Help me if you can...and I'll pay it forward.

[Former_Member]

Hi all. I am one week new to the team and one year old to Etsy selling. I quit my day job to do this. I am not sorry (?) I love this product and this new venture. It is a compilation of all I love and what I've been searching for, for years. But. You knew there was a "but". I am starving a bit... for a girl who shucked everything. I thought it would be easier. Not easy. Just easier than it is.

I think, I do all the right things. I list often (more than I can afford). I change tag words every week to reflect the current suggestions. I tweak photos and descriptions. I read the blog (and, I'll interject here, I think the Etsy admin do an amazing job mentoring). I really try... HARD. (ok my banner is a little weak- working on that). But...

So, I ask, would you mind offering up your thoughts. Your suggestions. Your impressions. My skin is pretty thick (ok maybe not too thick, but, I want this to work better than it does) So, really... tell me what you really think. How does my shop present? Are you intrigued to look around? What am I not seeing? Doing?

Help me if you can and I will pay it forward.

Thank you.

[TKCountryTreasures]

Hi, I looked at your shop and just wanted to let you know I loved it. Your items are very pretty and I hope you do well. I don't have any suggestions, still working on my own shop and trying to figure things out also. I did notice if I renew a group of items at a time I seem to get more views than if I just renew one item per night.

I wish you the best of luck.

[Former_Member]

Your creations are absolutely stunning! Very classy, and beautifully made.

When I first looked at your shop - based solely on first impression of item photos and without reading any shop announcement, item titles, or shop sections - I wasn't sure exactly what you were selling. Was it the vintage photographs? Was it the frames? Then I looked at the item titles, many of which are women's names, and I wondered - is that the woman in the frame? In other words, I was confused! I would like to see some empty frames, or at least frames with very subtle, "disappearing" photos in them. As it is now, the vintage photos kind of steal the show and your beautiful creations become secondary. I would also like to see a couple of angled views or side views (at least of the frames)so that it's very obvious that they are picture frames. While the straight-on shots show the intricacy of your work, it is not immediately apparent just by glancing at your shop that these are photo frames.

I hope that helps! Keep at it - these really are beautiful!

xo,
Andrea

[Former_Member]

I agree with what's said above. I think it would help if you could put what you sell on your banner. You're shop is really nice,hang in there.

[Former_Member]

Oh wow, I mistook what you were selling too. You have such complex photographs with so many bright colours in them. Upon clicking on the items I figured out that your photoframes are the brightly coloured objects with many colours, but I originally thought you were selling collages or scrap booking pieces. I'm not sure how to fix that... maybe make sure that when it thumbnails your pictures that nothing int he background is near them so the eyes can make out where the boundaries are? I'm not great at taking photos either, and my vision isn't fantastic so my brain makes lots of guesses at what it's seeing. It guessed scrapbooking for your items. Sorry. :(

[FlowerThyme]

I took a look at your tags and it reminded me of my shop before I went through the Shop Makeover series around the holidays. (Side: here is a HUGE high five to the Danielle and the rest of the Etsy staff for pulling together useful, amazing content and supporting the arts community with their work -- aren't they just fabulous!?)

This blog post, in particular, really blew me away and I immediately worked on my tags and saw the results in days: http://www.etsy.com/storque/seller-handbook/shop-makeover-titles-descriptions-and-tags-11588/

Also, I'd recommend to be mindful of how the first few lines of each listing appears in your Google search. You can see how it looks in the description editing window (towards the bottom of the page). I appreciate the experience you're trying to create, but it doesn't get to the point quick enough. A buyer doesn't want to have to guess what you're selling. Here's a useful article on what parts of your pages your customers actually read/focus on: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html

Best of luck! I just moved down to part time on my day job so that I can focus more of Etsy -- fingers crossed, I'll be doing this full time before too long (haha, well actually that I can afford to not have another job, because goodness knows, I, as I'm sure many others do, spend more than 40 hours doing this every week) :D

[Former_Member]

Let me preface this by saying, I too am new to etsy - and I certainly do not know it all, or claim to be an expert....however I would say I am a fairly expert shopper! That said:

Very similar to what the previous posters have said. Your work is very beautiful and unique....but if I was just stopping by, and glancing over your lisings - the items you sell are not easily identifiable. They have so much detail that maybe it's best if you photograph them alone with a white back ground - that way they stand out on their own, and there is no outside "noise". That way people have a better idea of what they are buying.

You did already mention your banner, I have been looking over etsy today to search for a design company -but there are MANY shops out there that offer predesigned banners CHEAP - plus they put your business name and a tag line so if people don't know what you are selling by your name, the tag line can fill them in.

Shipping....shipping is always tricky - but is it possible to get it any lower than $8? I HATE paying a lot for shipping, I know that I would rather pay more for a product if the shipping was less...does that make sense? The thing I am buying has more value to me than shipping.....

You item labels - it looks like your labels are just a series of tags...I would think you should use that area as a brief description of what the buyer will see if they click on it to see more. Otherwise it just seems choppy.

Hopefully that is helpful - although I should be asking YOU for advice - you have 60 sales to my 1!!

Good luck!!

Deanna
Dirty Girl Creations

[efinegifts]

What a beautiful shop and beautiful products. We agree with the above comments regarding the photos and the banner. Not sure at first what you are selling, but it does make us want to take a closer look.

The thing we noticed right off was your shop announcement (found right under your banner in the public view of your shop):

Search engines look in the first sentence for key words. That's how people who are looking for what you sell will find your shop.

You are wasting that precious space with words that folks will NOT type in a google search box when looking for picture or photo frames. Words and phrases like "Mother's Day special, 15% off, your entire purchase sitewide, use coupon code, give mom something lovely, etc."

Write a first sentence that includes the words "picture frames, photo frames, custom, handmade, wedding, photography"

Save those other words for your third sentence in your announcement (sometimes the search engines will also pick up words in the second sentence, but not always.)

You've made some wonderful Treasuries. Keep making them and consider joining a Treasury team that will promote your shop.

Hope this helps. Hang in there. We are adding your shop to our favorites.

[Former_Member]

Thanks to everyone who gave such great advice and feedback. Reading these posts have helped me, too!

Good luck LovelyThingsStudio. I am in awe of anyone who does this full time. It's awesome.

[Former_Member]

Wow, you've got a beautiful store with gorgeous photo frames. My suggestion is that a few of your product shots are a bit busy, especially compared to what one normally sees around Etsy. I think perhaps removing a few of your background props will make it easier to see exactly what it is you're selling, because as sacredsuds said, it's not immediately obvious to me what your products are. Best of luck!

[Former_Member]

My suggestion would be...
If you are wanting to make this your sole business, I would have more listings.
Maybe even a larger veriety of items for sale.
I am working on that myself. Trying to get more veriety. :) Good luck!

[Former_Member]

I agree with everyone else. You are obviously intelligent, hardworking, creative and talented. You just need to refine things a bit.

Simple, clear, bright, white photos will help. So I can see automatically, oh! This is what is for sale.

Then work the SEO. Really focus on "what would I type if I was looking for this thing?"

I think you will be successful.

[DreamAcreDesigns]

SacredSuds said exactly everything I wanted to say. Beautiful creations, but I was confused at first. I thought they were vintage-style collages at first, or that you were selling vintage photos in very nice frames.

[VintageRenude]

I found this video on the sellers handbook. While the video itself is not exciting the information is enlightening to say the least. It's by Everything Etsy on their blog. I found it to be really helpful. I love your stuff but my suggestion would be to highlight the frames themselves by making the surroundings simpler. The frames would pop and there is less to distract from them.
Good Luck, beautiful items!!

http://vimeo.com/19769573

[Former_Member]

Great little advertising move you just made with this post! You got it all down, no worries! well done!

Let's just hope the forum won't be flooded with "please look at my site" postings after this. :) haha!

[Former_Member]

Lovelything, you do have some beautiful photos of work in your shop, but I really have no idea what it is that you are selling. I took a look at something called 'Handmade Hanging Heart'. Although the photo is beautiful I have no idea what it is. The description says

"assemblage is crafted using the beautiful images from back issues of my favorite magazines, collected bits of vintage lace, snippets of ribbons and old world millinery , antique buttons, metal findings, jewelry and all things pretty.""

so I can gather that its a collection of bits that you had in your studio. But what exactly is it? What does it do?

When setting up your tags, don't waste tags on the word 'gift'. Firstly its not allowed on Etsy and secondly, everything on Etsy could be considered as a gift.

I would suggest that you take photos of whatever it is in its natural setting and use a plainer background so that the actual item stands out. Then use titles that really tell the potential buyer what it actually is.

I'm assuming that its a photo frame because that's mostly what you sell.

[Former_Member]

WOW!!! I am blown away by the consistency in the feedback. What seems so obvious to all of you...just did'nt occur to me. I am almost "upset" right now. But, that will pass and I will get to work. I asked for it, and you gave it to me candidly, and, I appreciate that. All solid recommendations. I thank you very much.

(Journeyer, had I been flooded with positive "your shop and products are wonderful" comments, I might agree. It had not crossed my mind for a moment to be that clever.)