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 so much Jacque - I'll give that a try. It just gets so frustrating when I have to sift through 7 pages of soap to find ONE of my items...

[Former_Member]

Jessica...

Love your stuff and the shop looks great.

Can't believe the sales you have had in such a short time. Just ever so slightly jealous! US are so much better at supporting soapers online! Postage in the UK makes it difficult.

Its the same old advice I'm afraid - titles, tagging and listing are all the best ways to keep your soaps relevant and easy to find.

But. You are doing great

[Former_Member]

Carla - thank you so much! Your soap are AMAZING!! wowza! very cool stuff!

[Former_Member]

Oops - I meant Carla or Garreth...not sure which of you responded...but either way thank you!

[Former_Member]

Easy mistake to make. I'm Garreth. I ony get into the lab one or two days a week so its the forums for me!

[Former_Member]

I would like someone, or many people, to just poke around my shop and give me advice on what I can improve. Any areas welcome!

[dorsetclothing]

Natalee, the main thing that stands out to me are your photos. It looks like you've been doing a lot of different experiments to see what works, which is great, but none of them are really speaking to me.
These ones I like the most:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/94416717/handmade-body-spray-earthy-lavender

But there is still a bit too much going on in the background, with the slats and the sky and the trees. I do like the look of them against the wood, do you have something else wooden outside that has the slats closer together? I think you want just one colour background, or perhaps a plain piece of cardstock behind them to cover the skyline (maybe in beige? your items seem to look nice against those warm brown tones).
I would definitely avoid the towel backgrounds, I immediately think of it being a used towel even if it is clean.

That said your products look lovely and really nicely packaged.

Your tags and titles could use a little work. It's better off to have more phrase tags than single word tags. For example this listing:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/98255843/handmade-avocado-cucumber-soap-mocha

has avocado, but no avocado soap as a tag. You also have bath and beauty as a tag when it's already a tag by being in that section. And I'd probably remove handmade from your titles, as it's a handmade site, so people are going to assume that you're telling the truth. I would probably make the tags on that listing

oil soap
bar soap
avocado soap
avocado and cucumber
cucumber soap
mocha latte soap
coffee soap
and so on

There's only just over 1000 items under "coffee soap", so it's worthwhile to get to the front of those smaller search terms over something huge like "soap", which can be very hard.

Hope that helped!

[Former_Member]

Natalee, I think you have a lot of variety in your shop and it can become confusing. The soaps look amazing, I love the way they are packaged. Your shop name even has soap in it. At first I thought your fudge was soap. And reading the description that "Black Willow Soaps has gone edible with decadent fudge recipes" was very good. Without this little sentience I would have thought it was very yummy looking soap. But I think it should be its own shop. I think your fudge would sell very well on its own. maybe Black Willow Fudge? Then when people came to your shop they would know what to expect. I think both your fudge and soap would benefit from the separation.

[Former_Member]

Okay, after spending a little time trying to convince Carla to re-do a number of the photos and wasting away the long hours of the evening uploading new photos we have finally updated our photos.

Now hear ye, hear ye....

On the front page of the shop I have the top few rows with a white background and the bottom few rows I've kept as they were initially.

I'd Like you have a look and tell me what you think. I think the old photos were better for treasuries etc but I do accept that there is more of a theme to the shop with the top few rows.

Anyways, I'm really keen to hear what you think. Is it actually an improvement or do you prefer the old photos.

www.etsy.com/shop/scentcosmetics

I appreciate honesty - regardless - so its safe ground!

[Former_Member]

Natalie,

Love your shop! I'm ever so slightly envious.

I kinda agree with the comments above though and we have just undergone a re-shoot of all our photos to give a different feel to the front page.

Its a tough call. The photos on their own are far better with the variety you have given them but as a shop it looks a little disjointed.

I've also just discovered pinterest and the funny thing I've noticed there is that it works in completely the opposite fashion. The photo is crucial as opposed to the general pinboard. No idea why that is but I'm going to pin all the old photos under the link and then redo the photos for the etsy shops.

Love the candles in a shell!

[Former_Member]

I got a critique in the critique forum. It was pretty brief but it was done by someone new. Until yesterday I had no idea I was doing tags wrong. Guess I misunderstood the concept. So I am redoing my tags. I just wondered if one of you would mind checking my tags to see if I am on the right track now. It would be most of the stuff on my front page. Also, any other suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Former_Member]

This is such a great thread. I have already learned so much just by reading it.

[Former_Member]

One thing I'd suggest Wendy, is once you've changed your tags, do a search for those terms and just see how many things are listed under it. For example, I just did a search for "pompadour hair" and there's only 37 listings on the whole of etsy "male subject" only brings 9... personally I'd remove those and use those 2 tags as the colours (purple and red)

[Former_Member]

ok. Thanks. Still trying to figure the whole tagging thing out. Seems a little tricky for me but I'll get it.

[Former_Member]

My favourite Etsy blog post about tags would have to be this one: http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2011/shop-makeover-titles-descriptions-and-tags/ Check it out, it always helps to have as much info on tagging and SEO as you can get, cos it's hard!

[Former_Member]

I definitely agree with searching for what you have in your shop and seeing where you are coming up in searches. The goal is to be on the 1st and/or 2nd pages. Using 2-3 words per tag helps as well.

[Former_Member]

Hi everyone! I just joined. I've had my Etsy shop for two months and I feel like I need improvements...I just don't know where.

Any feedback would be great! Be as harsh as you like. LOL

[Former_Member]

Tasha808 ~

You have such beautiful products. I loved the shells so much I had to look at your location. I then looked at your banner and was instantly disappointed. I found the darkness took away the magic of your crisp white photos, and the shells which had conjured images of white sandy beaches, with frothy waves lapping at the shore. I think you could raise prices of some items a bit too, and even market some pieces on pages 1,2,3 as wedding & brides maid jewelry for a beach wedding perhaps. Oh, and what do think about changing your store name and perhaps using your own name. I know I go on and on, but your store is sooooo close to being fantastic. (Well, I certainly think so!) It's exciting!!

[Former_Member]

Hi guys!

I just re-arranged the first two pages of my shop and was wondering which is best.

Page 1: By type of jewelry
Pros: looks very clean and polished
Cons: I'm afraid people will look at, say, the first row of my big round necklaces, and think there is only those four colors (because there isn't)
Also, not easy when I don't have a multiple of four of the same item...

Page 2: By color
Pros: Easier for me
Cons: looks a little messier because of all the different types of pieces.

Which one do you love best??

[dorsetclothing]

I'm personally a colour person over type, but I rearrange in the same way. I think it's built into me after a decade of rearranging things that way in retail stores.
I feel the same way as you about the type organisation. I feel like people will think that's all you have.

(btw, I noticed you don't link to other colours available with each type. It's good SEO to have links to your shop in listings. I usually put something like "also available in other colours" and then list the colours with a link next to them)

[Former_Member]

Kristina I really love the bright colors in your shop! It makes me so happy to see them. I realize you have probably re-arranged everything since you posted this. Or maybe not, but I really like the way it looks right now.

I think the whole shop is very cohesive and the banner is great. Good work!

[Former_Member]

Thank you Mon! My little OCD kicks in whenever I see my shop disorganized so I'm trying to find a way to do it so it looks pretty and that is functional. Now, I have about 10 drafts of listings that I don't want to list just yet because they don't come in multiples of four!!
Mon, that's a great idea (adding some links), I will get on that this week! I also got the advice to put a picture of all my colors in my fifth picture spot.

Thank you Wendy, it's very nice of you! The first two pages stayed the same so if you like the first page, that's another opinion in favor of type vs color!

[Former_Member]

Yes, Christina. It WAS the first page that grabbed me.

[Former_Member]

I guess my request for a shop critique got lost in this long thread.

Can someone please critique my shop? I've been open for over 2 months and haven't had a sale in a while. I shoot and re-shoot photos, switch around titles and tags AND promote like crazy every single day. I just don't know what's wrong.

[dorsetclothing]

Sorry we missed you Ashey! I think you're doing pretty well for being open a few months, I opened around the same time in May last year as you did this year, and by this time last year I'd had 10 sales. And I already had pre existing customers I was bringing into my store! So don't be discouraged! It looks like your customers may have similar buying habits as mine, in that they tend to buy at the start and the end of the month, and the middle of the month is pretty quiet. You might start to get a better idea of these fluctuations over the next few months.

I think the pictures with the wood background look best, but some of them could do with just a bit of increase in contrast to make them pop. I took one of your images and just increased the highlights and shadows, have a look and see what you think: http://i48.tinypic.com/714jeq.jpg

Make sure you're using all your tags, and that they match what is in your title. Remember the number one rule of relevancy is that titles and tags have to match, or you won't be found in search for those keywords.
For example this anklet:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/101011540/15-off-cij-sale-brown-hemp-anklet-wooden

Seems to only have ten tags, so you can add some more. It also has "for women" "hemp jewelry for men" and "for teens" as tags, yet you don't have any of that in your title. If you want to use those I'd probably retitle it to "Hemp Jewelry - Brown Hemp And Wooden Beads Anklet For Men, Women and Teens"
You could then add some extra tags like "womens anklet", "mens anklet", etc.

I have to rush out of the house now, but I hope that gives you a start!