@Aisha Don't just promote on Etsy, make sure that you get a wide variety of visitors, not just Etsy Sellers. Leaving links on outside websites, like Craftori and others also helps with your search engine rankings. Don't just think you're going after customers as such, you need to promote to get good rankings so that when someone does a search, they are more likely to find you.
@Rachel, you need to be a bit more specific with your question. Otherwise I will have to do an entire shop critique. You can Google on how to drive traffic to your Etsy store. I have some Guides that will help with that too.
I see, well I will just have to keep it up then ;) I did not realize that a shop with higher viewings shows up sooner if someone searches. Thanks for the tips!
@Aisha, it's not about higher viewings, it's about how many back links you have. Also, on Etsy (not search engines), listings that are most recent take precedence so if you do not renew regularly, your items will slip down the list.
I need some help with shipping...are there any resources out there that I could use to help find out a shipping cost? I don't want to overcharge and a I certainly do not want to undercharge which is what usually happens. Is there a good rule to follow? I also saw on one shop owners shipping profile she put..."If I overcharge shipping by more than $1 I will refund difference" . What do you guys think of that?
@Melody, You can weigh your items and packaging using digital kitchen scales, then go online with your postal service and do an online calculation. You'll get a precise rate that way.
I added a few items on Craftori the other day. I am really not expecting any views from Craftori because there is not a good category for lanyards or magnetic id holders there but I thought I would try it any way just for the heck of it.
So here is my dumb question: If I do happen to get a view on Craftori and someone clicks on one of our items from there - How will I know if I get view on Craftori that goes to our Etsy shop?
@AmyT, we cannot open a category when we get so little uploads in this category. Items are totally randomized on the site so you probably will get traffic. Moreover, we get excellent search engine traffic. It is our 3rd highest amount of traffic that we get.
If you get a click from Craftori, the url will show up in your stats on Etsy.
@AmyT, I'm afraid that won't really help since there are no other items in accessories that do not fit in their categories. That would mean that just your items would be in the misc category.
We will bear it in mind though and as the site gets busier, we will add more categories.
"Eureka Internet Guides from EurekaGuides says @AmyT, We are adding a category for lanyards since our tech guy also had to add a bookmarks category so he's doing them at the same time. :-)
I'll be moving all items submitted to the new categories for you."
Searching for answers here . . . I'm basically a rule-follower. The rules I've been following lately include emphasis on good SEO from titles thru tags. I work hard at it, and do a lot of researching of competitors, which brings me to my question:
How is it that a shop who follows none of the SEO protocols (that I can see), and who displays little relevancey in titles/tags/descriptions can sell daily, regularly, & at a fairly high price?? I truly don't begrudge them the sales, I just would like to know what they are doing that I'm missing. Is it posible that they are just considered "relevant" because of the volume of sales? This truly is perplexing. BTW, we are talking a Handmade shop(s); I have two specifically in mind (& I admire the work in both of them).
@Jordan, Just by looking at a store, it is impossible to know what kind of promotion they are doing. Also, if they are selling daily, they are in effect 'renewing' probably or relisting new stock. This will bring them to the top of the relevancy search and keep them there.
To be visible on Etsy it is vital to renew regularly, even if you have set up your listings for good SEO results, you'll still not do so well if you do not renew. Some of my customers (from EurekaGuides) renew as often as once every hour.
Cathy, Thank you! You confirmed my viewpoint about renewals/listings. That viewpoint was shot down by another SEO expert, who informed me that renewals (before expiration) were "nothing but a crutch for people with poor SEO". I do know that both the shops referred to above also do a fair but not excessive amount of social promotions, and they've both been in business a long time, AND both regularly add new items, as well as relisting above and beyond the sales. Before relevancy, "recency" was the operative word for success. I have a feeling that it may be a lot more relevant (still) than the powers-that-be would like us to think.
@Jordan, thanks so much for your kind words. Because I have 2 shops on Etsy myself, I do know from personal experience what works and what doesn't. Renewing has always been Etsy's 'secret'.
Just to give an example of this, I renewed an item this morning and immediately got spammed by a Nigerian scammer trying to get a painting without payment. Now how did he suddenly find me? This is not a coincidence. He had only joined Etsy today. If scammers can find me, then other people will too.
The reason an SEO expert will tell you that it is a lazy way out is because they are looking at it from an SEO point of view only. Renewing is not going to help you get better search engine results but it will help you to get found is someone is searching on Etsy.
As far as other promotions go, it is not necessary to do excessive promotion but just effective promotion. It is imperative that you give everything you try a good go and really commit yourself to a method of promotion. Whether that is Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest, it is important that you do it regularly and for several weeks in order to know whether it will work or not.
The other thing to remember is that with social media, the conversion rate will be extremely low and this is normal. This means that you need a large following before it will bring you results that you'll be happy with.
