Choosing a Username

I was one of many new etsians who made the mistake of choosing a bad username. After a year of bumbling about with it, I finally had the sense to make a clean break and pick a better username...in doing so I gave up 48 points of positive feedback...but it's worth it to have a shop name that people can actually remember.

The Storque on Etsy has an excellent article here about choosing a good username. If you are serious about etsy, I definitely recommend reading it. But I'll repeat the high points with examples from my own experience.

Your username will be your shop address. This is the big secret that I didn't know when I first joined etsy. Don't pick Wanda416 just because your name is Wanda and your birthday is April 16. It may be easy for you to remember, but nobody else is going to remember www.wanda416.etsy.com. I mean really, would you? So pick something memorable. (If you've already picked something not memorable, seriously consider making a new account and deleting the old one. I think it was well worth it)

So, now, what to use for the actual name? Well, once it's picked you can't change it, so think about a few things:

• What kinds of items will you be selling?
• Who is your target market?
• Do you think your items or market might change?

I chose 'lilbees' because I wanted to sell cloth diapers and other baby stuff. "Bee" has long been a nickname for me, due to B being my last initial. I figured little bees would indicate children, but still be generic enough that I could have several types of items. If I'd chosen a name like "TheDiaperBee" I would have been pretty limited. Even so, I ended up broadening my scope and carrying menstrual products aka mama cloth, so now my banner says "everything you need for your lil bee...and for you."
I later opened a second shop, BrightBlack...I wanted something that sounded classy and broke away from the cuteness and child-oriented direction of lilbees. In that shop I carry boutique-quality Christmas items, as well as hand-knitting and other more 'grown up' sorts of things. I thought that the people who are shopping for Christmas Tree Skirts probably don't want to sift through the cloth pads and baby blankets, and visa versa, so I felt that having two shops was a better option. Of course, judicious use of the 'sections' feature means that you can carry a wide varity of items in one shop, so long as you're not feeling limited by your username! (More about sections in a future post!)

Be aware that if you choose to have more than one shop, each shop needs to link to the other so that shoppers are aware. This is an official etsy policy.

If there is a topic you'd like me to post tips about, please leave a comment! I have a dozen posts in mind and am writing them in no particular order, so let me know what you'd like to hear about and I'll write that one next!