Request a shop critique

[Former_Member]

Like the title states, here you can request a critique (I prefer feedback) on your shop. This is a good way to find out how others see your store and to get feedback on your tags and titles etc. I encourage everyone to respond with your views when someone puts in a request. The more opinions/tips, the merrier.

Some points that get noted during most critiques:

*banner
*organisation (is your shop organized and clear for buyers)
*titles and descriptions
*Shop policies and information
*tagwords for search
*pictures

Hope to see the first request soon, so we can actually start helping eachother :)

Happy Easter!

[Former_Member]

I would love some feedback, particularly on my tags, if anyone is interested. I don't think I'm savvy enough yet to give anyone else feedback, but will return the favor when I am.

[Former_Member]

Hi Rosa!! Everyone is savvy enough to give an opinion :) I'm no expert but I'll gladly have a look.

Some things I notice are;
-Pictures seem clear, you included more pictures for a bunch of items which is great!
-Your profile's 'about' is not filled out. I'd take some time to do that personally. It's at the bottom of the page in your shop policies but people will look at your profile too.
-You did fill out shop policies.. AWESOME it's amazing how many shops don't do that at the start..
-You already have 1 sale! That's pretty fast for being open for a week. Congratulations!!! I am sure it took a lot of us a lot longer.
-Your banner seems a bit dark to me, and kind of doesn't stand out to me. It might be a personal preference, but I think maybe a brighter and sharper lettering would change it positively. Again this might be personal and I hope someone else reads along and checks it as well.
-Tags; I see a lot of colours only like 'blue' 'green' etc. This might not get you specific customers. I see you have 'acrylic painting' for example. That's a 2 word tag and those are great! (I am still changing listings daily because my tags are all messed up too) So I'd definitely focus on finding more 2 word tags like 'mexican painting' 'galaxy painting' etc. That should get you up for more specific searches, and reach more potential buyers that actually looked for that item.
-Your titles seem very descriptive. Take parts of those to your tags as well.
-In the first part of your description, pay attention to the google ad (Etsy let's you see how it will show in google) Make sure most important aspects of the painting are in there. That way you'll have the title, tags and description optimised for search and search engines. After the descriptive part you can tell the story behind the painting of course (you should!! they make it more awesome :)), but the first part should really be focussed on description that will increase search results.
-I kind of miss the material it's painted on in the description. I think you should tell as much about the item as possible. For some you are very into detail, others only a few lines.

Well Rosa, thanks for letting me/us critique and take a peek in your shop. Your shop listings so far are very unique and I'm sure you'll do great. I just hope you get to 'be seen' even more.

[HeartFeltPlush]

I would like some feedback please. I only have my patterns listed at the moment, but I tried to do the first pictures on those all similar (I still have 2 more to edit.. lol)

I wanted it to be clear it is a pattern, so that's why I included a banner on the side, but if it is too distracting I can change it.

Also, my tag words (I do good til I hit about 7... then I draw a blank! lol) and the description of my items as those are "tag" words as well.

Thanks in advance :D

[Former_Member]

I am a new seller and I would really appreciate any feedback. I actually really need it. :-) Thank you!

[Pamelajonesartstudio]

I would like some feedback please.

[Former_Member]

This is a great idea, and if possible would love some feedback too!

[Former_Member]

woah someone needs to help me give some feedback. I'll try to at least do one before bed tonight, but first I have to try get a listing upload-ready :)

[Mrlworks]

I would like some feedback please. I need it .

[Former_Member]

Sorry everyone, I've been busy busy with the Easter weekend - I hope you all had a great Easter too!

Vivicat, you first as I'd already had a good nose around your shop after your last post... :)

You're new and you already have a sale - you're off to a good start! I really love your brown and lace case, so cute :)

I think I'm your target market (I've bought kindle covers before and I love all things pretty and handmade) but the thing that might put me off buying from you is the slightly 'unfinished' look of your shop. Complete your shop policies to help your buyers feel safe; Do you do returns? What are the conditions? Etsy does have policies you can look at but it would be great to see supportive policies on your shops page too.

I like how your shop's name, avatar and banner all tie together. What's the story behind that? This might just be me but I like to find out the story behind a shop when I'm browsing. Fill in the about and tell everyone all about you and your shop!

Your titles are clear and descriptive, which is great. Take some of those key words for your tags. When you're writing your tags try to think about what buyers will be searching for; they probably won't be searching for 'kindle' but they will search for 'kindle cover' or 'kindle case'. Two and three word tags are best.

Your photos show some great close ups. You just need to tweak the colour of them a tad. Some have a blue tone, some a red and others a yellow - which ones show the colour of the cases in the truest light?

The only other thing to do now is to just get adding more listings, which is exactly what I need to do now! Thanks for letting me critique your shop, it hope it helped! :)

[Former_Member]

Heartfeltplush - cute dolls heather!

Yours is a bit tricky because you're obviously halfway through adding listings; you've got the patterns and I assume you're also going to sell the dolls too? Your policies (yay, you've done your policies) refer to buying a physical item often, so you're all set to go once you've listed them. Your patterns seem really popular and have great reviews. I don't think it's distracting having the banner on the images IMO, to me it makes it clear what I'd be paying for.

You're obviously actively promoting and you have your fb and blog linked on your about page - love it. When you do start selling physical listings make sure everyone who follows you knows it!

Tags - again, two and three word tags are best even if you end up repeating yourself but changing it slightly each time. Try to think from the customers POV, what are they looking to buy? CodeP posted a thread in this team about SEO, it might be useful to give it a read.

And finally don't forget to post your new listings on our promotions thread when you've added all them :) Thanks for letting me critique your shop, I hope it helped!

[Former_Member]

Phew, I think I'm all critiqued out for the moment! Thanks for letting me nose around your shops guys, I'll be back for more tomorrow :)

In the meantime don't forget to all help each other out - we don't have to have years of experience to offer advice. I like getting a shop critique because someone else will often see things I've missed. It can just be helpful for someone on 'the outside' to tell you what they see. Happy critiquing everyone!

[Former_Member]

Thank you for jumping in Naomi. My day was longer then expected. I will not be critiqueing any shops tonight but I think Naomi nailed it. I hope more people jump in with feedback because everyone's opinion is another view on your store. Have a good night everyone. And Naomi you're awesome :)

[Former_Member]

I would love to get some feedback on my shop! I am working on re-taking my pictures as you will see. I would love to see what people think and get any tips you have! I will look at other shops too,even though I am new to all this!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/SimplyBeadedTreasure

[HeartFeltPlush]

Thank you Naomi :) I appreciate the feedback.

You are correct, I do actually have listings already made (just disabled at the moment) for made to order, physical dolls. I only have them on hold while I'm getting ready for a craft show next weekend. It's in my welcome announcement, but doesn't show from the front page as I have a sale running too... lol

I will work on key words :D

Thanks again!

[HeartFeltPlush]

Hi Pamela,

I visited your shop and think your artwork is just lovely. I especially like the way you do the skies :)

That being said, here are my suggestions.

Your banner is beautiful. I would create a small logo for your shop, or title to go with it. Maybe even just the initials of your shop. It would give you some branding. Maybe make it look like an artist signature? I think that would blend nicely.

The welcome message is a little short. I'd like to read more about you and your shop.

I see you do not have anything in the policy area. I personally (while shopping) check that area first. I like to see what materials a person uses, style, technique. I also find it helpful to see a return policy, or payments accepted. The policy area gives you everything in one easy place, and you can access it again from each listing as a reminder. Very helpful :)

In your personal profile, it was lovely to read a little bit more about you. You can expand on that in the "about" section and it will display a little picture at the end of every listing. From the dashboard, it is in the Shop Settings area. It just gives buyers a little glimpse into the artist.

Your photographs are nice and crisp and I can definitely see the artwork clearly. Great job!

Overall, I think your shop is beautiful and I enjoyed my visit :D

[HeartFeltPlush]

Hi Sara,

I just loved your shop. I think you have beautiful items and your banner is simple and elegant.

One thing I suggest is a few more shop sections. I see you have 3 set up, but you have items that don't seem to fit into them. For instance, the wire wreath frames and mini tin buckets... maybe do a "supplies" section?

I think your pictures are fantastic. I especially love the action shots with the flowers, very nice! My only suggestion on the listings is maybe the order of the words for the title. I read on Etsy, that the first word will come up first in a search, and so on from there. So, for your birch tea light holders, you have the word "set" first. Maybe move birch to the front as people might be more likely to search for birch than set. The rest looks great though :D

Your about page is fantastic. I love the slide show! I always enjoy reading more about the artist behind the art :D and you have all your other sites linked, which is great.

Nice job on policies, and your listing descriptions are clear and informative.

I really don't see much that needs improving, looks like you've got everything set up nicely :D and I really enjoyed my visit.

[bareroses]

I just opened my shop and this is all new to me. I would appreciate if anyone could give me some feedback.

[Former_Member]

Hi Naomi

Thank you very much for your feedback. It is really helpful. I have re-taken some of the photos today and I am planning to work on my keywords and shop policies.

Have a great day!

[Former_Member]

First a thank you to Heather for jumping in as well. I hope more people will stop being shy and give some opinions ;)

I can fit in a critique so I'll pick the first that hasn't been done now which is teachersdesign.

I went to your profile first and checked your about. I think it has a tiny spelling mistake; bedworks. I think what you mean to say is bead works since I see that in your listings. Maybe put a lot more in the about part as well

Then most important of all; Your items look very well made, detailed and definitely the stuff people should be looking for on Etsy.

Next, I am not in any way trying to be harsh, but as detailed as your jewellery looks, your banner doesn't. It's very pixelated/low resolution. It would be better to get a really nice picture with a good camera and make that your banner. Maybe think about branding, like create a logo or something (I know pot speaking to kettle here.. But I have an excuse and will probably have a total rebrand coming this year, so since name change is only possible once I wait and stick to CodeP for a little longer). About that name change.. Sorry to say it but in your store name is a spelling mistake as well 'jewelery' should either be jewellery or jewellery. Maybe this is on purpose but maybe not...

You could fit your logo into your banner too. If you are very handy with beads and not with computer graphic programs, consider buying a banner from a fellow Etsy seller for example, or ask a graphic designer (like myself) if a custom order for a banner is possible if you like their work.

Your listing pictures look a lot clearer and crisper. Nice to show rulers for size as well. Only point of critique for me personally might be the different settings. I would personally be more attracted to a sort of 'house style'. That would mean to make your setup for the listings and pictures the same. It might be a personal preference (please other people give opinions ;)!) but to me it always looks a bit messy if pictures are all taken at different angles/different lighting, different backgrounds. But most importantly, your pictures are very clear to me and show the product well. You do however sometimes need all pictures, because the part in focus on one picture is different from the other picture. You could consider getting the whole picture clear instead of only a part.

I'll look at one separate listing now. The Moonstone bracelet.

Title; I'd make it Goldplated Moonstone bracelet and then use all the extra space for more descriptions. Or maybe even gold and white gold-plated moonstone bracelet. As many different words that add up to search terms as possible (look at my thread on SEO to see what I mean).

Description. First part be descriptive. This is the part used by search engines like google. Also maybe as much info as possible. tell me something about the lock part on it, or how it was crafted. Did you make it yourself? show it off. Maybe link to your policies, or type some important parts of your policies for example.

tags/keywords... keywords... keywords!!! There's 13 of them!!!! USE THEM ALL (I'm not really yelling at you here, just stressing the importance ;))
On this listing you use exactly 5. It has; jewelry, moonstone, gold, bracelet, and gold bracelet. I'd think of these; gold plated bracelet, moonstone bracelet, gold and white bracelet. gold plated moonstone, gold moonstone bracelet, gold rings bracelet, link bracelet, gold link bracelet, etc etc. I don't know what brass apparatus is but it sounds fancy, and if people who know about jewellery would search for that, include it..

I really hope this helps, and I am thankful I got to review your shop. Your items look very well made and all the above is just to let more people notice that :) I still have so many listings to update (I messed up on betsi the bulk editor only to not be able to login/get it to work afterwards... I now update about 3 items a day manually boohoo) I hate it, but I will do it because I see the difference.

Fore everyone;
Etsy just released a blogpost on SEO classes. https://blog.etsy.com/uk/2014/04/16/etsy-school-seo/
I guess I could post if anyone in this team is interested, but to be honest I think it might be better to find/join a local team in mother language etc. Plus I am currently travelling from place to place while the home is being improved and I will probably have no time to arrange and attend it all. But I also wish I would have time because it looks like a great opportunity.

Have a good night :)

[Former_Member]

ugh I have autocorrect.. Jewelery should be jewellery or jewelry.

now I'm off to get more shopstuff and team things done :)

night everyone

[Former_Member]

I would love for someone to please review my shop. Thanks a Million!

[Former_Member · Accepted solution]

A little something to add and make this easier for everyone.

***Please consider giving some feedback as well.

No matter how long or short you have been here, every opinion counts. At the moment there are hardly any people jumping in to give feedback (the ones who do are awesome at it Heather and Naomi wink wink) yet and I believe it might be because you're shy. We can only do this if we work together, and give back while we receive. If only 2 or 3 people give feedback some of us have to quit our Etsy store ;). I love giving feedback, but for a good in depth look at your store I might have to sit down for 30-60 minutes if I see a lot of items to discuss, and that's a lot of time for someone on a busy schedule (I love doing it don't get me wrong)

*** Please be patient.

I think it's best to not post a request if you see there's about 5 people still waiting for a response. Instead consider giving some feedback on the ones waiting, and checking the feedback already given for any additions/ different opinions. Then when things get more quiet on the request end of things, go ahead and put in your own.

These are not 'rules' but I'd consider them 'guidelines' to keep this even more enjoyable :)

[Former_Member]

Hello!
I wanted to say a little about shop critique. I have had a shop here on Etsy since 2008. But it wasn't until Jan or Feb that I started really working on my shop. I know very little about SEO. I am learning. Right now, I don't think it would be fair for me to give critiques on this thread. People asking for critiques (me included) are looking for advice from people who know about SEO and how to improve your shop. I seems like a lot of the people here are very new to Etsy. When I know more about SEO, tags, keywords,etc, I will feel more comfortable helping others. Right now I would feel terrible if I made comments that were incorrect. People new to Etsy need advice from someone who has been here a while and knows what it is all about. I asked for a critique because I can't afford to pay $100.00 (someone on Etsy is asking that much) to have someone look at my shop. I was so happy to find this thread and I hope that it is not too much trouble. Thanks!

[Mrlworks]

my shop is new and needs your feedbacks.