Shop Tour

I've begun my spring cleaning a bit early and will start letting you all peek into my little world of Lilly Queen Vintage.

Be aware - this isn't a high end designed space.

I work with what I have.

This is my packing area. I have my trusty scale from eBay and a few smaller Priority Boxes. 

This is where I take all my photos - a cabinet by a window with an old wooden crate and a bunch of props to the right.

More to come as I clean up more areas of my lil space.

Lilly Queen Vintage: My Photo Setup

Having good photos doesn't mean spending thousands of dollars on fancy equipment.

A well lit location - some simple props - and a camera with 5+ mega pixels should work just fine for anyone.

Here's my setup. Quick easy and it you probably wouldn't expect this from looking at my photos.

I only use natural sunlight !!

The only editing I do is brightness.

If the photos don't look right - I delete them and start over.

Etsy Help: How to take better photos

This post isn't complete yet, but hopefully some points will be helpful to you. 
Like all my other posts - if you would like additional help, just leave a comment and I'll personally help you out.

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Here's a progression of how my photos have gotten better over the years...

Terrible picture - who knows what I'm selling.

Little bit better - but now it doesn't show the true color of the item - and my edges are still cut off.

Now my photos are clear - true to color and you can see the entire item in frame.

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Here are a few questions to ask yourself when looking at your shops photos.

1. Is the item you are selling in the frame of the thumbnail? Have you cut off parts of it with a cropping tool? Go back and redo those pictures - you want to see the entire item in the thumbnail. Im known to skip right past poorly cropped photos as I see it as a lack of effort. 
2. Did you use the flash button on your camera? Nine times out of ten that photo is going to look lousy, most people find that natural light is the BEST way to take photos, if you choose to use artificial light, make sure you are reading up on White Balance. This will make or break your photo.
3. Is your photo too dark? Some photos can be way too light and others be way too dark. If you white background looks gray, its too dark. This can ruin the colors of your item. Light blues can appear dark blue, dark purples can appear black. You really need to represent the true colors of the item in your photo.
4. Is your photo blurry? Nobody likes blurry photos - go back and redo it - don't even bother posting an item with a blurry photo. If your frustrated, set it aside and work on marketing, tomorrow is another day.
5. Check your backgrounds! Is it too distracting? Is it dirty? Is fabric wrinkled? Did it look like you just threw your item on a table and took a picture? This isn't eBay folks, spend a bit more time staging your items for sale. It'll pay off in the end.
6. COHESIVE! Are you photo cohesive, similar backgrounds, similar colors? You really want each photo to have the same feel across your whole shop. If you need an example, see my shop. I use the same set up every time.
7. Did you fill up all your photo slots on Etsy? - Don't just post one photo. Take a picture of every possible angle as well as a detail shot so people can get a real sense of what they are buying.
8. Staging photos. -  Really, you want to show your buyer an image, a look, a style.... If I told you to describe a company I bet you could. If I said Target or Pottery Barn or Ikea.... you know their 'style.' You want to have your shop be the same. Unless you're going for that Tag Sale vibe which I suppose could work, but you cant expect to ask high prices for your items.

Etsy Help: Why aren't I selling? - How to sell more on Etsy!

The biggest question Etsy sellers always seem to ask is, WHY IS NOBODY BUYING MY STUFF!?

I might be able to answer that very quickly.

1. Have you looked at your photos lately? Like REALLY looked at them? This is the window to your shop - your SEO can be perfect, your item be a hot selling item, but your photo just makes people skip right past your shop.
2. Have you worked on your SEO - your pictures can be great - but your items aren't be found when people are searching for an item you sell.

Those are the top TWO issues sellers face.
Moving onto the other points that may drive buyers running in the other direction...

1. Did you include the size of your item? 
2. Have you filled out your Policies page and your About page?
3. Does your Shop Title describe what you sell, don't use this spot as a place to say WELCOME TO MY SHOP - its a waste of valuable space. 
4. Shop Announcement - Make the first line a little blurb about what you sell - THEN go into any sales your having or other website pages you want people to view (blog, FB, twitter) Google sometimes can grab from shop announcements and your title - you want to make sure all these area describe your shop.
5. Are your shipping prices reasonable - lots of people nowadays shop online, so a lot of people are aware when they are getting ripped off. High shipping costs can push people away - is there a reason why your prices are so high (high end packaging, extra insurance, rush delivery) then make sure you TELL your customer of these things.
6. Do you sell what people want to buy? - There have been quite a few shops I've run into and thought, who the hell is going to buy that? Harsh, I know - but why sugar coat it? Yes there's a buyer for everything, but if you sell something that only a TINY amount of people may want to buy you are limiting yourself. If you sell something that lots of people like - you'll have an easier time finding buyers. I'll go into this further at a later date.
7. Do you have enough items in your shop? Shops with under 20 items isn't going to cut it. Think of Etsy like the lottery. Having 20 tickets versus having 100 tickets. Which person is going to have the better chance of winning....the person with 100 tickets. So keep adding more items. I strive for 100 - 150 items, I always get sales when I hit 100. 
8. Does your shop have a theme a special look? Is it cohesive? Are your photos similar, all have a similar style? This is branding - which I can get into further at a later date. 
9. Are you items all over the place? Do you sell soap and carved wood bowls? Some people see a mish-mosh shop as a turn off. This sort of plays along with, is your shop cohesive. Love doing multiple things, then make multiple shops focusing on that particular item. This way you can make each shop unique, focused, and set up a particular brand for those items. 
10. What are the first 3 words of your title? Did you know that the FIRST 3 WORDS are important? Those are what people search for, and if your title begins with digital print copy - then NOBODY is going to find you.  If I was blind, what are three words you can use to perfectly describe what you are selling. Green Candlestick Holder - Perfect! I know EXACTLY what Im looking at.  
11. Repeating Titles? Did you know that if all your titles are the same, Google ignores you? Try to make EACH title different from your other listings. Have two things similar, then try to reverse the wording (green metal candlestick & green candlestick metal)

Have you tried all these tips and are still having trouble - leave me a comment with your shop address and how you would like to contact you for further help!

Etsy On Sale - Invite code for extra credits

Did you know that if you sign up under an existing member on Etsy On Sale you get 5 EXTRA credits to use?

Want to put your shop on sale but don't know how to do it?

 

I recently started using Etsy On Sale and thought you might find it useful as well. It's a site that allows you to easily run a sale in your Etsy shop, change tags for items all at once, and auto renew items on a schedule you set. You can watch the demo video at the link below. Plus, if you login and link up your Etsy shop you will get a total of $10 in free credits to use. 

Sign up now!