Shop Critique

[#1]

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

[KamaraLarryStudio]

Thank you Chris I really appreciate your advice! It is really good to know that I am headed in the right direction. I will work on creating more pieces to get more artwork in the shop and try to lighten my photos. Also I think you are right about adding a personal touch to the shop announcement to introduce myself to my clients and tell them about myself and my artwork. Thank you!

[Former_Member]

Hi Chris, I throw my hat in the ring, may you have a check on my shop and give me some advice. I am pretty new here and try to get accustomed to Etsy all the different apps here and the way to present the product in a proper way.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ANIKAORGANICLUXURY

[Former_Member]

Janice you are first up..I havnt forgotten you! I am dealing with having no water so I wont be home long enough tonight to give you a proper critique.

[kennedyjanice]

Thanks, Chris, for letting me know. Whenever you get to it...I'll be checking back.

[SeagullSmithJewelry]

Hi I would love to have opinions on why my shop isn't getting views and sales. Is it my titles, tags, pictures, items, prices?? I really need to know what I need to get noticed on Etsy by buyers. Thanks for your help Regards

[Former_Member]

Ellen I wish I could help you but I really dont know. I looked at your shop and I really like your items, banner, etc.. Haven't looked at the tags yet though.

[Former_Member]

Hello I am new, just joined the team looking forward to working with you.
I would love some feedback , I have been working on SEOS and treasuries
any tips to improve my shop would be greatly appreciated
Helen

[Former_Member]

@Vito I took pictures of my original artwork (not photos) and it did not come out bright enough. If you are in York and can set up a nice bright shot for free, feel free to contact me. Let's meet :-) I could always use help. I enjoy working with others :-)

@Chris Thanks a lot for your constructive criticism! I am learning more and more everyday! I appreciate it. Now, on to fix up the shop...

[Former_Member]

@Chris Thanks in regards to shipping. I took paintings of every size to Post office and placed each one on the scale and used a couple different zip codes. And that price was enough to cover shipping. But I will definitely go back and speak to a rep and check again and get exact pricing for the places you named. Thanks again

[DryDockCreations]

Hi Chris. Would love for you to check out my shop, and make some suggestions. Thanks.

[DoorCountyVintage]

Ok Janice,

Now that my personal stuff is out of the way...

I love your photos,titles,tags,the fact you ship everywhere..

Now for the critique

You are doing most of the things correctly..

Banner..Your banner doesn't tell me who you are or what you do..I'd consider changing that because sometimes the banner and avatar is the first impression buyers get of your shop. You want something that pops and say you.


Inventory..You need to get to 100 items that's the magic number for big sales


Overall not bad! I hope this helps!

[kennedyjanice]

Thanks so very much. I'll get right to addressing the issues you brought up. One question I have in reference to the photos. Some of the thumbnails don't show the complete image. When you click on it, the full picture shows up but I think having a thumbnail showing only part of a painting limits the number of views for that item. I've tried everything I know to do but nothing helps. Any idea why that is occurring?. The most noticeable is with the large acrylic sky painting and the 3 fish done in watercolor.

Thank you so much for taking the time to critique my shop.

Janice

[Former_Member]

One suggestion I would make is to change your title of your fish painting (and other paintings) to something along the lines of "3 Colorful Fish Watercolor Painting, Original" so that people know what the painting is. When they search for paintings, they will see a bunch of them, so the description becomes more important. This would potentially solve your thumbnail problem. People will only see one fish out of the three, so it could perhaps pique their interest to see more and unveil the other two pretty fish :)
If you do want the entire picture to show up in the thumbnail, it has to be in a thumbnail that is shaped closer to a square, not a flat rectangle.
In other words, you want to make the picture look like this listing you have:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/107528620/watercolor-painting-of-a-rustic-country

There are a couple ways you can do this. You can retake the picture and crop it so that you leave room on both the top and the bottom of the painting, or you can take your cropped picture and add white space above and below the picture in a program like Paint. I'd be willing to do the second one for you, if you'd like, but it wouldn't look as good as the first option.

Also, with your sky acrylic painting, you want the opposite. Since the picture is taller than it is wide, you want some more white space on both the left and right side so that it'll show everything in the picture (both the top of the sky and the land below).

Hope this helps! :)

[Former_Member]

Also, I forgot to add that it 'could' be beneficial to leave your fish painting zoomed in on just the one fish so that the buyers can see the detail in the painting better, but it's your call because either option is a good option. ;)

[kennedyjanice]

Vito, This is extremely helpful. I'm eager to try out both techniques. I've never used Paint. Is it obvious how to add the white space around the photo? I might have to call on your help for a demonstration.

Thank you, thank you for the help. I still have so much learning to do about so many things. I hope I can learn enough to be as helpful to others as you and Chris have been to me.

[DoorCountyVintage]

Ellen your turn!

I like your banner and shop announcement,Your titles and tags seem to be good.I love that you ship worldwide and your products are awesome. I really only have one tip..

Photos the ones on the white background are great//they should all look like that!

I wish I could find more but you are doing real well in almost every facit of your shop.Including being over 100 items!

[DoorCountyVintage]

Ok Helen it's your turn..

Your banner is very cool! I love your art!..I love that you ship everywhere,
Your tags are ok..maybe work in more compound terms original acrylic art,art acrylic original etc.,

Now for the critique,
Your photos are not bad I'd figure out how to brighten them up though

Your titles are ok but Id put "original painting" first

Inventory If you have read prior critiques 100 is the magic number so get to creating :)

I hope that helps!

[Former_Member]

Wow! What great critiquing you have done for other shops. I would love if you could take a look at our shop and give any advice as you have the others! I would like to thank you greatly in advance:)

[DoorCountyVintage]

Ok Epic here goes!

I like your items,photos,titles and your banner!

Now for the critique

Tags. tags are one of the most important aspects of Etsy. They are your traffic generators use them ALL..here's one (custom art frame)

Inventory You want to stay around 100 you are 15 away you can do it! hahaha

Shipping You are severely limiting your potential by not shipping worldwide!
Get a shipping scale,weigh your pieces and go to USPS.com and calculate a price for Canada,Mexico,and everywhere else (Australia or China is normally where i set my rate)

Shop Announcement... Shop Announcement
Your shop announcement has two functions. It communicates to Google what your shop is about and it communicates to whomever is searching what your shop is about. Two different audiences, both equally important. Put your keyword phrase in the first line of your shop announcement. This will reinstate to Google what your shop is about.

Your other audience is a human being looking to shop online. With that in mind, write the first line of your shop announcement like it is an ad for your shop on Google. What will you say to compel the person on the other side of the screen to click on your link?

Basically, if your Shop Title is the “Google headline” for your shop; then, the first line of your Shop Announcement is the “beginning of the story”. So, make the story stick. Make the story click worthy for your potential client.

An Example.
A shoe shop by user name Morticia. Keyword phrase is “handmade leather shoes”.
On Google the listing link looks like this:
“handmade leather shoes (shop title) by morticia (shop name) on Etsy”
Unique handmade shoes made with high quality leather. Morticia specializes in custom shoes for women, men and children. Made with the finest leather and artisan brass buckles.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/morticia

Morticia has placed her keyword phrase in her Shop Title and in the first line of her Shop Announcement. She moved the words around to make it easier to read and understand. She created intrigue by adding the words “custom shoes” since her target market include people who like custom made shoes.

A Tip.
Do not use your shop user name as your shop title.
On Google the listing link looks like this:
“Morticia (shop title) by morticia (shop name) on Etsy”

Why not? This is because only the people who type the word “morticia” will find that shop. If you are already a very famous seller and people do Google your shop using your first and last name, or your Etsy shop name, or your business name, AND you don’t want to meet more clientele, then by all means, go with example number two.

Lesson 2: Your Shop Title and Shop Announcement must contain your keyword phrase for Google to figure out what your shop is selling. They also have to be convincing and interesting so that a potential client will want to click on your shop link and check out your shop’s merchandise.

Shop Listings Product Title
For good SEO strategy, you must place your keyword phrase in all your shop’s listings’ product titles. Why? Your product title works like your “tags” on Google search.

Imagine you are searching on Etsy. On the Etsy search bar you type “sugar scrub pineapple”. You are searching for sugar based body scrubs that smell like pineapple. Etsy will come up with shops that have those three words in their product listing’s tags. Tags is how people find your products on Etsy.

On Google, your keyword phrase acts like your tags. If you add your tags to all your listings’ product titles, then you have increased the chances of Google finding your shop whenever someone searches using your keyword phrase.

Your listings’ product title acts like another “headline” for your shop on Google. If it contains your keyword phrase, then it can be found by Google and listed higher in the results page.

I hope this helps!

[DoorCountyVintage]

have i forgotten anyone or anyone new need guidance?

[Former_Member]

Any feedback on my shop?It's still fairly new for me (really just started listing and selling items this past November)
I appreciate the forthcoming critique!

[Former_Member]

Ok Laura here goes...

I love your banner,titles,photos,the fact you ship worldwide.

critique

Tags it is essential you use ALL of your tags,explore every avenue to generate traffic to your shop. Think what would my customers search for?

custom stationary,stationary,personalized adress stamp,hand made etc


Inventory..100 is the key the more you sell the more you drive people to your shop.

I hope that helped, overall not bad!

[Former_Member]

Thank you so much Chris,
-- a couple questions on your comments though...

- so for tags, put terms that might be searched even if it's not what the item actually is? (stationery etc.) guess that seems counterintuitive to me but I could try it.

Inventory -- 100? I should have quantities of 100 on each, or total throughout the shop? I have been avoiding high numbers because all of my (stamp) items are custom, and I don't want more orders than I can handle to be coming in at once, I'm already spread pretty thin and maxing out my turn around time.

Once again, thank you!

[Former_Member]

Those stamps could be used as stationary letter heads couldnt they?

100 items throughout your shop. Perhaps hire a family member to do the small things or shipping or both.

[Former_Member]

Thanks for all the tips chris found them helpful ...
I have to work to get 100 items in though ..
As a newbie last year, I have changed my name twice , I had no idea what I was doing I dont think I can change it anymore , did not know about google name etc.. as its art I should have gone with art something ......
so much to learn .......