A Social Media Checklist

I just happened upon this awesome checklist for your social media marketing strategy.  I try to do something on each channel every day, but it never occurred to me to make up a checklist like this.  Very helpful!

Courtesy of: The Whole Brain Group

Week 3: Seven Sales (woot! woot!)

I'm overjoyed to report that I had seven sales last week!  That's almost double my goal!  For a little etsy shop like mine, seven sales in one week is definitely cause to celebrate!

{celebrate banner by AllSmilesShoppe on Etsy}

When I see a rise in sales like this, I always wonder, what caused it?  Is it just luck or did I do something differently?  This is an extremely difficult question to answer, but one thing I do to try to figure it out is to keep a marketing journal.  Every day I write down anything I did to market my business, for example "tweeted pic of crochet buttons," or "mentioned my shop on my knitting blog."  Then the following day, I check my etsy stats and record my views, hearts, and sales right next to that date.  (I used to do this on a weekly basis, but this year I started doing it daily and I think it is more effective).  I keep track of all this information in a spreadsheet so I will eventually be able to analyze the data with formulas and charts and stuff.  As a bonus, keeping this log is a nice reminder that I should be doing at least one thing every day to market my shop.

How do you try to make sense of what is impacting your sales?  Do you keep a journal too, or have you figured out some other great method?  I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

Product Photography Tip: Using Levels in Photoshop

I know that one of the key things I need to do to increase my sales is improve my product photography.  I am not a skilled photographer and I also have kind of a crappy camera, but luckily I have photoshop, which helps immensely... when I take the time to learn how to use it!  I found a neat tip the other day about how to use the levels adjustment in photoshop when you are photographing against a white background.  I tried it out this week and I'm really happy with the results!

Here is an example of my knitting wine charms in what I thought was a perfectly nice photo:

And here is the same photo with the levels adjusted:

Can you believe the difference??  I was blown away!  Read the article.  It tells you how you can play with the levels in your picture even if you don't have photoshop.

That's a lot of envelopes!

I am committed to making 205 sales this year.  I believe that once you set a goal like that for yourself, the best thing to do is to find a way to make yourself accountable for it.  One way I am making myself accountable is by starting this blog, but I wanted to do something more concrete.  I wanted to find a way to put my money where my mouth is.  And then it hit me....

I am going to buy 205 envelopes.

Once I have 205 envelopes sitting in my office, it is no longer going to be a lofty goal that I am going to make 205 sales, it is going to be a reality - something that I planned and am prepared for.  The envelopes are there to serve as a tangible reminder of the commitment I have made to myself. (Not to mention, it will be fun to watch the pile shrink as the year goes on!)

What about you?  How do you hold yourself accountable for your sales goals?

p.s.  I did a lot of research on the best prices for a quantity of 200 envelopes and it looks like the best deal is right there on etsy itself, through the Shipping Guru.

Week 2: Four Sales

I was in doubt last week that I would make my sales goal, but.... I did it!  The numbers this week are looking pretty good.  I got in four sales, which less than last week, but four sales a week is all I need to be on target for my yearly goal, so I can't complain.  I also managed 419 views and 46 hearts, which I'm psyched about (especially for all those hearts!).

So, I guess the lesson learned here is: believe more, doubt less.

{print by Aga's Box of Miracles on etsy}

Fear of Rejection

I did it.  For the first time, I asked my a customer to sign up for my mailing list.  This is something I have avoided doing it because it's scary to try to build a mailing list.  Why?  Because you have to ask for people's permission to contact them... and they might say no.

So, I asked.  And what happened?  She didn't sign up.  There you go:  I got rejected.  But, hey! The worst happened, and I survived.  From now on I'm going to ask every new customer for permission to add them to my email list.  Eventually one of them has to say yes, right??  Besides....

BTW, I'm using Mail Chimp to manage my direct email campaign.  More on that later.  But, in the meantime, go ahead and take a look at this beautiful newsletter I sent out to my mailing list...  even though I'm currently the only one on it....

International Shipping for your Etsy Shop

Ooh la la!  I just got my first order from France!  I just love getting international orders.  Since I started the shop, I have shipped to 15 different countries.  (Just for fun, I keep track of them all on a cool shipping map that I created using TravBuddy!)  Last year 25% of my sales were international and so far this year, half my sales have been outside of the United States.  If you're not shipping internationally, you really should consider doing it.

Here were my concerns when I started shipping internationally:

1.  It will be super expensive to ship the packages.

This hasn't been true for me.  My items are small so I am able to ship them first class international mail, which only costs about $2 more than it does to ship domestic (and less than that if it's only going to Canada).  With etsy shipping options, you can charge different shipping rates to customers in different countries, so it is easy to just pass the extra shipping expense on to your international customers.

2.  I have never shipped anything internationally and I don't know how to do it.

Sometimes international addresses look a little funky, but just copy it onto the package exactly as your customer entered in into etsy and you'll be okay.  Then, all you have to do is fill out a customs form, which is super easy.  You can find them at the post office with all the other forms for things like insurance and delivery notification, etc.  It takes less than 2 minutes to fill out.  OR, if you use etsy shipping labels (and you really should!) etsy fills out all the information for you!  Easy-peasy!

3.  I don't want to deal with all sorts of international customs fees and stuff like that.

You don't have to.  From what I've been told by the folks at the post office, anything like that is actually your customer's responsibility, not yours.  If there are any fees to be paid, the customer will get the bill from their own country when they accept delivery of the package.  (And they said in most cases, there wouldn't be any fee unless you are shipping something that is very expensive, but it all varies on a country-by-country basis).  Just to make things super clear, I include a statement in my shop policies that says this: "For international purchases: custom fees, duty fees or import fees and taxes are the responsibility of the buyer and not included in the shipping fees."

4.  I don't know how to attract international customers.

Don't worry, as long as you have it entered into etsy that you ship internationally, they will find you through their country's etsy site.  One thing to consider is that your product might be called something different in other countries, so you want to be sure you include different terminology in your listing keywords.  For example, I sell pinback buttons, which are called "badges" in other English-speaking countries, so I need to be sure to include the word "badges" in my listings if I want to get those sales.

That's just a summary of what I have learned through my own experience shipping internationally.  I think it's a great business strategy to get more customers and it's just really neat to know that people in other countries want your stuff!  If you have any additional insights into this topic, please feel free to share in the comments!