Let's talk about advertising - erinf115

Last week in Chat we were talking about paid-for advertising, and how effective (or not) it is for Etsy sellers. A few of the chatters in the room mentioned that they had experience with ads, and I've asked them each to answer a few questions about what they learned. Here's the first reply, from member Erin of erinf115:

Q.  Where did your ad/s appear?
A.  I ran a two week ad on Craftopolis in May and just a few days ago gave Facebook ads a try, and ran an ad for 3 days.

Q.  How long the ad/s run?
A.  With Facebook you can tailor to run as little or as long as you like, and set a daily budget so you won't exceed how much you like to spend. You can cast a wide net, or a tiny one, by targeting your audience.

It's a very interesting tool and I'm just starting to noodle around with it in the past couple of days. I recommend to everyone to take a peek and see what it has to offer!
Craftopolis ads run by the week.

Q.  What did the ad/s cost?
A.  With Facebook, you set how much you'd like to spend, and you choose if you'd like to pay per "impression" (how many times they put the ad on "out there") or per click (if someone actually clicks your ad and gets taken to your shop or Facebook fan page) I chose a very small amount of $4.00 per day (something like $.60 a click) just to get my feet wet and see what the results would be.
With Craftopolis, a two week ad ran for $22.00.

Q.  What results did you expect? (views? clicks? hearts? convos? sales?)
A.  With both Craftopolis and Facebook, I wasn't sure quite what to expect. I chose to do them as a "test" - and expected views to go up and perhaps some sales.

Q.  How did you measure your results? (Google Analytics? Other tools/sites? Observation?) How did the ads do? Were they effective quickly and/or over time?
A.  For Craftopolis, I did this a few months ago before I had Google Analytics set up. I went to Craftopolis and Craftcult to check my views and hearts. My views skyrocketed, as did my hearts.  Before the ad ran, I averaged about 2 new shop hearts a day.

When the ad ran, I jumped to about 7-9 hearts. My views skyrocketed as well (this was pre-Google Analytics for me though, so I don't have the history anymore) The thing is, though - you are advertising to other Etsy sellers, not necessarily your market - so I assumed that that's pretty much where it would end, with more hearts and views, but it was a bit more exciting than that. I suddenly noticed a big influx in treasuries that I was included in, which turned into more hearts and views. And then, two weeks after the ad ran, with much more exposure and many more hearts, I had the best month of sales since I started selling in February of 2010.

Q.  Would you advertise again?
A.  Oh yes!

Q.  What, if anything, would you do differently in future advertising?

A.  I am not sure that advertising on Facebook is helpful. I did read an interesting thing in the forums recently, that linking a Facebook ad to your Etsy fan page on Facebook will help get more fans, but linking folks to your shop doesn't seem to work for most.
I noticed a slight bump in views on my Google Analytics over the three days that I ran my Facebook ad, but nothing like the huge influx when I ran my Craftopolis.

Q.  Anything else you'd like to add?
A.  I would like to add my Twitter success story too. Now, Twitter isn't necessarily advertising, but when I first signed up for twitter I began searching for people twittering about The Tudors, (Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth the Ist, etc) and then I 'followed' them and sent them messages with links to my Tudor and Elizabethan line of product. This was a pretty bold-ish move, as it can be seen as "spammy" but I found a woman who runs and amazing historical blog called The Anne Boleyn Files and she fell in love with my Tudor sachets of the Six Wives of Henry VIII's Royal Badges and bought all 6, and then asked me to make a larger Anne Boleyn Royal Badge framed wall hanging

When I sent them to her she brought them to an event she was running called the Anne Boleyn Experience which was an event at Anne Boleyn's childhood home, Hever Castle, in Kent, England. For me, this was as if I was starring on Broadway. It was such an honor, she displayed them there, and explained each of the wives Royal Badges and their meanings in a pre-dinner talk, and told me the people who were there fell in love with them too! I just sold another full set of all Six Wives to an attendee of that conference, and a week later she bought an Elizabethan piece as well. Twitter has led me to my largest sales and shouldn't be ignored as a wonderful advertising tool (and it is free!)

Up next, we'll talk about advertising with BigSkyArtworks.

Five Questions for...heartsabustin

Team member heartsabustin has taken on a handful of question about life, art, and business!

Q. What are your inspirations?

A. I love nature - God was the first artist, and I think he did a pretty fine job. ;)

I also love walking into a fabric store and letting the color combinations I see in there inspire me. Going to the mall for me is research - I like to see what clothes are out for a season, what colors designers are using, and how I might be able to complement those colors in my jewelry.

Q. How do you balance your family life and personal life with your work responsibilities, including running an Etsy shop?

A. It's not easy, because my family is demanding! Seriously, I try to make sure the computer is turned off when my husband gets home and I make efforts to get up and play with my kids. It's so easy to sit here and *will* sales by staring at the screen. LOL

We have homework now, and they love to play games, so I get up and do that stuff with them. The crafting takes place when I can work it in.

Right now, I'm trying to concentrate on my newest love of working with precious metal clay. That's slow going because the supplies are not as readily available as I would like them to be!

Q. How do you promote your Etsy business? What types of promotion have been most successful for you? Least effective?

A. I run ads on Craftcult and Craftopolis, I have Twitter and a Facebook Fan Page (highly recommended if you don't already have one!), and I lurk in chat (obviously!!!) and the forums a great deal. (JS notes: heartsabustin has a blog too.) The more places you are and the more active you are, the better your exposure is. The least effective thing I've done is take out a Showcase on Etsy. For the same money, I can get a whole week of advertising on Craftcult.

Q. Knowing what you do now, is there anything you would have done differently when you first opened your shop?

A. I would have researched the photography part a little better. My pictures have improved by leaps and bounds since I've been here. And I would have relaxed a little bit more. I was terrified at taking such a big step into running a business. I would never have made it through if it hadn't been for my mom and my husband. Great supporters are they!

Q. What are three Etsy items you would buy today if you could, and if money was not an object?

A. Anything from TheLeatherStore.

One of WickedSoaps gift sets - for me! - in White Raspberry Truffle. Yum!

The vine necklace in MangosteenJewelry's Etsy shop. Gorgeous! She's one of my new PMC friends. What a sweetheart!

Next time...heartsabustin asks another Chat Team member five questions of her own!

Eyes On Your Shop?

Everyone has their own idea of what helps to get a shop seen all year 'round, and this helpful Pimp Your Shop Storque article wraps up some of the best approaches out there - both on and off Etsy.

What are you doing to pimp your shop now, and for the year ahead? Do you set a promotion budget (money AND time)? What strategies have proven most effective? And really, does spamming the chat rooms with promos ever actually work?

Image from Team member TheExtentofSilence's shop.

Advertising for your Etsy

Well, this is the first time I'm blogging for the team blog. I'm not sure what to blog about yet but I've been browsing around in the Forums and found a site that provides free trial advertising until Jan 15th.

There are only a few days left but I thought I'd just briefly introduce the site. The name of the site is Found Handmade! It's where you can purchase a block of advertising from the site for as low as $5 for each block per month.

The look is clean and nice, sorta like Etsy.


I've included a partial print screen of the site. Check it out at http://www.foundhandmade.com.