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Showing posts with label tools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tools. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
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Due to overwhelming response, we have decided to make the "Etsy Business Tool You May Never Have Heard Of" and ongoing series. If you haven't seen the previous posts ,there is now a link in the right side bar under Shop Busines Tools in the "Little Secrets" section.

UPDATE: Certificate Buddy is no more :( They company is no longer there, but you can still make Gift Certificates thru paypal. Just take a look at our posting "Company Gift Certificates" for info on how to make yours.

Certificate Buddy: is an website that lets you print and track gift certificates for your shop. One of the main questions always asked is how to offer gift certificates from an online store. The designers of this site tried to make it as easy as possible for the user, so the site automatically generates unique codes for your gift certificates, keeps track of which ones have been redeemed and has some gift certificate templates for you to use. It is free to sign up, BUT there are limitations. You can only issue 3 certificates a month, not more than $20 value and you can only use the free templates provided. There are two other price tiers ( Paid $25 and Premium $50) a month that offer 50 and unlimited certificates and both are able to use your own certificate designs.
If you don't know how the gift certificates will be recieved, we suggest signing up for a free account and test them out. If the average prices of your items is above the $20 maximum for the free account, why not use the gift certificates as "coupons", offering $5 discounts for certain products as a promo.

Web Resizer: is a nifty web based tool that resizes your photos for the web. One of the biggest annoyances that shop owners have is when you have spent your time creating an image only to find out that its "too big" or "wrong dimensions" for wherever you are uploading it to. This tool will take your image and save it in the requires size that you input. You are also able to make some simple photo edits like exposure,contrast, saturation and more.

WhosTalkin: is a site to find out who is "talking" about your shop in blogs. Much like Social Mention, you put your shop name, or url in the search box and every blog mention will show up.
The downside to this site is that it is only blog mentions, I prefer just putting the name in the Google Search Bar. At least there you can filter the results by date posted ( 24 hours, week, year, etc). Or with Social Mention , its not just blogs, but websites as well.
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Friday, January 15, 2010
ETSY BUSINESS TOOLS YOU NEVER HEARD OF :PART 2!

We got such a great response to our first popular post Etsy Business Tools :PART 1 , that we have added some other tools as a follow up that we think may be useful to all of you sellers.


Favors Me: is a beta site that is similar to Soopsee where you can essentially "make your own one page website". I must admit that the Favors Me site is very slick and chic, with modern fonts to choose from as well as easy to use, its the basic point and drop method. They have a gallery of users work to inspire you and show you what can be done as well as demo video to see what you can do with the site. It is also free to use as well, just sign up with your email address ( invitation code=" etsy"). Some of the negatives is that it only works with certain sites,Flikr, Facebook, Tumblr, Vimeo and Twitter (they seem to be adding more , but no date as of now). The Flikr, Facebook and Twitter service is great, but if you have a blog other than Tumblr, which alot of people do (Wordpress, Blogspot to name the bigger ones) then you will not be able to incorporate them like the others. There is no "domain hosting" here, so if you have a domain name you can of course direct it to this site as your "Front Page" but the Favors Me URL will be up top. Just note that this is a new tool, so you will have to promote just like you would with any other website.

Banner Fans-is a web based banner maker . When I first came across this I was a little skeptical, but since everyone knows how against Microsoft Paint I am (especially to make a banner) I must say this is a decent alternative. This site makes it easy for people who want a DIY banner and it literally is the point and click method.They have selections for "common banner sizes" or you can even custom your size if you need a banner for an odd place. Some of the best features are that the font selection is large, you can upload your own pictures as well as they let you add several effects from shadows, gradients and different borders . In addition, they also let you change colors for all elements easily as well. You can even move the elements around with your mouse in the "preview" section while you edit.
One of the best features is that you can save it in one or all of the three formats suitable for web viewing (jpeg, gif, png) and lastly you can get codes for about 13 different social and web outlets once your banner is the way you want. That means not only Myspace, Twitter, Facebook, but also some other formats you may never have thought of. We suggest you sign up (for free) to save the different banners that you use.


Flikr2Twitter: is a service by Flikr that lets you tweet your Flikr photos with one click.It may essentially eliminate your need for the Twitpic Service provided by Twitter. Once you install the add on button and link your accounts, a little "FT" icon will be displayed on all your pics in your flikr account (next to the tools like "all sizes" and "add to favorites"). This will let you add automatically to your Twitter account just by clicking on the button. You can even use from your mobile. There are setting on it, so look them over and make any changes before you start to use.

Qwitter: is a little stalker tool that lets you know if someone is a "Twitter Quitter". It is rather funny, but after you put in your username and email, it will let you know who has stopped following you, when and why. The craziest thing is that it tells you the actual post that they "quit you".

Craft Count: Every wonder about those who are the best sellers in your category? Or in any category? This site ranks the top etsy sellers (1-50) by several groups , from overall to shop category, country and several others. Now some of them have been sellers for several years, which can factor into the large amount of sales, but this is a good tool to see top sellers.

Craft Gawker: is a gallery where anyone can showcase their art, crafting and photography skills. It's a place for you to discover new artists and handmade goods that you may never have known about. They also have a sister site called "Food Gawker", which is essentially the same concept , but with food. Even though it is free to submit to site, as everyone knows, not everyone gets picked. There are some that submit over 10 times and are not accepted and there are some that are accepted the first time they enter. Though there are several requirements to submit photos (one is you must be registered, its free) I have found that the main one that can decide acceptance is your photos. Make sure the lighting/exposure of your photograph is good or else don't bother submitting as you will be rejected. It can sometimes be frustrating if you are constantly being declined, but they do send you and email as to why, so before you submit, take a look at the "About" page for other requirements.

Pictaculous: is a color generator for your pics. If you have ever wondered what colors match your pictures, then just upload the pic and it will give you suggested color palettes that match your photo, they even give you the color codes. This tool is good if you are looking to make some backgrounds, frames or other color blocking designs to make your pictures pop.



And of course the first part of our post Etsy Business Tools :PART 1
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Saturday, December 5, 2009
ETSY BUSINESS TOOLS: YOU MAY HAVE NEVER HEARD OF

It amazes me sometimes, when I talk to sellers and mention a new tool or some promotion going on , to only find out that they have no idea what I am talking about . Or they just haven't signed up for the company updates. As as seller you want to do everything you can to promote and make your business profitable. I don't know about you, but I am waiting for the day when my smiling mug is featured on teh "Quit Your Day Job".Also I already have my "FU" speech prepared for my boss, lol....no really, I am going out in a blaze of glory!
So there are several tools which I think are helpful , some you may have heard of or are using and some you maybe are on the fence about or don't know how to use.

ESellersAds: One of the newest on the block and very nice. The idea behind ESellerAds is that your customers should be able to shop anywhere and buy your products on Etsy.We actually use it (you can see our add in our blog side bar). They are touted as being a "step up from etsy minis", it links directly to your shop, comes in different sizes which is better than that standard etsy mini and doesn't carry the logo. Just go to site, put in your username/shop name and they generate the add for you. To keep it, just put in your email address and they send you the html code to put on any of your websites, social media or etc. No signup required.

Cr8tivity-is a very interesting site as it is a mixture of Google Analytics and Craft Cult and Etsy Mini. Once you put in your shop ID, your head appears at the top and you can choose between several buttons, from your own "company widget" (like the etsy mini) to hearts by item and also "Shop Statistics" that is broken down into easy to read pie charts. For those of you confused about how to use Google Analytics, this may be a way to "ease" yourself into it. Just remember it does not take the place of Google Analytics.
One button that is very good is the "Shop Helper". This tool makes either a single Product Flyer or a Multi Product Flyer. The flyer maker is a PDF download that contains your shop banner, images and information about of your product that you can print and use as a marketing material. All of the items in your shop are in the drop down menu, so all you have to do is select an Etsy Listing ID and click on the download button you can even put your own info in or just use what is in the ad. This nifty little tool is great for line sheets for your press kit or wholesale sheets. Go ahead and try it out!

Statsy: is another tracker similar to Craft Cult but has some other features such as "The Locator" which you put a listing # in (the 8 digit number above the "add to cart" button on the right side of your item) and it tells you on which page and what place it is. There is also the "Biggest Fan" where you can see who hearts your items the most (good if you want to offer your stalker a little private discount), The "Featurator" , which you put in your email address and anytime you are featured it will notify you, so no more searching and googling your shop name.

Craft Cult: Everyone is familar with, tracks your hearts, features and treasury mentions. Its a standard if you have a shop.

Where Am I: by EtsyHacks shows where your shop is ranked when a user types in a tag. Just put in the tag that you have labeled one of your items with and then put in your username and it will show you where you are ranked. The only downside is that it only searches the first 25 pages. So if you do not show up, then that means that you are not in the first 25 pages of search.

SoopSee: Turns your etsy site into a website. This is good for those who are web design challenged, and an easy cheaper alternative to the involvement and coding an actual website requires. The pros are that it is free, incorporates your existing blogs , etsy site and some photos sites together.The downside are the templates are not that extensive and that you have to manually update it, like you would a blog or website, no auto setting.

Craft Weasel: Is another common site, but there are a couple of things that are good with this site. If you are confused by Google Analytics and just need everything simplified, this is a good alternative. Under "Shop Stat" you can put your shop name and it breaks down, with a bar graph by day, the views and tags. Also, it gives you a list of most tags used and searched for in your shop by day. Another great feature is the "Tag Finder" , if you have ever had a problem finding the right tag for your item, just put in the main descriptive word like "knitted scarf" and it gives you all the tags associated with that...neat huh? No more guessing and pulling tags out of your backside. There are also other great features there as well.

Sellit: Is similar to EsellerAds, but you need to register. The Pro is that you can do this for more than just etsy, works with other selling sites. The downside is that there is only one large rectangular size for the ad

Yammi Handmade: Sounds crazy but is a cute little tool for not only states, but buttons to display your hearts , sales and other little things that you can place on your blog or other social media sites.....This is just one of them


Etsy Front Pagers: If you been on the front page and would like a nice screen shot to promote or for your press page, then this group pool from Flikr has every screen shot of the Etsy Front Page for you. You can also check to see if you have made front page or a treasury by typing in your shop name in the search bar.

Website Grader: Ever wondered how you stack up to the competition, this site gives you marketing info for your site , products and tags. It is free, you just put in the URL of the site you want and it gives you your grade out of 100 then goes into detail about your SEO. Also gives you a feature to put in your competitors url to see how you compare. Great tool to see where you may need improvement.

Etsy Tag Fractal: Lets you put in a tag and all shops that are tagged with that name come up.

Social Mention: is not an official etsy tool , but really is a great business tool. Like "Goggling " your company name , this site lets you input your website or company name and any place your name comes up in the world wide web appears with a link to view it. It is seperated by catagories, like Blogs, Network, News and more. But you should just check "All" to pick up everything.

There of course are other Etsy Developers, just go to link for a list of the Featured Etsy Developers

DON'T FORGET TO CHECK OUT PART TWO OF THIS POST:
ETSY BUSINESS TOOLS YOU MAY NEVER HAVE HEARD OF : PART 2
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