Shop Critique

[#1]

If you would like some advice don't be afraid to ask!

[SeagullSmithJewelry]

Hi It's a month later and still no sales. Any words on what I need to do? I tried to make my shop more organized and tied together with the shell/ beach theme. I am going to make some more Kumihimo bracelets, and start a line of beach jewelry with charms and beads. ANy other suggestions?

[DoorCountyVintage]

I'm going to try to get caught up here. I have had a nightmare week as some of you have read in the chat thread, sorry for the delay.

[DoorCountyVintage]

Helen,

Your pictures are great,shop announcement and banner are looking good.
Your Shipping and Titles are good.

You need to get to 100 items still and work on your tags.

art,mixed media and print are meta tags which will be there without you havint to input them. Also Christmas has passed so noone will be looking for a "christmas gift" so you have four more spots to use to bring more people to your shop. I hope this helps.

[DoorCountyVintage]

Essie,

Your photos are not terrible. Id use all white but that's just me.
You got a grasp on inventory.I like your tags.

Now for the critique,

Banner: It goes a long way to show you are serious about what you do if the first impression shows a custom banner to set your shop apart from the other 700 thousand custom necklace shops on Etsy.

Shop Announcement: Google is a fantastic way to be found and to make sales. You need to take advantage of every chance you get to be found. The first paragraph of your shop announcement should contain keywords that would lead people to your shop and within the same paragraph explain what you do. The more keywords you use the more you will get hits when google scrolls your shop.

Shipping. You are severely sabotaging yourself by only shipping in the United States. You are competing with THOUSANDS of sellers who do ship worldwide and are seen by the world. By you not opening up that market you shrink your customer base.

Titles..You want your titles descriptive,crisp and ordered...The most important information should be first..what is it..what will people most often search for?

Item S-71 Gold crystals and gunmetal filigree jewelry set

With this title you must hope your tags are enough. Which often times they are not. Noone is going to search for "Item S-71" . I would put Custom Jewelry, Jewelry Sets, Gold Crystals And Filgree, Ooak

Be sure you put a space after each comma so google will read them as separate keywords.


I hope this all helps

[DoorCountyVintage]

Ellen your shop looks good. You need to start promoting.

Use my heart trick,get more active on facebook and twitter,go to pintrest

Do everything you can to get your shop out there. Once you build a nice customer base you have everything else covered.

[Former_Member]

Chris thank you so much for taking the time I will work on your comments .
great help
thank you
Helen

[Former_Member]

I could really use a shop critique. I've been trying to promote my shop more and list items a bit more regularly, but my sales are still not picking up as I'd like them to. Any advice would be appreciated greatly. Thank you!

[DoorCountyVintage]

Hi Lisa,

I like your shop banner and your photos are ok. I love that you ship everywhere and your titles seem ok.

Here's where I think you could improve.

Your Shop announcement is one spot where google scrolls. You need to have a detailed,keyword filled shop announcement. Use as many keywords in your first paragraph describing your shop as possible!

Inventory...Everything starts at 100 on Etsy you will never sell consistently with less. It gives your buyers as many options as possible and gives them confidence you know what you are talking about.

Keywords..Google likes compound keywords. You have entirely too many one word irrelevant keywords...

Original Painting - Oil on Canvas - Tree of Renewal 16x20
http://www.etsy.com/listing/108759475/original-painting-oil-on-canvas-tree-of?

Example...Original Painting tree painting original peaceful aqua teal evening dawn roots branches hills smooth serene

Original painting would apply but noone is going to type in original when searching for your piece

When choosing keywords you have to think like a buyer. What would they type to find me?

oil on canvas,oil painting,original art print,art print,original art,original painting,original oil painting..etc

I hope that helps!

[Former_Member]

Hello, I opened my shop last August and have no sales yet! I have a shop announcement, and I do have section divisions. I have received more total views each month, lots of favorites, but no sales, so I would appreciate any info you can give me about improvements I could make. Thank-you!

[DoorCountyVintage]

Carol I'm a bit tired come back tomorrow and I'll gladly give you a helping hand!

[Former_Member]

Helen; beautiful stuff!!!! My ideas to add to Chris, who is tireless and fantastic.:
Tags!!!!!!! Work on your tags. This is what you have on one of your prints: Art, Painting, Print, Art painting, painting print, original print, valentines, gift ,red, pink, cream ,Giclee, abstract painting ,print ,whimsy, floral.
That is ok, but I would do two things: Add a name or description to your paintings, so you have something for the title. I don't care if you name them for moods, seasons, music notes, colors, cars, or cats, just name them!!!! It makes them so much more personal, and makes it easier for people to remember which ones they liked. Then, the phrases need to be more phrase than single word. No reason to have Valentine's, unless that is your reason for or muse to paint this one. You can put that in occasions, if you would like, but leave it out of your tags. Think of the first 13 things that people would type to get to your specific print. Since you have a bunch of similar items, you might want to put groups of tags into a document so you can copy paste them into your listings, with just the changes you need for the specific one you are listing. I would recommend some of these: original art print, acid free paper print, giclee art print, print by artist, and so on. The colors you can group instead of having them individually. Think of several basic groups of tags. Use each group on a print. Watch your stats, and see which group of tags gets the most views, which tags work best. Add those tags to all your listings, and edit some more, until you are happy with the results.
Your descriptions are good, but a little coolish for me. This is an artistic community. People who shop here want artsy special things that make them feel good, so make your description warm for them. Give them a reason to spend their money on you. Let them feel that they are special because they like your art, and it should be an honor for them to have it in their home or office, which is all true, so figure out a way to say it!
You own the store. Spend some time making it profitable and welcoming!
I admire your style!

[Former_Member]

Carol: So cool!!!! I love the clay hat ladies.
I would take all but the necessary caps out of your shop description. I like your description (this one is for one of the hat ladies). Your title should contain as much info as you can pack into the available characters. Etsy indexes the title and tags only. The other search engines index everything, so your description is important for them and for your customers.
Tags: Think of the first 13 things you would type to find your item. Since you have some similar items it might be easier to put them in a document so you can copy paste the basics when you do a new listing.
These are yours for one of the hat ladies: Art , Sculpture, Clay, Edwardian lady, hat lady, edwardian hat ,polymer clay, plaque wall sculpture, small wall decor ,yellow rose, sculpted picture, wall art, polymer clay, lady, edwardian, picture. Those are OK, but you can do better!!!!! I doubt that anyone looking for a gorgeous custom hand crafted kiln fired polymer clay wall art lady in an adorable hat would type: "clay" all by itself to find her. Try some of these: edwardian look art, polymer clay art, custom wall art, custom table art, fired clay vignette, vintage look clay art, handmade clay art, farmed wall art, lady with hat, vintage lady with bonnet, etc.
Watch your stats, see which keywords get the best. Edit often, play with your descriptions and tags. I know that it is a royal pain., but you spent so much time making this lovely art, spend just a little bit on marketing it!
Good luck!

[Former_Member]

I would really appreciate a critique of my shop. I have only had one sale so far so any advice on what I could improve would be great.

[Former_Member]

StazStaz - Thanks so much for your thoughtful critique - I do appreciate it! It is helpful when you hear others suggest tags. You are so close to your own items, and your own work, that you can honestly think you have covered things very nicely with the tags you choose. Then someone else comes along with some great suggestions that you didn't consider - thanks again! I would also appreciate a couple more critiques (more heads are better than one!) if anyone cares to jump in. Thanks again!

[Former_Member]

Hi Diane,

Very cute shop! I see you just opened up on the first of this year!

Well, first I want to congratulate you on your very first sale. People sometimes don't see their first sale until a few months after they open shop, so that is wonderful!

With that said, there are a few things you could work on. First, I would work on your banner. I know you're probably cooking up something very creative for your banner, so I can't wait to see what you come up with, being that you do digital art and illustrations. :)

As far as your pictures go, the digital photos are fine, but the framed pictures need some work. When you take the pictures of the children's art, I would take the picture horizontally so that there is more space on the left and right of the picture. Since you have vertical pictures (longer up and down) you want to take pictures of them with more space on the left and right of it so that they look nicer in the thumbnail picture displayed on Etsy. Also, the pictures could use a little brightening up. FotoFuze is a great site to do this, but I would use a larger picture file since they tend to shrink the picture size, and the photos you have are already cropped.

I love your "About Me" section. :) It is very personable and adorable. Also, I LOVE your pen tablet! So awesome!! That's why I assume you have all of the photo editing software and digital art software in the world, so I expect an amazing banner!

Keep on adding to your shop. Generally, you won't see a good deal of business until you get more than 100 things uploaded. Once you get a lot more, people will take you and your shop more seriously.

Your shop description is nice. It could be longer, though. This is what shows up in the search engines when people see your shop link. They will read the description, and if they think it suits them, they'll pop in. A longer description is typically better because it allows you to get more key words in the search.

Last but not least... Your shop is pretty nice Your policies are filled in nicely. You offer international shipping, which is always awesome! Also, your item descriptions are very nice, so that's another huge A+. You are doing a great job, so I would just work on the few things I mentioned (pictures, inventory, and banner). Once your shop has more sales and you get some positive feedback, you'll just keep on rolling.
Keep up the great work, Diane!

Vito

[Former_Member]

Thank you so much Vito for the critique. Those are some really helpful tips there so I'll be sure to work on them over the next few weeks. Originally I had planned to use the image from my business cards as my banner (the image that is up just now) but it doesn't fit very well so I'm trying to think of something better, I just need to decide what!

It's good to hear that there are things I'm doing right. Hopefully with time and some more items I'll start to see the sales increase :)

[Former_Member]

Chris - StazStaz did a great critique of my shop a few posts back. I'm just wondering if you would agree, or if there are additional things you would point out. What about my number of items - I know you usually say something about having more than I have. The psychology is probably that the more items, the more it looks like you're serious and more for buyer to choose from. The psychology on the other side of the coin (seller) is "I'm already depressed about no sales, why should I keep on listing?" Thanks in advance for any advice!

[DoorCountyVintage]

Well I know from experience that the more you list the more you sell. I wasnt selling AT ALL when I just let the shop run itself in early August through about Christmas. No Christmas sales with 60 items, I started listing like a rabid monkey and my sales have increased quite a bit, items that had been sitting for a year were selling.

You cannot allow yourself to get discouraged and you just need to work hard. It's only a 20 cent gamble per item even at 100 items a month you are spending 20 dollars. Those items are good for 3 months so you have a ton of time to make a return on your investment! Just tell yourself as I have told myself I am going to be a success and i will conquer any hurdle set in my path!

[Former_Member]

Chris, I appreciate your encouraging words. I do agree the fees are very reasonable! I am off to resist some things and make more stuff!

[Former_Member]

Hi Chris. I just opened my shop on February 1. I had my first and only sale by the end of my first week which was very exciting. I am working on adding more items. I could use some constructive criticism. Thanks so much!

Christine

[DoorCountyVintage]

Hi Christine,

I like your shop announcement,shop banner, items,tags and titles

The only real things I see are:

You could use a bit brighter photos, you need at MINIMUM 100 items and you really should ship worldwide. If you can fix those three things I see a bright future on Etsy for you!

[Former_Member]

Thanks so much Chris. I really appreciate your feedback. I was a little nervous about shipping worldwide but know I need to take the plunge. And am definitely working on listing more items.

[Former_Member]

Hello,

I opened my shop in December and had a rush of sales in january but the last week and a half has been very slow. I wonder if there is something about my shop that is detering people from buying so I'd love a critique. I have changed my banner and avatar a few times, wondering what the best style is for both of those. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

[DoorCountyVintage]

Sorry Laura this kinda got buried before I could get to it. But here goes..

Your photos are great! Your shop announcement is on point.

Now for areas that could use improvement...

Inventory..Everything good on Etsy begins at 100 so try to get your inventory to 100 and keep it there as best you can. The more google scrolls your shop the better!

Shop Banner..Nothing about your banner tells your customers what you do. I would suggest some vintage items or to play off your name something cloudy or floral.

Shop Name: You want your brand to speak to what you do. I am a vintage seller myself and I dont know if "cloudy floral" would have me thinking Vintage or would really peak my interest enough to have me check it out. Which is too bad because your items are cool.

Titles you may want to break up your titles because currently google is reading them as one big jumbled word. Example..

Buffalo Horn Carved Egret Crane Midcentury Modern

Carved Buffalo Horn Statue, Egret Crane, Midcentury Modern

Shipping: You are severely limiting your options only shipping to the United States you should open yourself up to the world.

Your Tags are doing little to get you noticed. You need to use more compound keywords and fewer team tags.

egret craine black gray beach wilderness decor midcentury modern elegant thepromotionteam 123team epsteam carved horn

Midcentury Modern, Custom Carving,Carved Buffalo Horn,Home Decor, Grey Egret Statue,Bird Statue,Animal statue...

Think of your tags as a customer typing into etsy search to find your item.not many who type in wilderness or beach are looking for an egret statue.

I hope this helps

[Former_Member]

Thank you Chris,

This was so helpful. I've been working on the photos and items so I'm glad to hear the merchandise is presentable. You bring up some great points about tags and titles. I've struggled with phrasing and descriptions. One of my questions has been about how much do I direct my items for treasuries vs search for customers. Seems like customers would be the obvious choice and yet I found that several of my items were purchased after being in a treasury. This is the reason for using terms such as "beach" or "wilderness" - I hope to have an item featured in a treasury since this is a good way to increase traffic to my shop.
Managing through the various levels of etsy - teams, treasuries, promotions etc. is new and complicated but i really enjoy it and appreciate your information and advice!