Learning about the ETSY Community

Education has always been at the forefront of my interests and something I approach with great enthusiasm. Having a career in the field of accounting, systems, and project management spanning nearly 30 years, I became very comfortable in this arena, and made it a habit to learn as much as I could so that I felt like I had mastered what I needed to know to help myself, my company, and others who had an interest in learning too.

Now with a startup business (Geneva Girls Designs,LLC), staying ahead of the learning curve is what it is all about for me. Sometimes education comes to us in the form of (a)classes, (b)seminars, (c)workshops, (d)online forums, (e)personal research, and (f)networking with those who have been there and done that successfully. I'm sure you could think of additional resources like books, plant tours, professional organizations. (Leave your comments on what resources you use . . .)

I have recently ventured into online marketing and sales with little to no experience and feeling quite out of sorts with the whole experience. In the process of learning what I must do to stay ahead of this new experience, I found a wonderful little workbook focused on the topics of branding, style, and promoting my business in the market that I’m hoping to penetrate. It was a simple little workbook that only cost $8.00, but what an investment. It encouraged me to look beyond the realm of accounting, systems, and project management and begin to delve more deeply into understanding what is behind the online marketing resource called ETSY that I’ve become a part of in the past six months. I usually do nothing half-heartily, so making the effort to truly understand how to achieve the most from my experience; I began to do personal research to understand the tools I have before me. This post is not sanctioned by ETSY, but hopefully through organizing myself with my copious note taking, I can provide a little help to others pursuing the same interest “marketing online”.

First of all, I would be remise not to promote my own store in this article, so if you are reading this and want to see what Geneva Girls Designs, LLC is all about, visit my store on ESTY at http://www.rwgeneva.etsy.com/. Over the next several months you may see that I’m able to apply some new found wisdom on this ETSY site, so follow me as I begin to explore the ins and outs of this venture.

The first question you may ask is “What is ETSY?”

According to Wikipedia, I quote
"Etsy is a website which provides the general public with a way to buy and sell handmade items. The site follows in the tradition of open craft fairs, giving sellers personal storefronts where they list their goods for a fee. It has been compared to "a crafty cross between Amazon, eBay, and "your grandma's basement."

The reference to "grandma's basement" relates to the vintage items that are offered for sale on this website.

In Rob Walker’s article dated December 16, 2007 called Handmade 2.0 which was published in the New York Times, he indicated that about 70,000 people, 90% of which were women were making purchases in the month of November 2007 alone approaching $4.3 million dollars selling about 300,000 items. The site was launched in June 2005.

So what better venue exists for the "Mommy" Entrepreneur than to look into this online website to support a business whose products are currently handcrafted and intended for women and children? The whole support chain that exists for such women is pretty fascinating to study and will possibly make for a great future research project.

Today my exploration was in the area of what is available to the ETSY seller through the “Community” that supports this website and the concept of selling everything that is handmade.

There are six major components in the Community section of the website which includes:

Forums
Virtual Labs
Chat Rooms
Teams
The Storque (Newsletter)
Resources (for operating a business)


Forums: Currently there are at least ten areas where an individual can be connected to the ETSY community. This area provides opportunity to ask questions, share ideas, make suggestions, and report issues.

Site Help - is an area that is used to ask for help of the ETSY members or staff.

Business Topics - concentration is on running a business.

Specific Topics - the current topic which is on many buyers and sellers minds at the moment is CPSIA (Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act).

Critiques - an area where sellers can receive feedback or advice about their shop.

Techniques and Materials - depending on what 'craft' you are into, this is a place to connect to ask advice, or offer advice on your specific area of interest (mine is fabric and sewing).

Teams and Events - teams associated either by location, craft, interest or cause. Joining a team makes it possible to network and promote your business
aspirations with the support of like-minded individuals.

Ideas - this is where you can add your 2 cents on what you think would make ETSY better.

Bugs - I haven't met a computer system that didn't have some, this is a place to report what you find.

Promotions - this is an area where you can promote your business and/or products. Taking part in forum topics allows one to promote his or her business and creates a greater visibility for one's products.

Etc. - is an area for communication when the topic doesn't fit any other category.

Virtual Labs: This is an interactive workshop or classroom area of ETSY to help one learn about ETSY or other topics relevant to buyers and sellers.

In the past this lab was located in Brooklyn, NY, so unless you were in the neighborhood, you could not be physically involved in these workshops. The Internet changes everything, now members can attend either scheduled or non-scheduled events by entering a classroom. Once inside a room, you take your seat, raise your hand to ask questions, or typing a questions that can be answered by other virtual lab participants. There are other fun things you can do as well. At first this environment seems a little hectic and possibly even frightening, but the information that is provided not only by ETSY staff, but also seasoned ETSY users is very helpful. If you wish to attend a virtual lab, and sit in the back of the room as an observer, you will gain great insight into how things work. Be careful when you enter the room that you don't land on the face of the instructor! If you do, just grab yourselve with your mouse and move yourself into a seat. If you don't the instructor probably will!

Chat: There are three chat areas in ETSY named by colors Red, Blue, and Green. A Chat room is set up with a title by the one initiating the 'chat'. Chat rooms can be arranged with a password, so that only those with the password may enter. If a private conversation is required, this is a useful feature (buyer and seller discussion, or Team meeting). The chat screen itself has three sections: left side, right side, and bottom.

• On the left side - you will see the line-by-line conversation,
• On the right side - you might see large thumbnail pictures of items available on ETSY that are being reviewed, and
• On the bottom - you see the Avatars of the people involved in the chat room conversations.

If you move your mouse over the top of any Avatar (which is called hovering), you get three options:

• shop - allows you visibility to the shop owners products and shop appearance
• profile - allows you to see who the shop owner is, what is important to them, and possibly where they are located
• msg (message) - allows you to send a private message to the shop owner outside of the chat room setting.

I have little to no experience in this arena. Since I've never paid much attention to text message acronyms, sometimes you have to read between the acronymns to understand the message. Can anyone tell me what "yw" means?

Teams: ETSY Teams are groups of individuals who organize around location, craft, interest, or possibly cause. Joining a team is highly advisable as it begins the process of networking. Currently there are about 450 such groups on ETSY. Each group has a profile and a contact person for joining the group. Often groups host a blog or community outside of ETSYto keep their members organized and informed. Many times groups will set up events that support the interests of their members. If a team has a scheduled event it can be posted on the Events Calendar located on the TEAM page. There also seems to be a lot of information available to some wanting to start a new team.

The Storque: This is called a "super blog" and contains daily updates including articles about buyers, sellers, items, or areas of interests to crafters. Articles are written by ETSY staff, special guests and members of the ETSY community. Future stories can be pitched to ETSY for upcoming Storque issues. There are sub-categories for articles focused on

• Shopping,
• Lifestyle and Community,
• Indiepreneur (about business), and
• ETSY Central.

The most popular posts of the week are posted in a top ten list.

Resources: This area of ETSY is for supporting your business with tools like downloadable buttons, badges, banners and Avatars. It provides links to useful informational links about Business, Finance, Healthcare, Marketing, Photography, and Improving your Shop. It creates the ability to keep informed through email communication on

• ETSY news,
• Teams,
• Finds,
• Success stories, or
• Information about upcoming lab events.

Help with creating a shop banner is available through the Bannerator. A new resource has been added to create business cards, stickers, or postcards with images from your own shop. This is called MOO.

This is enough research for one day; I hope you find this article interesting, relevant, and hopefully reported accurately.

Please feel free to leave comments.

Rhonda Geneva
Geneva Girls Designs, LLC
http://www.genevagirlsdesigns.com/