AAA Daily Chat March 7, 2015

[naturepoet]

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. We are to get snow today, but it's to be milder. No more deep freeze temps this winter. Time will tell. This has been a bitterly frigid winter.

Yesterday we talked about photos and I thank everyone for their input. I didn't have much time to comment but did read all the posts. Working together as a team will help us to overcome obstacles with lesser hassle. If anyone would like to post a question or tell us about some difficulty they're having, be sure to do so.

Today, let's talk about tags. It will be a great review for Etsy veterans and we can certainly give some advice to the new members.

QUOTE of the DAY:

"Individual commitment to a group effort--that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work."

--Vince Lombardi

[NaturalClocks]

Good morning team :)

I was all ready to go and open up shop today, but the wind is really bad, and so are the clouds, not worth the petrol money at this time of the year. There's always tomorrow, right? I'll just carry on with some crafting then, looks like I'm having some sales in March, so it'll make sense to use my time wisely today.

Tags are always a bit of a challenge. I try to be as comprehensive as possible without annoying potential buyers who are looking for something completely different and end up in my shop by mis-tagging. I am putting UK in some of my items tags, as I get found that way too, some buyers don't know how to filter by country and search for items that way, maybe it's worth doing the same according to what country you live in. I know that I should really be looking at all my tags at some stage, procrastinating is a bad habit of mine when I don't particularly enjoy doing something LOL. What I've learned to do is to match title and tags as much as possible, I do wish we had more than 20 characters per tag available though, as this really stops us from matching perfectly tags and titles.

Back to work now. Have a great day everybody!

[Former_Member]

Good morning, e veryone!

Wow, my views took a nosedive yesterday. I'm not sure why. I've been posting in the forums a lot recently, so why the views elude me is unclear. :-(

Val, I agree with you. I, too, wish Etsy would give us more than 20 characters per tag.

About 8 or 9 of my tags stay the same from listing to listing. That gives me 4 or 5 tags to be used specifically for each listing. Does that make sense, lol? I generally check my tags by doing searches on them, to make sure I'm being seen.

I listed these yesterday, but it was late in the day, so I'm posting them again. I plan to list some more items today, but will post them on tomorrow's chat.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/225230924/aries-constellation-tote-bag-zodiac-bag?ref=shop_home_active_...
https://www.etsy.com/listing/225233418/taurus-constellation-tote-bag?ref=shop_home_active_1
https://www.etsy.com/listing/225201889/aquarius-constellation-tote-bag-zodiac?ref=shop_home_active_3

Today it's supposed to warm up to 43 degrees! The rest of next week it's supposed to be in the 40s and 50s. So hopefully this latest snow will melt quickly.

Have a great day, everybody!

[RedRiverValley]

Alanna, we warmed up to the 40's yesterday. It was glorious!!! Enjoy it! Spring might really be coming.

I haven't been as attentive to my tags as I should be. I really need to take a,look and see if I am being found and if not change some tags. I try and use multiple word tags and match the words in my tags, titles and descriptions. I too wish we had more than 20 characters. I always look at my stats page and see what keywords people are using to land in my shop to get ideas for tags.

Views have been low in my shop the last couple of days. Not sure why. I guess the Etsy powers that be have over looked me for some reason! I've got a couple of new items to photograph and list today. Tonight we are going to dinner at the in laws. My mother in law can be quite over baring so I'm not really looking forward to it.

Hope everyone has a good Saturday!

[GlensWorkshop]

Good Morning Everyone,

Another day in paradise!

I'm like Val, the need to put some extended effort into reviewing/updating tags is there but I keep putting it off. It's much more fun to create new stuff! I finished three new pens yesterday and may complete two more today. I also plan to get photography done on the three so they can be published today and the next two days.

My views have also dropped over the last few days. My Auto Renew tool on Etsy on Sale had expired and I set up a new three month schedule this morning. I'm wondering if the lack of renewals had any impact so will watch what happens with the restart of the renewals.

Have a great day everyone.

[HollyODesigns]

Good morning!! I'm starting a little late this morning. I just finished cooking breakfast for the kids (per there request, sausage, eggs and biscuits). I'm not much of a breakfast cook during the week, although I try to make up for it at dinner sometime. My kids LOVE breakfast. They will eat it at any time of the day. Lol.

I took quite a few photographs yesterday. I'm still working on editing most of them. I managed to update a few listings and post a new item yesterday. Here are a few.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/195043678/multiple-pearl-sets-3-bridesmaids?ref=shop_home_active_2
https://www.etsy.com/listing/206987639/pearl-jewelry-set-bridal-pearl-jewelry?ref=shop_home_active_3
https://www.etsy.com/listing/225262433/turquoise-and-coral-chandelier-earrings?ref=shop_home_active_...

I plan on continuing with editing today......Although the kids are home so that may slow things down a bit. I also woke up to an item that's trending.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/189601792/bridal-statement-necklace-triple-strand?ref=shop_home_active_...
I'm not sure how long it will trend because I'm pretty low on that list.

My views have been super low since the whole category changes. I'm not sure that has something to do with it, but it is pretty upsetting. My views were increasing every week before that change.
I'm still learning SEO. I tweak my tags and titles pretty often. I'm in such a saturated market, with barely any sales, it's hard to be on the front page. I just recently turned on promoted listings again. This has helped tremendously with being found in searches. I will probably turn them off on Monday though because I don't want a huge bill at the end of the month. Anyone else use promoted listings? I'm just wandering if they are profitable.

Sorry for rambling..... Too much coffee!! Hope you all have a fabulous day!!

[ItsSewYouDear]

Good morning team mates!

Tags don't confuse me anymore lol, I just learned to not over think it! I take the tags directly from my titles and arrange them in all possible ways and then don't worry about it! I have learned that I am going to be relevant for some listings and not for others and that's all there is to it haha.

My search views took a big nose dive yesterday, I ended up with one third of what I usually have. I was looking in the forum and it seems like there is some search test happening. When I search for my top keywords, I am found on the first pages in some browsers and not found in other browsers. There is this discussion in the bug forum about categories and relevancy and what not:
https://www.etsy.com/teams/7720/bugs/discuss/16069082/page/1
Admin chimed in too so you can read her response there too.
I still managed to get two sales yesterday even with the low search views, so I don't know what to think lol. Search views look more optimistic to me today, so we shall see.

Holly, I am not sure about promoted listings, maybe some others with experience can chime in.

Lots to do today before heading to work. Happy Saturday all!

[COLDHAMCUDDLIES]

My views seem to be holding up - this week, at any rate. But I can't help feel that all the Etsy fiddling is going to have an impact on everyone's activities at some time or another - just as it did last year.

Am putting off the retagging etc. but am determined to get down to it once I've got the replacement foxes/wolves done. The first chappie - who has taken me longer than usual, but it has been some time since I did one, and I keep forgetting how I did things before, and then having to undo and resew them!! Hopefully the other three will be easier, having done a dry run, as it were.

Never heard of, let alone used, promoted listings. So, cannot help you I fear Holly. My feeling though is that that usually means spending money and I've yet to find such expenditure worthwhile. Suppose it must work for some folk though, or it wouldn't be an option.

Lovely sunny day here, but the wind - which was supposed to have lessened - is just as gusty! So, am basking in the sun streaming through the windows. Just hope it will still be doing so when I'm ready to photograph the new Boy Fox.

Have a good week-end everyone.

[CherryPicks]

The weather is not looking so nice here. It's chilly and dark because the fog has rolled in off the coast. Once it blows off I have winter weeds to get rid of.

I have been ignoring my shop lately. I'm glad it can continue on without my help or I would have gone belly up by now.

I hope everyone has a happy weekend!

[Former_Member]

It's supposed to be 68 here today so I'm going to run out with a friend to buy some blueberry bushes to put in over by my raspberries and then I promised her I would help do some trimming at her house. I have some new cowl and fingerless glove sets to photograph this morning too with my daughter.

Listed a new bracelet this morning. Hoping to list more tonight after I photograph new stuff. :)

https://www.etsy.com/listing/225312580/art-nouveau-bracelet-shabby-chic-art

[Former_Member]

Holly, how do you know if you're trending? Now that everyone has their own "front page", so to speak, how do you know if what you've listed is getting out there? Aside from search, that is. Is this something related to categories? My search numbers are usually less than 10, even when my views were doing well. Should I think about using promotions as well?

[GlensWorkshop]

Good Morning Again,

Well, the sun cooperated so some photography was accomplished.

Here is the first of the new pens.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/225315835/ballpoint-pen-handmade-black-titanium?ref=shop_home_active_1

All the new listings above have been Faved.

Hope you're having a great day.

[Former_Member]

Good afternoon everyone -

Tags are sometimes a challenge for me because there is only so many ways you can express certain items. I have been working everyday when not making my new line of signs on my SEO and tags and everything to get my shop improved. I have not seen a difference though. I always put the most important tags first and then build down from there. I read in the forums the other day that a lot of people responded to a question regarding tags and stated it is not important to list them in any order and that kind of stumped me because you would want the most relevant first I would think.

Off to get busy on more signs and get them further along. Weather is finally nice and sunny today and they still say 50's by the middle of the week. Lets hope so!

Have a great day.

[HollyODesigns]

Alanna, when you look at your stats page in the right column it will say trending item on views side. That's how I found out an item was trending. On the home page you can click on trending items to see which items are trending. I play several favathon games in my other teams (if I have time) so I'm guessing that's how I am trending. I also tweet and pin the items I'm posting in the favathon games. As far as searches go, without using promoted listings I'm lucky to get 6 search results. I'm up to 15 right now with promoted listings turned on. I set my daily allowance to $4 a day. If I don't make a sale by tomorrow night, I will turn them off. I can't afford to have them constantly running. Fingers crossed!! I will let y'all know how they worked on Monday morning.

I managed to edit and list another pair of earrings. I'm working at a slow and steady pace this morning. Lol!!
https://www.etsy.com/listing/225321543/green-and-white-pearl-chandelier?ref=shop_home_active_3

[naturepoet]

Val, I definitely agree about the 20 characters. To describe some items properly, we need more.

Glen enjoy your time in paradise.

Holly, nice renews. My views haven't been bad, but not what they once were. The sales are okay though, so I will be grateful and count my blessings.

[naturepoet]

Nice new, Lacey.

John, Etsy changes things so often, it's difficult to know what to do. At one time you used single tags. Now they want phrases, but we only have 20 characters. Not much of a phrase can be made out of that.

All we can do is keep trying. I had just perfected my tags when they changed things. I now try to use the ones that appear in my title and some from the description.

[naturepoet]

Holly, what type of items did you have trending?

[Viyoli]

Good evening goo people,
Here it's hot, lots of winds, I want rain, my garden love rain.

Alanna here is a link where you can check
http://www.tools4etsy.com/Wall-e/Trending

Ilast week I was trending twice with two different necklaces, it was fun, had nice sales!!!
Regarding promoted listing, I do everything manual, and for a small amount per item!!! this is a great way also to see the search it's helps a lot.

My big concern is the prices, I'm not sure if my prices are attractive, on that I still checking!!!

Toady I'm resting, not playing, it was a very intensive week, something that I saw that when I stop the faviations my view are growing!!!
Mary, we're you find this great quotes, they are great!!!
Fave all the items, hoe it will help a bit

Have a great weekend.

[Viyoli]

Val, regarding the tags, what I'm doing now and it's working ... I will give an example, as I don't know exactly how to explain,
If I write silver sterling gemstone necklace I write all the options I can think like silver sterling, silver gemstone, silver necklace, and so on, it's working great for me, also I found the the sequence it's not important, I usually wrote the most important at the beginning, and when checked that was the only one that I didn't find my self.

[HollyODesigns]

Mary just this item
https://www.etsy.com/listing/189601792/bridal-statement-necklace-triple-strand?ref=shop_home_active_...
Vicky, I set it at manual as well, but didn't realize I can make the price per item lower. I'm going to check that right away.

[Viyoli]

Holly also chek and stop the automatic renew on new items!
As then it write the heights price.

[HollyODesigns]

Ok will do!! Thanks!!

[naturepoet]

I find this very helpful for titles and keywords. Maybe we can talk about this next week

https://www.etsy.com/teams/7722/discussions/discuss/12878519

[naturepoet]

Vicky, I'm not very with it today. I don't quite understand this.
**************************************************************
Vicky Ehrman from Viyoli says
Holly also chek and stop the automatic renew on new items!
As then it write the heights price.

[naturepoet]

A couple of new today

https://www.etsy.com/listing/185425621/blue-easter-duck-with-pink-umbrealla?

https://www.etsy.com/listing/225332321/vintage-sewing-pattern-2890-mccalls-1971?