Need guidance and input please

[DebsDesigns18]

Thanks for the invitation to join the group. I hope to be a valuable participant!

My shop is going on 3 years new and I, as others I'm sure, have experienced the ups and downs of small business ownership. I have been going through a low now, since I guess August of last year. Not sure what's going on but I'm hoping to get some UP FRONT  and HONEST opinions about my shop if some of you don't mind giving some constructive criticism.

I am in the middle of revamping the shop, adding some new, updated photos and items. I added new wedding items not so long ago but still have yet to start moving any of them. The new business signs are getting bites here and there so that was nice to see. But the sales are just not what they were my first year in business and I have tons more items out there.

www.dadesignsink.com

Thanks in advance for your input. If you want to message me privately it's, dadesignllc1l8@gmail.com.

Debbie

[MoonwolfStudios]

My sales have been down too.  I looked at your site, it is well done.  You had a lot more sales than I've had in the 8 years I've been with Etsy.  Good luck.

[DebsDesigns18]

Thank you! I wish you much luck with yours also!

[EverythingVintageBC]

Your store looks lovely to me. Could it be that there is more competition in the type of item you sell and as a result your sales have taken a hit?

[DebsDesigns18]

Thank you for replying and for the compliments!

Yes, that probably has a lot to do with it along with the fact that I got a little down and lost my enthusiasm when sales started declining, so I didn't push to get many new items out there. It's hard to find the time when you do everything! I'm seeing an increase now...slowly... so it may just be a duplicate 2018 year which actually turned out pretty well in the end.

[MidwestHardwear]

You do have a very good looking Etsy Shop. The trick is to get people to click over to it, or the aesthetic is lost on them.

I started my store with a minimal amount of Listings: 20. When something sold, I'd then list something new. What I'm trying to accomplish, before listing dozens or hundreds, is to get a feel for Etsy's algorithms and search results. Figure that it's far easier to tweak Title/Description/Keywords on 20 listings than several hundred.

I have also made use of Etsy's free keyword generator: eRank. It's probably not as sophisticated a tool as those you pay for but it does, at least, give me an idea which keyword phrases are searched for. My goal was to see whether I could get Views on some of the listings that had none.

Result: it worked! Not a boatload of Views in the past week; however, listings that previously had none, now have 2, 3 or more. A couple have even been Favorited.

I utilized three pieces of advice that Etsy recommended: 1) making sure keywords were repeated in Title|Description|Keywords; 2) making sure that the important info on each product shows in the first 30 characters of the Title; and 3) discarding single word Keywords in favor of 2-word phrases. All have helped but #2 seems to have helped the most. After the first 30 (or so) Title characters, the title is truncated - so, you can't read the entire Title unless you either hover over the Title (which many people may not even realize you can do) or click over to the full listing, thereby creating a View.

When I tweaked the Titles, I didn't include the color of the item because the Shopper could already see that it's blue, red, black, etc. But I DID include type, size, and style. For instance: 1" Round Tye Dye Earrings (and then the rest of the Title), versus 1" Round Turquoise Tye Dye Drop Earrings. (The word "earrings" was usually not visible.)

Since your Shop looks great, I'd be inclined to play around with eRank and tweak those Keyword phrases and Titles. Anything that brings a Shopper's attention to your products, versus the competitor's, is more likely to generate a sale - or a way to MAKE a sale. Once someone has put an item into their Cart, or Favorited your item, you can hit them with a Special Offer to try to close the sale. Free Shipping (if you don't already offer it), another 5%, 10%, etc. off or whatever you choose.

Seems to be a great many people who are trying to figure out either how to get sales going on their shop, or why their sales have dropped off. If Etsy's internal algorithms are anything like a Search Engine's, they change all of the time. Especially as the site adds more Sellers. I daresay it's the biggest challenge anyone has who opens an e-shop!

[GoodeyeGoodbuy]

Thank you so much for taking the time to share this valuable insight into ETSY workings. I have had my shop for several years (as well as on other venues) with just a few items here that I think might appeal to this market, but I never knew some of the things you site above. I hope you might have time to visit me at GoodeyeGoodbuy and give me a critique. Much appreciated! Pat

[MidwestHardwear]

To Pat @ GoodeyeGoodbuy:

Happy to try and help.

First thing I'd do (if your Shop were mine) is change the subtitle. So, rather than repeating GoodeyeGoodbuy underneath your Shop name, change it to something that relates to the items you sell. For example: Vintage Collectibles. By doing that, people automatically know that everything you're listing is vintage, collectible, or both and you won't need to repeat that in the first 30 characters of your item Title.

Then, tackle re-titling things. Since people should now know that what you list is Vintage, you wouldn't need to include that info in the first 30 characters. For example, your silverplate telephone receiver cover could read: Silverplated Telephone Handset Cover|1960's Gorham, Engravable.

One of the scarves could read: Signed Schiaparelli Scarf|Silk Mid-Century Pop Art Design|28x26".

By doing this, the meat of the item description appears first. Buyers can click over to the complete listing for more information. Then, check to be sure some of the same Keywords are repeated in the full description as well as in your Keyword selections (the 13 that you get with every Listing).

If you do tweak your Listing titles, try to remember to get exactly what the item is in your first 30 characters. Scarf. Pattern. Bowl. Wall Hanging. Jacket.

You've included lots of good pictures with your items, so that's good to go. If you have a way to find an interesting, clean background against which to photograph things, that would be my only other suggestion. Take a look at other Shops that sell vintage items--pay particular attention to those that have decent sales. Take inspiration from them.

Good Luck! G

[DebsDesigns18]

Thank you for taking the time to detail these items. I haven't used eRank yet but I do look at the search terms used to find my items that Etsy provides. I use CrowdFire to automate some postings of my items daily. They post to all my social media accounts, including Pinterest. But then I also go back at times and load up the Community Board on Pinterest with my most popular and my most new items. Doing this, I average around 80-100 views per day (around 55 visits) to my entire shop. I think I've done pretty good on the keywords, I just need to keep adding new things.

I had also thought about breaking my items out into separate shops; Wood and Acrylic in one, Banners in another and Weddings where it is. I was concerned it had too much of a variety of things in it. I recently removed all children's wall decals as they weren't selling. Maybe will go back later on and add more decorative wall art for them.

Thank you again! Much appreciated!

[MoonwolfStudios]

Thank you for the input.  I'll give it a try!  I did get a nice order this week - Hip-hip-hooray!  Just need at least two a week to make any money.  Have a great day!

[butterflyam]

Your shop, photos and items are beautiful.  The only thing I can think of is that many people are buying and using the Cricket and Cameo Sillohuette machines and doing signs themselves which may be causing a slow-down in sales for you. Have you considered selling the sayings (either yours or a customer's special request) in addition to your finished signs.  One company that I follow...The White Cottage does this. That way, perhaps you will scoop up some diy'ers along with the people who understand the amount of work that goes into the product.  I am thinking you could sell the transfers with instructions for picking and applying and also artwork  pdf's.

[MoonwolfStudios]

Okay, I tried this technique of putting the item name first so it shows up on a search.  I have not seen any additional visits, in fact it has slowed down to almost nothing.  I searched for an item that I changed to see what happened - my product was not even on any pages.  I really need sales - seems like they take about 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of the items that are sold.   Getting frustrated after being on here for 8+ years.

[GoodeyeGoodbuy]

MoonWolf - be patient. It takes time for ETSY and Google to index listings. Try again tomorrow. I think you are on the right path. 

[GoodeyeGoodbuy]

Midwest Hardware - Thank you so much for the insightful suggestions. I have taken them ALL and spent the morning implementing the changes. Can't thank you enough for taking the time to help me.