Creating a Page
- To sign up for Flickr, click here. You can sign in with your Yahoo or Facebook ID, but I think it's helpful to create a new Flickr account under your business name.
- Flickr doesn't allow people to put their Etsy links under captions for photos so make sure not to break this rule and put your Etsy URL in your profile instead. Add some information about yourself and be sure to include a profile photo.
- With the free version of Flickr, you can upload 2 videos and 300MB worth of photos each calendar month. You can also sign up with a Pro account for $25/year which allows you unlimited uploads. You also get to see statistics of people who come to your Flickr. I have the pro version because I like to upload a lot of photos. I recommend starting with the free version since you can always upgrade.
Keeping it Active
- I like to upload a photo (or a couple photos) of an Etsy item every time I make a new listing. This helps keep my Flickr active and makes it so I'm not just adding a bunch of photos all at once.
- When you upload a photo, add a good title. Captions are great to say more about the photo or tell a story. You can also add tags to categorize your photos and help others find them in searches.
- The map feature is great if you have a lot of photos from different places. Use it to tag locations to your photos.
- Use the organize to easily organize your photos. Click on "Sets & Collections" to create folders to organize your photos. Sets are folders for your photos and collections are ways to organize your sets. For example, I have a collection of my "Etsy and Crafts" and inside that collection I have a sets of "Journals", "Greeting Cards", etc.
- Flickr might delete your account if you only use it to promote your shop so make sure to include some personal/misc photos too. I think of my Flickr as a mix of business and personal. Besides my Etsy stuff, I also post personal photos and other art I've done. Flickr is also a good place to share in the process photos of your crafts and photos of your art studio.
Promoting
- Sign up for different groups with topics that fit your photos. There are a lot of good Etsy groups out there and most teams have a Flickr page. Use the organize page to easily add photos to different groups. I like to do this every time I upload new photos.
- Use the search button, groups or the "Explore" page to find other photos. Favorite photos and make comments on them.
- You can add people as contacts and a lot of the time, they'll add you as a contact back.
- Include your Flickr link in your Etsy shop profile and post on Flickr related threads in the Etsy forums or teams.
Do you use Flickr? If you use it, do you find it helpful in promoting your shop?
Last week I talked about Facebook. Next week, I'll have tips on another social networking website. If there's any social network/promoting website you want tips on or want me to review, let me know in the comments!
1 comment:
Keeping your Flickr account active and changing is important, especially when it comes to web crawlers like Google that like (and are always looking for) new content to index.
There are some Flickr Garden Apps that will help you with this. photoSync, for example, is one of the easiest ways to upload your photos to Flickr using simple drag and drop on the computer. Because it automatically synchronizes your Flickr account and your computer, having new content all the time is a breeze.
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