Am I in the wrong business? Honestly, I can't seem to generate sales (i've had two) nor views, even though i post on my facebook and google+ all the time. Am I doing something wrong?
Have you tried Sampler Village? I am signed up to do more boxes with them. Traci does great work and utilizing her company definitely improved my sales. I am doing it again now because I took the summer off mostly and I want to re-boost my sales, plus she has got 5000+ followers on Facebook. Many of those people buy her boxes just so they can try before they buy from us. Here is the link to her etsy shop - http://www.etsy.com/shop/SamplerVillage?ref=ss_profile , convo her and let her explain it to you. She is incredibly patient. Answered all 9 million of my questions before I signed up with her the first time. lol
you can also look her up on Facebook if you are so inclined. :-)
I'm sure you're not doing anything wrong! I think it might be a little bit harder to sell a scent on-line. People like to sniff their candles first! I wonder if there are any options for you to get samples out in the "real world"? Maybe some small local shops would let you stock a few....and then you could have your etsy shop advertising on the labels for people to find you again and order directly. Our you could donate some - maybe as part of a silent auction gift basket? Do you know anyone who works in a public place (store, office, service shop) that would allow a candle to be burning as people come in?
Once they know how great your candles are (even if they only get to smell one or two scents in person) they might have more confidence to visit your etsy shop and order more.
Make sure you have a shop banner, good policies, bright, interesting photos and keep plugging away at it. Social network, teams, twitter, Facebook, blog, it never ends.
have you tried any other social media? twitter? blogging, stumbleupon, pinterest? all of those are good ways to generate views and sales
I also agree with AmyC, try local events and show. you may have trouble selling online but in person would be a lot easier for people to see and smell!
Your items are wonderful! You've got some great suggestions here - I really like Watercolorsbyamy's because I've found that most of my sales come from people I bring in from outside of Etsy.
I'll add a few more suggestions to help people find you when they search online:
1 - change your shop description (under your shop name upper left) to a real description of what you sell in your shop. Use all the characters. Use good keywords.
2 - For the titles of your items, they look pretty good. However you can do better. To find words people are searching for on Etsy, use the search bar at the top of the page. Start typing what you sell and see what comes up. That's what folks are actually typing into search. For instance, I began typing "soy can..." and the following came up: 4 oz soy candles candle soy essential oil soy candle jelly jar soy candle pure soy candle soy candle tin 8 oz soy candles soy candles wholesale soy jar candles vegan soy candle You can use any of those that apply to your items for the first 3 or 4 words of your titles. Put them first because Etsy's algorithm looks for the first words to match what shoppers type. Try them out on some of your items and see if they don't bring in more views.
3 - Retype the best keywords in the first line of your description - as if you're just repeating the title. This will also help you in search.
4 - re-use those same keywords in your tags.
5 - You need shop policies! You need to fill them out to inform shoppers and also for a place to add lots and lots of great keywords.
6 - Use your profile to best advantage too by adding plenty of keywords in there as well. EVERYWHERE Etsy gives you a place to include content, use it to both communicate with shoppers and to provide plenty of keywords for Google "spiders."
Can you make sample sets of tea light or some type of small candles of different scents so people can try them out? You could have a few listings of those - they can be very attractive to people.
Sets of small candles can also be packaged as gift sets which would be great for the holidays coming up.
