More Info on Treasuries

Here's some useful info from MaryMary, an Etsy staffer, about how to get your Treasury on the Etsy front page. I cut and pasted it from a thread on the Etsy Forums, "When Do Treasuries Show Up On The Etsy Front Page"

"Not all Treasuries are featured on the homepage, but we do try to mix things up. Some tips to keep in mind if you are making a Treasury with the goal in mind of it being featured on the homepage are:

* Use all 16 item slots, including all 4 alternates spaces.
* Make sure all 16 slots are from different sellers.
* Try not to use an item from one of your own shop/s.
* Include a variety of represented categories throughout your collection.
* Include a variety of price points throughout your collection.
* Use items with clear, crisp, and most importantly, inspiring photos.
* Try not to use the same sellers or friends frequently when you make new collections. We are trying to use more community made Treasury lists moving forward and will be looking for lists with broader variety. For example, using items or sellers that have been featured on the homepage recently isn't a best practice for having your list featured on the homepage. "

Very interesting info, because getting on the Front Page can be a major boost to your shop. Having other people put your items in their Treasuries is a great promo for you, it's free, people will see your item who wouldn't ordinarily view it, and maybe they'll visit your shop, too.

The best way to get in Treasuries is to have great photos. I've found making a light box and getting a couple of full spectrum light bulbs to illuminate it to be a big help; then I'm not dependent on the weather for when I can take photos. There are a lot of great tutorials online about taking good photos.

Wishing you every success with your online marketing, and happy crafting!

Heather

My Promotional Efforts -- Part Two

I have an earlier blog posting about how to make an Etsy Treasury, take a look at it if you'd like to find out how to make one. It's on Monday, Nov. 9th in this blog.

How do they work as a promotional tool? That is difficult to fully answer, because a lot of promotional efforts are impossible to really define as far as how much traffic they bring to your shop, and how many sales result from that traffic. I operate under the assumption that getting your shop better known is always a plus. Treasuries are free, you can list one of your own items in them, and sometimes they're picked for the Etsy Front Page.

I wouldn't spend too much time on Treasuries, because there are better ways to promote your shop. But they're fun, you might get on the Front Page, and sometimes a person you put in your Treasury will reciprocate and put you in one of theirs. Taking really good pictures, using a tag to state the color of your item, and relisting often will get you in Treasuries. Of course, outside of making lovely things that people want, taking gorgeous pictures is the biggest thing in online promotions. The most beautiful bag or ring won't sell if you only have one blurry, badly lit photo of it at your shop.

I've only had one sale of an item while it was in a Treasury, and that Treasury was moved to the Front Page. But I've seen a slight increase in traffic, and gotten some hearts for an item while it was in a Treasury. In my opinion, Treasuries have value as a promotional tool, worthy of some time, but not a major source of traffic or sales. Treasuries are free, and you get the happiness of helping fellow Etsians by promoting their shops in your Treasury. And while putting one together, you'll have the happy experience of seeing a bit more of the beautiful handcrafted and vintage items on Etsy.

Thank you so much for stopping by, wishing you many sales, and happy times with your craft!

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

Sterling Celtic Earrings

My latest design at Dalkullan Jewelry is inspired by Celtic symbols. I'm part Irish, and would love to visit the ancestral homeland someday -- some of my ancestors are from County Cork. But in the meantime, I have a lovely new pair of earrings to remind me of my heritage.

I made numerous drawings of the design before I settled on the one I finally crafted in sterling. I'd originally thought to put a cabochon in the center of each of the 3 silver swirls per earring, but that would have been too heavy. I toyed with the idea of using nephrite jade for the cabochons, but genuine jade is a darker green than I wanted for my design.

Aventurine is a lovely, spring green, with some darker inclusions. It reminds me of green connemara marble. It has such a wonderful contrast with the brightness of the sterling, I think they go very well together.

This is the first design I've crafted where the earwire is soldered to the earring -- it just flows from the main part of the earring. It's a graceful look; I like all the swirls and curves to the design.

If you would like to add Sterling Celtic Earrings to your jewelry wardrobe, I'd be happy to craft a pair just for you!

Universal Wish List

That sounds like wishing for the universe, but that's not what I'm getting at. It's a wish list you can use to gather together your coveted items from all over cyberland. At Amazon.com they've come up with a way.

Just go to Universal Wishlist and after a quick click and drag, you're gold! You just add their little icon to the menu bar of your web browser, and when you're on a page with something you're hoping Santa might put under your Christmas tree this year, just click on the icon. Voila! It's entered into your Amazon wishlist.

So you can just go to, say, hmm, let's see, oh yes! Dalkullan Jewelry , and when you've found that must have piece of jewelry, just click on your new icon, and it's in your Amazon wishlist. What could be more simple and more fun. :-)

Of course, getting friends and family to visit your wishlist and actualize your wishes is another matter....... Sorry, I don't know what to do about that one! But you have all your future purchases together at one handy location, isn't that neat?

Wishing you happy shopping!

Iolite Flower Ring

Iolite is a beautiful gemstone. It's also known as dichroite, because of it's dichroic properties. Its color changes subtly depending on the direction that light shines through the stone.

Iolite isn't usually mined, but is found in gravel beds as a pebble worn smooth by water. On the Mohs hardness scale it's a 7 to 7.5, which makes it suitable for rings. Softer gemstones such as malachite aren't strong enough for the wear and tear of being worn in a ring, but as better used in earrings or necklaces.

I set the iolite cabochon in a bezel setting, which is nestled in a circle of sterling that I hand formed into a shape suggesting a flower. This is a beautiful ring, the violet blue of the iolite is prettily showcased by the gleaming sterling.

As with all my rings, I have completely hand fabricated the Iolite Flower Ring, and can make one for you in any size from 4 to 10, including half and quarter sizes. If you require a size outside this range, just convo me at Dalkullan Jewelry, and I'd be happy to discuss the matter with you!

My Star Trek Treasury

Guess I'm a bit of a geek. Star Trek has been one of my favorite shows, alright, it is my favorite tv show. The original series, with James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock, Bones, and the rest. Oh wait, "and the rest" is Gilligan's Island.

The Treasury is called "To Boldly Go". If you like Star Trek, go take a look. There's some really creative and fun things there!

How to Make an Etsy Treasury

Once the Treasury opens up, you need to be fast. I'd recommend you already have a title for your Treasury. A field will open up towards the bottom of the window, asking for the title of your Treasury. You have a limited window of opportunity to act -- he who hesitates is lost --- well, at least your chance of getting in this particular Treasury will be lost. If you suddenly find yourself in the uncomfortable position of forgetting the title you had in mind, just type in something generic like 'pretty stuff' or 'great finds' and then click on the "create" button.

You'll be stuck with the title you've entered, you can't edit it later on, which is definitely a drawback. If you have a tendency to clutch under pressure, you might want to write down your title.

If you're successful in entering your title, you should be automatically taken to the window to enter in the id numbers for your Treasury. Here's what you'll see:

The "listing id" is a number that every listing is assigned by Etsy, and it's unique to that item. You'll need 12 items, and if you choose to do so, 4 alternates. The alternates are the items in the far right vertical column, other people won't be able to see those items.

The "listing id" is found in the url for an item. For an example, let's find the listing id for my stacking ring set, "Pharoah's Favorites" . It has the following url:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=33474546

The numbers after "listing_id=" are 33474546, and that is, not too surprisingly, the listing id number. You'll need to find them for each item you want for your Treasury, and then cut and paste them into the field for the listing id, and click on "ok". If all goes well, you'll see a thumbnail of the item appear in that section of the Treasury.

I like to think of a theme for my Treasuries, such as the shops of my Facebook Fans, hot color schemes, blue color schemes, etc. I'm sure you can come up with some wonderful Treasury ideas!

Just keep adding more items until you fill up your Treasury, and edit the two fields at the top with a little "edit" button next to them, if you feel so inclined. You can just leave them 'as is' is you wish, many people do. It's your Treasury, you're the boss, so have fun.

After you have all the items in your Treasury, you can move them around by just clicking and dragging. You can put things in the alternate row and move them out of it, too. It's fun to get things looking just right. Kind of like rearranging your furniture, without all the heavy lifting.

You can also get all ready to go before you get your Treasury, by saving the listing id numbers and Treasury title in a file, or email them to yourself, and then all you'll have to do is cut and paste them in when the happy moment arrives and you have your first Treasury!

It's a nice courtesy to send people a quick convo telling them you've put them in a Treasury, but not a requirement. It's also nice to send people who put you in a Treasury a little thank you convo, but again, that's strictly your decision. You might want to do a little P.R. for your beautiful new Treasury -- put the url up on your Facebook page, tweet about it, write it up in your blog, or utilize the "Promotions" section in the Forums.

I got the two pictures I used above from a very helpful guide on the Etsy Forums -- How to Make a Treasury (isn't that a great title, :-) which has a lot of excellent advice.

Hope you'll find this little guide of some help, and please feel free to add your own advice or ask any questions. I'd love to hear from you!

How to Find Out When Etsy Treasuries Open

There are a lot of great features on Etsy. One of which is the Treasury, which is a collection of 12 items that anyone with an Etsy account can pick, and if you're lucky enough to time it when the Treasury opens to new items, you can have posted.

Trying to time it correctly is problematic. Just lurking on the Treasuries, waiting for the number of current Treasuries to drop below the magic number of 222 for the Treasury West, and 333 for the main Treasury, at which they open, is time consuming and nerve wracking. There's a better way, which I'll now divulge. (-:

Just go to http://www.craftopolis.com and click on "Treasury Clock". It will tell you how long before the Treasuries open. One work of warning. I spent a pretty boring and annoying time when the Treasury West was supposed to be opening any minute, because it was at 222 Treasuries. But since the next Treasury to expire wasn't going to do so for 4 more hours, I had a long wait. So open 2 pages on the Treasuries, and use one to click on the link "expiration" on the upper right of the Treasury page. Then click on the last page to find out when the next Treasury will expire. It could be hours away.

Once you've determined a Treasury will soon be opening, leave the page up on the Treasury you're waiting for, and don't refresh the page. Things will happen very quickly once the Treasuries do open. The page will update itself, so just sit tight. Of course, sometimes things don't work out, and for some unexplained reason even though you're diligently watching, the Treasury opens and closes and you don't get a chance to act. That's part of the game, and one must soldier on!

Why the interest in Treasuries? They're fun to make, you get a chance to help promote other Etsians, find out about some of the lovely things for sale on Etsy, and hopefully generate a little buzz about your own shop, too. And a major plus is that if you're very lucky, your Treasury could make it to the Etsy Front Page.

It's a nice courtesy to send a convo to the people you put in your Treasury. You can list one of your own items, and 11 other shops items, plus 4 alternates, which won't appear on the Treasury, unless something sells, then one by one they'll move over to fill in the blanks. Not everyone does send a convo, though, so there is another way to find out if you're in a Treasury.

Go to http://www.craftopolis.com and click on "Treasury Hunt". Then enter your shop name in the field provided, and you'll find out if you're currently in a Treasury.

If you haven't made a Treasury yet, I hope you'll give it a try! I'll be posting next about how to make a Treasury. Thanks so much for stopping by!