Etsy: Advanced - Improving Your Shop and Getting More Traffic

I got an email from this person named Jessica Schhope who wrote an ebook called "Etsy: Advanced" that gives advice for marketing your Etsy shop and making more sales. She said that if I agreed to review it on here, she would give me a free copy of it. I'm always trying to figure out ways to increase traffic, improve my shop, etc. and I like reading guides so I figured I'd take up the offer. Here's my review. :)

Etsy: Advanced came in a PDF and Word Document format. The PDF format was 36 pages (with a fairly big font) and it came with a cover (shown above). I liked the PDF format and I like how the ebook was decorated like a magazine with interesting formats on each page and a couple graphics.

First, the guide talked about tips for getting to the top of the Google search engine, which is always important. The guide talked about how to improve your ranking on Google, you have to have your link on lots of other sites which I already knew. One thing the guide mentioned that was helpful for me is listing your site on dmoz.org helps you move up in rankings. I looked it up and my etsy shop wasn't on there, so I suggested my URL under Shopping > Crafts. I suggest everyone do that if you have a shop.

The guide then moved away from Google and talked about tagging, which is always important. The guide provided a list of questions to think of when tagging such as "What color is it?" and "Who is it for?". I thought these were good questions to go over while tagging items. She suggested to come up with a big list of tags that could work and the narrow them down. I think I might do this next time I tag because it's a good suggestion. She also provided this link for looking up which words people look up the most on google which can help you pick good tags.

The ebook gave a lot of statistics about Etsy and other Etsians which was fun and helpful. Instead of just giving statistics, the guide let you knew how these statistics could be useful for your shop. I thought that was the perfect way to do it because it makes things simple. I think the ebook could be useful for people on any level and it's not hard to follow.

Some of the statistics were just interesting to read. Like did you know that most Etsians are from California, New York, and Texas? (makes sense since those are highly populated places) Or that the best days to buy showcases are at the beginning of the week? I like how the guide contained what seemed like random information like Etsians' favorite animals and colors. This could be helpful when designing items or logos. Though I don't think you should necessarily use something just because a majority of people on Etsy like it (you want your shop to be unique or your shop might target a specific audience), it is helpful to keep in mind.

One statistic I thought was interesting was only 28% of sellers say they offer gift wrapping services. This was a good tip to me so I added that I do gift wrapping services in my shop policies. I never thought of putting it as a service before. I actually have wrapped items I've sold before that people have asked to be wrapped, but it's good to let people know I do that in my shop.

One section talked about color psychology, which I'm interested in. Color is one of the most important things when customers choose products and it was interesting to see the statistics. My logo uses blue and white and both those colors are associated with trust.

Overall, I really liked reading this guide. It was easy to read and had a lot of tricks I hadn't thought of or read before. It had a lot of helpful information, but it wasn't overloaded with meaningless statistics. It also had a lot of good links on the guide for URLs that were helpful. I will probably refer back to it again when trying to promote my shop or when updating my shop. I wouldn't normally buy guides like these, but I'm glad I had the chance to read this. It looks like she's selling it on her site here for $10. You can also get it for free if you're like me and link her on your blog/site. I would check it out if you're looking for ways to promote or improve your shop.

In unrelated news, I got my photos developed from Italy. Somehow, a light leak got in to my camera and a lot of my photos have a big light streak through them. I think some of them can be fixed with photo editing if the light isn't too bright, but about half seem like they can't be fixed. Luckily, I took a ton of photos so I do have a lot of good photos from Italy. The only thing that bothers me is I spent a lot of money on film and getting them developed. I'm getting a digital copy soon and hopefully will post them in my flickr by next week. :)

Also remember, there's free shipping in my shop this weekend as part of the YART Sale!