Hi Diane. I am new to Etsy also. I too have had dry spells and felt very discouraged. I am not an expert, but this is what I noticed with just looking at a couple of listings:
1. Take advantage of the length of your title. The titles are just one liners. What other words would someone search to find your items? Make your product titles as long as you can. HINT: search Etsy for similar items and use some of the words others use in their titles. This will help you fill your title section.
2. How many tags for your items do you have? These are important to make sure you are filling all that you can. I think there are 13 tags for you to use. Tags are descriptive words that someone may use to search for your item. Could your item be used as a mother's day gift, father's day gift, Halloween centerpiece, Halloween decor? I just gave you some tag words.
3. How many pictures of your items do you have? Etsy allows 10 pictures per item in your listing. Take a picture of your item being boxed so that buyers can see how their package will arrive. Front, back, side, top etc.
I hope some of these ideas help. As I said, I am no expert but I had to figure these things out. And I am still trying to figure out everything to being ranked high on Etsy. It is a long process and you will find that when something works, you will adjust other listings the same.
Also, in Devotion to Promotion you will find discussions like: Post 1, Heart 5. Check them out! You post a listing and then favorite or heart 5 above you and so on. At least that gets traffic to your site and you'll start getting hearts on your listings. I join in a group about every evening. Yes, a lot of work but I think it helps (or at least that is what I tell myself ).
If you can find seminars on how to make Etsy work, I would suggest finding them. They are a BIG help. Especially seminars from eshopmarketer (charles currey).
I hope this helps. Best wishes.
