Etsy Success - Blog & Magazine Features

Etsy Success Symposium ~ Part I

Recently Etsy did a series of online labs to help Etsy sellers learn ways of boosting their businesses.  It was  10 hours of information!  Amazing tips and tricks by many experts and on tons of topics.

They covered topics like Pinterest, to how to get found in Etsy searches!

Etsy created a Workbook for these symposiums.  The workbook has some worksheets you can use to help implement a lot of what was discussed ...
You can find the workbook here

They also created a website for the topics here

I would like to share what I found helpful during these labs.

Blog Feature and Magazine Features

One of the real keys I heard is that the editors are looking for unique items with good value.  The reason this is significant is that if you create nothing but one of kind items you will probably NEVER see a feature in a magazine.  The editors said their readers get really upset if they read something, go to a site all excited to get one, and there are none available.  This kills the article and feature and hurts their readers.  

Since we are artists and we all take pride in our designs, and MANY shop owners strive for one of kind items I found this a critical point.  That even if you make one of a kind items you really need items in your shop that can be reproduced, and that you can sell a good quantity off.  Not just for a big magazine feature but also to keep your shops stocked and looking full.  To help you remain visible in searches too.  This is really key to build inventory.

Tips to Get Featured

1.  Know the magazine you want to be featured in.  Learn their demographics, and the type of items that are featured to see if you are a good fit before contacting the editors.   They mentioned a site called compete that helps you find the readership of a publication, demographics etc. Make sure your target market matches with theirs for the greatest success.

2.  Research a season in advance.  For instance, right now magazines are looking for Seasonal fall previews.  If you send in a Spring themed item you won't get the feature.  Their spring stories are already done!    

3.  They said having a cohesive look in your shop is very helpful.  They look for the same style of lighting, or color palette, backdrop, photo's.  She used an example that if you take pictures on an all white background, then make sure you crop them all in the same spot so that there is a distinctive style for your work.  I found that tip very helpful since I do use all white backgrounds, this will help me find a style.

4.  These editors specifically mentioned several sites that they frequently look through to find items they want to feature.  So being on these sites with your products would increase your odds of getting found.

a.  Polyvore

b.  Pinterest

c.  Etsy

d.  Hello Craft

5.  For your listings they prefer to hear a story behind the product.  They realize that we can't write a book in our listings because customers won't read it and we have to get pertinent information out to our customers.  But when they are doing an article or feature for a magazine it is the STORY that sells.  So if you can tell a story in your profile and in your product listings it will help them build a story for a feature.

6.  Make sure your listings are extremely clear about the products, supplies used, length of time to produce or mail the products etc.  They don't want to work with a business that won't follow through and will upset their readers.  So they need very clear information.

7.  Value and Quantity - They mentioned that they want a well stocked store.  As for value the one editor said it would be rare to sell high end items through a featured article.  Now this depends on the magazine, but most readers are looking for "value" she said.

How to Pick the Right Blog

They described ways for you to find the BEST blog or magazine to contact.  The best thing you can do is to research each venue.  Find out their website ranking, so you know the type of traffic they have.  But traffic isn't the end, it doesn't matter if they get a ton of traffic if their traffic is inactive.  Meaning, look to see how engaged the readers are, do they tweet the articles, do they leave comments... the more active a blog page is the more engaged readers are.  This means if you were featured on there you would get better exposure.  

Tips for Contacting Editors or Blogs

EVERYONE wants to know what are they looking for, and how to stand out.  They get 1000's of emails a day of people wanting to get featured.  So some tips to help you stand out and make an impression.

1.  Subject Line of your email  - This should be a sentence or a question.  Not just one word, Feature, or something.  They say the more specific the better.  So if you have a specific feature or section you want you should put that in the subject line.

2.  Have high resolution pictures to provide at least 300dpi they mentioned.

3.  Tell a story.  Help them understand why their readers want this product.

4.  Pick a Theme:  Again they are looking for Fall items now, so make sure your email will fit in with a subject they are actually looking for to increase your odds of a response. 

The last tip I took from this was, KEEP trying.  They don't mind getting emails from you more than one time ... they have rarely been annoyed by entries and unless you are told not to submit again, you should keep trying.  BUT when submitting another time, switch it up!  Try a different angle, a different picture to grab their attention, a different story line.  Don't keep submitting the same thing. 

I hope this helps everyone feel more comfortable to contact and reach out for extra exposure.  I know this motivated me and definitely help me feel more confident in what I should be doing!

Good luck.  If you have had luck getting into a popular blog or magazine we would love to hear about it.  Please post a comment and link!!

Thanks.

Janet

http://www.trinketsnwhatnots.etsy.com