Discouraged

[Former_Member]

I'm a little bit discouraged and could use some help. I've been selling on Etsy for more than a year now, and have not had a lot of success with sales. I know there are many jewellery sellers on here and it's a very difficult market to break into.

That being said, I've also discovered that my items rarely come up early in a search. For example, I searched "heart necklace" and gave up looking for my necklaces after 100 pages!!!!! I have a few necklaces listed that actually have the words "heart necklace" in the title, in the body, and in my keywords. I looked at the ones at the ones that came up in the first 10 pages of search results, and not all of them even had the words "heart necklace"....so why am I not showing up? I just can't figure out what I'm doing wrong :(

I've picked up tons of great ideas from this forum! You guys are so honest and so sharing and I would really appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks.

[TheCraftyChimera]

i imagine heart necklace is being searched quite a bit right now. did you recently post these items or have they been up a while? i'm not entirely sure why your heart necklaces aren't showing up but i would think it's because people are posting tons of heart jewelry right now

[Former_Member]

I always try to repeat my title in the opening sentence of my listing - http://www.etsy.com/listing/67919545/perfect-valentines-day-gift-purple-heart? I would try titling this piece Purple Heart Beaded Necklace Valentine Jade Pendant.... and then my first sentence would read something like....A Purple Heart Necklace just in time for Valentines Day....I list my tag words in the order of my title as well - Purple Necklace, Purple Heart, Beaded Necklace, Heart Necklace....don't give up - you will find what works!

[Former_Member]

not sure how that ? got in there:) hehehe

[Former_Member]

That little question mark turned up in one of my posting too???? :)
Loved your advice on this subject, Kim.

[EmeraldWellspring]

i have been having the same problem. i repeat exact phrases throughout my titles, descriptions and tags and still have issues finding my items in searches.

[Former_Member]

I'd consider brushing up on SEO. It helped me bump my listings to the top of searches. I'd suggest this SEO relevancy team - they've been really helpful: http://www.etsy.com/teams/10713/cindylouwho-team

[Former_Member]

SEO is hard and I have tried, but only about half my items can be found in search. It all depends on how you do it, and how much you are willing to learn. Don't be discouraged and just keep trying. I find that when I get frusterated with SEO that I take to Facebook, Flyers, or other promotional ideas that can still promote my shop, but keep it fun so I don't get discouraged.
Good Luck!

[AttentionGetting]

One, you need more adjectives. Heart necklace is too generic. You need something more specific such as "heart necklace gold", "heart necklace personalized", "heart necklace locket". It is tough with Etsy tags because there are limitations on the number of characters.

You can't rely on search to bring you customers or sales, the marketplace is just too big now. You really have to promote. Even though you are on a international selling site, start locally to build a following.

I wrote an article about how getting in your local newspaper can really drive your sales. It is on my blog. We can't put links in here but my blog url is on my shop and profile page. It will help!

[Former_Member]

Try renewing that one item!

[HoosiermammaV]

OK, I keep hearing this, but I really don't know what this is....SEO. What is it. Thank you.

[JoArtyJo]

I just did a search for heart necklace.
Interestingly, the first few items (I stopped looking after 5), all had thousands of views and were listed today.
I think search favours items with high views, and it is also known that recency plays a part.
As heart necklace is such a common term, I don't think you can realistically compete with these other well established items in etsy search right now, not for such a popular search phrase.... I would focus efforts on promoting outside of etsy.
Also, as mentioned above, try describing your item more specifically, and see how you come up in more specific searches which your target customers may be making.

[Former_Member]

Thanks everyone for your comments. Actually, the purple jade necklace that Kim is referring to isn't one of the ones that I looked up in the search engine. But it didn't appear either :)

For the 2 that I'm talking about, I actually changed them to include the words "heart necklace" in the title, in the text body, and in the keywords. Then I renewed them both. But it didn't make a difference. That's what I can't figure out!!!

I'll keep trying for sure, but when you do everything you're supposed to do, hard to figure out why it's not working. I do a lot of marketing on Facebook and Twitter as well, but it's Etsy that's confusing me the most :)

Thanks again.

[Former_Member]

A big thing I think you should work on is the photography. Try and take your pictures in natural light but also indirect sunlight! Sometimes I take over 100 pictures before I get one I like. Don't settle when you are choosing which pictures to put in your listings. And yes, as other people said, work on your SEO, the first 3 words matter a lot!

[Former_Member]

Tags and titles are why you aren't getting found.

The first item I look at:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/113046026/perfect-valentines-day-gift-gold-pearl?

"Perfect Valentines Day Gift - Gold Pearl and Crystal Dangle Earrings - Here's My Heart"

Does not make use of keyword phrases that will get you found. If you want to get found, you need to accurately describe your item in the title using as many keyword phrases as possible, and then pick those up with your tags.

You also need to get found in categories that have less than 60k items. Valentine's Day? Over 200k, and totally random things that have nothing to do with what you are trying to sell or promote. GB Oliver has a point... adding adjectives will help with that.

Maximize the use of characters in your title... there are 150. Use all character spaces in your tags if possible... there are 20. And use all 13 tags. Make phrases things that people would search for.

You have some good examples of tags but they also need to be keyword phrases in your title (and vice versa... no gold pearl or crystal dangle in your tags???):

gold earrings
crystal earrings
wedding jewelry
wedding jewellery
dangle earrings (add adjective)
heart earrings

Instead of having two separate tags combine these into one:
matching jewelry set

These are not terms people will be able to find you with:

matching set
spoiled rotten
heart
Valentines Day gift
Valentines Day

I know why you want to use Valentine's day as a tag and in your title, however I would suggest as GB Oliver says promoting outside of Etsy for Valentines Day rather than using it in your SEO. I think there are better categories for you to get found in.

And finally... are these real pearls or glass? Are the crystals swarovski or not? Make all of the materials you use totally clear in your description.

[PiecesofMeCardsnMore]

The relevancy search results favor items with high views, hearts, amount of treasuries and sales (items that are relisted after a sale). That's why it's helpful to join teams where you can get your items viewed and favorited. When someone favorites your item, everyone in their circle sees it in their activity feed. The more popular items are the ones that come out on top in relevancy results.

[Former_Member]

Your photography needs a bit of work to be honest, this listing:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/82190256/mother-of-pearl-necklace-bracelet

is so dark I can't tell what the colours are!

Trying shooting in natural light (on a chair or table next to a window works wonders!), and if the light is too bright, stick a piece of baking or tissue paper to the window to diffuse the light. Try and give your shop a cohesive look by shooting all your images in the same style ie: textured underneath, all on the necklace stand etc etc

[Former_Member]

There is a team called SEO & Relevancy. check it out. There are members on this team that really help you with tagging, titles, and SEO. I am a member and have gotten a lot of help in this area. I, too, have trouble being seen because my booties are in a very popular category but I am getting further up front in the search pages. Of course, I can never find my items in "browse" which really frustrates me......

[Former_Member]

Don't feel discouraged. We all get moments when we feel low and not doing as well as we should. To be honest I'm feeling like that right now! I have been here for almost a year and haven't done as well as I would of liked.

Jewellery is very very hard.

My shop is not perfect, but do take a look, for SEO and tag examples.

Good photos, descriptive titles and SEO, relevant tags are all very helpful!

[Former_Member]

Oh I never find any of my items in the browse jewellery section. Unfortunately, the first page is full of the same item being claimed to be handmade by various different shops.

[Former_Member]

Etsy seller handbook photography suggestions:
http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2012/the-seller-handbook/#photography
Good photos are key. They'll take some time and there is a learning curve but its worth it.

Once your photography is better you might want to try joining some treasury teams for publicity and camaraderie.

SEO= Search Engine Optimization. Its how people find your items using tags and keywords.

Try typing potential keywords in the etsy search box and see how many things show up. For example, when I typed in 'crystal heart pendant' there were over 15,000 entries, but for 'crystal heart charm' there were 8,896 entries. I try to come up with tags and keywords that are about 3,000-5,000 items so mine are more likely to be at the top. Some of my tags are more general (more competition) but quite a few are more specific.

Renewing on a regular basis might help too but it doesn't seem to do much for me.

Good luck!!!

[Former_Member]

What Joann said: just did a search for heart necklace.
Interestingly, the first few items (I stopped looking after 5), all had thousands of views and were listed today.
I think search favours items with high views, and it is also known that recency plays a part.

...................
Items with thousands of views that were listed today, means the seller is relisting...possibly quite often. When I started on Etsy I couldn't figure out how an item that was newly listed could already have so many views. It didn't make sense. Turns out they were newly RE-listed. I've heard of sellers who relist their best-sellers every day ...one seller said she relists her hot item every HOUR!!! It feeds upon itself because the more views, the more relevant and the more recent, the more relevant, and the more relevant, the earlier in search, which means more views, etc etc

Those 20 cents add up though, and I imagine Etsy makes a nice chunk of change on that.....

[Former_Member]

Thank you SO much for the excellent suggestions. I'm going to do them all :) Starting with tags and titles!! Then photos.

I appreciate the time you all took to have a look at my shop and provide this feedback. You guys are the best :)

Nancy