How to Use Etsy: An Introduction

In this series, we will discuss the ins and outs of Etsy.  The dos and don'ts, as well as helpful apps that will give you options to increase your efficiency.  We all know that time at the computer is time away from our craft.  Today I am going to give you a list of sites of Etsy apps that you can explore and experiment with.

There are many Etsy apps (applications) out there to help make running a shop easier. Here are some of the more popular ones: 

• craftcult.com: for making widgets displaying your shop and treasuries on your blog or website.  This is a fantastic tool for promoting your shop or a treasury.  The more places on the internet you appear, the better the odds are for a potential customer to find your shop.

• craftopolis.com: for recording shop analytics and editing multiple listings at once.  Shop analytics are vital to tracking your Etsy shop's health.  It also shows you where you are succeeding and the areas you need to improve on.  It also gives you the ability to edit multiple listings at once.  The time saving potential there is obvious.

• etsyonsale.com: for running sales easily (not free, except for 5 credits to run 1 sale; use the referral code 3BC8YJD7U5 for 5 bonus credits).  I'm sure you have seen listings that have the regular price crossed out in red with a sale price, also in red, next to it.  This is done with this app.  It is a great way to promote a sale price, as people can the original price.  And the line crossed through the original price makes it obvious you are having a sale.

• fotofuze.com: for improving photos.  This site links directly to Etsy so you can upload your photos to your listing and touch them up from fotofuze,  No loading jpegs into photo software programs and then saving the somewhere on your computer so you can upload to Etsy.  Just touch them up in fotofuze, click the button, and your photos on Etsy are done.  Fotofuze is meant to enhance pictures that are already fairly close to the image you want and works best for white background photos.

• shmetsy.com: for easy treasury making and contacting featured sellers.  You can make the treasury and send a mass email to everyone included to let them know that they are featured.  Super slick.

Find more Etsy apps here. The ones you use will show up in "Apps" under "Your Account." 

Francesca