Need Shop Review

[Former_Member]

For the last 2 months I have been beefing up my activity with BNS and Treasuries and Teams. My activity has increased tremendously.

I just spent the last 2 days adding a new line of products that I usually reserve for museums and events. I have rearranged my shop and rewrote most of the descriptions. Reworked some of the photos. I added a new policy. I have been watching others and have read every thread posted about ETSY shops. This is my business and I want it to be successful.

I have listened to all of you out there.....Now this is it...I need Feedback. Please look at my shop and give me your opinion.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/TennesseeQuiltworks?ref=si_shop.

Thx Lalena

[LaurelAndOctavia]

Hi Lalena,
You've clearly been working really hard on your shop! I would encourage you to keep working on the photos. I didn't think the colors really came out and made me want to click to see more. I'm sure your work is beautiful when you can see it and feel it in person - its definitely hard to convey over the Internet!

Good luck,
Julia

[Former_Member]

I agree with Julia. I would work a little bit more on the photos. Since the quilt blocks are about revealing a person's story and meant for the home, I would use photos of quilt blocks on a bedroom wall, kids playroom, etc. An example store http://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtisanImpressions. There is plenty of inspiration to be found here on etsy - search prints in homemade and tons of shops come up.

Otherwise I think your shop is great, and I wish you the best of luck. :D

[Former_Member]

I agree with both above.

symmetry is so important in pictures, so the items look balanced, even, and the buyer is drawn to exactly what your selling

maybe not so close when taking the pictures, I like the above idea on the wall, and back up so your pics arent so close up

I just read up on taking pictures and they suggested using natural light (not flash) so just before lunch with lots of daylight is perfect

I love that you have named all the quilts ~ awesome dont change that!

your prices are great

maybe fanning the quilts overlapping each other for your banner so buyers get an idea of the patterns/styles you create?

I hope this isnt useless! lol

[Former_Member]

hey! i just bought a banner off a store on etsy called 'grain' its 20$ but they look really nice...maybe thats a thought!

[Former_Member]

Hello Lalena and Linda, having lived in Canada for over 15 years I truly appreciate handmade north american quilts and love their warmth feelings. I have a few quilts myself. One thing strikes out right at your shop homepage: there are a bit too much visual stimulations coming from all the quilts put together on the same page. Each quilt in itself is beautiful, but all the symmetrical designs and colors seen on the same page makes it a bit "too busy". I guess it is difficult to show in pictures all the beautiful details that each of the quilt deserves. I agree with the above comments for less zoom and more perpectives in your pics. I would also alternate zoom and perpective, for a few listing you show zoom details as items' the first picture, and for other you show quilts hanging in a setting as items' first picture. That way you get to show the details for each but the overall shop homepage does not convey the "too much going on" feeling. Otherwise price levels are ok for me, knowing the time, materials, and effort it take to make one quilt. Good luck.

[Former_Member]

Boy thanks for all the info...Yes the pics have been an issue. Too close to far...but I do agree that def. needs work. Lalena

[AnneLondezGlass]

Hi Lalena,

Great work and shop.
As has been mentionned, I think the pictures can be tweaked a little. Specifically, I saw one where a brown quilt is displayed in front of a log cabin. The idea is interesting but the colors of the background are too similar to those in the quilt, it would be better if you could shoot from a different angle so that the quilt shows mostly on a lighter background. You could try shooting from a different angle if you want to keep the cabin in sight, just a part of it in a corner of the pic would work.

There's another pic, the Rail Fence quilt, where the light in the background brings a glare that hinders proper view of the quilt. You could either try reshooting that picture making sure the white sky isn't in your face or you could edit the existing picture to darken the part with the white sky. This requires some experience of creating masks in Photoshop or Gimp, I don't know how much you are able to do.

In general, you could lighten your pics a little, they feel a little dark to me.
Good luck !
I also

[Former_Member]

I am listening. Thanks Anne. Unfortunately I am not able to re-shoot right away. That location is a drive. But I will work in Gimp..good idea....

I did change the shop around today( again) ha ha. Thx Julia, Katie, Rhiana and Bianca. All the suggestions are in the works....I think they are all right on target. It will take me awhile to make the changes....but I am going to work on it this month.

[Former_Member]

Hi There!

I don't know if it's been mentioned, but I would suggest a new banner. It makes a good chunk of that first impression, and I think one that might be a bit cleaner would look nicer.

As far as your photos go, I would suggest trying for brighter photos. I know the quilts have a rustic nature to them, so maybe photo them outside? With the dark wood behind them, they give the shop an overall dark look.

Good luck! I think it's neat that you're preserving such a wonderful craft.

[Former_Member]

First, your work is beautiful, just gorgeous! I'm new to Etsy so it hard for me to say what you should do because I'm just learning myself. Take what the experts have said, five it a try and see how it goes! But I just wanted to say how beautiful your work is. Best of luck to you!