Former_Member
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Critique Needed, I know no one like doing them!

Please help me. I know most people are hesitant about giving critiques; it takes time and energy, but I need the help. I really don't want to have to close my shop, but my sales have tanked. A few points:

1) Is my shop cohesive? Should I split into more than one?

2) Tags, titles, and SEO- I find this subject so frustrating and I'm not sure if I'm doing it right

3) Pricing: At one point I raised prices on some things quite a bit and my sales went up. Does the pricing seem right and consistant?

Thank you in advance!
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Re: Critique Needed, I know no one like doing them!

Ann-

On a very, very quick look, you've got lots of good looking button items Button things seem to be very popular right now, so I'd suggest putting button & the item name (ex. button brooch) at the very front of your titles. And upcycled if it's appropriate. Ditto for vintage on the buttons.

I'll try to check tomorrow or Tuesday to see if you've gotten any responses and look more closely at the shop.
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Former_Member
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Re: Critique Needed, I know no one like doing them!

Thanks!
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Re: Critique Needed, I know no one like doing them!

With more than five pages of items, a second shop wouldn't be a terrible idea if you don't mind it. It seems to have a solid style of its own.

For tags, on:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/98323826/jewelry-brooch-vintage-button-shades-of
I noticed that you have the tag "brooch broach" and the tag "brooches broaches." First off, you are not supposed to tag items that way, they should be phrases that make sense or individual words. "Blue broach" is fine, same with "metallic brooch." Second, I have found that Etsy searches usually have the item show up whether someone searches for the plural form or not. I had an item tagged with "short chain," and it showed up when someone typed in "shorts" and most others have worked that way so far. So get rid of your tags that look like that, because they mean you'd show up highest if someone typed it in the way you tagged it, which I don't think is as likely as them just typing "brooch."

Some suggestions I would give for tags for this item are:
"blue felted brooch"
"navy button broach"
"upcycled jewelry"
"retro brooch"
"sky blue jewelry"
"rhinestone brooch"

You can use www.craftopolis.com combined with Google Analytics to track exactly which tags on your items have been searched and which have not more easily than on Etsy, and it shows you which page they found your item on. This makes it much easier to know which tags are keepers.

When you are not sure which combonations of words would be best, type in a word that describes your item in the searchbar. The phrases that pop up have been searched for recently, so use one (or several) that applies to your product!

The first three words in the title should ideally describe your item on their own. Blue Button Brooch, Upcycled Vintage Brooch, or something along those lines would be great. Then you want to take one or several phrases from the title, and copy them into your tags as is. So if you picked "Blue Button Brooch Vintage Jewelry Shades Of Blue Cornflower Royal Navy Azure" as your title, you should have "Blue Button Brooch," "Vintage Jewelry," and "Shades of Blue" in your tags.

For SEO, you should take one phrase from the title and use it at least three times in the description, or so I have heard. I would not do it if it didn't work with the description.

I noticed that for http://www.etsy.com/listing/65147265/zippered-shouler-bag
there is a typo in the name, might want to add that d.

For pricing, always price it at what you are comfortable with. Other people's advice can be nice, but it really comes down to what you want/need to be paid.

On a more positive note, your photos are lovely, not blindingly white at all, but enough to make your items really stand out.
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Former_Member
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Re: Critique Needed, I know no one like doing them!

Just read the SEO insight provided by Jessica. Thanks so much - very helpful consolidated bit of information!
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Former_Member
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Re: Critique Needed, I know no one like doing them!

You're very welcome!
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Former_Member
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Re: Critique Needed, I know no one like doing them!

Thank you so much! I'm embrassed about the typo, I can't believe I missed that. I will spend the next few days redoing my tags and titles.
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Former_Member
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Re: Critique Needed, I know no one like doing them!

You are welcome! Don't be embarrassed lol, a friend caught my mispelling of the word trillion in a ring's title the other day. I could have sworn I had spellchecked it, but it turns out I had only corrected the tags and description.
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Re: Critique Needed, I know no one like doing them!

How helpful!!!!!
Best wishes,
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Re: Critique Needed, I know no one like doing them!

Your button brooches are very cute. Love the colors and design. I noticed you aren't using all your photo slots. Definately do this, the 3-5th are a perfect place to show the item in use. You suggest using it on a purse or jacket, why not show that. I think if a customer sees it in use, it will make them more likely to purchase.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/98365325/jewelry-brooch-vintage-rhinestone-button
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Re: Critique Needed, I know no one like doing them!

I think you could add more info to your descriptions- your photos draw me in, but your description does not tell me how special your item is and why I *need* to buy it!

Also- I love your necklaces, but your photos don't show the entire item, so I don't know how they fasten up etc. I would never buy something if I had onl seen a picture of part of it, if that makes sense. Here is an example:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/88318584/jewelry-necklace-vintage-button-collage

As a potential customer, I am thinking: I only like 16" necklaces as I feel they sit better. This says 18" adjustable but I don't know what it adjusts to.... And I would like to see how it works.

Also, as others have suggested, photos of a model or mannequin wearing the necklace would also help.

Think of those impulse buyers browsing your shop, answer every potential question you can think of, show them how beautiful your item is (including how it's packaged), and tell them why they must buy it!!

Good luck! Your work is really beautiful :-)
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Former_Member
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Re: Critique Needed, I know no one like doing them!

I've just glanced at one listing and you unfortunately have a lot of illegal tags in it. E.g. floral flower and sky ocean sea are not allowed as they are classed as tag stuffing. Say flower necklace or floral brooch, not use the two words together. Also be careful with using the word vintage as the pieces are not vintage. If you are going to use that word attach it to another word e.g. vintage buttons.
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Former_Member
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Re: Critique Needed, I know no one like doing them!

Thanks so much for the compliments and suggestions! I will be "legalizing" all of my tags and add more to the descriptions.

Joanne- I didn't think of showing the clasp! I'll definantly do that now. I'll also take some pics of my packaging.

Natasha & Joanne- I don't get the chance to take pictures of everything on a model, so sometimes I include a picture of something similar that has been modeled. eg:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/87884353/vintage-fried-marble-earrings-creamsicle
The last picture is not of the item for sale, but similar to give a general idea of size. Is that okay, or is it confusing?
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Re: Critique Needed, I know no one like doing them!

In the listing you posted above, I had to look for the earring in that last photo. I just thought it was a photo of you or something...

I would also suggest maybe taking the patterns out and putting those in another shop or (dare I say it...) Ebay if you don't have time for two shops. The patterns just don't make sense to me as to why they're there.
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