As some of you may know, we have recently been participating in some of the Treasury challenges of NonTeam. For more info:
http://treasurychallengenonteam.blogspot.com/
These are open to anyone on Etsy and it's been a lot of fun for us. We have created and entered several Treasuries in the NonTeam Challenges, and, we've had the honor and thrill of being featured in a few Treasuries created by others, as well.
That being said, we'd like to revisit the topic of Treasuries in this blog post. We're not pros, but we have learned a couple of things we wish we'd known from the beginning when we first began wading into Treasury waters. We'd like to share a couple of tips in hopes they may be of help to Treasury newbies.
We discussed creating (curating) a Treasury in our blog post of 10-19-10, so refer back to that if interested in how to get started. We would like to add that Etsy recommends you NOT feature items from your own shop when you create a Treasury. So, if you have any hopes that your Treasury might be selected to be shown on the "Front Page" of Etsy, we recommend you follow that guideline. Also, if you are on the Etsy home page, scroll down to the Treasury button on the left side of page and click on that, it will bring you to a page of currently "hot" Treasuries. On the right side of that page, it will show "Today's Trending Tags," so you might want to consider using those tags in your own Treasury tags, when applicable, or possibly even in your Treasury title.
Now, we would like to discuss what to do once you've created and published your beautiful Treasury with all your featured Etsy artisans.
It is considered a courtesy to let each of your artisans know you have featured them. Also, you want as many people to see the Treasury as possible, so if you inform your artisans, and, encourage them to share the news with fans and friends, you are better likely to drive more traffic to your Treasury.
Through trial and error, we have found this the most time-effective way of informing your artisans.
1. Go to your treasury.
2. Click on the first item included.
3. When you get to that page, click on "contact" (currently on the right side of page)
4. It will take you to a convo page, with that item already typed in the box.
5. Type in a message with a link to the treasury, and one to your shop, if you'd like...
We have done item specific comments, but generic get the point across, too, and save time; something like this...
http://www.etsy.com/convo_new.php?to_username=dgpaperart&referring_listing_id=51317161&ref=ls_contact_top
Hello...I have featured this item in my recent Treasury at the link below:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4cdc517b5eea8eefa40fed2d/all-things-bright-and-beautiful?index=4
Please stop by and leave a comment, and encourage your friends and fans to do the same, if you'd like, via Twitter, FaceBook, blogs, emails, convos, etc.
Thanks, and I wish you every success!
Kori and partners
www.joyajewelrydesigns.etsy.com
Of course, you'll want to word your convo (message) in a way that seems comfortable and natural for you; this is merely one suggestion.
6. Once you type your message, BEFORE you SEND...copy everything EXCEPT their item listing info; when you have right-clicked and copied, then press SEND
7. Go back up to that same convo and click on your link to your Treasury to take you back
8. When you're back, click on item #2 and do the same thing again.
9. This time when you click on Contact and get to the convo box, you can just space down below the item listing, and then right-click and paste your info in, and then SEND
10. Go back in that convo and click on your link again...repeat process until you've done all 16 artisans. Then you can recheck your own convo list and make sure all 16 have been listed/sent
In the beginning, I didn't even think about Twitter, FB, StumbleUpon, Digg, Kaboodle, and the other social media sites as resources to spread the word, but it is not hard and gives exposure to your own shop and your artisans. So, you may want to consider the possibilities.
Also, I review my Treasuries periodically for awhile. If items have sold, I go back to the artisan and send a reminder that they were featured, and, a quick note of congratulations. If something in your Treasury sells quickly, you'll want to replace the space in your Treasury with another item. This is especially true if you have entered a challenge of some sort and/or you are hoping your Treasury might get to Front Page. It is my understanding it will not get to FP with missing items. Usually you create a Treasury with 16 items. Only 12 would show up on Front Page and they would be the 12 in the first three lines from top to bottom. Normally, if something came up missing, the space would be filled in with something from the bottom row. Occasionally---I'm still too new to this to know why---items disappear and are not replaced, so that's another reason I check our Treasuries often. I do know if a listing becomes expired, it will "disappear" unless renewed. Sometimes, when a featured item sells, it will disappear, and sometimes it will just show "Sold" at the bottom of the picture. Either way, if your Treasury is just a few hours or days old, you will want to replace sold items with ones that can be purchased. If you really liked the look of your Treasury with that item, you can check back in the artisan's shop to see if they have another listing of the same item. If so, you can copy the address bar of that listing and go back into your Treasury site and click the Edit button to replace the space with the fresh listing. However, I've also heard others tell that items "disappeared" and they didn't know why. So check in occasionally and make sure your Treasury is "full" if it's still fairly new.
To save time in checking your Treasuries, go to the Etsy home page, scroll down on the left hand side and click the Treasury button (aqua in color at the time of writing this blog). Then type in your shop name in the search box and hit enter and it will bring up all Treasuries that you have done, or, where items of yours have been featured. If you will then bookmark or favorite the page, this will be a quick way to get to all of them so you can see if you need to trade out sold items and add newer items to replace them.
Thanks, and I wish you every success!
Kori and partners
www.joyajewelrydesigns.etsy.com
Of course, you'll want to word your convo (message) in a way that seems comfortable and natural for you; this is merely one suggestion.
6. Once you type your message, BEFORE you SEND...copy everything EXCEPT their item listing info; when you have right-clicked and copied, then press SEND
7. Go back up to that same convo and click on your link to your Treasury to take you back
8. When you're back, click on item #2 and do the same thing again.
9. This time when you click on Contact and get to the convo box, you can just space down below the item listing, and then right-click and paste your info in, and then SEND
10. Go back in that convo and click on your link again...repeat process until you've done all 16 artisans. Then you can recheck your own convo list and make sure all 16 have been listed/sent
In the beginning, I didn't even think about Twitter, FB, StumbleUpon, Digg, Kaboodle, and the other social media sites as resources to spread the word, but it is not hard and gives exposure to your own shop and your artisans. So, you may want to consider the possibilities.
Also, I review my Treasuries periodically for awhile. If items have sold, I go back to the artisan and send a reminder that they were featured, and, a quick note of congratulations. If something in your Treasury sells quickly, you'll want to replace the space in your Treasury with another item. This is especially true if you have entered a challenge of some sort and/or you are hoping your Treasury might get to Front Page. It is my understanding it will not get to FP with missing items. Usually you create a Treasury with 16 items. Only 12 would show up on Front Page and they would be the 12 in the first three lines from top to bottom. Normally, if something came up missing, the space would be filled in with something from the bottom row. Occasionally---I'm still too new to this to know why---items disappear and are not replaced, so that's another reason I check our Treasuries often. I do know if a listing becomes expired, it will "disappear" unless renewed. Sometimes, when a featured item sells, it will disappear, and sometimes it will just show "Sold" at the bottom of the picture. Either way, if your Treasury is just a few hours or days old, you will want to replace sold items with ones that can be purchased. If you really liked the look of your Treasury with that item, you can check back in the artisan's shop to see if they have another listing of the same item. If so, you can copy the address bar of that listing and go back into your Treasury site and click the Edit button to replace the space with the fresh listing. However, I've also heard others tell that items "disappeared" and they didn't know why. So check in occasionally and make sure your Treasury is "full" if it's still fairly new.
To save time in checking your Treasuries, go to the Etsy home page, scroll down on the left hand side and click the Treasury button (aqua in color at the time of writing this blog). Then type in your shop name in the search box and hit enter and it will bring up all Treasuries that you have done, or, where items of yours have been featured. If you will then bookmark or favorite the page, this will be a quick way to get to all of them so you can see if you need to trade out sold items and add newer items to replace them.
It is also informative in that, not everyone knows to inform their artisans that they have been featured in a Treasury. We have been featured in several where the curator never informed us. In older ones, we were saddened to find out in this happenstance way, as it made it very late and awkward in regard to leaving comments. In newer ones, we were grateful to be able to do so, and, to be able to Tweet about them or post on Facebook, and other social media sites to spread the word for more exposure. We are not currently using paid advertising, so we appreciate opportunities to use social media for greater exposure.
That's it for this blog post. We would love to hear comments from anyone as to whether this information may have been helpful, OR, if anyone has anything they'd like to add that may be helpful, we're always appreciative of learning new ways and lessons.
Again, we'd encourage anyone who has not done a Treasury yet to give it a try. It's fun and informative and you never know when it might be profitable, as well.
Here's to designing more fun and success into your life!:)
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