I was in the virtual labs the other night for the critiques with HeyMichelle and thought I'd pass along some of the things I learned. If you've never been in the virtual labs you should try it sometime. It's super fun and I always learn at least one new thing. Not only that but it's a great way to network too. Etsy admin get to know who you are and may end up using you in a gift guide or who knows what else! I am convinced that the way to make good sales is to get picked to be either in a gift guide or in one of their emails. There is a newbie chat tomorrow (Monday) at 3. Get all your questions answered!
The coolest thing I found was this link in The Storque. Etsy gives you a heads up about what sorts of things they are going to feature and focus on in the next month/season. Super helpful! This one talks a bit about July but focuses on August. Read between the lines and you may come up with some great tags that they may use to search for too. For example, in July they highlighted "Ruby Red." And in August they are talking about "long-term cool" (meaning clothing or accessories that can transition from summer to fall) and "build and layer" style. So a good tag might just be "build" or "layer." Anyway, read the article, re-tag, create new "autumn" type stuff and be in the know.
Another thing that HeyMichelle said is that if you ever hear about etsy being mentioned on tv (like Good Morning America) then list, list, list. Because they will be getting a surge of new people to the site and the first things they see are the newly listed items. I think here is where twitter comes in handy too. Usually if etsy gets mentioned on a show someone on twitter also mentions it. You could always check the morning show websites to see what's highlighted too. Martha Stewart has been known to feature etsy artists too. You rock Martha...even if you were a criminal...but I guess everyone has forgotten about that. Besides, she features etsy artists! Um, yeah.
Another thing that I like to do is check craftopolis.com for when the next treasury opening is and list some new items so that people who may be searching for something for their treasury might come across mine and use it.
Here is another cool thing: Google Alerts! You can sign up to be alerted when your shop name (or any other search term you may be interested in) comes up on google. This is a great way to find out if your shop gets mentioned on other people's blogs. Then if it is, you can twitter about it, put the link on facebook, put it in your shop announcements and thank the person profusely!
Thanks to everyone who became a fan on facebook! I hit 100 fans and gave away a nice, matted 8x10 print. When I hit 200 I will do another giveaway. Maybe jewelry this time. Tell your friends! It's a random drawing so everyone is eligable. Fan me here. Good luck!