Treasury: It's Alive

I wanted to do another April's Army-driven treasury about Halloween. I figured I'd try to hit as many Etsy frontpage mainstays as I could without coming across as a parody. I think I managed it quite nicely.

For those keeping score at home, the Etsy mainstays are: 

• objects photographed on books
• objects photographed on library shelves
• framed objects photographed on library shelves
• stark white backgrounds
• babies modeling hats
• artists camping it up while modeling costumes
• barnwood
• things photographed on neutral backgrounds with a perspective line

This is not a commentary on these artists. I genuinely like all these objects. I was just trying to open up my mind to how to best appeal to a wider Etsy demographic with my more offbeat treasuries. It's working quite nicely so far. 

Don't be afraid of choosing items that fit the look of the frontpage. It might not guarantee a feature, but it could draw in some extra clicks, which could work their way back to your shop.

So You're In a Treasury...Now What?

You log into your Etsy account and see that you have something going on in that off-kilter concentric circle button called Activity. You click on it and see someone chose your item to be featured in a treasury. You're excited that someone likes your listing but don't know what to do or how to capitalize on it.

It's easy. You do a lot of the same things you would do if you were marketing your own treasury.

First, you need to click on that treasury. That gives it another view, which helps with its hotness. What's hotness? It's Etsy's nebulous and poorly defined way of organizing what treasuries appear on the top of the list at any given moment. It's essentially a popularity contest driven by people like you.

Second, you need to comment on the treasury. This creates another link to your shop (item is one, your comment is two). Try to say something relevant to the theme of the treasury. If you can't think of anything, compliment on the creator's treasury making skills and/or thank them for including your listing. I'm more likely to click on an interesting comment than another bland bit of fan service.

Third, you need to click on the individual listings. The easy way to do it is to right-click on each item and open it in a new tab. You do this because hotness is also measured by clicks on the items. By opening each item in a new tab, you are giving the treasury 16 more clicks in under a minute.

Fourth, you need to promote your appearance on the treasury. Post it on your Facebook wall, tweet it to your followers, or even post it on your own blog. Whatever you can do to get more people to click, comment, and share the treasury only helps more people see your item representing your shop.

If a treasury becomes popular enough and is on theme for Etsy's Merchandising Desk, it might be put in the daily Etsy Finds e-mails or, better yet, on the front page. That gives you a lot more exposure for your shop for very little work on your own part. It's worth it to try these steps every time you're featured in a treasury.

Etsy Merchandising Desk Highlights: August 2011

Every month, the Etsy blog features a gigantic post detailing what themes are going to be pushed in the next month. It's long-winded and dry as dirt. It's great information if you can sift through and process the recurring themes in their laundry list of words. You use these to tag your items and create treasuries that can go to the front page. Go ahead and spend your time on your dream treasury based on the episode of The Twilight Zone where it turns out the six strangers in the bottom of the well are actually toys in a Salvation Army Christmas present drive; it's probably not going to get to the front page in August.

Here are the highlights from the Etsy Merchandising Desk themes for August 2011.

Halloween and Fall are In


Forget what you were told last month about listing Halloween merchandise early. The Etsy Merchandising Desk post for August mentions Halloween 4 times. Autumn is mentioned an additional 4 times and Fall is mentioned 5 times.

Treasury: The Myth of Jack of the Lantern: A Treasury Horror Story

So did you know there's a reason why we carve pumpkins around Halloween? Oh yes. A very real reason. A dark and looming threat that no one but the devil can explain.

One night, Jack decided to go out drinking. He ran into a man who wanted to speak to him. He offered Jack a pint of spiced ale and walked him behind the bar. The man turned out to be the devil, ready to collect Jack's soul for a lifetime of lies.

Jack was not ready to die. He bet the devil that he could beat him in a drinking contest. If Jack won, he would gain 10 more years of life. Being a sporting man, the devil agreed.

Jack, however, decided to cheat. He trapped the devil within a coin made of pure silver and held him hostage against a cross in his pocket. Jack would not let the devil go until he granted him eternal life. The devil agreed.

The devil led Jack into the woods behind the bar. He started a fire and began to chant. Jack was freezing. His body locked up and a strange light began to pulse inside him. The light burst out of his eyes, blinding him. Jack could only feel the light of his soul placed inside a large lantern made of a pumpkin.

The devil had granted Jack's wish for eternal life. Jack could never die until the devil forgave him for the trick. Only when Jack received his key to the afterlife could he know the sweet bliss of death.

He wanders still to this day, searching for an end to his accursed fate, longing for the warm smell of a spiced ale and the rattling of the keys to life. The only way to ward him off from searching for his next pint in your home is to scare his soul off with your own jack'o'lantern. Happy dreams.

What Hustle & Flow Teaches Us About Treasuries

For the past week, I have been experimenting with treasuries on Etsy. I'm trying to break down what actually makes a hit treasury a hit treasury and how trends actually work on Etsy.

Yesterday, I had a bit of an epiphany: it's all about the pimping.

Think about it for a second. You only get 16 slots in a treasury. Etsy wants you to not include yourself (boo hiss) and not to repeat sellers. It's a rare day that I see all 16 featured sellers even comment on a treasury while there's a chance of it hitting the top of the hotness charts. Rarer still that a treasury with no promotion beyond creation goes anywhere.

So what does this have with the seminal Academy Award winning film about pimping, drug trafficking, and rapping? Everything.

What's Happening This Week?

First, let me introduce myself. My name is Robert and I run the arts and crafts business RJGOriginals for my family. I also work as a freelance/ghost writer with a main business hub at the media blog Sketchy Details. But this isn't about me.

This is about you, your interest in arts and crafts, and your web-based business.

This week, a really exciting project managed to get funded in just under 3 days through Kickstarter.com. The April's Army Tarot Project is an international effort to design and print a full (78 card) size tarot deck inspired by the website Regretsy.

Despite what you may have heard, Regretsy is actually a strong arts and crafts community filled with artists, crafters, shoppers, and humor enthusiasts who agree that not every hand-crafted item is automatically worthy of praise. There's a place for a swift dose of reality in the art world and Regretsy is not afraid to deliver it. Simply put: if you believe your work is above criticism, you shouldn't try to sell it because you will never win over everyone with anything you produce. Lighten up and remember that art is not life or death; it's just art.

However, beyond the snarky exterior, Regretsy has turned into a tight community of similarly-minded people.