Need some feedback!!!!!!!!!!

[TaylorGraceGraphics]

Hi everyone

I would just like some honest opinions about my shop. What are some bad things you notice right away? What are some good things? How could I get some customers? and HOW DO I GET SOME VIEWS? I'm working on some more card collection sets right now, but they won't be up for a while. I've tried using pinterest ads for a month, but they didn't get me any sales. 

I desperatly need some opinions. Please be completely honest. Do I just need to get a whole lot more items? Do I need to label them differently? 

Thanks to anyone who replies!!!!!!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaylorGraceGraphics?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

[ElenaSBrainstorming]

I like your art, maybe You need some advice about marketing. 

I'm trying to understand too, how It works.  

[NobbyandNice]

Hi this  is Linda from sparkling Vinyl.  When I first landed on your page because of the name of your store I couldn’t tell what your store was about exactly or what you were selling.   That’s because in your sections at the left most of your items are  greeting cards  but the name of your store refers to graphics which typically means something other than greeting cards.  You have 11 greeting cards and five of them are holiday cards/valentine and Christmas.  

 Those holidays are gone so those should be removed.   If you decide to sell greeting cards then you need to narrow it down to a niche because there are over 800,000 websites on Etsy with greeting cards.   You will need a ton more listings to be able to get found.  You should check competitors and see how many listings they have because you will need at least as many listings as your competitors have.  You might consider making your cards digital downloads. 

 Some of the other items in your store are copyright I think so you could be in danger of having your store shut down for copyright so I would not carry those on Etsy.   You need  some search engine optimization training as you are using duplicate tags on your listings  And some tags that are either too competitive for a new store or aren’t how buyers search. For example, buyers probably wouldn’t search for a card by typing in “flower illustration “, they would probably type in floral birthday card or floral card for mom. Something like that. 

I use Erank and Marmalead.com to see what Etsy buyers are typing in the search bar and looking for before I list anything.  I use the following YouTube coaches because they have help me improve my store:

 Dave from add to cart

Kara Buntin

Nancy Badillo 

 Starla Moore 

Hope this helps. If you have any other questions, feel free to contact me. 

[TaylorGraceGraphics]

Thanks for your in depth response, i really do appreciate it.

I think it's too late to change my storename, as I've already incorporated it into literally everything. But I'm working towards a handmade signs and sign design business for the future, so it will work for that.

I'm currently trying to find my niche.... much harder than I thought. But I do realize that having a signature style is VERY important to making sales. Do you have any ideas on how to find that niche?

I do know I need more listings for sure. Like i said, I'm working on several different card collections right now... they won't be out for a little while though.

that's another thing... I want to put out card collections, but should I also sell each card seperatly as its own listing? Would that be effective in making my customers think I have a lot of items, or would it simply annoy them? Does anyone have any experience in selling collections or sets of things? What's the best way to do it?

I'll work on my search engine tags... floral would certainly be a better option, thank you. 

I have looked into Marmalead.com and Erank, but I should look again. 

Thanks for the YouTube coach names, I'll look into those also. 

I really appreciate your opinions. I know I am unexperienced in this, but I'm willing to learn as much as possible.

Please, if anyone has any experience or advice for me, please let me know.

my email:     contact@taylorgracegraphics.com

Thanks again

[NobbyandNice]

I forgot to also say, you need to fill out all areas that Etsy gives you to fill out. Don’t skip anything, shop policies, location, anything Etsy has for you to fill out. 

[NobbyandNice]

I apologize if I sounded harsh. I did not mean to. I like helping because I have been there. When I opened my store, it took me almost 3 months to get a sale. I made all the mistakes, believe me. 

Anyway to find your niche, I would use Erank or Marmalead. They tell you what buyers are searching for. So for example, if there are high searches for funny birthday cards and the competition is not too high, then you would want to make a lot of those. Or maybe baby shower cards are highly searched for, I don’t know, I just using those as examples. But you want to research before posting. There are lots of YouTube videos that tell you how to use these tools. The coaches I suggested have videos about Erank and marmalead. 

 Another example is I put a teapot iron on decal on my website thinking little girls would like that on their shirts for their tea parties.  Well I put it on before I did the research and I haven’t sold any and that’s because after I researched it there are only 25 searches per month for a teapot iron on,  so it’s highly unlikely that I will get sales on this  because not enough people are looking for it. 

 It’s a lot of work but it will pay off later, just keep working on your store  

[TaylorGraceGraphics]

no no you weren't harsh, I asked for honest opinions and I got them, so I appreciate all of your replies!

It's just so overwhelming and discouraging! Hard to know what to do...

I'll check out Marmalead and Erank for sure. Thanks again for the advice. 

[bridalsdreams]

Hello Sparklingvinyl,
My sales are low
My competitors are very
by visiting my store
would you say your opinion and criticism?
Can I be injured by your experience?
Thank you from now
https://www.etsy.com/shop/bridalsdreams

[NobbyandNice]

Bridal dreams, your store looks great. I don’t know when last year you started but it takes awhile to get sales. I checked on Marmalead.com and barefoot sandals are searched for almost 2,000 times a month with very low competition! So this is a great niche. However those searches also include buyers looking for barefoot sandals for babies. I would definitely use barefoot sandals in your titles and tags for your barefoot sandals listings. 

You might try duplicating some of the sandal listings and using some different photos on some of them and see if that changes the click through rate. Also, I’m not sure where you ship to but if you could ship to the US and globally I think that would really help. Weddings are a big deal here in the states, and wedding season is just starting up here.  I don’t ship globally yet but the US is quite large so I have a better chance of more sales, but I do plan to ship globally soon. You could also add more types of wedding items. Keep in mind  since you have a wedding items, you will be slow for the holiday season. 

For your wedding belts, I would try and get a closer pic of those to see them better. They are very pretty. Check out some YouTube videos on Etsy seo to make sure you have that down. Kara Buntin is really good. She’s on YouTube and her store is “A cake to remember “ and she has over 20,000 sales  so she knows what she’s talking about. 

Add items daily or weekly if you can. Offer free shipping on you area if possible. And definitely ship to more places if possible. 

[DesignsbyMignon]

I am in the same position as you are.  I get very few views to my shop.

If anyone can take a peed att my shop and give me some advice, I would be most grateful.  I have made everything in my shop with the exception of the Bucilla Stocking that I sell.

I have Etsy Plus but not sure that it is doing me any good.  I don't see an increase of visitors or sales with it.

Linda

DesignbyMignon

[DesignsbyMignon]

Sorry about the spelling.  I was in a bit of a hurry.  I, of course, meant "If anyone could take a look at my shop and give me some advice, it would be much appreciated.  It seems the only time I sell anything is when I have a sale.  Then I feel like I am giving my product away.

Other than the obvious, Bucilla Stockings, Napkins, Motifs & premade Felt Flowers I have designed and made myself.  I have gotten some inspiration from watching quite a bit of utube though, but I have not copied anything.  If it's mine, I say so.  If not, I give credit where credit is due.

I have tried to make my shop look professional, but I cannot compete with the "professionals."  I don't have the equipment to take professional pictures etc like Etsy wants.  I am just retired working out of my home.

Now Etsy has this big contest going on and the winner will be one of the very professional looking shops who don't need the money.  Shop owners like myself don't stand a chance and anyone of us would need the prize money way more than they do.  With that money I could buy equipment that I need.  I have a ton of ideas, but I am stopped because I don't have the equipment to do it.

Just a note about something that really bothers me.  I see some shop owners obviously buying from eBay and bringing it over here and sell for a higher price.  I've seen it more than once.

[NobbyandNice]

With your shop being a holiday shop, you are just not going to start seeing sales until around September/October as that is when buyers start looking for holiday items.  They simply aren’t looking for that right now.  So with that being said, I would just start making a lot of really nice holiday items and get ready to start posting them maybe in August.  You could start setting them up in your shop and then start releasing them in August a few each day.  

 Your pics are dark and the backgrounds are dark. I would work on the pictures right now so that you can tell what the items are better and get rid of the dark backgrounds and try and use very light or white backgrounds.  Try and make the back grounds  pretty much all the same so your store looks like it has a consistent look to it. Light back grounds and better pictures have higher chance of being clicked on by buyers so I would work on those now until the holidays are here. 

Use marmalead or Erank to see what buyers look for at Christmas time.  I would take down  anything that isn’t Christmas related on your store because buyers will be confused by that.

 Try not to sell too many vintage items because if you sell one of a kind items and you only have one, then when it sells it shows as sold out.

 When  you sell something on Etsy and you have more than one it has a selling history and then Etsy  pushes it up in the rankings because it’s sold and it helps you get another sale on that same item. But if it’s sold out then you don’t have a chance of doing that,  selling it again I mean.  I think some of your titles have names that buyers wouldn’t search for, you have to name your items the way a buyer would type it in the search bar. 

 Hope this has been helpful 

[AWonderlandJewellery]

Have you looked into a DIY lightbox? I've been thinking of making one, myself, as sometimes there isn't enough sun for me to photograph my jewellery. Shouldn't cost more than $10-$20.

[DesignsbyMignon]

It has!  Thank you very much for your input!  I appreciate it very much!

[DesignsbyMignon]

I will most certainly work on my lighting.  I know my shop is basically about Christmas, but that is what I enjoy and do best - I hope.  I already have some things made and ready to list and will continue to do so until your recommended August.  I am working on a Vintage Bucilla stocking.  I just finished 12 Snowflakes.  I have a lot more planned :-)

Thank you everyone for your input.

Linda

[AWonderlandJewellery]

I am definitely going to look into these websites and YouTube coaches. Thanks for the tips, Sparkling!

One question I've had for awhile that you might know the answer to: does it help to have really long, super descriptive titles like I see on some pages? I prefer to keep my titles simple and use tags, but I worry that might be affecting my ranking in search results.

[MagicalMetalStudio]

I really like your artwork. Like other people have said, I think you just need to work more on SEO. I've seen people mentioning Etsy Rank and Marmalead, but another good website I've found is SEOBook.com, which has a great keyword tool that shows you how many monthly searches there are for certain keywords.

Also, I would be careful of selling Harry Potter and Batman stuff because those are copyrighted and WB could complain to Etsy to get the listing taken downs. I've seen shops get shut down for that kind of thing. 

[scrs5fvc]

thanks for tips guys