AAA Cafe' Daily Chat 03/15/2015

[NaturalClocks]

Welcome to new members, welcome back to returning teammates! If this is your first time here - this is a place to ask questions, share your most embarrassing secrets, or just chat about the slow and boring bits of your day…we want to hear from you!!

Be sure to check out the discussion board. There are games to be played and threads to explore. The more you promote your fellow team mates, the more you get promoted, so be sure to participate on a daily basis. Check out our blog and our Facebook page, as well as the other links provided below.

IMPORTANT LINKS:
* Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/301427606658253/
* Etsy Calculator: salecalc.com/etsy
* Etsyology: www.etsyology.net/
♥ Online Photo Programs: fotoflexer.com/ or www.picmonkey.com/
treasurypin.com./ and editor.pho.to/
arwmedia.net/tools/pixlr_express.php
* Etsy Craft Tools: www.mycrafttools.com/
* Etsy Gadget: www.estygadget.com
* Craftopolis -Edit multiple listings: www.craftopolis.com/#com=ee
* Etsy Banner Maker: bannerfans.com/banner_maker.php?bnew=1&pses=1a256d05
* Craftcount - craftcount.com/teritory.php
* Google+ tutorials blog.kissmetrics.com/personal-google-plus-account/ and moz.com/blog/tips-to-use-google-for-s
* Chrome Treasury Box: brittanysbest.com/treasurybox-chrome-extension/
* Google+ information plus.google.com/communities/112658132414010568954
* Etsy team page: www.etsy.com/pages/aaasupport
* Check your keyword relevancy in search: www.tools4etsy.com/Wall-e/Relevancy/Keyword
* 50 Reasons you're not getting Etsy Sales: www.handmadeology.com/50-reasons-youre-not-getting-etsy-sales/
* Betsi Lite: www.blugrin.com/ (make sure you click on Lite at the bottom of the screen, as that is the free edition!)
* New Category List: www.etsy.com/help/categories/seller#node-id-1250

Please don't forget to post in the AAA Support Team thread in the promo forum :)) www.etsy.com/uk/teams/21915/promos/discuss/15267796

Good morning team!

First of all Happy Mother's Day to Isobel, Lagney and all the other UK Mums! And of course, a Mum is a Mum everywhere in the world, so here's an early British Happy Mother's Day to all the other Mums across the globe, until you get to celebrate yours in May or whenever that will be :) I wonder if Blake has got me a card and some flowers?? LOL.

This is what Chris wrote in yesterday's chat (btw, congrats on your sales!):

"Once again we need more love for the new member featured in the new member meet n greet..

www.etsy.com/teams/14664/aaa-support-team/discuss/16104157/page/1?p...

The new history event will be posted soon.

I am playing with the idea of bringing back an old thread in place of our Front Page Push. Below is a description of the thread tell me what you guys think..

I will randomly pick an item from a team member. What I want everyone to do is push that item until it sells. Facebook,Pintrest,favorite,tweet,wanelo,treasure...

Anything you can think of. Then post the link of the tweet,wanelo,pin etc below to have a chance for your item to be the next team effort item to be pushed until it sells!

Pretty simple and strait forward..

should I make it a stand alone thread or replace the front page push as I'm considering?"

I remember that game! Personally, I would make it as a stand alone, one extra game for members to play, besides, the Front Page Push does seem to be quite popular so I wouldn't remove it just yet. These are my thoughts anyway.

Please give your opinions to Chris and chat about anything else you want today, it's Sunday after all :)

Have a great day everybody!

[Former_Member]

I think it a great idea ! . I like the front page thing too (takes a bit of time to do on an ipad but well worth helpng out ) .
But i do like the idea of everyone helping out to get a sale for some one. As you will get them a lot of trafic too.
I would be happy to help some one out. Im in facebook twitter and pininterest and Instagram .

Happy mother day to all you hard working mothers xxx

[naturepoet]

Happy Mother's Day to all the UK Mums and anyone else who is celebrating Mother's Day. Canada's is in May.

Chris, I agree with Val. Let's do both threads. It will just promote the members of our team more and this is a very successful team.

Sales have been nice for me this month. I hope the rest of you are getting sales as well. It was very quiet in my shop for a couple of days, then yesterday it took off again. I'm always grateful and feel blessed for every sale I get, whether large or small.

[Former_Member]

Good morning, everyone!

Chris, I don't play the history and pop culture threads because I just don't have the time, not because they're bad games. I like the idea of a new thread, and agree with Mary and Val that the front page push thread should be kept.

I have a question. In my stats, the views under Search are very low; I only had 3 yesterday. The majority of my views come from YourListings. How can I increase my Search views? Should I even try? All the Search hits match my tags. And when I do Searches on my tags, I always find at least one of my totes on the first page. I'm not certain that this is something I can control, but I'd like to hear from others.

I was going to take today off, but have changed my mind. I'm going to start embroidering my next round of totes, after I get my hair cut. I've got 11 to do this round, and then another 13 to do after that, and that will be all for a while. I'll end up with 215 totes. After that, I will begin experimenting with towels.

Have a great day, everybody!

p.s. Only five more days to Spring!

[DoorCountyVintage]

Alanna you may do as you wish but ill point out that the history game is super fast all you do is read what that day's topic is for example Abraham Lincoln, search on Etsy for Abraham Lincoln which depending on your computer and internet speed takes seconds, click on and copy the link of one of the items that comes up..also equally quick and then add your own item beneath it all done in less than a minute.

As far as worrying about views all I can suggest is keep creating/listing and renew items from time to time!

Ok guys lets get those new member meet and greets going. :)

I like the feedback so far on the new thread

I am now a mere 15 sales away from 500 it seems the lull has passed!


I have one new item..

https://www.etsy.com/listing/226148857/gone-with-the-wind-enesco-1989-scarlett?ref=shop_home_active_...

[naturepoet]

Nice new, Chris. I do enjoy both the history thread and the pop culture thread, as you know. They are quick and easy.

Alanna, my views have been up and down. When was your shop last cached? I'm not sure if that has anything to do about the views you get on Etsy, but I know I sell more when my has been picked up recently. Coincidence? Maybe, but I don't think so.

[naturepoet]

Come on over and give the history of the week thread a try. All you have to do currently is do an Etsy search for a Ford item (as in Ford cars) and post it on the link. Then post one of your items below it. That's it.

Fun and takes only about a minute. For that you get lots of promotion. Give it a try, gang.

https://www.etsy.com/teams/14664/aaa-support-team/discuss/16101928/page/1?ref=team_page

[ZingRetroFinds]

Hi All,

Chris, congrats on your sales.
I enjoy playing the following games: ABC, Color Connection, Front Page Push, This Week in History, Pop Culture Eye Spy, New Member Meet and Greet, and Fave One Page. For me, this is enough games. I do appreciate that others may want to play any new games, so go for it.

Have a great day.

[RedRiverValley]

Good Afternoon Team!

Chris, I remember that thread too and would love to see it come back! It's a great idea.

Alanna, increasing your search views might prove to be particularly difficult right now with the unknown search tests that Etsy is running. In the past the best way to increase them is as Chris mentioned list and relist regularly and then to have good SEO - making sure you are using good strong keywords and that the same keywords are in your titles, tags and descriptions. That being said, I think everyone is seeing low days right now. I just don't know why.

Happy Mother's Day to all the UK moms!

Congrats on the sales Chris! May the next 15 come quickly!!

[COLDHAMCUDDLIES]

I've not so far tried the History or Pop Culture Games - largely because of the perceived time issue (now explained away by you Mary and Chris - so I might give them a go later in the week - too busy at the moment) but I do regularly have a go at the ABC, Colour, Fave the Shop Above, Front Page Push, the newish one - Daily Page Hop Today's Shop, and others that catch my eye. I'd do more, but time runs away with me. I'll watch out for the one you're thinking about Chris: sounds like it could be time occupying, and that's something (like everyone else, I know) that's getting increasingly difficult to accommodate.

Thanks for the Mother's Day wishes, Val. Got a lovely pair of scarves from one daughter, and the other one purchased a scarf pin from an Etsy Shop with a shamrock (or four-leaf clover - choose by all means: being half Scottish, I'll have to go with the latter!). The pin is made from old, bent spoons and is very attractive.

Managed to do the weekly post on the blog earlier today - here it is for those who are interested (or have the time to spare to read it - not as long as some today).

Hot off the press - latest from the Coldham Cuddlies -

http://coldhamcuddliescalling.blogspot.co.uk/

Have a good week every body.

[ItsSewYouDear]

Good afternoon team mates!

Woke up with no voice, thanks to the all squealing I did last night. Haha. Even at 67, Elton John still gives an amazing performance!

Chris, I feel like I cannot comment on which games to keep and which to eliminate because I don't play the games daily, I do try to do the front page push, page hop and new member games daily, but the rest are depending on what time I have.

Alanna, 3 search views seems low for the number of items you have, but your SEO looks good to me so I am not sure what else can be done. I wonder if it's because you sell the same type of item, perhaps once you add your towels you will get more hits. Sorry, I know my answer isn't very helpful.

Oh Happy Mother's Day, UK moms! It's a glorious day in the Sunshine state, we rode our bikes on the beach this morning and it was divine! Alas, I have to go get stuck in a basement at work haha.

Happy Sunday all!

[Former_Member]

Thanks for the feedback, folks.

Mary,, Chris, and Donna -- I'll give the new threads a try tomorrow.

Happy Mothers Day to all you ladies in the UK.

[NaturalClocks]

Alanna, I wish I knew how to get more hits through search... You do come up, I've just tried a search with "scorpio tote" and another one with "celtic tote". The two Scorpio showed up on page one, but there is only 1 page of those, at least for those that ship to the UK, there may be more around the world, I have my search results set up by default "Ship to United Kingdom". Your celtic owl tote (this one)

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/188496076/celtic-owl-tote-bag-celtic-knotwork?ref=sr_gallery_9&ga_se...

also came up on page 1. It would be interesting to know if these 3 hits have registered in your stats.

I've read on the forum that search also depends on what browser you are using, apparently you get different results whether you use Chrome, Firefox, IE etc. I really hope that they'll stop messing around with things and find a solution once and for all!

Candi, I'm glad that you enjoyed Sir Elton in concert! I used to go to concerts a lot when living in London, from pubs to big venues, alas, they are a bit thin on the ground around here for what I like, so I'm stuck with CDs and DVDs lol.

Alanna, Donna, Isobel: one of the great things about this team is that there are no requirements on what you play and how often you play, I wouldn't be here otherwise LOL! Ultimately it's down to the individual, according to available time and preferences, so some games I play, others I don't. It's always worth trying them out and see how they work for you.

[Former_Member]

Could I ask for some one to give my shop a review? . I have made better photos, filled in my policys and shipping . I just need to do my shop story now.

But still dont seem to have any sales ( the ones I have have been from facebook mostly and family and friends) . I really want to have a sale from some one I dont know , if you know what I mean.

Thank you again for such a great team!

[GoldFeatherStudio]

Hello, everyone!

I feel I am too new to really give my feedback on the game situation, but the new game doesn't seem like a bad addition to me.

However, I did have a question about the search. When you say relist your items, what do you mean by this? Is this renewing existing listings before they expire? If so, do you get charged another 20 cents to relist?


Thanks!

Hope everyone is having a lovely day, especially you mothers in the UK!

Ellen

[Former_Member]

im not the best to give a review , so sent you loads of love :)

[DoorCountyVintage]

we mean renewing them and yes that costs 20 cents. I would wait until you are near the end of listings.

[naturepoet]

Ellen, think positive, dear. You have a lovely shop but keep adding listings. When you get to 100, sales pick up some. I know it sounds like a lot, but it doesn't take long. List something daily, if possible. Keep your listings active. I have had listings in my shop for 2 or 3 years before they sold, but they did sell. A year of renewals for one item is only about $1.20, so it is worth it. Keep up the good work and NEVER give up.

[Former_Member]

Hello, Ellen from Jellyfish Valley. I looked over your shop, and noted a couple of things.

First, 35 items is a great start, but you'll want to add more as quickly as possible. The more items you have, the more easily you will be found. Try and shoot for 50, and see if that helps with views.

Next, fill out your About page a bit more. Tell us about yourself. Are you married, do you have children, is your Etsy store a hobby or a business, how did you first get involved with art, do you have any degrees, etc. etc.

I noticed in your Policies that you only have PayPal. I would strongly recommend adding Direct Checkout. It gives the customer more choices. Also, your Postal policies regarding damage during shipment are a bit harsh. I found it an immediate turnoff. Offer to work with them if there is a problem with the Post.

In your descriptions, I would add the size of the item, in centimeters and inches.

Your tags are mostly one word. Such words, when typed in Search, will return thousands and thousands of links. Try to narrow that down by using 2-3 word descriptors. In fact, use some of the words that are in your titles. Think of what a customer would enter into Search to find your items.

You are a very gifted artist, with beautiful artwork. I think your titles are okay, and your pictures are awesome.

Hope this helps.

[Former_Member]

Thank you so much Alanna ! I will review my post policys :)
I have someone reviewing my tags right now , as I just cant seem to get them right ( I can paint but writting is not my strong point lol ) , same goes for my shop story. So im hoping by next week I will have a better set up.
I only accepted paypal but you right i may have to branch out a bit , i just thought most people had paypal lol.

Thanks again for the advice and im glad you liked my work.

Regards Ellen

[GoldFeatherStudio]

Thanks for the feedback on relisting, Chris.

And thanks for the hearts, Ellen!

[NaturalClocks]

Ellen @ JellyfishValley: since Alanna mentioned it, I had a look at your policies, as that's always the first thing that I check when wanting to make a purchase, and it's a deal breaker for me. They are a bit off putting in all honesty, the harsh truth is that we as sellers are responsible for the goods to reach the customer in perfect conditions, besides Paypal and credit cards processors would side with the buyer. Insurance is the responsibility of the seller, what some sellers do is to include the cost of insurance in the cost of the item.

Also, as you are in Barcelona and therefore in the EU, you may want to double check on the Distance Selling Regulations for Spain, which may be the same, or at least similar, to those in the UK. In the UK, we have to accept returns and give refunds even for simple buyers' remorse, and the buyer has 14 days to return the item. We must refund the cost of the item and the cost of the outbound shipping, but as long as we specify it in our policies the buyer will pay for the return shipping costs (if we don't, we'll have to pay for that as well). The only things that this law doesn't apply to are digital downloads and customised items. It sucks, but there isn't much that we can do about it.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I'd hate to see a team mate be on the wrong side of the law and/or to lose sales... :)