the etsyMakeover Challenge
part threE
FUZZY & BIRCH | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | COPYRIGHT 2016
by jenni waldrop
Whip out your virtual makeup bag and get ready for the Etsy Makeover Challenge! The following pages contain 7 different challenges, each with tasks
you can complete in 15 minutes a day.
12
FUZZY & BIRCH | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | COPYRIGHT 2016
The Etsy Makeover ChallengeDAY 1: Time to Streamline Your Life
Today is your first Etsy Makeover Challenge! And we're going to start with something you've probably been putting off for a long time:
It’s time to brush those cobwebs off your to-do list.
Before you take on the Etsy challenge, round up all your personal & biz to-do’s that are standing in your way. Maybe they’re things like old clients, projects at work, or relocating your shop to a home office…These things are keeping you from being the best possible version of yourself.
So kick them to the curb.
Don’t know where to start? I’ve got a worksheet on the next page just waiting to be filled in! It will help you sort those tasks that you can do NOW vs LATER, and get rid of those things you just don’t need in your life anymore!
Use the worksheet on the next page to take 15 minutes to streamline your life!
FUZZY & BIRCH | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | COPYRIGHT 2016
WEEK OF:
THINGS THAT ARE BOTHERING ME:
IMPORTANT & URGENT IMPORTANT & NOT URGENT
NOT IMPORTANT & URGENT NOT IMPORTANT & NOT URGENT
NEXT STEPS LIST ONE OR TWO THINGS YOU CAN DO NOW TO GET THE BALL ROLLING:
Today I will:
This week I will:
This month I will:
FUZZY & BIRCH | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | COPYRIGHT 2016
The Etsy Makeover ChallengeDAY 2: Add 5 New Listings
Today is Day 2 of the Etsy Makeover Challenge, and today you're going to add 5 new listings to your shop.
Yeah, I’m not screwing around. You wanted a challenge, so I’m giving you a challenge.
You’re going to add at least 5 new listings. (Don't worry, I'm going to give you a product inspiration worksheet). Really spend some time creating these babies. Don’t just throw up any old thing. You’re going to look at your most popular listings and use them as inspiration.
On the next page, there’s a new product inspiration worksheet. Use it to start mapping out your new products!
Get these babies up and running in the next 7 days…because if you want to be an Etsy mogul, it’s time to start acting like it!
FUZZY & BIRCH | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | COPYRIGHT 2016
PRODUCT IDEA GENERATOR - WHAT’S TRENDING THIS SEASON? COLORS? FONTS? PHRASES? WRITE THEM DOWN HERE:
LIST YOUR TOP 5 MOST VIEWED PRODUCTS:
SEARCH PINTEREST FOR “ETSY PRODUCT IDEAS”. WRITE DOWN 5:
GO TO TRENDHUNTER.COM AND LOOK AROUND. WHAT’S BEING FEATURED?
LOOK AT YOUR LEAST POPULAR PRODUCTS. HOW COULD YOU REVISE THEM SO THEY’RE MORE POPULAR?
FUZZY & BIRCH | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | COPYRIGHT 2016
The Etsy Makeover ChallengeDAY 3: Get Your Etsy SEO On Point (for an Instant Sales Boost!)
A lot of people think SEO is a “set it and forget it” task. But as an ex-fortune 500 SEO expert (seriously, I spent those formative corporate years SEO-ing my butt off)... I can tell you that changing up your Etsy tags and titles is literal-ly like finding free money.
How’s that, you ask?
Well think about it. How long would it take you to hop on Marmalead (the Etsy SEO tool), search for a few tags, and change them out on 20 of your listings?
5 minutes? 10 minutes if you’re OCD like me?
And what if that 5 minutes of work brought you new customers and sales for the next 6 months??
I’d say that’s 5 minutes well freakin’ spent.
Tags, titles (and all SEO, basically) is SEASONAL. Popular words change. I’m sure you’ve noticed the slang you use now is a bit different than it was last year. Same holds true for your Etsy SEO. Popular words change constantly. So update your tags and titles every 6 months.
There’s a super awesome worksheet on the next page to help you do it! (Print it as many times as you need!)
Try swapping out your tags on at least 20 listings. If you want to be tricky, renew those listings as soon as you’ve swapped out your tags. Then watch your stats and see if those babies rise to the top!
FUZZY & BIRCH | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | COPYRIGHT 2016
PRODUCT NAME:
PRODUCT CATEGORY:
FOCUS KEYWORD:
WHEN I SEARCH ETSY FOR THIS ITEM, WHAT POPS UP?
5 TAGS MY COMPETITORS ARE USING FOR THIS ITEM:
WRITE THE FIRST SENTENCE OF YOUR DESCRIPTION USING YOUR FOCUS KEYWORD:
POPULAR KEYWORDS I CAN USE FOR THIS ITEM (CIRCLE ALL THAT APPLY) :
KEYWORDS FOR TITLE
GIFT FOR HER
GIFT FOR WOMEN
CUSTOM
CHRISTMAS GIFT
GIFT FOR HIM
GIFT FOR MOM
WIFE GIFT
ANNIVERSARY
BIRTHDAY GIFT
WEDDING GIFT
KITCHEN DECOR
BEST FRIEND GIFT
FUNNY GIFT
PERSONALIZED
STATEMENT
HOME DECOR
TOP TAGS ON MARMALEAD (CHOOSE 13-20) :
FUZZY & BIRCH | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | COPYRIGHT 2016
The Etsy Makeover ChallengeDAY 4: A picture’s worth (well, tens of thousands of dollars a year)
Ok, I’m going to be honest with you. I was creating this challenge for you today and everything I wrote down was just awful. That’s the thing about cre-ativity. It works on its own time. You can’t always expect it to show up.
And that made me realize: if it’s true for writing, it must be true for other crea-tive activities.
Which brings me to today’s challenge.
We all have a handful of products that either aren’t selling, or their first im-pression isn’t great.
So today, you’re going to choose 5 products and re-photograph them.
Why 5?
Well, because photography is harder than it looks (and I hate it. I hate everything about it, especially how much I suck at it).
But if you take enough pictures, you start to get better. Your brain gets into it…and suddenly you have a bunch of photos you can’t believe you took.
For those of you who want to just skip this challenge, DON’T even THINK ABOUT IT.
If there’s ONE THING that is 100% proven to revive a shop, even during slow seasons, that thing is NEW PHOTOGRAPHS.
Don’t believe me? Read about the time I got professional photos taken and made $10k in three weeks.
Then get working on those 5 new pictures!
FUZZY & BIRCH | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | COPYRIGHT 2016
The Etsy Makeover ChallengeDAY 5: Use Pinterest to Make a Sale a Day
Are you guilty of social media burnout? Well today we’re going to level up.
And we’re going to do it with Pinterest.
A big part of your SHINY NEW Social Media strategy is that you’re going to focus on ONE social media network at a time.
You’re going to build an audience and put your time into ONE network instead of 50. And you’re going to become an expert in that network.
So…Why Pinterest?
Well, because unlike other social media networks, a Pin lives forever.
A Facebook post gets swallowed by your feed after 5 minutes, tweets exist for about 2 seconds. Instagram photos are great but you need a big audience before you’ll get syndicated.
You can do some serious damage on Pinterest even if you have 10 sad little followers. You only need a few people to re-pin your product before it winds up in front of thousands.
I’m a big fan of doing half the work for ten times the return. And Pinterest is as close to instant gratification as you’re going to get.
So how do you get started?
Take 15 minutes and go down the Pinterest quick-start checklist (next page), and you could be on your way to Pinterest domination this time tomorrow!
FUZZY & BIRCH | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | COPYRIGHT 2016
QUICK START GUIDE TO PINTEREST DOMINATION:
TODAY’S DATE:
THE GIRL WHO BUYS FROM MY SHOP WOULD LIKE THE FOLLOWING BOARDS:
# OF FOLLOWERS:
# OF FOLLOWERS: ETSY TRAFFIC FROM PINTEREST
ETSY TRAFFIC FROM PINTEREST
SALES THIS WEEK
SALES THIS WEEK
# OF FOLLOWERS:
# OF FOLLOWERS:
success tracker
create a pinterest business account (or convert existing account)
register for rich pins, and get account approved
find and participate in 5 group boards (find them on pingroupie)
sign up for tailwind (pin scheduler)
schedule all my Etsy products to be pinned to group boards this week
create 5 new boards that my Etsy buyer would like (nail art, fitness, etc).
fill new boards with 25 pins each
try boardbooster and automate it to recycle my pins
add descriptions to my pins so they’re interesting (not just keywords)
edit pinterest profile description, include Etsy shop link
link to pinterest from your Etsy shop
add descriptions to all my boards
ETSY TRAFFIC FROM PINTEREST
ETSY TRAFFIC FROM PINTEREST
SALES THIS WEEK
SALES THIS WEEK
FUZZY & BIRCH | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | COPYRIGHT 2016
The Etsy Makeover ChallengeDAY 6: Plan an Email Promotion
Remember that derelict email list you have sitting around somewhere? Gath-ering dust?
It’s time to revive that baby and start taking this part of your business serious-ly.
If you’re wondering why you should bother, read this:
An email list is the backbone of your business. When you’re selling on Etsy, it’s the only thing you actually own. (Etsy owns your shop. They can shut it down if they want.)
But a list of customers is YOURS, forever.
So let’s give them a reason to start loving you again.
Your goal should be to reach 1000 email subscribers in the next 12 months. Seems like a lot, but once you hit 1000 subscribers, you’ll start making solid $$$ every time you send an email.
And because getting 1000 subscribers takes creativity and perseverance, you’ll be a pretty awesome Etsy mogul by the time you reach your goal.
Don’t worry: the more you grow, the easier it will be to get subscribers. (Fair warning: it will suck in the beginning).
So get started by reading this post on super simple tactics for growing your email list.
Then turn the page and start planning your first email promotion.
Your email doesn’t need to go out today, but you should have one ready and waiting for all those new subscribers you’re about to get!
FUZZY & BIRCH | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | COPYRIGHT 2016
CONTENT IDEAS:
EMAIL PURPOSE:
SUBJECT LINE IDEAS:
DATEEMAIL TYPE
OFFER OUTLINE: ACTIVE PROMOTIONS: SOCIAL MEDIA PLAN:
TIME # SENT OPEN RATE CLICK RATE
EMAIL results
Initial Email
Non-Responder
Hard Sell
Last Chance
FUZZY & BIRCH | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | COPYRIGHT 2016
The Etsy Makeover ChallengeDAY 7: Why you’re planning your business all wrong
So I thought we should end the challenge by talking about how you're going to plan for a very successful future.
It involves two words: yearly planning.
Not monthly, not weekly, not making a million to do lists and then forgetting them all the second you open your email.
You sit down, once every 6 months. You look at your calendar. You write down your goals for the next year.
Then you get to work, spreading those goals across the calendar. Until you’ve filled up the next year.
You always know what needs to happen next. Your business grows and pro-gresses while you accomplish more in less time.
I know a year seems like a long time, but this method will do amazing things for your income, your focus, and your sanity.
(And in my case, I realized I could squeeze in more time off if I planned ahead).
Need some hints on where to start? Here’s 4 things that should be in your yearly plan:
Schedule time to create a LINE of products (10-15) each season. Map out your Email Funnel Create a social media strategy Make friends with another Etsy seller and meet once a month to help each other
Turn the page to get started with your goals for the next year!
FUZZY & BIRCH | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | COPYRIGHT 2016
WHAT I NEED TO ACHIEVE MY GOAL:
THIS YEAR I WANT TO:
(LIST 1 GOAL PER PAGE)
WHAT WOULD CHANGE IF I SUCCEED?
NEXT STEPS LIST ONE OR TWO THINGS YOU CAN DO NOW TO GET THE BALL ROLLING:
IN 3 MONTHS I WANT TO ACCOMPLISH:
IN 6 MONTHS I WANT TO ACCOMPLISH:
IN 1 YEAR I WANT TO ACCOMPLISH:
this goal's first steps
Today I will:
This week I will:
This month I will: