Guest Post...Getting your Shop Ready for the Holidays

Hello readers! This is a guest post from Katelyn Jane! After reading, take a look at her wonderful Etsy shop as well. Enjoy!

I logged onto Etsy the other day only to be confronted with this info: Etsy sellers are already getting ready for the Christmas Season. It wasn’t such a big shock at first, but then I looked at my calendar. It’s still September! I guess that’s how it is in the sellers world though. And being a seller that means I need to buck up and get going!

Last Christmas season was no biggy for me. I didn’t make any more sales than usual and didn’t have a rush. A total bummer. I had researched how to prepare and was hoping for huge amount of sales. I watched every Etsy video there was on getting ready, how to impress your buyers, how to deal with shipments, and how to make nice little extras.

Hopefully this winter I’ll be able to put the great amount of knowledge to use. Here’s my action plan:

1. I’m listing frequently and will continue to do so in the next couple months. This way I’m keeping my store visible and I’m collecting more hearts (really, I am! It’s already paying off!).

2. I’m pre-making promo items to give as “extras” with the purchases. I’m hoping that this will create repeat buyers but also make for even better gifts.

3. I’ve been making more Treasuries lately in an effort to get my store name out there and become more involved in the community.

4. Renew renew renew! I’m renewing items all the time, and I’ve really been noticing a difference. More views, and more hearts!

Here’s some thing you can do as an Etsy seller in order to improve your shop for Christmas (and attract customers!):

1. Take a peek through your photos. Do any of them need updating? Take a few new ones, sharpen and brighten the images in Picasa (a free and GREAT photo tool to download).

2. Buy a new banner. They’re really inexpensive and a great way to update the look of your shop. I personally, am not going to buy a strictly “Christmas” banner. I’d rather spend money on one that will last longer than the x-mas season.

3. Update your items, make sure the descriptions are clear, spelling is correct and all the info is there.

There’s so much more that you can do with your Etsy shop in order to prepare for the season, but these are just a few things to get you started. I know it can be time consuming, especially if you have a family, but it’s so worth it! My advice: take half an hour out of your evening to do one of these things and you’ll be going in right direction.

Things to look for...

Check it out:

http://www.thespottedbox.com/october2008.html

I am part of the Spotted Box's fun October listings! I have all my samples ready, and they are going out to the post office today.

Also, I want to mention that I have a special blog post coming on Monday...be sure to come back and check that out!

I made a T-west treasury yesterday. I will post the screen shot of it when I can get Thumbalizr to work! At the moment, it is not loading up all the photos.

Favorite Friday

Handsfull has unique handbags...the fabrics are wonderful, and the styles unique! This shop is pocked today because it was the last shop that I have hearted. What caught my eye was the brown floral tote with blue accents. She has been on Etsy since January, and has 37 sales already! Enjoy!

Etsy Vs. HandmadeFuzion

Today I wanted to see a little test. I listed a baby card on Etsy, and another baby card on HandmadeFuzion at the same time.

First, I am going to write a few pros and cons about the 2 sites.

HandmadeFuzion:
Pros:

• I can load all the pictures at once.


• After listing, the item scrolls across thr front page right away. In fact, it will stay there on that scroll until 25 more items are listed. (Now I realize there are way more items being listed on Etsy, so even if Etsy did that, my item wouldn't be on the front page for long!)


• You can feature your item on the front page for only 50 cents. (I did not do that with this card that I listed.)

Cons:

• Listing an item is more complicated. There are more steps to it, however, I'm hoping that since this is a new site, the kinks will get worked out, and things will change.


• Not a well known site, so I am not sure how many customers are there!


• The site seems a little hard to navagate yet.

Etsy:
Pros:

• The listing process is simple. I don't know, maybe because I am so used to it? But there are not that many steps.


• The site is visited more, so there are more buyers here.

Cons:

• There is a 4 minute delay on the item you just listed to make it to the front page. I did time it, and for this particular item, it was only 2 minutes. Not bad!
• I've always had a beef with the picture loading process...I really want to be able to load all my photos at once!

Anyway, I listed at 9:41 am. At 9:45, I had 1 view at HandmadeFuzion, and 3 views at Etsy.

10:00 am:
Handmade: 18 views

Etsy: 3 views.

**Update: 2:30 pm. Etsy: 11 Handmade: 39

**Update again! 6:30 pm. Etsy: 15 Handmade:47
10:45pm Etsy: 17 Handmade:48

So, there are a lot more views there. Not sure what this means for sales. I didn't have any in either store. I will continue to list at HandmadeFuzion for now though.

I will keep you updated throughout the day! In the meantime, here are the 2 cards that I listed. (The first being the one that I uploaded to Etsy, the second to Handmade.)

I was Featured!

Oooh, check it out! I was featured on this blog this past Wednesday: http://kzmface.blogspot.com/

Sadly, I was told about it last week already, but with how crazy this week has been for me, I forgot until today.

Check out her shop- Facial Care Boutique!

Favorite Friday

Another week is almost gone, and it's Friday already! Christydekoning has been a favorite seller of mine for awhile. She has so much talent, it's amazing! I think she is especially good at painting faces. Christy is very sucessful on Etsy, having 174 sales since January of this year. Take a look at her shop, and she also has a great blog!

Etsy's gone mad

Things are a little crazy over at Etsy lately! There is a lot of "bugs," people complaining about views, items not showing up on the front page, renewed items showing up on the 5th page of the category. I agree about the views, and the renewed items! I haven't added anything lately, or renewed for the last couple of days. Not sure when would be a good time to do that!

I am coming down with a nasty cold. You know those comercials where the person's head turns into a balloon...that is how I feel today! Pass the Advil Cold & Sinus please!

Check out this photo of my apple tree! The weather has been warm here for the last couple of days, and the bugs are loving it. When I look outside, all you see is bugs. It makes it hard to enjoy the nice weather! At least these are lady bugs and not the nasty Asian Beetles. I am sure they will also be out and about soon though too.

Have a wonderful day!

New Shop!

I decided to dive in and get myself a shop at HandmadeFuzion! Right now I only have 4 cards there, so hopefully today I can get some photos of more cards. I've seen some familiar faces around the site! I need to sit down and figure out how everything works yet, but there seems to be a time issue on my part!

This past week my younger sister decided to live with us for awhile, so we are job hunting! It has been a joy having her here, that I can tell you! None of my family lives around me, so it's all new to me.

Combine that with my kids in school, so we have activities, homework, and other things like it, and it's crazy here! I am barely keeping up on the amount of food that we need in this house!

Here is one of the cards that I have on my new site:

Busy week!

In the next week, HandmadeFuzion is going to be opening, and I will be filling another shop with handmade cards!

Also, I was asked to participate in the Spotted Box's monthly box sales! I am donating cards to be sold in the boxes along with many other fun items. They go up for sale on the 15th of every month, and my cards will be in them in October.

This means I have to get busy making new cards, and getting things in order! Yikes! Better get busy!

Blog Love...

A fellow crafter, FreckledPink, was kind enough to nominate me for the "I Love Your Blog" award! It was so nice of her! I love her blog too...



The rules of the award are:

*The winner can put the logo on their blog.
*Link to the person you received your award from.
*Nominate 7 other blogs.
*Post links to those 7 nominees' blogs.
*Let those bloggers know they've been nominated.

Here are my 7 nominees:
1. Katelynjane
2. springpeandme
3. Christydekoning
4. Backwoodsophisticate
5. Janesays
6. Clearpink
7. Paperbluebird

Favorite Friday

This is the first shop that I hearted when I came to Etsy! I loved the magnets that she made. The button ponies are also adorable! Seeing her shop again reconfirms that her shop is lovely. There must be many like me...she has close to 700 sales!

My Goal for the Day

So I signed up for emails on how to promote. These emails are going to be coming to me every day for awhile from indiebizchicks and the very first thing was the business cards.

And I know for a fact that I've heard this several times...have them with you at all times...give them out to people...why haven't I done this?

Here is what she has to say about it:
Business Cards: Oh, that little piece of card stock with your name and contact info printed on it. So simple, so old fashioned, yet… so effective. Here’s what you can do with them: attach them on bulletin boards, stick self-adhesive magnet on the back and stick ‘em to cars, mail boxes, public bathroom stalls, etc. Put them in all the envelopes you send out, including bills… Or just give them away to people you see in person.

Today I will get them either made or ordered, and start on that to-do list with them!

I've got Nothing

Here I sit. Thinking that I should be writing here, but I have nothing to say!

I could tell you that I went tubing down the river yesterday.
I could tell you that I am failing at potty training.

But I have no new cards to share. No interesting photos. Not even doing anything interesting today, just laundry.

Hope you have all having a more interesting day than me! Sometimes "interesting" can mean crazy though, and sometimes that isn't what I want. Just an ordinary day today.

Enjoy your day. ;)