Would love critique help

[TheCraftWytch]

I'm not getting many views & only making about a sale a week if that. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[farburvur]

Hi, I think your work is great! I especially take notice of your tree of life suncatchers and your dream shadowbox...very nice!

You might want to consider matching your shop name to your shop banner because when people search for "Jewels by Jules" your shop "Julesw2" might not come up right away. Also in the titles for some of your pieces, like your tree of life "suncatchers", it doesn't say in the title what they are used for. Sometimes people also like to see pictures of something being used for it's purpose - maybe you could hang one up in a window and take a photograph of it?

The only other suggestion I would make is in the description underneath your banner/shop name maybe tell people right away what you are selling (e.g. rings, gemstone bracelets, suncatchers, home decorations..etc.)

Hope that helps a little, good luck!

[Former_Member]

Jules,

What exactly are you selling? When I go into your shop, your shop title says
""Jewels by Jules in Las Vegas "" and there isn't any shop announcement.

Your shop title and announcement should contain keywords related to what you are selling for the simple reason that if someone does a search for an item outside of Etsy, you want your shop to come up in the results. Right now you don't even show on the map.

What 'tangible item' are you providing with your tarot readings? On Etsy, each listing must be for a 'tangible item'. You may want to review those.

When it comes to item titles, I'd suggest that you not include hyphens in your titles as they can really mess up you being found in searches.

You might want to review some of your item titles as well. I'm not sure who would be shopping for an 'edgy ring that really stands out'.

Something to remember too is that there is the 'perceived value' of an item. When you list items for extremely low prices, people tend to equate that with low quality so you may want to rethink your prices.

When you list something for $1.50 for example, do you realize that after fees you are only getting $.91 to cover the cost of the supplies, cost of your time and your profit?
http://www.rolbe.com/etsy.htm
Even if you are only working for $10 per hour that's less than 5 minutes to make something without considering the supply costs.


Who is your target customer? Where are they? I'd suggest that if you want to generate more business, that you do some marketing outside of Etsy directly to your target market.

[TheCraftWytch]

farburvur - Thank you so much for your help! I changed the name of the shop.... "Jewels by Jules" was already taken.... so I changed the shop name & the banner name.

I love the idea of putting the suncatchers somewhere where someone can see what they look like - I will definitely do that soon.

I also will be sure to put "suncatcher" in the titles.

I also added a shop description....so hopefully that will help me out!

Thank you for taking the time to make all of these lovely suggestions!!! Jules

[TheCraftWytch]

crochetgal -
Thank you so much for your help.
I added a description of the products in the shop in several key places to that people will not only be more readily able to tell what is in the shop but also so that it can be found in a search. Thank you for that advice.

I looked through the Etsy Do's & Don'ts and I'm not quite sure whether the tarot readings & dream interpretations are okay or not. I did read the tangible item section that you mentioned. So I contacted Etsy's customer service asking whether or not I am allowed to sell those two types of items. If I am allowed to - I will keep them up. If they say they are not allowed - I will take them all down. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I have no intention of violating any etsy policies.

I will try to use less hyphens. I've been rather hyphen happy in titles...so I will go through and review the items with those in the titles.

I have tried so many different ways to title items in order to attempt to get more viewers. And it is NOT easy! Even when I use the search function to try and figure out what people have looked for recently. If you have any suggestions as to what people would actually search for I would be more than happy to change titles. That is something I absolutely do need a lot of help with.

I was putting some products at low prices hoping that maybe if someone buys one simple, small thing from me that they could see the quality of my items and then hopefully come back for more.

I took your advice under deep consideration and decided that I hope you are correct and so I put the rings at a price that I feel is much more fitting for them. Pricing items is always difficult for me. I'm always afraid that if I price something at cost plus a little extra for my own time and effort that it won't get purchased.

With sales being so low... I have often put items at below cost just to try to make back some of the money I have spent.

My target customer? I like to think I have a little bit of something for everyone.

Where are they? Anywhere in the world.

I do have a facebook account, I'm on a few facebook pages, I have a deviantart page & a blog. But none of those are really helping at all. Do you have any suggestions for good marketing places outside of etsy?

Thank you!
Jules

[Former_Member]

Jules,

One thing that you've got to remember with pricing is that if you start out being the lowest priced kid on the block and start getting sales, you are setting yourself up for just the people who are looking for the least expensive available. Then if you start to raise your prices, your market has then changed and those people will then gravitate to the lowest priced person again. So any momentum that you've built up will be lost.

I'd suggest that you think very carefully about your 'target customer'. Its not really anyone. If your target market is truly everyone, then I'd suggest that you pitch to your favourite blogs and see if they'll do a review for you.

I'm NOT your target customer as I'm not into Tarot readings at all. I'm also not your customer for jewellery because I've never purchased any jewellery on Etsy that wasn't less than $50.

If you've got a Facebook page, a deviantart page and a blog, and that's where your audience is, then that's where you should be reaching them.

I market my work through my own shop, my business cards, my own website, local art festivals and through various forums that I participate in that are geared to my interests.

I don't 'advertize' per se, but rather I simply include a link to my shop where permitted. That way if people want to know more about what's there, they can very easily check it out.

[Former_Member]

I have been reading lots of this advice on views, sales etc..
I am so slow on week day views and not even a sale a month. I have been at this for some time and was wondering if I am stuck in a rut?

[TheCraftWytch]

crochetgal,
Thank you for your honest critique and wonderful information. And thank you for letting me know that lowering my prices will not increase the flow of traffic.... unless I plan on keeping prices low all the time...which I don't.

I do give out to people I know & sometimes people I meet my business magnet. I send magnets & business cards with each order. I often have a link to my site on the bottom of my e-mail. I am going to do my first arts & crafts show this coming weekend.

But I don't have any forums, blogs I follow or my own website.

I feel like you are a fountain of knowledge but I'm not sure how to incorporate all of your advice.

Thank you,
Jules