How do you get so many views?

[#1]

I have heard about so many Etsy sellers who have an average of hundreds of views each day. We opened our shop on June 27 and so far have had 979 views (combining listing views and shop views). Our highest views was our 4th day with 155 shop views and 107 listing views. Some times there are days we have more than 30 views and other days we barely past 15 views. So I'm asking the question I'm sure a lot of others are wondering......

How do you get so many views?


-- Thanks,
Zita

[Former_Member]

How do I get so many views? I reach out to my target market.

I'm not on Facebook, wanelo, StumbleUpon, Digg, or any of the other 'look at me' type sites as I don't have the time.

However, I do have a twitter account and spend about 1/2 hour each day there chatting with people.

I've worked on my SEO so that my titles are using keywords and phrases that people are searching for.

I've found that marketing directly to my target audience is what works best for me. I'm active in the Soaping community and many will come to me for my soap dishes.

I'm extremely active in the knitting and crochet communities and do spend quite a bit of time discussing the arts.

My shop is a part of my full time business and I treat it as such.

My newsletter is a great source of targeted views. Approximately 15% of my readers will purchase from me at least 3x per year.

[Former_Member]

My views are very minimal; I also don't have a lot of items which from expert sellers is what you need in order to get a lot of views. So to all of us new shop owners,we have to get working on adding items to our shops.

[Former_Member]

I have been getting 250 to 350 a day.

I have been tweaking my tags, and descriptions. I also try to keep it fresh, and updated.

[Former_Member]

Kira,
Here is a link to thread on syndication and a 2nd thread with a link to Google rules. Etsy gives a summary of some key rules in the 2nd thread:
http://www.etsy.com/teams/7720/bugs/discuss/10558975/
http://www.etsy.com/help/article/258

It's a lot to read and understand but important. So I'm just reading and trying to digest a little at a time. I do know I need to check for duplicate titles, tweak my tags more, etc.

Google also has a seo starter guide (32 pages). I've made a decision to try to understand Google seo better b/c it impacts my blog, opening an external site (in my future plans) and any online ads I may decide to do.

[starlightwoods]

Here is a short list of what i have learned so far. Hope this helps :)
1.
LIST MORE ITEMS! Someone told me once that it was a numbers game, the more items you have the more chance of being found in the masses here on Etsy. Once i hit 100 items, my views picked up big time, then i just kept going, i could not stop creating new designs so I just kept on listing, got up to about 180 items, then I sort of narrowed down what was selling and getting views and what was not. I create more multiples lately rather than new items, although, i can not keep myself from creating new items, sometime the need to create just takes over.
2.
Besides that of course, 2nd most important thing is to work on your tags and titles, think about how someone would search for your items and try out different tags. I look at my stats page and see what is coming up most in key words and go with that, I will put the keywords that seem to be searched the most on the applicable items and take away certain keywords that i don't see coming up. I really analyze my stats!

3.
Probably should have been the first thing on this list, but anyway... your photos- they need to be the most important thing in the very beginning. Once you get your photo formula down you can go full force- decide what kind of feeling you want in your shop- what do you want your shop to look like, it should be fairly cohesive, of course when you are experimenting with different photography it will be a little messy, but soon you will decide on your look.
4.
Read that Etsy handbook thing. I know it's long but there is sOOO much good stuff in there.

5.
Keep pushing yourself- don't get discouraged- if you feel the passion, keep trying. If you believe in your product, keep pushing yourself.

[PaperFlora]

I average about 250 - 300 views a day and have about 3 sales per week.

I agree that views aren't everything but they can tell you a lot about what is going on in your shop. Use your shop stats to see where your views are coming from example yesterday I noticed I had 3 views from a wedding blog so I went to go check it out. The blog had showcased one of my clutches and I was getting views from that.
NOW the networking starts,
1. I leave a comment on the blog "thank you for featuring my clutch"
2. I check to see if she's on Twitter, follow her and mention her blog "that I've been featured on" along with her twitter account so she will see the tweet. She does and retweets it to her 3000 followers.
3. Then go to her Facebook page Thank you for featuring my .... on your...along with a picture.
4. Go to my Facebook page- I've been featured on _____ pretty blog. Take a look.

Now for all my hard work I've made a connection w/ a new person in the trade. She follows me on Twitter and Pinterest and it goes on and on...

All those things add opportunities for views which hopefully turn in to sales.

You have to be out promoting your shop either through social networking, blogs, pinterest whatever you like. It helps to make a plan and then do it. I also find it necessary to set a time limit, mine is 30 minutes a day. I can get sucked into the web vortex and the minutes can turn into hours.

[Former_Member]

Lots of promotion and adding SEO all over your shop will all help.

Your listings really are not getting that many views by Internet standards. It usually takes a few hundred views per item to make a sale on the Internet, much more than in person.

With thousands of new shops every day and millions of listings, It is getting harder to be found on Etsy.

It is so important to SEO for both Etsy Relevancy and for Google to get more views. There are differences between between Google and Etsy but it is possible to SEO for both.

Add SEO to every part of your shop, such as the shop title, section names as well as listings and tags, so that your shop and listings can be found on Etsy's Relevancy search and on Google.

Don't guess on the wording for keyword phrases. Start with using keyword phrases that are often used on Google to search for similar products. The keyword phrases popular on Google are also popular on Etsy.

There are web sites that keep track of keywords and how often they are used. One of these databases is from Google and is free. I suggest using Google's keyword research tool to find the best possible keyword phrases for your listings: adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal?forceLegacy=true

SEO for Google is a lot more than adding keyword phrases but this is the place to start.

[NancyBags4U]

My shop opened in March and I averaged 20-40 views for the longest time. One day I had 4 views and wanted to cry but then I got two sales from those 4 views.

I had 340 views one day and had no sales.

The more items I put in my shop, the more views I seem to be getting. I am up to about 150 views at this point and sales are becoming more frequent.

[Former_Member]

Wow this thread has so much useful advice! Thanks everyone for the tips. The hard part now is putting it all into action. So much to do!

[Former_Member]

So many links to explore, such a good lot of info,
thanks, time to read up!

[JudyStalus]

I don't tweet or facebook but get lots of views (600 + a day).
I do work very hard on relevancy and SEO and tweak some of my listings every day. I also renew several times a day. I know many people are skeptical about renewing but it always brings me views and favorites. My sales come through Etsy searches so I need to be found.
I also make treasuries every day - I find that I get more views and attention by making treasuries than by being in them. Plus people reciprocate and so I am in at least 20 treasuries a day (often many more) and so I get on the front page once in a while (twice a month or so) and get lots of view and usually sales from this.
It is hard work and time consuming but its very competitive here and hard to be seen.

[Former_Member]

i like your advice, thanks

[Former_Member]

thank you for telling us so much,thanks.

[Former_Member]

It's so nice to find a place where people share good advice! Thank you all!

[Former_Member]

I've only just started getting more than 50 views a day. I had 102 on thursday and 220 yesterday, and the biggest reason I think this has happened is because I've been joining teams and being pro active in discussions, and adding tons of people to my circles and favorites every day. I look for people with similiar items to what I have and add there shops and some items to my favorites. This week I've signed up for twitter, set up my own shop page through face book, took better photos of my items, and signed up on rebelmouse through a link in this teams discussions. I've decided to be pro active in promoting my shop, not just creating crafts. So basically Join teams similar to what you do, or area specific, and just add as many people, favorites and shops to your circle. and just keep on pushing forward. :) I wish you good luck and much success in your shop.

[Former_Member]

oh. and sign your shop up for google analytics. It's really helping me understand my shop and stuff. I found out that the average visitor to my shop stays on it for 3-6 minutes.

[NewBrideCo]

Hi I suggest you guy read the Sellers Handbook and start applying what you learn. I did, and it made a great difference.

Promote your shop, buy show cases, or Search ads; after all you need to invest money to make money:)

Best wishes,
Sandra, New Bride Co.

[RedRiverAntiques]

List items or renew every day! After i reached 500+ items in my shop, the views and sales soared! Now that i have over 1300 items, i average 500+ views and 4 or more sales per day... and joining teams helps too as long as you're active in them. Of course, seo is very important as well, along with good photos. Research what you sell, offer a good quality product at a fair price, and bend over backwards to give excellent customer service. Return customers are a huge part of my business!

[Former_Member]

Natalie, your advice bears repeating for those of us trying to figure out how to network using traffic coming from someone else's blog, so I'm bumping it:

"... Use your shop stats to see where your views are coming from example yesterday I noticed I had 3 views from a wedding blog so I went to go check it out. The blog had showcased one of my clutches and I was getting views from that.
NOW the networking starts,
1. I leave a comment on the blog "thank you for featuring my clutch"
2. I check to see if she's on Twitter, follow her and mention her blog "that I've been featured on" along with her twitter account so she will see the tweet. She does and retweets it to her 3000 followers.
3. Then go to her Facebook page Thank you for featuring my .... on your...along with a picture.
4. Go to my Facebook page- I've been featured on _____ pretty blog. Take a look.

Now for all my hard work I've made a connection w/ a new person in the trade. She follows me on Twitter and Pinterest and it goes on and on..."

[Former_Member]

Thank you all for sharing personal experiences and advice.

[LuAtKeswick]

I, like so many others, do not have great numbers of views, but I've been working on SEO and can recommend Mary's Team, for getting help with that

http://www.etsy.com/teams/12637/seo-and-relevancy-reviews

I also agree that there's a big difference between views and sales, and I must admit that I'm currently reorganising myself with the Teams thing, as I'm trying to work out wahts actually working as opposed to people just fave ing you cos you faved them etc. I'm currently a team leader on a site which, although it markets itself as an online fair, linking through to your shop - the real advantage is the networking opportunities it represents. And thats the key, as was said earlier in this thread, identifying who else is promoting you and following that through.

It is a steep learning curve with many switchbacks, but keep trudging on and you gradually improve.

Lu x

[SummersBreeze]

WOW! Lots of great advice on here, thanks everyone!!

[DenimandRuffles]

I have enjoyed reading the different postings and have learned a lot that I will start trying to put into place as soon as I can.

[FenderGemsNCrystals]

I take pretty pictures and list new items most days

[Former_Member]

I actually came to post a question about my daily views and found this! I just wanted to say...THANK YOU! I have learned a bunch and have a lot of work to do!

We are a new shop...doing well, but I want to keep it going and this thread has really inspired me to do even more.

I love this team!