getting Etsy views

I had an inspiration that worked out well, yesterday — I used some of the iris blooms as easel/backgrounds for new photographs of some lightweight earrings and pendants. Then today I used those pieces as examples in a couple of Etsy Forum discussions, and also showed them off on About.com About Jewelrymaking. I ended up with about 300 new views for today, or 25% added to my total since the views got reset in February.

I posted links to all three pieces on About. That post has 100 or so views, though only 5 or 6 replies. Then the green maille earrings on the gold iris were the start of a lively discussion on Etsy's Site Help Forum, about using as many tags as possible without tag abuse, that had 50-odd posts. I also used both the picture of pearl threaders on a blue flower, and of the peyote cross on an apricot one, to show off the iris technique. Only 20 posts in that thread.

Well, the pearl threaders got 41 new views, the peyote cross got 33, and the green aluminum earrings 128! What's more, a half-dozen other items got 5 or more new views, so there was some spillover once people came to the shop.

On the other hand there were no sales, or item hearts, though I got a shop heart. So how much good does it do to get views from fellow crafters, especially other people who make jewelry? Who knows? Obviously there is a lot of marketing yet to be done.

older beadwork

I've been putting up on Etsy a number of the pieces I did 2 or 3 years ago. Since I migrate through different phases, this means these are media I'm not doing so much now. Right-angle-weave beadwork, for example, with those red, red recycled beads, On a red, white, and blue three-strand necklace with fiber optic accents. I think I made that one soon after the Beads 'n' Things trunk show with the sleet-storm. That was way back when - 2004? '03??? That's when I discovered the faceted fiber optic beads.
These blue striped barrel beads are one of the nicer ones that Hobby Lobby carries. I made a double-row-of-squares bracelet for Shanna on her birthday a few years ago, and then finished up the package with this single one.

So far none have sold, but they are getting views, especially the Red, Red Bracelet. Need to search the stash for other older pieces that are good workmanship, not the experiments that didn't quite work ;-)