Front Page Friday! Subtle Colors Edition

Some beautiful front pages from TPT team members this week! These subtle color pallets lead to gorgeous treasuries. Congrats to the curators and all that were featured.

moonandlion



marlyscreations



robinhoodcouture

TPT May Challenge Winners! ModGenesDesigns & RipeCardsAndJewelry

Wow! What a fantastic variety of treasuries we saw during our May TPT Challenge "Dark Fairy Tales". We had 24 excellent entries, it was so hard to choose a winner. There were two winners this time around. The 1st Winner was selected by our judges and the 2nd winner was selected by random selection.

Congrats to the judges pick, ModGenesDesigns!

The winning Treasury:


Be Sure to check out more great treasuries from ModGenesDesigns HERE.

In edition to being a talented treasury maker, ModGenesDesigns has a super cute Etsy Shop. Visit this shop by clicking HERE


Our next winner is Ripe Cards & Jewelry. Here is the beautiful winning treasury:



To see other great treasuries by this curator click HERE.

The lovely Etsy shop can be visited HERE.

Stay tuned for our JUNE TPT TREASURY Challenge!!

Front Page Friday! Clean and Simple Edition

Check out these TPT team members and their recent clean & simple Front Page Treasuries! Congrats to all the curators and shops. Don't forget to post here or on the TPT team discussion board when your treasury makes it to the front page. It makes it easier for me to find and feature them.

Beautiful Simple Backgrounds and subtle color from ArzuMusa



Atticle curated this lovely treasury with white backgrounds and pops of color.



This is a beautiful treasury by ALDDesigns. Subtle colors, light and fluffy!



Keep Creating!

xxoo Mags

What Would Happen If....

I have to admit I am a slightly nerdy. I like to do experiments from time to time. I often catch myself thinking, "what would happen if"...

So this time my experiment actually turned out pretty cool so I wanted to share it. If you try this experiment too, I would love to see the results so please comment and include your results!

Ok so... I thought what would happen if I made a treasury using 16 of my favorite shops, then made a second treasury using the exact same shops in the exact same spots. How different could the treasury look?

Here is the first treasury:


Here is the second treasury using all the same shops in the same order.


Pretty cool result right? Like I said I would love to see the results and hear about you experiments!

-Maggie

Etsy June Trends for Front Page Strategy

The June Etsy Merchandising suggestions is available now on Etsy's blog. If you have never read these articles, they are very helpful in strategically deciding what type of treasuries to make. Even if you make treasuries with no thought of being on the front page, there are some great creative ideas to get your Treasury flowing.

Here are some highlights from the article (and my commentary of course!). It starts with the obvious list of June Events: Graduation, Father's Day, Summer.

"Outdoor Travel: Think in terms of the beach, countryside, forest and mountains. Outdoor activities on the rise include camping, biking, hiking, fun at the beach, fishing, and water sports."

• This theme is fun and gets you in the summer mood. I am starting to see several "camping" themed front pages already. Ahhh outdoor travel... a girl can dream...

"Carnivals and State Fairs: Bright colors, side show spectacles, animals and costuming."

• This is another theme I have seen come up on Etsy's front page recently. This is a fun theme and brings back feelings of eating hot dogs, cotton candy and funnel cake.

"Throwback to the Speakeasy: Barware, mixology, nightlife, live music, and secret passwords."

• You can do a great mix of vintage and handmade with this exciting theme. I don't know what you could find for "secret passwords", but your creative... you'll think of something.

"Letters, Numbers, and Symbols: Large vintage signage letters, letterpress blocks, monogram housewares, and typewriter keys."

• This is one of my favorites. I love typography! Etsy also mentions that Typewriters are hot right now too, so this fits right in.

"Lockets, secret hiding places, skeleton keys, arrows, diamonds, paper cuts, silhouettes, fortune cookies, wishbones, constellations, fortune telling."

• It doesn't get better than secrets and wishes. This theme could be very challenging and fun!

There is lots more good stuff on the Etsy Blog. Remember this comes from Etsy's staff, so it is a great indication of what they are looking for when selecting front page treasuries.

Photo Credits
Map Envelopes: Click HERE
Decanter and Shot Glasses: Click HERE
Red Journal: Click HERE
Carnival Photo: Click HERE

Front Page Friday! Man Edition

Father's day season is upon us and we are seeing some awesome man centric treasuries. Here are a few of our tpt team Etsy Front Pagers!

This one from MyBluePeacock


A great one from WestCoastKnittery


Love this one from SweetHarvey


Join us next Friday for more front page treasuries from TPT members

Front Page Friday!

On Fridays we would like to feature some of our team members that have recently landed on the front page.

Check out this amazing treasury from our own Sylviacphotography.



This one from creativityismessy, beautiful!


Congrats to all our team members that have been to the front page!

How can Treasuries help my Etsy Shop?

Not only are treasuries super fun, they can be great for building traffic and sales for your Etsy shop. The obvious way you think of treasuries promoting your shop is to...well... make treasuries. That is a way of getting people to check out your shop, but there are some other ways as well.

Step 1 - Research!

• Treasury makers, in addition to selecting great looking items, look for items that will get their treasury to the front page of etsy. They do this by finding out what is trending, by selecting items that Etsy suggests in their marketing news. (click HERE to see the May edition)

Example: In the last couple of days I have noticed some recurring types of items on the front page of Etsy like Bikes, Birds, Deer and Horses.

Step 2 - Tagging

• Tags - I am not talking about treasury tags, I am talking about shop tags. If I have an item that fits into something I know is hot for treasury makers, I need to tag my item as such.

Example: If Deer keep showing up on the front page, that means treasury makers will search on the word "Deer", "Woodland", "Buck", "Horns", etc. I have a card in my shop with a Deer on it. Currently I don't have the word "Deer" as a tag. I should add it if I want treasury makers to find my card.

Tips:

• Treasury makers love making treasuries around holidays. If you have an item that isn't specifically Father's Day, but is masculine and would look great in a treasury be sure to tag it with words like "Father's Day", "Father Gift", "Masculine", "Dad", etc.
• Treasury makers love to reciprocate when they are included in a treasury you make. The more treasuries you curate, the more treasuries your shop will be featured in.
• Use craftcult (link HERE) to see which etsy users have multiple front page treasuries. See if you can use something from their shop in a treasury you create. They are more likely to reciprocate when they make their next treasury.

• Take a look at your avatar. If you are commenting on lots of treasuries, your avatar should show a product from your shop. People looking at the treasury will be more curious if they see one of your products next to your name. There have been lots of times I have discovered a shop by reading someone's comment and seeing a cute product.

Here is an example of some avatars that might get your shop noticed. They use a avatar that shows items from their shop or advertising a sale. I think that owl is super cute so even though this person isn't involved in the treasury other than commenting, I might check out the shop. If the avatar had been of the shop owner's face (I am sure you have a very lovely face), it might not have inspired me to check out the shop.

I would love to hear your tips on increasing shop sales using treasuries! Please comment and subscribe.

Front Page Strategies from Natalya Part 3. Final installment

What great advice we have gotten from Natalya1905! This is our final installment of our discussion with Natalya. To see part 1 click HERE, to see part 2 click HERE.

This is important with the way our team is expanding, we have lots of new folks. Here is Natalya's best advice for new treasury makers. (Seasoned treasury makers can benefit too).

What is the best advice you can give to new treasury makers?

Check the list of recent Front Page Treasuries here: http://craftcult.com/vault.php

Take a close look at those Treasuries. Pay attention to their color scheme, composition, items price range, items categories, etc.

Try not to use items that are too bright or too large in the thumbnail photos (with little space around). Neutral colors make a Treasury look classier. Use bold colors and color combinations only if you are really good with color work. Less is more.

Try not to mix color and black-and-white photos. It requires much time and skill to make a really beautiful Treasury with these two types of pictures.

Take your time and practice. Use keyword search, Taste Test, your friends’ shops, Suggested Shops, or Merchandise Report. The more you learn, the better your Treasuries will become.

And finally, never break the main TPT rule. ALWAYS comment on 15 Treasuries above yours. The sooner, the better. Treasuries gain and lose hotness really quickly, so let’s play fair.

Thank you very much for reading this.

Happy sales and happy Treasury making to you all!

Natalya @ Natalya’s Studio

http://natalya1905.etsy.com

Front Page Strategies from Natalya Part 2

Thanks for stopping by! Here is more from our enlightening chat with Natalya1905. To see PART 1 of this post click HERE.

Natalya not only gets her treasuries noticed by Etsy, she has treasuries that get a ton of comments and clicks. We picked her brain to find out the ways she promotes her treasuries and what makes a treasury "hot".

What do you do to promote a treasury so it stays hot?

I am a member of several wonderful teams, including The Perfect Team – TPT. :) When the Treasury is ready, I always send convos to all the featured artists. Try this Shmetsy extension, it is a huge time saver: http://shmetsy.com/extensions.html?s=Send+Convos+to+artists+in+a+Treasury#

Then I put the link to my new Treasury on my Facebook and Twitter, on the team Treasury thread (if it is a team Treasury), and on the TPT.

Do you think having a "hot" treasury is as important as making a treasury that appeals to Etsy's aesthetic?

I believe in beautiful Treasuries. Tasteless and messy BNR-like Treasuries will never get to the Front Page, no matter how many views and comments they get. Besides, Etsy rarely picks hot Treasuries for the Front page.

Want your Treasury to get hot? Promote it as much as you can. Want your Treasury on the Front Page? Pick a trendy theme, make your collection as beautiful as you can, tag properly and get at least 50 views. That should be enough.

Do you think making treasuries helps with making sales in your own Etsy shop? If yes, how do you think it helps?

I can’t say I have noticed increase in sales since I began making Treasuries. I do it mostly for fun (must be still missing my job as a magazine editor :)) and to promote my friends and teammates.

When one of my items is featured on the Front Page, it is an amazing exposure, hundreds of views and hearts, several sales as a rule. When my Treasury is featured, I usually get people adding me to their circles, more people featuring my items in their Treasuries, but that is all.

Join us for the final part of this post and the advice Natalya has for new treasury makers!

Front Page Strategies from Natalya

What a wonderful team we have created! We have over 11oo members now and more and more front pages.

One member we see on the front page over and over again is Natalya1905. Her treasuries are always beautiful and consistent. We thought, who better to share Front Page strategies with our team than Natalya. She was very generous to share some great information with us. So much that this will probably be a multiple part post. To see examples of Natalya's Treasuries click HERE. So here we go...

How do you get your ideas for your treasury themes?

As a rule, themes come spontaneously. It can be some particular item that becomes my inspiration; color, event, date, or holiday - anything is good. Etsy Merchandise Report is another great source of themes. There are so many ideas and keywords in it, more than one could possibly use within a month.

What do you think is the most important thing you can do to make your treasury stand out for front page consideration?

There are several very simple rules that help immensely:

- Use all 16 slots.

- Do not use your own items in your Treasuries.

- Do not use items from your other shop(s) in your Treasuries.

- Do not use more than one item from any shop.

- Do not use sold items.

- Pick items from different categories and in a wide price range.

- Check your recent (1-3 days old) Treasuries regularly and replace sold items. Treasuries with more than 2 sold items would not likely be picked for the Front Page.

- Use English words for Treasury titles, American English spelling is preferable.

- Do not use graphic symbols (flowers, hearts, etc.) in the title.

- Use tags. Try to include appropriate keywords from current Merchandise Report.

- Do not use Etsy admin shops in your Treasuries.

- Check title and tags spelling to avoid typos and mistakes.

What do you look for in photographs when selecting items for a treasury?

Great photography is a key to a great Treasury. You can’t make a beautiful, Front Page worthy Treasury with low quality photos. I always look for crispy, focused and well lit photos presenting unique objects. I never use abusive or mature content items.

Background is what makes a Treasury look “professional” (or ugly, BNR-like). Try to pick items with similar backgrounds. Plain white looks best and makes Treasury creating process faster and easier. Try not to mix different backgrounds, like white, black, bright, polished wood, barn wood, fabric, grass, concrete, solid, textured, etc.

Next time we will see Natalya's tips for promoting treasuries and advice for new treasury makers. To See Part 2 of this post click HERE

Must Try Treasury Theme - Indoor Garden

One of Etsy's April Merchandising Themes is the Indoor Garden. This theme translates into some gorgeous treasuries.

Try a treasury using this theme and incorporate items like:

• Terrariums - nothing says indoor garden like a terrarium. One note here is to make sure you tag your treasury with Terrarium spelled correctly. I misspell it 9 times out of 10.

(image listing)

• Succulent Plants - There are some beautiful plants for sale on Etsy. They are architecturally interesting to include in treasuries too.

(image listing)

• Garden/Herb Markers - Sellers on Etsy are so clever when it comes to Garden Markers.

(image listing)

• Planters - There are some incredible pottery makers on Etsy and beautiful hand made planters.

(image listing)

• Rabbits - Kill two birds with one stone. Incorporate the Easter theme with the indoor garden theme.

(image listing)

Now Go Try It Out!

1000 Members and FP Treasuries!

Our little team has expanded to over 1000 members! That is fantastic and we are seeing a lot more of our team mates on the Etsy Front page.

Thanks to everyone for doing such a great job supporting each other. Be sure to tag your treasuries tpt team, and post on the discussion board if your treasury shows up on the front page. This will make it easier for us to find you and feature you on our team blog.

Here are a few of the latest FP treasuries.

Front Page TPT Members

Our team has expanded to over 900 members! If you look at page 1 of the treasury list, you start to recognize TPT team members. Great job supporting each other!

Here are a few recent example of some beautiful front page treasuries by TPT members:













Congrats to the curators and featured shops!

Etsy April Trends for Front Page Strategies

Etsy has published it's April Merchandising blog post. Read it HERE. This is a monthly article that gives "clues" to what Etsy is looking for to feature on the front page. Keep in mind that these tips are to get noticed for "Front Page" consideration, not to increase "hotness".

(image listing)

Here are some highlights that pertain to treasuries:

• Little Red Riding Hood: With Catherine Hardwicke's movie rendition, this fairytale is becoming increasingly popular: forestry, red capes, wolves and werewolves, the moon (blood moon), young love, legends and dark fairytales

Along with woodland theme (which is still popular) the dark little red riding hood theme is something to think about.

• Our central merchandising topics this month will focus on spring, Easter and Mother's Day.

I bet mother's day is huge on Etsy! Think of all the Mother's Day themes you could do. "Things my mother would like", "Things I would like cuz I'm a mom", etc. (ok you are probably better at coming up with clever titles than me!)

• Geometry: Geometric shapes, patterns, triangles, chevrons.

This is one I see on the Front Page all the time. The treasury is all about a certain pattern or shape.

• The Butcher: Cuts of meat, diagrams, butcher paper and knives, bacon, aprons.

This one is just strange. "Here ya go mom, Mother's day wouldn't be complete without this diagram of a cow and some butcher paper." I know, I know... this doesn't have to be for mother's day. Just seems random.

There is great stuff in this article for treasury makers and shop owners, so be sure to check it out. Now get to making those butcher themed treasuries~

Look for great photos to get your treasury noticed

Great photos are what makes Etsy so special! That is the first thing that attracted me to Etsy, I was impressed by the quality of the photographs.

(image listing)

As a shop owner, having nice photos can get you featured in many more treasuries.

As a treasury maker, picking nice photos gets your treasury more comments and possibly front page.

Check out this treasury from tpt member Zion Shore.


Notice the photography? The most interesting photos are the ones that are slightly off center, with a plain background. Think how uninteresting that bag would look if it was on your couch being photographed straight on.

To summarize-

As a shop owner:

• Make your first photo be the most interesting even if it doesn't show the entire product. You can show the detail in the rest of your supporting photographs. I usually click on listings in which the first photo makes me feel like I want to see more. Click HERE for a great example of this. (This shop has been on the front page multiple times)
  
• Keep your backgrounds simple. A stripey couch or dotted bed spread might not be the best place to show off your product. The background should not be distracting.
• Try to show your product "in use" in at least one photo. For example if you are selling a hair clip, have a friend wear it and take photos outside for plenty of natural light and an editorial feel. Click HERE to see a good example of this.

As a Treasury Maker:

• Look at previous front page treasuries and note what type of photos are most common.
• When torn between 2 items, go for the one with the most simple, clean look.
• pick photos with similar styles in one treasury, this gives the treasury a cohesive look. Take a look at this TPT member's treasury for a good example of this.
• Be sure to put the most interesting photos in the top 4 spots of the treasury. These are the ones that are seen when browsing through treasuries. This will pull in more views.

I would love to hear any photography tips you have to share! Happy photo taking!

Etsy Blog offers "hints" to be Front Page Ready

From time to time Etsy posts on their blog about trends for the season or month. This is the link for the March edition.

This gives you insight into what would get your treasury noticed for front page consideration. Here are some quick highlights:

• "Tip: We're looking to introduce a wider variety of unisex, men-centric, and vintage niches into the more regular rotation. Make sure to tag lists appropriately for the best return."

I am personally sick of men-centric treasuries but if you like making them, be sure to tag with the key words Etsy has suggested. I would use "men", "men-centric", "unisex", "male", etc.

• "April Fools: Practical jokes, gag gifts and emphasis on the sillier side of handmade and vintage."

This one just sounds like a really fun treasury to make. I might try this myself. Be sure to use tags like "April fools", "gag gifts", "practical jokes", "fun", etc.

• "Etsy's Euro Week: We'll be celebrating the 2nd annual Etsy Euro Week this month from Monday the 21st through Friday the 25th."

I don't much about this, but it is something Etsy is promoting so there is a good chance they will be looking for "Euro Week" tags on treasuries for Front Page possibilities. Read more about it HERE.

• "For those of your who enjoy making Treasuries , we'll be looking to highlight lists that interpret these themes in a creative and cohesive way throughout the site. Please tag your Treasuries accordingly. "

This is more confirmation that Etsy uses tag search to find front page candidates.

One more thing to keep in mind. Lots of treasury makers follow the suggestions of Etsy on front page themes. If you are a seller that sells some of these items, be sure your are tagging the items in your shop so they can be found by treasury makers. For example if you sell a handmade whoppie cushion (not sure how one would hand make a whoppie cushion, but bare with me), be sure to tag it with "april fools", "gag gift", "practical jokes", etc.

Treasury Themes Inspire

Ever feel like making a treasury, but you have trouble thinking of a theme?

This happens to me... a lot. I have found when I try to make a treasury fit into a theme it ends up being stale or not "me". But one thing I have noticed is that when I start somewhere another idea emerges. So even though your final treasury might not fit into the theme you had in mind to begin with, the final product will be special.

So long story short, try a theme treasury to get your creative juices flowing.

1. Color themes - Take a look for your favorite color or color combo. **Tip - If you want to do a treasury based on Turquoise, be sure to search for Teal, Robin's Egg, Blue, Sky, etc. One seller's Turquoise is another seller's Tiffany Blue.
Be inspired by color here: http://www.behr.com

2. Music Themes - Song titles can really inspire and evoke emotion. Turn on the radio (do people still listen to radios?) and see if you get inspired.
Be inspired by music here: http://www.vh1.com/music/

3. Quotes - Do a search for quotes online. Some quotes have such powerful messages, that just reading a few can get you thinking.

Be inspired by quotes here: http://www.quoteland.com/

What themes do you use to get inspired?