My first post on SparkleDayDesign.com!! I am very excited that I am finally pushing past my procrastination to start posting on my website. I opened my Sparkle Day Design Etsy shop a year ago and have now navigated through all the seasons with my wreaths. Successful or not, I have definitely learned a few things. As I review the past year as a new Etsy shop owner, I made a reminder list of what I have learned so that I can better implement changes for 2015.
–Plan Ahead
–Expect Change
–Explore Other Selling Avenues
–Market and Hope For the Big Ones
–Create Items Intentionally For Key Word Traffic
1. Long range planning is key for seasonal sales.
“The early bird gets the worm.” “You snoose, you lose.”
Both of these cliches apply to creating and selling seasonal merchandise. When Valentine items appear in stores for sale on New Year’s Day immediately after Christmas markdowns, it’s time to list your Valentine items on Etsy, not in February. When Christmas items begin appearing simultaneously with Halloween near the end of August, that is the time to have Halloween/Fall and Holiday items created, photographed, and listed. I was surprised to find that this year I sold more for Halloween/Fall than for Christmas. The few Christmas wreaths I did sell, sold in September along with the Halloween and Fall wreaths. Halloween/Fall/Christmas sales seemed to morph into one sales window which was September-early November.
I wish I had prepared for the Christmas season with a better selection of wreaths listed by August 1. I had great intentions to work on Christmas in July. It did not happen. It wasn’t “screaming the loudest” so time was spent with summer theater, at the pool, and ferrying kids to karate camps, sewing lessons, and musical theater camp. Then all of a sudden, summer was pretty much over. Luckily I managed to get a few Christmas items done in August because I applied to a local boutique and needed to have Christmas items in my Etsy shop for their application process, but the wreaths I created in November were too little, too late.
Though I have read on the Etsy boards that people shop year round for seasonal merchandise on Etsy, overall, I say think like a retailer in term of seasons. Watch your local stores for clues. 
For me it can take 2-3 days to make a wreath, photograph it in good natural light, and then create the listing. Then another 2-3 days to promote on social media and blog about it. So that takes nearly a week to get the word out about a new item!
Plan. Ahead.
2. Your listings will evolve and you may end the year in a different spot than you started.
I opened my Etsy shop with the intent to sell tinsel wreaths with Disney characters on them much like this “Frozen” Elsa Wreath:
Frozen Elsa Doll Wreath
Then a friend asked me to make a custom spring wreath for her front door. She said she liked the idea of burlap and daisies.
Since I have a ribbon obsession, the creative flood gates opened and I began to design wreaths in a similar style for the remaining holidays and seasons of the year.
Fourth of July Wreath
Halloween Wreath
Gold and Silver Holiday Wreath
Red and Green Christmas Wreath
Because of the above mentioned ribbon and trim obsession, I started listing some of my supplies for sale on my Etsy shop for other crafters to enjoy and purchase. My sis and I took a fun trip to LA this past summer with my girls. Visiting the Fashion District, FIDM, thrift stores, and some other fun spots for fabric and trim were at the top of our list. Oh boy did we come back with a trunk full of treasures to craft and sew with… 
Share the joy right? We couldn’t keep all that to ourselves. So now some of these finds are in my Etsy listings.
Never thought that would happen. So be prepared to go with the flow where your shop takes you.
Expect. Change.
3. Experiment with other selling avenues to see what works best for you and your life.
Many friends have suggested that I sell my wreaths at a craft booth or boutique. My first experience (and last!) was this summer when I set up a vendor booth at our local summer family festival and it was a bust for me. Never again!! Granted it was my first time and I was an amateur, but Never. Again. For. Me. Tons of work, few customers, and low sales. I think I failed because people are at summer festivals to buy cheap jewelry, get dinner from a food truck, and ride the midway rides. They don’t want to purchase a $70 wreath and haul it around the rest of the day. I had some smaller and inexpensive items for sale too, but I just didn’t have traffic in my booth, even though it was the best looking booth there….
Because it was outdoors, I had to set up and take down each day. 
Many hours of thought and $$$ spent occurred pre-booth to design how it would look including finding display props, tables, linens, and signage. I had to prep inventory so that I had enough for a decent display. I was stuck manning for booth for two days, barely able to leave for a little break. I had to enlist the help of family to unload and load up both mornings and evenings. I had to greet the few customers I had and sell my wares! I wasn’t prepared for having to ‘sell’. I have never been a good salesperson, even for my own art.
Vintage Family Photo Wreath
Some crafters do both online sales and crafts shows, so next up I applied to a local live craft boutique in the fall and did not get accepted. Not sure why, but in the end I was relieved. Parts of me are still curious how I would do at a craft show where customers come to specifically shop for crafty and handmade goods, but I have decided that craft booths are not for me at this point in my life as a single mom with kids!!! Thus I heart online selling. Why?
–Convenience and flexibility. Can work on my wreaths or listings at any time day or night. No need for designing, setting up, and taking down a display booth. Can gradually build my inventory. No hard selling needed and I can jump online and do marketing while I’m waiting for my daughter at the karate studio. Can ship at my convenience within the specified date. Can sell year round, daily, round the clock. Even while I sleep. Pretty awesome.
–More profitable with less overhead. No need to invest in signage, display fixtures, or a trailer to haul around everything. No travel costs to faraway craft fairs. No booth rental fee. Many local craft boutiques take anywhere from 13-18% as a processing fee but with direct sales via my website, social media, or Etsy it’s a maximum of 6% taken to process my sales. Can sell year round, making money while I sleep. I think I already mentioned that. Seriously! I mean the potential is there…
Now that I’ve crossed a craft fair off my list, I learned that I want to utilize the flexibility and convenience of selling online through my website, social media direct sales, and my Etsy shop instead of the work involved in setting up a booth at craft boutiques and outdoor festivals. Not that I won’t attempt that later in my crafty life…But for now there’s 30 million registered viewers on Etsy!! No live craft fair can compete. It’s worth figuring out more ways to drive those customers to my shop.
Explore. Decide. Focus.
4. An Etsy viewer with a ton of followers who marks “Favorite” of a listing can create a very visible ripple effect in your views and sales.
I watched that happen last October with this Halloween wreath and I went on to sell multiples of this wreath because it caught some good exposure. That was seriously fun to see my listing views spike to new highs over a few days, all from a few good viewers who liked it and decided to share. That can happen on any social media platform as well. The more exposure, the greater chances of landing the biggies.
Halloween Wreath
Keep. Marketing.
5. Create or find a few shop items with listing keywords that rank high in Google searches and keep those items in stock and renewed in order to keep your traffic up.
My “Frozen” Elsa Doll Wreath was my very first wreath. Frozen was huge, right?!! No one in my house could stop singing, “Let it go, let it go….” Disney could not keep Frozen merchandise in stock.
Frozen Elsa Doll Wreath
Through Etsy analytics, I see that my Elsa doll wreath is my most viewed item by FAR. Like 5 times more than my next highest item. My Disney wreaths bring traffic to my shop that I would not have otherwise. I watched my listing views plummet at a certain point last year. As I looked into it, I discovered that my Elsa wreath listing had expired, so my theory is that I lost traffic since that listing was no longer coming up in the Google.com searches and the Google Product Listing Ads.
I have a “Frozen” Anna doll wreath that has taken me all year to get to finishing, which is unfortunate because what traffic have I been missing out on?!! I need to set a deadline for myself to get it finished and listed. I am curious if I will see an increase in my Etsy traffic. What did we do before Anna and Elsa…?
Key. Words.
Thanks for reading. Hope you can learn from my first year as an Etsy seller. Follow Sparkle Day Design on Facebook or Instagram @sparkledaydesign for wreaths, ideas & inspiration, and crafty thoughts.
