In this world of social media and viral advertising, it's fitting that someone has developed a tool for Etsy sellers to capitalize on this marketing avenue. ESellerAds lets Etsy sellers place their ads on most social media websites as well as their own websites and blogs. The ads update automatically, so when you make changes to your Etsy store, you never have to worry about out-dated ads or adding new ones. I sat down with Kael Goodman from ESellerAds to get all the details.

What is ESellerAds and how does it benefit Etsy sellers?

Kael Goodman: ESellerAds are shopping advertisements that Etsy sellers put on their blogs, websites, and social networks. Our slogan is "Shop anywhere, Buy on Etsy." Lots of Etsians use ESellerAds to put their complete line on their sites. Shoppers click on an item in the ad and link straight to Etsy to see more about it or buy it. The ads display up to 100 items and communicate with Etsy every day to keep in sync with the items in the seller's shop.

Is this tool for sellers of both handmade items and vintage items?

Kael Goodman: ESellerAds are for all Etsy sellers, in all categories.

How does it work?

Kael Goodman: Etsy sellers go to ESellerAds.com, enter their shop name, and with one click make their ads. (Sellers can choose from a variety of layouts for the ads).

Our site communicates with Etsy's site and in just a few seconds gathers the seller's product information including photos, logos, descriptions, and prices. Once the ad is created, the seller can post it around the Internet. Then, we check the Etsy store every day to see if there are any changes. If there are, the ads automatically update all across the Internet.

What social media platforms does it work on?

Kael Goodman: All the big ones (Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, Orkut, Bebo, Hi5, Livejournal, MyYearbook, and more), though Facebook alone is about 25 percent of our installs.

How do ESellerAds work with Twitter and email marketing?

Kael Goodman: In each ad there is a "Share" link which includes options to email your contact list through Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, Hotmail, and manually entering the address. You can also post your ad to Twitter by clicking the provided Twitter icon. Your ESellerAd will open up your Twitter account, put in a link to your ad and give you an opportunity to customize your message.

Does it integrate easily on blogs?

Kael Goodman: Yes. You just click the "Share" link in the ad and post it directly to your blog. About 33% of the installs are on Blogger alone.

How many people are currently using ESellerAds?

Kael Goodman: More than 2,000 - and between 10 and 50 Etsy sellers sign up each day.

How can sellers see how the ESellerAds are performing? Is there a way of tracking the sales coming from those links?

Kael Goodman: Yes, once links are passed to Etsy, sellers can track the performance of incoming ESellerAds links using Google Analytics.

What does it cost to use ESellerAds?

Kael Goodman: ESellerAds is free.

How can you offer this service free of charge?

Kael Goodman: ESellerAds is a showcase for our software platform, BlankSlate. BlankSlate is really techy software that makes it easy to build all kinds of web applications. We use BlankSlate for lots of other things and also offer it for people to use directly at BlankSlate.com.

Also, we like the handmade market, and figured we would learn a lot by doing ESellerAds - I think we did. We poured what we learned in to a new site launched several weeks ago called HandmadeSpark. Handmade Spark is also built on the BlankSlate platform.

What is HandmadeSpark.com?

Kael Goodman: Handmade Spark is a site where sellers can promote their stuff, as well as a blog which educates sellers about selling on the Internet and educates buyers about finding great handmade goods all across the Internet. The site is on track to have 15,000 visitors in the first month. On Handmade Spark sellers can show their stuff, and people can browse by category, location, and keyword and connect directly to a seller's Etsy shop, blog, site, Twitter or Facebook page, or even send them an email. In the first two weeks more than 400 sellers signed up from 44 US states and 25 countries.

What does Handmade Spark cost, and how does a seller get their items listed on there?

Kael Goodman: Handmade Spark currently has two levels: free and $12/month. A seller gets their items with photos included in the paid version by entering their Etsy name shop name. Handmade Spark does the rest.

Is Handmade Spark restricted to Etsy sellers, or can any seller use it?

Kael Goodman: Right now paid listings on Handmade Spark are just for Etsy sellers. But Handmade Spark is about more than listings from marketplaces. It's a place for people to see where sellers can be found all across the Internet, including their blogs, websites, Twitter, and Facebook. It's also a place where people can contact sellers directly through the "Contact" link provided on listings.

To list on Handmade Spark, do sellers have to make the items themselves, or can they resell handmade items purchased from suppliers?

Kael Goodman: Interesting question! If you have an Etsy shop, you can get listed on Handmade Spark.

ESellerAds users can see how successful their ads are through the real-time Ad Performance Report. This includes email marketing as well as social media sites and blogs.

To get specific information about how to add ESellerAds to individual social media and blog pages, go to esellerads.com/faq.php. For more details about Handmade Spark, visit the Handmade Spark homepage.