Time Your Listings to Peak Hours — Get More Sales

Everything Etsy has an interesting post up about timing your listings to get more sales. They list the exact time frames that they believe are the best for getting more views and sales. I am curious if your experiences match up to the advice given here. What are your favorite times to list?

Another note - I am running low on product pictures to feature along with my blog posts. If you want to be featured, or I missed you this time around (sorry if I did, was just an oversight!) please send over your shop information to my email. Thanks!

we have a winner!

Congrats to kiddo (Suzanne Gregg) for winning Amanda's giveaway!! I have given Amanda your info and she should be in touch with you shortly.

--Jordan

Customized Shop Analysis

I am very excited to announce my new service available on Etsy. Please check out my shop for details on the customized shop analysis. Thanks!

etsy photo tips

Etsy has a great series on the storque from last year I believe titled "How-Tos for the Holidays". I wanted to share with you the video on photographing your items - it is chock full of great tips and ideas for taking great pictures of your work.

Also - don't forget that today is the last day to enter the giveaway. It seems that Amanda's cards are quite popular around here. good luck!!

(Every Picture Tells a Story hand stamped necklace by Kristen's Custom Creations. Thanks Kristen!)

Free Accounting Software & Tutorial

If you are like me, business accounting is something that always seems to end up as a bottom priority. We are already heading towards the end of the year, and I have a LOT of catching up to do! I am happy to say that Holly from Accounting Spot comes to the rescue once again! On her fabulous blog, she points out that Quickbooks offers a totally free solution called Simple Start. Holly is offering a free tutorial that walks you through how to set up Quickbooks Simple Start to work with your Etsy shop. I now know what I am doing this weekend :) Thanks Holly!

Five ways (under $15!) to boost your Etsy business

I am really so impressed with the business savvy of Amanda from Social Circles. As you probably know, she is offering an awesome giveaway for my readers. She contacted me again and offered to give you even more fun stuff ! First she wrote this wonderful article on 5 really smart and economical ways to market your Etsy shop. Also, she is offering my readers 12 free cards on their orders by mentioning Handmade Success. Thanks so much Amanda!

--Jordan

Five ways (under $15!) to boost your Etsy business
by Amanda of Social Circles

1.(FREE!) Get some constructive criticism from your family and friends. You’d be surprised how informative they can be- ask at least 3 family members/friends to view your site and offer you 3 things that they like about it and 3 things that they think you need to improve on. Include someone who has never really been to your site before so that you can ask them how easy your listings are to understand, etc. You’d be surprised at how helpful this can be! Now you will have a list of things that you are doing right, and things that you may need to work on. Also, if you want to take it a step further, and have specific questions about your site, you can even create a free survey (www.surveymonkey.com)

2.($10-$15) Invest in the branding of your business. If you don’t already have a professional looking banner, get one asap! Business branding is one of the keys to success. If your shop doesn’t scream “professional”, chances are that your clients won’t think your work is professional.

3.(FREE!) Do you have a mailing list? No you say? Wait a min--- if you use paypal and have Microsoft Excel- then you may not know it--- but you do! Just follow the steps below. Use your new mailing list to market upcoming sales and events. To make it more interesting to your clients, include an article, jokes or tips relate to your field.

Log into paypal click “view all of my transactions” on the right side. When the screen comes up you will see a small link on right side that says Download “CSV” click it! Choose “tab delimited – all activity” from the box that pops up. Once you have chosen this, the file will take a minute to download. Then a screen will pop up that says “Do you want to open or save this file” click “Save”. Save the file to your desktop. Now open Microsoft Excel. Click “file” then “open” and locate the file on your desktop. When you choose the file a window will pop up. Make sure “delimited” is checked and click “next” until you are all done. “POOF!” Like magic you will have your own mailing list of all your customers! Here is a link on how to open a tab delimited file in Microsoft excel if you need help. http://www.sabine.k12.la.us/instruction/guides/tab_and_comma_delimited_files.htm, just scroll down to “Importing Tab or comma Delimited File”

4.(FREE!) Have any happy customers? Use their testimonials! Have you received any great feedback from your customers? Ask them if it is ok to use their feedback for your site. On the front page of your site in your shop description write “a few words from some of my happy customers” or “featured feedback”, and include their feedback. Talk about credibility! Not every etsian knows that they can read “feedback” or has time to do so. By placing feedback on your main shop page for everyone to view, you just added a huge amount of credibility to your site. This is especially important when starting up a new business!

5. ($14.95) Get a unique one of a kind business card that stands out from the rest- and then pass it out like crazy. Your business card is one of the first impressions of your business. Make it a lasting impression with a fresh new design. One of my favorite new shops on etsy offers super chic cards: socialcirclecards. These one of a kind round cards come complete with their own carrying case that clips to your bag- so they will travel with you wherever you go. Now when you meet a new mom at a park, or see a bulletin board, you won’t be caught without a card. Pass out your new cards everywhere- give them to your friends, pass them out at the playgound, give some to your hairdresser, the possibilities are endless! These little cards are great attention getters and ice breakers because they are different! Tell Amanda that you read about her cards on the “handmade success” blog and she will even offer you 12 free cards with your order. www.socialcirclecards.etsy.com

business/calling card giveaway!

GIVEAWAY SPONSOR:
I was so excited when Amanda of Social Circles contacted me for a giveaway. Amanda's cards are unique and noticeable - a great marketing tool themselves! There are countless ways that you could use these cards.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS FOR:
Amanda is graciously giving away one free starter set of cards (24 cards and case- a $18.90 value w/ shipping. I know the hardest part about winning this giveaway will be actually choosing the right cards, they are all so adorable.

HOW TO ENTER:
After you visit Social Circles, post a comment to this blog post letting me know what your favorite item is from Amanda's store.

Please be sure to leave an email address (if not in your profile) so I can contact you if you are the winner.

EXTRA ENTRIES - For each of the following you will be given one extra entry in the contest:

*Blog about this giveaway and post a link in the comments of this post.
*Send out a Tweet about this giveaway and post a link in the comments of this post.
*Subscribe to the Handmade Success blog email or RSS feed. Leave a comment on this post indicating that you have done so.
*become a fan of my Facebook page (if you are already a fan, let me know) and leave a comment on this post indicating your Facebook user name.

GIVEAWAY RULES:
END TIME - This giveaway ends on Friday, OCTOBER 30, 2009, 9:00pm PST.
WHO CAN ENTER - Anyone with a valid email address (will be notified this way).
PICKING WINNER - Each entry will be assigned a number. After the contest is closed, a number will be randomly generated. The entry associated with that number will be the winner! If I do not hear back from the winner within 5 days of notification, a new winner will be drawn.
WINNER NOTIFICATION - The winner will be notified via email within 24 hours of contest end, as well as, a post here on the blog.

SO, Good luck!