How does your store rate?

[Former_Member]

Where does your shop sit in Etsy's long list of stores?
Do you use a rating system or do you simply survive and hope you are doing the right thing?.
We would welcome your thoughts and please feel free to post a link to your latest promotion
Cheers Pete

[TessWorldDesigns]

It will be nice to have few threads of favorites.I learnt from another team that it makes shops visible in SEO. I think that is through. I tasted it few times. Just a suggestion.

[jewelrybyirina]

I think I am somewhere in a tail:)
How would I check?

[SevenBlueberries]

Im not overly sure but my shop has had a lot more success this year (last 12 months) after I closed for a year to re evaluate it. I have come back fired up and my shop is better than ever with sales, I think over 70 sales this month, 60 last month and over 50 the month before. I hope I am doing the right thing but one way that I think has helped my shop is to offer free shipping worldwide. Im sure it has helped. I am always working on bettering my shop. I love etsy!

I have 15% off orders at present that are over $49.

[Former_Member]

Hi Tanya
Thanks for sharing that, the only sales I have done are already pre set.
Generally we are mid range in price, not a lot of items and very unique in some cases. Maybe time will tell.

Regards
Peter

[Former_Member]

Theresa brought up an interesting theory, SEO or search engine optimistation. I agree exposure is everything and there have been numerous threads on this subject.

As we concentrated on exposure the first 6 months on Etsy and found no particular change in sales (read zero change) I decided to concentrate on our market stall instead.

Sales increased at our market by making 3minor changes. The increase was a dramatic 500% with as little as $50 extra expenditure per market or 10% on return. I have instigated similar changes in Etsy with almost 500% investment in time and achieved about 1% increase on views, favourites and followers.

The numbers for sales however has not changed in the slightest.

I have no idea how to handle this imbalance between Etsy and Markets so have let it idle along for now.
Originally my Etsy investment was purely pay for listings. That obviously does not work for us. I have paid for Facebook advertising and that received huge exposure figures but as far as I know no direct sales so am reluctant to further invest in any sort of internet advertising without trackable results.

Any suggestions for our team would be great.
I do not endorse BNS but maybe some form without a " guilt " purchase involved may work.
Another form of symbiotic exposure is the favourites game (worth a try)

Choose your favourite item and post the shortcut link of one of your own items in this thread. Then do the same with an item from two other people's shops.
Don't forget to favourite the item on their shop.

Do this for 7 days and check your shop view stats to see if they change more on any particular day. Our busier days are Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday so I post most things the night before those days.

Give it a try and see?
https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/170962835/larisa-bought-2-anyone-else-like-these?
https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/167625233/unusual-sterling-silver-cubic-zirconia?ref=shop_home_activ...

https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/164802955/christmas-santa-hat-newborn-baby-photo?ref=shop_home_feat
Cheers
Pete and Robyn

[Former_Member]

I forgot,
a tracking system is usually required for any changes. To see the effectiveness of your item posted, see how many times your item is favourite by others in that week
Cheers
Pete and Robyn

[Former_Member]

Hi
Everyone, glad to be part of an Australian team, some local knowledge
I am fairly new to esty so I have no idea about where I rank, could someone tell me how to find out?
I am also part of another team that does a lot of promoting amongst each other, I have found that most of my sales (althought very small) have come from that exposure...
thank you

[Former_Member]

I would like to add, I paid for Etsy advertising for about 3 months, minimal amount but I did not get any exposure or sales from this. So I am not really prepared to spend more money when I don't really know how they do it, bit like google money talks but you have to spend too much.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/168804146/old-english-reserved-listing-badge?ref=shop_home_active_7

https://www.etsy.com/listing/168206716/autumn-leaves-shop-branding-package?ref=shop_home_feat_1

[Former_Member]

Thanks for the input, in these threads we share not only our thoughts but inadvertently an idea that is new.
Posting, promoting and paying for ads increases exposure, but as always moderation in budgeting time and money is the most important consideration.
We will never have the advertising budget of say a large cola producer so need to use SEO's self promotion and symbiotic promotions such as Favourites, Treasury lists and BNS (all produce to some degree of success)

This link may give you some ideas and answers.

https://www.etsy.com/teams/15306/etsy-in-australia-new-zealand-shop/discuss/13739675/

As for ranking, there is a site I came across that allows you to see how popular your shop is in the Etsy world.
However it is based on sales volume in the main and takes a lot of time to extract the information. One way is to see how many "followers " you have. The higher the number the more exposure.
Again it depends on what you sell as at the markets, if you have 20 competitors you will be ranked lower compared to unique items.

We are lucky in as much as we have very few sellers of glass creations who have access to our core product. Therefore we remain high end compared to "artists " who have neither the unique stock or unfortunately in some cases the eye for detail and creative ability to get the best from their creations.

This elevates us when you Google glass or Fused glass for sale from Australia but due to the sheer number of sellers in America degrades our rating worldwide.

I welcome more feedback if you have the time. I only spend minimal time each month on these forums so contact me directly if you desire more info and I will post to all members.

Cheers
Pete

[GloryBeVintageWares]

Hi Guys,
I also tried Etsy advertising but found it a waste of time. Free postage has been a real winner for me and my sales and income continue to grow exponentially. I also think making treasuries for others products gives you exposure and leads to your shop being favourite. I was blessed to have one item featured on an Etsy promotion page and it received over 800 views and 60 favourites in one day. This will happen if you have a lot of items for sale and really good Etsy style photography. This makes a real difference as once that happened I made even more sales.
I hope this all helps.
Blessings,
Max

[Former_Member]

Hi Max

Totally agree exposure through others is countless times more effective than throwing dollars into advertising that may reach a small page in the boondocks.
Cheers
Pete

[Former_Member]

YAY!! Page 3 in search for Glass Art.

Marble bowl just hit 80 Faves in last 2 days
Glass Sculpture Page 17 red sculptured piece.

[Former_Member · Accepted solution]

Useful links regarding ranking.
I come across these from time to time and most are a " taster " for businesses. This one: http://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/google.shtml is rather easier to follow than most that contain "geek speak " It gives a basic reasoning for adwords, keywords and other ways of Google ranking.

[Former_Member]

How to up the rating of your shop.
Each person in the team can do this quick sure fire rating increasing method.

Each morning or night, spend 10 minutes only.
Easy? You bet!
Simple? If I can do it anyone can!
Guaranteed results? Definitely.

Go to team members page.
Select 10 shop owners at random and favourite 3 items on that shop owners page.
In turn if you are favoured by anyone in the next 2 days re-favourite 5 items on that persons page as a thankyou.

Why? Because we are all sitting on our tails whingeing about no sales without doing the simple things each day.

It is alright to say we need to redesign our banners and avatars, maximise SEO's, have BNS< BNR's and all sorts of paid ads.

The reality is word of mouth advertising is still the best and if you upgrade your ranking by doing this small thing (and I don't believe ANYONE can genuinely say they cannot afford to do this) you will instantly feel you have succeeded.
If you cannot decide on an item favourite the shop and find 3 more shops instead.

Feedback please?

Cheers
Robyn and Peter

[Former_Member]

This is simple, I just committed to 10 minutes, in that time I went to Teams at the bottom of the shop website, clicked our team, clicked members and randomly selected team members shops.

I visited 18 shops in that 10 minutes and randomly chose standout (mostly 3 but if good photography more but no more than 6) items that appealed to me then favourited them.
In this case 68 individual items are now on my favourites panel for anyone to look at.

The next step will be to see if anyone responds within 24 hours, re-favourites any items or reciprocates by favouriting me.
Please be aware I am not changing any listings in my shop while I am doing this as it needs to be a track able process and if your items have been the same for a couple of months the change in figures is instantly noticeable.

And don't forget do not just favour an item on the first page or a member on the 1st page of our team.
Older members and shops are instantly revitalised and renewed in search engines by this simple activity.

Cheers
Robyn and Peter

[Former_Member]

great exercise! just favourited about 50 items within 15 minutes.

[Former_Member]

Thanks PK and Karen. have multiplied both your favourites (thanks)
Tomorrow I will write down all shops favourited and see who responds.

This will be revisited each week for a month and see who is "active ".

Once I have more than 200 followers the project will be upgraded and spend more time each month and gauge the responses.

[Former_Member]

Facet after waiting four days on above exercise: most people aren't really interested in working at it, they just want instant success.
No one re-favourite my choices or myself, and none of the shops I favourited items off reciprocated. Perhaps you do not like my stuff, that us fine. But who is saying I like yours? I favourited items to share the love and get shops out there. That's what it is about.
There is no switch to turn on for success. This was a great idea, Peter, and really none if the over 100 members tried it (I am assuming, so apologies, as no one is writing in this thread). We all need help on exposure and likes and favs, and ultimately sales. You can never have too many friends!
I have been a bit lax the last week due to private stuff so need to get back on my regime: weekly treasury lists and 15 min a day "shopping" and spreading fav clicks. That keeps me in tune to etsy (new layout opinions anyone?!) and usually is rewarding in some way.
I do not mean to offend anyone but come on, we're supposed to be a team!

[Former_Member]

Well said PK,

We could all be disillusioned on a daily basis in the commercial world and hear what you say. But I do not expect anything from people so minimise the disappointment and simply work smarter to achieve a result I do expect.

It is a unique gift to carry on when being bombarded by negative events especially when a strong personality is involved.

I am sure you are not causing offence to anyone and as a team we are performing similarly to 90% of Etsy teams. In fact we were offered the French Etsy education program because of our resulting performance in the team arena.
A small feather in our cap so give yourselves all a pat on the back!

This team is about helping in the mainstream world of internet. If something works, it works. If not discard it and do something different.


Aussies and Kiwis are a resilient bunch and fiercely loyal to their friends and selves.
Keep up the good work!

This idea was as I said a " test case "and yes there was a result albeit it small but none of these ideas are short term I agree success is not instantaneous. I continue to track results and reserve a decision until that runs it's course.

PK's activities will produce different results to other's and what is successful for me or her may not be for others, such is the way of personal choices on the internet.

Her idea of treasuries and 15 minutes, not ten favouriting may be another way to gain that all important base of followers to build a network.

By the way, although I have only a couple of responses in threads, I have had a satisfactory response and some personal conversations after favouriting others. Our shop page views are up as are the item views. I have also had items featured in treasuries. Something I personally do not do enough of due to time restrictions.

My favouriting is based on what attracts my attention on a page of multiple items, not necessarily something I like but an interesting item I would think about buying.

[Former_Member]

Just a note on numbers. A successful shop owner hit the nail on the head regarding interest.

Etsy 5 years ago was very small therefore shop owners were easy to find. Now every man and his dog have a shop (no offence) and we receive large amounts of requests for memberships from overseas manufacturers of cheap knockoffs and jewellery findings that do not really fit the Etsy criteria.

when it comes to views and ratings, it appears Etsy is big on sales for their ratings.
People who have been in Etsy for years when it was small stood out at that time and received a lot of followers. The new people who sell extremely cheaply stand out today because of the sheer volume of sales (30000 a year in one instance)
To stay ahead of this we need as small handmade producers to be constantly up there with SEO's, Tags and all the social media sites.
Yes it is hard work but if you want to get your name out there just keep at it with readjusted goals and lots of interaction.

Best of luck

Pete

[TheWildWoodsPrints]

I have just joined the group and have found this discussion really interesting. I am a new shop owner so very interested in working out how to get my little shop seen. I have just selected 10 members from the team and liked at lest three of their items, I think its a great idea and very interested to see if it has any impact!

[BillieBellaBunting]

I have had no luck with ranking on Etsy. Im reading through this discussion hoping that one day it will improve (with hard work!)

[Former_Member]

I follow this with interest. I have just done the idea of spending 10 minutes visiting others pages and liking 3 of their items. I started my shop last year in the middle of 12 months of studying at uni straight, not the best idea but I am reluctant to fork out money for more advertising through Etsy and Facebook as I cannot afford too, nor can I afford to do free postage as well. I therefore find myself in a predicament of what else to do to generate sales.

I started a Facebook page but I even find it hard to even generate likes through Facebook. There are numerous "ladder" pages but when you like someone else's shop and they like yours as a return favour the like isn't genuine and I find most are not willing to really publish others pages on their own page as a favour, (probably due to the low number of likes on mine). I also find with Facebook's constant changing that when I post a post it doesn't reach very many people and have been told that it requires people to interact with your page in order for your posts to consistently show up.

For now, I keep plodding along working at it and hoping like crazy that one day it will all come together and work out!

[Former_Member]

Hi Valan and Alarna,

Sharing, favouring, linking and generally being promoted is a secret not easily shared by others when dealing with online sales.
Most of the time the tags, search engines and product have to be aligned "by the stars " in this mystical non face to face world of shopping that is Etsy.

One tip I have written about is networking the more the merrier. Favourite someone every time you click on their page, drop a link into a forum or invite feedback with a question.
Each time activity registers on the internet so your ranking is increased.
https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/123462031/hand-worked-in-australia-unique-design?

Cheers
Pete