Thursday, May 8, 2008

Views, Hearts & Sales

Much is discussed in the Etsy forums regarding views and hearts and I must admit that I was pretty obsessed over them too. The key word there is "was". I finally realized what the Etsy folks who've been around for awhile meant when they advised to not worry about views and hearts but focus on promoting to get the sales. Before this realization, I spent many hours on the computer checking to see if my views have increased or if I was hearted that day. Sometimes, I hate to admit, I was hitting that refresh button almost every minute. Oh the time I wasted.

For those non-Etsyians who may be reading this, we have counters on every item in our shop that tell us how many views a particular item is getting. We also receive hearts which is a way of bookmarking a shop or an individual item in a shop and adding it to your favorites. In everyone's shop, on the lower right hand side, there is a link to "See who hearts this shop". When on an item page, you can "See who hearts this item".

Now, that I'm not so vigilant about checking our shop's hearts and views (although it's still like Christmas morning when we get another heart!), I've been researching advertising alternatives and focusing on increasing our sales. I also took the advice to start up this blog as a way of promoting ourselves so folks know the people behind the shop. I'm still frequently on the forums but now it's to find out all I can about advertising avenues and other tried and true tactics to increasing sales. Okay, I admit, I still throw in a promotion here and there but not very often. The forums are a wealth of information from very knowledgeable Etsyians who are extremely helpful to those of us still learning the ropes. I just wish I hadn't wasted so much time with seemingly non-important things and missed out on months of really getting our shop name out there in order to get sales. Hopefully I'm on the right track now and it's only a matter of time before we get more sales. It certainly won't be from lack of trying!

Thank you to the many Etsyians who share information in the forums! I'm truly proud to be a part of such a wonderful community! And thank you to everyone who has hearted our shop or an item in our shop! Every single one is very much appreciated!

2 comments:

Angel said...

I totally understand about the hearts and views! ha ha, thats funny...anyway...good luck promoting...i am also doing the same! ~angel

Anonymous said...

Good post :)

I check my hearts at least twice each day. I use it as a way to see if my promoting is working. Also to see if the treats I put in my shop are appealing to the public.

Overall, I love hearts, whether it's for individual items or the whole shop. But one thing I never ever do is stress about them.

Tammy
CARNIVAL
The Craver's Candy Company