Viewing Views Differently

[#1]

Hi Team!

I wanted to share a few thoughts. I'm sure you're aware we've changed the way Etsy's search works. In this change, you may notice buyers looking at fewer items before they pounce. We're seeing more overall sales by the Etsy community. This is exciting, the quicker a buyer can find what they are looking for, the better. But this does mean they are viewing less items on their hunt for the perfect handmade or vintage item or supply.

A while back I wrote about the single sale highs and lows: http://www.etsy.com/teams/5002/etsy-success/discuss/6796368/ It's easy to get wrapped up in watching a sale or view counter get higher and higher - but this can be an arbitrary way of measuring success.

Now I want to talk about conversion rate. Your conversion rate would be the number of favorites you get in comparison to the number of visits, or the number of sales compared to the number of visits. (Or go ahead and track both!)

I'm sure many of you have thought about this already, but I want to bring it back up to you now, because I see many sellers focusing intently on the number of views they are getting in their shops. Remember all views are not created equal. Instead of trying to grab as many views as possible, you should be thinking about pulling in the right buyer (one who is ready to support you and become a collector)!

With all this said, it is important to update your shop so that your views don't drop too drastically. In the last Relevancy Shop Critique on Etsy's Online Labs page: http://www.etsy.com/community/online-labs. In this pre-recorded workshop HeyMichelle and I give you a way to come up with your own formula (SEO is never cut-and-dry) to help you optimize your titles and tags for Etsy search.

Before you go off updating, tweaking, coming up with your own formula - think about what your most important measurements of success are.

One more thing while I have your ear, I'd hate to see anyone spend more time than necessary trying to tweak titles and tags for any kind of search engine optimization. I can't tell you exactly how much time you should invest experimenting in this area. You may want to see where Etsy Search ranks in your top referrers list (you can see this in your Shop Stats). If it's at the very top - you're probably doing ok. If it's way down near the bottom of the list, perhaps you should do some more researching and testing. Again, there is no one path to success, but the first step is the same for all: set specific, important and reasonable goals. Then you'll know which path you should be on to get there.

I hope this helps! Please feel free to challenge me in your responses! I'd love to have a good discussion about this.

Danielle

[Former_Member]

Okay to those who are a bit more in the know, when you're talking about getting to page 3 in relevancy, etc., are you referring to on Craftopolis where it shows you your tag words and what people are using to find your items? It'll show my item and then will list several specific words or word combinations and then say a page number. So is the idea to try to come out in the lower page numbers then? Should we be adjusting tags so that instead of coming up on page 12, you come up on 2 or 3? Is that what I'm hearing? Sorry, trying to follow along . . . thanks for the help everyone.

[Former_Member]

Great advice, I know I was one that was watching my 'views' number go up but wasn't really watching the relationship between the fans to those viewers. I'm in the middle of tweaking my shop, about half way through. Hope to see some more sales come of this change. Thanks!

[ColoursandTextures]

Thanks for keeping us updated Danielle.
I hope the new system will work better. I don't think number of views and hearts necessarily relate to sales.

My shop stats are much lower than what shows on Craftopolis or Google analytics
Does anyone else find this or know why?

[Former_Member]

Views, favorites, and spots in treasuries have been up for me since I changed titles and tags. :)

Now, if I could only convert some of those into sales....

[KindredEssence]

Great tips Danielle. I've been updating all my tags am I'm actually seeing an improvement in views, favorites and sales with the change over to relevancy as the default search option. I'm also working on updating our photos for the holiday shopping season and I think that this along with the change over to relevancy will be good for JenSan in the long term.

Thanks for the continued tips.

[Former_Member]

Thanks for all the great information. I have been trying to read and see videos to help me understand how the tags and title order work. I really like the changes you have made. I have not been able to figure out how to get Google Analytics to see my bounce rate, any suggestions. Sounds like that would be helpful.
Most of my listings are for the same product ( wool from my rare breed Cotswold sheep) Should I change the wording order around instead of listing them the same? I have checked others listing for like product and researched their order of tags. Should the tags be in different order for my listings?
I have good feedback which I thought would help with sales.
Would it be better to put the word Cotswold ( the sheep breed) further back in my title and replace it with reroot, Blythe or something else.
I have been copying off my stats every day to try and figure out just what they are telling me. When I went back tonight to check out a previous days stat it was different than what I had coppied the end of that day previously. Why would it be different?
Would be helpful if we could change the order of tags like we can change the order of pictures.
Sorry for so many questions, maybe you could answer the most important. Would appreciate a critique if you have time.
Thanks in advance for any help.

[Former_Member]

ColoursandTextures says: My shop stats are much lower than what shows on Craftopolis or Google analytics Does anyone else find this or know why?


----

This probably because Etsy Shop Stats exclude your own visits and are more accurate than Google Analytics.

[Former_Member]

Here's a step by step guide to setting up your Google Analytics: http://www.etsy.com/help/article/230

Hope that helps!

[Former_Member]

I have been using whimsical names for my titles after the word "Cross". Is this a mistake? It seems the title should be more descriptive instead of artsy, such as "Cross Green Leaves" ? Thanks for all the communication, my shop is only a few months old but I am reading everything you all put up.

[Former_Member]

Well, views and sales went back up the last several days since Etsy added a 'See More' button next to the Recently Listed items at the top of search results (light at the end of the tunnel). Woke up only to see that already changed and my views dropped off yet again, ugh! OMG Enough is enough already!!!

[Former_Member]

I lost views and I don't know what the change was! I missed it somewhere. Can you let me know what etsy did to change. I do not like when you add a new piece it asks questions but does not give you very well thought of choices. Some I can't even use or use one because i feel I need to and it does not pertain to my work.
Feedback I appreciate and thank you so very much!

[CustombyBernolli]

Thank you for the great info! off the work :)
good luck for everyone!

[DesignsbyBellas]

I need some advice on how I should go about making my tags and labels. I want to make my shop more appealing. Im still new to all of esty so any advice is appreciated.

[Former_Member]

Yesterday I had 91 views in my shop 4 favorites and 2 sales. So I am not complaining by any stretch of the imagination!!! I am just wondering how to target my target audience?

[Former_Member]

Thank you Danielle,

it's encouraging.. I keep positive and try to do more items on my shop, and to be more relevant! :-)

[DesignsbyBellas]

Im still new and my handmade items are nothing like what you see out on the web but im still learning all the things needed to promote and market my shop. Thanks for all the advice and if anyone has advice on what to do after you got your shop up and what are the best things to keep people interested let me know. Also I did take the advice from someone who told me to try to take what I've done and expand my ideas. I finished some new items that are even more unique and unusual. Im almost finished and I think anyone who sees this new idea will really find it to be one step further in expanding my products. Hope to get some good feedback. Thanks

[Former_Member]

I have been working on my tags, titles and most recently my pictures. Can someone please critique my shop. I have only had 2 sales. From what I've been reading, I am hoping that the new pictures & other changes will help. Any advice is welcome!