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

[Former_Member]

Hi Sylvie!

[Former_Member]

Alex, I am so excited!! I have been reading your advice and just changed some tags. One of my items just moved up to the first page. I changed the tags and moved it to a smaller section. Still have a lot of work to do on the shop but just wanted to say THANKS!

Margie

[Former_Member]

I love these questions! I've gotten so much out of this thread, actually more than all of the workshops and forums combined. So, Alex, thank you so much!

What is the goal for your Etsy store?
I opened it as portal for a global market. My “stuff” is definitely intended for a very small niche market so worldwide is the best way to go for me. Iron age hunter gatherers are had to come by these days.

How long have you made stuff?
In this life or in past lives? Short answer ….forever.

Have you sold elsewhere before you opened on Etsy?
Yes, on Ebay for 12 years, Orange County Fairgrounds Swap Meet in the 70’s, local Metaphysical Shops and in the park to the wild guys that get out on Sunday morning to whack each other with rattan sticks……the SCA folks…the ones that live in the “current middle ages”. I do very well with them. I imagine that if King Henry I had internet he would buy my stuff. I also do well with those folk that make costumes for historical/fantasy movies.

How well do you think you will do here?
I think I will do well.

How well do you hope you will do?
I think I can conquer my niche…Viking style!

And yes, I am a vegan hippie dirt worshipping tree hugger……that cusses like a sailor…….but has very clean feet…….I am a Virgo after all…..I also drink beer and when pissed off I might slug someone and spit…..but then I am old.

[AlbinaRose]

Hi Inkeling!! Virgo here too. :)

What is the goal for my Etsy store:
I never had one. Still not sure. At a minimum, for Albina Rose to sustain herself. I realize that my definition of sustain might be different than someone else's. Basically, to not have to use money from our personal income to pay for anything for AR.

How long have I made stuff?
48 years

Have I sold elsewhere before I opened on Etsy?
Just a small art gallery here in my village back in the mid-90s.

How well do I think I will do here?
Mediocre

How well do I hope to do?
Better than mediocre. But I have no intentions (or delusions) of being a high volume seller. I am in a niche. I like being in a niche. And I understand some of the limitations of being in a niche, if you're not willing to get out there and really push your product to the right audience. I do fairly well in Etsy search and think that I can find my little audience here.

And I am a wine drinking carnivore, politically incorrect, dog lovin', ragtop jeep drivin' tomboy who rides a Harley both as a passenger and soon as a rider. And I'm old too.

[Former_Member]

here i go out of order again
vbg is on deck and dog collar lady is in the hole.
I found something I can speak a little bit more intelligentlier about than jewelry. Soviet, or otherwise.

elizabeth from philly

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

ya know how texans love their state? I dont heart philly. I tried. I just walk away shaking my head. I have 2 cousins out there that I would like to visit.
I also applied to the show at the Rocky Musuem with the steps. Didnt get in. Ouch. A little out of my league, but it aint good to get in every show you apply for. It was $1400, non refundable. Turns out I couldnt go. Yanever know.

anywho, liz takes pictures of stuff

liz has been around outside etsy for awhile. Like me. Liz has "seen" things. Been places. Done "things".

Alex is not intimidated by critiquing some one like that. Liz is probably short and has an annoying Philly accent.
Alex is The Big Boss Man.
Alex strong like bull.
Alex has been to Ohio.
Alex will finger wag and head shake and liz will gesticulate and prostrate.
Just so we all know the rules here.

Liz has been to china. We will have to take her word for that. I dont see any details about when and why.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/110077134/red-doors-china-travel-art-fine-art

she says that this is a door to the forbidden city
is that the main door? Does it have significance? Is it still used?
Was it shown in The Last Emperor?
alex is very visual, but he is also curious about stuff like that. Do you think a potential buyer would have the same curiosity?

tags:
red doors- these arent just any red doors. Someone may be looking for exactly this. What would they search on? I searched on "front gate to the forbidden city". No results. You have to be in that. This is a famous place. You have to be able to identify it by your tags. I know about China, and I couldnt make out the place the tags referred to. Try that with all of your travel
photographs. Ask a friend to help.

china- according to etsy, it's something you eat off of. You no longer intimidate me. Get rid of it.

travel photography has half the items than travel art. Yours is a photo.

red, pink, green-if you must, use them in one tag.enough room left for blue or ecru.

home decor- 1 million items, and its only october. When I said you no longer intimidate me, I meant that you never did.

I cant even look at the others. I have a penance for you for this abomination you have foisted on the group. I want you to read "See, I told You So" by Rush Limbaugh. I want you to deliver a report, focusing on womens role in society, according to Rush. I want at least 20 typed single spaced pages with no more than a one inch margin (not that I have experience with using wide margins to satisfy some subjective page requirement) telling us why Rush is right.

so...

for the door pic you took at the FORBIDDEN CITY which is the translation for ZIJIAN CHENG which was the seat of power in china from the MING to the QING DYNASTYS.........in BEIJING CHINA.......where the LAST EMPEROR was set and wondering if this is the MERIDIAN GATE or another known gate, nothing is striking me tagwise at the moment for what you could title and tag the picture of the red doors to the forbidden city (97 results) with.
But, who knows? Alex aint always right. Alex was shocked to learn that Joan Jett is a lesbian. Alex did not pick up on the subtle clues.
alex is not a fan of those frames for the travel pics. They are new and shiny, you need old and timeworn. I know "someone" who has done that. A lot.

we're walking...

a huge selling poster here is The Doors of Pittsburgh. And posters cant even play When The Music's Over. I bet philly row house doors would look cool.
I know 5 people who do nothing but make pittsburgh art. Like the "lady who paints pittsburgh". Does great with people who moved away. She'd kill here. I get tons of hits on "Pittsburgh" though I dont have many burgh items here. They sell too fast out there.
Do Philadelphians have as strong of a sense of place than we do?

If you can sell out there, you can sell here. There is no difference. I know. Those that cant, dont know how then pout then leave. It isnt that hard to do.
If you do it well, it will change your life.
Big Boss Man guarantees it.

every item I looked at has terrible tags. Really bad. You have to get rid of all the vague, one word tags that do not describe what your item is.
Describe what it is in sentence form, when you took it, and what it means, etc.
the rest is just pickin and choosin and testing.

you can have it done in one day.

you will see gradual improvement.
nothing big changes over night.

[ninedragons]

Liz is slow. She will not have perfect tags done by the end of the day. Liz does have four million fab photos of Philly and many other places she will now be adding to her Etsy shop because Alex has handed her the keys to the Universe.

"every item I looked at has terrible tags. Really bad." Thank you. There is hope.

Reading you this morning with my tea was far better than reading the Inquirer - I may make it a habit. Bowing with thanks for your knowledge, but not necessarily your taste in reading material, I am, Long Tall Liz with no accent whatsoever...

[Former_Member]

As I was looking at Elizabeth's shop and reading about her, I had the uneasy feeling that I was about to give a better golfer swing tips. Alex was quite the softball player back when, and if a lesser player gave me swing advice, I would give him the "bugger off" look.


The other thing I realised, was that after doing this for 50 pages, I have become good at tags. Who knew practice could make you better at stuff??
Why wasnt I told? I went to the Allen Iverson School of Practice (two people may get that).

Anywho, I have applied some stuff to my latest listings. And the renewed solds.
There are some listings that could be better.

So...

one or all of you has the opportunity to critique me. I dare you. I defy you. I double dog dare and defy you.
Alex will be wearing a cup over his big boy undies when reading.

[Former_Member]

interested to know how many people (other than me) just had to Google "practice" in relation to Allen Iverson. Ha!

[Former_Member]

Ok I've been following this thread for awhile now. Too shy to post, until now. I'm sure we are doing most things wrong (I've realized it from this thread and the critiques of others.)
We sell painted canvas's at four shops in our area. We do fairly well at the shops and craft shows. We are wanting to start on here with matted prints, but not sure their simplicity is going to show well. What do you think? I know we need to redo most of the tags from reading the other critiques. What thoughts do you have about the product and pictures?
Will fix tags soon!

Thanks in advance!
( I think )

[Former_Member]

Okay Alex game on!

Not really but I will give it a try..........

Couple of things I noticed right off.
Alex is a Virgo so he is a perfectionist.
We might think his shop is a creative mess but I think not.......how will I ever know if he doesn't do his "about" page. The About page may seem redundant but it does give a peek in to the artist's creative process and can put a face behind the product.

Shop sections could be expanded to separate the Fleur's from the Crosses. maybe add a "When Pigs Fly" section just to help with navigation. You have more sections available so why not use them.

Picky picky Pamela.........(aka inkleing)

I did notice that you have not updated your shop policies in the last 10 months. (That was really weak of me)

Pamela is really digging deep here......picky vey picky....

I am always interested in knowing why the thumbnails are cut off in the initial view of the shop.........I am an over analyzing Virgo.

Ah ha she found something.........at last! (maybe)

ALEX! What is up with the one word tags on the 400.00 OOAK Hottie Mosaic?????? I think you did that on purpose just to see if we looked Because on all of you other mosaics you have awesome tags :)

Your shop is awesome your tags are awesome you have had awesome sales. Clearly you know what you are doing... hence my extremely nit picky critique.....but I did look at everything .......for sale and sold. Practice makes perfect..........so people practice, we're talkin' bout practice here.

Seriously Alex your have it down.

[Former_Member]

Alex, a very belated thank you for looking at my store and for your advice. I am going to go and work on it straight away! I really appreciate your help.

[Former_Member]

Okay Alex, Game on! I'll be back this evening to critique! ;)

[Former_Member]

---what is the goal for your etsy store?
i would like to reach the level where I am making MORE money than what I put into my materials and shop; hopefully, selling a couple items a week--that would be a dream!

--how long have you made stuff?
been a maker since i was a child. in my shop now, i offer mostly my jewelry and masks. taking the long view, i make: hula hoops, costumes, masks, scrapbooks, jewelry, fine art, figure drawings, refinished furniture salvaged from the garbage, poetry and fiction, vegan recipes from scratch, clothing, housewares, wall hangings, photo collages, crocheted and knit items, and moremoremore....

--have you sold elsewhere before you opened on etsy?
taken some informal commissions from friends to sew costumes for them, etc. never sold in a shop before or online.

--how well do you think you will do here?
secretly, i fear that i will continue to plod along at this pace, not really making my expenses back.

--how well do you hope you will do?
i HOPE to do so well that i am constantly busy with the shop, and it becomes a significant source of revenue for me.

here is a sample of what i sell in my shop:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/96125744/mermaid-starfish-carnival-mask-handmade

thanks so much for looking, and thanks for offering critiques--i have learned a lot simply by reading others'!

[JanJat]

I posted before and I've been reading so many helpful ideas here. This has got to be the best thread I've ever found! So here's my list of answers and I can't wait!
Thanks :)

what is the goal for your etsy store?
I would like to see consistent sales of at least 3-5 items per week. I want to make this a full time job at some point soon. My goal for this year was to hit 100 sales (which I did the other day - whoo hoo) so the next bench mark is 250 sales between now and the end of 2013.

how long have you made stuff?
I made for myself before joining Etsy so proabably 4 and half years

have you sold elsewhere before you opened on etsy?
I had a very brief stint on ebay but when I found the listing cost, lack of pictures to be a problem I moved over to etsy.

how well do you think you will do here?
I have plans to expand my store specifically with more gemstone/sterling earrings and because I have done so well with eyeglass chains I was to keep that momentum going. I think I can do well here and reach my goals.

how well do you hope you will do?
After making this years goals so early I don't see why my new goals are unreasonable. I think the biggest battle is to get found and I've seen how my level of involvement/commitment directly translates into sales.

[Former_Member]

@artinthebluesquare: I think your product is good, but you need more photos. People want to know how one of your prints will look on the wall. They may read the dimensions, but it would help to have a photo of it in scale. A simple way can be to take a shot of someone holding the print.

Keep going!

[Former_Member]

Thank you Mary. I have been thinking the same thing.

[MagicMoonPottery]

one or all of you has the opportunity to critique me. I dare you. I defy you. I double dog dare and defy you.
Alex will be wearing a cup over his big boy undies when reading.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alex, you have such a great sense of humor, I think you should add more descriptions like this to your listings.

>>As I was making the frame, I was thinking about the whole flying pig lovers concept. It occurred to me that all pigs in love probably feel like they are flying. Floating on cotton candy clouds under a gumdrop rainbow. I am sure we all can relate to that. I laughed all the way through this project.<<

You will make people laugh (or feel sorry for you! LOL) and they will buy from you. Btw, do you lose points for spelling? I fixed occurred for you ;) (2 r's)

[Former_Member]

one or all of you has the opportunity to critique me. I dare you. I defy you. I double dog dare and defy you.
Alex will be wearing a cup over his big boy undies when reading.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alex, you have such a great sense of humor, I think you should add more descriptions like this to your listings.

>>As I was making the frame, I was thinking about the whole flying pig lovers concept. It occurred to me that all pigs in love probably feel like they are flying. Floating on cotton candy clouds under a gumdrop rainbow. I am sure we all can relate to that. I laughed all the way through this project.<<

You will make people laugh (or feel sorry for you! LOL) and they will buy from you. Btw, do you lose points for spelling? I fixed occurred for you ;) (2 r's)
..........................

there is an unevenness in the quality of the descriptions. It is easy to see what I am proud of and what I crank out.

I have improved from when I would say:

I made this from some garbage I found.
measures 8x5ish

that lured them in

[Former_Member]

Thank you Mary. I have been thinking the same thing.
...........................

ditto

[Former_Member]

Ready Alex?

Photos… drives me nuts that they are clipped off. Totally whacko. Give a little space on your crops. Try some fun angles. Hang something upside. Your backdrop is nice though

Sections… 65 items in your shop, only 51 have been placed in sections. Where are the rest? Section names need work. Spaces after commas. Mosaic what? Mosaic pictures? Mosaic frames?

Little space under your name just has your name again? Why not using to shove more keywords in?

Backlinks? My new favorite type of back link takes shoppers to a search within your shop for similar items. Do you use any back links?

Five years old, about 120 sales per year, so 10 sales per month. Way better than me but I think you could be selling way more based on style and prices.

Be sure you run google Adwords. You say you don't know it well but it's easy. You might even find a new fun keyword or two. Or words that give you ideas on new things to make

[Former_Member]

Thanks for the info, I know exactly why I'm not getting sales, its because I need to improve my photos and get more listings out there! Hopefully this will happen sometime soon, especially getting over this severe Stomach Virus I have at the moment.

[Former_Member]

Ready Alex?

Photos… drives me nuts that they are clipped off. Totally whacko. Give a little space on your crops. Try some fun angles. Hang something upside. Your backdrop is nice though

Sections… 65 items in your shop, only 51 have been placed in sections. Where are the rest? Section names need work. Spaces after commas. Mosaic what? Mosaic pictures? Mosaic frames?

Little space under your name just has your name again? Why not using to shove more keywords in?

Backlinks? My new favorite type of back link takes shoppers to a search within your shop for similar items. Do you use any back links?

Five years old, about 120 sales per year, so 10 sales per month. Way better than me but I think you could be selling way more based on style and prices.

Be sure you run google Adwords. You say you don't know it well but it's easy. You might even find a new fun keyword or two. Or words that give you ideas on new things to make
--------------------------------


Okayyyy! Alex...I think you may have met your match!

[Former_Member]

Hope you are ready Alex...

About Alex... from Pittsburg... second biggest city in PA
ranking at 25th in the nation for jobs...
with a big manly Texas attitude...
but I wouldn't know that from reading your about page,
only from reading this thread!

Onto your shop...
Your banner...while I love the artwork... where is your shop name??
Oh wait, there it is underneath... twice!
Maybe the second line would be a better place to put a tag line with tag words?

Yup! Have to agree with the other ladies,
the cut off photos drive me crazy too!
You have great photos of them inside...
however we don't see them first, why??
no top, no bottom, just the middle?
Is it a wanna be cleavage shot? ;)

Also... from all your advice why do I see the following...
While I love it... I want some real closeups!!!
What does her trumpet texture look like?
http://www.etsy.com/listing/88921375/mosaic-angel-reclaimed-wood-art

All in all Mr. Manly Man, great job!
Love your work. Wish you would do more saying, those are my favorite after the flying pigs!

[Former_Member]

Alright...

Alex from "Steel City"

Alex likes wood.
Alex likes wood A LOT!
As a matter of fact, I venture to say that Alex hearts wood.

Apparently many people like wood because Alex has 628 sells (OOPS! I mean sales)

I bet the lady folk like wood. I bet that's who Alex is selling the wood to.

I read your policies and I just want to be clear...do you ship the next business day? ;) I couldn't tell.

I don't see a wood mosaic with a blue crab in it. I'm disappointed.

Great keywords! One of my favorites is gumdrops rainbows. I personally just had someone search for Christmas balls in my shop. I think you need to make a set of those.

Keep doing what you're doing. Wood makes the world go 'round.

[ninedragons]

Dawn, Jo and Heather, pleased to meet you (curtsy). Is it just a little bit sad that I'm reading this for entertainment into the wee hours on Friday night? Maybe so, but this is turning into one very fun party. Nice critiques...