When to Post

A big question that many people ask is, when is the right time to post a new listing? Or when is the right time to renew my listings?

Well, I came across an article that may help:

http://www.everythingetsy.com/2010/07/best-times-to-list-on-etsy/ 

Now, it's not perfect as it in itself explains but it's a pointer in the right direction. 

Another good way to figure this out is by trail and error. But remember to document your findings. If you post at say 10AM every day for a week check your views, do this again at say 12PM every day for a week and see if you can spot any differences. 

Etsy now has something called a "shop dashboard" you can find this by hovering your mouse over "My Shop" and it is one of the drop down options. 

Now, this doesn't show exact times in the day, but it does give you some interesting comparisons! 

It's also not a bad idea to sign on throughout the day to check your "activity feed". This feed lets you know how many people have been favouring your shop or specific items in your shop. Start documenting what times it seems to be the busiest. 

(choose "your shop" - it will have a number next to it if it's active)

This is a good example of what I mean. Here it says that I had 4 different people admire things 5 hours ago! So that is something I should right down (and the corresponding time). But remember sometimes it's just one person liking a bunch of stuff. So make sure if it's a busy time that it is different people admiring your items. 

Hope that helps!

How to Find Your Community

Alright, since the latest post I came to the realization that finding those other people to connect with might be hard if you are just starting to enter your particular scene. This post mostly pertains to artists, designers, and the creative types. My mom pointed out a website that is both accessible on your phone as well as online. It's called "pulse". 

Now this site is a great place to read articles, and find other artists in your scene. This way if you see one you like you can look them up, find their blog / facebook page / instagram you name it! 

Here you can see a selection of the things this website covers. 

Once you sign up it will give you a selection of categories to follow including women's fashion, art, photography, food, etc. Pick the ones that pertain to your field as well as any others you may want to see for fun! 

Say you choose "photography", it will give you a selection of recent articles and photographs to choose from. There are different sections and categories as well. This is a great place to start discovering connections. 

Another great website for discovering up-and-coming artists is called "booooooom". This website has a great selection of artists and many categories of art to choose from.

This website also allows you to submit your work! Who knows, maybe your work will end up on here! 

Building a Community

Today I'd like to talk about why it's so important to build a community and some ways of doing so. 

What I even mean by "building a community": Since this blog is about selling online that means your buyers and those that could potentially help you out are also online. So in the same way you build friendships in person, it's time to build those friendships online. The example I know best is obviously the vintage clothing world. For me I find Instagram useful for finding like-minded people who love to share their vintage finds, talk about history, and so on. In this sense, we may not know each other but we are able to share knowledge and learn from each other as well as build relationships with buyers. Having professional friendships with your buyers is always a great thing because people love knowing they are buying from someone they respect and can relate to.

If you are an artist you can network with other artists and interesting fans, or even search for art galleries and art directors who could potentially help you out. Remember if you are an artist, even your Instagram is like a public portfolio and you never know who might spot your work! 

So let's stick with a few networks that I find have been useful for people to build a community: blogs, instagram, and twitter!

Instagram: 

(A great little conversation between customer and artist, as well as a lovely comment from a fan that says a little more than the typical "this rocks".)

So as I've been saying, start searching for your fellow like-minded people. Follow those that interest you and then remember to comment on things and show interest in their life/work. The "this is awesome" or "great work" comments are great, but the "wow, I'm really impressed by your brush strokes" can go even further in having them notice you and want to follow you. Commenting and liking other artists images as well as posting images with questions such as "I can't decide what colour to paint her hair! Any suggestions?" are a great way of building connections. Basically you really want to spark audience participation. 

Blogs: 

(No, these are not the most interesting comments in the world, but they really show that they fully read the article and had opinions on the review that where worth sharing. This is enough to spark more of an interest in who you are vs. passing by you)

Almost every artist, or designer, etc have a blog. Most of which allow comments (sometimes they just review them first). So first of all, you should have a blog! (we will go over this later). Blogger seems to be a good place to start because it's highly used by other bloggers and it's easy to comment, but tumblr and wordpress are also commonly used. Every time you post a comment it will say who posted it, so think of something interesting to say to a blog post that may spark someones interest to find out who you are. This way you can get more followers. Do not however comment and say "YOU SHOULD FOLLOW ME", or expect attention if all you say is "that outfit rocks". Useful, informative, or well worded compliments will get you more attention than just saying something is cool. Again, this is how you build a community, you bring something to the table and therefor are useful and people want to connect with you and share your world. 

Twitter: Now, I am still new with Twitter but I have known it to be very useful for a lot of people. Twitter is an online website you can use with your phone, mobile device, or computer. It literally just posts "statuses" or updates. This is a place to post new items in your shop, markets you may be selling at, interesting information about the art scene you are involved in, etc. You can also comment on other tweets just remember to follow the rules mentioned above. You can also re-tweet a status you find interesting / important and it will still give credit to the original person that made the "tweet" but shows you have an interest in it. 

Most importantly, building a community should be fun! This should be the relaxing part of your work day where you have some interesting conversations and post some fun updates on your work! 

Please leave questions in the comments!     

Policy Page

As I was contemplating which subject I should cover next I realized that a lot of you may have already created your website. That being said, it made me realize the urgency to remind you to make a cohesive policy page! Now your policy page is going to be custom to you and your site but it's still important to make yours clear to the buyer. 

Now if you have your own personal website, build a separate section for policies and make it easy to find. If you are on etsy there is a whole section to fill out for policies. 

These are some important points to cover:

1. Shipping:

-how often you ship (every day, every other day, once a week, etc)

-how you ship items (tracking / insurance vs. none; the name of the shipping method)

-who you ship with (canada post, USPS, etc)

-whether or not you take responsibility for lost / stolen packages

-or anything else you may think is important to note

Here is a great example:

2. Payment:

-what payment methods you accept (credit cards, e-transfers, paypal, etc)

-if you offer layaway or not (some shops will offer layaway on items over $100, some will offer for any items, and some don't offer it at all)

-if you are going to be charging tax and if so to who / what states / provinces. 

-holds and how long you are willing to do them for (if at all)

Another example: 

3. Refunds / Exchanges

-do you offer either of these things at all

-if so what are your requirements; will you refund someone if it didn't fit? if they didn't like it? or only if there was something wrong with it? will you exchange items? if so how many times? 

A great example:

4. Additional information:

-do you make things by hand? do you do custom orders? maybe mention that every piece is going to be slightly different

-basically anything else important you think someone should know before purchasing from you! 

Last example:

Hope that helps! Please comment with any questions or advice!

How to use Instagram to your advantage!

The last post I did about instagram only really covered how to use the actually program, but not how to make it work for you. Today I'd like to go over how to make it work in your favour. 

First things first: Build a community! 

So there are a few different ways to have people discover your account. First off all, make sure you include it in your facebook page, website, etc by saying follow me on instagram "@instagramnamehere". Remember to put that "@" symbol in front of your username when sharing your account information. 

Next, tag your photos! You'll quickly learn over time some of the tags that are specific to your line of work but you can always start with the basics. For example if you are showing off a piece of art you just finished of a landscape you could tag it: #painting #landscape #watercolour #art. Remember to put the "#" symbol in front of the word. 

(this is a great example because if you look at the image she took, it's a great example of the kinds of things to post! She makes adorable cards and is in the process of photographing them as well as giving you an update on what she's doing for her site / business! )

Now that you've tagged things, search similar tags and start following, and liking images from those who post similar things, or an interest in those things. 

From here click on the section and scroll through the images. Like the ones you like, find out who took them, and maybe even start following them! That's how to get discovered by fellow art lovers, designers, vintage enthusiasts, etc! 

You can also look up all of those shops, people, designers, artists and they will likely have their instagram name somewhere for you to find so you can search them and start following them! 

This is what it will look like when you search someone. Just click on the one that you think is correct and start following them. Sometimes liking a few of their images will also catch their attention and may start following you in return! 

Another thing to know, is that you will get notifications every time you sign online and someone has either "liked", commented, or started following you! How to check this is by clicking on the heart 2nd to the right and it will show up with a scroll bar. Try to respond to the people that comment on your things. Especially if they are asking a question or giving a compliment! You can do so by responding with @whoevercommented and then type your message. That way it tags them to know they have been replied to! 

Instagram is also a great place for "promotions", "special codes", and off sales. If you are having a sale then create a picture with all of the information and post it! Share it with all of your followers! 

This is a great example of letting your followers know you're having a sale! 

Now, I've given you a lot of information so far, but one last thing! Here is a list of free and super cheap editing apps to help with your photos!! Sometimes it's worth paying the $1-$2 to get the updated versions for more options. 

The first app being "PicStitch" which is either free for some collages, or $0.99 for a huge variety! I personally enjoy having a huge variety of options but it may not be necessary for you!

Pic Stitch provides a collage like square so that you can show off multiple items / pictures at once! This is useful when you want to show off detail shots of a new painting, an outfit post of new items, etc. 

The next app I enjoy is "over" or "overgram". Overgram is the free version but it will say "overgram" on top of all of your images. If you download the paid version which is $1.99 you will avoid having "overgram" written on top of your photos. 

This app is useful when you need to give you followers information that they might over look if it's written below an image. For example if you're having a sale. You can either just write SALE or you can have more information like the image a few above. 

Lastly, I love this app for editing: Afterlight! Now this app is $0.99 but it's very worth it. It's basically a mini photoshop for your phone. It has so many options to make your photo look more professional.

My favourite feature to this app really is that I can post full length images without having to make them into a square by adding white on either side. This is useful when you have a full image shot that really doesn't look good cropped into a square!! 

So this is it for now, but I will keep doing quick little updates when I learn more, as well as when I discover more free / affordable apps! 

Tips and Tricks

Since the last time I posted I’ve been able to reach a point of steady sales which I began to discover was largely influenced by a few factors:

Number 1: Instagram!

I never realized just how important this app could be until I started getting direct sales from it. The last informative post I did was about Instagram but as I’m realizing, there isn’t enough information in that post and plan to elaborate in the next one. Most importantly, think of your Instagram as another online shop so don’t post bad photos. Still think of it as somewhere to post well-composed inventory shots as well as life photos. But remember, when I say “life photos” it still has to pertain to your business and be related to what you are selling. For example: if you sell handmade jewelry, feel free to post a picture of a friend wearing it, or a photo of your studio, or even a photo of you working on your next piece. I will go into this in further detail in the following post as well as including some leads to free photo editing apps!

Number 2: Building a Community!

 This is something I’ve been building through instagram personally but can be done through blogs, forums, or in person through markets, and networking. It’s always useful and fun to communicate with others who are into your world anyways so why not? For me it’s the vintage world where we talk about vintage clothing and history as well as learn new things from each other. This can benefit our businesses or personal knowledge whether it's running a shop or maintaining a blog! For some of you it will be the art world, the fashion world, or maybe something else all together but it’s good to find like-minded people with the same interests to communicate with. 

Number 3: Have a Policy Page!

 Some of the issues I’ve had to deal with recently pertain to not making my policies clear enough. I will do a full post about Policy Pages and what they should include but you should know to at least have a policy page and it should include: payment methods, shipping, returns, exchanges, as well as other things like layaway and reserve policies.

Number 4: Don't panic over slow sales!

 One of the things I can personally find myself struggling with is either panicking or feeling like a failure when sales slow down. But I’ll tell you right now, it’s not worth beating yourself up over! Take that emotion and turn it into drive by putting it towards new goals and working harder! In this economy you have to expect slow months! It is not always your fault if things are not selling so don’t be hard on yourself. I will also go into this further as a separate post and go more in depth about how to turn wanting to give up into working even harder! 

***all images are from google and are not mine.

I'm back!

Hey Folks, I apologize for the lack of posts over the last couple of months. Rest assured this blog will be continued and updated more consistently starting today! In the past three months that I have been away from this blog, I have picked up and personally experienced new tricks, do's and dont's, as well as information that will help you with your online business. 

The next post will be a little post about some of the small tips and tricks I've picked up and then afterwards I will continue with the blog as I had left it. I will be continuing with the information on free marketing I had started and then will work my way up to bigger discoveries like how to have your own website the affordable way without having to compromise professionalism or individuality. 

This is just a quick update post! I hope to have the following post up by tomorrow!