How Many Eggs Are in Your Basket?

"Variety is the spice of life." "Diversity is key." I could go on, but I think most people agree that options are a good thing. Do you apply this to your online based business?

On October 1st Etsy announced some pretty extreme changes to their TOUs. The forums are in an uproar. Being found amidst hundreds of thousands of listings is hard enough with resellers and the sheer number of shops. However, Etsians are a hardworking bunch and just keep swimming. The new announcement stands to flood the site with mass produced items. As a designer can outsource all their work and list thousands of items a day. Not saying they would, but for those of us in the cloth diaper industry it is now ok for Goodmama, Bumgenius, Fuzzibunz etc to list and sell on Etsy. Not saying any of them would as they have their own sites and sell in pretty much every cloth diaper store across the country, but it paints a picture of what the new Etsy will look like and how hard it might be to stack up against.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/107047695/100-cotton-flat-tri-fold-diaper-insert

While undisclosed some of that factors in ranking higher in searches is the number of relevant listings you have and the number of times and item has been sold/relisting. A shop pumping out higher quantities will likely appear first in a search over an equally tagged and titled product from another shop. Is your business prepared if the flow on Etsy becomes a trickle? Or will it drastically affect your shop? This is why not keeping all your eggs in one basket is important. You never know what might happen and you don't want to be left scrambling. I am not advocating a mass exodus from Etsy, it is every bit as important to continue to work on your shop on Etsy, but take some time to see where else you might be able to stash some eggs. Make like a boy scout and be prepared.

But it's hard enough to stock and promote one site right? It's absolutely worth it to diversify. Can shoppers still buy from you if the site is down for maintenance? What if your shop is suddenly closed without notification? How do shoppers unfamiliar with Etsy find you? Additionally links and mention throughout the interwebs increase rankings in search engines. The more places you and your shop exist and are linked to with unique content online the happier Google, Bing, etc. are to pop up your various pages.

1. Research other selling sites. Right now Etsy is a leader in online marketplaces, but who knows what else is coming. With the promise of a handmade commitment a large number of Etsy sellers are starting up on Zibbet and they are bringing their client base with them. Hyena Cart has long been a crunchy little island for cloth diapering and WAHM wares. There's also The Craft Star, Artfire, and more. Much like Esty these sites help by using a variety of sellers to increase traffic flow. There is likely to be a venue that will fit with your goals and give you a plan B.

2. Consider your own website. Sites like Go Daddy, Big Cartel and Tictail offer sellers the ability to create a free standing domain. You can also find a hosting site like Dreamhost and start from scratch. While it can be expensive to invest in web design there are affordable options. The benefit to having a registered domain is that you own it and always will as long as you keep your registration current. Even if you use the domain to redirect to your shop on Etsy or another venue it gives you ownership of your branding and in the event of a crash at another venue it's easy to divert shoppers to your personal site or wherever you move your shop to all from one domain that you consistently control.

3. Real life sales are a great way to supplement your cyber business. While not everyone has the resources to open a brick and mortar location there are still options that can get your product into the hands of tactile shoppers. Many cloth diaper shops and children's boutique are happy to work with local vendors. Look at your pricing to see if you can handle consignment or wholesale contracts. Watch for local craft fairs or better yet children's expos. Setting up a booth is a great way to interact with potential buyers and get your name out.

4. Small group networking while not exactly a method for sales it's a viable way to meet your target market. By attending RDIA meetings or joining a natural parenting playgroup you are making connections with the kind of buyers looking for your product. Obviously we don't want to be the pushy sales lady, but if your child is wearing you product it's an easy segway into "yea I have a shop." People who have gotten to know you are more likely to shop with you over an unknown WAHM. Plus anything done in person saves you fees.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/156238054/wakey-wakey-eggs-and-bakey-toddler

When creating items try splitting your stock among a couple different shops. Spread your eggs, so if the basket falls you can still have breakfast. Happy business building!

Meet Sarah from WeeWarmWoolens

Sarah is the creator behind the shop WeeWarmWoolens. She offers wool soakers, shorties, and longies in addition to other adorable knit items. All of the fun colors in her shop caught my eye and I had to know more about the person behind all those cute woolens.  

How did you get started in making cloth diaper items? 

I started knitting longies and soakers while pregnant with my second daughter. I knew I wanted to try cloth and thought I could save a lot of money if I knit all the covers myself. When I opened my shop on Etsy, I listed mostly hats because I didn't know there was such an awesome market for woolies. After listing a few pair of longies I started getting custom requests and it took off from there.

What is your favorite item to make?
That's tough, but I'd have to say longies. With all the pretty variegated yarns, it's hard to predict exactly what the finished product will look like. Watching the color pattern form as I knit is very entertaining. I also like the simplicity of the pattern. I've knit it so many times that now I could almost knit it in my sleep. 

I've seen photos of hand-dyed yarn on your Facebook page. Those look like so much fun. Can you tell us a bit about how you dye the yarn and the mediums you use?
I just started experimenting with hand dyeing yarn, and it is addictive! My dyes are nothing more than food coloring. Vinegar and heat set the dye. Some day I'll try acid dyes, but for now with two small kiddos I like that food coloring is nontoxic. My newest experiment is "confetti cake" yarn. I use an oatmeal colored base yarn and just go wild with the food coloring. It's cake with a lot of fiber, lol!

I love all the fun color combinations you use. Where do you get your inspiration?
I've always been drawn to color and I kind of just gravitate to bright and contrasting colors when I'm shopping for yarn. Sometimes I buy yarn with no plan for it in mind. It's only when I get home and put it with my other yarn that certain color combos pop.

Also, in many cases, the customer chooses the yarn...and I must say that my customers have great taste in color! :-)

Do you have any hobbies other than knitting?
Hmm, I crochet and I wish I could sew! Also, I'm trying to learn more about photography.

How does wool work as a water-resistant diaper cover? 
Wool is an amazing fiber. It can hold 30% of its weight in moisture before it starts to feel wet. The crimp in the fiber wicks away moisture and pulls it away from the body. Also, wool can be "lanolized." Lanolin is a natural oil that is found in a sheep's fleece, and it is very water repellent. Lanolizing is a very simple process and uses something many of us moms already have on hand; that purple tube of Lansinoh HPA Lanolin. Wool has long gotten a bad rap for being scratchy, but today's yarns are anything but!

If you could tell someone curious about cloth diapers one thing that you love the most about them, what would it be?
There are so many options with cloth diapering and a perfect system for everyone. Plus, with all the awesome WAHM diapers out there, shopping for diapers can become a hobby in itself, lol!

Now that you know a little more about Sarah, you can stop by to meet her via the links below.

Shop:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/WeeWarmWoolens
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/weewarmwoolens

Taking Better Product Photos

The Etsy Cloth Diaper Team centers around cloth diapering shops on Etsy. We get so excited about sharing our love for fluff that we sometimes forget we are running businesses and we need to stay on top of our market. This post is here to help those on our team and our readers that need a little pick me up in the photo department. Our photos are the first thing people see and we want them to be inviting.

First, I am not an expert. I took some photography in high school. You know back when you had to develop film. Do they still do that? I still have to go back and reshoot pictures of my own and I have tried things that work for other shops, but everytime I see them in my own I remind myself to go back and take those pictures again. But time is short and I rarely get around to it.

But I don't have a fancy camera, you say. I can't talk my husband into making me a lightbox, you lament. I promise that as long as you give yourself a little time in daylight hours you can take front page worthy pictures with a cell phone if that's what you have.

A quick lesson in Greek, the Greek word "phos" mean slight and is the base for where the English language gets "photo". Plants need light to make food, photosynthesis. The pupils in your eyes open and close with the amount of light to see, they're photosensitive. You need light to take good pictures, making photographs. I'm going to take this a little further and say the number one rule is natural light. If you learn nothing else let it be this: TURN OFF YOUR FLASH AND GO OUTSIDE. That's it; one simple rule and your pictures will stop looking like this:

Hexipuff for Beekeeper Quilt I've been working on

I know some of you are thinking that isn't so bad right? You can see the shadows so there must be light and it's pretty clear and in focus. I'm even going to say that the colors are accurate, but there is nothing about this picture that pops, nothing that says "oh what a nice hexipuff!" This picture was also taken with my higher quality digital camera. 

Experiment time! Grab the hexipuff and run outside. 

This picture was taken with my crummy cell phone. It doesn't have a zoom function or a flash. It's on it's last leg. And I'll admit the photo is not the most crisp image I've ever produced. All that said in comparison to the first picture it's a much better option if I were to have to pick on for listing in my Etsy shop. I hear you asking about that clean white background. My secret? A big white piece of poster board. I'm sure my neighbors think I'm a little nutsy when I go running outside with my recent items, camera, and poster board, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. Poster board is cheap and gives you a nice flat surface and depending on your items is usually big enough for most things. Did I mention cheap? And if your child decides to go all Vangough on it or it gets hit with last night's spaghetti dinner you feel less bad about it. Run to your shopping list and add poster board right now. I put my poster board on my porch just within the shade line, so I'm not in direct sunlight which overexposes. A cloudy day works well too. If I can't get outside I have a nook in my living room with 3 windows and it acts as a bit of a light box. If you have a good window to work with you don't even have to travel outside. 

I'm ok with a plain picture in it's natural state. If it's a little blue, this happens when I've missed my magic window and the porch is more shaded than I like, you can try to adjust the color balance in one of the many free photo editing programs online. I think even photobucket offers it now in their editing. Many will tell you to run and use Fotofuze to give your pictures that blinding white background. I've tried it. I'm not overly happy with the results. It's a personal preference, but anything changing the contrast that much is also altering the look of the item. Generally creating an overexposed look and making the item look less than life like. You want people to see your pictures as they will see the item when it arrives. Plus go look at the treasuries that make the front page on Etsy. Go ahead, I'll wait. While a few overly brighten photos make it in those treasuries usually the images that are ideal are the ones with clean natural backgrounds. 

Why does this matter? Most treasuries are built the same way shoppers search. They want to see items they can easily identify. And treasuries equate to more exposure for your shop. No matter how ridiculously cute your item is a picture with a cleaner appearance will usually win out by a treasury maker and the same is true when a batch of items comes up in a search. People are visual creatures our eyes are drawn to certain elements and features. Ask me about my 13 years of optical experience. 

So what have we learned?

1- Buy poster board

2- Turn off your flash

3- Go outside

A few things that are helpful to remember and every bit as important.

Get close and in focus. A macro option on your camera is great a good zoom is ok. 

Stabilize. When working without a flash the less your camera moves the better. Set your camera on a pile of books if you need, trust me it helps. I love my tripod! I found it still in it's original packaging at the Goodwill for cheap. Even if I had to pay retail it would be worth every penny. 

For the month of September I would like to challenge our team members to pick a few listings and try some of the ideas here and see if they aren't happier with the results. 

Out of Diapers? Try a Receiving Blanket!

When I started to use cloth I heard a lot about being able to use a receiving blanket as a diaper. I had never tried this and soon forgot all about it. Well for the first time ever Little Pumpkin ran out of diapers. I had put them to wash but before bed I had forgotten to put them to dry, so while diapers were drying I had nothing to put LP in. Then I remembered the receiving blankets! I looked up how to fold a flat diaper and gave it a try, and I have to say using the receiving blanket as a diaper is great! I may try some flat diapers now.

 

I decided to share with you how to use a receiving blanket as a diaper.

 

I hope that your find this helpful! Happy cloth diapering :)

Tuesday Team Picks

Enjoy these lovely picks from our talented Etsy Cloth Diaper Team

'Cloth Diaper Across America' by prettypeachy1

Cloth diapers and accessories in red white and blue!

Pocket Diaper American Flag ... MadKatDiapers $13.00	Upcycled Wool/Cashmere Soake... Myecobaby $18.50	cloth diaper cover - one siz... Zookies $18.50
Sale - Baby Boy Bib & Burp S... MiaDolce $30.00	Nautical Print Washable Wipe... babybeehaven $10.00	READY 2 SHIP-Cat in the Hat ... lilacslollipop... $14.99
Pocket Cloth Diaper - One-Si... cuddlebuttclot... $16.50	CUSTOM slot - ONE SIZE all-i... mycutegenes $29.00	Super Nights Newborn Night t... bananabottoms $21.00
Cloth Toilet Paper, Washable... BrightRoseCrea... $6.25	Small Soaker Fleece Diaper C... modernolive $7.75	Oilcloth Tote Bag - Market B... BagItDesigns $35.00
Ruffle Diaper Cover Patrioti... LilMamas $22.00	Red Plaid - Fleece Longies -... TwinkleBlossom... $10.00	Double Stacked Hairbow and S... SherbetBaby $38.00
Red White and Blue checked g... boogerbearpunk... $23.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio

'Think . . . . . PINK ! ' by BrightRoseCreations

May is a time for flowers, little girls, and pink! These are wonderful creations for your children brought to you by the Etsy Cloth Diaper Team. Rnjoy!

Cloth Swim Diaper Suit for B... LilStuff $22.00	Infant Trifold Inserts - Pin... aprilsbaby $12.00	Pink Cheetah Fleece Skirtie ... londonware $15.00
Medium Argyle Fitted cloth d... Letjoy $17.50	Fuschia Pink Leopard One Siz... honeybunscloth... $25.00	Toddler Overalls, Upcycled W... rebourne $45.00
Pink Stars - Flannel Hemp Or... NoViewFarmCOOP $15.00	Diaper Cover, Pig - size M/L... greenchildcrea... $25.00	Hoos in the Forest - 7x9 Swe... SweetBobbins $14.00
One Size Fitted Cloth Diaper... monkeytoediape... $14.00	Embellished Prefold Diaper o... ZanyZebraDesig... $10.00	One-Size Snapping Diaper Cov... CatchersDiaper... $13.75
Girly Hearts and Flowers Fle... BeatsBoutique $9.95	Clearance Lil Punk OS pocket... VelvetRabbitCl... $14.00	Upcycled Wool Diaper Soaker ... CheekyBambino $18.00
ON SALE, hand knit Medium Sk... LittleMonkeySn... $57.80

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio

'The Animal Kingdom' by cuddlebuttcloth

Take a tour of the animal kingdom, featuring items from the Etsy Cloth Diaper Team (and a few more of my favorites, besides.)

wooden fox, waldorf animal, ... Halushka $13.00	AI2 re-usable shell with gus... MyVeryBest $14.95	Stuffed Animal Pattern - Pea... tiedyediva $5.95
Giraffe Animal Print Beads -... 2GoodClaymates $8.00	Kids Wall Decals Animal Safa... singlestonestu... $38.00	Forest Critters - 11x14 Wate... Rumpeez $14.95
Bohemian Butterflies One Siz... honeybunscloth... $25.00	ORGANIC Bear Onesie (avocado... meandmarlee $20.00	Wet Bag for Cloth Diapers Wa... LilStuff $21.75
Three Pack of Cloth diaper i... babyofthesea $12.00	Wooden Noahs Ark Toy Deluxe ... BestLovedChild $299.00	animal jewelry giraffe neckl... KriyaDesign $24.95
Felted Barn Owl, Hand Felted... ShishLOOKdesig... $22.00	Foxy - Small OBV BedBug Nigh... HoldensLanding $42.00	Pincushion, Hedgehog: Joy - ... greenchildcrea... $7.50
Set of 3 Wooden Animal Toys modernarks $59.99

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio