The Front Page and how to Stalk Yourself

One of the things that everyone strives for in the online marketplace is being able to have themselves featured somewhere so that they can be seen by a large crowd. On Etsy, that means the front page. It's the homepage that always looks fantastic and is specially chosen by the administration of Etsy usually based on Treasuries curated by Etsy buyers, sellers and browsers. The Etsy folks seem to be mixing things up, as this treasury uses recently listed items from the time machine 2. It changes regularly, and there is no telling if you were there without a little help from some friends and "self stalking" as I like to call it.

First and foremost, I would like to Congratulate Blue Nostalgia on her front page feature and resulting sales and Etsy love.

Blue Nostalgia joined the Awesome Chicks on January 10th. Etsy has been quite the experience since opening her initial shop in late October. I don't know how often it happens that the first shops quickly get revamped after learning a few things about Etsy. So many people have let their first store go, and opened a new one, with a new name and a altered, or entirely different product. I know I have done it.

To me her store is a mix of antique and classic metals with sleek stones that give it a simple modern look. I know that there is something on my list from her store and the time will come when I can no longer help myself and I will have to buy it. It's like that for me...things stare at me and eventually, I must have them.

I'm sure it is a great start to the day for her, and I predict that she will do well on Etsy and meet the goals she has set for herself if she persists. Congratulations Blue!
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Here is a little note on how to stalk yourself. This is just a bit of how I personally stalk myself on a daily basis. See, I don't have too much else to do in Winter.
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Search the Treasuries
I like to check them both (yes, there are two, one is kinda hidden). The Main Treasury and Treasury West will have a little gold star if you are in it. It's a grey star if you are an alternate, and a blue star if you created it yourself.
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Visit Heart.o.matic (aka Majaba)
Oh yes, this is the funnest thing for us self stalkers. Lovingly created by some fantastic supportive people who help us out to make Etsy that much more addictive and a little easier to get to "heart" information. Type your shop name in the box, press enter and see who "hearts" you right down to the time stamp of when you were loved :) Check your item hearts to see what item is most loved. I think that all the secret admirers are celebrities waiting to buy for the Oscars, totally right?
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Analytics
Here is a relatively new one. Etsy has been working to satisfy the requests for some kind of statistics. It is a great help to let shop owners know a thing or two about how to advertise and what may or may not work. So load it up, and see what you can gain from the information it presents to you. It takes a day to build some stats though, so be patient. Find the Web Analytics setup in Your Etsy and under the Shop Setup heading.

You will need to have a google account to do this, which you can set up easily.

To set up your analytics you MUST read the directions carefully. I don't think you can break anything, but reading them really carefully will save you some frustration. Hunt thru the line of characters that Google gives you when you sign up and find the ones that appear in this format: UA-XXXXXXX-X. The x's will be numbers's, enter them in the tracking ID box and save your changes.
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Google Alerts
Since you have a Google account now ya might as well alert yourself to things that show up on the internet. type your terms (shop name) in the box, decide how detailed and how often you want to be alerted and stick your e-mail in the box. Simple as that, you will get an e-mail when you "show up" online.

Licia is the insane brain behind the AwesomeChicksofEtsy blog and google group. She started selling on Etsy in early 2008 and hopes to help others using what she has learned in the last year. Her LiciaBeads store can be found here.