Give me a break!!! Vent

[Former_Member]

Now it could be that I'm not crazy about my day job, it could be that I skipped my morning coffee, heck I'll even go out on a limb and blame the rain, but I'm out of my mind, hair pulling, feet stomping full on temper tantrum FRUSTRATED! I've had this shop for almost a year now and I am literally at my wits end. Although Im holding on firmly and refuse to give up, what does a girl have to do to get noticed around here?!??? Lol really a year? I'm "crossing my T's", "dotting my I's" and still nada! You name it, I've tried it short of standing on the freeway saying "buy my stuff please!"
I mean at least a glimmer of progress sheesh lol. Barely 20 views a day! I'm dying here!
Okay vent over, back to the sewing machine...

[RomaMiaTradingCo]

I understand your pain.

Try playing around with your SEO. It seems just ok. For instance, on this item, try: "Woman's Spring Floral Dress, Spring Party Dress," and have your tags reflect the title.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/225439139/floral-dress-ladies-wearwomens?ref=shop_home_feat_2

Also, how is your social media efforts? Try picking one or two, and use them. I use twitter and instagram. Read up on how to get a great following on them. I got the below guide for twitter. It has helped me immensely.

https://www.etsy.com/transaction/1029712980

Try talking with bloggers. Your items are super cute. Try getting featured somewhere. :)

I hope this helps!

[fishcouple]

I understand too!

In addition to Nikki's advice, maybe try to change a bit, like including some kids' wear, cute skirts? organic pants? pillow dresses? Just some thoughts! :)

[heartsabustin]

Instagram is your best friend.

[Former_Member]

Before you advertise on social, I'd recommend editing your preview images. A lot of them have the model cut off. Like the one in Nikki's example lol.

[Former_Member]

Thank you, thank you! For all your input guys!!! Every little bit helps!!!

[WaterStreetDesign]

I love your shop and clothing!!! The photos are really eye catching and cool. Don't give up!!!!!

[Former_Member]

Your store and the items in it look great and your photos are great. I would suggest trying to use all five picture slots. Also looking at the maxi dress you talk about the length of the dress but what about the size around the body. I would be wondering it I was going to be swimming in it and or stuffed in like a sausage. A little more written information may turn more views into sales. Good luck your stuff is very nice.

[CarolBradley]

Taking a fresh look at your shop from a buyer's perspective usually helps sellers. As a buyer - (1) do I have everything I need to know about the products; (2) do I like the return policy; (3) do the items look well-made; (4) can I tell if it will fit me; (5) do I know what it looks like from all angles; etc.

[ShopFoxburrow]

Your tags aren't really doing you any favors either.

Take this one for example:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/222862760/womens-rompersummer-outfits-party

Your tags should be something that a buyer is going to search. Always try to use whole phrases and not single words.

So instead of "style" (who would ever type that in the Etsy search bar?) you should say something like "size 4 romper" or "medium romper" --- now THOSE are things that people would actually type in. Try to get 13 of those.

purple romper
medium romper
size 4 romper
short romper
one sleeve romper
womens romper

etc, etc.

[CollectorsatticB]

Great topic and good reading here, thanks. i would just suggest being persistent.
CollectorsAttic B staff

[Former_Member]

I agree with everything that has been said focus on instagram, work on tags and titles, theres lots of great information on the etsy blog and seller handbook about SEO.

But I would like to add a few more in depth points:

Your pictures are mostly good and fresh/ colorful/ Fun. But some are not, And the overall effect is chaotic and messy. Now I know from experience this is THE hardest and most important thing about selling clothes and probably anything really on Etsy. But aim for consistency. Try to always get the same angles of each piece Front, Side, back, Detail and use every slot for a photo not your size chart. you can have a separate listing for that if nesessary. And I would strongly recommend the same location, again for consistency. So the photos that I would remove are the ones where the Item is not on a person, like the purple romper. It's very difficult to imagine how the item will look on a body and the one photo where it is being worn is not very clear. Remember that the very first time your item will be seen is gonna be a tiny thumbnail image among many other search results so it has to stand out and be striking.

Secondly I would suggest working on who your target market is. who is the woman who is buying your clothes? Some items look like she is a young woman, 18-25? who likes to go out and look vibrant and colorful, so maybe she parties and likes to be noticed. But then lots of kids stuff and accessories that would appeal to like a pre teen- teen category. When someone finds your shop they should feel like this is a place for them. Is a young party girl gonna feel at home in a store selling clothing for children? is a mom gonna want to buy clothing for her kids from a store where there are lots of sexy outfits for older women? Maybe you have two brands that need two stores and separate marketing/ social campaigns.

Now as a seamstress myself I can see some things in a few of your photos that I would not buy. For example, raw edges, messy finishes, synthetic looking fabrics. People need to be able to trust that what they buy from you is good quality and will be a sound investment. If they see anything that makes them think it might not be they won't be willing to gamble with their dollar. Your baby sets seem to be quite the opposite they look beautifully made inside and out! maybe focus more attention there or bring the same quality construction to your other garments.

And lastly: think like a buyer! what do you value when you shop on etsy? what photos grab your attention? how do the brands you love stay cohesive and put together? also think like a buyer when making tags, I do this everytime I'm making a listing, I think "if I wanted to buy this, how would I try to find it?" and search for that. Does it come up with good results? are there too many results? how can I seperate myself from the crowd? maybe 'eggplant romper' instead on 'purple romper' etc..

BEST of luck to you!! stick with it <3

[maydaylabels]

all decent advice, except that no one searches for "eggplant romper," like, ever (according to google's keyword tool)

there is no need to guess re: SEO and keywords. you must do the research to see what people actually search

[Former_Member]

Interesting, as far as I can tell you have to pay for adwords to use google keyword tool? so thats not gonna happen for us who are just starting up and have no budget for advertising. Honestly I don't understand SEO all that well and I do guess most of the time on my keywords and tags. I also spend time looking at similar items tags. how do you do it? could you debrief us on this adwords/ keyword tool business?

[Former_Member]

Thank you all for taking the time to help I totally appreciate the critiques, Wenojean I'm cutting and pasting yours in particular, it's raw and real exactly what I need, Thanks again to everyone especially those using the buyer perspective it really helps me get out of my own head.

[Former_Member]

Ananemone that's insane I was just lurking in your shop a few months ago I'm thinking about getting some tags from you guys! Lol.

[maydaylabels]

You do not have to pay to use google keywords

I don't buy adwords, I just use the tool

This team has a good rundown of how to do keyword reearch:
https://www.etsy.com/teams/10713/etsy-relevancy-seo-and-stats

The best advice I have is that it takes a lot of time to develop a sort of systemic understanding of how to build a business, and then some luck too. Big companies hire people to do their photography and marketing and SEO and product development and labor and social media and branding, and as a sole proprietor you have to do as well as you can at those things while competing with companies that can hire experts in those fields.

The SEO team will help a lot though, if you go through the pinned threads carefully.

[BrushStrokeOrnaments]

I'm surprised but no one seems to have mentioned this - add more items to your shop! It's really hard to get noticed on etsy - so much competition. One way to garner a bit more notice is to have more items top get noticed WITH!

I know that there is a controversy about how many items to have (should you have 100+?). But it really did help me. 100 listings is a nice goal to shoot for, anyway. And with more listings, you have more tags that you can use...and more ways to be found. You are listing and renewing more frequently - which helps you show higher in the rankings.

Good luck.

[BrushStrokeOrnaments]

Also - you need to include the following in each listing:

material type (cotton, lycra, nylon, etc)
care instructions - does it need to be dry cleaned?

For example, I won't buy something that needs to be dry cleaned... but your listings don't indicate this detail so I would shy away. Some people are very particular about fabric types (preferences, allergies, etc)

Most of your ladies items seem to be for "small" individuals (size 6 and under). You might give some thought to the average size woman and have a few options available...

Your pictures are great, by the way. But make sure you size the pics correctly so you are not cutting off heads when shown in thumbnail views on etsy.

[Former_Member]

Mathew and Sara,
I could not find this keywords tool, I could only find people saying it's no longer available for free and that you have to pay for adwords to get it. But i did find a few other keyword searches I may play around with. Thanks for the input, I'm gonna check out that SEO team too! this thread has inspired me to dig deeper in that area!

Jasmine,
I'm so glad you found it useful! I think community like this is the best way for all of us to grow our businesses!! :)

[Former_Member]

As far as sizing I think we tend to get caught up in "Mass Production" mind set the items are "handmade" which may be a foreign concept here on Etsy but as much as I'd like to make many at a time, I do construct fairly small - medium pieces to conserve fabric, but because I run a custom clothing shop I thought I was pretty clear the items were available for custom sizing. Maybe I should clear that up, Overall I'm coming to the conclusion that Etsy may not be a viable market place where one size fits all for ALL businesses, as much as I enjoy the supportive atmosphere (for the most part, I think occasionally people confuse "critique" with an opportunity to completely butcher someone's shop) anyway I think sometimes when there's to many fish in one pond you gotta swim up your own stream. But again I appreciate the feedback, this has really opened my eyes to what I should be focusing on. Thanks!!!!

[BrushStrokeOrnaments]

Just to clarify - Your listings clearly state that you will custom make orders for your customers. But people do like to purchase items that are already made and ready to ship. If you have a few things already made - especially in what is the most common women's size - you might log in a few more sales...

[maydaylabels]

Wenojean, you do not have to pay for it. Follow the instructions from the team I linked.

[RomaMiaTradingCo]

Etsy might not be the "one size fits all for ALL businesses" as you put it. But at least give all the other advice that was given a try and see if that works.

With your custom listings, I didn't even know you did custom listings until I read half way through your description. Try having "custom listing" in your title, or closer up in the description.

Have you tried taking your dresses to local boutiques? I know in my area, there are some boutiques that will by dresses from local designers. That might be worth looking into.