What is the best advise you received?

[Former_Member]

What is the best piece of advise you have received on these board so far that has helped you become more successful?

Thanks!
Chels

[diarysketches]

I'm not so successful (yet!) so looking forward to hearing what others have to say...

[AdamRabbit]

Work on a few specific items that fit together to have cohesiveness. Also have great packaging! Good luck!

[LoopsAndLines]

Best advice was this link:

http://etsymentors.blogspot.com/p/critique-your-own-shop.html?m=1

Excellent for SEO (tags, titles, descriptions).

[Former_Member]

Great link, thanks Lisa T!

[Former_Member]

Find your niche and work to perfect it. Dont try to make everything everyone else does, you will do better to make a few things well than to make many items mediocre.

[Former_Member]

Don't sell yourself short.
Calculate your cost of supplies, your time, etc - don't just guess at pricing.
And DON'T think that lower prices = more sales. It really doesn't.
Check this out:
http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2012/a-simple-formula-for-pricing-your-work/
http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2012/etsy-success-the-art-of-pricing-for-profit-workshop/

[LettersAndPine]

I learned about SEO and using it to your benefit. I'm still working on my titles, but I think I'm getting there. If it weren't for these forums, I would be lost and no one would EVER be able to find my products! :O

[Former_Member]

SEO

Had no clue! Still learning.

Thanks to everybody on this team who has helped, advised, critiqued, contributed, given up secrets, passed along lessons learned. You rock!

[Former_Member]

Lisa T from LoopsAndLines says

Best advice was this link:

etsymentors.blogspot.com/p/critique-your-own-shop.html?m=1

Excellent for SEO (tags, titles, descriptions).
----

I think this link from Lisa T is a great place to start.

Some of the best advice I have received was about tagging and creating titles for my listings. Until I asked for help, I had no idea what exactly to call my items. In short, be specific about what you are selling and include details that people may be looking for, and have phrases in your tags that match words in you title.

[Former_Member]

Thanks for the links Gena!!

[PiecesOfMePaperCraft]

Gena Divine from BakeAllTheThings says
Don't sell yourself short.
Calculate your cost of supplies, your time, etc - don't just guess at pricing.
And DON'T think that lower prices = more sales. It really doesn't.

______________________________

^^ That!

I get so frustrated when I see card sellers pricing their items so low that they'll make less than a dollar after fees. It makes no sense to me.

Also, educate yourself about SEO and how to take decent photos. I've finally got the tools to get my photos right. I plan to retake all the photos in my shop very soon.

[Former_Member]

Thanks everyone!!

[NeatoKeen]

Best advice hands down: focus on top notch customer service. If your customers are happy with every aspect of their transaction from start to finish, they will come back. It's worked for me.

[Former_Member]

Thanks NeatoKeen

[GabriellasTreasures]

All of the above!

When I started, I was a totally lost puppy: not very computer savvy, had no no no clue re photos, seo, tags, titles, no clue about anything!!!! Only had determination and love of vintage.

So much help on these forums I cannot specifically say one thing. Perhaps learning how searches work:
Etsy looks at titles and tags
Google looks at titles and descriptions. I think Crochetgal taught me that, plus much more.

I soo appreciate other sellers helping - thank you all!

[ScrapendipityDesigns]

Best advice I ever got:

1. Match your keyword phrases from your title to your tags EXACTLY. So if you have "awesome bitty things" in your title, have a tag that is "awesome bitty things". Increased my views substantially.

2. Back link to your shop from your listing page. Before I didn't have many people viewing other stuff in my shop, now I rarely have people that land on a listing that don't view other stuff too.

Cheers!
Rachel

[Former_Member]

Make one goal at a time...work on it until completed then...make another one...

[Former_Member]

Rachel...backlisting. Great advise!

Mecaela...Thank you, you are right! It's so hard to focus on just one aspect and make it perfect when I know there is so much I can do but I just need to create a list and check it off as I go.

Thanks!

[DancewithJewels]

thanks Lisa for the link-bookmarked it! This team is great!

[LoopsAndLines]

Harriet, you are welcome.

Rachel, I agree, back links, back links, back links.

[Former_Member]

When I was brand spanking new, which was just several weeks ago, the best advice I got was to list everything I had- all colors and variations that I had made. I am still on a quest to get and keep my shop stock over 100.

[LoopsAndLines]

Quantity is important. More items = better chances of being found.

However, if your SEO isn't relevant, quantity won't matter and you will be wasting a lot of time going back and fixing titles and tags and descriptions. Work smart, not just hard.

[sewbigkeepsake]

Hard to say, but working on photos to get the best possible shots to list my items has been work. Much info about getting good shots has helped me trouble shoot issues I have had--mostly with photos that were too dark.