102 of 104 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Made Me Think of My Etsy Store In a Whole New Way, Mar 11 2011
By Kari Esparza - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: How to Make Money Using Etsy: A Guide to the Online Marketplace for Crafts and Handmade Products (Paperback)
I've been selling knitted items on Etsy for over a year now, but only recently started getting serious about it. Sales have come in, but they are slow. I wanted to do something to get more buyers. It's just that Etsy has grown to be so big now, unless you're luckly enough to be featured on the main page, your store can get buried (and mine was buried). So, I bought this book and also Etsy Success - How to Make a Full-Time Income Selling Jewelry, Crafts, and Other Handmade Products Online to get ideas on how to get the word out.
The author takes an "internet marketing" approach to the advice he gives. Basically, he has taken the things that have worked for successful internet marketers (who sell ebooks and other products) and shows you how to apply them to your Etsy store. This was a new approach I hadn't thought of.
There's a lot of mention of SEO (search engine optimization) but it wasn't too complicated to understand. He gives really good advice on setting up a blog and that was helpful. There are also interviews with successful bloggers (some of whom I had read before) which were helpful to better understand how a blog works to get new buyers and keep them interested. Reading about their success also really inspired me.
The big thing I learned was that there's a big difference between advertising your Etsy store and marketing it. Marketing takes a little more work, but can lead to the best results, so it is more efficient in the long run.
This book gave me ideas on how I can spend minimal time marketing my store without it turning into a full-time job, so I have the best of both worlds. This was especially important to me, because I still need time to knit! :)
43 of 47 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Six Stars For This Book - Must Have for Beginner or Seasoned Etsy Seller Worth It's Weight in Gold, Mar 25 2011
By Ira Mency - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: How to Make Money Using Etsy: A Guide to the Online Marketplace for Crafts and Handmade Products (Paperback)
I've been selling on Etsy for awhile; and I'm a vintage seller. I'd like to think by reading the Storque and all of Etsy's updates that I would know everything there is to know. I bought this book because I knew anyone as successful as marketing guru Tim Adams, may have something worth reading. I can't tell you how glad I am that I did. I quickly realized how much it was I didn't know and probably never would have known if it wasn't for this book.
It has far exceeded my expectations.
The book is loaded with how-to diagrams and screen shots, so that you can understand every step of what Tim is talking about. It's not just about selling on Etsy, that's a big part of it but it's loaded with simple tips and tricks that you can use to market your shop and gain more exposure. It talks about trending, finding your market niche, blogging, and SEO. Basically, it's marketing techniques that are proven to work. Put it this way, I also bought a SEO/marketing book not too long ago this book puts that one to shame.
On top of that there's interviews with Etsy top sellers. Their tips and tricks and secrets. Things you always wanted to know but couldn't ask, well, it's in there.
Here's an example, the first night I was only on page 12-13 when I learned something new - a tool that I should have been using all this time (for years) that is free. I worked on that for awhile, to learn and master that--I could not believe the resources available to me for free that I hadn't been tapping into. Then, I read to page 90 taking in tons of new information. I'm still reading because it's a learn as you go book and Tim shows you how to use the tools he's talking about.
I can't say how much this has helped me as an Etsy seller. It doesn't matter if you sell vintage, supplies, or handmade on Etsy, you need this book. It is worth it's weight in gold.
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Didn't help me but maybe others..., May 12 2011
By Deborah Price "Artlady" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: How to Make Money Using Etsy: A Guide to the Online Marketplace for Crafts and Handmade Products (Paperback)
If you are wanting to set up an Etsy shop, this book would be very helpful. If you already have an Etsy shop, you can get much of this information through their newsletters. I'm not very good with computers and I had my shop up and running in no time. Sales have been great following the advice in the newsletters. I really expected this book to give me more ideas to link different social sites to my Etsy shop. The section on Facebook was useless. The pictures he has you refer to are too dark to even be able to see. It was very confusing. Another thing that really annoyed me with this book was the editing. Or should I say, lack of editing. There were way too many words misused or repeated twice, etc. This is something that is very distracting to me.
What I liked most about the book were the interviews with Etsy shop owners. Those were very interesting.
So, I gave this a four star only because it would be great for someone just starting out.