Mai Autumn

13 (Or More) Chances to Get Found on Etsy - How to Tag Your Listings for Maximum Exposure

One of the questions I get asked the most frequently, is how to get better visibility on Etsy. And the answer I have for you - tags. You may think those thirteen little words are just more ways to describe your work, but they are each golden opportunities for your work to be found in the sea that is Etsy. 

Etsy will suggest that you put your materials, a style, color, etc., but I'm here to tell you that people search on Etsy how they plan to use things, and they generally might have more than one definition of the thing that they're looking for. You may feel like you're being redundant when adding tags in the way that I'm about to explain, but by using synonyms in your tags, you will quadruple your chances that your art will get found. 

On my most popular print to date, my tags are relatively simple, and only two of them are taken up by the subject. I'll give you a run down:

• What it is - a print
• What it could also be searched for as (here's where the redundancy comes in) - painting 
• A popular search term - sale - I include this because I always offer free shipping on this print, and I often have discounts running to promote that impulse buy reflex that oh so many people shop by. This is something that people search for a LOT on Etsy.
• More redundancy (and a very broad term) next - home decor - Maybe someone is redecorating? They didn't know they needed your art for their amazing room design! Now they see you somewhere else that maybe they might not have found you before.
• You're gonna start to see the pattern here - illustration - it may be a painting, a drawing or whatever, but some people might use this word to describe what they're looking for. Just upped your chances of getting found.
• Medium - watercolor - (obvious)
• This one is a broad term that also might be slightly off for this piece, but some people might consider this painting - floral. 
• Color - rainbow
• Subject - succulent
• Sort of the subject -  cactus
• Now here's where we get into your ideal customer and styles. The next two tags are boho and bohemian - These types of 'style' terms are popular right now, and if someone pairs them with the other tags you have, you'll most likely show up higher in searches for this (like, 'bohemian painting', which, I just checked, my listing is the third one on the page for this - winning!)
• The last tag is also one that relates to style, but also kind of the subject, if we're getting really general here - desert.

As you'll see, the order of the tags does not matter. The key is to think how your buyer would think as they're shopping. What would you search for if you wanted to find your own painting? With this method, you'll also get lots of combinations for how you might get found in search. For instance:

• watercolor rainbow floral
• cactus desert painting
• home decor on sale

You get the idea. The key is not to be found in the huge search results, like such a broad term as "watercolor", but to be found in the niches that buyers are shopping in when they get an idea of what they want to purchase. 

 

I hope this has been insightful in getting more traffic to your Etsy shop! Stay tuned for more business posts on the Art of Success, and be sure to join the free Facebook group of artists discovering more ways to grow their art careers - The Art of Success: Building Your Dream Career as an Artist

5 Income Building Steps When Creating: Make Money with Your Art

I am often asked about how I'm making a full time living as an artist, and I'm finally here to share with you the tips, tricks, systems and secrets I use to keep the income, the inspiration, and the paint, flowing in this little studio of mine. 

5 Income Building Steps When Creating: Make Money with Your Art

When you finish a gorgeous work of art, there are some crucial steps to take that will put your work in front of as many eyeballs as possible - which will eventually result in your work getting found, hopefully purchased, and possibly even licensed to create a form of residual, passive income that will help boost your bank account for months after you created the work!

 

Step 1: Etsy/Your own shop

After you've properly photographed or scanned in your new piece, the first step is listing that work of art for sale online - whether that's in an Etsy shop, or if you have your own website through a service like Shopify or Big Cartel.  Getting the work available for purchase, on an easy to navigate platform, will make it that much more likely that it will eventually end up in the home of a collector, rather than sitting on a shelf in your studio. The easier it is for a customer to place the item in their cart and checkout, the better. 

(Side note: Some might say that it is best to list one's work on a portfolio website, with no prices and no checkout, in the hopes that a collector or gallerist will be so in love with their art, that they will take the time to email the artist, begging to know more info about said painting or drawing. I have learned that this is a romantic fantasy, best left to the movies. If you want to make a living as an artist, the more people who have access to purchasing your art quickly, securely and efficiently, the better. This also prevents scammers from wasting your time via email!) 

(Side note two: If you are the type of artist who enjoys working in collections (which is a GREAT way to set yourself apart and do great things for your career), stay tuned for another post on how one creates collections of art, how to hype it up, list and sell that collection the RIGHT way. This post does also apply to collections as well, but in the case of those, you would be doing all these steps in a batch for the entire collection.)

Step 2: Print on Demand

The second, and maybe the most fun thing you can do with your art once you've created it, is to upload it to a print on demand website where it can be made into products - art prints, cell phone cases, pillows, tshirts... almost anything at this point! A few great sites where you can upload your work:

• Society6
• Red Bubble
• Spoonflower
• Zazzle

These sites pay out a commission for each product sold. Some sites will allow you to set the commission rate yourself, while others have a set percentage on their products. It may seem like a small amount on some sites, but it begins to add up as your portfolio expands and you get your name and brand out there. 

Step 3: Newsletter List 

Now that you have your art available for purchase in several different places, it's time to tell everyone! (If you don't have an email list yet, you can skip this step, obviously... but my one word of advice in this day and age of followers, fans and changing algorithms - get thee an email list! Setting up a simple landing page for people to sign up for your newsletter is easy on most portfolio or ecommerce websites, and I plan to talk about awesome incentives for collectors to sign up for it in a future post!) 

Some things to put in your newsletter include:

• Progress photos of you making the new work
• A short bit of text talking about what inspired you
• Obviously - the new work!

You don't have to make it too complicated or fancy - usually the simpler the better here. Many newsletter applications and sites will have built in editors so that you can make it nice, even without any graphic design experience. I personally use Mailchimp, and it is super easy to get that newsletter out into the world when I have something to share.

Step 4: Social

It's finally time to head to social media! I know some artists think this might be the best option to start with, but you want to make it as easy as possible for your fans and followers to get that art into their hands once it's scrolling rapidly across their phone screen. We are inundated with thousands of images a day, a lot of them trying to sell us things, so our brains have gotten very used to instantly finding what it is we're looking for when it comes to shiny things we might want to purchase NOW now NOW, or save for later for gift giving, a future project, etc. (Hello, my name is Christine and I have 80 Pinterest boards!)

The top social media apps I recommend are as follows: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. (Bonus points if you got some progress pics or videos of the process for you to post as well!)  Be sure to include a descriptive caption - possibly about your inspiration, the subject matter, or anything that speaks to your audience about why you made this gorgeous thing. Hashtags are also a great way to get your work found on all of these sites. You can find ways to have your posts automatically populate on all your social media all at once through sites like IFTTT.com - If This, Then That, which will save you loads of time instead of posting on all those sites separately. 

Step 5: Niche Marketplaces

This is a fun bonus step that I sometimes forget to do, but every once in a while, if I'm having a boring afternoon when I'd rather work on my business instead of paint, I go searching for new marketplaces to apply to, or add art to if I already have access. Here are some of the ones that I like to check out from time to time:

• Indie Walls
• Zatista
• Chairish

The sky is the limit with websites like these, and if you stumble across a marketplace that fits well with your style of work, you just may have created a new stream of income for yourself! 

 

I hope you found this step by step guide useful! If you liked it, be sure to leave a comment and subscribe to my newsletter to stay up to date on the new biz posts that are coming your way soon! 

 

 

It's been a while

Contrary to what this blog would show, I am still alive and well after about four years of not posting. (And it seems that 2015 wasn't that much of a blog-worthy year either!) I'm getting back into this blog for a bigger reason here in 2019 - I want to share my knowledge and journey specifically with artists this year. I get hundreds of emails and direct messages through all my social media channels asking me just how I've been making it as a full time artist, or if this is really happening for me. I'm here to tell you, it IS happening for me in a BIG way, and I am so excited to share my tips, advice, stories and resources with you, so that if you're an artist reading this right now who is looking to turn your hobby into your everyday job, a larger than life career, or just looking to have more time to create and spend time with your friends and family, I've got your back. 

I feel like a kid on the first day of school, a younger version of myself when I first got my feet wet with entrepreneurship, and I just can't wait to jump out of bed in the morning as I've been working on all the new aspects of my business lately! Throughout the year, you're going to be seeing a ton of wonderful resources here on this blog, on Instagram, as well as a special newsletter just for creatives. And to top it off, I'm getting deep into working on my new course, which is by far the most frequent request I get - when will you be teaching classes?! The first class is going to be a combination of creativity training and business training, and it will be based on everything I WISHED I had learned while in art school. I look back at my decade of experience in this industry and wish I had all this knowledge when I opened the doors to my first Etsy shop back in 2008. That is why I feel called to give this gift to YOU this year to make your 2019 the best year you've seen yet! 

So, having announced this exciting new adventure, let me know in the comments if you're an artist or creative, what your medium of choice is, and what your goals are for 2019! I can't wait to hear from you!

patterns

lately i've been trying to focus on how i want to grow my little business, and i keep thinking about patterns. when i started college, i always wanted to design fabric, and i think it may be coming about that time to actually make that dream a reality. here are some patterns that i find to be oh so fun!

via and here

via

via

via

 

yay new website!

the day has finally arrived! my new website is ready! i've been working hard to perfect all the little nifty do-dads that have been included in the update. this new layout is going to allow for lots of expansion in organization, product offerings and more interaction with you guys! i couldn't be more pleased with the way it turned out -  i could just hug it! (if one could hug a website lol) check out the screen shot below, and go have fun playing with it by clicking here.

i'd love to hear what you think! and if there is anything that you notice that isn't quite right, please feel free to send me an email at [email protected] or leave a comment letting me know! i'm still testing out every last feature , so it is totally possible i may have missed a thing or two.

it feels *so* good to have this done! just sayin' :)

let's celebrate!

yes, i know, this is not the absolute most exciting reason to celebrate.. but that yippee up there was just way too fun to pass up! i needed a yipee! and weight calculated shipping is a pretty cool thing, if you think about it - if you only get a teeny print or a teeny necklace, the shop site will now figure out how much your actual shipping cost is! woohoo for that! so go place that itty bitty order you've been wanting to place but couldn't justify the flat rate shipping! go for it!

while you're doing that, i'm going to be celebrating my mastery of my own website a little bit. i've been putting this whole thing off for way too long! and this little addition brings me one step closer to my big plans for the year!

yippee for that for real!

:)

peacock no.2

this is the result of yesterday afternoon's painting -

after creating both of these guys, i am actually tempted to keep the originals for myself! they look kind of amazing when flanking my armoire in my bedroom. for an artist, i actually have very little art up in my apartment (let alone my own!) (i actually probably won't get around to picking out frames for them and wouldn't want to hold onto any of my work for too long - makes me itchy or something! lol) 

i'm really starting to get down to making a whole lot more art to fill up the new categories that are going to start popping up over in the shop, so i'm hoping this inspiration streak continues! i really want to create a whole world with my work and express just about everything i can imagine. i have no idea where this notion is going to take me, but the freedom of subject matter i've started to allow myself has been feeling pretty darn liberating! 

on a small side note: in the coming months, i also have plans to unleash a whole bunch of new card designs, now that you can purchase card singles! shipping for one card is only $1.75! (flat rate shipping on the site is actually going away soon. shipping charges will be based on weight, so if you're only ordering teeny things, you pay less for shipping. yippee for that!)

enough about all my miniature empire type plans! off i go to attempt more painting/designing/scheming! :) 

(you can find prints/the original of mr. peacock over in the shop.)

planning some plans

if you recall back in february, when i started talking about designing a line of throw pillows, this post is going to sound kind of similar. i'm always dreaming up new things i want to make, and this week has been no exception. the throw pillows are still in the back of my mind, (don't you worry!) but i got to thinking what i would really love... to design a line of clothes someday. now, this is kind of just a distant, far out there kind of dream, for now, (since i hardly know how to sew, and i definitely don't know how to design patterns.. yet) but i wanted to throw it out there to see if it feels right. you know, putting it in writing and all. 

i mean, really, eventually, i would like to have all sorts of beautiful things available. i want to create my own little world and furnish it with everything i could possibly imagine! it's a bit insane, i know. but i think i'm going in the right direction. it feels good. and that's what matters, right? (sometimes i do feel like i might need to rein myself in a little though.) so for now, all i'm going to say... is that i'm dreaming up some pretty things to wear. here's some inspiration from the amazingly talented independent designers on etsy:

 

jamie and the jones

minx shop

janey clothing

lana stepul

isabelamyo

sabo shop

alexandra grecco

lana stepul

 

i'm keeping this notion in the back of my mind (probably for a few months, if not a whole year!) but it's there.. that little voice is saying *you can do it someday!*

:)

hi, i'm christine and i'm a workaholic

 

this morning, during my daily procrastination ritual, i keep coming upon references to one being a workaholic. first thing this morning, i opened up my unread copy of creative, inc., to exactly the spot where they list 'symptoms' of workaholism. let me tell you - i rank up there. i'm not a total lost cause yet, but i'm starting to wonder if i don't do something soon, just how bad it'll get.  

i then, almost immediately after, came across a post on potter, whitney smith's blog. an amazing ceramicist, she's also super snarky and i love it. in this post, she compares being a workaholic to being an alcoholic. i have to say, the similarities between the two are quite striking:

 

from whitney's blog--

    I've had to admit to myself that I am a workaholic. I resist that word because it seems like a word that would apply to somebody else doing different kind of work. But if I take some of the classic symptoms of alcoholism and apply them to work, it's hard to deny that I have a work problem. For example:

• I minimize how much time I actually spend working, the way an alcoholic minimizes how much he drinks.
• I don't count certain types of work as work, like listing stuff on etsy or cleaning my studio, the way an alcoholic may say that beer isn't really alcohol.
• I hide work, like snapping my computer shut and pretend like I was in the middle of doing something else when my husband walks into the room, and we all know alcoholics hide booze.
• And then the classic: does work make your home life unhappy? Yes, yes, and yes. My husband is an independent soul who doesn't allow me to dictate the mood at home, but there's no doubt I undermine his pleasure in life when I come home and whine about work, or worse, cry because the stress is getting to me.

 

this is absolutely true for me as well! it's bad. i've just been working myself like crazy these past few days and i am now sitting at my desk, thinking how i should be designing something, because i finally have a free minute. i'm almost reprimanding myself for writing this blog post!

i am kind of big on paying attention to the signs the universe throws your way, and after stumbling upon both of these glaringly obvious, and in my opinion, not coincidental, suggestions, i feel compelled to pay attention.

a while back, i sought advice from the amazing painter, janet hill, and she gave me a great tip - when inspiration isn't coming, go do something else. right now, i'm considering just that. i have no idea where this day is going to lead me, but i guess that's part of my job, and that's ok.

i hope you're all enjoying the short week out there! i think a workaholic like me might need to embrace it a little :) wish me luck!

 

image via galahad dumfries

motivation

i am seriously motivated today to get in as much as i can. firstly, because it's actually nice out today! and secondly, because tomorrow i want to get down to making some art! 

what are you striving for today? are you motivated this week?

hope it's sunny wherever you are!

(image via from up north)