28 September 09 10:43 AM
Etsy (Your place to buy and sell all things handmade) is een website waarop je je eigen handgemaakte sieraden en objecten te koop kan aanbieden. Je vindt er uiteraard juwelen en accessoires, zoals riemen en handtassen, maar ook spullen voor in huis, gehaakte, geknoopte, geweven spullen... Het is een soort kruising tussen Ebay en de schattenzolder van je oma!
Marie Geraerts, een trouwe klante van Zahia, zette onlangs de stap naar een eigen shop op Etsy. Marie ontdekte Zahia eind 2008 en heeft sindsdien alle workshops gevolgd. Ze is kunsthistorica van opleiding en valt voor oude en etnische glaskralen en echte, authentieke materialen. De kralen voor haar ontwerpen brengt ze mee van haar reizen of haalt ze bij Zahia.
Ga zeker eens kijken naar haar shop en website, haar sieraden zijn beslist de moeite waard: etnisch geïnspireerd en vaak asymetrisch. Je krijgt haar sieraden toegestuurd in een prachtige verpakking, met een zeer uitgebreide verklarende fiche van de gebruikte materialen: het verhaal achter de kralen zijn heel belangrijk voor haar. Veerle Maes was haar eerste klante: het verslag van haar aankoop vind je hier.
Veel van onze klanten zetten vroeg of laat de stap naar het verkopen van sieraden. We hebben eerder al twee blogs gewijd aan hoe je je zelfgemaakte sieraden kan verkopen via homeparties. Etsy is dus een andere piste.
Hierna volgen enkele insider-tips om van je Etsy-shop een succes te maken. Dit artikel is geschreven door Cathy Tran, een Amerikaanse juweelontwerpster die dit voorjaar haar eigen Etsy shop lanceerde.
Alle foto's hieronder zijn ontwerpen van Marie Geeraerts en die zijn te koop via haar Etsyshop. Je kunt ook een afspraak maken om bij haar thuis langs te gaan.
Etsy Success Tips for Jewelry Artists
- Have a memorable banner and avatar
Your avatar and banner are the "first impression" you make with your online clients. They see it immediately as your page loads and when you post in the forums (I'll go into this momentarily). It's the first opportunity you have to show people what you and your jewelry are about.
Try to make it attractive and representative of your style, theme, colors, etc. I've seen great banners and avatars (especially avatars!) that feature a popular piece or something that represents the style of jewelry you like to do. That one little image draws people in immediately and tells them what to expect from you.
Don't forget to make sure that it's formatted to the correct size. You can have a beautiful avatar and banner, but if the pixels are off, it just looks like a blurry mess!
- Join the Etsy community
One of the best things I've found in Etsy is the community.
The forums, chat rooms and virtual labs provide you with a support group of fellow artists and access to the numerous sellers and buyers on Etsy. It's a great place to gain insight on techniques in your field, feedback on your products, photos, descriptions but also a great place to get yourself seen!
When you post in forums or participate in chat and virtual labs, people begin to notice your avatar and your work. This sort of networking can help you promote your shop.
- Give your Heart away
On Etsy, you can "heart" someone, which means that you can mark them as a favorite. Hearts are a network of sorts. When you mark someone with a heart, they can see that you marked them as a favorite and return the favor.
Hearts can also be seen by the public, and so if someone is shopping in another artist's Etsy store, they can see you marked it as a favorite and check out your shop as well. It's a great way to create a network to give your shop some visibility.
- Join an Etsy Street Team
Etsy Street Teams are groups of shop owners who join together under common themes (i.e. artists of the same category, from the same state, or sharing similar beliefs) who work together to promote one another, provide support and to share information.
These are absolutely wonderful for getting your shop noticed. Some buyers shop directly from particular groups, such as JET (Jewelry on Etsy Team) when looking for jewelry items. These teams often have promotional contests or events that gain lots of publicity, and being a part of that team means you can share in that publicity. Teams often promote other team members by featuring them in blogs, etc.
- Make or be part of a Treasury
Treasuries are collections of items found on Etsy that are created by other Etsy sellers and buyers. There are 16 items in a Treasury, 12 seen with 4 alternates, and they are usually centered on a theme (i.e. colors, places, emotions, etc).
Buyers and sellers look through the treasuries to admire other people's work. It's a fabulous place to get yourself seen, whether you put together a treasury or are featured in one.
Etsy administrators also use well chosen treasuries for their front page. Imagine all the traffic you could get if you made it to the front page of Etsy!
Doing all of these things will certainly bring traffic to your Etsy store, though it may take some time to get things rolling.
Be sure though, that once you do get that traffic to your Etsy shop, that your shop is ready for people.
Make sure that your photographs are outstanding, your descriptions are good, your shop policies are clear and that the overall presentation is professional, appropriate and consistent!
Ways to Increase Traffic
to Your Jewelry Shop on Etsy
- List items or renew items regularly.
With nearly 32,000 items listed in the jewelry category, it is quite easy to get buried in the listings, as they list the most recent towards the front of the lists.
Listing new items at regular times during the week can really increase your presence at the 'top' of the search lists. Try to list an item every day, every other day or at least twice a week.
An alternative to listing a new item regularly is to 'renew' an item. Every listing you create has an expiration date and when you 'renew' you extend the life of the listing and bump it to the front of the search lists. This comes in handy when you don't have time to create, photograph and list regularly.
Again, this should be done daily, every other day or weekly. There are many shops I've seen who renew their entire shops on a daily basis.
While that may be a bit excessive in my opinion, I have noticed more sales in my own shop since I started renewing and listing more frequently.
- Join social networking groups such as Twitter, Indiepublic, Flickr, Facebook, Myspace, etc.
Many Etsy sellers have joined up and created groups in many different social networking sites. These can help give you exposure to a lot of different audiences and drive traffic to your shop.
You can also again find a community of artists to network with. I've heard about many success stories with people advertising by using Twitter, Flickr and Indiepublic.
- 'Froogle' your Etsy shop.
Google's latest database allows you to search for products. By loading your Etsy shop items into the Google Product Search database (formerly called 'Froogle'), you can attract a lot of new traffic from across the web.
There is also Let's Ets, an easy program set up that allows you to load your items in quickly and efficiently. - Make your shop friendly for international shoppers
Let's be honest, the US dollar is not very strong right now and our neighbors to the north, south, east and west can get quite a good deal on purchasing American goods.
By making your shop friendly for international customers, you open the door to a lot of new business. Several things you can do are: - Offer international shipping. This seems silly, but I've seen many forum posts from frustrated international customers who WOULD have bought from a store, but sadly, the seller did not offer international shipping.
- Accurately calculate shipping costs. Shipping is not as expensive as you might think, and doing your research will really help prevent you from scaring off international customers with exorbitant shipping rates.
- Use metric measurements. Be sure that you give measurements in centimeters as well as inches, as most the rest of the world uses the metric system of measurement.
- Offer discounted shipping to international customers. I've often seen many shops do 'free shipping' sales, but only to domestic customers. This can be very frustrating to international customers who may feel as though they are being treated as second class citizens.
- Participate in promotional threads in the forums such as Saturday Night Specials (SNS).
Each Saturday, a special thread called 'SNS' is put up in the Promotions section of the Etsy forums. Shoppers know that this thread is posted weekly and it's a great way to promote your shop.
It's run by an Etsy street team and is regularly checked by many Etsy buyers. It's free and all you have to do is post in the thread on Saturdays at 5pm EST. Nothing beats free promotion.
Using some of these tips, as well as having a well structured shop with great pictures, clear descriptions and good products, will certainly help you succeed on Etsy.