Old school Etsy

I should have added this last week when I was celebrating my 3rd anniversary, but here's a screenshot of what Etsy looked like when I joined:

What I have learned over the last 3 years...

Tomorrow (june 19th) I am celebrating 3 years of selling on Etsy.com.  Tonight I spent an hour or so looking through the first few pages of sales I had on Etsy, going over the photos, reading the listings, and thinking back to when I first started out.  The site, my work and my shop has changed a lot in those 3 years!

So, what I have I learned?  Well, I learned that it takes a lot of time to sell online.  Time creating, time photographing, and most of all, time promoting.  3 years ago I had no idea what a blog was, how to make a banner, barely used forums, and didn't even know what an avatar is! LOL 

Photographing your work in a way that not only shows off the piece, but will also catch your customer's eye is key. My early photographs were badly lit and taken from too far away.  Once I learned how to use the macro on my camera, experimented with using different colored backgrounds and photo editing software -- my photographs really improved.

Probably the most important thing I learned was that YOU have to promote your shop.  A lot of times people sign up for a shop on Etsy, list their items and expect to sell right away.  You really do have to work hard on getting your name and your work out there.  It takes a lot of time and effort, but it's worth it in the end.  Sure, sometimes you get lucky, the right person sees your work at the right time, talks it up and your shop takes off.  But that's not always the case, so you have to make things happen for yourself.

Celebrating 3 Years On Etsy! Sale!

Zen Creations is celebrating 3 years with Etsy.com on Thursday, June 19th at http://zencreations04.etsy.com.

From 12am to 11pm EST I will be offering 15% off all regular priced items in my shop . To get your discount, enter this code in the Message to Seller box when purchasing: 3RD YEAR . Complete your order, but Do not use the payment link Etsy provides. I will send you an invoice with the discount applied to your total.

Don't forget: etsy has a shopping cart function, making shopping on Etsy even easier!

2 buyers will be chosen at random to recieve 20% off, 1 buyer will get 25% their total purchase and 2 people will get a free gift! All orders over $80 will get FREE shipping!

Greencastle, Mercersburg and Hagerstown residents - if you want your order delivered or arrange a pick up, please let me know and I will remove the shipping fees.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me, or you can find me from 8pm to 11pm EST in a chat room at Etsy.com. The location and password for the chat room will be posted in my shop that evening at 7:55pmEST.

To enter the chat room, you will need an Etsy.com user account. To get one, go to http://etsy.com and create an account. It only takes a few minutes, and it's free to sign up!

Please feel free to pass this information along to family and friends and watch for more new items to be listed throught the week!

Treasury!

Here are 2 great treasuries that feature some of my jewelry. Thanks MonkeyBuns!


and JewelryCreations!

A sneak peek...

The last 3 weeks I have been getting Rituxan treatments for ITP. I spend 1 day a week at the hospital getting it and the next few days not feeling all that well. Trying to make the best out of this sitation by using this time off from my day job to work on new pieces. The result is several new pieces which will be listed in my Etsy shop over the next few weeks.

Here's a sneak peek for my loyal blog readers!

New Website!

Check out the new Zen Creations website!

 

Zen Creations Jewelry

I'm loving the design!!! I don't have a shopping cart yet, so for now, everything will link back to the sections in my Etsy shop. It's geat to have matching business cards, blog, website, banner, car magnets and Etsy banner.

5 tips for making the best out of a bad craft show

OK, so we've all been there. You sign up for a craft show, spend weeks getting ready, you get there, set up and then.............. nothing. If you're lucky, you make your space fee back, plus a little extra, but then there are times where you just don't sell a thing. It's even worse if it's a craft show that you've done well at in the past.

So, what do you do? Quit? Go home early? Stop doing shows? No. You make the best of it. Here are my top 5 tips for making the best out of a bad craft show:

1. Work on new pieces. This has 2 benfits. The first is you get somework done instead of just sitting around all day. The second is people can watch you work on your creations and a lot of times this sparks interest. People like it when they can see that what you selling is handmade by you. Even better when they've watched you make the piece they bought.

2. Research - Customers. Listen to what people are taking about when they are looking at your goods. What pieces get the most compliments? What pieces get overlooked? What colors are people drawn too, etc. Listen to your target audience and what their needs are so you can work on filling that need.

3. Research - Displays and packaging. Take a walk around and look at other people's displays and packaging. Find inspiration from that for your own displays. Take some time to consider your displaying needs, what works in your booth now and how you can improve it for the next show.

4. Find your "hot spot". Every booth at a craft show has a "hot spot", that one place where people always seem to notice first in your space. That spot that, whatever you put there, people notice it and it draws them in. Once you've found that spot, try changing the pieces that are there every so often and see which draws people in the most.

5. Network. This is the perfect time to network with other crafters in your area. Talk to the other vendors and found out about future craft shows, contact info, suppliers, etc. These are people that you will most likely run into again and again at local shows and it doesn't hurt to get to know them a little bit.

Strawberries!

This Saturday the Mercersburg Lioness Club is hosting the Strawberry Festival in Mercersburg, PA. If you're in the area, stop by the Lion's Club Park from 9am to 3pm and check out the crafts, food, strawberries and fun dog show. Don't forget to look for us while you're there!

Here are some great Strawberry items that I found @ Etsy.com!

Etsy Buy Handmade zencreations04

The little things count!

One of the things I have learned over the last 3 years is that all the little things make a difference with advertising -- never miss an opportunity. For instance - your bags at craft shows. Bags are a perfect opportunity to advertise your goods. You should always include your business cards in your bags. I usually use some of the downtime at shows to stuff bags with my business cards. That way, if you get a rush of customers, your bags are all ready to go.

Another thing I started doing was decorating my bags. You don't have to spend a lot of money on your bags, and it only takes a little time to spruce them up a bit. Since I sell jewelry, I can get away with smaller bags. I purchase the brown paper bags from the grocery store and decorate them with 3 different stamps. The first one is a long bamboo stamp, the second is a Z stamp and the third is my business stamp which includes my Etsy shop address. They're cheap, simple and look better than plastic bags.