Rouxbee’s Weblog

So you’ve joined/started a team or guild on Etsy or Artfire, now what?

First, congratulations. It’s exciting to be a part of a group full of like-minded folks. Let’s not forget the benefits of exposure and networking, which is primarily what everyone joins guilds and teams for.

Some groups are stronger than others, with a full roster of go-getters that make the workload light for each other. This includes anything from pitching in on small tasks administrators need, to running your shop as professionally as possible.

There are several ways you can maximize this experience to both your advantage and your fellow members’ advantage. We’re all busy people, and aside from your highest priority to produce awesome products, networking and marketing have to be sensible and worth your time.

• Presentation:

Your studio is not just a place for customers, it’s where writers and group masters can see you.

Let’s start with your storefront. It’s not late-breaking news that a quality banner, avatar, and product photos help sales. What about the content on your page? Do you have adequate product descriptions and proper grammar? Not only do these things help with keeping customer interested, it impresses important people that may want to promote you. Your guild or team will feel much more comfortable writing about your latest hot product, if you have a killer photo of it, your shop looks fantastic, and your writing conveys you’re legit.

As a writer for creepyqueenmagazine.com, I personally scout wicked sellers and products for topics and themes I feel like writing about. I prefer to include examples from Artfire, Etsy, and Dawanda. I am severely dissappointed when my quest renders products from only one website or one seller as a result of disqualifying other amazing items due to poor photos or yucky graphics. Since nearly all of my writing and blogging is out of a passion for the alternative world, I’m not paid to endorse anyone. This means I prefer to only write about sellers I have the right feeling about, and having the right feeling isn’t just from sales: it comes from their savvyness to represent themselves as professionally as possible.

Your presentation not only affects you, it affects every other group member.

If a customer is searching for items within your guild or team (this is usually done through special tags) they see everyone’s contributed products. If pages are mostly filled with low quality photos, they’re going to become disinterested in their search. The same thing happens when pages are littered with mispelling and multiple full product titles in all caps. When there is a consistent lack of presentation among individual members, it brings the presentation of the whole team down. This also goes for the storefronts that have poor quality graphics and studio content.

A very important thing to note, is appropriate tagging. If your guild or team has a special keyword to help customers find group items, don’t tag unrelated products with this tag. If a customer is searching for a particular theme in your guild and see multiple listings for unrelated items, they’re not going to look much longer.

Improving your presentation is probably only a guild member away

A good team consists of members that help each other out. Ask fellow members how they refined their shop appearance. They can lead you in the right direction, and sometimes they may even be able to do it for you. A good team member will cut you a discount for it. And the proper thank you would be to give credit in a small way.

(This section is not here to toot my own horn, in case anyone notices that I do offer graphic design services, and have extensive experience with copywriting. I was inspired to add the above as an afterthought because I’ve observed some strong teams and guilds that promote utilizing fellow team members for services whenever possible. This of course, not just an excellent method of strengthening your team, but a great way to network.)

• Participation

Participating goes above displaying your membership

Posting a message about your guild affiliation and posting a link is a good start, but there are other small things you can do to benefit your group.

First, pay attention to your guild/team. This means reading forums, emails, and announcements. Know about events, changes, and interact with others.  This doesn’t mean spending all your time refreshing the page or chatting away, it just means actually keeping up with this group you were worthy of joining.

If you blog, write at least one personal blog entry about your team. Even better, every now and then blog about another member or product. If your guild is active, and you pay attention to your guild, you should never be lacking for topics, because chances are someone is going to announce a sale, an event, or a new line. Good team members will show you their appreciation, and appreciation can go a long way.

Find your guild’s networking venues, join them, and link them. Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter are among the popular networking outlets. Something as simple as posting a bulletin about the group can help.

Ask your leader/master if there are small tasks you can take on

This doesn’t have to be a heavy workload or even a regular scheduled task. Sometimes your leader may just want a breather, or maybe another active member is on vacation. You can pitch in by contributing a small post to the team blog, updating tweets, starting forum threads, and suggest new members.

There has to be a mutual willingness from all sides for the team to thrive

There should be fairness all around. It’s hard to blame team members for not exuding enthusiasm promoting a group that shows favoritism towards certain members. On the flipside, you can’t blame guild masters for not focusing heavily on members that aren’t doing what they can for the team.

• Helping each other out

Chances are, most members have something to offer another will need

Not everyone offers the same thing as each other. Whether it’s a service or a product, check your team first.

If you’re in need of a gift for someone, a card, product photos, or anything, someone in your guild may have it.

Passing along business

Sometimes a friend will ask if I know how to make or design something, and I can’t. If you know someone who needs something you don’t provide, tell them you know someone who does.

Ettiquite and advantages to providing for your fellow members

If someone in your guild or team comes to you for a product or service, you should offer your fellow member a discount. We all need to make a living, and no one understands that like another seller. However, there are a couple of benefits to helping a team member out.

In addition to more sales under your belt and good feedback scores, a team member happy with your business can go far. Nothing helps like word of mouth.

Teams can be a beautiful thing. Nothing is worse than a guild that fails because people are burnt out, or because a few bad apples ruins it for everyone.

If you want to join a team or guild, keep in mind what it really means. It means being a part of something, and it means your efforts affect all others.