Photographing in Gray Scale vs. White

One of the struggles I found I would run into having a white background recently was that not all colours would show up correctly. I'd also struggle with having the background turn out more yellow or blue depending on the weather or the colour of the piece I was photographing. 

(notice how it's hard to see the details within the red dress, and how the other dress has a very yellow background - and that's after photoshop)

So, after some research, I've come to the conclusion that a gray wall might help.

When professional photographers are setting up a photoshoot they often use a "kodak 18% gray" card which does the following:

"The KODAK Gray Card Plus has the property of reflecting red, green, and blue in equal amounts, which greatly facilitates postproduction and color grading."

Read more: http://motion.kodak.com/motion/Education/Publications/Shooting/grayCard(2).htm#ixzz2tihRgkBF

This means that it can help pick up the colours correctly. Now, I tried painting my wall 18% grey (code 6000N with Dulux Paint), but it is simply too dark for the look I'm going for.

After much reading I've come to the conclusion that lighter shades of grey will still work and not be so harsh. 

So if you find yourself struggling with having a white background, this might be a good solution.

Here are a few examples of a successful grey background. 

 https://www.etsy.com/shop/BeeJayKay?ref=fp_treasury_4

 https://www.etsy.com/shop/RuthieJax?ref=pr_faveshops

https://www.etsy.com/shop/machinedance?ref=search_shop_redirect

https://www.etsy.com/shop/DearGolden

Updated Statistics!

I really do find that posting new items or re-listing older listings at the right time can truly effect your sales. This is why I have continued recording my statistics and want to share my updated information:

As the statistics continue, Thursday seems to be creeping up as an important day just as Mondays and Sundays. 

Popularity of days in order: Mondays 17.6%, Sunday 17.2%, Thursday 15.5%, Wednesday 15.3%, Tuesday 14.7%, Saturday 14.2%, Friday 5.1%

Sales on specific days in order: Sunday 16.5%, Thursday 15.9%, Monday 15.3%, Friday 14.7%, Wednesday 14.1%, Saturday 11.6%, Tuesday 11.6%

Best time for sales: 10AM - 4PM

Best time for attention (admirers): 10AM - 8PM 

What do I do if I go on Vacation?

Something you may be wondering is, what to do while you're on vacation / going to be away for a while.

Well luckily there are a few options!

If you are away for no more than a week or so, here are some clever options I see used a lot:

1) simply tell your customers by adding that you will be away from (place dates here) until whenever and that items purchased between those dates will not be shipped until (place date here).

2) this is the option I usually go with: have a sale while you're gone! Make people think that the wait is worth it because they got a great deal on that item. Usually even 10% off is a reasonable vacation sale. So have your information say for example: "Vacation Sale! Save 10% off between Feb.4 til Feb.10th - all items ship Feb. 11th"

If you are going to be away for any longer than a week I would recommend simply putting your shop on "Vacation Mode". Yes, that does mean your shop will not be available to customers. Your shop will appear but no items will be available. It will however give shoppers an option to request an email notification letting them know when your shop will be available again. You can also write in the info & appearance section that you will be away from (place dates here) so they know when to expect you back. 

Here is how to do that:

1) go to "info & appearance" then scroll down to click on "options"

2) then click on "vacation mode" and turn it to "on". You can also write your announcement explaining why you are away and for how long.

You can also have an automatic message respond to anyone who may try to contact you while you are away. Something like "We are currently away and will not be able to get back to you until Feb.15th. Thank you for understanding! Kind regards, -businessname" -> this is not a necessary thing to do, just a good option if you will not have access to the internet while you are away.

 Once you save, this is what your page will look like:

Treasury Etiquette

After having your shop up for a while, you may notice messages letting you know that your item has made it's way into a treasury. Now this is great news! That means someone is helping promote your item. But what is the right way to respond to that?

Some messages will literally say "no need to respond" and in that case you don't need to reply in the messages. Usually it's not expected that you respond regardless, but a simple "thank you" is never harmful. The typical thing to do is to check out the treasury that they have created. 

It's always nice to "admire" it, even if it's not totally your thing. Plus, if your profile is open, it will show the treasuries you have admired and they'll notice your items. Just more simple marketing. 

It's also always appreciated to leave a little thank you comment. Try saying different things on different treasuries. Comment on something you like about it before saying thank you as well. Something simple like "I love you colour choices, thank you so much! :)" or "Great selection of dresses! Thanks for including mine!"

If you notice in the image, it will also show which people commenting have a featured item in the treasury. That way they can find you easier and see that you care about the effort someone put into their treasury!

This will go along way helping show you are part of the community. 

Also, don't forget to create a couple of treasuries yourself once in a while! For help with that, here is the treasury link:

http://anewstartonline.blogspot.ca/2014/01/creating-treasury.html

Tagging & Re-Tagging

We have discussed tagging before, but I'd like to expand those thoughts. Let's talk about re-tagging a listing that isn't receiving the attention it deserves. For example, I recently had a dress in my shop that I thought was amazing and should be getting tones of attention but had zero admirers. I decided to take a minute and read over my listing and see what changes could be made. It ended up being the "tags" that I thought could be improved. I often copy other listings and forget to change up the tags for specific items. I went ahead and changed a few tags to ones I knew where more popular or more related to the item, I then renewed the listing and within 24 hours it had a fair number of admirers! 

This is just an example of why Tagging can be very important. That dress is now more likely to sell then it was when it wasn't tagged correctly. 

Here are a number of links from etsy explaining the best ways to tag, what tags are, and how to use them:

WHAT ARE TAGS?

Guidelines & Tips: Brainstorming Keywords for Tags & Titles

How to Get Found in Search 

How Do I Make Sure My Items are Being Found in Search?

When re-tagging, try first going to your shop stats and looking into which tags are being most commonly searched. Try applying those tags to any item it relates to, then move onto other tags from there.

Another idea is to do some research of other shops like your own. Let's say you sell black and white photography: look up the other successful shops that sell similar themed black and white photography, then click on a few of their listings. If those listings have a large amount of admirers, chances are they've tagged them well. So scroll to the bottom of the listing and see what tags they have used. Try giving those a shot! 

Paid Promotions on Etsy

Another way of promoting your site is through Etsy itself. It is not free but like facebook ads you can set a budget for yourself. Try searching an item on etsy and you will notice the "sponsored" ads at the top, well that's what you'd be paying for.

This is Etsy's description of search ads:

Search Ads on Etsy are a new way to highlight your items on Etsy search results pages. When you purchase Search Ads, you can:

• Decide which items to promote
• Set a maximum weekly budget
• Control how long your ads run
• View your ads' performance stats

And here is a link to further information: 

https://www.etsy.com/search-ads

So to be able to do that you click on "search ads"

There is even a great video that helps explain what the search ads do! Feel free to watch it before moving on. 

Next you're going to choose what part of your shop you would like to promote. You can change this at any time so pick the one you think would help your shop out the most.

From there you're going to add "tags". Tags being what helps your item come up in the search the same way those fox cards appeared when I searched fox cards. It will also come up with your most commonly used tags and titles, you're welcome to change them to what ever you think is going to be most useful.

Lastly, you're going to set your weekly budget. You can also change that at any point along the way. So if you put it too high or too low, you can change that later. Or maybe you have a little more to spend one month vs. another slower month.

You can find out how your search ads are doing by going to your "shop stats" section and scrolling to the bottom of the page. There you can figure out how productive your ads are doing and how much you should or shouldn't be spending. Even if it doesn't lead to direct sales, it's still a good thing if it's bringing in attention to your shop.

Creating a Treasury!

Today I'd like to explain how and why create a "treasury" on etsy. A treasury is what shows up on the front screen of etsy. It's a grouping of listings that look good together, usually with a theme, to help promote those items & shops.

This image is from the current cover of etsy as an example of what it looks like. It is usually a grouping of both vintage and hand made items, as well as a mixture of a variety of items. (and don't worry, this is only something to do maybe once a month)

So why create a treasury? 

It shows you are part of the community and care about the promotion of others as well as yourself. It can in turn bring your shop attention.

Notes before you get started:

-do NOT put any of your items in your own treasury

-only use one item from each shop as to get a bigger variety of sellers.

Okay, so how do you get started? Well on the main page of etsy you'll find at the bottom left hand corner is a list of things one of them being "treasury".

Then to your right will be an option to "create a list"

But go ahead and take a look at some of the current popular treasuries to get an idea of what good treasuries look like. Then think of a theme. I often go through my favourites to see if anything looks good together and come up with a theme from there. 

So give your treasury a title, and possibly even a little description. You should also add related "tags" so that people can find your treasury easier. From there you just put the link of the items into the "listing URL" section and press "ok". The image will then show up. You can re-adjust where each image goes after you've put them all in place. 

Once you are done, make sure to save and publish it. You can then send all of the sellers a quick little message with a link to the treasury. Most sellers prefer a short little message like "I added your item to my "theme" treasury! Enjoy!" followed by the link. 

Here are some lovely treasury samples I have discovered on etsy:

By: Typo Boutique

By: King Fisher Lane

 By: Aroma Candles

 By: Bubsy Ink

All of these examples have a great use of both vintage and handmade items as well as a varied variety of items. Some even mix men's and women's wear into one treasury. This is great for everyone!