Q & A with Batty

Q: What's Your Best Advice for New Etsy Sellers?

A: I’ve been around Etsy since 2008 when I opened She's Batty Designs and I’ve learned a lot since then which resulted in the successful launch of my second shop, Batty's Bath.

As a newbie around Etsy there can be a lot to learn! I’m still learning and I don’t consider myself a newbie! Here are some of my most helpful tips to help you start off on the right foot around Etsy.

• Keep up to date about what’s going on in the Etsy community. This can be easily be done by changing Etsy’s blog and by spending some time in the forums. Which brings me to my next point…

• Start digging around the Etsy forums! There is a wealth of information available and if there’s a question to be asked by a newbie, it’s likely already been asked multiple times! Use the forum search to find common topics.

• Head over to Etsy’s blog and read The Etsy Seller Handbook! This resource is not to be missed! Also, once you’re done that read as many articles as you can in the “Selling” section of Etsy’s blog

• Space out your new listings. The reason for this is because each new listing shows up in multiple areas of Etsy so think of it as promoting on Etsy for only 20 cents. You also don’t want to have all your listings in one spot in the category search. You want people to see you on multiple pages for more exposure. Some of the places new listings show up are the time machine, pounce, and categories.

• Post a new listing every day if you can. If you don’t have something new to list, use the “renew” function to get your item back onto the top of the category searches. Renewing costs the same prices as listing but it’s well worth it in my opinion.

• Make sure your pictures are STELLAR! I know you’ve probably read this a thousand times but people say this over and over again for good reasons! Great pictures are more likely to attract buyers to your shop, get your items featured in treasuries, and be featured on blogs. The more exposure you can get the better! If you’re not sure if your pictures make the grade, check out some of the top sellers in your category and see what their pictures look like. Chances are they are pretty good!

• Also check out items that are featured in Etsy’s blog posts. It’s better to spend a lot of time at the beginning perfecting your pictures so you wont waste time promoting items that have pictures that are unappealing – essentially wasting more time and money!

• Figure out who your target audience is and concentrate your marketing efforts there. Find out where you can your products or shop link in front of this audience. This will help narrow down where and how you should be spending your time.

• Keep the creativity going! Once you start to build up a customer base, repeat customers are going to be looking for new and exciting items from you often! This is especially true around holidays and gift giving times. Keep them happy by keeping your creative juices following!

• Promote, Promote, and then promote some more! I spend at least 5 hours a day on the computer doing something business related! I know not everyone has this kind of time but if you’re going to have a successful shop it’s likely that you’re going to have to put a lot of time into it!

There are a few exceptions to this rule of people who become top Etsy sellers with next to no time promoting but this certainly isn’t the norm! Figure out ways to promote such as social networking sites and decide which will work best for your business and your schedule.

And last but not least… Good luck!