Etsy Shop Promoting Wow, Exhausting And Confusing

On November 7, of last year I opened my Etsy shop. When I started it I had no idea what I was doing and and 8 months later I am not sure if I know much more.  Before I started, in the fairy tale world in my brain I saw people clamoring to buy my things.  It stressed me to think about how I would ever keep up.  I read tons of online information so I could get ready for the onslaught of buyers that I knew were coming my way. I bought boxes, tissue paper, bubble wrap and padded envelopes in bulk.  I wanted to be ready to send out my items seconds after the purchase was made.

November 26 was my first purchase.  OMG I was elated. This is it, I hit the big time. Let the buying frenzy begin.   So it was only for $10.00 but it was a start and I was sure I was on my way to greatness.  After all I was selling stuff that no other living soul had ever created.  They were my designs. Who wouldn't love them? I was sure that at some point Angelina Jolie or Mariah Carey would be logging onto my site, love everything so much they would buy something and pass my Etsy store onto Cher and Demi.   Yeah right!!!!!!

So my next purchase was on Nov 30 another $10.00 whoo hoo.  I was raking in the dough.  Well not really if you count Etsy's percentage, shipping and paying to have my items seen more in searches on Etsy.  So I was actually loosing money but I was having fun, wasn't I?

I continued to have a few sales here and there but no one was rushing to clean me out.  So now its been awhile and my expectations have diminished.  No more dreams of having my pictures used on HGTV, no more fantasies of seeing one of my necklaces on Barbara Walters as she sits with Whoopie on the View but I still plug away hoping upon hope that my sales will pick up.

Just recently I joined a few teams on Etsy.  I have learned that being on a team helps you promote your Etsy store by promoting others, they in turn promote you.  One team Christmas in July team (CIJ) is running a campaign now until July 21.  They recently had a CIJ Duo Blitz where I had  to make three treasury's (a group of items from other Etsy stores from the CSI team) and in turn a fellow team member would add my item to theirs.  Others will see them and bingo tons of sales.  Hmmmmm, not so much.

From joining the teams my site has had lots of viewing.  In just the last few days I have had 315 views and 153 favorites.  Before joining the teams my numbers were a fraction of that.  The word on the street is that the favorites get you the exposure you need to sell.  So I am hopeful that thing will pick up.

So if you have a second come join the fun on Facebook  and Etsy by searching CIJ or Christmas in July.

It just all seems like tons of work but I guess it will be worth it when I make my first million.

Mary Ann