How to Promote for Free & Get Noticed in No Time At All

Alternate title: How to make a rock solid neato condito treasury. 

First of all, if you want to be noticed and considered for the home page of etsy.com, follow the rules. Each item must be from a different store, and you may not feature yourself. Simple enough, but one that's easy to mess up on. When you think you're done, always go back and double check to make sure you're not repeating a store. I do this almost every time and have to find a substitute item.

Well lit action shot of Vintage Skirt by GeneralWhimsy2

Now, pick a topic. Topics range from people's moods, the seasons, and decorating ideas to hot fashion trends. There really isn't any rhyme or reason to which treasuries get the most views. It depends on time of day, week, season, etc. That said, ones that involve beautiful people do tend to get a lot of clicks! I will tell you that the ones I click on most include some clever twist in the title, description and content. Think of this like a billboard, you want it to grab someone's attention fast.

Excellent detail shot of Antique Chinese Needle Case by EurekaEureka

Decide how you want to structure your treasury. Do you want to follow a timeline? Perhaps you'd like to tell a story. Or maybe you want to select items that are all in the same color hue. You can get easy inspiration from Etsy's Merchandising Desk: they provide tips on what the trends will be for the month. The most important thing is to select highly aesthetic, stylish items. I highly recommend paying attention to this step-it can make or break your group of items. This is what will be the glue holding it all together.

Excellent photo of Vintage Spice Jars by TheFancyLamb

Next, pick your items. I try to carefully select items that are photographed clearly and are easy to see. Things that cannot be identified in a quick glance aren't usually on my list. (Unless they're so intriguing I think they'll attract attention) To make your treasury easy on the eyes, find items that are photographed on a simple background. Items photographed on busy patterns or bright colors don't tend to mesh well in a group with other photographs. (A tip to remember when taking photos)

Vibrant color captured in a clear photo of a Vintage Fire King Bowl by Kultur

After you've selected your items, organize them. To me, this is the one area that gets overlooked the most. It is critical that your items look balanced on the page. Meaning, don't put all your red items on the left side. Space them around so that they balance out visually. Carefully place complex items with many parts with a simple item, next to, above and below. Place dark next to light, textured next to plain to get the right contrast. Pretend you're designing a magazine page.

Textural photo of 1960's Tan Cape by TimeAndAgainFashions

After you're all finished and satisfied with your treasury, hit save and go on to the next steps. Copy the link for your treasury. Then click on the first item on your list, and contact the seller. Since you're contacting through that item, the link for that item will automatically appear in your email. Compose an email informing them that they're featured and paste the treasury link. Make sure the link to the item is down below to avoid confusion. Then just copy and paste the email and send it through to the next seller in your treasury. Don't forget to title your email!

Detailed, textural shot of a Vintage Cameo Brooch by popgoesmyvintage

Why bother doing this? Word of mouth. If each of those sellers Tweets it and puts it on Facebook, that will extend your reach. After you've notified everyone, then you should promote it yourself. If your treasuries are fun, easy to look at and showcase cool items, people will check out who made it. You will get buyers browsing your store as well as those stores you've featured. Best of all, it's free!