Shop Advice/Constructive Criticism

[#1]

This is for constructive criticism and advice on making our shops better. Need help in a specific area? Have a random shop question? Let's help each other build great shops.

I would like feedback on my new labels. I am in the process of phasing out my old ones so some items still have pictures with the old labels. Please share your advice or anything else you see room for improvement on.


Thanks!

[dorsetclothing]

Melissa - looking at your items, with the lunchbox notecards, I think the second picture that shows all the different patterns you get is more enticing than the first. Your pictures are also a bit faded, you may want to increase the contrast a bit to make them pop. The best way to work out if your pictures are eyecatching is to search for them, and see if they stand out amongst other people's listings.

Here's one I increased the levels of to make it stand out a bit, see if you like it: http://dorsetclothing.com/images/random/page55reedit.jpg
I increased the highlights and shadows by quite a bit, and a little bit of the midtones.

[Former_Member]

I like that photo Mon! Great job!

[PAGEFIFTYFIVE]

Thanks Mon and Jacque! I am definitely working on adding more items...stay tuned :) I will work on my photos...they do seem a bit faded and I love the one that you adjusted Mon. Thanks again!

[Former_Member]

I am in the process of a complete shop makeover. My photos were stark white fotofuzed backgrounds...deactivated all and am reshooting one at a time. Starting to really love the new "softer look"

opinions?

[Former_Member]

Here's a great post today from the Business Topics:

Brooke from FirebirdBathBody says Edited on Sep 18, 2012

"What am I doing wrong?" is a question that gets asked on a daily basis by people who are struggling to make sales.

Sometimes there's an easy answer: "whoa, you need to retake your photos; they're dark and blurry and you can't even see what you're selling" or "you don't have measurements / materials / some other important information in your descriptions" or whatever.

But very often people are saying: "My photos are okay. My descriptions are fine. I filled out my profile and policies. My prices are reasonable. My products are just as good as the competition's. Why am I not selling?" And no one can really find anything substantial to tell them.

"What am I doing wrong?" This presupposes that customers are lining up outside your shop, ready to buy- but are being held back by some flaw of which you are unaware. If only you could figure out what it was, and remove the barrier- the sales would come pouring in.

That isn't how it works.

When was the last time you bought something because it was "just as good as that other thing"? Probably never, right? You don't buy something because it's okay looking, you buy it because it's beautiful/unique/amazing and you love it. When you are looking to buy something and you are faced with choices, you are going to choose the one that calls to you in some way- the one that stands out in your mind as exceptional or special or different or better.

No matter what we sell, everyone here on Etsy likely has a substantial amount of competition. People looking to buy a widget do a search and are presented with pages of widgets to choose from. If your widgets are not getting chosen, it doesn't mean there's anything WRONG with them or your shop or your photos... maybe there's just nothing RIGHT about them.

Rather than obsessing over tweaking your prices up and down, endlessly fiddling with your tags and titles (those are important of course, but the best SEO in the world will still only get you SEEN, it won't help you SELL) and asking over and over "what's wrong with my shop?"... try asking yourself "what's RIGHT about my shop?"

Do a search for the type of items you sell and take a good, hard, honest look at what buyers are seeing. Do your listings jump off the page or blend in with the competition? Is your eye drawn to click on them first? Or do you pass them by? Once you do click, are you compelled by what you read and what you see? Is a buyer going to feel like this is something different from what all the other shops have? Is it presented in a way that is interesting and special and memorable? If you don't get those feelings, it's unlikely that buyers will either. And those feelings are what make them buy.

Good enough isn't good enough. Okay photos are not good enough. Adequate descriptions are not good enough. A product that's "just as good as the other ones on Etsy" isn't good enough! Mediocrity does not bring sales.

If you want to be successful you should strive to be exceptional in everything you do. This means constantly working to improve your craft, your presentation, your customer service- everything.


"So, what am I doing wrong?"

You are not setting your standards high enough. You are letting the competition set the bar and you are satisfied to reach no higher- when you ought to be reaching above them to stand out in the crowded marketplace.

"But this shop over here has tons of sales, and they're not doing anything any better than I am."

You don't know how they got those sales. Maybe they do extensive off-site advertising. Maybe they sell a lot to friends and family. Maybe they started before you and they had less competition. It doesn't matter. Being as good as the competition does not guarantee you sales. You need to be BETTER.

"But I'm not a professional or anything- I just make widgets. I know they're not the best out there but I think they're okay. I'm selling them cheap because I have fun making them and I just thought maybe someone might want them. I don't have time to work on my descriptions, I'm not interested in buying a better camera- this is just for fun."

Harsh reality: why should anyone buy from you if even you admit that what you are selling isn't that great? If you don't have it in you to make an exceptional product- reconsider selling. Seriously. Crafting can be for fun- we don't all have to sell. We don't all have to be professionals, either- if selling a few widgets here and there to pay for supplies to make more widgets makes you happy, don't let the the competitive environment here push you into feeling like you need to be making sales every day in order to be happy with your shop.

And if you do WANT to be a professional, and know that you're not there yet- work on your craft. Strive to improve. Accept that presentation is important (because it is.) Don't settle for okay.

Posted at 2:49 pm Sep 18, 2012 EDT - Report this post

[Former_Member]

I recently opened this shop and have not gotten any sales yet, would appreciate some input on what I could do better to promote my items or make my shop look better
Thank you,
Angelika

[Former_Member]

I would love some advice on my shop as well! I'm still working on getting more items made, but since I opened in Feb, I still have not made any sales. I have had lots of hearts, a few treasuries, I have a small following on facebook, have tried to have a few 20%off sales (which I advertised on my fb), and I get a decent amount of traffic to my shop (still not as much as I should, but some). Does anyone have any advice as to how I could make my shop seem more appealing and ultimately make a sale?

[Former_Member]

I've been working like crazy on my shop. I have been steadily doubling views ever month for the last 3 months. I'm wondering what I could do to turn those views into sales. I'd love a buyers view critique of my listings. Any tips would be welcome.

[CuttingPixels]

Hi, I was wondering if i could get some constructive crit on my shop. I know my shop tends to be geared towards a specific type of person - gamer. I don't have it in my budget to relist or pay for ads atm. I'm on facebook and tons of teams.

Thanks!

[Former_Member]

@Katrina, not sure if you have, but you could try listing a few of your pieces in the Geekery section. The other thing is not all your pieces are Gaming so I'd change your Shops Announcement line to "Movies and Gaming". Maybe try joining some gamers forums (if you play what you sell) and have your shop linked in the tag line at the bottom (if allowed).

[AerlumeJewelry]

Critique please!
When I look at my shop I feel as if something is off...
I don't know if it's the photography or maybe I have too many different styles of jewelry which makes it look confusing...I don't know I feel like it doesn't look cohesive.

Any thoughts for improvement on my shop?

[Former_Member]

Critque and request for critique:

Hi Debra, I checked out your shop and I wouldn't say anything is "off", just possible a little....flat? You might change up the angles of some of your shots. For example, a lot of the pieces are shot from the same distance and at the same angle, and they are similar shapes. So it creates a lot of visual repetition on the page. If you use different angles then it might give more texture to the look of the page as a whole. I don't really know though, I'm still struggling with my own photography issues - I barely touched a camera before Etsy.

I could use a critique also. I know my pics need work and I'm getting through them a few at a time. But I get tons of views and few sales in comparison. What am doing wrong? Are my prices too high? Don't be afraid to be honest, I really need to know. Thanks!

[Former_Member]

Debra, I love your style and your photos. They really do look good.

One thing that I noticed were your section names. I don't know about you, but I rarely will search for a word with spaces between the letters the way you have them.

q u a r t z isn't something that is really SEO friendly at all but Quartz is.

When it comes to your item titles I think you are really hurting yourself with the repetition.


There's really no need to repeat words over and over in a title at all.

Rather than call something
""Geometric Earrings Ruby Earrings Gold Ruby Earrings Simple Gold Earrings Genuine Ruby Earrings Diamond Earrings Diamond Shaped Earrings""

where you use the word
earrings - 7 times
ruby - 3 times
diamond - 2 times

Why not simply call them "diamond shaped gold earrings with ruby briolettes"

You have all the words (except geometric) covered and the title is so much easier to read. It will probably also help you to be found much easier in a google search as its a more simple title.

Then you can put all the various combinations in your tags.

Just my 2 cents.

[dorsetclothing]

Bumping up for those who might be looking for help with their store!

[dorsetclothing]

Bumping up again for anyone who would like the team to hep them with their store!

[GreenMarthaBoutique]

Always looking for ways to improve, I'd love to hear what you think !
I am currently making and adding new textile items, and I'm wondering how to give a cohesive look to the shop. Wondering whether I should use a framed photograph of my art as the first vignette (better for the cohesive look of the shop, doesn't seem to work as well for treasuries, though.
Any thoughts ?

[dorsetclothing]

Your work is gorgeous, Marion!

I think you lose a lot of detail with the framed picture, the listings with a close up of the picture itself catch your attention more.

If you're worried about cohesiveness, perhaps try using the rearrange function in your store? Then you can group things together by colour, style, theme, whatever you like. For example, I use it in my store to group mine by background colour.

[GreenMarthaBoutique]

Thak s Mon, it's great to have feedback.
I have rearranged my shop three times sinde yesterday already, I think I have found something that looks reasonnably cohesive, what do you think ?

[Former_Member]

I didn't know about this rearrange function. I can't wait to try it