Let's Talk Avatars...

Keep your avatar eye catching and simple! Remember certain things:

Your avatar is seen:

In your shop

In Chatroom

In the Forums

In all of these places, your shop name is RIGHT NEXT TO IT. It's not really necessary for it to be on your avatar. It just makes it more cluttered.

I am a huge fan of product placement. I like to think of the avatar as the window to your shop. When people are the forums, they are essentially window shopping and clicking on avatars that catch their eye.

MAKE SURE it is something that is actually for sale in your shop! SO many times I click on an avatar only to NOT be able to find it inside. Once it is something in your shop, make sure that it is easily accessible IF you have a lot of items in your shop. I like to make it one of the featured items if I haven't renewed it to the front page.

I just recently starting putting text into my avatar, just because I am running a Sale, it's simple, clean and eye catching. In the recent Rate My Avatar thread in the forums, I scored a 4.5 out of 5 on average! If you are wondering about yours, check out any of the threads on Etsy!

Improve it!

Yay everyone! We are 6 days into the New year and for most of us, it's finally starting to calm down in the real world enough for us to get our virtual world up and rolling again. I have been so busy with the holidays and then my 2 kids birthday right afterwards, that my sales have taken a complete tumble. I can tell that my sales suffer when I don't dedicate the time to get the word out. Just take a peek at my sold section and you will see just what I mean. I have gaps in between some sales too! It's time to buckle down. So my question to you, is in these 6 days so far, what have you done to improve your shop? If the answer is nothing, it's time to get out there and do something!! I changed up my featured items and began using different backrounds again. I was feeling that the white was really making it too sterile and my items are more fun! I have changed up my Avatar, to something that is on my first page, so that it is easy for someone to find if they spotted me in the forums.

Love My Wellies Necklace by MCW 12.00

I have also begun a new 12 month subscription program to my shop. I offer a different item every month for my customers when they purchase the listing. It's an amazing way for people to get a taste of your shop and you also build in a repeat customer base. Why? They may be tempted to buy more when they are in there getting their monthly item. I have already sold a 12 month program and a 6 month program since implementing this! I am hoping that it will grow!

Avatars and You...

Record Player Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 18.00

Ahhh...the little box known as the avatar! It's such a mystery as to what works, what does not and what should we put there. For me it's killing me having my photo over there in the ABOUT ME section <------------------ I'm a product gal, it's one extra spot to have a photo of something dynamic to lure the eye in!

Ice Cream for One Ring by MichellesCharmWorld 9.00

I like to think of that little box, known as the avatar, as a window to my shop. A window to what they can see more of if they just click! I like to start a thread every now asking if my avatar is Click-Worthy . Pretty much just asking if it's worthy of your click.

Whipped Cream Ring by MichellesCharmWorld 10.00

I like to keep it simple. Photo and that's it. If I was having a sale, a little word saying SALE and leave it at that. Photos of people don't tell me what you sell and if i'm bored trolling to forums to pass some time and wanting to help out someone nice that made me laugh or made me smile a photo just won't do it for me. Yes, it's cool to see what you look like, but save it for a blog :) This is all about bringing your customer in. We all know that once our shops are FOUND people will browse, heart and most likely pick something up! Too much wording in your avatar is just an invitation for me to pass it by. It's usually to hard to read and remember i'm already reading in the forums, all I am doing as I read is glacing to the side to see who posted it. We don't need your name in your avatar. On Etsy the only place your avatar is located is in your shop and when you post in the forums. When we are in your shop, we know your shopname already. When you post, I see your shop name above your post. It's just repeating yourself.

Tall Present Ring by MichellesCharmWorld 9.00

I know some of this sounds harsh sometimes, but I just want to help people out. When I was first getting started online selling on Etsy I hung out in the forums trying to get a vibe for the place. I started out with my photo in the avatar and my views stayed pretty low and sales were pretty weak. (Bad photos and such had a lot to do with this too! hhaha) I tried a few of my pieces out in the little avatar and I was getting in more traffic, just looking at views alone. (Before I started the whole Relist, Renew, Repeat Process!) I like judging by views, since shop hearts are a little more difficult to read. Some people heart because you hear them, some people heart because they like you in the forums or are your friend..etc..not necessarily wanting to buy something from your shop. (More on hearts in another post!). As people were buying, I was getting comments in my messages to the seller box saying they found me in the forums! The most obvious part? I was actually selling out the item that WAS my avatar! I was usually selling the item in the avatar about once a week!

Making the Donuts Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 12.00

Moving onto sold items in the avatar. SO many times I wanted to keep an old sold item as my avatar, because it was a great conversation piece in the forums, people loved it and I loved it and it garnered a lot of clicks.. My main advice on this is DON'T. I didn't do it because so many times have I clicked to buy and the person didn't have it listed anymore and it had sold days, weeks so on ago. I was sad and of course too impulsive to write about asking for another, I just bought something else that I found. I know if I didn't like it, then there would be others. Jewelry (especially mine) is NOT a necessity and there is a lot of it out there. People don't want to wait, heck I don't! So what are you waiting for? Get that avatar rockin'!

Earrings by Lil922 , Pendant by WireYourWorld, clutch by EmmaGordonLondon, Gnomes by CozyColeman .

This is a collage of avatars that earned my click today in one thread . The best part? They were easy to find once I clicked too. They were either featured in their shop or newly listed! I love that.