Since I list my items on Etsy, I've come to the realization that networking is a BIG necessity in that type of community. Without connecting with other artists and taking part myself in the social media they provide, I found that my traffic was greatly slowed to my Etsy site. I took a look at all the "Teams" that Etsy hosts and found that, after just a few minutes of searching, there were thousands of Teams that I could be a part of. I actually thought to myself, " I could totally sign up to a bunch of these and I'm set". But after a few minutes of really digging into what these teams were, I realized that it wasn't just the act of clicking "Join Team" but the actions that follow.
Some teams just seem so dormant..stagnant..or just holding groups for Etsy vendors with no direction. That wouldn't work for me, I needed something "more". Thinking on what would work for me with the resources I had, I had come to realize that I had totally forgotten about my membership to a team I had already belonged to. I had been with them for years, first as a vendor but then later as a fan. The Fantasy Artists of Etsy (FAE ) has a stellar group of artists I had admired for a long time. So, I made the decision to be an active part of the FAE Team once again and not just a silent watcher from the distance. With this decision came the first step of taking part in their current exibition of work. The Midnight Dark and Dreary Exibition was taking calls for work and I decided to answer that call. I submitted two pictures of my work. It took a few tweeks to the images, but finally they were accepted for display.
So whats the lesson I learned? That in order for you to have an active Etsy site, you need to be active yourself. You can't just sit back and let your "tags" do the work for you. Altho, they do drive traffic to your site to a certain extent, you need to do a bit more than that to be successful. That also holds true for Etsy Teams. You need to make sure you pick a team that fits your site, your style and your product(s). Without this "fit" you can't comfortably participate in discussions or other team activities..and no participation, means that your team suffers as well your site.
So, when the FAE Team asked me to promote the exhibition I was more than happy to participate. I encourage you all to take a stop by the Fantasy Artists of Esty site to view the current exhibition titled "Midnight Dark and Dreary", which is very appropriate for the upcoming Halloween holiday. Click on those listings that speak most to you. You know those listings, the ones that make you go "Oh Cool!", those are the ones you need to click on and see how they're made or find out the story behind them. But don't stop there, tweet them or even post them on Facebook... it's free, but it also helps out the artist involved, and it only takes a few seconds, plus you just might make an artist smile.
Some teams just seem so dormant..stagnant..or just holding groups for Etsy vendors with no direction. That wouldn't work for me, I needed something "more". Thinking on what would work for me with the resources I had, I had come to realize that I had totally forgotten about my membership to a team I had already belonged to. I had been with them for years, first as a vendor but then later as a fan. The Fantasy Artists of Etsy (FAE ) has a stellar group of artists I had admired for a long time. So, I made the decision to be an active part of the FAE Team once again and not just a silent watcher from the distance. With this decision came the first step of taking part in their current exibition of work. The Midnight Dark and Dreary Exibition was taking calls for work and I decided to answer that call. I submitted two pictures of my work. It took a few tweeks to the images, but finally they were accepted for display.
So whats the lesson I learned? That in order for you to have an active Etsy site, you need to be active yourself. You can't just sit back and let your "tags" do the work for you. Altho, they do drive traffic to your site to a certain extent, you need to do a bit more than that to be successful. That also holds true for Etsy Teams. You need to make sure you pick a team that fits your site, your style and your product(s). Without this "fit" you can't comfortably participate in discussions or other team activities..and no participation, means that your team suffers as well your site.
So, when the FAE Team asked me to promote the exhibition I was more than happy to participate. I encourage you all to take a stop by the Fantasy Artists of Esty site to view the current exhibition titled "Midnight Dark and Dreary", which is very appropriate for the upcoming Halloween holiday. Click on those listings that speak most to you. You know those listings, the ones that make you go "Oh Cool!", those are the ones you need to click on and see how they're made or find out the story behind them. But don't stop there, tweet them or even post them on Facebook... it's free, but it also helps out the artist involved, and it only takes a few seconds, plus you just might make an artist smile.
