Monday, March 30, 2009

A LEARNING PROCESS...

On Saturday I wrote about my Etsy shop Beadin By The Sea and reaching my 100th sale. By the end of the day I had 102 sales so I reached my goal with some extra padding! I was shocked and excited at the same time because I really don't know why I had more sales last week than I usually have in a whole month!

These are some things I've been doing the last couple of weeks:
  1. Renewed a little more often to get my items to the top of the "heap".
  2. Added more brand new items to keep my shop "fresh".
  3. I have a giveaway going right now which is driving traffic to my blog.
  4. Lowered my shipping slightly.

    Interesting to note:
  1. Stayed off the Etsy forums. I only post there occasionally.
  2. Did not put links to any items on Twitter, but responded to people's "Tweets".
  3. I was not on the front page, never have been.
  4. I was not in any gift guides, never have been.
  5. I was in one treasury.
There are many threads on Etsy that give advice on how to get sales in your shop. I am still such a rookie but this is what I have learned so far:
  • There is no magic formula. You need to figure out what works for your own shop and your individual product. It takes time to experiment with different methods of promotion and even then I find it difficult to know why I've had some success.
  • Learn how to take fantastic photos of your products.

  • Have an excellent quality product that meets or exceeds your photos.
  • Provide outstanding customer service and I mean outstanding.

Now as I look towards another year, I ask myself, "What is a realistic goal for March, 2010?" My answer for this is to double my sales and hit 300 by this time next year. Think I can do it?

This quote seems to sum up what I'm trying to say:

"The great successful men of the world have used their imagination…they think ahead and create their mental picture in all its details, filling in here, adding a little there, altering this a bit and that a bit, but steadily building - steadily building." Robert Collier

Note: The necklace in the photo is a gift for a young friend on mine who is going through a difficult time. I engraved the word "faith" on the back for her but the symbol of the bird can mean many things. Birds have the freedom to soar and be taken to great heights just as we would like to do in our personal, spiritual, and business lives.

6 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your 100 mark! Excellent advice on selling. Forums get ugly and bring you down.
    Beautiful Bird necklace, sweet gift for your friend.

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  2. Thanks for the selling tips! I would imagine that you will hit 300 sales before another year is up! And that necklace is gorgeous!

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  3. These are such great tips!

    I do agree that staying off the forums can be a good thing, along with relisting frequently, and twitter. Those (and my blog) have been the things that seem to help my sales most.

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  4. Thank you for posting this. I have been considering opening a shop on etsy for ages but have been putting it off. Thinking there are so many other talented jewellery designers out there that my work just won't be seen. But I have decided to open a shop afterall and have been creating new collections to go in. I have been reading other designers' success stories and am so grateful to everyone willing to share. Good luck for reaching your goal for March 2010 - and yes, you can definitely do it!

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