PROMOTING YOUR SHOP

I find myself spending more and more time in the Etsy forums each day, I can certainly say it has become an addiction and another full time job. Scrolling through the pages i find subjects that catch my eye and hope that some buyers and sellers get familiar with my name. A thread keeps popping up over and over and it shows how inexperienced a new etsy member can be when they first join.
Promoting is a big part of Etsy and I've joined countless sites mostly directed by other etsians in the forum threads. Some of these site are friend sites in which you can join groups, post pics, ets. but not all of them produce results. As a matter of fact very few actually do and you end up getting tons of bulk mails every week.
Even with the dissadvantages, you must try every avenue before you shut it down. I've gotten into a few dead ends and also good site like Facebook, although I did not use it to promote my shop i love this application. I Also found some great sites such as project wonderful, Flickr, you tube, freewebs, and other great tools for getting your name out there.
My new motto is don't knock it until you try it!