The Merriweather Council Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Rebroadcast Series: No One Cares About Your Etsy Sales Number Jun 14, 2022

Show notes

I've posted about this on Instagram before, and it always seems to ignite a little fire. No one cares about your Etsy sales number besides you.

Etsy is not a perfect platform, but it is a damn good one. We believe it is the best marketplace handmade business owners have right now.

Sellers (and some buyers) often gripe about Etsy changes, but for me I find this one UNCHANGED thing is my biggest gripes: displaying the seller's sales number on the homepage of the Etsy shop. It's been this way since day one and hasn't changed.

The fact that Etsy publicly displays your sales number has ALWAYS seemed ridiculous to me. To get the full show notes for this episode, visit merriweathercouncilblog.com/144 To see the full list of all merripodcast episodes, visits merripodcast.com

To make your Etsy shop work harder for you, visit merritrainingcourse.com

Why this is the last new episode of The Merriweather Council Podcast Jun 07, 2022

Show notes

Today I'm sharing with you some big news. Probably the biggest news I've ever shared here.

I've always tried to keep the podcast timeless and evergreen, so I haven't shared much "news" here. But I digress.

This is the last new episode of The Merriweather Council Podcast.

Not for the summer, not for this season - but actually forever.

First, I want to thank you for being here today and for every time you streamed the podcast. It's truly been an honor to create this content and share it with you, knowing that it ultimately might impact your business, and I appreciate the trust you've put in me and my team not only here on the podcast but throughout the business.

There are many reasons for this decision, but most are highly personal or boring. I'll share the key reason with you here, though.

There are many different ways to define success, but I can't accomplish all of them within this business. And there are other things I want to do that would bring me to other versions of success. But I need to make space for them.

I want to be clear before going forward. I have absolutely no intention of sharing this as advice. This is just what's happening for me.

For full show notes and links mentioned, please visit merriweathercouncilblog.com/166

For a complete list of all Merripodcast episodes visit merripodcast.com

To join the free masterclass while it's still available visit merritrainingcourse.com

Etsy Shop Audits: the good, the bad, the alternative May 24, 2022

Show notes

Etsy shop audits. What are they? Is that the same as a shop critique? Should you invest in one? And why I don't offer them!

Years ago, I DID offer this as a service. I have done hundreds of Etsy shop audits.

I did shop audits for sellers at all levels, in all different niches, for all different types of products – handmade, vintage digital- all of them.

And what I found was that I was repeating myself quite a bit. Even in the follow-up written points, the additional resources, the extra input, and beyond – even when people would write back with questions… they were the same questions.

I know now that this is because until a certain baseline is implemented, the information that people receive in audits is not personalized.

For all the links mentioned and to get full show notes for this episode, visit merriweathercouncilpodcast.com/165

For a full list of all Merripodcast episodes, visit merripodcast.com.

5 Sneaky Signs you Need to Adjust the Pricing of your Handmade Products May 10, 2022

Show notes

Worried you might be you are underpricing your handmade product? I'm glad it's on your mind because pricing properly is the foundation on which you build a sustainable business.

Regardless of your niche, style, medium, or experience level, pricing properly is key to having a handmade business that can endure, grow, and thrive.

To put it simply: if you aren't pricing for profit, you don't have a business; you have a hobby. There is nothing wrong with hobbies, of course, but they are best when you know you have one, not when you are trying to accomplish something else for a year and then realize you were on the wrong track. In this episode, I reveal the 5 sneaky signs that you need to adjust your pricing. For all the links mentioned in this episode and for full show notes, please visit merriweathercouncilblog.com/164

For a full list of all Merripodcast episodes, visit merripodcast.com.

The 3 Product Seller Profiles and How They Influence Your Ideal Customer Avatar Apr 26, 2022

Show notes

Does it ever feel like no one else struggles quite as much as you do to identify or define their ideal customer avatar? There's a reason for that…

What if I told you that the key to finding your ideal customer avatar is your product seller profile?

This is my theory about how the way that you become a seller of original products impacts how you determine who your ideal customer is.

I think there are 3 ways you can become a seller of original products and i'm going to cover each one and provide insight into the ideal customer discovery for each

There are three primary ways I believe people become sellers of original products:

The Shark Tank way

The natural-born entrepreneur way

The maker way

There are probably others but they likely would fit into any of those ultimately and for the purpose of the lesson, these three provide enough context. And as you'll see there can be overlap between these.

For full episode notes visit merriweathercouncilblog.com/163

To see a full list of all Merripodcast episodes visit merripodcast.com

The Best Way to Find Customers for Your Etsy Shop Apr 12, 2022

Show notes

The absolute best way to find customers for your Etsy shop will probably surprise you.

As you know, I am a huge proponent of Etsy and I think it's a powerful tool that all craft-based business owners would be smart to make use of. I also believe that you should not send prospective buyers to your Etsy shop.

It might sound like those two statements contradict each other, but by the end of this episode, you will understand exactly why they don't.

*Please note: This episode was recorded before Etsy announced their fee adjustment which is now live. The fee % mentioned in this episode reflects the rate it was before April 11th 2021. The explanation around the fee is still accurate!*

For full show notes for this episode visit merriweathercouncilblog.com/162 For a list of all Merripodcast episodes visit merripodcast.com

I deleted 4,000 Instagram followers. Should you? Mar 29, 2022

Show notes

I'm excited to share with you what happened when I deleted 3000-4000 Instagram followers from my @merriweatherc Instagram account!

This episode covers my own experience and what happened when I deleted followers. I hope that it can provide some insight that you can benefit from if you also use Instagram as a marketing tool in your handmade business.

There were no hard and fast rules here, but I did have some key points I'd look for when determining if an account should be removed.

For full show notes and all the links mentioned in this episode, visit merriweathercouncilblog.com/161.

For a full list of all Merripodcast episodes, visit merripodcast.com.

2 Critical Considerations Before Building Your Own Off Etsy Website Mar 15, 2022

Show notes

As you know by now, my team and I support and encourage a small handmade business structure that makes use of one marketplace and one autonomous standalone site.

Specifically, we recommend Etsy as the marketplace and Shopify as the platform for building your independent domain shop.

Whenever I speak about Shopify, inevitably, the question of other platforms comes up

"What about Wix?"

"What about Squarespace?"

Today I want to answer that fully and in a meaningful way. Not just so you what my answer is but so that you understand why that is my answer.

To get full shownotes and all the links mentioned in this episode, please visit merriweathercouncilblog.com/160

For a full list of all Merripodcast episodes, visit merripodcast.com

2 Etsy predictions for 2022 (+ see how I did on my 2021 predictions) Mar 01, 2022

Show notes

Etsy Predictions for 2022 and 2021 Recap At the end of 2020, I wrote a blog post about 3 things I predicted Etsy would do in 2021. I went back to check in on them, and at first, it was a little murky deciding on if my predictions materialized or not. Conservatively, we saw half-correctness of 2 of my 3 predictions.

I had another prediction that I didn't publish when I wrote the original article, mainly because it was boring. I did anticipate that Etsy would implement payment plans, and they did! You can now pay for Etsy purchases over several payments through a service called Klarna. So that's a cool feature; it's just not a particularly exciting one to talk about.

For full show notes and a list of all Merripodcast episodes, please visit merriweathercouncilblog.com/159

The One Image You Should NOT Use in Your Listings Jun 15, 2021

Show notes

I don't want anybody to feel bad if they did this, but this is not a good strategy.

It's not wise to do this. This concept can apply to any platform. This is not specific to Etsy. As I said earlier, this is something that came about because of Etsy but many platforms already offer more than ten image spaces. You want to always be mindful of what you are including in listings. Don't just use space because it's there. Use space wisely.

If someone discovers your listing (yay!) and they click into it (yay!), they explore some of the info (yay!), scrolli through some of your images (yay!) that is all exactly what you want!! If someone has gotten that far into your listing, and is that deep into looking at your product, why on earth would we want to distract them with a graphic that indicates they should stop what they are doing on the listing and leave the page to do something else?

If you put a social media handles or opt-in coupon image in your listing, you are interrupting the buying process.

If someone has gotten through image one, image two, image three, image four, image five, image six, image seven – if they are that far into your listing, if they have gone into your listing that deep, it is your responsibility and opportunity to convert that person to make a purchase! Your listing's purpose is to convert sales, not to grow your social media following.

For full show notes and all the links mentioned in this episode, please visit merriweathercouncilblog.com/157

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