Help! Please criticize my shop. Many Many Thanks!!!

[Former_Member]

Dear all,

My shop sells my handmade leather jewelry and small items. I have opened my shop for almost 3 months, and have sales 1 time per month.

I have already used facebook, twitter, pinterest, wanelo, reddit, joined some Etsy Teams and posted my new listings into Etsy forum to promote my shop, but there is no improvement on my sales.

May I know any problem of my shop, such as the products, photograph and pricing. Also, I have different style of products in my shop, which style do you prefer more?

Million thanks for your help in advance!!!

Starry

[nefertitijewelry2009]

HI, Starry.. I'm in the same situation. Joined mid of March and only 1 sale per month. I think your shop looks great, good prices and pictures. I love your leather cuffs!
For sure, we need to add more items!! We are still new, so each sale counts. I think customers trust shops with more sales and more feedback! Beginning is always hard!...We need to wait and not to give up, but grow our shops !

I would appreciate an opinion and advice on my shop too!

Thanks a lot,
Nelly

[Former_Member]

@starry: am also 'new' here.. [if u just ignore the shop open date which is totally misleading.] I think your shop is great and your items are different.. maybe you could standard the highlight of pictures so they look evenly pop up in your shop.

@nelly: Although it's not too important (how people says buyer only look at your listing) I think you should redo the banner, the words are blur and the messy background are too strong. As for the items, keep on adding [that, I see, you beat me by miles. :) ] I think the background should be kept to either black or white tone, not both, which is too drastic for a shop..choose one that work for now?

I think the 4th and 5th picture are so much better then the default:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/99945176/sale-15-off-ooak-bead-embroidered

Quote: "I would appreciate an opinion and advice on my shop too!"

Thanks.

[nefertitijewelry2009]

Grace, Thank you sooo much!

I totally agree with you for the banner and for the backgrounds. I am just having hard time learning how to take good pictures on a white background and especially on a day light!

Thanks again for your help!

[Former_Member]

Hi both, thank you very much for your advice.

Nelly, I agree that we all need to add more items. I'm trying hard to add 1 item every one to two days. I love your items, they are so classy. Price is reasonable, as I believe your items are not easy to make. I also think the banner need to improve, and either white or black background should be used. For some of your item, like the 3rd and 4th one, using black background is good choice as it makes your item more eye catching, but better using matt paper instead of glossy one.

Grace, I will standardize the picture highlight. I think you items are lovely, and I like your vintage look items more. Also, I like the background you are using, very match of your items.

[nefertitijewelry2009]

Thank you Starry Day, I logged in just to see, if someone had left another critique on my shop! Going to change the banner today..:) As for the background it's difficult to take pictures of jewelry, especially sparkly and shiny items. Sometimes white background looks better on some pieces, but black doesn't ..and lighting, settings of the camera ;( oouch... I need some photography lessons!

Thanks again Grace and Starry ..and Good Luck with your shops!

[Former_Member]

I have the same problem with photographing my Jewelry - I have one window sill that works and with the change of seasons have found that morning works best in the summer months and late afternoon in the winter months. It took three different settings to get my Purple Vine Necklace to come out true to color and without glare:)

Keep working at it! White background, No flash, lighten the exposure on your camer setting....and hang in there!

[Former_Member]

I LOVE this:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/100371926/light-purple-sky-and-white-cloud

It's cleverly designed and extremely cute and useful!

I think you need to work on your titles, descriptions, keywords a bit to be able to come up in the searches.

The first words in the title and descriptions are really important; think about what people will be searching for, and put those keyword phrases at the very beginning of your title and description . . .

For example, instead of
"Light purple sky and white cloud handmade hand stitched leather business card holder - Free Monogram - violet. lavender. cute. love. romance"

try, "Business Card Holder - Leather Card holder with Purple Sky and White Cloud" or something like that.

And then start your description with the same phrasing.

Keywords could be:
-business card holder
-business card case
-business card carrier
-credit card holder
-credit card case
-card holder
-card case
-card carrier
-leather card holder
-leather card case
-business card sleeve

I think your items are fabulous, and if you just tweak your SEO, you'll do great! Lots of luck.

[Former_Member]

I am just beginning in the etsy success forum and I crave honest critique of my store! I received two this morning and would love to have any more ideas. I will try to pay it forward:)

[Former_Member]

Starry Night, your pics look great to me...I am wondering if I need to go with a white background.

[Former_Member]

Nelly and Kim, natural light is the best for photo shooting. I also need to catch the best moment to take photo - morning, next to window, sunny day

Pamela, thank you for great tips! It is very helpful. I will work on the titles, descriptions and keywords.

JoAnn, I think you work pretty good. Just spot that your some of coffee sleeves are chopped in thumbnail.

[Former_Member]

I highly recommend joining treasury teams! Since joining a couple teams and being more active, I've seen my views increase by about 50+ per day and I'm sitting at about at least one sale per day.

It's great to have the community of the teams and work to improve each others' shops. Being part of the treasury teams has also given me the opportunity to make treasuries -- and thus see what I like in a treasury and what it might take for my stuff to end up in a treasury. I think white backgrounds are very popular!

Hope this helps! We're all still learning though... :)

Heather

[Former_Member]

Heather, that sounds like a great idea, I think I will try that!

[Former_Member]

Heather, thank you! Let me try!

[Former_Member]

Hi JoAnn, I did not know what you were selling until I read your tags. So yes, I think a white background would make your item "pop".