Tips to growing your business

[Former_Member]

If you've got a tip or need a tip to help grow your business look no further! Post your ideas!
What has worked for you?
What hasn't worked for you?

[Former_Member]

Before anyone gets started take a minute and set up google analytics if you haven't already. Here's how:
1. The first step requires you to have a Google account. You will need to set one up if you don’t have one before you set up your Analytics account. Go to
www.Google.com/Analytics and sign in using your Google account information. After you sign in, you will click the grey “Sign Up” button located on the lower
left hand corner of the screen.

2. On the next screen, in the “Website’s URL” field, enter “www.etsy.com” without the apostrophes. In the “Account Name” field, enter your shop name to direct tracking for your shop. Do NOT put “www” before your shop name. Example: yourshop.etsy.com

3. The next few pages require additional information from you and includes the Google Analytics Terms of Service page to which you must agree to set up your account. Note: You do not have to give Google your telephone number if you don’t want to! Click “Continue” after you sign your life away and agree to their terms. The next page contains some HTML tracking code. You don’t need to do anything on this page. Click “Finish”.

4. Your account is now setup and it should direct you to your Analytics “Overview” page. In the middle of the page, you will find your UA number(also labeled as “Web Property ID”). It looks like UA-XXXXXXX-X (with numbers in place of the Xs). Highlight this number and copy it.

5. Log in to your Etsy account. Select: My Etsy
Shop Settings
Options

Web Analytics

6. Paste the UA number you copied from your Analytics Overview page into the box entitled “Step 2: Enter Tracking ID” on this page and click “Save Changes.”

7. That’s it. If you did everything correctly, you will see a message on your Etsy Web Analytics page that says “You’re all set.” It will take 24 hours before it goes into effect and your traffic data will be updated every day afterwards.

[Former_Member]

This is going to help you find out how people are finding you.
Where
how many times a day
how long they're on your site
what words they are finding you by

[Former_Member]

Thanks very much for the tip! Just set mine up :)

[Former_Member]

Thanks so much for this. I hope it helps!

[Former_Member]

Tip for Thursday: there are always ways to tweak your shop. Are your photos crisp, clear and interesting? Have you used all 5 slots to showcase your work? Remember that your customers cannot hold the object you are selling until they buy it so show them all the wonderful angles and get close up on detail. If it's wearable show it worn on someone or draped over something spiffy. How big is it? Is it at big as a quarter? Put it next to one!

[Former_Member]

This is great I will definitely be trying these tips. I have already edited many photos and am trying to get them just right. I have found that using 'some' props have helped make the pictures more appealing, but I try not to distract from the main item. Thanks for the tips!

[Former_Member]

I am wondering how people get 200+ views on their items, is it from being around for a while or is it from renewing a lot or something else?

[Former_Member]

I agree with TealBoutique .. how do you get so many views? I don't mean to toot my own horn but I don't think my photos are THAT bad. Or maybe they are? Eeeeeek!

[Former_Member]

thank for the tips, It is great

[Former_Member]

renewing will do that Teal

[Former_Member]

I love my google analytics but hate that I only get about 20 new visitors a day. Low traffic is resulting in low sales. I am amazed to see some shops have hundreds of views on a single item. How can I increase traffic and promote to my target audience too? Help!

[Former_Member]

As for building a target audience I ran across this last night.

How to Build Your Twitter Tribe
www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-build-your-twitter-tribe/

[Former_Member]

Todays tip!

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - the process of increasing the number and quality of people who visit your site through search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.)

Etsy uses the shop title section as the page title that the search engines see when they index your site. Think of the title as the highest level tag(s) for you shop that search engines use to classify what is actually in your shop. This is the most heavily weighted component of your site by the search engines, so you need to make sure the title is an accurate description of your shop, but also includes the keywords you want to use. The shop title is also what the search engines will display when your shop is listed in any search results. Make sure you have the Shop Title field filled in for your site! If not, you’re missing an opportunity to improve your page rankings.

[Former_Member]

Thanks Ravy17! These tips/articles are really great. You're helping me out tremendously!

[Former_Member]

That's what we're here for! :D

[Former_Member]

Today's Tip!

Shop Announcement!

The beginning of the Announcements will be included in the search
engine search results as the short description of your site, so we need to look at that here. The first couple of sentences will be considered your site description by the search engines and thus could influence your rankings. It will definitely be seen under the shop title in the search results and may influence whether people click on the link to visit your shop. Include a brief description of your shop and products in the first couple of sentences of the Announcements and try to include the keywords you have selected for your site. Compose it keeping in mind that people will decide whether or not to visit your site based on these 1 or 2 sentences.

{{{{Don’t waste your limited space by starting out with “Hello and welcome to my wonderful Etsy shop!” because that will be just about all anyone will end}}} up seeing in the search results and they’ll have no idea what you actually do. The odds they’ll click on your link will be very slim. You only get around 150 characters at the beginning of your shop announcement, the bracketed length above, which will show up on Google so use that first sentence or two carefully in describing your shop.

[Former_Member]

Hey, I'm trying to find out how everybody is promoting their etsy shops, so I thought it would be a good idea to start a threat talking about it. Here's a marketing idea to start out with:
Twitter.com/#!/frugal_fashions will tweet about a designer or artisan for $0.99 per tweet. It actually got my etsy shop more views than the $7.00 etsy showcase that I paid for, so it worked pretty well for me. If you guys are interested, their email address is myfrugalfashions@gmail.com)

Any other ideas?

[Former_Member]

I definitely wouldn't waste money on the etsy promotion it's not worth it I've done it 3 times and I really hadn't seen that much increased activity. That group seems to have a lot of followers so it might be a decent investment. If you're planning on trying it let us know how that goes.

[Former_Member]

I did it for my Bridal Something Blue Necklace http://www.etsy.com/listing/67005432/bridal-something-blue-necklace and I got about 30 hits the day that frugal_fashions tweeted about me (Before that I had only gotten 10 over 2 months so I think it was all because of frugal_fashions) You're right about the Etsy showcase; I did that for my earrings and only got about 20 hits, total ripoff for $7.00. I think this is a good one to try because it's only $0.99 so even if it doesn't work, it's not like you're losing a lot of money. I didn't make any sales, but I did triple my views for that necklace, so it was worth it to me.

[Former_Member]

I have been trying to get my first sales but to no avail.. now i know why.. I still think that my creations are great ..only lack of certain technical approach...Thanks for the tips ..I will try it soon..

[Former_Member]

yay! thank you!

[Former_Member]

hi everyone i have already signed up for googles analytics..thanks for the guidance

[Former_Member]

So lately I've been discovering the technique of renewing items. I get busy a lot of the time and can't put a new item up every day, so on days when i don't list anything new I've been renewing a couple items once int he morning and once at night. in the past 2 days my views per day have more than doubled... No sales yet but I've had a lot of hearts and have been posted in 3 treasuries. That's some good publicity. So if you have a low amount of items try renewing, you'll be on the front pages of the tags you've selected making it so potential customers find you twice as easy.

[Former_Member]

Thank you for the tips . I will try that..