Tuesday, October 30, 2012

How To Brand Your Message and Landing Page

This post will show you how to add a personalized image to your CraftHub.me customer landing page.

Adding your Etsy Shop banner to all of your CraftHub.me materials, creates visual continuity for your brand. It will also help your customers to quickly understand that the email and link are related to their purchase and not unwanted spam.

Your customer notification e-mail message and download landing page can be customized using some simple html code.

In order to add your banner to your CraftHub.me landing page, you will first need to host your image online. There are many sites that offer this service. I’m going to use Imgur.com because they will host my image for free. After I create an Imgur.com log in, I am able to upload an image to their site.



As you can see, I have uploaded my shop banner to Imgur.com. Above my image there are six fields containing code. For today’s purpose, I am interested in the field labeled, HTML Image (websites / blogs). Copy the code from this field by clicking on the page icon to the left of the field.

Now return to your CraftHub.me dashboard. In the Content Tab, paste the image code into the "Email Body" field (make sure that you do not delete the existing code "[%files%]"). Next, paste the same code into the "Download Page" field. Make sure you save your changes.



Now that I have added my image html code to my "Email Body" field my customers will see my banner when they open the e-mail message that they receive after their purchase is complete. 


When your customer clicks on the link in the email, they will be taken to their personal landing page. Adding your image code the Download Page field will make your banner appear here as well.



If you haven't had any CraftHub.me transactions yet, I recommend asking a friend or family member to purchase something from your Etsy shop. **Note** some email providers do not show images unless the user requests it.
Once a purchase has been made, you can view your landing page by going to your reports tab and clicking on the Etsy receipt ID.

If you have followed the previous steps correctly, your image will be visible. If it doesn't show up, make sure you have copied your code correctly and saved your changes on the content tab. Refresh the landing page to see your changes (you do not need to repeat the purchase).

I hope this guide has been helpful. If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment. Check back frequently for more CraftHub.me tutorials!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

A Guide To Starting Your Digital Business on Etsy

Selling digital items on Etsy is a great way to diversify your product selection and increase sales. If you sell tangible goods on Etsy, digital patterns and tutorials can make a great addition to your shop. For digital artists and photographers, Etsy can be a great venue for your products.

CraftHub.me has made selling digital items on Etsy virtually hands free. CraftHub.me allows your customers to download their purchases instantly. For you, CraftHub.me provides automated delivery and can even re-list your items when they sell.

Over the next three posts, I will guide you through the process of preparing digital content, setting up your Etsy shop, and connecting it to CraftHub.me. I will use my own recently created digital Etsy shop, Conteximus, as an example.

In this post, Preparing Your Content, I will cover important considerations for creating your content, preparing your files, and protecting your digital content.

Create Your Content

Your content could be an image (such as a digital photograph or graphic) or information (such as a pattern, tutorial or ebook). Both kinds of content should be created with your customer in mind.

Ask yourself:
  • Who is my target customer?
  • How will they use this item?
  • What do I NOT want customers to do with this product?
The answers to these questions will depend on your product. They will also help you determine how to prepare your file. I answered these questions for my own shop below.
  • My Etsy shop sells nature themed digital art.
  • My target customers are individuals, educators, nonprofit organizations and small businesses.
  • They will use my products in small scale print and digital projects such as scrapbooks, educational materials, newsletters and websites.
  • I do NOT want my customers to re-sell my products or use them for commercial production. 

Prepare Your File

It is important to understand your customer's needs when preparing your file. The type and size of your file will effect how it can be used. If you are selling graphic files, then you must also consider the image dimensions and resolution of your files.

Here are some questions to ask yourself when preparing your file:
  • Is my file primarily text or images?
  • Will my customer need to print this file?
  • If so, how large will they print it?
  • Will my customers need help figuring out how to use my files?
  • Does my customer need a specific software or technical knowledge to use this file?
Your answers to these questions will affect how you prepare your file. I have answered these questions for my shop below.
  • My files are primarily graphic.
  • Some of my customers will need to print my files. Others will use them online. I will prepare my files for both uses.
  • Some of my customers may not feel comfortable with preparing images for production. I will distribute files in a user friendly format. 
  • My customers will not need a specific program to open my files. I will save my images in a common format so that they can be easily used with any program that supports images. 

File Type


The file type determines how information is organized within the file. Different file types have different advantages, so it is important to choose the right file type for your purpose. You can tell what format a file is in by look at its extension. The extension is the part of the file name that comes after the dot. If my file is named EXAMPLE.JPG, then JPG is the file extension. 

Computer programs usually have a default file type. For example, Microsoft Word uses the format .DOCX. However, most programs give you the option to save in a variety of formats, so you can choose the one that best fits your needs.

Not every computer program can open every file type. Some file types are common and can be opened by many programs. Others may require a specific program. To maximize the number of customers that can use your product, use a common file type, such as JPG, PNG, or PDF. If your product is targeted toward a specific group, such as Adobe Photoshop users, it makes sense to offer your file in the format that best suits their needs. If you are unsure what file type is best for you, find a vendor selling similar products and ask what format they use.

Common extensions for images files are:
  • JPG (or JPEG)
  • PNG
  • GIF
  • PDF
Common extensions for text files are:
  • PDF
  • DOC
  • ODT


I will offer my images in both JPG and PNG formats. JPG images are the most common type of image that most of your customers will be familiar with. A PNG file allows me to save my images with a transparent background. This will be useful for my customers who want to layer my images onto their own documents and photos. 

File Size

File size is measured in bytes. A byte (B) is a unit of digital information. The more information your file contains, the larger it will be.

Bigger is not always better when it comes to file size. Large files can take a long time to download and open, they load slowly on webpages, and many email providers limit the size of file attachments.

CraftHub.me hosts files up to 50 Megabytes (MB), but for most uses a smaller size is better. If your customer is printing a postcard, they won't need an image scaled for a billboard.

Your file size will depend on what it contains, but here is a quick guide for an estimating an appropriate size range for your file.


Image Dimensions and Resolution

If you are working with images, the dimensions and resolution of your images will contribute to your file size. Digital files are measured in pixels. The resolution of an image is determined by the number of pixels per inch (ppi or dpi). The quality of an image depends on the number of pixels it contains and the scale at which it is shown.

For example, an image 50 x 50 pixels wide shown at 1 x 1 inch has a resolution of 50 ppi. However, the same image shown at 5 x 5 inches has a resolution of 10 ppi. For a quality print, your image resolution should be between 180 and 360 ppi.  The standard resolution for web images is 72 ppi.

I have decided to size my images at 1500x1500 pixels. This will allow my customers to print a high quality image up to 8 inches, a size that can be printed on most printers. 

A Note on .Zip Files

Creating zip files is a great way to limit the number of files that your customers have to download. A zip file is a file format that is used for compression and archiving. Each individual file can contain many images or files. For example, if you have a digital paper pack that contains 10 images. Instead of sending each file individually they can be combined into a single zip. You can read details about creating a zip file here.

Check back soon for part two of this guide, Setting up Your Etsy Shop.

Monday, October 22, 2012

About .Zip Files


What are zip files and why should I use them?

Creating a .Zip archives is a great way to limit the number of files that you have to upload to CraftHub.me. It also makes things easier for your customers because they only have to download 1 large file instead of many small ones.

A zip file is a format that is used for compression and archiving. Each individual file can contain many images. For example, if you have a digital paper pack that contains 10 images. Instead of sending each file to your customer individually they can be combined into a single zip archive that will be downloaded by your customer in 1 click.

How do you create a zip file?

First, gather all of the images and documents that you would like to include your zip archive. Give a folder a clear name like "FlowerClipArt" this will make things easier for your customers. Locate the folder that you just created, then right click the file and select "add to archive".

A box will pop up. All you need to do is select the "ZIP" option under "archive format". After you press the OK button your zip file will be created for you. You can find it in the same spot as the folder you started with.

How do you open a zip file?

If you have an pre-XP version of windows you will have to download a .zip extractor program such as WinRAR.

Once you have downloaded your zip file locate it on your computer. When you find the file double click it. This will open a window that contains a list of each file that is included in the zip archive.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Etsy Keyword - "Instant Download"

If you type "instant" into the etsy search bar, the term "instant download" is the first suggested term! If you are a current CraftHub.me customer be sure to include "instant download" in your titles, descriptions and tags. At the moment there are only a handful of shops that return results for this search term. Be sure to take advantage of these keywords for increased traffic.

For our customers who sell embroidery files - "instant download embroidery" is also a suggested search term.

Etsy tags can be up to 20 characters. The whole search term "instant download embroidery" is too long. To get around this problem, break the phrase up into 2 separate tags.

If you have a lot of listings to update check out: www.blugrin.com - they provide a service that helps you bulk edit your Etsy listings!