Camp Etsy: Free Tools from Craft Cult

Happy Friday -

I have 3 wreaths to finish by Monday - along with the usual weekend chaos of graduation parties, in-law visits, catching up on (other) projects - but the comments I've received from some of you about my first Camp Etsy post has totally motivated me to share more.

I'm going to try and do this before my 2 toddlers wake up for the day...for some reason, my productivity drops significantly when they are around.  (oops, never mind, Emme is up!)

Okay, campers, so let's talk about Craft Cult.

A couple weeks ago, I noticed a huge spike in my listing views from 60-90 a day to 688 in one day!

Huh?  I don't check my stats very often, so it took me a couple days before I saw this spike:

After some thought, it occurred to me that one of my listings may have been featured on the front / home page of Etsy.  And If you don't know - with 1.4 BILLION pages views monthly, making it to the front page is a big deal (at least to Etsy sellers).

After several failed searches for information, I went to the forums to search the boards and came across a thread where someone mentioned Craft Cult as a way to find Treasuries that had been featured on the front page of Etsy.  Hmmm??

So, how do you search Craft Cult to find whether you've been listed in any treasuries?

Follow me, my happy little campers....

On the home page, click on "The Vault" (see my red *)

Then, choose the way you'd like to search.  I chose to "search for member."

#1. Select "lists featuring items of"

#2 Enter your Etsy Name (not necessarily your shop name - see below)

#3 Click "Enter"

If you are featured in any lists, click on the one you'd like to view.

Only the first 12 items in the Treasury appear on the front page of Etsy...

...my green table was one of the alternate items.  So I didn't exactly make the front page....but I still got a lot of views that day.

(A few hundred views can turn into much more than that - and in my next Camp Etsy post, I'll explain how.)

Now, you can create a widget (HTML Code) of the list that looks like this:

or you can choose to see an actual screen print of the first page of Etsy showing your item.

Pretty cool, huh.

Craft Cult offers some other neat (free!) features...

like the Heart-O-Matic which provides you will all types of information about who likes your shop, your items, etc.  Much of this information is also available on Etsy, but in a different format.

And located at the bottom of the home page -"serendipity" is a fun way to see listings you might not see otherwise...

...just click "roll the dice" for another grouping of items!

I think I'll try this for ideas the next time I create a Treasury List.

Now, my happy, lovely, little campers - I will set you free to explore Craft Cult on your own.

This post has probably raised some other questions for you like...

what's a treasury? 

how do I get my stuff included in a treasury?

how do treasuries make it to the front page?

why do I care how many page views I get if nothing is selling?

why do you keep referring to me as a "happy little camper"

All in due time, campers, all in due time. (Insert evil cackle here)

As always - if you have any additional information to offer - please do so, and I thank you in advance from all of us newbies for your expertise and wisdom.

I failed to finish before the toddlers woke up, so my house is in chaos.  I must be off to extinguish the fires.

Have a happy weekend!

take care -