Etsy Advice [part 2]

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Last month I asked for advice for my little Etsy shop. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the words of wisdom you all shared. I have been trying my hardest to put it all to practice. I Thought I'd share in case you've been thinking of starting your own shop or wanting to spruce it up a bit.

• Pictures matter. Make a lightbox if you have to. Get familiar with your camera. Your first picture doesn't have to be a pic of the whole thing. A great tease of a picture will get people to click on your listing.
• Use all 14 tags!! If you use a word in your title, you don't have to use it again in the tags.
• Find a team. Network, network, network.
• After a while of not really selling I started lurking in the "critiques" forum on etsy - learning what people were saying most about things and that helped me a lot.
  If you go into the forums and type in "tips" to the search box at the top, you're going to get a lot of great info. It can be a lot of reading, but if you're serious about your business then I think it's worth it.
  Also found this very helpful:
  http://papernstitchblog.com/2010/06/21/top-ten-tips-for-better-product-photography/
• My big thing is communication - let the buyer know you got their order and when it will ship - building a relationship with buyers will go such a long way for your business.
• Budget for re-listing. You will re-list a lot before you make a sale. Also You can try Zibbet for free with coupon code MONTHOFF http://www.zibbet.com/madeonfifthstreet/sell This saves a lot on the re-listing fees and is a great venue to get your handmade items out there.
• Choose your username VERY carefully! You cannot change it. I couldn't commit to a store name, so I just used my name, and now I so wish I would've just gone for it. 
• Use indirect lighting for your pictures. Find a good location, use morning light, and keep small props nearby for interest. 
• Make a treasury every so often, and then message each person to let them know you featured them. It's a win/win/win. I did that yesterday and had 600+ shop views, and lots of ♥'s. Plus, the more views & comments on your treasury, the more people will look at it, etc. It's a nice cycle. :) 
• Use all of your tags.
• Put your shop name into your tags. 
• Use Craftopolis & Google analytics to track your stats. 
• I think the one thing I have learned so far is that the networking and promoting is important but the number one most important thing is putting passion into what you create. I actually took a break from being online constantly in forums and blogs and just got refreshed and found it so inspiring. If you don't have a great product nothing else matters! 

I'm still trying to find my stride with my shop. Thank you all so much for your encouragement and support. I so appreciate it!