In need of advice from experienced and successful members!

[magiccircleclothing]

So week one of May 2012 is gone, and I'm facing down my biggest selling month from last year (which I would like to beat!) but so far, I'm not on track to reach that goal.

I've read through a couple of the "critique my shop" threads and have seen that sometimes people suggest splitting your shop into two different shops if there seems to be too much going on in one. Is that something unique to Etsy/handmade markets? I feel like no one gets confused when they walk into a store like Urban Outfitters that has a little bit of everything.

Also, as proud as I am of the innovative plug designs I've been pumping out since 2009, I would really like for more of my clothing designs to sell. Would that be another good reason to separate them into two shops? I was thinking that when I get more clothing styles made that I would just model them myself, but I'm not model thin. Do you think it is better to just bite the bullet and shell out the extra cash for professional models?

Sorry, that was a lot of questions crammed into a single post, but I'm really frustrated! Thanks everyone!

[spacefem]

I think splitting up shops is a crazy idea, almost always. Why divide up your traffic?

[Former_Member]

I think your shop could be very cohesive. I see the same people (my friend Marlo in particular) buying your jewelry and your clothes, so I don't think you need to split. Perhaps try to make the shop a bit more cohesive. Maybe try to get the backgrounds to be similar or choose a signature prop or something like that. Try to make each listing look like it came from the same place.

[Former_Member]

Maybe this guide will help you. It's long but very thorough.
http://etsymentors.blogspot.com/p/critique-your-own-shop.html

[decembermoondesign]

Jamie,
Your clothing designs are rockin'!!!!

imo, I would seperate the shop - only because you would be able to market the clothes specifically to clothing blogs, fashion sites, etc.... Jewelry is such a saturated market, that I find jewelry catagories get locked out of marketing opportunities quicker than the other catagories.
I hope I'm making some sense :)

good luck
Doreen

[magiccircleclothing]

Thanks Amie! Well, at first everything I listed was on a white background, which looked cohesive and everything, but I thought maybe it was a little boring.

Then I tried putting my clothes on a couple of friends of mine in front of a wall in my studio, which is still a little boring, but at least they were on a person.

Sales still weren't where I wanted them to be, so I decided to try photographing my plugs on a background of scrapbooking paper that related to the look of the item, and I've been trying to make do with my dressform and prettying up my studio wall, but so far, no change in sales.

Should I just go back to the white background?

[Former_Member]

You don't have to use a white background. The background should compliment your item and not be distracting, but doesn't have to be boring. I hate boring backgrounds (which is why I had a lot of fun with mine), but I would suggest having no more than three backgrounds that you use, and probably only two. That will help your shop be more cohesive and say "Neighborhoodstory" with each listing. You mentioned Urban Outfitters before... every UO I've ever seen looks the same and you know what it is.

[magiccircleclothing]

Doreen - Thank you for the response! While I agree that "jewelry" is a saturated market, when I started out there were maybe one or two shops selling plugs on Etsy, and back then they were standard plugs that you would find at the mall. Since starting my shop, I have continued to make unique plug designs that even my copycats aren't capable of imagining themselves, so I would definitely like to keep selling and promoting them as such.

Ahh, now I'm conflicted! Some say to split, some say to stay cohesive...

[magiccircleclothing]

Amie - I really like how you've done your backgrounds! They are white, but at the same time, have decorative qualities around the edge.

[magiccircleclothing]

Brittany - Reading that now, thanks for the link!

[Former_Member]

Jamie- I just took another look at your shop. What if you switched to all modeled images for your first image and use some ladies with a similar funky/edgy look as you seem to have yourself. That could look a bit more cohesive and give the flavor of your shop. Just an idea... Should probably go back to the day job now.

[Former_Member]

Your clothing is really cute but I would rearrange your titles because the first three words are most important.Take this listing fer example:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/98418061/mint-green-short-sleeve-secretary-blouse

Mint Green Short Sleeve Secretary blouse. Is pretty specific and not something a lot of people would type into the search bar. First thing typed in would most likely me "Green Blouse" then if they get too many blouses they would narrow it down to short sleeve so make those your 3rd & 4th words. Then if they still get too many green blouses they might type in the word "Mint" but more likely "Light" so move mint to your tags.
Also I'm not sure a lot of people would search for "Secretary" but they might search for "office blouse" "professional top" etc.

[magiccircleclothing]

Thank you so much for your feedback Amie! I'm definitely going to be looking harder at modeling as an option for my new clothing designs!

[magiccircleclothing]

Natash - Titling has always been kind of a struggle for me! I always thought that having a catchy title that gave a "name" to my item was the most important, but I guess the order of the words is actually how it works? Secretary blouse is usually what blouses with the little bow in the front are called, so that's why I used that. What do you think about using "retro" or "vintage inspired" instead? Do you think that is more intuitive?

[Former_Member]

Jamie, a few things jump out at me at needing to be amended.

Shop title/header - take out your shop name, it doesn't need to be in there. At more keywords to fully utilise the space. They need to be words that say what you sell, if you have a niche or specialism make sure it is in there. This is very important for SEO.

Shop announcement - also very important for SEO. The first line again needs to be full of keywords that say what you sell. Move everything else down to start in a new paragraph. View in Google Preview and tweak both the title and announcement info to best fit the available space.

Location - this isn't in the correct format and most likely means you won't appear in any local searches. The correct Etsy format is town/city, state, United States.

Sections - add further keywords to all of them. Make sure you put a space on either side of the slash in those sections. Etsy and Google don't read punctuation so pants/rompers will be read as pantsrompers which obviously isn't a helpful word for you.

It is a myth that the first 3 words are the most important in a title. There was a small base to this at one point for Etsy relevancy but there is no evidence to support this now. However there is a logic to the myth because what is most important for SEO is the wording in the url, so make sure your most important keywords fit into that space. Etsy reads an entire title, so do search engines but this is less obvious and less utilised it would appear.

Do read the SASsy link already given but try 2 in this first, as it's a very abbreviated version of. http://www.etsy.com/teams/7702/sassy-critiques/discuss/10092412

[Former_Member]

Jamie, base your titles on two things. First your gut instinct stating what it is very simple terms. Second tweaking by using terms in your stats, the Google adwords tool and suggestions from the drop down in Etsy search.

Primarily though think like a buyer, what would they search for to find that green blouse. Green blouse yet but as it is a specific style a green secretary bow blouse (I think we call them pussy cat bow blouses here) possible what it is made of, possible the era style so 60s perhaps, the size and so on.

Then when you have that you can then write the first part of the description. That should be a nice sentence or two saying what it is using the keywords in your title and more.

Then write your tags using that information. Your tags should generally be 2-3 words phrases made up primarily of words in your titles. Tags are to say what the item is and not what it could be used for. So things like summer, spring, work, professional as they stand now are not allowed as they are suggested uses. This item can be worn by anyone at any time of the year on any occasion in theory so you can't specify the above. If you want to make suggestions use Attributes instead.

[magiccircleclothing]

Thank you so much Claire! That was very helpful! I didn't realize that I had most of my information filled out incorrectly -_- Your tag suggestions were also very informative! I feel like fashion is so seasonally driven, which is why I have been including them in tags. I guess it doesn't really matter what time of year it is, as long as they show up in the search!

[Former_Member]

From what Claire told you, you dont need anymore of my advice.

[Former_Member]

Don't think that Jamie, it's not wrong, it's tweaking to make things better for you. You've sold plenty so it can't possibly be wrong, you just might be found more easily with a few changes. Unless you read the announcement about the location format change or tried a local search and couldn't find yourself you probably wouldn't even know about it as I am sure most Etsy sellers don't. The same applies to tags, anyone who never visits the forums or reads The Blog wouldn't know about 2-3 word phrases and they still sell. You don't have to change anything or everything if you don't want to, I haven't changed most of my tags as I'd have a nervous breakdown. It's all about making yourself more visible that's all.