Advertisement
 
 
Editor-in-Chief

The View From Here

By Melissa Campanelli

About Melissa

Melissa Campanelli is the editor-in-chief of Target Marketing's eM+C brand and Retail Online Integration, a monthly print magazine, website and e-letter (The ROI Report) that's all about the integration of sales channels, including print/catalog, transactional websites and retail stores, as well as email, mobile, social media and more.

Prior to becoming editor-in-chief of eM+C, Melissa spent ten years at DM News, where she was first a senior editor and then deputy editor. She's also a leading expert in small business e-commerce and author of the books "Entrepreneur Magazine's Open an Online Business in 10 Days" and "Start Your Own e-Business."

 

15 Minutes Ahead

Margie Chiu
Tearing Down the CRM Barriers
Aug 5, 2010

In networked CRM, there's no tightly defined “conversion path.” Instead, every social media touchpoint serves as a point of entry,...



Engagement Matters

Stephanie Miller
A 'Back-to-Business' Email Optimization Checklist
Sep 2, 2010

Back to school is also back-to-business time. Set aside a few hours this final week of summer to freshen up...



Ways of Thinking

Thorin McGee
A Facebook Fan is $136 in Lifetime Value, $3.60 in Media Impressions
Jun 29, 2010

The lifetime value of a Facebook fan is about $136 to top brands, according to this study on Facebook fan...



Redefining Performance Marketing

Craig Greenfield
Affiliates: Redefining the Original Performance Marketing Channel
Aug 26, 2010

As the original performance marketing channel, affiliate marketing has been effectively driving performance-based sales since the mid-90s. But the characteristics...



Inside Mobile Marketing

Michael Becker
Researching the Mobile Marketing Opportunity
Aug 12, 2010

Mobile marketing is a case in point: A forthcoming Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) survey of U.S. advertisers and...



Crafts 2.0

By Melissa Campanelli | Posted on August 19, 2008
 
I had a short e-mail exchange recently with Rob Kalin, founder of Brooklyn-based Etsy, which may be the first true Web 2.0 company. Etsy is an online marketplace for handmade goods. It also offers a host of ways for its customers to connect with Etsy and each other. For example, the site offers user profiles, forums, blogs, and a rating and feedback system for the site's registered users, including crafters and artisans who sell their wares on the site. Etsy was conceived by Kalin in early 2005. A painter, carpenter, and photographer, Kalin believed there was no viable marketplace to exhibit and sell his creations online. In his opinion, other e-commerce sites had become "too inundated with overstock electronics and broken appliances," according to Etsy’s Web site. As a result, he, along with Chris Maguire and Haim Schoppik designed the site, wrote the code, assembled the servers, spliced the cables and launched Etsy in June 2005. Today, Etsy has more than 1 million registered members, 185,000 of whom are individual artists selling more than 1.9 million of their handmade creations. In 2007, Etsy’s revenues were $26 million; this year, to date, they are $35 million. While Kalin says he would recommend that any company create a Web 2.0 site with similar community-oriented features to his, he admits "technically, much of what we do is difficult," adding that "on the Web, we are conducting our education in public, [so] there's no downtime." Kalin also says that Etsy does not really engage in any digital marketing programs, opting instead for an internal advertising system called Showcase, “wherein our sellers purchase spots to reach buyers' eyes,” he says. When asked if he has any Web 2.0 tips, Kalin replies, “Avoid buzzwords. Web 2.0 is simply a name older folks give to newer technologies they either don't fully grasp and seem novel to them.“Do honest, hard work, be open to your community, be a good listener. It's no longer possible to censor or manipulate the discussions your customers have about your company. The Web is an inherently open platform, and I hope it stays that way.” True words indeed.

Sections:

COMMENTS

Most Recent Comments: