Giving Search Ads a second shot

[IslandPicnic]

I have to say, I was pretty disappointed with the first week of Search Ads. No sales from it. :(

I was all ready to give up completely, but then I thought maybe I didn't promote the right products???

I had selected some of our biggest sellers in general - our sandwich and snack bags - BUT... they sold like crazy in August, at back to school time, and maybe they're just not hot sellers right now.

So....... I'm trying it once again. This time, with our Eco Halloween Bags!!! HELLO timing, right??? When you search for "Halloween Bag," there are over 9,000 results!!! I'm hoping this helps ours get noticed, too!!! They're real cute!!! (Not that I'm biased or anything - NO WAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!!)

Anywho, I'll keep you all updated with our results!!! :-D

[MicheleSky]

I tried the Search Ads last week and was very disappointed. I promoted everything in my shop(63 items). I got alot impressions(about 500 a day) but very few views(only a handful or less a day) and no sales. Do you think it would work better if I promoted only certain items?? I chose the $10 option when I did the ads last week.
I'm looking forward to hearing how you do with the ads this week! I hope it works well for you!

~Michele

[Former_Member]

I tried two different ways.

1. promoting a section in my shop with lots of keywords for $5. I got almost no views from it.

2. Promoted just 5 items (all buntings) from my shop with very focused keywords for $10. Lots of impressions, almost no views.

At this point I'm done spending money on something that is not working. I also have yet to hear one person say they feel search ads ARE helping. I'd love to know if anyone out there has had a good experience and/or has some tips to make them work for you.

[Zehland]

I have noticed that when searching for paintings in my art category, the ads are for anything but paintings - I mean way out there! This discourages me from trying them.
But I've heard of a couple of people who have had luck with very focused ads. I'll be interested to hear how it goes for you.

[Former_Member]

Can someone please help explain Search Ads to me? I'm so confused!

[1AEON]

They way I understand is: Technically, for $! you can put your item or listing on the top of the list if someone search for it. impressions / views...Im sure that is a link to the actual post, hold on....ok, this is what i found: http://www.etsy.com/teams/7714/ideas/discuss/9016264/ but you can find more stuff on it, at the forums or in team discussions.

[PrairiePrimitives]

Search ads are another way for Etsy to make money. :-)

But if you're determined to try them, as I was, you can promote your entire shop, a particular section of your shop, or specific items. You tell Etsy how much you're willing to spend each week (from $1? to the sky's the limit). Etsy will show you a list of possible keywords and you can weed out ones that don't seem relevant to your items or shop; unfortunately, you don't get to choose the keywords, however there is some correlation between your tags and the keywords, so if there's a word/phrase on the keyword list (see link below) which you'd like to use, be sure you're using that word/phrase in a tag for at least one item and it *should* become a keyword option for you.

More info here: http://www.etsy.com/blog/news/2011/search-ads-on-etsy/

The list of all possible keywords is here: http://www.etsy.com/search-ads/keywords

More on keywords: http://www.etsy.com/help/article/1036

Background info on how Etsy serves the search ads: http://www.etsy.com/blog/news/2011/behind-the-curtain-how-we-serve-search-ads/

Hope this helps!

[indiaylaluna]

I tried the ads one week, my whole shop. Lots of impressions but almost no views. No sales.

I'll not going to spend money on the ads again....

[Quiltwear]

I tried the ads for my whole shop, then switched to one section. I had lots of impressions but very very few views.

So I stopped.

[ZorroPlateado]

I'm trying them again too. I was so disappointed the first week..no views at all. This time I'm just doing selected items. They started this morning..hope I see some results!

[KellyJSorenson]

I tried ads the first week and it bombed. I had one sale from it but that just paid for my ads. I started with the whole shop, then changed it to one section.

I'm trying it again starting today. I made two special listings showcasing the two main sellers in my shop. The main image on each listing is a collection of that particular item. So far in one hour I've gotten 80 some impressions and one view. I'll be watching it very closely.

One thing I do want to mention is when I put up my ads, I relisted certain items to surround them. When I relisted those items, they all got views and two got hearts. Makes me rethink my old relisting tactic. Maybe not everyone is USING the relevancy search?

[Former_Member]

I haven't tried the ads because my tag reports are doing pretty well right now. I think my aversion to the option so far has been, noticing irrelevant ads for items when doing my own searches. Since keywords are scaled in price by popularity (so I hear,) I'm wondering if this is adding another layer forcing buyers into looking at more pages to find "the" item they want.

Thanks for everyone sharing. I'm interested on how the usefulness of the ads as time goes on. It's still early.

[Former_Member]

I just started Search Ads. I chose only one section from my shop and used targeted key words. So far, only one view, but they started yesterday morning. I set a pretty low budget just as a practice, so we'll see!

[NeonStarss]

I tried it, ton of views & hearts 1 sale. I won't try it again. Doesn't even out for me.

[littlehipsqueaks]

I tried it last week, I had 58 views in about 4 days, 2 favorites and 2 sales. I'm doing the $15 option though, and only just doubled that with the sales. I'm going for week #2, but I think using showcase is a better use of my moolah.

[IslandPicnic]

Anyone having any luck with their Search Ads? I'm ending my second week with just my Halloween Bags, and still no sales. Actually, no favorites this week either.

I sold two of my Halloween bags yesterday, but not because of Search Ads. I'm only allotting $2 per week, but I thought maybe one sale???

I'll keep them going for one more week, then I believe I'm done.

[DingandKennie]

I tried it last week and got lots of views, likes and only 1 sale. The sale was for one of my higher priced items so it paid off. I think my tags are pretty relevant so I'm not going to try the search ads again.

[Former_Member]

My Search Ads experience was a huge waste of money. I was so excited that MAYBE this would be something good but really Etsy is just make a lot of money off of this. I got more sales from relisting 25 items for $5 than I did on Search Ads...I hardly got any views and no favorites at all. I wish Etsy would try something new!