views dropping like a rock

[Former_Member]

Last week, I had a day where I had almost a hundred views. Now, I'm literally lucky if I get 8-10 in a day. What is happening?!! I am promoting in multiple teams, and on faceboook, twitter and tumblr. I also blog in 2 separate places.

I added a couple of new pieces, and since then, things have dropped off. Is it really possible that the new art is keeping people away? that would be strange.

My shop has been open 3 weeks, with only 1 sale. I am in the process of changing my tags and working on the SEO stuff, but I haven't changed anything yet, so how could that cause the views to drop off? So confused right now. Any advice would help.

[CatalinaInspired]

Unfortunately you have to be patient when you first start a shop. If you don't already have an established online business, you're starting from scratch. One of the reason I think activity waxes and wanes is because Etsy switches their search algorythms to keep people on their toes. For a while I had some items showing up on the first page of women - accessories, browse section. I had tons of views, faves, etc. but when Etsy changed their search parameters, it went back down. Basically there's no easy path, you just have to keep on going even when things seem really slow and don't focus too much on your stats. Hope this helps!

[Former_Member]

I'm new to Etsy, too. I started to do treasuries and at the most only five shops comment about their listings, so I'm a little dismayed overall with low stats, etc.

[Former_Member]

like kristy said, you must be patient. there is just no way around it :) its a hard thing to learn, but in every aspect of my life, patience has proven so important. this is an awesome team, for advice. persistence and hard work pay off big time, it just takes time. It took me two months before I got my first sale, and I got so down I didn't check my shop for a few days the week of the sale, and was very late shipping it. ive since checked it every single day and return messages as quickly as possible. your shop is cute and unique, and your hard work will pay off :) I wish you so much luck!

[GabriellasTreasures]

Haven't looked at your new shops here, but believe me it certainly takes time. Don't expect too much too fast, 1 sale in three weeks (believe it or not) is pretty good.

Just keep working your shop and keep adding adding adding. Join cindylouwho team - it's all about seo and great info there.

Good luck to you new Etsy sellers, and welcome!!

[Former_Member]

I'm still slightly new, but I'm experiencing the same problem. Added new items, redid an item completely (new title, images, description, tag, etc) added back links, and have been continuing to promote on facebook and pintrest.

I'm not expecting a ton of sales or anything, I'm quite happy with the amount of sales I have compared to how long I've been open, but I am confused as to why my views dropped so suddenly. Today I got only 8 so far even after all of the rework I've done.

[aliciawatkins]

I think you're asking the wrong question. What I'd be asking in your situation is where did those 100 views come from on that one day?

Go back and look at your shop stats for that day and see where all those views came from. Getting 10 views a day for a new shop is normal; getting 100 views on an off-season (non holiday) is not, which means that was the anomaly.

Were all the views at the same time of day (i.e. someone searching through every item in your shop), or from a particular source? That should tell you a lot.

You should also be able to figure out if someone tweeted about you, pinned something of yours or "liked" your item on Facebook using the shop stats, and if it's one of the first two, you can find the tweet/pin/tumblr page/etc. and get in touch with the person who likes your work...that's the beginning of networking, which is a lot more effective than linking to items or any other non-targeted online communication.

[RandomWish]

Don't give up :) The more you add the more you'll be seen. It takes time to build up. Your stuff is really cute; if your not already you should add everything to deviant art as well.

[Former_Member]

Thanks guys.

Kristy and Erin... I am a terribly impatient person. I find myself thinking of closing the shop every day, but I always manage to talk myself out of it. On the one hand, I know it's only been three weeks, and I should calm down; on the other hand, it's SO frustrating!!

Alicia, that's a good point. I'll double check and see what the deal was. If I'm not mistaken, that was the day I made the sale/ I think it was also the day after I did a tremendous amount of team promoting. I just assumed that was the reason for the large number of views.

Allison, I have posted most of my work to Deviant Art. I have very few views there as well. Today I posted all of the duckies, and I received several comments and favorites which was nice. I also made sure to add a link back to my etsy shop print section, so anyone who sees them knows they can get prints if they really like them.

Looking at my google analytics today, I noticed traffic coming from some really weird places like Craft Cult, and things about billing emails, and convos I haven't had. Not sure what any of that means though. I also noticed that the amount of views on my Etsy stats page, and the number of views on the google analytics page are VERY different. Not sure why.

I'll keep plugging away, and try not to focus on the numbers so much.

[BeadsandmorebyYashma]

Although I consider myself as well-established - I have been trading on Etsy since 2009, my sales haven't been very stable either. During last December, the busiest pre-holiday period, my sales fell down more than 30%. As Etsy is my full time job, it is very difficult to plan or predict anything. I'm seriously considering opening my own web shop and gradually decreasing Etsy's activity. I also find that trading here is expensive. If I have my own website, I might be able to spend less money on maintaining the shop, but more on promotion and advertising.

[MountainViewWood]

Valentina said: "I'm seriously considering opening my own web shop and gradually decreasing Etsy's activity."

Dear, unless you know something I don't, I am not sure about jumping into the Web scene. I did an Etsy search on "Czech Beads" and got 52,663 items in shop supplies. I did a Google search on "Czech Beads" and got 11,300,000. Over 11 million returns on Google.

I have had a web page for 7 years and if you think improving your ranking is difficult here, it is nothing like SEO on Google. At least here you have Etsy itself plus teams like this one for encouragement and cindylouwho who helps us with SEO and keeps us up to date with changes in the search algorithm.

Now, granted I am a beginning seller and I have not reached 10 sales much less thousands, but I am here to stay; it is a challenge that I can deal with.

I wish you well Valentina.

Cheers,
Henry

[Former_Member]

Very well said Henry and I definitely concur
love your boxes
I am experiencing the same dilemma
But I have to admit I am kind of enjoying it
because of spring planting etc.
I'm also making new bag designs
and enjoying the down time
Now if it last too long then I will probably begin worrying

[SweetAngelVintage]

Maybe spreading yourself too thin with all your outlets of promotion.....just concentrate for one week on JUST ONE OR TWO of them would be my advice for a trial....I do mostly teams and do them faithfully everyday....and I get like 40-60 just favorites a day....so good luck my friend....hang in there really....

Heidi