WALL STREET JOURNAL ARTICLE

:

:

WELCOME | Log Out

My Account

Messages

Preferences

Set My Home Page

|

Customer Service

News

Today's Newspaper

My Online Journal

Multimedia & Online Extras

Markets Data & Tools

Classifieds

Small Busines

Building an Online Community Of Loyal and Vocal Users

Internet Marketplace Etsy Embraces Forums, Blogs, Social Sites to Get People to Spread the Word

By RAYMUND FLANDEZ

Etsy Inc., an online marketplace for handmade goods, offers a host of ways for its customers to connect with the company and each other.

These include user profiles, forums, blogs and a rating-and-feedback system for the site's 800,000 registered users, including crafters and artisans who sell their wares on the site.

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

Is it a good idea to use social networking as a marketing tool? Vote, and share your thoughts in a reader forum.

But Etsy also has embraced ways that its customers interact with one another outside of the company's domain -- mainly a handful of social-networking sites created by Etsy.com fans.

Among them is We Love Etsy, a site created by Lis Kidder, a 28-year-old lawyer and glass-jewelry designer in Fairfax, Va. We Love Etsy has 2,780 members who build their own profile pages, interact with each other and post reviews of handicrafts among other things.

"We blog, swap tips, and share photos and tips for selling on Etsy," says Ms. Kidder, an Etsy.com vendor. She says she created the site to give buyers and sellers another place to interact, in different ways than they can on the official Etsy site.