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]

I first saw that with a friend who is a high school teacher and has coached several sports. We both keyed on the same line.
"I know I'm supposed to be a team leader, and make my teammates better,but..."
Iverson was a great player.MVP. He did not need to practice much. It is clear that he was committed to making himself the best player he could be. Also clear that he was not committed to making his team the best it could be. His team needed practice to function as a cohesive unit. That speech made it clear that he wasnt getting it. He had a great coach at the time. He won every place he went, and he went to a lot of places. He took on the project of making Iverson into a team leader. He did lead, but it wasnt toward a championship He made a partial commitment, so he got partial results.
It is easy to see that looking in from the outside.

That is why I have been asking you about your goals for your shop. I am looking to see if your commitment so far is consistent with those goals. If I see a gap, I am going to start to say so. Pretty nervy of me to make that public, but, it isnt fair to you to keep that to myself. I have gone back to see if some of you have made improvements. It has been a mixed bag.
I am sure all of us can look back at our lives and see where our goals were not reached due to not fully commiting to the work necessary to achieve them.
Commit to practice, and the game can be won.

____________________________________________

Alex could not have posted...no humor anywhere! But very good point none-the-less. Maybe Alex needed bourbon at that point?

[Former_Member]

alex from woodenaht says
alex from woodenaht says
"whats with all the chick chemist artists??"

Here's my take. I've had a ton of people comment on my having a PhD in chemistry and also being an "artist". To me it makes complete sense. The first thing you learn in any realism drawing course is to draw what you see. In order to do this well you need to be analytical - forget what you want to see. Draw what's really there. As a scientist the first thing you learn is to come up with a hypothesis, do some experiments to test it, and then observe and analyze the data (without any bias). You can't be a good scientist, and base your conclusions on what you WANT the data to say. You need to be able to remove yourself from your own expectations (and wants) and analyze those data based on what the data really are. See the parallel?

Additionally, in order to be a good scientist, you need to be creative. You can be a mediocre scientist by doing what other scientists have done. But in order to make a big impact you need to be able to think outside of the box (a cliche phrase that I hate to use, but I can't think of a better way to say it at the moment). Alex, I'll bet you have a 100 better ways of saying it.

So to me, a science oriented brain and an art oriented brain are one in the same. A beautiful marriage of the analytical and creative.

I feel like I need to conclude this with a . . .

Q.E.D.
.........................................

I bow to Einstein on this one:

"Creativity is intelligence having fun".

--------------------------------------

YES!!!!

And, btw, I'm no superwoman. I get a lot done on my shop because I tend to hyper-focus and let everything else around me fall apart. I have high anxiety (I wake up at 1am, realize I've been hyper focusing, and then feel extreme guilt for not spending every second of my time with my kids), which then leads to frequent insomnia (it's 3:30am in philly, and I'm working on custom orders), which then makes me a cranky mom, which then leads to more guilt / anxiety, Ad infinitum.

I'm a mess.

[SwanboroughPrints]

Hello Alex
Anybody seen my rant posted on the 27th.....I just got stepped over and ignored........then my cat came and gave me a head butt.....so felt much better....so I told Dotti - the cat...all my problems instead.

She wasn't much help to be honest.....but I did get more head butts.

Still smiling
Minnie

[Former_Member]

This thread is also the second place i come to after i check my shop stats (yesterday- 20 views and 1 favorites) Helppp me please, Alex...i posted a while back but not sure what page....here goes

what is the goal for your etsy store?
I enjoy seeking out quirky fabrics to use in kids soft furnishings and would love to be able to expand into bed linens and get a steady amount of sales to justify buying more fabric. I would love a store to approach me to stock my products but the wholesale price would really make this a slave labour of love kind of deal- not sure i can increase prices anymore than i have.

how long have you made stuff?
I've made stuff for 14 months now and getting braver by the day

have you sold elsewhere before you opened on etsy?
I had an online shop selling organic children's clothes bought at wholesale.

How well do you think you will do here?
I'm scared to say i don't know- i'm not sure i've done enough to get found/exposed. i'm sure if i can increase traffic and SEO i will grab the attention of enough buyers as my prices are reasonable compared to the competition.

how well do you hope you will do?
I hope to do well enough to have regular sales each month (10-20) and have people seek out my shop for baby gifts. I have a lot of competition in baby blankets but think my packaging and designs differentiate me from them.

Thanks in advance.
Sam, nurse extraordinaire from london

[SeagullSmithJewelry]

Hi It's me again Still waiting for some advice to improve views, titles and tags. I'm not getting many because I guess jewelry is just too common. I do want to appeal to a wide range of buyers so I have a little bit of everything I learn to make. Is that a mistake? Should I just focus on one type of jewelry?
Thanks for any suggestions. I really do listen and will change to meet the advice handed to me. Ellen

[Former_Member]

Thank you for your tip!

Can you maybe help me out as well?

[Former_Member]

I need help! Sales wise my shop is doing ok. I opened in Feb. I get hits and favorites and have been in some treasuries but I think I should be doing better. Sometimes only 15-20 hits/day. Mostly around 30 and 1 to 2 favs/day.
I would love to know how my tags and titles are coming across. I have worked on my photos and continue to improve. What could I be doing better to bring in more traffic and sales? Thanks.

[Former_Member]

too shy art from hendersonville nc

do you know matt the painter?

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

i should steal your banner. I have old doors

art paints

if you sell well offline, you can here as well
I had my doubts about that, but I no longer do

i see, you do prints
$10 is a little cheap
I usually see the 8x10s for 20 at shows. Some go for 15, but I dont see 10 much.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/113364544/brilliant-red-bird-sings-in-the-pink

I thought that was going to be a cardinal. I see a lotta cardinal stuff in winter scenes.
You can still use cardinal red as a colour
I see it is 5x7, matted to 8x10
matt cable...what was the other matts name??
your tags are clearly not optimized for search, ie, they suck

i do like 5x7, and 8x10, but say print, or 5x7 red bird print instead
I get hits on numbers, but using more words really increases the power of tags.
you can shove all the colours into one tag
bird on branch is a good one. maybe. It may put you into the chinese jewelry crap. But you can play with that to make it more "you".

crap

I have to leave.
I will continue later

[Former_Member]

matt the print guy from nc

cont.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/113018159/yellow-flowers-growing-in-a-wildflower

looks like a kids fingerpainting
I would like to see this idea expanded. Looks like a winner
have you thought about making this into a card? Get well, or Thinking of you would work. Chicks will eat this up.

titles are more important than tags in search, ergo work 5x7 wildflower print into both title in tags in that order
key words are more important than what you call this in the title, You can put the series in the description.
yellow, aqua, nature and all the one word tags are weak on their own, they need buddies. Yellow wildflower art. great tag if it fits. yellow aqua print.
get it??
capiche?
sabe?

do that for all the tags and titles for all of your listings, and the world is your oyster
I shouldnt eat shellfish, so more for you

read this stuff too
http://www.etsy.com/teams/10713/cindylouwho-team

[Former_Member]

Alex,

I asked for a critique and then saw your questions. I thought about a few of them when I was designing my brand. I have read your thread and have to admit that I am a little lost, especially when I think of multiple word tags. I have getting traffice (18 views a day), but I know there is more to learn.

what is the goal for your etsy store? I would like to turn it into a career or at least a part time career.

how long have you made stuff? I have been making stuff for more than five years, including my own art.

have you sold elsewhere before you opened on etsy? I haven't sold in the virtual world before; I have sold some product in a couple of physical places and have done some freelance scrapbooking.

how well do you think you will do here? At this point, I don't know. I am missing something, but don't know what. I need help on how to attract leads and turn them into customers.

how well do you hope you will do? I'd like to do very well; at least a part time career.

[Former_Member]

Where the heck is the "Like" button on these posts!?!
Not only is the thread my go to place for picking up bad@$$ advice but it's my source of great entertainment in the wee hours of the morning!

Thanks Alex for starting this and to all the other Etsy sellers for adding your intel and wit:)

[Former_Member]

some buckle girl

alex is highly agitated due to the new york giants. I turned them off in disgust
so.... not in a bubbly mood

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

magnetic belt buckles. not getin it. whats that thing behind the buckle??
it looks like one pic superimposed on another
so... lets say "someone" who has been wearing the same belt size since 1988, and may have put on a pound or two due to various "reasons" beyond his control, and perhaps should bump it up a size, but wont based on principle, did the same with this buckle. Would it hold? I want to see a fat guy in the picture testing the electro magnetic effect. You may have to google that as you are a girl and science is "hard" for you. I do love your avatar though. There are more important things than science.

moving on ...
there are youtube non working links. I hope one is of a fat guy.
I like "red" and "interchangeable as tags. Thats what I would search when I am looking for a belt. Giants regain lead!!!!!! well you do own "magnetic Belt Buckle".... hmmm 24k in belt buckle, you are already optimized for that, so what to do with the other 12 tags.... I guess use what is on the belt buckle ...which you did with the snowflake.. interesting problem here... Alex will come up with ideas, as this is "complicated" .. you aint in the first two pages of metal belt buckle....only 5k results... you should go for the first page there, so put that in that order in some tags and titles. It may pay off better that "red".we need a pick from romo... he is a chokehound... "interchangeable buckle" will fit. Speaking of Dallas, do yo have Lone Star belt buckles ( and old faded levis and each night begins a new day, them that dont know em wont like em and them that do sometimes dont know how to take em) ? Texans like their belt buckles. And they need ones that can hold in all their pork rind and Shiner bock stuffed guts.
Fumble!!!! GMen get it. Eat it Cowgirls!!!
since you r product is so specific, I think y a gotta go with mostly belt and buckle combpos with the keywords, as well as many ways to say what is on the buckle as possible. So people who are looking for a Lone Star as well as something to keep their pants up will be your market. So I would definitely make what is on said buckle part of the appeal as well as the "electro magnetic effect".

oh boy

belt girl claims to be a chemical engineer. That dont sound right, as that is the hardest degree to get. Mebbe I am just old, but since when did girls like science?? I blame Oprah. This is perfect.hub is an army pilot, allegedly. Also the highest washout rate. I talked to someone who did wash out. The margin of error is no margin of error. Its just Who's Next; Many are called, few are chosen.
oh christ, she already has a lawyer and patents pending. My bud is a patent lawyer, and a chem engineer grad from cal tech. He cant shut up about politics. He makes me want to vote for rick santorum.
your pics are stunning. I now see that that thing in back is a belt.
you (alleged) engineer types make me want to throw up with your anal retentiveness and detail micro managing. Really. Up by 6 with 3 to play.
your designs are "nice" but I want to see some recognizable symbols like shamrocks and fleur de lis and black and orange( unless Harley owns that).

I think that will make things take off... How about a tic tac toe board with a an x and o or two missing.....If you can get a license from The Steelers for the hypocycloid symbol, you would cash in HUGE here, I think stuff like that will make this take off. I have 3984 ideas..I am an IDEA MAN. sylvie steals them from me and claims she invents them. She can be a real bitch about things. Dont be fooled.
your category is pretty small, so your seo only has to be decent, and... what the hell is embosses as a tag??? who the christ is going to search on that??? it asks if I meant embossed. If i did, I woulda typed that. I type real good.
ANywho, you two survived some high washout stuff (allegedly). This should be ez. 4th and 1.

picked off!!!!! Bite me romo!!!!!! cowturds lose!!!!!!!! Alex dances around dining room table!!!!!!!!!!

so cram as many descriptive adjectives befiore belt and buckle as you can think of, and, this should be fun for you , test what happens.

and get some fat guys straining the buckle pics.

i cant help you there, as I am only a 36.

[Former_Member]

i watched the video
it all makes sense now
no fat guys needed

you will be succesful no matter what you try, so I will watch you and claim credit, unless sylvia beats me to it

[mattsart]

OK Alex, you made me join the team, so I hope you're happy.
Awesome review on page 60, and THANK YOU so much for your time.

I would like to say to the rest of you, that Alex caught me at a very bad time, and he was very much a gentleman to me. I am not a lady, but he still very much won my respect for that.

My paintings are ACRYLIC !!!!

And that is quite unfortunate, because this isn't the first time I've been compelled to do oils. Your review has re-opened my eyes, Alex.

But I do have to raise a point, and that is this; (Mind you, I'm not quite sure why, because everything that Etsy does nowadays is "privileged information" no matter how much we deserve to know what the HELL we're doing) the listings with one word tags actually SEEM to show up better (or at all is good, really) in the new Browse (which we all love),

So I am hoping to soon find out your takes (you and CindyLou) on how to get the best out of this new, awful thing we have stuck in our throats now.

I realize the value of multi-word searches, but I don't know if they're pertinent to the all-important browse. And lets face it, if you ain't there, you're nowhere.

I say that from a week of being seen there, and a week of sales (that was last week - I was one of the obnoxious ones on page 1 that wouldn't go away).

[mattsart]

And I may be an old dog, but I'm not THAT old, ya whippersnapper !

[Former_Member]

Wow! All of these Chemists, Engineers and such the Etsy community is a diverse and well educated bunch. Brainy girls.......smart is sexy! I feel a bit bland in comparison with my Medieval Studies.

[mattsart]

Oh GOOD, could someone make me some crack so I can cope, and just go back to painting at some point ??
And a rocket scientist would be wonderful too.

OK, shutting up now.

[Former_Member]

Hello Alex,
Thank you for being so generous , and spent your time to help all of us, Etsy has been very good at share good tips, but there is no one to be there to give us a real check up.
English is my second language, when I was first started Etsy year ago, I have no idea that there is a lot of lessons to learn, writing a good description is one of them, and then I learned more about title and tags, right now I pretty much get the idea , but I believe there is still have something I can do better , can you give me a quick tips if you may ? thank you !

[Former_Member]

I think you've given some amazing observations and feedback!
Ok Alex -I'm game to try! I know I need more inventory and I'm working on that. I've reshot my pics since I bought a mannequin head. I think my tags and descriptions are pretty good, but I'm always looking to improve. I know i'm still a rookie. Thanks for your time and consideration
http://www.etsy.com/shop/TinkerBunnysWorkshop

[kowaikuma]

WOW! is this thread still going on? I've been reading since the beginning and it's given me a lot of ideas on how to improve my shop but I never put myself out here to be reviewed because I didn't think Alex would be back to do more crits. But he's awesome! You are truly dedicated to this team.
If you fancy looking at some books/albums and doing a critique of my shop, please bring it on! My shop is less than a year old but haven't had much sales. I'm wondering if there's no market for books and I need to move on or it's the opposite, the market's too saturated and I just get lost in it. Do tell with all your experience! Thank you!!!

[Former_Member]

My paintings are ACRYLIC !!!!
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
oil paintings never get finished.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

And that is quite unfortunate, because this isn't the first time I've been compelled to do oils. Your review has re-opened my eyes, Alex.

But I do have to raise a point, and that is this; (Mind you, I'm not quite sure why, because everything that Etsy does nowadays is "privileged information" no matter how much we deserve to know what the HELL we're doing) the listings with one word tags actually SEEM to show up better (or at all is good, really) in the new Browse (which we all love),

So I am hoping to soon find out your takes (you and CindyLou) on how to get the best out of this new, awful thing we have stuck in our throats now.

I realize the value of multi-word searches, but I don't know if they're pertinent to the all-important browse. And lets face it, if you ain't there, you're nowhere.
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
THEY ARE!!!!! just because your stats say the buyer typed in one word to find you , it doesnt mean that you need to have a one word tag to be relevant for a one word search. As long as that one word is in any tag (and title) you will be relevant for it. An eye opener for me as well.
I really havent tried to game browse, I have had a lot of hits on it lately.
Cindy has some real eye openers about it. Browse cats are a bundles of very small searches. She tells you how to deduce what those are. it aint that hard.
She also says what works today, may not work tomorrow, as they are fixing bugs all the time.
go find those threads over there.


I say that from a week of being seen there, and a week of sales (that was last week - I was one of the obnoxious ones on page 1 that wouldn't go away).
...........................
so was I. I made another one just like it, and it was also first page the same day Iisted it.

so, for those days any part of blue moon mosaic was in one of the smaller searches. Today, it changed.

knowing this stuff gives us a HUGE advantage over the whiners.

Cindy is great at making inferences, but she always says that you have to test things for yourselves, as your mileage may vary.

[Former_Member]

It wouldn't let me edit so here's a second post
I would love for my etsy store to provide a second income for our family. I have sold my hats and scarves to family and friends who encouraged me to try online. I love creating and I'm in it for the long haul. My hands will always be creating so why not profit from it too? I have a fb pg and business cards and I'm willing to take this seriously.
Hope that covers it...thanks

[Former_Member]

Wow! All of these Chemists, Engineers and such the Etsy community is a diverse and well educated bunch. Brainy girls.......smart is sexy! I feel a bit bland in comparison with my Medieval Studies.
.........................

I am not intimidated by smart girls. They are intimidated by me. I can tell. They get all quivery and say "This is too hard for me Big Boss Man". They do.
I have nothing to be defensive about in that regard.
Other than that,
I have always enjoyed brainy woman. Always.Even when I poke them with pointy sticks

[kowaikuma]

Oh! I saw your list of questions. I will answer them here:

what is the goal for your etsy store?
I'd like to have my etsy store as a full time business but I'm giving it until the end of the holidays to see where it's going. 

how long have you made stuff?
I started posting items since end of year last year but not regularly. I am trying to add couple new listings per week now. 

have you sold elsewhere before you opened on etsy?
I have done a few hoilday fairs and customers always asked if I sold online. That's why I started the etsy store. 

how well do you think you will do here?
I think my items are unique and well-crafted, so I thought I would do well but now I'm having doubts. 

how well do you hope you will do?
I still hope that things will turn for the better in November!

[Former_Member]

I'm reporting this thread due to the lack of talk about pointing dumb girls with pointy sticks. ;)