Is it worth continuing?

[Anzhwooltoy]

Will you look at my shop, please? What's wrong? The store is half a year, for all the time there were 3 sales. We need a look from the outside, what is the problem. In quality, in price, in the relevance of the product?

[Anzhwooltoy]

shop here:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Anzhwooltoy?ele=shop_open

[CaleesByCeleste]

Hello, I don’t see anything wrong with it, I would love to format my page like  that, don’t know how to do that. Good luck

[Anzhwooltoy]

Thanks for watching

[frillz]

Love your work...very cute! It's hard to get "found" on Etsy if you only have a few products. Adding inventory will probably help. I am back on Etsy after being away for about 3 years. I didn't have trouble making sales in the past, but it's much tougher now. I've found that I really need to promote on social media to get traffic, so I'm working to get my Pinterest and Instagram accounts in great shape. They do seem to get attention.

Best wishes!

[Anzhwooltoy]

Thanks for the reply. I also try to promote my store through social networks, but so far it does not help. The quantity of goods I gradually increase, but it seems to me that even more important is the location of the store. Now Etsy in the first place shows the local stores.

[LambsEarAndCo]

I think your things are darling.  They look very well made.  Etsy is so competitive, it’s hard to get noticed.  I’m new so I’m just trying to figure all that out.  Do you promote on social media?

[Anzhwooltoy]

Yes, I try to promote the product on social networks, but it brings little results.

[SinfulSoapandSalve]

Hi!! I dont see anything wrong either! It took me like a whole year to make a single sale, so dont feel bad. And keep trying. 

[Anzhwooltoy]

Thanks.

[EurydicesJewels]

I agree with everyone. I think your puppets are absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful work and I love the faces. I too have been on Etsy since last July. I've done ok, but it is much harder getting visibility on her. 

If you're not on Pinterest, I'd post pictures on there. I'm just starting to get my store set up on the site I used to do it before and it did help draw traffic.

All the best.

Ann

[Anzhwooltoy]

Thank you for your advice and support. I have an account on Pinterest, but maybe I haven't quite figured it out, so there's not much use.

[LuckyFlamingoDesigns]

Hello! I had the same issue. I have the inventory and everything but wasn't getting trffic or anything. What I started doing was going to small craft fairs to be able to seel product. Now, I did not sell at a lot of them but I was able to get the name and my business cards out which upped my traffic tremendously on Etsy. It's very hard to get noticed on etsy a lone unless you have a large following to begin with. Good luck, hope the best for you and your store!

[Anzhwooltoy]

Thank you for your advice. I also want to participate in the fair, but they do not often pass.

[StrawPockets]

Your puppets are really good and price point seem spot on. I just started Etsy in July 2018 and it is hard to get noticed.  I have had some very large wholesale orders and that helped, but they only count as one order, darn it.  When I first opened my Etsy shop I ran a fundraiser promotion for a local Animal Rescue group, I donated a portion of my sales to the group.  The Rescue group posted the link to my page and other people shared it in order to support the group.  Do you have an organization that you have a passion for or an organization that's members would be interested in your product? Good Luck!

[Anzhwooltoy]

Thank you, I didn't even consider it. We need to think about it. It is very useful to learn about someone else's experience. Thank you again. You have an interesting product. I wish you luck.

[FancifulFiligree]

I don’t see anything wrong with your store. Your toys look amazing. I can’t say wether their pricing is off or not because I don’t know what goes into felting, neither the difficulty or time. Your titles are good your pictures are crisp. The only thing I can think of is your marketing. Are all your items being promoted? Or did you promote via Etsy and or Google? Are you using social media to promote as well? Facebook? Instagram? Pinterest?

[Anzhwooltoy]

I use everything from Facebook to Instagram to Pinterest. But the returns are small. It takes a lot of time and I probably do not pay enough attention to it. But I made conclusions for myself and I will pay more attention to marketing. And add more product to your store. Thank you.

[NobbyandNice · Accepted solution]

Hi this is Linda from Sparkling vinyl. Yes it's worth it!  With hard work, knowledge, and patience, it will work.  I'm not an expert but I have gained some sales and knowledge from Etsy coaches, so here is my take on your shop.

First let me say, that it took me about 3 months to get my first sale so it can take awhile.  It is also an extremely slow time on Etsy unless you are selling something like wedding items.

My first impression when I landed on your shop was that I didn't really know what your audience was or what you were trying to convey.  After looking around, I found that you sell mostly toys.  With that being said, I would change your banner and logo to directly target moms with kids that are looking for a nice keepsake toy for their child or to give as a gift.  You need to ask yourself who is my customer, what are they going to use my product for, where will they put my product and how is mine better than another shop that might sell the same thing. Etsy buyers won't look around your shop like I did if you don't capture their attention immediately.  If you don't want to change the banner than I would at least change the words on the banner from "welcome to my store" to something like "handmade felted toys" so they know immediately what it is you sell, especially since a lot of people might not be familiar with felted products.

Next is seo (search engine optimization).  some of your tags are too competitive for you to be found.  One example is "bag for keys", this yeilds over 200,000 competitors.  Too many for a newbie.  Same with "small purse", which has over 156,000 competitors. "Elephant handbag for keys" is not searched for much by buyers, only 25 times a month, same with "giraffe a small fingertoy".  Now, finger puppets is searched for 498 times a month with only 6,900 competitors!  This would be a good target niche for you and something you could rank for.  I found this information out from marmalead.com and from erank.com - These are the tools I use to research my keywords.  I am not affiliated but they have worked for me.  Also, the categories that you put your items in on the side are also used as search terms so you need to be mindful of those as well.  There is one ther with MNhNathopa????  I don't know what that is but I do know that no one will be searching for it.

Free shipping is great, that cuts out a lot of your competion and Etsy will boost you up in the rankings. 

Definatley need to add more items.  Add them daily or weekly.  Adding more items shows Etsy that you are active in your shop and Etsy loves active sellers so that will help you also.  It also helps in search just because of simple math.  If a competitor has 50 to 100 items and you have much less then of course they will get found before you and more times than you.  Youtuber Pam Duthie would be a great coach for you.  She has been really successful with felted dogs and her Etsy store has been featured across the Etsy landing page.  She really knowledgeable and I would reccomend watching her videos.

Hope this has been helpful : )

[Anzhwooltoy]

Thank you for your time. You said a lot of useful things about tags and categories. I use erank.com but probably not enough. Etsy American platform and most buyers are Americans, it is difficult for me to determine what words will be in demand in the search. It was important to me that the native speaker looked from the side and appreciated the tags. I will look for the appropriate terms and change the words to search. The banner will change. I've been advised to change it. Thank you again.

[scrs5fvc]

thank you for taking the time to write this

[NobbyandNice]

I just realized that you are not in the US so the category I saw was probably something in your language.  Just make sure that it is also not too competitive but searched for.

[CaleesByCeleste]

I think your prices are too high!!!

[Anzhwooltoy]

My prices are not above average for the same product. Although they may seem exaggerated. Felting wool is a manual, laborious work. I invest time and materials here. I love to make toys, but if it will not bring income, then you need to close the store, make toys and just give them :). Thank you for your opinion.

[JdvintageCreations]

Love your shop. I selected a few items and noticed that the keywords in your titles were not targeting what you make. You need more words in your titles. That is how you get found on Etsy. Moms or people searching toys or felted items won't find you. More words like: Handmade Puppets, Felted Puppets, Felted Toys, Children's Toys, Puppets for Kids, Frog Toys, Rabbit Toys, Felted Rabbits...etc. I think you get the picture. Some people use search programs to find out what works best. I just type in a field like "felted Rabbits" and see how many entries there are. Takes a little bit of time, but is worth it to see what gets searched most. I wish you much luck.