Small Ceramic Box by SquealWithDelight on Etsy

Small Ceramic Box by SquealWithDelight on Etsy

Ceramic Box #1

Some Advice on Listing a New Item and What Category/Categories to Put It In

    I've now blogged about listing four different porcelain boxes: #1 Brown, #50, #15, and #1 Yellow (in order). Each one was posted on a separate day and each one was put in a different Category or Subcategory on Etsy. I'm doing that to figure out which Category or Categories would be best to put these boxes in from now on. Here are the stats so far:

#1 Brown - 5 days ago - 29 views..................................................Ceramics and Pottery...Home Decor

#50     -      3 days ago  -  14 views + a feature in a treasury...........Art...Sculpture...Ceramic

#15      -      2 days ago - 19 views................................................Housewares...Box

#1 Yellow - 4 hours ago - 6 views.................................................Ceramics and Pottery...Decoration

     Unfortunately, I cannot attribute views solely to people happening upon my boxes though. Both #1s and #15 were shared on my personal Facebook. I just now "liked" my #50 on Things to Make you Squeal with Delight on Etsy to make it even.

Small Ceramic Box by SquealWithDelight on Etsy

Small Ceramic Box by SquealWithDelight on Etsy

The Stats:

#1 Brown - 7 days ago - 31 views.......................................Ceramics and Pottery...Home Decor

#50     -      5 days ago  -  21 views + a feature in a treasury......Art...Sculpture...Ceramic

#15      -      4 days ago - 23 views.............................................Housewares...Box

#1 Yellow - 2 days ago - 11 views........................................Ceramics and Pottery...Decoration

#325    -     11 mins ago - 0 views.............................................Housewares...Box

I tried listing this porcelain box in the Housewares category again. We'll see how that works out. I'm thinking #15 took off nicely, so hopefully box #325 will too.

New Logo - Phase 1

     My cousin Erich can create anything from scratch on the computer. He is normally always drawing guitars and the coolest thing is that you cannot tell if it's a photograph or not. Well, I asked him if he could make a logo for Things to Make you Squeal with Delight and this is what he came up with! This is just the first phase of it since he told me he didn't like the font he used. So he'll be sending me the Photoshop file and I will tinker with that. This is very exciting for me!

Small Ceramic Box by SquealWithDelight on Etsy

Small Ceramic Box by SquealWithDelight on Etsy

Small, Porcelain Ceramic Box #15

1.75" long / 1.375" wide / 1.375" tall

Created in Spring of 2010

This unique little box was hand-formed using a porcelain clay body. First, I formed a solid rectangle out of the clay and let it stiffen a little; then, I hollowed out the box with a wire tool. The clay which was carved from the inside of the box was then shaped into the lid. The box was then bisqued, rubbed with a copper carbonate wash, and finally low fired to cone 04. The porcelain maintains it's beautiful, pure white and the fired copper carbonate goes from light brown to black, matte to metallic. It is stamped with the number 15 in the corner of the lid.

Small Ceramic Box by SquealWithDelight on Etsy

Small Ceramic Box by SquealWithDelight on Etsy

     Listed another Small Ceramic Box today on my Things to Make you Squeal with Delight Etsy store. This unique little box was hand-formed using a porcelain clay body. First, I formed a solid rectangle out of the clay and let it stiffen a little; then, I hollowed out the box with a wire tool. The clay which was carved out of the inside of the box was then shaped into the lid. The box was then bisqued, rubbed with a red iron oxide wash, and finally low fired to cone 04. The whole box is covered in red iron oxide and rubbed almost away in some places giving the box an aged, used look with a watercolor-type-effect. The color ranges from pale red (where thin) to a deep rusty red (where thick). It is stamped with the number 50 in the corner of the lid.

Small Ceramic Box by SquealWithDelight on Etsy

Small Ceramic Box by SquealWithDelight on Etsy

So a new addition to my shop is a line of ceramic ware that I made last year. I have about 15 of these ceramic boxes left of the 20 I made for a piece called Compartmentalization. Here's a picture!

     I will be selling these boxes separately for $10 each.
     And to top it off, as I have learned is the best practice on Etsy, I will not be listing them all at the exact same time! I will either list one or two in a day at peek hours (times when people are out of work). A bit of advice, when listing a couple items a day, do one of the following:
     ~List them an hour or more apart or
     ~You could list two items one right after another if they are going to be put into two different categories (ie one in ceramics, the other in jewelry).

Knit Earring Holder by SquealWithDelight on Etsy

Earring Holder-Knit by SquealWithDelight on Etsy

     My newest Knit Earring Display is listed on Etsy. It is called Fresh Cut Lawn and features a cute little orange and yellow flower on a bulky, green yarn and framed by gorgeous bamboo.

     This earring organizer took a while to get just right because the yellow bamboo frame is so bright that I really needed the perfect green to go with it. Becca had knit me a cute yarn panel for this frame, but unfortunately it was too earth-toned for the vibrant color of the frame. So I spend some time knitting a panel for it with my Apple Green yarn instead. I debated forever on the color of felt to use on the flower, too. Well, it's come together nicely and is finally up for sale.

Tag.... You're It!

Finally got to revamp my Etsy store's listing tags. Things to Make you Squeal with Delight is updated with all of the hottest trend tags.

Update on the views for my Knit Earring Holder titled "Becca's Chocolate Raspberry" : I went from being at 38 views for a long time to 41 since my last blog post. With the renovated tags, things should pick up!

Putting it all into Action!

Today, I'm putting what I have been learning into action and have changed one of the Listing Titles in my store from the less commonly searched phrase "earring display" to "earring holder". My Knit Earring Holder currently has 38 views for the month that it has been listed (I am guessing I take up about 5 of those views, too!). Let us see if things change!

Tagging Your Etsy Items

     Tagging is a way to supply the Etsy Search Engine with the words that will lead people to your products. They are important! But you have a very limited amount to use for each listing. Today I am blogging about a blog that was about a discussion thread. lol I love it!

     The name of the blog post is Community Advice: Tagging Woes. It was written by Etsian daniellexo. It, too, points people towards Craftopolis. "Craftopolis will tell you exactly which of your tags brought in the views," says Etsy username AndersonBraid. So I'm glad to hear someone else suggest that, it just cements it in my mind as a useful tool to learn. (Something I still need to do.)

     Another tool mentioned in this blog article is Google AdWords. This VERY useful video for Etsy sellers talks about using AdWords as well as some other extremely helpful tips about Search Engine Optimization. It talks about everything I've blogged about so far, actually! Hey, I don't know about you, but repetition helps me learn. :)

Search Engine Optimization

Today, I am learning about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Etsy does all that for you (ie you can't mess with the HTML to help yourself out), but today I am acting as SEO Adviser for my husband who is a web developer.  He knows how to make a website, and I am learning how to make sure that website gets in the top 10 when certain terms are googled. It can be a very time consuming task! As I said, this isn't very relevant to Etsy sellers. BUT I have learned a couple things I've learned so far that are helpful:

1. When you title a new item for sale: keep it simple. Call it what it is. For example, don't list a set of earrings called "Dainty Glitter Fairy Wings." That will not be put into the "relevant" category if someone searches for earrings. Call them "Earrings: Fairy Wings" or something short. Think about the terms people will use to search for your item.
2. How do the search engines do what they do?! When a term is searched on Google (or any other search engine), it determines if a site is relevant to your search by checking out the following:

• It first looks for pages containing your exact phrase first. Having the exact phrase in your Title is important.
• Then it looks for pages that have those words close together but not necessarily even in the same sentence.
• It also looks for synonyms of the words your searched for.
• Then it looks at pages that have those words scattered around the page.

So: The content you provide for your item description should contain keywords (words people may use to search for your item) as well!

Etsy Mini

Like the little Etsy store preview widget off to the right of my page there? It is called Etsy Mini and it was not hard to install! Here's how to do it yourself:


Step 1: You've got to have an Etsy account, but you don't have to have a store. A quote from the Etsy Mini page that I'm about to lead you to: "It can show items from your shop (for shop owners) or items from your favorites (for everyone)."


Step 2: Make sure you're signed in and then go to Your Account in the top right of the page.


Step 3: In the list of options on the right of the screen, scroll down to the Promote section and click on Etsy Mini.


Step 4: Follow the simple step by step instructions on your screen! Here are the options I chose:

1. Items from my shop.
2. Thumbnail (75px square).
3. 2 columns + 3 rows.

Step 5: You will then need to copy the code given at the bottom of that screen. I chose to use the JavaScript code.

Step 6: Where to paste? Since there are lots of places you may want to share your Etsy Mini, I can't cover them all. What I had to do for Blogger.com, though, is the following:

1. When signed into your Blogger.com account, click on Design to edit your blog.
2. Depending on the layout you have chosen, the link to Add a Gadget should be in multiple places on this page. Choose the place you want to add your Etsy Mini (I think the sidebar is a classy choice) and click on Add a Gadget.
3. There will be a popup screen that opens. In the Basics section of this new screen scroll down to HTML/JavaScript and add it.
4. Next popup screen: You can add a title like I did (Things to Make you Squeal with Delight is my Etsy store name). Then paste the code into the Content section.

Wa-la! You have Etsy Mini!

To Bring You Up to Speed...

December 2010: "Here's a thought: I have no job so can finally dedicate time to sell my crafts on Etsy!"

January 2011: "Hey, Becca! Let's work together and make some things to sell on Etsy!" -Heather "Okay, Heather! Let's do it!" -Becca

February 4th: My Etsy shop called Things to Make you Squeal with Delight was created, but I had no products to list yet.

March 10th: The first products (Knit Earring Displays) were put up for sale!

As of today:

• Number of Knit Earring Displays listed for sale: 6.
• Number of sales: 0.
• Shop Hearts: 5 (most of them friends tho).
• Highest amount of views on an item: 87.
• Lowest amount of views on an item: 23.
• Level of ambivalence: 100%.

I just so happened to be exploring Etsy and I stumbled into an online information chat session for beginners. Score! Here is the list of things I need to do to help my store which I gleaned from that session:

Read:

• The Etsy Seller Handbook: All Our How-To's About Selling
• Etsy Success for Beginner Sellers
• Etsy's Guide to Custom Work

Learn About Shipping:

• Seller How-to: Shipping
• Research on USPS

Get Involved in the Etsy Community:

• Teams
• Treasury Lists

Learn about Search Engine Optimization:

• Read SEO for Dummies
• Learn what is being searched for using Google Adwords Keywords Tool.
• Learn about Google Alerts.
• Try out Craftopolis.
•  See if people are talking about me at Social Mention.

And last but not least: LEARN ABOUT BLOGGING!

• Read: Etsy's Guide to Blogging.
• Join: Etsy's Blog Team.
• Get the Pocket Shop for my blog.
• Maybe read this book: 52 Weeks of Blogging.
• An example of an Etsy blog.