Why you are not getting found newbies

[#1]

Things are tough when your category has 2,000,000 items, and you have 40.
You must do everything possible to give yourself a chance to be found. I dont see that in threads compalining about low views.
And, it isnt that hard, nor does it take much time to have good tags and titles. Ignore all that constant "tweaking" noise you read about. Do it right the first time, and you can spend the tweaking time making things.

I have learned the following from the Queen of SEO:

1.Your title is not the name of your item. It is a 70 character string whose goal is to get your item found by etsy search.

2. If you cant tell exactly what the item is by reading your tags, your tags stink. Those words are what people search on. If I had a dime for every purple necklace that had neither purple nor necklace in the tags, I would have a lot of dimes.

3. Words in your title must show up in your tags. If Blue scarf is in your title, blue scarf needs to be in your tags.

4. Use as many of the 20 characters in your tags as possible. Blue scarf as one tag is better than blue, then scarf as two tags.

5.Read about SEO at cindys seo group. she is very wise. http://www.etsy.com/teams/10713/cindylouwho-team/discuss/10196168/

the end

[MagicMoonPottery]

Ditto what inkleing and Kayla Johnson said! I'm IN!

[Former_Member]

Ya know Alex, This thread would make the most fun team evuh!!! I would join a team like this in a minute and be very active. I'm a leader on one that I'm in but it's never any fun ...the Captain is some what restrictive.......I want to be on a team the just lets it fly and has fun trying to make a go of being a seller here.
................

i have never thought of that

if i do, i will be needin some hippie vegan chicks with dirty feet to keep things lively

alex isnt a big rule guy

[PollyAJewellery]

I'm veggie, and hug the occasional tree. It's not vegan or hippe but it's close.

[Former_Member]

This hippie vegan chick just loves Alex!

[Former_Member]

And don't forget the cleavage Alex...the cleavage! haahaa!

[Former_Member]

Hi! Just found this team and thread. I opened my shop about 2 weeks ago, and I was expecting it to be slower. I have actually had 11 sales so far. So I think that's... good...??

Could you also critique my shop titles and tags? I've been trying to bundle ALL the new information ive been reading. Its so much!

Anyways, thanks for your time and really hope I get some tips!

[RadicalWorks]

This is some very good advice to newbies and veterans alike!

[Former_Member]

So...for number 3, does that mean if I have free shipping in my title but not my tags, anyone searching free shipping won't see my items? :(

[Former_Member]

So...for number 3, does that mean if I have free shipping in my title but not my tags, anyone searching free shipping won't see my items? :(
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

didya check?

320,000 returns for free shipping

[Former_Member]

cindy from down south

http://www.etsy.com/shop/LivingHelensDream

I just sent something to abbeville

You are looking for sales, not sells. Alex dont cotton to "sells"

thanx for telling me your goal

cindy sells vintage
alex aint up on that stuff
44 items are low
a lot of vinties have 100s
you look a little yuong to be retired
looks like your hub robbed the cradle
I would like to know who Helen is
your about page pics are not good
too dark and the tone is uneven.

jade egg cups
they look cool
a tracking number is for your protection. Either eat the cost, or add it to shipping
I would love to know more about them, but you dont know
didya have them appraised?
what are they made of? jade?
the shipping cost for combo should be around $4 for this in the US. I know you say to message for that, but you really should have something concrete in the listing. People dont like to ask for stuff. I know it takes a Very Long time to get shipping costs right, but get a scale, and go to the USPS site to get solid prices.
ok, i say jadeite. it is jade.
I think you may get better results if you tag and title for jade. Then you can stick jadeite in the tags. actually, put both in the tags and titles.
check to see how many results you get for both in search. Second half has started. Steelers are driving up the freaking wall.

anywho
that listing looks ok, except for those vague one word tags. The others are solid.
except use all five pics. Check the photography thread for some tips. All of you r pics need work.

i like that swan thingy
for vintage, you really need pics of every inch of the piece.
gotta be hard to do that
it would drive me nuts
you have a lotta views and hearts on that.
why do you think it hasnt sold?
how bout hull and swan in one tag
you have to double those singles up
here be why:

hull swan pottery

great effing tag

it does the work of FIVE tags

hull
swan
pottery
hull swan
swan pottery
and you are semi relevant for hull pottery

capiche?

you have done fine with most of your tags and titles.
you are ready for the next step

find out how they rank in search and study the keywords that have been successful in the past.

keep asking how you can get on early pages in the searches that are important to you

[Former_Member]

I'm a vegan hippie chick from a hippie city! Totally excited for you to start a team!! I know I'd totally join.

[vw53]

Packer win today!!!!

[PureImpressions]

I would totally join the team!
Still patiently awaiting my shop critique, but have been making changes from your suggestions to others and my views this week are up by almost double.

The shop says it opened in 2011, but I never actually put anything up for sale until September-ish this year.

I was super excited with 3 sales for the weekend lol :)

[Former_Member]

Alex, loving this thread! Quick question about the cleavage...

I haven't meant to put my cleavage into the photos and hadn't thought about it until this thread... I don't want it to look trashy, but does it help or hurt? Sure, guys like it and probably want the earrings in the cleavage instead of the ear, but since I think most of my buyers will be women, will they be turned off?

[Former_Member]

Hi Alex, this thread is enlightening. I've just changed a lot of my titles and tags but am constantly frustrated at the 20 character limit on tags. My searches have increased with participation in treasuries and teams, but my sales are very sluggish. I know my stuff is not everyday wear and I'm probably after a niche market - any ideas on reaching that niche?
Hooroo
Deb

[Former_Member]

lol I know I know....no more negative feedback on anything even if it IS 100% deserved. 0_0 My negative feedback for them was completely justified but obviously they weren't being professionals and decided to be immature and now I have to pay the price for that. The shop is closed now so even if I wanted to "kiss and makeup", it's not an option now. Not that I was ok with doing that in the first place. I'm not going to lie and say that a shop is worth positive feedback if I know it isn't. :0(

Which listing was this comment for....?
"close to best pic ever
not even sure what the product is

www.etsy.com/shop/HeartmadeCreations"

Link was to the shop, not a specific listing.


Regarding turn around time... I try to list the very max that someone should expect. My kiddo is home schooled and I have other obligations. I'm the only one sewing and running the shop and well... life gets in the way. Orders typically go out within two weeks though. Soon as I can make sure that my time is consistent, then I will go ahead and reflect that in the shop officially. :0)

lol NO... definitely NOT octomom. Just the one pre-teen. All the kiddos in the shop photos are models that I work with. :0)

Do you mean less photos of the military brats and their pops? I choose the daddy photos specifically for the main photo (melts the hearts of all the military mommas out there)... but the others are just whatever photos were the best of the bunch out of what the models/photographers sent. The best photos just happened to be with the dads most of the time.

Alrighty.... on to the acronyms. I haven't done anything with my tags besides only TWO of the listings... so I have a LOT of work to do on that. So, when the original listings first went up months ago, I choose one word tags (not knowing any better). The acronyms are the names of the camo. ACU = Army Combat Uniform..... NWU = Navy Work Uniform... etc etc etc. That is how we know which camo is which. When I search for army digital camo items on Etsy, I type in ACU.... so I figured that is what I should put for my listings.

When I go to change them.... should I write out things like Childrens Army Top, ACU Top, Army Halter Top, etc etc etc.... Is that the right idea then? Longer phrases and such? If I do that, I will easily run out of tags. I can't do one listing with all those phrases for EACH of the five camo types that I carry. Then, would it be better to make a listing for each of the types and spend the additional 20cents per listing in the hopes of a better tag? 0_O

Katie Top is the name of the pattern. There are a ton of fans for Brownie-Goose which is the name of the pattern designer. Therefore, many people do searches for items from the name of the pattern. :0) I CAN also add halter top, adjustable strap top, spaghetti strap top... etc etc etc.

lol yes... all my tags are screwy... because I haven't done ANYTHING with them since opening the shop and putting up the listings. This is all very new still... I'm in the research phase. I believe you said it or I read it somewhere that it is pretty pointless to change things now before I know what I'm doing. That would just make more work in the long run. Right?

YES SIR, 770 PUSHUPS SIR! I'll be working on that for the next year or two. 0_o lol

[Former_Member]

Packer win today!!!!
..............

thank you cheesheads
I took them in my survivor pool
3800 started
280 remain

the pack cost me 2 picks early on

stillers win!!!!

[Former_Member]

I read this whole thread in one sitting while watching Law and Order....SVU! I was laughing, window shopping, favoriting, I mean, what else you going to do on Etsy? ;)

Anyways, I am a total NOOB...NEWBIE.... as they say, opened in JAN of this year. I don't work outside the home and I wanted something to do >>> inside the home and it came about because our pawn shop down the street had a cricut machine for sale! who would pawn a cricut machine? I bought it and it came with the bag, 8 cutting cartridges, paper, and the scrapper to scrape the diecuts off the mat. so I was set.

10 months later.......I have 3 commercial cutting machines and it is so noisy in my shop! NO relaxing studio for me.

I kinda *wish* I didn't buy the cricut machine because now I have no life because I am busy making, packaging things up, answering emails and reading this whole thread which by the way is very informative, helpful and entertaining ;)

I have 90 orders pending that I will be working on all week. I have my mom helping, sisters and even my 2 yr old niece, she likes to put the small circles into the bags.

I am making money ( I have 2 teenagers to put through college) but I am exhausted! I am not working 8 hour days, more like 16! I have taken Saturday and Sundays off now, no more answering emails, I look at them, but I don't answer them. It can wait.......

I get alot of emails saying, how do you get so many sales? I say, I am doing what everyone else is doing! My pictures aren't all that great, I repeat many things in my titles and tags and I have many duplicate listings but it works for me. I am making $, isn't that what counts?

Take care and Great Success to all of you ;)

[Former_Member]

WHOA JC... that is an insane amount of sales! Awesome!

[Former_Member]

Alex, loving this thread! Quick question about the cleavage...

I haven't meant to put my cleavage into the photos and hadn't thought about it until this thread... I don't want it to look trashy, but does it help or hurt? Sure, guys like it and probably want the earrings in the cleavage instead of the ear, but since I think most of my buyers will be women, will they be turned off?
.......................

I appreciate you not meaning to

Great question, and something I have studied for a long time.

Have you noticed that young pop girlies are almost always smoking hot?
Britney can sorta sing, but her fame and sales are way out of proportion to her talent. Once she made it, record execs said "you like that? Heres 50 more versions." christina, pink, avril, jessica, etc

Why do they need to be hot when the market is teenage girls? No boy would buy her stuff, at least not admit to it.

They aspire to be like her.

Why do women buy jewelry?

its ok to say it
go head
we all know
and it is universal

They want to look pretty
atractive
smokin
pulled together
to draw attention to where they want attention.

so

your shop gives a classy, sexy pulled together vibe.
you give that vibe as well
even your banner does

So, I want to see cleavage where appropriate. Your earring pics with the half face are totally sexy as well.
That should be how you brand yourself, and you will get women who aspire to be that.
They pay more
At shows, I get to see who buys my stuff. A big chunk is women in their 40s and 50s who are pulled together and educated. They want unique, and dont care so much about price. They want something with a story so they can tell their friends. Once I saw this, I started dressing better for shows and sitting up straight.

So, cleavage is good when presented in a classy and appropriate way. Women admire nice breasts as well.
Just be dressed like you think a classy and pulled together customer will dress.

That is a great market to capture.

[Former_Member]

.... example....

Shabby Chic Pink Baby Dress 12-18 Month Mint Green Children's Clothing Toddler Clothes Floral Print BIrthday Party Upcycled 'SUGAR n' SPICE'

Is that REALLY what titles should look like? :0/ These types of titles make me never want to come back to a shop.... they are all over the place.

[Former_Member]

.... example....

Shabby Chic Pink Baby Dress 12-18 Month Mint Green Children's Clothing Toddler Clothes Floral Print BIrthday Party Upcycled 'SUGAR n' SPICE'

Is that REALLY what titles should look like? :0/ These types of titles make me never want to come back to a shop.... they are all over the place.
........................

its up to you how you arrange the key words. I used to call those ebay titles.

if yu can take that and make it readable, you are ahead of the game.

[Former_Member]

cassandra,

the best pic ever was for your hub and the little girl
I always want to see him in uniform in some pics
I also want to see him in civvies.

spend the 20 cents

do you have pink camo?

Childrens army top

great tag

it makes you relevant for

childrens- dont a big help
army- eh
top-eh

army top-very good

better would be

childrens camo top

you get the three singles
and
childrens camo
camo top

try stuff like that

[Former_Member]

Got it... making more sense. :0) Future bookings... I'll request some civvies and uniform pix... a nice balance.

[Former_Member]

pink camo, no... just the official uniform camo. Too much overhead as it is. 0_o I would love to eventually separate shops and have military only shop so I can branch out more and give the military shop it's own branding... but that's further down the road. We're part time National Guard... don't even live on a base. Not much word of mouth or military support to get me going, so I've left it on the back burner for now.