5 Tips for Creating a Fabulous Login Page

Did you know you can customize your customer login page? You can! Just check out these amazing examples from CraftHub customers Sonya de Hart and Claudine Hellmuth! How can you make a fabulous log in page? Here are 5 tips to get you started!

Sonya de Hart Custom Login Screen

1. Make it look fabulous!

Branding matters!
Does your shop have a logo or banner? If not, now is a great time to make one! Match the look and feel of your login page to the look and feel of your Etsy shop. This will help your customers to know that they have come to the right place.

Keep it simple.
Resist the urge to include everything. The more text and images on your page, the harder it will be for your customer to find the most important information. Organize information using headings, grids, and bullet points to help your customers find what they are looking for.

Fancy fonts are great (but not for everything)
Fancy fonts are great for drawing attention to titles and headings, but they can also be hard to read. Use a simple font for instructions and information.

Claudine Hellmuth Custom Login Screen

2. Provide easy-to-follow instructions

The download instructions are the most important information you need to convey to your customers. Sonya and Claudine both do an excellent job of providing easy-to-follow 1-2-3 instructions in an accessible visual format. When writing instructions it's important to:

• Write every step. 
• Use short sentences.
• Avoid long explanations.

When you are finished, have a friend try to follow your instructions. Ask them for feedback to see how you can make your instructions more clear.

3. Provide Troubleshooting Tips

What should your customer do if the download doesn't work? Think about the most common issues your users encounter. Some common issues we encounter are:

• Customer can't find where their files are saved
• Customer reached their download limit
• Files are IP locked

Then tell them what they should do to resolve the issue. 

• Check their download folder.
• Contact you.

4. Include Your Contact Information

Be accessible! Is there anything more frustrating than having an urgent question and not knowing who to ask? Provide a way for your customers to contact you right from your login screen. Your customers will be grateful!

5. Add Links to your social media outlets

Connect with your customers! Add links to your social media outlets so your customers can stay in touch with you.

Feeling Inspired?

We want to see your login screen! When you are done, post a link to your login page in the comments below.

New Updates to your Products Page!

I am excited to announce that we have made updates to your Products page! The new changes make it easier to see which media files are attached to your product listings.

Are your files attached?

We've made it easier to tell if files are attached to your product listings. In the "Attached Media" column you will now see a link to your files. Click the links to confirm that the correct files are attached to each product. If no links appear, that means no files are currently attached.

To add or remove files, open the product listing by clicking the Product Title link. You will see your available files below the product information. Use the check box to add or remove files. If the box is checked, the file is attached. If the box is not checked, the file is not attached.

Click the red "Save" button to save your changes. If you want to upload a new file, click the "Upload New Media" button at the bottom of the screen.

When you click the "Upload New Media" button you will be redirected to your Media page. By default, the new media item will be attached the product listing you have open. Turn the "Attach to Product" button to "off" if you do not want the new media file to attach to the open product.

Instant Download

The instant download feature is now activated by a check box. If the box is checked, your product is available for instant download. You can activate or deactivate the instant download feature for each product on your Products tab.

How to Download Your CraftHub Purchase

There are two ways to retrieve your purchase:

1. Visit the login page of the shop that you purchased your files from <- This is what we recommend. If your shop owner did not provide you with a link to their login page you can find it by typing in http://ETSYSHOPNAMEHERE.crafthub.me/login
2. Wait to receive a link via email. The email will contain a link to the login page specific to the shop you purchased your item from.

Your purchase will be available as soon as your payment is confirmed 

Enter the email address associated with your Etsy account, and your order number (found in your Etsy receipt) then click the login button. This will take you to the download landing page.

To retrieve your files via email

After your payment is confirmed you will receive an email from CraftHub. You will receive this email five to ten minutes after submitting your order. If the email does not come to your inbox please check your spam folder.




Open the email, and then follow the link to download your files. The link will take you to the download landing page.

Download your files

On the Download Landing Page you will see the products you purchased. Click the Show Files button to view the files available for download. Please note that shop owners have the ability to customize this page, so your download landing page may look slightly different.

Click the Download button to start the download. 

Please note that files are saved in your Downloads folder by default.

Open your files

Open your Downloads folder to find your files.
Please note that this screen may look different depending on the type of computer you use, your personal settings, and the name and type of file you have purchased.

In this instance, my purchase has been delivered as a .ZIP file, so I will need to open the file in order to view the individual items.

That it! I can now use my files. You can try our instant download service for yourself on our Etsy shop.

How to Write your First Pattern in 6 Steps

CraftHub is delighted to present Stacey Trock of FreshStitches! In addition to designing for FreshStitches, Stacey has written two crochet books: Crocheted Softies and Cuddly Crochet. She's also CraftHub's first ever guest blogger! Thanks, Stacey, for sharing your pattern-making tips with us!

How to Write your First Pattern in 6 Steps

You might think that you need a whole bunch of fancy software to put together a professional-looking pattern, but it just isn't true! You can put together a great-looking pattern using what you probably already have on your computer!

I’m going to assume that you already have written a clear set of pattern instructions, and I’ll give you tips to turn those instructions into a beautiful pattern!

Step 1: Take fabulous photos

You don’t need an expensive camera! You just need your product, some good lighting and a regular point-and-shoot camera.

If you’re not rock-solid on your photography yet, check out my 5 Photography Tips and my detailed write-up of how to create a seamless white background.

The secret to good photography is taking oodles of photos. You can always delete ones you don’t like, but you want to maximize your chances of snagging that perfect one!

Don’t forget that in addition to the cover photo, you’ll want to take photos that show off any detail work or unique features of your design.

Step 2: Select your format

Chances are, you have a word processing program like Microsoft Word on you computer… great! You can use it for formatting your pattern!

Have a look at the features your program offers. Go to File > New. Is there an option of using a template? A template can be a great way to get started with the design of your pattern.

If you don’t want to go the route of the template, think about setting key elements of the pattern apart with simple design elements. Perhaps your materials listing could go in a colored text box. headers) to break up the text. Keep in mind that many people find a huge, solid block of text difficult to read, so use design elements (and headers) to break it up.

Step 3: Insert your photos

To insert your photo into a document, go to Insert > Picture, and pop in your selected photo.

Take a look at the top of the screen after you've inserted your photo… do you see formatting options? In my version of Word (above), you can see a variety of picture formatting settings: such as changing the shape of the photo or adding a border. This is an easy way to add a personalized style to your photos.

Step 4: Add your information

Do you want to add copyright information? How about putting your email address on the pattern so customers with questions can contact you? Or maybe you’d like to include your website?

Don’t forget these details… remember that the pattern instructions are a way to communicate with your customer! You want to make things easy for them… don’t make them hunt you down if they have a question!

Step 5: Try a font!

Once you have your text and photos in… you’re finished (and can skip to step 6)! This step is optional, and just adds a little extra to your pattern!

I’m a big fan of fun fonts, and downloading a new font is a great way to add your own sense of style.

My favorite website for browsing new fonts is dafont.com. There are two things to keep in mind.

One, be sure to read the conditions on the the particular font you’re interested in: fonts designed for personal use only aren’t intended to be used for commercial purposes. (…just like patterns!)

Two, most people find fancy fonts in the text difficult to read, so keep the fun stuff to headers and titles.

Step 6: Make a PDF

PDF stands for ‘portable document format’, and it’s called that because it’s a file that shows up exactly the same on every computer. You’ll want to convert your document into this format before it’s ready for distribution.

Fortunately, this is easy! In the old days, you needed fancy additional software, but now, it’s as easy as going to Print in your Word Processor and selecting Adobe PDF as your printer.

The result is your pattern… that’s ready to distribute!

Are you ready?

You shouldn't let fear of technology or lack of a graphic designing degree keep you from putting together a pretty pattern that you can be proud of!

I hope I've encouraged you to give it a shot!

This post was written by Stacey Trock of FreshStitches. Find her at www.freshstitches.com (http://www.freshstitches.com).

Try it from your Customer's Perspective!

Is CraftHub.me right for your Etsy shop? Try our instant download service from your customer's point of view and find out!

Visit our etsy shop and purchase the example listing to experience our service as your customers will. As soon as you have completed your purchase, go to http://etsy.crafthub.me/orders to download the example product. You will be prompted to enter your order number and the email address associated with your Etsy account.

You will also receive a link to download the example product sent to your email 5-10 minutes after completing your purchase. The link will be sent to the address associated with your Etsy account.

Resources for New Users

New to CraftHub.me? Chances are you will have questions as you set up your account. This post will direct you to the resources available to answer your questions.

• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
• Email the Help Desk
• Blog
• Facebook
• Twitter

FAQ

The answers to many commonly asked questions are available on our FAQ page. You can navigate to this page from our website by clicking the help link.

From the FAQ page you have several options.

1. Click Email Us to send a message to the CraftHub.me help desk. Please allow one business day for a response.
2. Post a Public Question to ask a question of the CraftHub.me community. Your message will be sent to the help desk, but it will also be visible to other CraftHub.me users.
3. Enter a search term in the search box to bring up articles related to a specific topic. For example, if you have a question related to downloading files you could type "download" or "file" in the search box.
4. Click View All to see all FAQ articles.

Email the Help Desk

You can email the help desk from your personal email account at info@crafthub.me. Please allow up to one business day for a response. 

Blog

Our blog has many great articles and tutorials to help you get started with CraftHub.me. You can read our popular posts, or view articles by category. Here are a few I recommend all CraftHub.me users read:

CraftHub.me Dashboard Overview

A Guide To Starting Your Digital Business on Etsy

Help! Troubleshooting Checklist

We announce updates and changes to CraftHub.me through our blog. If you want to be kept informed of all the latest news I recommend following our blog. To follow the blog enter your email address in the Follow by Email field and click Submit.You will receive new blog posts directly to your email inbox! 

To navigate to our blog from our website hold your mouse over the help link then click blog. You can also get to the blog by typing http://crafthubme.blogspot.com/ into the address bar of your browser. 

Facebook

CraftHub.me is on Facebook. "Like" our page to get announcements posted to your wall. We sometimes offer special promotions through our Facebook page.

Twitter

You can follow CraftHub.me on Twitter. We sometimes offer special promotions through Twitter.

Updates to Your Reports Page

CraftHub.me will be rolling out several updates over the next few months. You may already have noticed that your Reports tab has been updated! Here is a quick explanation of new features:

When you visit your Reports tab you will now see a green plus sign next to each transaction report. To save space on your screen, transaction reports are now minimized by default. To view the expanded report, click the plus sign. Click the red minus sign to minimize the report. 

If the word "downloaded" appears under the plus sign, it means your customer has downloaded their purchase. This allows you to easily keep track of which orders have been downloaded.

The IP lock feature now works for your entire order. Rather than locking/unlocking each file separately, you now lock or unlock the entire order.

The Geo IP Tool allows you to see where you customers are located. Access the tool by clicking the customer's IP address when you have the transaction report expanded.

 CraftHub.me will be announcing more updates soon. Follow our blog to get announcements sent right to your inbox.

Congratulations to our Winners!

Congratulations to Yulia of OneYellowDot and Robin of DigiScrapDelights on Etsy! 
Robin and Yulia won 100 free roll over credits for telling us why they love CraftHub.me. Thank you to everyone who participated! 

"SO grateful for crafthub! I've used your service for 2 months now and seriously couldn't be more happier!! All I need to do is just to list and upload my file, and that's it.. I don't have to worry even when I'm taking some days off from my Etsy. Definitely will sign up for my other Etsy shop! Thank you!!"  

Yulia of OneYellowDot

"Loving Crafthub- Instant Digital Download Delivery for Etsy. Made my life easier THANKS @CraftHubMe"

Robin of DigiScrapDelights

CraftHub.me is on Pinterest!

Are you on Pinterest? CraftHub.me is!

Visit our boards to see what our super creative customers are selling on Etsy! You can discover what other digital craft entrepreneurs like you are making, share images, and save them to your own Pinterest boards for inspiration. It's a great way to get ideas for your next instant download project!

This New Year, make a resolution to add more digital downloads to your Etsy shop.
Then join us on Pinterest to get your creative juices flowing.

Happy Pinning!

CraftHub.me Dashboard Overview

In this post, I will orient you to your CraftHub.me dashboard and explain the setup options for various features. You will find information about:

• Navigating your CraftHub.me Dashboard
• Where to locate account information
• Where to locate and alter settings
• Two ways to Upload files
• How to attach files to products
• Using transaction reports

Dashboard Overview

When you log in to your CraftHub.me dashboard, you will see is some basic information about your account. Including:

• How many monthly transactions you have remaining
• When your renewal date is scheduled
• How many roll-over credits you have
• Announcements from CraftHub.me. 

You can get to this page at any time by clicking the blue eye icon at the top left of your screen.

Icons

There are four icons in the upper left portion of your dashboard. 

• The "i" icon will take you to our tutorials page
• The house icon will take you to the CraftHub.me homepage
• The speech bubbles icon will take you to our FAQ page
• The single speech bubble icon will take you to CraftHub.me blog

To log out, click the CraftHub logo in the upper right portion of your screen.

Tabs

There are seven tabs along the top of your CraftHub.me dashboard.

• Settings
• Account
• Media
• Content
• Etsy
• Products
• Reports

Settings

Use the Settings tab to:

• Find the name and email address associated with your CraftHub.me account
• Change your password
• Set a maximum number of downloads for sent files
• Set an expiration time for sent files
• Set your products to auto renew on Etsy
• Turn the IP Lock feature on or off

Remember to click the submit button to save your changes.

Maximum downloads for sent files

CraftHub.me allows you to set a maximum number of times that your customer can download their purchase. This field is set at 0 by default, which allows your customer an unlimited number of downloads. In my store, I have set the maximum downloads to five. I do not want a customer to be locked out if they have trouble with the first download. If a customer exceeds the number of available downloads, they will receive an error message.

Days a file has before it expires after sending
You can also set an expiration date on your files. This field is set to unlimited by default. I have set mine to 30 days. I don't want the link to be active forever, but I want the customer to have plenty of time to download their purchase. If the customer tries to access the link after the expiration date, they will receive an error message.

Auto Renew
CraftHub.me can relist products for you in Etsy. Click the button to turn this feature on or off.

IP Lock
When IP lock is turned on, your customer can only download the file to a single IP address. This is meant to limit the number of devices to which a customer can download your product. The lock is set to the first IP address the customer uses to access the file. If they open the file to view it from their work computer, then try to download it at home, they will not be able to access the file from their home computer. I recommend keeping IP Lock turned off to avoid causing your customers unintended frustration. For more information, see our post on the IP lock feature.

Account

Use the Account tab to:

• Change or renew your subscription
• Unsubscribe
• Enter promotional codes
• Find your referral link

CraftHub.me offers a variety of account levels to support your business needs. If you find you need more or less transactions per month, you can unsubscribe from your current level and resubscribe at a new level. Remember to resubscribe right away to avoid any gap in service.

If you refer CraftHub.me to a friend, please give them your referral link. Click here to learn more about the CraftHub.me affiliate program.

Media

Use the Media tab to:

• Upload media files
• Edit information for media files
• Delete media files

On your Media tab, you will see a list of your available media files. Click on a file to view and edit information about that file.

To upload a new media file, scroll to the "Upload new files" section at the bottom of the page. You can upload files up to 50 MB. For information on how to set up your files, see our post A Guide To Starting Your Digital Business on Etsy. When you upload a file from the Media tab, it is not automatically associated with any of your Etsy products. You can attach media files to products using the Products tab, which I will discuss later in this post.

NOTE: You can also upload media files on your Products tab. I will discuss this option shortly.

You can also delete media files from the Media tab. Be careful that you do not delete a file that is associated with an active product listing.

Content

Use the Content tab to:

• Customize your automatic email to customers
• Customize your Customer Landing Page

When your customer purchases a product, they will receive an automatic email containing a link to the Customer Landing Page. The Customer Landing Page is where your customer can download their purchase. For information about customizing your email and landing page, check out our post How To Brand Your Message and Landing Page.

Etsy

Use the Etsy tab to:

• Link your Etsy shop to your CraftHub.me account

Your Etsy tab is where CraftHub.me links to your Etsy account. Your shop name should be visible and turned on. You can only associate one Etsy shop with your CraftHub.me account.

Products

Use the Products tab to:

• View your product listings
• Turn the Instant Download feature on or off for a product
• Add or remove media files from product listings
• Upload media files

When your Etsy shop syncs with Crafthub.me, your products will appear in your Products tab. Only items that are listed as active in your Etsy shop will sync with CraftHub.me. CraftHub.me will automatically sync your product listing with Etsy once per day. You can always refresh your listings manually by clicking the refresh button at the top of the page.

The on/off button next to each listing allows you to select which products to offer for instant download. Before making a product available for instant download, you need to attach at least one media file.

To attach a file to the listing, open the product by clicking on it. The Product Info is imported from Etsy. Under "Assign files to listing" you will see your available media files. Use the on/off button next to each file to attach or remove it from the product listing.

You can also upload new media files by scrolling to bottom of the page to the "Upload new files" section. If you upload media files from here, they will be attached to the open listing by default. If you add the wrong file by mistake, you can turn it off under "Assign files to listing."

Reports

Use the Reports tab to:

• View transaction reports
• View the date and time emails were sent to customers
• View the address that emails were sent to
• View Customer Landing Pages
• Resend, kill, refresh, and unlock links

Your Reports tab contains a report of each transaction processed by CraftHub.me. You will see the date and time your customer received their email, as well as the address the email was sent to. If a customer claims that they did not receive an email, you can check your reports tab to see if the message was sent.

Click the Etsy Receipt ID to view the Customer Download Page for a particular transaction. You can send a link to this page directly by copying and pasting the URL into the body of an email.

Use the Resend Email button to resend the automatic email to your customer.

The Kill Links button will end a customers access to your files. You can use this option if you suspect a customer of misusing your files.

The Refresh Links button will reset the number of downloads and expiration time on your downloads. The refresh links button will only reset an individual transaction. You can change the number of downloads and expiration time for all transactions on your Settings tab.

If you are using the IP lock feature, you will also have a button that gives you the option to unlock a transaction link. You can use this to remove the IP lock from a specific transaction. You can remove IP lock from all transactions on your Settings tab.

Help! Troubleshooting Checklist

Having trouble? Most issues that Crafthub.me users experience can be solved easily by following this checklist!

Are CraftHub.me and Etsy Connected?

CraftHub.me needs to be able to "talk" to your Etsy store. To check if CraftHub.me and your Etsy store are connected, go first to your CraftHub.me account. On your Etsy tab, make sure that your Etsy store is listed and set to "on."

Next, log in to Etsy. Go to the "Your Account" drop down menu and select "Apps." CraftHub.me should be listed under "Apps You Use."

If it is not, you have to reauthorize your account.You can do this by clicking on the "Re Authorize" button on your Etsy tab.

Are my Product Listings Active?

CraftHub.me will only send active products. To check if your product listings are active, go to your CraftHub.me "Products" tab. All active products will be set to "on." To change a listing's status, simply click the button to the right of the product.

Does my Product Listing have a Media Attachment? 

CraftHub.me only sends an email to your customer if your product has an attached media file. If one of your listings fails to send, check that it has an associated media file. Open the listing in your Products tab by clicking on it. Media files that are associated with this listing will show as "on." All other files will show as "off." Make sure that all appropriate media files are selected to "on."

Note: You can associate multiple media files with a single product listing if you want, however you must have at least one file associated with the listing in order for it to send.

Are my File Names Computer Friendly?

File names tell computers how to read file information. Some characters mean different things to computers than they do to human readers. Adding these characters to your file names can confuse the computer and cause it to not open your file. It is best to avoid these characters when naming your files:

# pound
% percent
& ampersand
{ } [ ] brackets
? question mark
, comma
. period 
! exclamation point
" ' quotations
: colon
; semi-colon
/ \ slashes
+ = mathematical symbols
$ monetary symbols
@ at sign

If you have trouble with a particular file, check it's name. Remove any special characters. For more information on preparing your files, see A Guide To Starting Your Digital Business on Etsy and About .Zip Files.

What's this Code? [%files%]

Go to your Content tab. In the Email Body field you will see this code, [%files%]. This code is very important. It tells the notification email to contain a link to your files. If you remove this code, your customer will still receive the notification email, but it wont contain a link to your files.

You can use the Email Body field to add a note to your customers. You can even use HTML to add a custom picture, such as your Etsy banner to your email notifications. Be careful not to remove the code [%files%]. If you remove it by accident, just type it back in after your message.

What if the Problem is on my Customer's End?

Sometimes the issue may be on your customer's side. You can check if a notification email was sent to your customer by going to the Reports tab. Here you can see the date and time the notification was sent and the email address to which it was sent. The email address will be the one associated with your customer's Etsy account. If your customer does not receive their download notification, ask them to check their spam folder and verify their email address. You can also resend a download message or send them a link that goes directly to their download landing page.

Another Way For Your Customers to Access Their Files

You can now send your customers to our website to access their downloads. In addition to their notification email your customers can access their download landing page here: etsy.crafthub.me/orders

If you put a link to this page in your "message to buyer" box they will be able to access their download, even if they can't find their notification e-mail. You can also put the link in your shop policies, on your listings and even in your shop announcement.

You can edit your "Message to Buyer" by logging in to etsy and clicking on the "Your Shop" link at the top of the page. The box that you will need to edit is at the bottom of the page, it's called "Message to Buyers".

Your customer will need to enter the e-mail address associated with their Etsy account and their "Order ID#". They can the correct e-mail address by logging into Etsy and going to "Your Account" -> "Settings" -> "Emails".

Your "Order ID#" can be found on your customer's purchase confirmation email as well as by going to "Your Account" -> "Purchases". Locate the order and click on the link that says "View Receipt". Once the page loads you can find the "Order ID#" at the top of the page.

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!

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.

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.

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!

CraftHub.me Introduction Video

CraftHub.me Walk Through

Take a video tour of CraftHub.me with our Creator and CEO, Chris Marinic.

New Order Landing Pages

In order to make our download service easier for your customers, we have created custom order landing pages. Instead of having all files included in their delivery message, customer will receive a single link. This link will take them to a personal download web page. This page makes it easy to view file information as well as remaining downloads and their expiration date. Your customers will also have the option to "open" or "download" their files.

The "open" option will display the file in your customer's browser. For example, if your media item is a single jpg, when you click the "open" button the image will display in your browser. It also works for pdf's (if your browser supports it). Clicking the download link will automatically save the file into your default download folder.

To view these pages click on any receiept ID# on your downloads page. If a customer ever needs you to resend them their link this is where you can find it. 

Go to your media listing details to give each of your files public titles and thumbnails. Entering this information is not mandatory. If you do not have a thumbnail picture or title the spaces will be blank.

If your customer uses the download page but still has issues finding their files tell them to look in their default downloads folder. You can also give them the file name so they can search for it on their computer.

You can customize your landing pages in the "download page" box on your "content" page with your own html.

About Ad Hoc Links

What is an ad hoc link?

Ad hoc links are a way to send files manually. You can use an ad hoc link with any media file you have uploaded to Crafthub, even if it is not attached to a product listing. Ad hoc links are helpful if you want to send a file to someone without making them purchase the item through your Etsy shop. Each ad hoc link costs one transaction.

How do I make one?

1. Go to your media page.
2. Open the media file you want to send by clicking the title.
3. Click the red "create ad hoc link" button.
4. Copy and paste the link into an email to send it.
5. Ad hoc links follow the same expiration rules as automatically generated download links. You can track your ad hoc links on your reports page.

Open the media file you want to send by clicking the title.

Click the red "create ad hoc link" button.

Copy and paste the link into an email to send it.

Ad hoc links follow the same expiration rules as automatically generated download links. You can track your ad hoc links on your reports page.