook page.
2. Twitter
- Promote new items, sales, or a new blog post
- Follow other artists/crafters
- Learn how about hash tags
- *Important* - Link your Etsy store with your Twitter feed, so others can follow you on Twitter directly from your Etsy shop page. Go to "Shop Settings" and "Info and Appearance" to link to your Facebook page.
3. Pinterest
- Pinterest is a site that allows you to create boards of products for sale and websites that you like.
- There is a "pin it" button on any listing on Etsy, so you can pin directly from Etsy.
- Pin your own items as well as items from other crafters you'd like to help promote.
- *You need to get an invite to join. Send me an email at seaglassreinvented@gmail.com to get an invite.
4. Blogger
- Start your own blog for free at blogger.com
- Link to your Etsy store and make it stand out
- Also link to your facebook, twitter, pinterest and any other networking sites you are on.
- Feature other Etsy members on your blog. Trade a feature article with a friend. You post about them, they post about you.
- Follow other blogs that interest you. Comment on their blogs using your blogger account. Post interesting, thoughtful comments, don't post spam.
- Post tutorials about your craft
- Post about your process
- Post on your inspiration - tell us your story, inspire us
Final tips:
- If you're serious about selling your work online and you want to be found, PROMOTE, PROMOTE, PROMOTE!
- Get out there now and start joining those sites I mentioned and other sites you can find. If you're super ambitious, you can also promote on Wanelo, Squidoo, and Stumbleupon.
- Start out small if you don't have much time.
- Make a goal of doing at least one thing a day to promote your shop or joining one new site.
Comment if you have any additional ideas for promotion!
Subscribe to my blog to learn more about promoting your shop on and outside of Etsy.
Visit my Etsy shop, Seaglass Reinvented
Thanks for reading!
