Collaboration

I ran across another etsian crowhavenstudio (http://www.crowhavenstudio.etsy.com/), who made stained glass window panels with photos in between two pieces of glass (featured to the left on this blog).  I thought that was really a cool idea, and then I thought, how cool would it be to her put one of my images (I'm a graphic artist also and do photoshop family collages and fantasy images for fun) into her stained glass window panels.  Then, going off on a tangent as I often do - a lot - , I thought, it would be cool if she would collaborate with me, to put some of my graphic pieces in her stained glass and sell them on etsy.  She is not currently able to make that happen, but it made me curious as to how many etsians collaborate with other shop owners.  When you think of it, there are so many d-listers who could collaborate to make some really cool things. 

So, I did some research and found some interesting articles on collaboration.  I'm sure there are many other resources for collaborating on etsy, and intend to keep looking, but for now... this is what I have found....

There is a section in the etsy do's and don'ts page that mentions collaboration:

http://www.etsy.com/dosdonts.php

Here are some examples of collaboration teams:

http://www.etsy.com/storque/handmade-life/an-international-crafting-fairytale-824/ (love this one)
http://sneakycollaboration.blogspot.com/
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5206751

Anyone else have any experience in collaboration?

Web Analytastic!

Where are your buyers coming from?  What are they searching for?  Who is referring people to your shop?   I'm always wondering if all the social networking, "youtwitterfacing" is really working.  I mean all the work we put into our shop marketing because "everyone" says it's the thing to do.  But there is one way to be sure what your doing is working. 

No more putting yourself out there on blind faith. These  mysteries can be solved simply by setting up your Google Analytics via your Etsy shop.   If you go to the "your etsy" section on Etsy, and look under Shop Setup, you will see link called Web Analytics.  Here Etsy will walk you through step-by-step, how to set up Google Analytics so you can really see what, how and who have been visting you shop.  Etsy will give you a Tracking ID, then you go to Google Analytic http://www.google.com/analytics/ (you need to have a Google account for this, which you should have anyway because of all the other cool tools they have) and set up a web tracking profile.  Once you do this, Google Analytics will start tracking things like visits per day, referrals, and all kinds of stuff.  This is powerful info for you as a shop owner.  You can now see exactly how people are coming to your site, whether your facebook time and effort are paying off, if your twittering is making a difference, and if your tags are working.

CASE IN POINT:   A very nice D Lister named Sharon, (mycrochetgarden.etsy.com ) was checking out my site and mentioned that I had a lot of items that I described as Aqua Blue, and she suggested that I also call those items "Tiffany" Blue as she had noticed a lot of people are looking for that type of color (tags are important).  I thought that made sense so I went in to my shop descriptions and added Tiffany Blue as well as added that to my tags.  Not more than 3 hours later someone bought 3 of my "Tiffany Blue" items!  I checked my Google Analytics a few days later and saw that Tiffany Blue was a search term that someone used to find my site!  CRAZY COOL!!!  I have featured mycrochetgard on this blog as a thank you to Sharon.  She rocks!

Now, you should know that setting up the keyword search is another step in the web analytics process.  I found a cool article on Etsy on how to do this..  here it is... http://www.etsy.com/storque/etsy-news/tech-update-etsy-web-analytics-enhancements-3350/  and it works!

Here is a great resource for Google Analytics, thanks Charissa! http://www.etsy.com/storque/media/bunker/2009/03/GoogleAnalyticsForSellers.pdf

Also check out Search Engine Optimization (SEO) info here http://www.scribd.com/doc/20168031/Etsy-Sellers-Guide-to-SEO-Version-10?secret_password=2dxawwiq8pqgl2jq3h1g  as recommended by stitchesintime (http://stichesintime.etsy.com/) on a prior D Lister thread.  And the Keyword Analyzer Tool is cool too..  https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Oh, and one more thing... ask your customers.  Whenever I have a sale, I always ask how they found my shop in a convo.  And they always answer me. 

So, if you really want to feel like your efforts are paying off, or if you want to make sure your putting your efforts in the right place... try Google Analytics and shift your marketing strategy according to what is real, web stats!

Anyone else have an interesting story about web analytics?  Do tell....

Take a Deep Breath

Here I am, waking up at 4:30am thinking about all the things on my Etsy shop to-do list.  I need to work my full time job, take care of my family, add more items to my shop, take photos of the new items, make new items, figure out the whole FaceBook mess I have going, participate in the D Lister message board, check the forums, Twitter, buy some supplies, and oh, research that BNR thing (what the hell is that!) ahhhhhhh. 

Then it hit me while I was counseling someone else on slowing down and smelling the roses, that I also need to slow down.  It's so funny how we  get all caught up in the frenzy. And there is this sense of urgency that is really kind of stupid to me.  What's the rush?  Is it that we see the new listing flying by and think.. OMG I better hurry, keep up, oh crap, I'm getting behind.  HA! In reality, many of us will never be able to keep up with the gazzilion items on Etsy and will always be struggling to rise above the bottom.  And for some of you who do this full time, I can understand the need to move at a fast pace and get stuff done.  But there is always more than one way to be successful.  So, I'm giving myself a break. I still plan to work on that never ending to-do list, but... instead of flying through it like a check-box junkie, I'm going to be calm and systematic about it.  Just a few things at a time.  Take some time to enjoy other artisans work without wondering how I can compete or compare.  Take more time to figure out the things about promoting that I don't understand and know that in time, my success will happen organically... in it's own time, the way it should for me.  I still want to sell, and be a successful seller, but on my own terms darn it!  Whew... I feel a lot better now.

Anyone else feeling the frenzy?   What's your take on it?

Pardon the Interruption

Well, I'm closing my etsy shop! No worries, only for a day. You see, I'm packing up my stuff and taking it to a street sale. So, to avoid having someone purchase an item at the street sale and simultaneously purchase something on etsy (as if!), I need to close my etsy shop. It's pretty easy to do, you just go to "your etsy" and under "shop setup" click on "vacation mode". There it will allow you to shut your shop down for any extended period of time and even allows you to put a message as to why. It's a really nice feature that I will be using tomorrow.

So, I'm really curious to see how this street festival will go for me. It's just a small neighborhood sale, and some if it will be second-hand, dare I say, garage sale items. I almost feel like I will be reducing myself by participating but I figure I will be getting local exposure, which can't be a bad thing. And, I can promote my etsy shop in the process. Besides, it's not like I have so many sales come in every day that I need to leave my items up. I'm thinking that whatever I have not sold, I will re-list, just to make them fresh again when I reopen my shop. What I don't intend to do is haggle with people at the street sale. And I have a feeling there will be people that will want to do that. I can do specials and volume discounts, but I'm not going to sell my stuff as if it were a garage sale item. So, this should be interesting.

What experience have you had with local festivals and street sales?