Holiday Boot Camp Week Three!

[AudMod]

Welcome to week three of Holiday Boot Camp!!!

Just catching up? No worries! You can check out our calendar here (http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2012/holiday-boot-camp-2012-get-ready/) and review last week’s discussion about holiday merchandising here:
https://www.etsy.com/teams/5002/etsy-success/discuss/11021205/

Also, be sure to tune in to today’s Online Lab, featuring top seller Paloma’s Nest, who shares tips for the holidays: http://www.etsy.com/community/online-labs

This week is all about getting found. No matter how amazing your items are, they’re not going anywhere if they’re not being seen. Ensure you’re found in search and browse pages by optimizing your listings for relevancy.

Be sure to check out this week’s reading:
http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2012/how-to-get-found-in-browse/
http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2012/how-to-get-found-in-search/

So grab your buddy and review your tags, titles, and photos using the tips found in the articles above. Can’t wait to hear what you learn! Please share here.

[Former_Member]

I'm running out the door but I hope the Lab is recorded and uploaded so I can watch it later this evening. Will read the articles later as well...

[Former_Member]

Watched the lab and I'm ready to dive into the holiday season :) Just need to add some more seasonal items and it will be perfect (hopefully!)

[TheHeatherWells]

I missed the live stream, I don't see this weeks lab up there, will it be up there soon?

[Former_Member]

I'm getting hits in all three of my shops already from the browse sections, so I'm really excited. Hopefully that means I won't have to change a million tags and titles this week, on top of everything else.

O_o

[Former_Member]

Thanks for the link on the new browse section... I'm pretty excited :) I'm going to re-write my descriptions this afternoon... hoping that helps my search relevancy as well.

[ForgedMettleJewelry]

I'm utterly confused by the new Browse, and haven't seen ANY views from it yet.

But with a bit of reading I'll figure it out and get my shop found. Hopefully...

[loveofdrawing]

Yeah love reading these on my long train ride home from work!

[AudMod]

The Labs should will be available for viewing soon for those who missed them.

[TOMgirlApparel]

The advice for getting found is great and I have applied everything, but I am confused. I show up in browse and search usually about the 4th page. I see shops on the first pages who do not apply these suggestions (not using all their tags, poor quality photos, titles are lacking, very few items in their shops, etc.).

Am I missing something? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Former_Member]

Erin that's great to hear! You must be doing something right!
-Kimm

[PaperFinchDesign]

Ignore this post - posted in wrong thread and can't figure out how to delete the entire post :)

[SoapForYourSoul]

Ready for the holidays here!
We've been making and listing holiday goodies for a few weeks!

[Former_Member]

None of my items appear in the Browse but that's probably because people don't browse for what I'm selling. Rather they google search.

Even in the old categories I never had more than 1% of my views from there.

I like to revise my tags whenever an item is relisted and always when its being renewed.

But doing my own marketing outside of Etsy has always been the best method I've had to make sales.

[FromNancysHeart]

I agree with Crochet Gal! My best marketing has always been via other areas of social media.

[samsstuff]

Browse does have me a little confused. I've always tried to use tags and key words in the title that would be the words that a customer might search when looking for my items, so hopefully that works, but it never hurts to revisit these things from time to time. Things seem slow, so far. They seemed to pick up after the relevancy changes, so hopefully they will soon with this change, too.

[FreshRetroGallery]

Being as basic as possible with tags, as though you were telling a blind person what you are listing, seems like a good way to think about tagging items. I think it is often good to use multiple words per single tag as well, thinking about what you'd type in a search to find it.

[Former_Member]

It was a good online lab today. I had several take aways to work on this week. Thank you!!!

[ZiBagz]

Thank you .. a much needed topic .. I'm off to study the suggestions :o) and put them into practice!!

[Former_Member]

I've revamped my photos quite a bit, now a mix of natural and white backgrounds. I altered a couple titles and will work on tags until next week's assignment. Keep it coming, I know this is making me improve:)

[Former_Member]

great info thank you so much!
peace and love
karenD

[AudMod · Accepted solution]

Hey guys,

Here's a link for our Online Lab with Paloma's Nest. It's packed with useful tips so definitely tune in!

http://livestre.am/4aWHD

And for anyone who missed our Merch Tips For the Holidays Lab: http://livestre.am/4alW1

[loopsnhoopsjewelry]

All this talk about revisiting tags....maybe here is the place to say how frustrating it is that tags are limited to 20 characters. It would be great to have this change before the holiday season gets closer. My shop stats show searches MUCH longer than that. (ex. "Wire wrapped crystal earrings").

[Former_Member]

TomBoy Apparel, I agree with your comment and feel the same confusion. The browse page seems catered towards pretty pictures, not keywords, tags and titles. I clicked through several of the images and half of them weren't even using all of there tags available, didn't repeat keywords and had generic titles! It's hard to believe that all of those items appeared there because of their ability to "be found" by SEO. If you go to the regular search bar and type something in, your results don't show pages full of beautifully photographed images..... Instead, It's titles based on what you searched. And if you look further, its tags and descriptions that match your search as well. I understand that Etsy is a business and that they are in this to make money, but I am not sold on the new Browse page. As usual to their "out of the blue changes", I am sure I will adapt!

[Former_Member]

Thank you so much Audrey, I was looking for that link. This information is so important for the holidays. I am getting excited because this is my first Etsy Christmas. I am off to work my listings.