Handmade Code: SoopSee

Vanessa

Story by Vanessa

Published on July 31, 2009 in Seller Handbook

Photo by SoopSee.com

Vanessa

As part of our Handmade Code series, we’re bringing you news and how-to’s about the innovations emerging from the Etsy Developer Community. Located at developer.etsy.com, the Etsy Developer Community serves as a hub for third-party software developers who are making neat and helpful programs for Etsy shoppers and sellers. In this edition, Ed a.k.a. edlea, tells us all about his website, SoopSee.


What’s the basic idea of the application? What need does it fill?
Having worked with artists and makers for most of my professional life I have seen how the Internet has revolutionized the creative industries. Makers are getting much more tech savvy and using the internet to promote their work. Whether that’s through a blog, a Facebook fan page, Twitter, Flickr or a whole host of other outlets.

But there’s a downside to that too: you end up being spread all over the internet! That’s where SoopSee comes in; it can act as a focal point for all of your creativity. Your own domain that displays your Etsy listings, blog, links to brick and mortar shops and galleries, a profile about you, the maker, and loads more.

Where do we go to find it? What’s the URL, etc.?
http://www.soopsee.com

Who is it for? How many people are using it right now?
Anyone who has an Etsy shop! Right now there are 600 Etsians actively using the site, with many more on the waiting list. You can see some examples here.

How do you use it?
Everything is meant to be very, very simple. One click is all it takes to import your entire Etsy catalog. One click is all it takes to import your entire blog. One click is all it takes to pick the look of your site.

Basically, you tell SoopSee where all your stuff is throughout the Internet. SoopSee then goes out and fetches it for you, packages it up in a nice design and presents you with your own website that you made in about 10 minutes.

SoopSee also has additional tools for tracking your shop activity. SoopSee can track your shop hearts, sales, tweets and blog posts in a bid to help you decide how well your web-based marketing is working.

Are there any costs or further opportunities/ways to get involved?
You can use SoopSee absolutely free of charge. There are upgrades available, like the Sooper account, that give you access to certain extra themes, some customization and deeper twitter integration.

You can also buy a domain name to host your portfolio website for $14.99 per year. Or if you already own a domain name you want to use, you can pay $14.99 per year for SoopSee to host it.

You can get involved through our Twitter or Facebook page.

What should one do if there’s a bug or a problem? Who should one contact?
Just email hello@soopsee.com.

What’s one surprising/fun/amazing story you’ve heard about someone using your app?
I get lots of emails from Etsians who have used SoopSee to get themselves set up with a portfolio/gallery site saying how easy it was to do. They’d spent time and money using fancy site building tools but the end result never reflected their work. SoopSee has fewer options which might sound like a bad thing, but actually the end result is much better — and it takes so little time to do. I try and publish as many comments as I can on the homepage but I got another one this week which was really great:

“SoopSee made me excited about Etsy all over again. I spent just a little time putting my Soopsee thingie together, revamped my Etsy shop, and when I was done, I had a sale!” — DollMakersMuse

What is your favorite part about the app?
Not being an Etsy seller myself, it’s hard to know what is the most useful thing to have, but when I test the site, I put myself in an Etsian’s shoes and use SoopSee for real which kind of makes me wish I was creative enough to be an Etsy shop owner! It’s so satisfying to spend just a little time on something and get a pretty cool result at the end.


Anything else you’d like to add?
SoopSee has recently integrated a couple of Google tools. The first of which most Etsians are familiar with: Google Analytics. It enables you to add advanced visitor statistics to your website and track what is successful and what isn’t. Enabling Google Analytics in SoopSee is just as easy as doing it on Etsy — just copy/paste your Google Analytics site reference.

SoopSee is also announcing the integration of Google Friend Connect. I’ve noticed that a lot of Etsians are familiar with this already as lots of you have a Blogger account. If you are new to Google Friend Connect, it’s a set of tools that enables you to build a community / following around your work. Visitors to your site join as members and are able to follow your updates without you having to send out emails or prompts to say that you “just submitted a new blog post.” The great thing about Google Friend Connect is that you can take that network of followers across multiple sites, so the members on your Blogger.com blog are now members of your SoopSee site – and all you had to do was copy/paste your site id number!

For more information, check out the SoopSee FAQs here.

Are you using SoopSee? Post in the comments below!

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