Nothing seems to work!

[Former_Member]

Hi everyone. Recently my sales have been very slow despite changing titles, tags and descriptions. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

[maydaylabels]

You need to read a basic introduction to Etsy's Relevancy search. There's a good one on this team: https://www.etsy.com/teams/10713/etsy-relevancy-seo-and-stats

And a few other places.

[Former_Member]

Thanks. I have been an Etsy seller for over 2 years and have read about relevancy, search, etc. Sales seem to come in spurts with being really good for a while then to nearly nothing as now. Is anyone else finding this?

[happywrap]

Hi Shannon,

I love your items, they are beautifully put together, however I don't think the photos do them justice.

Working on titles, tags and descriptions is important, but ultimately it's your photos that need to entice people to click on your items. You may be coming up in search results but just not getting clicked on.

I know you didn't ask specifically about photos, and it seems to be a constant thing that most of us are working on, which isn't easy. Just a few examples:

This one looks like it's been cut out and put against a white background, to be honest I find it confusing to look at:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/201099986/premade-botanical-tea-mini-scrapbook?ref=shop_home_active_...

This one is a beautiful item, but it looks like you've had the camera slightly above it instead of level when taking the photo, so there is foreshortening (the card narrows towards the bottom), again making it harder for the viewer to get a feel for the item:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/201102487/fairies-reverse-canvas-mixed-media-art?ref=shop_home_feat_...

Have you considered rustic wood backgrounds instead of white? Like a natural wooden table or floorboards? May not work for you but just an idea. The white just seems a little glaring compared to the beautiful muted colours in your items.

[maydaylabels]

If you've been here for two years and read about relevancy and search, you have read the wrong things. You are not optimizing your items for Etsy's search.

[ArsMakars]

i need help! i promote my items but don't have sales, i need advices

[Former_Member]

I agree with Wendy that my photos need help. I am being found on search but am not being clicked. Unfortunately I am confined to a wheelchair so find taking photos difficult. I used to use a lightbox but recently gave it to my daughter to take photos of her work (she is a glassblower). I then started using fotofuze to enhance my photos but it gives it the cut and paste look that Wendy mentioned.
I keep the background white as it has helped me appear on etsy home page as well as in treasuries.
What size do most make their photos? I find that a lot of mine are too close up and don't show the item properly. Thanks for your help and suggestions.

[Former_Member]

Gorgeous scrapbooks, Shannon! I'm not a scrapbooker but I may have to become one just to use such lovely books!

Etsy recommends photo sizes of 800-1000 pixels wide. I use Microsoft Office's photo editing programme to edit my photos after photographing my items against a large piece of white cardboard (which I sometimes have lying down on a flat surface). I use natural sunlight as the light source, taking the photos inside but near a window so the light streams in. Your books are very detailed so I'd keep the backgrounds really simple as you've done to show off all the details.

Just one other thing I did notice - you've titled a lot of your finished scrapbooks with the first word 'Premade' - I've read that the first 3 words in the title are the most important so maybe try some with the word Scrapbook as the first word (I know you've done that with a few already) as that's what most people would type in when using Search and looking for a Scrapbook. You could also try words like Memory book, Keepsake book, Diary.

Hope this helps a little and wishing you all the best :)

[Former_Member]

Do you utilize social media such as Facebook pages and Twitter to promote your Etsy page?

[FreewheelFinds]

The sales are so shitty! i used to do reasonably well…It's not our shops its the damn changes that were made and we need to make our voices heard! We have put endless hours into our shops, only to see sales plummet the minute these changes were made! ARRRGGGGG!!!!!!!

[Former_Member]

Thanks Megan for your kind words and advise. I found recently that 'premade' was not only used a lot in search but also with many other scrapbook sellers. So I added it to my titles. It hasn't helped though! - research is great but sometimes its best to leave well enough alone. LOL. I do use Photoshop to enhance photos so am going to review them (as well as keywords) and stick with that (no fotofuze).

[Former_Member]

I have a Facebook page but do not use Twitter. I also post on Pinterest.
I'm really beginning to think that despite my faults Etsy changes have something todo with it as sales have never been this low.

[WilliamsGiftshop]

Use 'premade' at the beginning of some of your titles, but not all of them. Variation in your titles (but still including all important keywords) helps in being found.

You make beautiful scrapbooks!

[maydaylabels]

premade is in a lot of suggested searches, so it is probably a decent word to use as part of phrases.

How do you know you're being found in searches if you don't get views from search? Do you just mean that you have good standing in searches that you're targeting? Are you sure they're searches that you should be targeting (that is to say, have you researched what phrases are useful for your items)?

You have a ton of single word tags, which are a waste of space. Some of them are repeats of words that are included in other phrases, which are doubly unnecessary - if the word is already part of a phrase, you don't need it on its own, for the most part.

eta: I am not a scrapbooker so I'm not sure, but your photos look fine to me.

[Former_Member]

I truly understand your pain. My sales have dropped dramatically. I mean barely making a sale a month. I hate the new changes to Etsy.

[CDChilds]

Your mini scrapbooks are wonderful. I love altered art.

Sales are extremely slow right now. I'm not happy with the traffic my shop is receiving either. I'v been on here since 2007 and usually my shop is rocking this time of year. I'm also a little disappointed with the way etsy has let re-sellers on this site. According to my stats my sales are down almost 30%. I just hope December gets better.