Etsy SEO education program

[#1]

This thread is to give people in our team who wish to or have already signed to participate in our Etsy education for new and experienced shop owners.

This is a follow on to the last Etsy France education package. We are offering anyone in the team the opportunity for extra education regarding SEO (search engine optimisation), Tags and useful tips.

It will be run the same as last program with teams and interactive modules.
We had a fabulous response last time and the positive feedback was overwhelming.

I will of course send a personal email to all who have supplied their address if no response from you within 10 days of posting.

Please register your interest or email us direct

This will be coordinated by me in the main but literature will be supplied by Etsy .

Simply register your interest in this thread

If you have not supplied an email contact on your member application means no way of contacting you privately so please message me privately with the assurance all email addresses are confidential
.
Without offending some, setting up the team without member's email details was a mistake on our part as some members need individual help

Dates will be published shortly but this time there will be a closing date on applications so be quick.
Cheers
Pete

[Former_Member]

Is it too late to register??

[Former_Member]

Morning team

How has the week been? Everyone found their pace and settled in?

From the comments on the thread I am pleased to see a fair bit of intense analysis being done. I do suggest however in the early days do not get too hung up on statistics until you have fully grasped the concept of the program.

Mainly this is not about rocket science, simply getting to know how your listings are perceived by other people and thus rated by the computer logic associated with online shopping. Take each exercise and apply your mind.

As mentioned before tracking results is really important in any enterprise.
Now a bit of fun and feedback please answer these 4 questions in the next 48 hours and confirm on this thread.

1. In the register process would you change any of my procedure for contacting and welcome?
2. How long (in days) does it take you to organise?
3. I may run a program again in June for an Etsy school would you participate?
4. What is your favourite native animal (no your partner does not qualify Lol :)- )

Cheers
Pete

[Former_Member]

Hi Pete.

I have a query about the sources of traffic from Etsy. Teams and Search are self-explanatory, but My Shop and My Listings confuse me. How are these sources of Etsy traffic (they seem to already be a destination in my shop rather than a referral source). Or does it mean that someone goes from my shop to one of my listings, or from one listing to another?

For the 4 Qs:
1) I don't think I'd change any of the procedures.
2) Not sure I understand this one? Do you mean how long am I spending on tasks for this Etsy School ? If so, probably 30 mins a day.
3) Yes, I'd participate, depending onthe topic.
4) Wombat!

thanks, and possibly see you tomorrow at Kirribilli markets, depending on weather & toddler behaviour ... : )

[Former_Member]

Everyone loves wombats.
Question 3 is how long I give someone notice to start a program gauging how long to give people to organise for a program, 1-2-3 days?

[SydneyPaperCo]

HI

Just a quick question: are we posting week-by-week in this one thread, or will there be a new one for each week for the SEO School (May 2014)? Just so I know where to go this coming week and next…

thanks,
Jasmine


PS. I posted my week one task in another discussion thread; hope that's ok?

[Former_Member]

Hi Jasmine,

The thread is purely to keep track, and so interested people can find answers from like minded team members. It matters not where you post as I monitor all new posts daily.

There is no real doctrine or agenda with the program as I offer it purely as a self help program and leave members to pace themselves.

If anyone wants one to one help you all should have my personal email or contact phone.

Share the dreams and goals as if you were sitting in a small coffee shop discussing with others.

Cheers
Pete

[Former_Member]

Hi Pete,

Hope you had a good sale at Kirribilli.
Answers here it is:
1. No.
2. I couldn't understand what you mean exactly by this?
3. Definitely YES.
4. I like Koalas.

Cheers
Maani

[Former_Member]

Hi Team and Maani
Number 3 means the amount of days notice when I announce a school to give you time to prepare. ie I run a program next week but some people do not respond until the end of the next week.
So do I announce a start date 30 days prior or 7?
Kirribilli was definitely an experience. The view from the office (Facebook pics) was fabulous.

Cheers
Pete

[Former_Member]

Hi Pete,
So for me it's o.k. 2-3 days notice.
Also I have a basic question: "Does have an Etsy shop a potential for full time business?"
As I noticed to the shop's establishment date and number of sales, many guys look at Etsy as a hobby or an extra income source. Is that right or I didn't consider something else?

Cheers,
Maani

[Former_Member]

Hi Pete,
I am meeting with my SEO partner tonight so will post my plans probably tomorrow.
I must admit I was a little confused on where to find the treasury counts but reading comments above cleared that up so all good now!

As for your 4 Qs:
1- Nope wouldn't change a thing
2- Tough to answer as for me it depends on how busy I am at the time... so can be ready in a couple of days if it's on the quiet side but if I am busy a month notice to organise myself would be great.
3- Depends on the topic but I am always interested on learning things!
4- Koalas

Cheers,
Annaïg

[Former_Member]

yes

[Former_Member]

Hi, I have just completed the Practical Exercise on pg 20 and I found the whole process and suggestions very helpful. I have made the suggested changes to the listings, shop announcement etc. and it is interesting that even the About Page should contain key words. I found a great way to look at the key words was to as suggested - go to Google Ads and export the list to excel and then analysis them that way. Hopefully my changes will make it easier to find my listings. I think that the week 3 suggestions and exercise really helps to focus on what should be mentioned in the listings. I hope everyone else found week 3 as helpful.

Cheers
Nina

[Former_Member]

Always share your thoughts with others as it reinforces the experience.

We still have a few shy members out there! Please feel free to post, after all it takes 10 seconds and can reward you for years.

Remember this exercise is about people finding your shop, how are they going to do that if you are hiding from the world?

Cheers
Pete

[Former_Member]

Hi Guys,

I have recognized that most shop visitors care about your homepage as a first view and if you could be able get their attraction, it would be fine keep them looking around at your shop, otherwise they'll quit.
Hence I rearranged my shop to my most valuable items located at homepage but I'm not sure about my viewers interests. Something I like not be interested for them and everybody has different interests definitely and most importantly we have limited space for our listings in homepage.
I appreciate any comments or experiences you have.

Cheers
Maani

[Former_Member]

Hi everyone!

I am lagging behind a bit but still working at it!

So the plan I have to increase traffic to my shop (to get more sales like everybody else!) is to test the way I am promoting my items to see which ones work best. It is a long term plan as I want to do it on a weekly test base.

1 week promotion within Etsy: mainly through treasuries picking items from shops in my local teams.
1 week test sharing items on my Facebook page and twitter
1 week of the same but on my new google+ page
I know timing is also important too so will have to work out

That should keep me busy for a while...
Now I better get onto week 2 homework and try to catch up with the gazelles of the group! :)

Have a great weekend

Annaig

[Former_Member]

I hope your tests are going well, Annaig!

I have changed some of my keywords based on my partner's great suggestions. At the end of week 2, it suggests to share a link to get others' ideas for keywords.
I find my wallets and purses a bit hard to tag, so here is one I'd love some suggestions for. Happy to reciprocate!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/188915364/upcycled-leather-purse-upcycled-leather?

Also, does anyone know if it's better to use a singular or plural keyword? In the Google Adword keyword planner, all the terms seem to be plural but I've been using singular as it seems more natural and that's how I'd search. But do you think plural is better as it covers singular too (so if they search for "bag", then "bags" covers it?)

[Former_Member]

Google appears to use a program similar to fillword, completes a word from the first 3 or 4 letters so singular should get the job done.
Also upcycled is a "fashionable" word tat changes from region to region and month to month check latest "fad" words before tagging.

Look at the picture and tag for the first expression that your eye see. I see a Blue suede envelope purse?

Pete

[Former_Member]

I am feeling a bit slack but I am still hanging in there...
So far I am seeing an increase in the traffic to my shop after doing a few treasuries and adding a couple of items to my shop (more or less one a day). Will keep you posted on that later on.

I am only starting now on the keyword things... so not quite on the tags yet :(

As far as I know it wouldn't matter really if you use plural or singular for your tags Tara. From your image I would have: blue, orange, butterfly, purse, leather, upcycled.

I think someone (can't remember where I saw it) said it is good to add your shop name in the tags. What do you think?

I better get off the computer and get to my homework!

[Former_Member]

Great to see everyone is flat out.
This education program obviously is a more "in depth "one than the last.
Annaig has 1 or 2 more views per day similar to my increase of 3 or 4. Anyone with marginally more?
Cheers
Pete

[Former_Member]

Hi Guys,

Do you think it's better to have look at our stats on a one month or 12 months(for those who applicable) period because I think it gets more accurate analysis and results?
What you think?

Cheers,
Maani

[Former_Member]

Old Statistics are useless if not correlated with changing times, in the internet world 7 days can change the whole structure of a shop or fashion trend.

Personally I would suggest maximum of monthly but mostly check weekly as a change can be made to deflect downturns quickly.

Please let me know if any of you feel differently.

Cheers
Pete

[Former_Member]

Thanks Peter,

I meant to get more keywords in a longer periods especially for me because I have lots of keywords need to know in a diverse varieties of products.
Is that in a correct way or I've missed something to be considered?

Cheers,
Maani

[Former_Member]

Hi Maani
You have particular needs which means you need not necessarily stick strictly to the text book scenarios in this school.

The school is a general module to cater for beginners in Etsy as well as refresher for experienced traders.
I would suggest that you gain the knowledge necessary on one item, then transfer the process to the rest of your shop over the time. I will post a page written by a team Captain titled No Magic Bullets. on the FAQs and links thread.
This may answer a few questions for all the team.

Cheers
Pete

[Former_Member]

Where are your views coming from?
I notice a few of you are still not sure about how to recognise your market (customers likes).

A simple test for the people who only have a few items is to look at the shop stats for the 12 months or as long as you can find. Although I believe old stats are not relevant to current trends, it will show the most viewed item and where the clicks are coming from.
When you notice one item is receiving more clicks, That is a "preferred " item and that is what is attracting clicks when a search engine is operating.

The next step is to see when those clicks occur, today yesterday last week last month and so on.

As mentioned before when you change something document it and watch the stats over 1 week and see if there is a swing in figures. That will at least give you tracking on what changes have made a difference one way or the other.
Next go into Google and search that object yourself and see how easy it is recognised by the search engine. Take note of the key words relevant to that search.

Very basic steps but an insight into the world of SEO recognition.
Cheers
Pete

[Mintchi]

Hello Pete and everyone else,

I have been finding this program helpful and it has made me rethink a lot of things such as the importance of photography from last week to finding new relevant and more effective key words this week.

It has been great meeting up with my partner Annaig who designs jewellery which is completely opposite to my toys and pillows. We both didn't know the technical terms of some of our crafts so it was defiantly good to define our key words together as new ones came up for both of us.

As I have my own website which I promote through social media (as I have addressed with Pete), I do find that my Etsy store does get deprived (really until now I have not been active at all since starting this in December due to time restrictions). I do however like the 'world wide' exposure it provides and also the contacts it can create.

For e.g. I got approached through Etsy by a lovely lady from Laneway Learning Sydney and she asked me if I would be interested in teaching a class with them. Randomly enough I actually have always wanted a back up career as a kindergarden art teacher so I jumped at the idea and the experience this will give me. This class is actually next week and it's about making hand-made owls if you are interested please see the link:

http://sydney.lanewaylearning.com/classes/hoot-hoot-im-so-cute/

I didn't really know about Laneway Learning before this but I think the concept is just fantastic. I am actually attending one of their classes tonight on how to run a market stall. (I know this is a bit off topic on this thread but maybe some of you may find this helpful) I have done markets in the past however the more knowledge the better and I think I need to get all the most tips I can. If you are interested the link is:

http://sydney.lanewaylearning.com/classes/how-to-run-a-market-stall-2/

Generally I know the main thing for an on-line business is great photography (of course SEO is important too) - mainly being 'lifestyle' photography (especially for my home wares brand). People may like a product, but they need this spelled out for them and if put in a real life setting then they can visualise this in their own homes.

Of course looking at our competitors or at least mine they are all quite established and I know that they would be using professional photographers, settings and stylists, even I am sure their own IT brains with daily key wording,etc. Now wouldn't that be fab for all of us! :).

Until then I am trying to find a perfect balance of keeping on-line up-to date whilst still having to put this off at times to design new products. Everything in craft/design is time consuming and you really need to get in a zone so I guess it comes down to prioritising tasks.

Hope that some of this might have been helpful that you are all having a great and pro-active week!

All the best!
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