Some Tips For New Sellers!

I thought now would be a good time to write about tips and advise for new sellers. Some of these I have accumulated over time, and they come to mind now as I go through "pounce", a place on etsy where you can view undiscovered shops who have not yet had a sale. I've noticed that a good many of them have yet to set up a profile, and sometimes even the shop announcements either said nothing at all, or else very little!

So, here are a few tips on how to improve your shop and become a successful Etsy seller.

Tell me a bit about you, Please!
As a buyer, I want to know something about the person I'm dealing with. I always feel a bit more comfortable buying from someone who has taken care of a profile and shop announcement.

Why?

Because lack of either screams quite loudly, "NEGLECTFUL!!!" This "neglectful" attitude will reflect on your sales, it really will. And maybe you're not neglectful, maybe you put lots of time and effort into giving your customers the best, but people cannot possibly know that. They have never met you, and they know nothing about you. A nice shop announcement and a nice profile helps fill in the gaps.
PLUS....a shop announcement is a good way to use a few good keywords for search engines to pick up, making the likelihood of being found much greater in the future.
So take the time to write something decent up. If you need help, there are always Etsy's forums where you can ask advise!

Items...need more items!
Yes, you need to put more items in your shop. List several on the first day, then, after that, list a couple every day if you possibly can. If you are lacking on a big enough inventory and have a hard time keeping up, list once a day. Although there is an advanced search for people to use on Etsy, many people still use the default search option, which shows items in the order of newest listed. Listing at least once a day will help you stay at the top.

Pictures.
Pictures don't have to be perfect, and even the best of us are always looking for ways to improve our photographs. You will learn over time how to make your pictures better, after all, the best way to learn is through experience.
But I do have a few tips for you to experiment with. You could use a lightbox, do a google search on how to make your own lightbox. Set up several lamps around your lightbox, make sure your lights are all the same color and temperature, or else you will have white balance problems.
If you have bright sunny days, you could also put your lightbox out in the sunlight, and you won't need lamps!

Another thing you could do is is place a large white sheet over a brightly lit window. Set a small table or some kind of surface just underneath it and take your pictures there.
For backgrounds I like to use a sheet of gray, white, or black fabric with a large sheet of glass over it (I got the glass from a large picture frame from a thrift store).

Descriptions.
Write up nice descriptions for your products. I know sometimes there are products that require very little explaining (like my bookmarks!) but do try to include every detail you can think of. People need to know these things before they buy!

Making a presence on the web.
Developing a presence on the web takes time and diligence. Do not expect immediate results. That's probably the biggest mistake many newbies make. Twitter is a popular way to promote yourself, but you have to understand how it works. "I twittered my product and nothing happened" is something I hear all the time. Of course you didn't get a sale. First of all, nobody enjoys following someone who just posts links to their new products all the time. You need to be conversational and get people involved. Twitter about your life and interesting things, reply to people's twitters whenever you can, and just throw in a promo for yourself here and there. Do that, and people are more likely to pay attention to you.
Get involved on the Etsy forums. GIVE advise when you have it, and ask for advise only when you need it. Don't go around asking for critiques just to get attention, it makes you look whiny.

And so there are my few tips for you. I hope it is helpful. Remember, it all takes time, and best thing any new seller can do is have patience!

If anyone has anything they might like to add, please leave a comment! The advise of others is always appreciated!