My Promotional Efforts

I've been selling on Etsy since April 2009, and I've tried several different promotional methods. Here they are, in no particular order:

Etsy Showcase
Ad on Craftopolis
Twitter
Facebook
Renewing listings on Etsy
Etsy Forums
Etsy Storque
Etsy Treasury
I've also been chosen for the Etsy Front Page and a Gift Guide.

Some are/were very effective, others not so much. Let's start with the one I'm not going to use anymore.

For me, the Etsy Showcase was not worth the money. I didn't get any sales; I did get a slight increase in site traffic, but not enough to justify the 15 dollars spent. One thing in its' favor, it did bring some new people to my shop, but again, only about 10 or so, nothing dramatic. This is the only promotional method I'm not going to try again.

The ad on Craftopolis ran from the weekend after Thanksgiving for 2 weeks. There was an increase in traffic to my shop, and some were new views, from the ad. It was $28 dollars for the two weeks. I don't know if any sales resulted from the ad. I had 1 sale during the time the ad ran, but I don't ask my customer's about where they heard of Dalkullan. Those two weeks definitely saw an increase in site traffic, and hearts. I'd like to run an ad on Craftcult and compare the results. If you have any experience on advertising on either site, or other promotional methods, I'd love to hear from you!

Renewing listings is something I do when I haven't listed anything new in the last couple of days. It puts your item temporarily at the top of searches, but that certainly doesn't last long in jewelry-world. The 20 cents doesn't sound like much, but they can certainly add up. I look at it as part of my advertising budget, and try not to do it too often.

Etsy Forums are a good way to meet people on Etsy. I've found a lot of gorgeous shops that way, and also learned a lot. You can start a thread, or just post to one. It gets your shop some recognition factor. It's a good place to start a thread in the Promotions section asking for twitter followers and also blog followers or Facebook Fans. Always try to be polite and upbeat on the Forums. There are some real sour lemons there, and some bullies, I can't imagine they're doing their business any good with that kind of attitude. But to each his own.

The Etsy Storque has some very informative articles, some lovely finds from various shops, and you can leave a pleasant comment and also hopefully garner a little buzz for your shop. If you're fortunate enough to get an item picked to be in the Storque, you're one lucky person! I'm still hoping to attain that happiness. Someday! :)

And the Forums and the Storque are free, which is a big plus. I'm going to leave the other methods for my next blog post. Thanks so much for visiting, and wishing you all the best!

Happy New Year!

Wishing you a very Happy New Year!

Changes are occuring at Dalkullan Jewelry, I've opened a shop at 1000Markets! If you don't like the hassle of having to join Etsy, you'll love 1000Markets. There's nothing to join, no PayPal transaction -- unless you prefer to use PayPal! All major credit cards are accepted, and it's backed by the guarantee of Amazon.com Hope you'll come and visit, I've only got 8 items listed, but more are on the way.

Santa was very good to me this year. A new jeweler's bench, lovely new Flex Shaft, and a propane/oxygen torch system. I'll be posting about my new workshop setup in the coming weeks, with some pictures.

Thanks so much for reading my blog, I really am humbled and so thankful for your interest.

All the best,
Heather