Stacey Brook is a Writer, Blogger, Author

Ah, the dreaded profile. It’s a notoriously daunting piece of seller language to nail down. Even for a seasoned wordsmith, writing about yourself can be an intimidating prospect. As with any self-portrait, it’s tough to capture yourself at the perfect angle and incorporate all of your best attributes in the frame.

But writing your profile doesn’t have to be a baffling enterprise. Answering a few key questions, honestly and in detail, can provide the structure for an engaging, insightful picture of who you are and what you do. A creative, concise, well-constructed profile is essential to the success of any Etsy shop. No matter where you’re from and what you make, it is worth it to spend the time really fleshing out and polishing up your seller bio.

Two reasons your profile is important:

1. You are responsible for your buyer’s shopping experience. The difference between Etsy and many other online vendor platforms is that we try to make the online shopping experience feel as personal as purchasing from a local brick-and-mortar boutique. Your profile is the most humanizing portion of the Etsy sales experience. It is the equivalent of making conversation at the register. Think of that exchange and what might unfold during the interaction. Make it clear that you care about your customers enough to sate their curiosity. The more you can make the experience feel personal, the more buyers, especially first-time buyers are willing to make the leap. 
2. You deserve an opportunity to toot your own horn. You make wonderful things — handbags and cufflinks and armoires and a host of other goodies that take an enormous amount of energy and creativity to develop. The profile section is the place where you get to give yourself a little credit. Do yourself justice. Talk about your process, your ambitions, your creative inspirations. We know a lot of thought and energy goes into the items you make, so take some time with your bio and really make it shine.

Awaken Curiosity by missouribendstudio

Okay, so you know you need a profile. But how do you get started? Everyone knows one of the hardest tasks, even for seasoned writers, is to turn the focus inwards. But don’t fret! Here are some questions to help you get started. Not all of them will apply to you, but they are designed to inspire and get you thinking about what piques buyers’ curiosities. Especially with projects as tricky as the personal bio, I come from the school of “write first, edit later,” so put your pen to the paper and see what flows. You can always discard, revise and bolster your words later.

1. Who are you? What is your educational and/or artistic background? What are your hobbies?
2. Where are you from? How does your location/birthplace inform your work? 
3. What was the main inspiration for your shop? How did your business get its name? Name some objects/eras/events/people that inspire you. 
4. What do you make? How many varieties of items do you carry? Do you have a signature product? How did that come to be?
5. What materials do you use? Where do you source them from? Are they green/sustainable? 
6. What is your process like? How long does it take? What is the most difficult step in the procedure?
7.  Is there a funny/touching/sad story behind one/all of your items? 
8. What makes you different from the other people that make what you make? (Or why do I need what you make if no one else makes it?)
9. What do you enjoy most about making the things you make? How has the experience of handcrafting things for people or selling vintage been rewarding to you?
10. What are your shop policies? Sizing? Returns? Exchanges? Damage? Shipping? Accepted forms of payment? These things should actually go in your policies page (edit your policy page here), but it never hurts to include the link and point your visitors there should they be looking.
11. What are questions that come up from your buyers over and over? Do you have a product that is especially difficult to purchase sight unseen? Something people might want to sample before they commit? Try to anticipate the questions your buyers will ask and plug the holes as best you can.
12. What other special services do you offer to buyers? Custom orders? Gift wrap?
13. What is the easiest way to get in touch with you? How else can buyers connect with you? Your website? Facebook? Twitter? Do you have a newsletter?
14. Have you been covered by the press? Have you been profiled or highlighted by Etsy? Have you listed any other major accomplishments? (For creative use of press in profile check out happyfamily.)

Make A Point No. 2 Pencil Set by paperpastries

General Writing Tips:
Use humor. Don’t be overwrought or overwork it, but try to use language to delineate yourself and separate yourself from others. 

Make sure your description reflects why you are different, not just from mass-market items, but also from the other shops on Etsy. There are hundreds of metalworkers on the site. Without directly comparing yourself to others, or disparaging anyone else’s collection, tell us why your creations are different. What makes you stand out? Be clean, concise and complete. Try to maintain an air of professionalism, while still keeping it fun and making it personal.

OTHER DOs:

• Tell stories. Is there an interesting/relevant anecdote behind how your shop came to be? Did the accidental addition of an ingredient lead to a signature line of extra yummy cupcakes? Did an old photograph of your parents by the seashore inspire you to hand make vintage-style bathing suits? Even short, creative, fictional histories or anecdotes can add to the mystique of your items if executed well. Look to the creepy-charming description of seller rubypearl for some inspiration here.

• Did you say hello? Don’t forget to welcome us! Treat us like we’re entering your store. Make a good first impression. Thanking people and showing off your good manners never gets old. And engaging readers from the beginning will ensure they continue on to the rest of your valuable information.

• Lay out your points cleanly and concisely. Use titles to help draw the eye to the different topics you address. Try to avoid constructing one big block of text. Headings definitely help make profiles more readable, especially if you have a lot of information to impart. (Look at morrisonjewelry for an example of this.)

• Proofread! When a shopper encounters “free nipping” instead of “free shipping” in your profile or item descriptions, it doesn’t speak to your attention to detail. This is not a great impression to make as a seller of handcrafted items and/or custom goods. Proofreading is easy — it just takes an extra few minutes or a friend’s pair of eyeballs! Make sure you take a look at your profile both before and after you’ve posted it. Time and distance from what you’ve written will provide perspective. And remember, you can’t always see your own mistakes. Let friends and family members review your text after you post it to catch all the little things before your buyers do.

• Keep it concise. Make it interesting. Make it informative.

“Don’t Give Up tote bag” by printliberation

The DON’Ts:

• Don’t overload your profile with press clips. Including 2-3 items — what is essentially the highlights reel of your press coverage — will instill confidence in your buyers, but an assault of press clippings in the bio section really takes away from the homegrown feel. It’s important to find that balance of using press to prove the value of your items, while still leaving room for people to feel like they’re buying items that are unique. You still want it to feel like a discovery.

• Don’t direct people to your store’s website as your only profile item – it feels so cold and corporate. Include your web address and other contact information in the profile, of course, but it’s important to make buyers feel like they’re dealing with real people when they access your profile, versus detached redirection.

• Don’t assume people know anything about your shop or items or policies until you tell them. You are the direct vehicle for information to your sellers, and only you have the power to inform, and inform well.

Here are some more interesting profiles to sample: gildapearl, FablesByBarrie, trixiedelicious, cloudninevintage, happyfamily, samanthasultana, beanforest, rubypearl, percyhandmade, morrisonjewelry, NoushKaDesigns, steffmetal.

You can read more from Stacey in this post, A Different Thing Entirely: How to Distinguish Yourself From the Mass Market.

Douglas Rushkoff, filmmaker, scholar, media wunderkind and author of Life Inc., a manifesto of changing our culture of corporate-run consumption, spoke at Etsy headquarters recently. In addition to telling the tale of how corporate culture came to be, Rushkoff debunked the myth that industrialized production is more cost-effective than local production and trade, addressed how specialization is the territory of the handcrafter (not the worker on the assembly line), and emphasized the importance of the peer-to-peer exchange.

Etsy is one of the few organizations that is changing the way people buy and sell things in our culture. We are returning the value of what is created back to the hands of the creators. (That’s you!)

During the Q&A portion of the discussion, one Etsy seller, a furniture maker, asked how the value of a handmade object can be communicated to buyers who don’t necessarily understand the care and effort that goes into making objects outside the system of mass production. How do you show people the furniture you build with your own two hands in your garage is better than an IKEA chair?

Rushkoff’s answer was that you need to show people why your product is better. He talked about the first time he introduced his mother to a CSA salad, and how she said, “The arugula — it tastes different,” to which Rushkoff replied, “Yeah, it tastes like arugula, not like something engineered to be shipped across the country and picked when it’s blue. It’s a different thing.”

Rushkoff also observed that the Internet as an interface is an issue Etsy sellers have to contend with. It is difficult to display the value of objects, especially complex creations, through a computer screen. “You have to go on reputation,” Rushkoff said.

Based on the observations and studies of Rushkoff, and the vocalized concerns of Etsy sellers, it is clear we need to push our message of value to the Etsy buyer community. Luckily, both showing buyers the value of your product and enhancing your reputation are things sellers can proactively address; on your Etsy pages, and in your overall interactions with the buying community. It all comes down to two basic principles: Displaying Your Value and Making It Personal.

Displaying Your Value
As sellers on Etsy, makers of screenprinted notecards and homespun yarn and hand-sewn pillows, you can both qualify and quantify the amount of time and energy that goes into making things by hand. But not all buyers will understand this implicitly. People have become used to finding the same products in every store, and buying things wholesale. Here are some ways in which you can proactively impart the great value of your truly specialized, handmade products to potential buyers:

1. Make a Video: You make something by hand? Show me how. There is something deadening in the process of making a sweater pumped out of a factory line. What fascinates people is the hand construction process behind the 8-layer tulle skirt of a wedding dress. Or the steps involved in taking slabs of raw wood to a polished, working cabinet. Even a simple video showing the process behind making your screenprints or dying your fabrics will increase intrigue in your products. Look at how many people tune into shows like Project Runway just to see how the garments are made. The attention paid to your craft and the unique qualities of what results will be apparent.
   Check out the Etsy Process Videos to see some examples, or these posts to help you get started making videos.
2. Bolster Your Descriptions: What makes your product stronger or last longer than other mass manufactured items? Highlight these elements in your descriptions. Break down what terms like “serging” and “varnish” mean for the layman, especially if they add to your message of quality. Don’t assume your buyers understand these terms or the value they convey. Whether you make utilitarian items, or pieces of art, or objects that function as both (as many of the items on Etsy do), talk about the intricacies of your creations and how they’re made. What techniques do you employ to make the product last? What are your materials? Why did you choose them? What makes them special? Why can’t you get this item anywhere else? Buyers want to know.
   Check these seller how-to’s about writing descriptions.
3. Post the Right Pictures: When it all comes down to it, pictures tell the most. Supply shots from all angles. If you sell fine artwork, capture the wide shot and the details. Be sure to post pictures that show scale, especially for very large or very small items. If you list imperfections or describe special textures, show them. Make sure your buyers know they can request additional images if they have questions about the item’s quality/size, etc. You want to make the shopping experience for your buyers as multi-dimensional as possible.
   Check out these seller how-to’s about photographing your items.

Making It Personal
Another thing that stuck out in the discussion with Rushkoff was the disconnect between individuals and corporations. We have no relationships with these massive companies from which we buy so many of our possessions. At Etsy we have a unique opportunity to forge relationships with the buyers one-on-one. Here are a few ways to increase your interactivity with the Etsy shopper community and beyond:

1. Maximize Social Media: Open up your social media channels to your customer circles, not just your family and friends. On Etsy, your customers are your friends. Buyers who admire the things you make are often curious about the personalities and backgrounds of the people who make them. So build up those Facebook fans and Twitter followers. Post links to these pages in your announcements and have people email you to be added to your mailing lists. Invite people to get to know you better, and in turn, get to know them. Customers on the edge of making a purchase may discover random information about you — connect to the movies you like, or a book you’ve read — and purchase from you for the first time. Buyers who feel like they’re updated on your activities regularly (even if they’re simply following your feeds) will come back to you time and time again.
   Read this post about taking the time to be personal — and not being spammy.
2. Customize Your Packages: The receipt of a package from an Etsy seller is an exciting moment for buyers. Tailor the experience to each customer. Include a handwritten note. Say something about the particular item they have bought. When you open a television from Sears you get computerized paperwork and boring manuals. I’ve never once received a Halloween-themed notecard or an envelope full of confetti, or a heart-shaped lollipop in a department store box. Getting a package from an Etsy seller should simply be more interesting then the average consumer experience.
   Check out these seller how-to’s about packaging.
3. Customer Service is Key: You are your business on Etsy. You don’t have a bureaucracy to blame when shipments don’t go out, or when emails don’t get answered. Check your messages every day. Make sure you answer buyer questions promptly and thoroughly. You manage your own reputation, so show people that their experience with an independent seller will be positive and engaging. Proactively contact buyers who asked about items that were once unavailable and have now become available again. Show shoppers that they are not numbers, they are people you have logged in your memory. Offer small, private discounts to repeat customers as a token of your appreciation. Send notes to thank people when they buy something you have made.
   Check out the Service Tips for Sellers series.

Your products aren’t the blue arugula created on an assembly line by workers paid far too little and shipped across the country to big box warehouses who take all the money and credit for your blood and sweat. You make things and sell things you put your soul into. You need to impart that message to your buyers. You need to show them — it’s a whole different thing.

Not all of us are natural students, and many of us no longer have the patience to endure long lectures or do homework on a regular basis. But there are very few of us who don’t appreciate the value of acquiring a new skill set, especially one that’s fun, even to the point of relative uselessness. The WG took the time to sample some of the neighborhood’s most intriguing classes, some of which have more practical applications (flower arranging), and others that are more difficult to apply to everyday life (aerial tricks!). Williamsburg/Greenpoint is a collection of creative minds that need constant stimulation, and though the internet can teach you a lot of things, there’s something to be said for taking a stroll, rolling up your sleeves, and seeing what live instruction has to offer.

Pickling (Canning) Class
at The Brooklyn Kitchen
616 Lorimer Street
(718) 389-2982

The Brooklyn Kitchen offers some of the wildest, most delectable classes around, even appealing to kitchen-phobes and self-proclaimed non-cooks like myself. I can barely manage to turn out an al dente pasta, or save a Pillsbury roll of cookies from the burn of neglect, and yet, when I heard there was a knife skills class available at the BK, it was all I could do not to pre-order myself a set of Ginsus. The classes range from $25-$75; some are demonstration-based, others are more interactive. The pig butchering class sends you home with eight pounds of swine, while the pickling class urges students to bring any vegetables they’ve been “dying to pickle” for a week-long test run in the brine jar. The cake decorating and fondant classes are taught by a contestant from the Food Network Challenge. The BK’s staff is slightly disaffected, but eventually they warm up, and it’s clear they’ve got good instincts about what off-kilter classes might add gas to your fire.

After perusing the options, I decided to take a pickling (specifically, canning) class with Bob McClure, of McClure’s pickles. The first thing I learned is that if you go into a canning class, you’re going to come out smelling like vinegar. But isn’t that a small price to pay for learning how to turn your seasonal vegetables into salty, savory, sometimes even spicy, preserved delights? McClure will teach you what to look for in foods you pickle, how to sterilize your equipment, and, most important, how to keep tabs on your PH levels so you don’t infect your friends and family with life-threatening bacteria.

The main drawback of the pickling class was that it involved a lot of standing around. I would have liked to get my hands dirty a little, but the demo kitchen is small, and it turns out canning, which involves hot glass and scalding water, is kind of a dangerous process (not ideal for group participation). I’m also a huge proponent of instant gratification, and there was something anticlimactic about watching a man prepare something for an hour only to hand you a jar and tell you to wait a week to consume its contents.

New classes are posted at the middle of each month on the BK’s website and sell out quickly, sometimes within one or two days. The next round will go up on March 16, and April is Egg Month, so expect new classes to be breakfast-themed. Learn more here.

Ikebana
at Rose Red & Lavender
653 Metropolitan Avenue
(718) 486-3569

The last place I ever expected to find myself on a frigid weekend night in early March was among chirping birds and sweet bouquets, arranging flowers. But I was thrilled to spend two hours at Rose Red & Lavender, a charming full service flower shop by the Graham Avenue L train, to try my hand at Ikebana, the modern, minimalistic Japanese art of flower arranging. Joining me around a wooden table heaped with fresh tulips and irises, broad, waxy leaves, and twisted willow branches, were six other ladies, many of whom had been directed to the shop’s perpetual indoor Springtime by an email tip from Daily Candy. (“This place is only three stops out of Manhattan—not so bad!”)

It turns out Ikebana’s core rules are quite recession friendly (not many flowers are needed in this art), and you pretty much can’t go wrong so long as you follow a few simple guidelines, which were laid out for us by Lisa, the instructor. A few blooms, tufts of twisted grass, and artfully placed stalks of curly willow will qualify your masterpiece as a genuine interpretation of Ikebana, as long your elements are arranged to represent the three levels of the life cycle (heaven, man, earth). My arrangement was the picture of minimalism—three long, slender white iris stalks courting the heavens in various stages of bloom. With Lisa’s cheery encouragement, I was actually proud of my living composition. And since irises are a pretty hearty breed, it took me nearly six days to kill my pristine arrangement with the neglect I show all plants unlucky enough to enter my apartment.

Though the class didn’t necessarily impart any skills or sage advice you couldn’t learn from a book, the luscious atmosphere and warm group vibe made the evening worthwhile. The cost is $125 for a series of three classes, with an arrangement to take home each session. I was most excited about keeping the gardening clippers. Owner Kimberly is open to suggestions for future classes (English arrangements? Topiary?), but composting is up next. So get your ish together and get over there. Click here for details.

Walk-In Crafting
at Spacecraft
355 Bedford Avenue
(718) 599-2718

A brief mention on my Facebook status that I had taken a crafting class at the recently-opened Spacecraft on Bedford prompted immediate responses from four of my friends, like, “That was my new years resolution—be more crafty!” or “Can I come with? Please?” Apparently there is more than enough interest in crafting for this place to take flight.

Christina and Stella, the lovely ladies of Space-craft, want their store/workshop, tucked just north of the Williamsburg bridge, to be a place where people come to hang, meet people, and craft. To that end, Spacecraft boasts a menu of over 20 affordable craft projects you can walk in and pick up at any time-including stamp making (foam and rubber, $15-40), sculpting (beeswax and clay, $20-35), and decorating (cards, clothing, and even a skateboard, $10-45). Want to make something out of sculpey? Walk on in. I can already think of a Halloween prop I will be making out of papier mâché.

A wide range of materials are at your disposal—from felt and plaster to appliques, rhinestones and seaglass. Kids can make the most decadent crowns in town with all the glitter in this place, but tools are also available to make polished, professional projects. The 12-year-old me wanted to commandeer a t-shirt and drench it in glitter puff paint before bedazzling the bejeezus out of it, but for my initial foray into Spacecrafting I chose to quell my grade school instincts and decoupage a wooden box instead. Christina had enough foresight to drape me in a massive denim apron before I began to inexpertly brush the grainy surface in white paint and plaster it with a photocopied image of an octopus from the store’s overflowing box of stored images. Though I had decoupaged a few times before, I asked a question a minute during the octopus application phase of Project Wooden Box, and Christina and Stella answered my queries with easy patience. It was like a private tutorial. I finished my session with a beautifully matted, sparely decorated treasure box in hand, prompting Christina to comment, “You’re probably still carrying around your sense of Japanese minimalism from the flower class.”

The one downside to Spacecraft’s open crafting is that it only takes place during store hours, which during the week fall during the normal working hours of 10am-6pm. But plenty of classes are available on weekends or in the evenings, including the upcoming kids series Art in the City (March 10, 17, & 24) and a three session screenprinting tutorial (March 25, April 1 & April 8) that costs just $175 and sends you home with the materials to print in your living room.

Aerial Silks
at the Skybox
342 Maujer Street

When people think of New York, they think of small spaces. Cramped apartments, cubicles, tiny office kitchens. Brooklyn has changed that a bit, with the loft and the warehouse and the sprawling park, but I still never expected there to be a place where you could practice trapeze indoors right in my own backyard.

The Skyhouse is a warehouse cabaret—half lofty space, half plush, high backed velvet couches, props, and circus equipment. Co-founders Jordann Baker and Anya Sapozhnikova started the space as part of the new incarnation of The House of Yes, a creative collective and one-stop shop for the production of lavish DIY circus productions. With 32-foot ceilings, the Skybox is the only spot in the NY metropolitan area created specifically for the practice of aerial stunts, and when you walk in to a set of advanced students doing “the Tick Tock Drop,” wrapping their legs in purple silk 20 feet in the air and hurtling to the ground as it unravels, you are awed by what can be accomplished when people are given some space to work with.

Though clearly aerial enthusiasts are intense about their craft, my classmates were are also quite sweet, and immensely graceful. Aerial and circus sports are especially popular with dancers, actors and others looking to add another layer to their breadth of performance skills. The class is adaptable to many skill levels, which made it easy for me to enter as a beginner on a day when some well-trained people were also on the mats. I spent most of the session learning to inch up the silks like a caterpillar, and a few minutes at the end attempting to do some tricks, my arms spread like wings, and my body contracted in an upside-down tuck position. I woke up the next day with a soreness in my arms that I haven’t experienced since lugging two gallons of paint from the Manhattan Home Depot all the way to Clinton Hill. Joanna assured me the strength comes quickly with practice. Perhaps if (when?) I try again, I’ll only be in one gallon’s worth of pain.

The Skybox also offers classes in Lyra (the aerial hoop), static trapeze, and even hula hooping. Ballet classes focus on helping you improve your grace in the air, and open workshops on stilting, juggling and other circus tricks are also available on a weekly basis. It is necessary to email or call in advance for class reservations (class sizes are small to give the necessary focused attention) so instructors can account for varying levels of experience in advance. Classes are $25-30, depending on class size, which is expensive if you’re a regular, but not too much to ask for the gift of temporary flight.