0 sales, zilch. :( what is wrong? help please!

[Former_Member]

Any and all help is HUGELY appreciated... would like to be proactive and fight off these doldrums by fixing the problems, but what should I fix?

[Former_Member]

Your shop is very new and it takes a long time for new shops to get found and noticed on Etsy Relevancy searches and make sales

You should fight off the doldrums, start promoting and marketing.

[ArtbyHeroux]

I see you're not following any other shops. It's very helpful and fun to be active with other shops helping each other out. Connection are a nice part of Etsy!
I like your shop :)

[JudyStalus]

I cannot even imagine how following someone else's shop, which just means seeing what they favor, can possibly help anyone sell anything.

[PotteryLodge]

I keep questioning my shop as well, just 1 sale and have been open 1 month. Its not a bad thing, just like the other replies have said, new shops take time and lots of promoting outside of etsy to get found. You should also follow other shops, be active in teams and treasuries.

[PotteryLodge]

@ judy

when you follow, chances are they follow and your new items will show up in their feed, the more people that see your items the higher of a chance of sales and getting seen!

[Former_Member]

You've been open for a month but you have no fans on facebook! First off make your friends become fans, and have them share your page. I get most of my business off of facebook! Make sure you update facebook and twitter daily, even if its just talking about the weather, keep it active and interactive!

Utilize teams, and treasuries. Follow some shops, comment, favorite items! BE ACTIVE on etsy!

I disagree about being 'new'. I've seen new shops make 3 sales on their first day, and sales EVERY DAY. I wasn't one of them, but it IS possible. You need to get your work out there, and in peoples faces! MARKET MARKET MARKET. If you don't, no one will.

Research SEO, tags, descriptions, and titles. Constantly change it up and update. And try to add new items to your shop every week. I try to daily. Whenever you can update!

After you update -market it! I have a checklist. When I list a new item I immediately post on facebook, and twitter. Then Pinterest and Wanelo. Then I make a treasury related to the item. I'm new as well, but I'm making a few sales- I put 4x the amount of time I spend making an item into marketing it. It takes HARD work to make sales!
Remember, you get OUT what you put IN. Goodluck, hope that helped :)

[PotteryLodge]

jennifer I liked your facebook page. your shop is very well organized, pictures are beautiful and so are your products. just keep promoting, facebook, twitter, instagram!

[Former_Member]

Try using all five picture slots. Show the card, the envelope, the insert, packaging, anything you include. Stage your pics to give buyers an idea of exactly what they'll receive and how they can use the product. Then promote, promote, promote.

[VeraJayne]

Love your shop, Jennifer - hearted it. Don't give up!

Join some good teams too, make treasuries and don't give up - sales will come :)

[Former_Member]

Try changing some descriptions/titles so they don't ALL say "personalized stationery"....revise some to "name cards", "monogram cards", "blank cards"...so that you'll get found better in search engines.

Also use all five photos....small items can look great in "creative" settings for the third, fourth, and fifth photo (on a desk, with a cool pen, etc)

[Former_Member]

Also use the color names in your titles and descriptions...customers search by color (my neighbor adores anything purple) and so do people making treasuries

[Former_Member]

I agree, stick with it and don't give up yet. You are just beginning. Some shops take moments to make a first sale and others take much longer. I didn't make my first sale until months after I opened shop. It takes time. Promote like crazy on teams and you'll get there. Keep in mind that Etsy is a huge market and sometimes it takes a little while to get a bit of recognition.

[AdamRabbit]

You are just starting and your shop looks awesome, just keep trying!

[PaperandDots]

Really nice shop! Liked you on facebook as well.

[AnnaMariaLocke]

I sell blank note cards too, and I've found that if I mix up the titles so that some listings start with "thank you cards" and some start with "birthday cards" I get found a lot more. And your cards can definitely be used for those purposes! The most-used keywords according to my stats page are "paper goods", "thank you cards", "birthday card", "birthday cards", and "greeting card". Try adding those to your tags and I guarantee you'll get more hits because your cards are adorable!!

[JewelMeShop]

Jenifer your shop is excellent! I like your items and your photos. I agree with what others have already mentioned, try to be active on etsy by favoriting other shops, making treasuries and be active on teams.
I've also noticed that all of your titles are almost the same. The first 3 words are very important to get found on search. It's better to use different words in titles. For example try to use synonyms for personalized.
Good luck!

[Former_Member]

Oh my gosh! Thank you for all the lovely tips and support! I went for a big long walk and came back to such wonderful activitiy! forgive my overuse of exclamation points, but you have all been amazing!

I am actually just running out to meet with my lovely sister-in-law for a social media tutoring lesson. Will come back later and properly read all your wonderful tips!

Thank you to all you lovely etsians!

[1AEON]

nice shop.
-I would use all 5 slots for the photos.
-perhaps a cohesive banner/avatar relation.
-patience! for sure:)
-work that social media sites. I'm on like 20 hah!
:) it will take off, just need to work it.

[Former_Member]

PROMOTE! This is what I have been learning recently. Get followers on facebook, add and follow people on here and join lots of teams to promote your store. It takes a lot of time, but I have personally found it is well worth it if you put in the effort. Good luck!! Do love your store. :)

[Former_Member]

1) Remove that "opening sale" ASAP, it only makes you look desperate and will not help sales (desperate=not cool, happy=attracts people). Many people (including myself!) made the same mistake when we started.

2) Your items look gorgeous, so you're definitely off to a good start, but you need to offer more variety of paper goods. Have you done market research, how popular are stationery sets nowadays? Can you also offer notebooks, recipe books, greeting cards - just more varieties of paper stuff? The more varieties you offer, the bigger chance that people will find your shop and like something. Do your market research and find out what else is popular in that field that you could offer.

3) for such a narrow, specialized niche market, you really need to do your own marketing and advertise your stuff where your target market can see it and come to your shop.

4) your tags look pretty good, but titles should contain ALL the keywords from your tags.

good luck :)

[LovgrenandDaughter]

Mel makes a good point about color - you can't please everyone but I think of making it optional make be a good start.

Are you working your marketing plan? Do you have a marketing plan? Seller's handbook has some great ideas about working/formulating a plan.

Your shop beautiful and very professional looking. And I wish I had your photography skills. Now just draw customers in :) lol I know it's not that easy.

Best of luck!

[smijims]

Although stationery (with an E) is the correct spelling for paper goods, you may want to add stationary (with an A) to your tags and titles as an alternate (albeit incorrect) spelling.

[EnchantedCircle1234]

Your shop is lovely. I too have not sold yet....I put a few pieces of jewelry at Christmas, but the shop actually got started after the holidays. I am slowly taking the advice of my teammates. I have a Facebook page and am working on that as well. I absolutely know the items will sell. We just need to mark our favorites, find shops to follow...listen to these shop owners and follow their advice. The best of luck to you.

[Former_Member]

One of the best things about selling on Etsy is the very supportive and encouraging community of sellers.

Good tips and ideas here as well.

Hang in there and you should start selling very soon.