Tips and Tricks to Making a FP-worthy Treasury

Originally written and posted by merriweathercouncil on her blog here

Here’s a Quick Little Lesson in What I have Noticed. *

*Not hard and fast truth, just observations. Etsy had nothing to do with the writing of this, this is all me, so don't take this as the undeniable truth, I'm just telling you what I have noticed. K?

Basic factoids about the Treasury (known as T from here on out):

The first three items show up as thumbnails for your T in the treasury list. Put three things that will entice clicks and views and traffic in these spots. They can be strong individually or compliment each other, which is actually what your entire T should do.

Having said that, views and clicks don’t seem to matter in terms of the chosen FP Ts. Yes, the longer your T is “hot” and if it is on the first page of the Treasury for a while, that doesn’t hurt, but rest assured it is no guarantee! I have had Ts make it to the FP, and have seen others that had no comments and barely any views, go to the FP.  Bottom line is that whoever is picking the FP will pick what they will, not what is “popular” or in Etsy language, “hot”

The first 12 boxes (top 3 rows) are the primary picks for the T, this is where you want your meat and potatoes, that is, cover all bases that need to be covered up here. What the heck-o am I talking about? I’ll get to it. When a T goes to the FP and something sells, the first item in the bottom row is in! And so on, so these are just as important, but to get the ball rolling, let's make sure we cover our bases up top!

Another fact is that those little tips to the far right hand side of the treasury template are actually useful, although not super specific. Also, no one really knows what the secret is to getting at T on the FP but here is what I have noticed:

This is what they tell us on the treasury template:

“If you'd like your list to be chosen for inclusion on Etsy's home page, here are a few tips:

•               Be diverse! No more than one item per shop.

•               Don't include your own items. Spread the love!

Make it beautiful.”

You want to have VARIETY

(aka, be diverse, but in more ways than just not including two items from one shop!)

You want to have variety in the following areas:

-ITEMS in your treasury, that means, you don’t want to have 10 bags and 6 necklaces or 6 rings and 14 photos. Hit up new categories: woodworking, make up, wall decals, books and zines…

-PRICES have at least one thing under $10 and at least one thing over $100 in the top 12. Try to hit all price points: very low  ($10 and under) medium ($20-$60) and high ($60 and up), even very high ($300 and up)

-PICTURE COMPOSITION have some items that are cropped, some that are in full view, some with interesting depth of fields (that means some of it is out of focus, in an artistic and intentional way), some have props, some don’t,… you see how it is.

-TASTE it’s nice to see something new, innovative, interesting, or unusual sometimes. Think big, grandeur, haute couture, things that people might not be buying a ton of but LOVE to look at.

While you want to have variety you also want to be CONSISTENT. (aka, make it beautiful)

Have a theme or color palette – what brings these items together? What made you want to put this one next to that one? The Ts with set themes, color palettes or concepts are the ones that make the FP. Seriously pay attention to the FP or look through a few on craft cult and I bet you 9 out of 10 times they will have a theme or color palette.

When Etsy speaks, you LISTEN.

Basically, Etsy depends on it’s member curators to create the Front Page.  But they are the ones who pick what ends up there. So when they tell us what to do, we should obey – obviously there are always a few fancy Ts that don’t match what they say they want that end up on the FP but why not at least try to appeal, most of the time, to what they are telling us they want? Every month Etsy releases a merchandising report, in this report they give a run down of trending themes, ideas and concepts and tell us what’s popular these days. Some of it is super obvious, in October, Halloween is a trending theme, and along with that comes pumpkins and witches. Some of it is less obvious. November’s report cites “chalkboard and writable surfaces” as a trending theme. I don’t know about you but, I don’t normally associate chalkboards with the fall, but it makes sense: chalkboards are rustic and have a vintage feel to them, and those are things that DO remind me of fall. See how it works?

A big part of getting on the FP is paying attention to what else is there. So check in frequently, there is a definite “style” and a certain aesthetic that is favored on Etsy, so instead of getting upset and outraged over it, just take it for what it is. If you can’t beat them, join them! And most importantly, you have to be in it to win it, so don’t give up!!!