Newbies Ask Their Questions Returns - Round 6

It's been awhile since I've posted the weekly Newbies Ask Their Questions. When I first started the weekly interactive post, participants were excited and the posts were well received, but after Round 4 the comments began to twindle and I stopped after Round 5. Well, now it's been over a year and my number of blog followers has grown substantially. Also, since then, Artfire has emerged and Etsy has revisited its Dos and Donts. I'm thinking this may be a good time to start Newbies Ask Their Questions back up. So ... here we go.

Question
"How do I get my artfire shop seen? My family and friends don't support me. How can I get people who dont know me to be interested in my products and what I have to sell?"

- - Pink N Lime (Artfire)


Answers
"It might help to have the text in your banner be something like 'PinknLime Graphic Designs' or 'PinknLime Banners and Avatars' just so it's clear what your product is. Also, the title of the product you have listed is 'Porch Flowers'. Because Artfire is very Google-search focused, buyers will be less likely to find you on Google if they type in 'banners and avatars' or similar search terms. The second picture you have uploaded is really a great demonstration of what you do so maybe it should be the first picture."

- - Coolstraps (Artfire)


"The more your name is out on the Web the more likely people are to find you in a search; go twitter, blog, chat in forums, put pics on flicker and promote, promote, promote."

- - CrochetAddict (Artfire)


Question
"I just don`t seem to learn how to take good pictures. They always turn out dark and don`t show the beauty of my crafts. My pictures make my jewelry look much worse! That`s how bad it is. Any advice?"

- - Unique Edition (Artfire)


Answers
"For my small items, if it is a good sunny day or grey overcast, I will take white printer paper, go outside and use the setting macro (flower icon) ... and take pictures. Natural light works the best for me. When I do this I turn the flash off though."

- - Liberty Doll (Artfire)


"I posted in my ArtFire Blog, DIY Light Box & Photo Tips"

- - Capricious Adornments (Artfire)


"I live in a tiny apartment and do not have enough light for photos (going outside is not really an option as I live in a major city). I use the EZ cube - it's pretty inexpensive, easy to store and works real well.

"Also, photo editing programs are critical. You can get away with using Microsoft Picture Manager if you don't have another one. Play around with midtone, brightness and contract, then crop to position your item nicely.

There are also some posts on my blog about photographing:

Lighting, Clarity and Composition - Photographing for Success

Boost Your Sales, Get Publicity and Maybe an Etsy Front Page Treasury (useful links in this post)"

-- Nature Manipulated (Artfire and Etsy)


For those of you who are new to "Newbies Ask Their Questions" ... Every week I run a thread on Artfire and/or Etsy looking for new sellers and buyers to post their questions regarding the sites or general handmade marketing questions. From the threads I gather several questions every Friday to post in this interactive series and encourage readers to provide answers and share their tips and advice.

If you are a new seller or buyer to Artfire or Etsy and have a question, don't hesitate to post it in the comments. Also, if you have questions regarding other handmade online marketplaces such as Dwanda or 1000 Markets, post your questions here too. I'm sure some of NM's readers may be able to help you out. Please, post as often as you'd like. This is meant to be an interactive post.

PLEASE POST ANSWERS TO THE NEWBIES' QUESTIONS IN THE COMMENTS SECTION.

Ongoing Artfire and Etsy Newbies Ask Their Questions forum threads can be found at:
Artfire Chatterbox
Etsy Forums