Ready for next step help

[Former_Member]

okay, i need some help. In 2007 and 08, i sold easily on etsy. I have re-started my shop with my printmaking work. And have not gotten a bite! I let the world know on facebook, and my blog......okay i have a small world. What would be my next step? I haven't sent out a newsletter lately, that would help I am sure. Anyone want to reveal their 'next step'?

Thank you,
Randy

[LynnBaileyPrintmaker]

Greetings Randy,

I wasn't with Etsy in 2007/08 but from what I have read in the forums the Etsy climate has changed quite a lot since then.

It's got a lot bigger for a start and you need to fight more to be seen.

There is no reason why your shop shouldn’t take off and be highly successful for you again. It will just take time and persistence.

A key thing is to work on your SEO (search engine optimisation) there are teams here that specialise in this.

Think like a shopper when you write your titles and tags. What words might they put into the search bar that would actually lead them to find your work. Use all the photos you can, “sex up” your descriptions to turn that “I like” to an “I want”. Tell a bit of story. Buying artwork is a bit different from most purchases, people like to feel that they can get to know the artist so work on your “about” page to when you get the time.

Measure in cm as well as inches (half of the world doesn’t understand inches).

Picking on this listing at random. https://www.etsy.com/listing/178916568/anticipation-tree-hand-pulled-linoleum?ref=shop_home_active_6
Although you have many key words in the title. I think it is unlikely that anyone would use “Anticipation” when searching for some artwork to buy. You might find that “lino” &/or “linocut” might be more popular search words than “linoleum”, you can use all in your tags. I find that I have to be a bit bilingual with US and UK spellings. The tags you have used for this one repeats “art” twice has typos like “han dmade” which aren’t going to help. Also you will find that short terms in tags work better now than single words. Eg “Tree print”, “lino cut tree”, “semi abstract tree”, “mulberry paper”, “pink ink wash”. (I’m not an expert at this so you will have to your own research into what are the best search terms for your own items).

I would also suggest fleshing out your policies more. In fact this self critique check list is very useful to go through now and then – no matter how long you’ve had your shop. http://etsymentors.blogspot.co.uk/p/critique-your-own-shop.html

You can link your FaceBook page and twitter account to your Etsy shop now. Took me a couple of attempts to find your FB art page rather than your personal page https://www.facebook.com/randysartstudio

I think it really does help working on building a following on this and other social media. Usually I can’t make a direct link between FB or Twitter and getting a sale, but I can clearly see a jump in views when I mention that I have listed a new work – and recently I had a shock by selling an item within one hour of mentioning it on FB & Twitter. And it really was a social media contact who didn’t have an Etsy account before making that purchase (actually bought a few items in one go for me to send off to Australia!)

You can also add a shopping link from your FB page to your Etsy shop – but I’ve forgotten how I did that!

I hope I haven’t overwhelmed you with the feeling that you have much work to do. I’m sure there’s more I should be doing myself.

...
Anyone else got some tips to share about how to get seen. Or how to convert that "I like" to "I must have"?

Please share ideas.

Cheers

Lynn

[88editions]

Welcome back to etsy Randy!

Lynn,
These are all great suggestion for the new and old alike!

SEO

“sex up” your descriptions to turn that “I like” to an “I want”

Tell a story.

Measure in cm as well as inches.

key words in the title and tags

Proof read your listings!

self critique check list: etsymentors.blogspot.co.uk/p/critique-your-own-shop.html

link your FaceBook page and twitter

One thing I would add is more pictures!. Many artists really benefit from showing their work in a simple frame.

And to state the obvious--more listings!
Try to get to one and then 2 full pages as soon as possible. If you have editions, try listing them in multiple ways.

good luck!
Kelly

[Former_Member]

Oh, my goodness, thank you both for all of your investigation and sharing what works for you. I do have a lot of work to do. I will get back to you after I put your suggestions into practice!!

Randy

[minouette]

I love all these suggestions! I was going to point out that the Etsy search is "bilingual" and uses US and UK spellings interchangeably. So if someone searches for 'colour' they will find things tagged 'colour' or 'color' (maybe not the best example... but you get the idea). However, that may not be true of all search engines.

A tip I recently learned is that you can give each photo a ridiculously long name packed with likely search terms to help SEO. So for instance, your image of the linocut above might be called something like:
"tree linocut fine art wall print original ..... .jpg"

and you can even include things like who might want it as a gift or whatever. Each image can have a different long name packed with search terms. These words are visible to search engines and can affect whether someone will find you in a google search.

[88editions]

that's great advice Ele, i guess I need to get over wanting my totles to just be the actual art title ; (

[VIZArt]

try using linocut in the title and words that etsy and buyers use. etsy has minimized the categories and has focused on the browse section. Hand Pulled Prints is still a category but its not represented in the browse section so if you choose Art>Printmaking>Hand Pulled Print when you create your listing its not likely to be seen in the browse pages so go with Art>Printmaking>Linocut instead and add hand pulled print to your tags. You are lucky to make linocuts though because etsy ONLY features screen prints and linocuts on the art browse pages.

[VIZArt]

also make sure to pick all three levels of category when making a listing Art>Printmaking>Linocut
i noticed that this listing was only in the Art category i could tell because the first three tags are category sub category and sub sub category they will all be capitalized in the tags if you chose all three. i'm not sure if i am really explaining this………..
Anticipation Tree, Hand Pulled Linoleum Cut, hand colored w... randydean $40.00 USD