Misspelling tags on purpose.

[Former_Member]

Thanks to a wonderful idea by Rachel of KitschyRitch (http://www.etsy.com/teams/5002/etsy-success/discuss/10964014/), I've loaded up on a bunch of new keywords I can use in my tags. I also noticed that some of the top searchable keywords are misspelled. For example, the word "Jewelry" is spelled as "Jewlery" in the suggestion box thingy when you type in the letter "J." As a huge Grammar Nazi, I hate that, but I was thinking if it makes sense misspelling some of these "highly misspelled" keywords on purpose to be more relevant. On one hand I wouldn't want to be considered an uneducated dummy to people who know how to spell, but at the same time there's possibly a large group of potential customers who would find you quicker if you used their way of spelling.

Thoughts?

[Former_Member]

I've heard this helps. I recall someone tagging "high wasted" as well as "high waisted" for their handmade pants and skirts...they got more hits off the former. Sad sad sad. As is the fact that my spell check keeps telling me to replace "waisted" with "wasted." LoL

[Former_Member]

interesting because I have wondered the same thing I mean when I am looking for something on bing or google i find myseld typing so fast that i make a typo and still hit enter to see if my item pops up and what do you know.....

[DarkRide]

I do it often. Tassel, for example, is often misspelled as tassle. I use both when tagging. Also, the language of etsy is American, not English. I use the English spelling of jewellery in my tags as well for those who are looking for that rather than jewelry.

[TheDorothyDays]

I do it too.

Like Caroline, I have tagged items Jewellery (English spelling) and Jewelry (American) and also misspell some of my items as I often make typos when quickly typing into google. On my blog I tag The Dorothy Days as The Dorathy Days as lots of people spell it this way by accident. I think it works to use these tags.

[Former_Member]

That's why I tell fellow crocheters not to even bother with the word amigurumi because heck, even we then ones that make them cant spell the word well. I do tend to try to use common words not ones that are obscure or easily mispelled.

[Former_Member]

I use the Jewelry and Jewellery a lot.

[DoodleBirdTerrariums]

I've done it also. It seems not many people can spell "terrarium" lol

[Former_Member]

It actually makes a lot of sense. I think I'll try this out on my next entry.

[Former_Member]

sue, that's a little different. some countries do spell it that way. it is a great idea to spell words like other countries too.
color, colour
jewelry, jewellry, jewellery

[Former_Member]

I tried this with one of my listings...using "annoucement" instead of announcement and sure enough I have gotten several hits on that one. I might have to tag a few more like that, even though it irks me to no end....lol

[Former_Member]

I'm the Captain of the grammar police--no way.

[Former_Member]

Wouldn't it be the Spelling Police? In my world they are two different entities... :)

Sometimes I'll do that, but I'll make sure to include the correct one in the same item.

[Former_Member]

Oh, I definitely understand regional spelling variations. I often find myself spelling "color" as "colour." I should go through my tags and check if any of them have other variations. As far as intentional misspelling goes, I guess I'll have try it and see if it works.

[Former_Member]

grey/gray I try to use both spellings in my listings that have that color in them.

[Former_Member]

No need to waste tag space on the international spellings. Etsy takes care of that in search for you.

http://www.etsy.com/blog/news/2012/the-international-flavour-and-flavor-of-etsy/

[Former_Member]

Remember if some people are using their phone they might have one of those 'helpful' phones that will type what it 'thinks' you want (can you tell this feature irritates me?!?)

I'm also a horrible speller with limited feeling in my hads; thus my spelling looks even more horrid because I can't feel the keys & cordinate my fingers :-\ Remember, too, sometimes a person is in a hurry & doesn;t think about what they're doing

[cushncovers]

I only sell to people who are literate! LOL

You only get a limited number of tags to use so why not spell it correctly? I don't ship internationally so I guess I don't have to know how other countries spell a word.

This is an interesting topic though!