This roundup of the Etsy Labs' Your Shop 101: 10 Minute Marketing, Promoting your Shop on a Shoestring! was originally posted on strumpfkunst's blog. The Your Shop 101 series is dedicated to bringing sellers useful info in how to improve their shops and get more sales.

Etsy is testing a new feature for users, called the Virtual Labs (it functions a lot like the Online Workshop). The Labs are split into chat rooms with some fun additional stuff, but the real added value comes from the frequent workshops and sessions.

I participated in my first one last night, concerning marketing on a shoestring budget. And it was fun! Okay, we spent half an hour beforehand throwing tomatoes, chicken, pencils, and racoons at each other (don't ask), as well as trying out all those buttons — but the real magic began when the session started.

Suddenly, Etsy Labs was in the house. Four Etsy admin were actually there, in front of webcam, talking to us! And while we were typing in the left-hand chat window, they could pick up on our questions and react! Honestly, I had a blast. :)

Here are the most useful tips to get your Etsy out there, as I remember them... sorry of they seem unorganized, they are - I remembered something new every couple of seconds. :)

Car promos
Etsy Labs has introduced cool new bumper stickers that are just $4 each — and it's a fun way to promote Etsy. I especially liked the one that said "Don't blame me, I voted for Etsy.com".

Of course, you can also choose to promote your own shop or site — or get a car decal from one of the talented Etsy sellers, for example Monster Promos.

Business cards
Those you need to have on hand at all times — and we are agreed that ones depicting your products are best to ensure people remember you. Check out my tips for Moo cards.

Wear your products
Well, if you can, at least. Having a sock monkey hanging from my neck looks kinda stupid — but I do carry my keychain on me at all times, and do get comments on that ... and then I just hand that person my Moo card.

Pictures, pictures, pictures
Like I have said numerous times, no matter what you do, pictures are key to your success. Great pictures increase your likeliness to make a treasury, and therefore make the frontpage. One of my sock dogs achieved that — and got more than 300 extra views in one hour. Seriously. Additionally, great pictures mean that you pop out when people search for products.

It doesn't matter how crappy your camera is — the key lies in natural light, no flash, using the macro setting, and an editing program like Photoshop. Here's some help on getting great pictures and working with Photoshop and Fireworks.

Etsy Mini
Use your Etsy Mini to display your products on communities and your own website — no hassle, since it updates itself... and a great way to get people into your shop.

Online promotions
There are many ways to get your name out there — here are the ones that I remember as being mentioned:

• Flickr
• Craigslist
• Trunkt
• MySpace
• Friendster
• Craftster
• Indiepublic

Be careful with some of these, though — you need to know their rules to handle them correctly. Most of these rules are to prevent what they consider spamminess.

On Flickr, you can have your shop address in your profile, but no link to the listing in the photo description. I usually upload the first photo of whatever I listed that day, and then publish it to approximately 6-8 flickr groups that are relevant.

Craftster allows your shop address in your signature, but don't ever add listings or your shop URL in any thread.

Blogs
Blogs are great... if you have readers. Check out my article on "To blog or not to blog" for more info.

BuyHandmade.org
Have you seen the new button on the lower right of my blog? Yes, I also choose to promote Etsy's newest initiative, BuyHandmade.org. Etsy combined forces with some of the greatest craft sites, and will be promoting to shoppers to disregard mega-chain stores this holiday season. I am excited about the initiative and hope to see loads of PR popping up in the next couple of weeks. Go on, sign the pledge!

The Storque
The Storque is Etsy's blog/e-zine, and it's written by us, the users, and admin. Do you have an idea for an awesome article? Then pitch it to them.

The Storque is great to get some recognition and participate in unsual ways. I wrote an article on the history of sock monkeys, and you know what? I can trace the adoption of two critters directly to this article. Most importantly, it's fun to do.

Street Teams
Etsy Street Teams are great to hook up with like-minded artists and artisans. Street Teams exist for almost anything — geographic reason, target market, products... You can find all of them here.

I am part of the Etsy Plush Team and love the people in there — so much talent, and no competition. And we are currently preparing a surprise. :)

Newsletters
Having a regular e-mail newsletter is an awesome way to keep in touch with your customers. Just make sure that you have the recipient's permission to contact them — you can even ask for their okay in your confirmation mail after each sale.

I have chosen E-Newsletters Online for my newsletter, because they have an easy-to-use template ... and are free for up to 100 e-mails per month. And my newsletter is actually fun to read. Want to take a peek?

You can also just send a regular email, without all that software — just make sure to add all addresses as BCC (blind carbon copy), so that you aren't publishing all e-mail addresses to everyone else on the list.

E-mail signature
Every company has that — when you receive an e-mail, the employee's name, position, and phone number is usually added at the bottom to each e-mail.

You can do the same! Just search your e-mail providers help files for "signature" to learn how to set it up. Mine reads "Sock critters with attitude — www.strumpfkunst.de"... so whenever I send an e-mail, that person is reminded (or introduced) to what I do.