Creating eye catching banners and avatars for an Etsy shop

Pictured above is the banner for my Etsy shop. I took the lazy way out and begged my brother to make one for me, but here is a tutorial for those who don't have a wonderful computer programmer brother like I do. (Although, he is looking for a job and I'm sure he would love to design more banners for anyone interested.) Anyway, moving on from my shameless plug, I especially like the video tutorial at this link. I am a visual learner and showing how instead of telling how makes things so much easier.

http://www.etsy.com/storque/seller-handbook/seller-how-to-banner-tips-6265/

The picture I used in my banner was one of my own so I didn't have to worry about getting permission to use it. Yay!

This picture is the one I chose as my Etsy avatar. For those of you unfamiliar with that term I'll try and define it a little. An avatar is the small picture (75px by 75 px) that is displayed in your Etsy profile. Your avatar is kind of like your signature and people will remember you by this picture. If it is interesting enough people will be more likely to click on it to have a look around your shop.

There are different things you can use as your avatar like:

• A picture of yourself - It's nice to see the face behind the art. If you choose a picture of yourself, make sure it is clear, looks good and doesn't change too often.

• Picture of a signature product - Even if the product is not for sale anymore, having a great looking product that sums up your shop in just a couple of pixels is great advertisement.

Some of the above ideas came from this website: http://etsyforeveryone.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/09/the-avatar-dile.html

Basically you can use anything as your avatar but make sure it is clear once all of the cropping is done.

Well there you have the very basics for beginning to brand your shop. Have fun and get creative with these two things. We are artists after all. :)