Etsy-riffic!

Building a web site is very time consuming. Maintaining said web site takes up even more time and energy. And if you are talking about an online store, it can be nearly a full time job. Preparing all of the graphics and product information, entering all of that information into a database and uploading files, not to mention testing it all to make sure it's working properly- that all takes a lot of dedication. And while I do truly enjoy working on this site, it's not what I want to spend all of my time doing. I am a "hands-on" type and would rather put more time into making things.

Enter Etsy. If you are not familiar with Etsy, I'm not sure where you've been hiding, but it is home to thousands of items made by people from all over the world. The volume of stuff- and good stuff too, not crap- is quite impressive. One can easily enter Etsy world and not come out for a very long time- it's pretty dang cool. I had put a few items on Etsy several years ago and was a little discouraged when they didn't get much notice. But I always thought it might be a good idea to try putting more up there and maybe put some time and effort into trying to get more people to check it out. So I logged in for the first time in probably 3 years and decided to post a few shirts.

Since I had last logged on, Etsy vastly improved their user interface. Right away, I was very impressed by how quickly I was able to get products up online. In about a minute I was able to get my first listing up, and the others went even faster as I was able to use a custom template. In no time at all I had posted 20 products, and it didn't take me long to realize how much easier and quicker this was by doing it through my own custom built online store.

Once I realized how affordable the listing fees were, it took me about a nanosecond to jump to my next conclusion: I would, as an experiment, put my entire inventory on Etsy, and take down my online store. And well, that's what I've done. It is an experiment, but it is one that seems to be working out well. By being a part of the Etsy community I'm able to catch the attention of people who likely would never have heard of ZBQ otherwise. And the time I save I can put into doing things I like to do and make the online presence of ZB a little more palpable.

So please, take some time to check out our Etsy store and let us know what you think. And check back often- we'll be adding a bunch of new stuff on an ongoing basis, starting very soon.