How to use a "how to" to drive traffic to your shop!

Hello team! If you're like me, I'm sure you've spent some time at your computer, staring at the monitor with your Etsy shop open, wondering how to magically make more visitors and sales occur. One of the great things about being part of a team is sharing information with one another. When one of us tries something new and has success with it, we can tell each other all about it!

So one suggestion I'd like to make to you that I've tried recently is to publish a couple of  "how tos" on crafts you have skills in. One great site for this is Instructables.com. I recently joined this online community that I've used a lot in the past to learn things. All three of the instructables I've posted so far have been featured by the editors, and the first one I published has had over 15,000 views!

Sites like Flickr.com discourage you from outright linking to sales in your images, and it's likely Instructables.com has a similar spirit. Be sure to check the terms of use for every site you're on. What I did with my instructables is mention how I've made art with these techniques as part of my daily art challenge, and asked visitors to check out my blog- ArtProject2010.info. There are therefore indirect links from my blog to my art shop, and it gives people a chance to get to know me and see my new art as I post it on the blog first.

While I can't say with certainty that it has translated directly into sales as of yet, I know it's brought new readers to my blog, and I have had a few sales through my blog, since I post new art there before I put it in my etsy shop. Like everything, this is one option that may or may not work for you, but I wanted to share my experience with it in hopes it can be of use to you. Happy crafting!