Nevermind the view counter, WHERE ARE MY VIEWS?

Sellers are often optimistic when they first open shop. We've all been there, we're crafting away thinking about all the people who will love this new item we've just created. Spent countless hours finding supplies for and putting your blood, sweat and tears into. We get excited, we take our photos. Spend time writing a biography about the creation and the time we toiled over this new thing and then, it sits. It gets 2 visitors, and it sits. A week later it has about 19 views and it's still sitting. By week three, new sellers start to freak out. Older sellers know that this is the Etsy Way, sales flow, they halt. They flow. They halt. We're used to it. But these poor sweet new sellers. They blame themselves, their photos, and the finally come knocking on the forum door for some help. No one is seeing this fabulous new invention! Surely, if they could see it, they would buy it. right?



Here's a brief run down of advice given and my personal opinion on each. You can take it with a grain of salt, or, abide by it. I swear that it works. But, maybe I have luck on my side. Some of the views expressed here are also taken from other community members that I agree with and have loosely translated their words into this section.


1. RENEW. Renewing, in theory seems like a really great idea. It will bump you to the top of the products for sale, and hopefully earn you hundreds of views in the 5 minutes it remains on the first page of it's category and the whole 5 seconds your shop is on the first buyer page. Right? But, the truth is, for $.20, it's not worth it. You're better off expanding your line and adding a whole new item, instead of wasting the money to renew. It also no longer adds 4 months to the end of the period, but instead the renewal starts when it's activated.

2. SPREAD OUT LISTINGS. This is sound advice. Don't toss all your apples into one basket. Spread them out over the course of every half hour to hour. If you don't have a whole lot, consider waiting. List 1-3 a day. Make the most of your products, and that $.20.

3. FORUM ACTIVITY. Some people swear by the forums. I would have to say that 30% of my customers do come from the forums. But I also am not active enough in the forums to really make that distinction. Other than the people who contact me starting out with "I saw you on the forums." I read a lot more than I respond. It cannot hurt to get yourself out there.

4. NETWORKING. 60% of my sales come from networking sites. Flickr, Myspace, Indiepublic, DeviantArt, and such. These are places you can actually build a customer base. And they do work, as long as you are active and use them to actually market yourself. I'll have more on networking and a list of sites later in the blog. Another post, another day.

5. BULLETIN BOARDS. Starbucks has one, the laundromat has one, college, and many other places offer a place for you to put your business card. Find them, and leave your mark. If you can't afford business cards, fliers are a great alternative. You can produce them really cheap, and 4 to a page, in black and white. Photo copy them at your local office store. Cut, and leave a stack at the local music store. Bars typically have places for fliers, too. Don't leave too many of them at bars if your target audience won't typically be there. It doesn't hurt to leave a few.

6. WORD OF MOUTH. Tell your friends. Give your friends gifts of your items. Once you get a few people talking about you, you can get a hundred people talking about you.


Most importantly, don't give up hope. Never rely on Etsy to advertise for you. There are 1 million stores selling their wares on Etsy. Even if Etsy was an advertising machine, the chance that your store is the one store people will find is about 1 in 100. Someone will be looking for what you sell. But if you wait for them, they'll never find you.

Get out there, Etsyians and tell the world that you're here!