Your Etsy Shop RSS Feed: Are You Using It to Its Potential?

Want a quick and easy way to stay on the radar of your past and potential customers? Share your shop's RSS feed!

What is an RSS feed exactly? RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication." Your shop's RSS feed is a news feed for your shop. Every time you list a new product in your online shop, those who have signed up to receive your feed will be alerted. Cool!

So let's break this down a bit. Here are the steps to get your Etsy feed up and running in no time!

1. Create the RSS feed for your Etsy shop.

Here is the magic formula:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/xxx/rss

You'll insert your shop name in place of the XXX. Let's try it with a real shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/oktak/rss

And here's what the first entry in the feed looks like:

2. Share the feed.

Now that you've created an Etsy shop RSS feed, where should you share it?

Here are some suggestions:

* on the thank-you note that you send with the product

* on your Facebook fan page

* on your blog

* in your email signature

Put a note with the URL like, "Subscribe to my shop's RSS feed and be alerted any time I add new products!"

You might also want to include a brief description about how to add an RSS feed to a reader (like Google Reader, for example). Now all the person needs to do is subscribe to the feed.

3. Keep the feed coming.

So you've created the feed and shared it with potential customers. Now you've got to keep it fresh! The only way new items will come into that feed is if you list new products. Upload products frequently and keep those customers coming back to your shop!

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Let's re-cap what the Etsy shop RSS feed will accomplish:

1. Your customers will get first dibs on any new products that you create because they'll see them as soon as you list the products.

2. Those customers will feel a stronger connection to your brand.

3. You will gain customers who crave your products.

4. You'll see increased sales (we hope!).

A company that does a great job building hype about soon-to-be-released products is Apple. As soon as customers get wind that a new Apple product is launching, they line up by the droves to be the first ones to buy it. Build that same frenzy with your customers!

Now over to you. Do you publicize your Etsy shop RSS feed? Where have you displayed it, and with what results? Do tell.