Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Why your Treasury isn't on the Front Page

After yesterdays marathon post, my wife had suggested writing a part 1 and part 2 for the posts that I knew were going to be lengthy. WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT?? Well I promise that today’s will be shorter, but in the future, I think the “parts” blog is some advice we can all use in general. Thank you to all of you who stuck with me and read through it anyway.

Today I will cover why your treasury isn’t on the Front page.

There are a few reasons actually. Since the treasuries are no longer timed and limited, obviously there are a lot more of them. Simple reason number one that yours isn’t on the FP is that no one saw it.

The second reason is the harder one, but the truth is that it just isn’t good enough. Now before you get offended and close your browser, keep in mind that I don’t like to say things without offering alternate solutions. So here it is:

Getting found:

As of the time I wrote this, there were over 23.000 pages of treasuries. I don’t know how much time you spend online in a day, but there is no way I am looking at all of those.. even if I wanted to. So you want yours not only to stick out from the crowd figuratively but literally as well, if it isn’t toward the front, the odds of people seeing it are less likely.

Take time selecting your items. You can make a treasury of all things you love every time, but honestly that’s what your favorites are for, What you WANT is thinks that you love that other people will too. The same should go for your name. the name of your treasury should be relevant. I hate seeing one called “I love coffee” and being a bunch of bicycle memorabilia. Or a clever name like “you cant spell ironic without the iron” and making it all lingerie… wait, that actually isn’t a bad idea, disregard that one.

Use color or don’t use color. But seriously stop doing both. Clashing exists in more than just my 6th grade wardrobe. Keep this in mind, Etsy is a business, their front page is the face of that business, you don’t want the face of your business to look like an awkward 6th grader.

THEME. Even if not in the name give your treasury a theme. Make up something, or find one item to build it around. The treasuries that I see that are totally random confuse me and I often move on.Consider that on the page we only see 4 items initially, those have to be compelling enough to draw me in.

This brings up the final point of arrangement. This makes of breaks a treasury. You can have the same items look absolutely amazing, or like a total train wreck depending on the placement of the items. Take a good look, and take the time to rearrange if needed. Setting it up the right way can be the difference between being on the Front Page, and being on page 17,985.

Ultimately though with them unlocked, use the treasury to have fun., this post is about why yours isn’t on the front page, that doesn’t mean that you are doing it wrong. If you are having fun with it and making the featured artists proud, you are doing just fine. If your goal is the recognition of the elite FP status, well then think about this post when you’re creating and reference it later if needed (shameless plug for page views)

GAHHHH still a bit long. I will post another lunch walk to make up for it 

7 comments:

  1. Wow, 23,000 pages. I never hoped to be on the front page anyway, but seeing that number kind of puts the nail in the coffin.

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  2. yeah I was actually blown away when I went to get that screenshot and saw the actual number.

    personally I would rather be featured in a treasury on the FP than have my own there. But thats another day.

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  3. Well said!
    23k pages of treasuries...I really just don't bother with them anymore.

    I liked treasuries better when it was all special.

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  4. @welchva...ME TOO! waiting refreshing, then clicking and getting excited to be in. I miss that.

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  5. I have made it as high as pages 3, 4, and 5... but never to page 1. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

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  6. Thanks, this was a really great post! I agree about the titles of treasuries. The arrangement part was really interesting... do you have an example of how arrangement can make or break a treasury?

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