Hi there
This is Linda from Sparkling Vinyl. I started my store in October of 2016 and I didn't get my first sale until January of 2017 so it takes awhile. One thing you don't want to do is keep changing up your tags on all your listings without waiting to get stats on what people are searching for. Changing them all, all the time confuses the algorithm. You should research your tags before you use them to make sure buyers are looking for that item and to make sure the tags are not too competitive for a new seller. If you are using the Etsy search bar to find tags, that is not a good way because what you type in the search bar will just bring up all of the competition and sellers that are using that tag but it doesn't mean that is what Ets buyers are looking for. I use erank and marmalead to find keyword tags that I use in my titles and tags. You want to aim for a tag that people are searching for but that has less than 5,000 sellers using the tag.
The other thing I think you need is to research and know who your customer is. New moms that are searching for hand crochet baby clothes probably aren't the same buyers that are searching for a high price crochet cardigan or purse, so I think you need to decide who your cutomer is going to be. After you decide who that is going to be, research trends and see what colors and styles your target customer is looking for. Look at your competitors shops, not to copy them but to see their pricing, what styles they have sold. Look at their reviews and what their customers have said about their items to find a direction you can go in. Figure out how you can make your items different or better and ask yourself why the buyer would pick your store over theirs? Also, check and make sure your prices are in line with other sellers.
I would take away the buy 3 and get 2 free. It looks a bit desparate and you want buyers to value your work. It would be better if you just ran a 15% off sale on some items. A sale will weed out some of your competitors because when buyers type in the search bar, there is a filter to left for "sales" and "free shipping". When a buyer clicks on this and you have a sale going on then your store will be one of the stores that show up in search over the others that don't have a sale.
I would also put a picture of yourself, buyers like that. You might also consider changing the name of your store. Not because it isn't nice but if you tell people about it they will have a really hard time remembering how to spell it and thus have a hard time finding you.
Add more items, but not until you find the correct audience. When I first started, I was selling my hand drawn art and I knew nothing about Etsy. I sat and waited and it was crickets, I sold nothing. What happened??? My family and friends had told me how talented I was and how pretty my artwork was. Well, my neighbor makes a living online and he asked me - Where do people put your art work if they were to buy it? Would they buy it again? Who is it that you are selling to? Why did you choose those colors to make your artwork? What room would they put it in? I didn't know the exact answer, all I knew is that I liked it. Well that isn't enough, you have to know who, why, where, what??? And why they would buy from you and then your seo has to be on point afterwards.
And guess what, the iron on that I first sold, well I have never sold it again and that's because at the time I didn't know that only about 20 people a month searched for that iron on. So you have to do keyword research. Your categories on the side are also used by Etsy's algorithm so make sure those terms are also searched for. Keep the free shipping that it good!
Hope this has been helpful.
