Do I have too many types of items?

[Former_Member]

Hello, I was reading a thread early that was talking about advertising. It stated that the more types of items you have the more advertising you have to do to get noticed. Is it because my shop looks to cluttered? I am wondering if this is true because I haven't had a sale in a really long time. I have been working the last two weeks on making my titles and tags better which has increased views a lot but not sales. Also, if anyone wants to give a different critique that would be great. Thanks so much.

I really want to try and be successful on Etsy but have been a little discouraged lately.

Feedback would be awesome!

Thanks again, Jen.

[Former_Member]

Your shop is advertised as a unique knitted gifts..so I don't think have a variety of knitted items is a bad thing. I wish I could be more help but I'm still in the 0 sales club haha.

[BrideinBloomWeddings]

Hi Jen cute shop! Definitely not to many types of items, all your items work together well. You could have more items though. I started getting regular sales around 100 items :)

[Former_Member]

I don't think your shop is cluttered.
I love your items Jen and I think the variety is good, but I understand where you're coming from because when you sort by category and you've got a page of for example those absolutely gorgeous baby hats it looks more cohesive and I suppose more professional. If you did decide to be more specialised would it be hats? They really were my favourites:)

[Former_Member]

I don't think you fall into the category of having too many types of items because all of your items fall within the same craft (or at least similar craft, as I see you knit and crochet!). I think that general rule applies to trying to sell things that are not connected in any way - like knitted pieces, greeting cards, vintage housewares, etc. Then your shop begins to look unfocused and perhaps cluttered.

Your things are so cute and well made, and I don't know why you've had a drought lately. I haven't made a sale in my shop for a long time, either, and I've been discouraged lately, too! Hopefully things will improve as we get deeper into the holiday season!

[JMMStudios]

Jennifer I don't think you have too many different items in your shop. I think lack of sales is due to time of year and maybe you need more items. I'm in the same boat as you and judging by the replies we are not alone. Good luck!

[Former_Member]

For me no bearing on your case because your products are related. All the hits!

Ludmi

[Former_Member]

All of your items are very cohesive. They are either crochet or knitted. I see you have different categories for your different items, that's good. You may also want to put hats with hats, baby hats together, headbands together, gloves together, and scarves together and then misc items together. People like cohesion it flows better to the eyes. Your items are really nice. What are you doing regarding advertising? Do you re-list often? You can advertise your items for free at www.etsylush.com and you don't have to belong to the team. I put my things on there. I also tweet, fb and have a blog. Then there's heartsy, pinterest, crafpolis, and many more. Oh also search ads. I'm still working hard on this. I do a lot of treasuries which I love doing and am trying to connect with other etsians in the forums. You have a good product I think it's getting exposure that will now be what you really have to work at. I wish you the best and much success in your endeavors.

[Former_Member]

I think when folks say "different kinds of items", they mean knitted items and hand painted watercolors, etc.

I think you can have a thousand different items, and as long as they all fall under the same category, such as knitted, then you're all set.

We fall under the other situation for sure! When we're fully stocked, we'll be carrying original painted art, art dolls, photographs, and music.

I think/hope eventually we'll have to branch off into a different shop to accomodate those differences. The challenge will be keeping the look cohesive in the meantime.

~Linda

[Former_Member]

Thanks everyone! I have thought that I need to add more items. Thanks for the advice!

For advertising I only use Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest for now. I eventually want to start a craft blog though. thanks for the tips.!

[StarJewels]

I don't think you have too many kinds of items at all, because they are all knit items. It's not like yo are selling knits and refrigerator magnets. In fact I think you should have more types of items- specifically as toddler and child knit hats. I have a thing for adorable handknit hats with flowers and ears etc, and found a ton of ones I liked for my baby when she was a newborn (I had a serious addiction, bought like 15 of them) but now that she is 15 month it seems like the is so much less selection, and I still love handkint flower hats for her. So many sellers just seem to do newborn.

[Former_Member]

Jennifer I wanted to let you know there is a discussion on etsy success about advertising. This is the name of the discussion: Successful shop promotions for free. Lot's of good info and links, you might want to check it out!! :)

[Former_Member]

great thanks!!!

as for making kids hats I am kinda lost. Its really hard to know what size kids/ babies heads are besides newborn unless they are custom orders with the head size. Great idea though!

[Former_Member]

I love your shop, these items are so sweet and look really well crafted.