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!

[Former_Member]

Thank you for the advice :)

[MelsCreativeWishes]

Hi everyone, My shop here on Etsy has only been opener for à short time. i knowhow I need more stock and am marlt making items to stock.
Could you have à look and please give me some feedback on area's meeding improvement etc.
thankyou.

[Former_Member]

I think your shop looks great. Your pictures are bright and interesting. All your policies are filled out. You have a great banner. Of what I can see you are doing a great job! Keep it up!

[Former_Member]

Mel, I agree with Mori! Your shop does look great and pictures are great as well! Just continue adding new items so visitors have more to choose from and I recommend reading here in the forums about SEO and titles/tags.

These things help you get found in searches within Etsy and through other search engines. The more you are found, the more people will visit your shop, and the more opportunities you have to sell.

Here are some good links:

SEOs
http://www.etsy.com/teams/7722/business-topics/discuss/9750565/
http://www.etsy.com/teams/7722/business-topics/discuss/9754445/

Titles/Tags/Descriptions
http://www.etsy.com/teams/7722/business-topics/discuss/9850208/page/1

[MelsCreativeWishes]

Thanks Mori and Jacque for taking the time to have a look at my shop.
My aim for the rest of March is to work on stock.
Jaque, thank you for the links about tags etc. I will definitely be checking those out as my understanding of seo and tags isn't great.

[Former_Member]

I would love it if someone would give a little advice for me and my little shop!! I'm frantically trying to get more artwork up - it's kind of a difficult thing to do quickly!!

Otherwise... what would be something I guess that would stop you from buying? Or what can I change, fix, tweak? I'd absolutely love some friendly feedback! :) Thank you!!!

[Former_Member]

Katie, I love your shop. Your paintings are amazing! I especially like the whale ones :) I think your pics are great, that is definitely key to getting people to stop and stay in your shop. I wish I could give you more advice, I feel like I’m still learning myself. Maybe others on the team will know more.

[Former_Member]

I'm Katerina. I have a shop here on etsy about 7 months now. I decide to open it because here in Greece we have a very hard time for a while now. Goverment cut from my salary a lot of money so i have to do something to increase my incommings.

I have 9 sales in 7 months and i try to increase them but is hard! I have many favorites and many visites in my shop but not enough sales.

If you have some time just visit my shop and tell me a professional opinion!

Thank you!

[Former_Member]

Hi Katerina!

Welcome to the team! And very sorry to hear about your salary cut at work. While it's hard to get going on Etsy, it's not impossible! There are a few areas of improvement I see for your shop:

-Your tagline should be a little more descriptive with keywords that will help you be found in searches. "Unique Supplies" doesn't really say much.
-Your shop announcement as well should have more description of your shop, what you sell, and more keywords to help you be found in searches.
-Work on your product titles. The first 3 words are most important for being found in searches both within Etsy and through search engines. Think like a buyer. What would you search for if you were looking for your products? Look at other successful supply shops on Etsy and see what kind of techniques they use for their titles and creatively implement in your shop (don't copy).
-Continue to add more items to your shop. Supplies sell really well on Etsy, so the more you have, the better.
-Work on your product photography. You want your shop to look cohesive and have a theme. Usually bright colored items look best on a white or light colored background. Play around with your photos to see what looks best with your products.
-Check your tags to make sure you are using descriptive keywords so you can be found.

Keep reading the forums and Etsy blogs for shop improvements, there's always work to be done, for all of us.

[Former_Member]

Thank you so much for your advices. It's very important to hear some advices from people who had shops here on etsy that doing great. I'll try to work on every idea you said to improove my shop.

With the "hard" i ment that i tried everything that is coming to my head for increase my orders and i run out of ideas. I think etsy has very good help and support and i'm sure that is my falt that i don't have as many orders that i want. That's the reason why i ask help from you. On etsy community i found great people and many help but always (as you said) there's work to be done and it's better some times to see your shop through the eyes of someone else!

Thank you again!

[shoptwoblooms]

Hello,

Our shop has been open for just over 3 months and we have 9 sales so far. We've done the following so far:

-changed our product labels (we just have a few left in the old style our 1 oz candles and No Chap Balm)
-changed our products photos twice (slowly working on getting them all with a white backgroud)
-redid titles and tagging
-changed our profile
-lowered a few prices

We've been in so many treasuries and no sales have resulted from that. We think it's because our shipping prices are high (shipping is high in Canada), there is so much competition in this field, we can't compete with the American sellers etc.

Anything else you can suggest?

Michelle

[Former_Member]

Caron & Michelle,

I think your shop looks great! I would just suggest continue to add more products and rework your titles (I know you just did them). But the first 3 words are more important when being found in searches. There are a few posts within this thread where we go into detail about titles. I think that would help get you found!

[AerlumeJewelry]

TAGGING HELP!

Hi all,

I started listing items in December and I think I need some serious help with tagging my items. I think I could get more ideas from you all as an outside perspective. If some of you could maybe pick your favorite item or two and list some tags that come to mind I would be so grateful.
Also, if there are other areas of improvement that you can see for my shop please feel free to give me some pointers!

~Deb

[Former_Member]

http://www.etsy.com/listing/96617743/spring-flowers-two-forever-untamed-daisy

This listing....Q about the photos...I've got some pics of the two flowers on a flat white background but so boring. I like this better, do you think it looks ok?

[Former_Member]

Breanna,
I like your hand pic the best, it looks like you are picking them and the pic is so bright! And you can really see the detail of your work.

Debra I wish I could help more, I am still learning about better tagging myself :)

[PendulumsbyMarlaina]

What is everyone doing about the tagging issues now? I still tag everything the was I used to and I don't see it harming me in anyway, I still get sales, have a good amount of views etc.

I also do searches on my items occasionally and they all seem to appear just fine. I have at least 1-3 of my items on the first page and all of my items tend to come up before the 6th page of the search.

So I dont get what the big issue is.

[Potterypup]

Would love an opinion about my shop - I create custom ceramic pieces for dog lovers (and also do cats, birds and horses although none in my Etsy "shop" right now) and watercolor greeting cards and paintings.
Have had lots of "likes" and Treasuries but not many sales -
Would love some constructive criticism from those who are making sales.
Thanks very much!

[Former_Member]

Hi all :) I'm up for any constructive advice and critique of my overall shop, prices and everything, thanks!

[Former_Member]

I want to encourage all team members to help give advice to other team members. That way the flow of ideas are fresh and not coming from the same members.

Thanks everyone for participating and helping out!

[Former_Member]

I recently updated my images. I am currently using scans of my cards because I haven't been successful in taking good pics. I also added a watermark to help protect the images. My questions for the group:
1. are my scans ok, or should i invest more time in getting good photos?
2. is the watermark necessary or is it too distracting?
3. are my file sizes ok?
4. any other comments on my shop are also welcome and appreciated :)

Thanks!

Holly

[Former_Member]

Hi Holly!

Your cards are beautiful!! I think your scans are fine the way they are. Your shop look very consistent, which is a great thing. The watermark is not too distracting, very subtle. In fact, i can't really see it when I look at your thumbnails.
The only thing is that for certain images, we don't see all the character in it. Like in this listing:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/86777789/greeting-card-note-card-lounge-singer

I would have liked to see the whole image in the thumbnail. Just my opinion.
Otherwise, I think your work is beautiful and I just favorited you!


As for my shop, I am getting ready to introduce some new pieces. I got some new necklaces, mostly, and some earrings. In the new pieces, I've got chains, stones, bows, fabric buttons...(ok, not all in the same necklace but in various necklaces). I already got 178 items and I've got 30-40 more to list. I'm just afraid it's going to be too much and that it will look scattered with all those styles.

What do you think?

[Former_Member]

Thank you for your feedback Christina, i really appreciate it. Good call on fixing the thumbnails so they aren't cut off, i'll have to figure that one out.

Regarding your shop, I actually think the amount of items and variety plays to your advantage. You have them all nicely categorized, which helps the shop not come across as overwhelming. My vote is to add the 30-40 more items. As long as they have something that differentiates them from the rest, i think it will ultimately drive more traffic to your shop.

Good luck!

Holly

[CrystalCreekGifts]

Hi, I opened a shop last year but only had a few items up and no sales. I've added more listings, tried to work on keywords, becoming more active in the forum and on teams... and now I'm wondering if I just need to be patient or if there's something more I need to do.

[Former_Member]

Jessica from TreefortNaturals says

So I am not sure what I am doing wrong but I can't seem to gain the visibility in the searches that I would like. I have purchased showcases and search ads and aligned my keywords/titles/descriptions, etc. with other successful sellers who sell soap. At first I thought that it was just that I did not have as many sales/favorited items/admirers/feedback as those who continually appear on the first page of a search...but then in comes a newbie and is all over the place...seeing this seller's items on every page of every search. And I really can't see what is different about their listings...
What am I doing wrong?

Posted at 12:55 pm May 8, 2012 EDT

[Former_Member]

Jessica,

I wouldn't say that you're doing anything wrong. Hell, you have 119 sales and just opened in February. You are doing EXTREMELY WELL! One thing that has helped me with my titles and tags are to check my shop stats and see which kind of keywords people are using to land in my shop and listings.

For your soap listings, I would rearrange the wording. Put the simple what first and then use more descriptive words towards the end. Also continue to add more products, the more you have, the more chances to be found.