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[inspiringcolor]

Hi -- I'm new to the Beginner SEO team. I joined because I really don't understand SEO and marketing. My shop is doing pretty well, but in spite of that my views are down 25-50% from last year and I'm nervous the downward trend will continue. Obviously, I'd like it to be going up.

I guess my shop in lots of ways is successful due to lots of listing and relisting and prayer!

I'd appreciate any advice. I hope this is the right place to ask it.

[Former_Member]

Hi Jill,

SEO is simply 'Search Engine Optimization' or a fancy term for 'writing a title that describes what is being sold.

So a title that reads 'afternoon delight' really doesn't convey what is being sold at all. But a title that says 'Creamy caramel chocolate afternoon delight fudge' makes your mouth water.

So even though you call your fudge 'afternoon delight', if you don't say 'fudge' in the title people will never find it when searching for fudge.

I've found that if I'm marketing to my target customer that I really don't need to be doing a lot of renewing of items except when something is about to expire.

My views have dropped significantly as well in the past year or so but my overall sales have increased. So from that I can only conclude that I'm reaching my target customer much better with my marketing.

[inspiringcolor]

Thanks Crochetgal ...

I see your point about SEO. I thought that someone said somewhere (so scientific) that if too many of your titles are repetitive (i.e., most of mine start with "tie dye") then the listings will get skipped. I was kind of wondering if that might be happening and if I need to tweak things.

I was looking at my stats on visits and bounce rate, etc. from Google Analytics and they were kind of grim. However, if I look at Etsy stats, my sales are better than last year. I was kind of surprised. Unfortunately, if I'm not on it regularly, my views and sales plummet when I'm not renewing or listing. Wish it were different! It might be that when you sell something and relist it, it's performing the same function as renewing and listing and helping you be to front and center in your market.

Part of it is that my sales have dropped just recently -- as silly as it may sound, I was really discouraged that I went three days without a sale and looking like it's going to happen today as well. It's perhaps harder when you're used to selling two or more items per day.

I'm just trying to think of what I may need to do to give my shop a boost ... and since I'm sort of guessing and hoping for the best, I thought I'd ask.

Jill

[Former_Member]

Jill,

I wouldn't worry at all about your items beginning with the phrase 'tie dye' at all.

I have the same problem when it comes to finding different ways of saying 'ball of yarn'. There are only so many ways.

Even though the period between August and May is my busiest season where I'm shipping multiple packages each day, there are still days when I don't have a sale at all. But they do come eventually.

So hang in there!