Craft and Supplies Selling on Etsy Opening a Shop to Sell Crafts, Supplies or Antiques

There are a lot of opportunities to sell your crafts today. The two sites that marry together beautifully are Etsy (links to the Etsy site) and Pinterest (links to my article on using Pinterest to promote yourself). When you list your products on Etsy and Pin them to Pinterest, they link back to your item in the store. Your chances of making a sale just sky rocketed.

Make a Youtube video and you just raked in another large audience. There is a perfect formula to plug in and get a return on your efforts. We are doing this together. I am working on my shop at the same time. I opened it a long time ago but putting more focus into it right now. Why? Cost effective. I spend too much on ineffective websites that people only spend a few seconds on and advertising that leads them to that site, where are they going? Back to Pinterest to work on their boards and back to Youtube to watch videos. So that is where I ultimately want to be to sell my products.

We are going to look at making a bigger effort to get your Etsy store off the ground and turn it into a home based, income supporting business.

Etsy now allows your shop to accept credit cards via Etsy for a small fee. I immediately signed up for that service. Credit cards always in crease the amount of a sale due to its convenience.

Things to consider to make your store tops:

1. How much time each day you will spend marketing you products on Etsy?
2. How much time you will spend making your products and creating the descriptions? Expect more hours in the beginning, it takes some time to pull just one product ad together with details. You want to answer all the questions you can think of from sizes and demensions to weight, colors and any options the customer may have.
3. Work on a beautiful way to display your item. Look at the difference from an item on a table or plain background versus a crafted display or complimentary background. (example pictures below from real sellers on Etsy).
4. Free ways to promote your products. Pin the picture on your Pinterest board with details. Write a hub about the craft, the story behind the art or something related to the item or to your store. If you blog, you want to add the story and link on your blog. Email your subscribers about the new item. Subscribers to a blog are far more important than clogging your blog with advertisements.
5. Create a video that displays your art or product or what inspired you or how to use it in decorating your home or pottery dishes on your table. If you knit or sew out fits for pets, wouldn't it be adorable to make a video of you pet wearing it? That would grab a lot of attention on youtube and you get to link it to your products on Etsy.

What are others doing that is successfully working for them?

There are success stores under the Seller Handbook section. They help with how they transitioned into full time Etsy store selling. Listen to their mistakes so you don't have to make them. I have to add more to my store, Make my images more enticing instead of plain and link to my videos to get people more excited about buying my products. I need to try some different things and see what works for me. As some of them say, some of their simplest items sell the biggest. You won't know until you try them out.

As soon as you list an item, immediately share it to Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter. If you have an article, you can add the link in StumbleUpon and Google+. Share as much as you can and as immediately as you can. Pay attention to your visiting stats. If they are higher on a certain day, make sure you share the links to your products on those strongest days. For my wedding stuff, that is Fridays, for my hubs on Hubpages, Sunday is a higher view day. That is really important to notice because you have the most attention from your audience.

You have Promotion options on Etsy too. Once your store is open, on the left bar under Promotion, there are Search Ads, Etsy mini and coupon. Search Ads has very simple videos and steps to get you started on promoting a specific item in your store. The cost is reasonabley low, it is worthwhile enough I would try it on a higher profit item to see how well it works. You will get site statistics to further confirm the value of promoting. Offer a coupon code. Give a discount for holiday shopping or back to school sales. We are all becoming more thrifty, this can make the difference of a sale, just don't cut yourself too short of a profit.

Etsy Mini is a way for you to build a "widget" that displays on your website or blog and share the products you are selling in real time. Just like we can do with our hubs. We can display our hub widget on other sites.

Gift cards As soon as they are available on Etsy, take advantage of offering/accepting Etsy gift cards. When you are setup to receive credit card payments you will also be able to accept the gift cards too. Etsy "handles" the cards, you get the benefit of increased sales.

I am going to apply these techniques to my store and give an update on how the improvements work and turned into sales and what sold best.

I want to share these wonderful hubs that provide a great deal of information on Etsy, including very useful videos.

20 Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Esty Shop and Esty Sale both by craftybird

Tips for Promoting your Etsy Shop by noadi

Etsy Tags 14 Ways to get a Sale by TeriB The video of how to setup your store or shop is in this hub.

Starting a Crafting Business and Baby Shower Business by me, Bridalletter - Brenda Green

I found another hub sharing the Pros and Cons of selling on Etsy and some other places you can list art or handcrafted items by KarenCreftor

In the pictures below, there is a link directly to the Video Library Labs. Take some time to review the resources that will help with selling successfully. There are many successful sellers that share their experiences, tips and insight for anyone interested in learning.

There are times when there are live events, allowing the opportunity to chat with the individuals conducting the next lesson.