March Team Meeting Minutes and Pictures

Amy Averitte Enjoys a Coffee

The first thing I want to do in this post is apologizing for messing up the date of the meeting! I originally had it on Saturday, but announced the wrong date. I apologize for anyone who could not attend because of the this issue. I hope to see some new faces next time. Feel free to suggest a good time for a meeting that works for you, because we will keep having them every 2-3 months. The next meeting will be SATURDAY MAY 25th at 12 NOON at Hasting's Coffee Shop in Murfreesboro on Memorial.  Now for the highlights of the meeting!

Hasting's Employee Is Excited About Handmade Candle

- Try and participate on the team discussion boards once week so discussions don't get dull, although we have NO mandatory treasury making or participation level. There are now stickies for "let's promote", "team treasury", "have a heart game" and "social media links". Feel free to start your own discussion for a shop critique or question. Don't be shy!

- The team tag is TEAMBORO (we were originally the Murfreesboro team, but people from anywhere are welcome). Team treasuries must have at least one team member.

-Team Blog is http://borocrafters.blogspot.com
-Team Facebook is https://www.facebook.com/TennesseeCrafts

You may use the team facebook once a week to promote a sale or promotion and post one new listing from your shop a week.

To get into the team blog, contact Mylana on Etsy to feature your shop, or play in the twice monthly treasury game. The winning treasury gets in the blog and the winner has his or her item promoted as the inspiration item for the next round.

Clare Corcoran Brought Lavender Bath Salt Samples 

Amy Averitte's Custom Made Name Pillow

-Local craft fairs and vendor opportunities are always welcome to be shared on the Etsy team boards and Facebook. Check often for new updates. One of our team members is opening a craft mall in Mount Juliet. There will be a blog post about the shop and how to sign up. Look for that in the blog this month.

-New "Customer Service Stats" on Etsy!
These are found under "Your Shop" category on the upper right. Rumor has it that these may be an eventual replacement for the feedback system; however, it is not official. Currently, you can check your processing times, average conversation response time, and goals for shipping and tracking.

-Do you make "Custom Made"?
Make sure all listings have an accurate processing time listed. If you are drowning in orders and getting overwhelmed, it might be time to raise your prices. You will see fewer sales, but be getting paid more per order and reduce your stress levels.

-Are sales sluggish? Consider asking on the team boards for a critique or help or consider the following:
1) Get your social media up and running (facebook, twitter, blog) and keep it interesting. Look for blogs to feature and promote your shop.

2) How is your Search Engine Optimization or SEO? Are you using all your tags? Are you using the best tags to describe your items? Are you using popular terms for search? Try checking out the titles and tags of your competitors, but do not intentionally mis tag items or label them as the incorrect thing, just to be found.

3) Maybe it is time to have a sale or lower prices. Please note, this usually results in buyers looking for a deal who might not return when you raise prices or the sale is over. Having low prices all the time may contribute to a devaluation of your product to the buyers, who sometimes perceive low price as being low quality. Pricing is a personal decision you will have to carefully evaluate and experiment with. At the meeting, everyone agreed that they had raised the prices over time and decided to work on improving their SEO and shop appearance to make sales. It is frustrating when your prices are low and you get many orders but little profit to show for it.

4) Try making some treasuries or listing items when things get slow. Most team members with over 500 sales have over 100 items. More items = more tags and titles to get found with in search.

5) Try advertising outside Etsy, such as in blogs or facebook ads. You can get a free ad in the team blog by contacting Mylana.

***To get your FREE AD in the team blog, go to "Your Account" and choose "Info and Appearance", then on the left, look for the category "Promote". Select "Etsy Mini" with 2 x 2 thumbnails and send a conversation to Mylana with the javascript code. Your shop ad will appear in the blog shortly!***

-Shop For a Cure was a great success!
Organized by team member Amy Bachman (MyMilkMoney), our team helped raise a lot for the cystic fibrosis foundation. My personal shop, Mylana, was able to donate 35 dollars and I had several buyers comment they found me through this event. Charity fundraisers can be great exposure, but you need to evaluate how much your shop can contribute and which events are really important.

Don't forget the next meeting!
SATURDAY MAY 25th at 12 NOON at Hasting's Coffee Shop in Murfreesboro on Memorial