Hi :-)
Okay, so the second part of the Etsy bootcamp is out, and the challenges are a little harder this time.
The first part was to brainstorm new product ideas. This article shows what sort of things will be popular this holiday season. I was super happy to see that 'things with a writable surface such as chalkboard items' were included in the list. Currently my range includes necklaces, brooches, cufflinks and rings. Over the next few weeks I'm planning to expand into bracelets and earrings, as well as a super-adorable homeware idea that I've had.
Christmas gifts also featured heavily. I'm going to be hard at work promoting my fun handmade jewellery-filled Christmas Baubles. They were already featured on Cuteable this week, but I think they might be getting lost in a sea of things tagged with 'Christmas'. I need to work on getting them seen by more people. They've had such a great response, I feel so blessed to be part of the amazingly supportive Handmade community x
The next challenge was to find which items are your most popular. I know that my chalkboard jewellery has the most views as they were featured on a large craft website last week. I checked out Craftcult to see what tags people were using to find my items. Pretty much the most popular tag people are coming to my shop under is 'PINK'.
I also discovered that although I tag all of my items 'UK', not one single person found an item in my shop using that tag in the last week. I'm concerned I might be wasting a tag on that - something to think about.
The final part of the week's bootcamp was the hardest part for me - Find a Bootcamp Buddy.
I'm quite shy...and to be honest, this 'reach out to another Etsian' thing was a little scary for me. I guess that's the whole point of doing something like this though...
Anyway, after much searching I have found the most perfect, adorable, supportive buddy! Lucky me! Alterity is a fellow jewellery maker residing in the US who uses collectible antique and vintage buttons to make fun, unique pieces. She has such a great little niche! Here are a few of my favourite things from her shop...
Pink N Black Charm Bracelet - $84.00
Check out the awesomeness of the buttons on this bracelet - black and pink is one of my favourite combinations.
Pewter Floral Antique Button Earrings - $17
So cute to wear daily, and the antique buttons are not damaged in any way by her techniques - so clever!
Okay, so goals for the week are:
- Finish prototypes for new chalkboard pieces
- Get baubles in a big crafty blog or magazine
- Add more *pink* things - I have a new design of embroidered jewellery going up this week, keep an eye on my shop because they are the sweetest, most fun things I have made this year, in all shades of pink, purple and turquoise.
- Talk to other UK Etsy sellers to see if the UK tag is bringing in more views/sales for them
- Build new friendship with fun holiday bootcamp buddy :-)
I'd love to hear your experiences and new learnings from the bootcamp so far. If you link me in the comments I'll be sure to check out your bootcamp blogs -I'm also interested in hearing whether you thinking tagging 'UK' is worth it.
Hope you are having a super-efficient day, I'll be back tomorrow with some fun new embroidered cards that I'm ready to show the world :-)
Katie x
No comments:
Post a Comment