New Shop, could really use some help

[JMSjewelryandgifts]

So I have a jewelry shop I just opened Friday night. At the urging of people over the years who love my jewelry I decided to open a little shop, focusing on gemstones. Specifically rarer materials not commonly found on Etsy (like tektite, flower agate, rhodonite, etc) rather than the big ones like amethyst, carnelian, etc which seem to me likely to get lost in the listings. I am well aware that I need another 100 photos.

That being said, I am already aware of some issues: 1) no banner. I dear friend of mine is illustrating one for me, so I should have it by next week. 2) photos - the windows in my house are not facing the sun, so it's hard to get natural light. I did by a light box, but the background ends up dim even if my pieces look good. I do have photoshop, but any tips for editing my photos would be appreciated.

I'm also hoping for some advice regarding tags and getting into listings. As I mentioned I want to focus on rarer materials, which means they don't get searched as often if searched by material. Any help on creating tags in which they can get more views would be extremely helpful. Also, if you think I should abandon the rarer stone idea and just go with what's popular, I'm amenable to that.

Thanks in advance for any tips and critiques.

[AliciasFindings]

Real cute items!
Here are my tips:

Titles- make it so the first 3-5 words are those that most describe item. You don't need to mention artist made,everything on etsy is handmade at one time or another.

Tags - watch out for repeating ones. use phrases instead of one word.

Descriptions are good,but sell me on why I need this item!

Shipping policies are good but here is a helpful link:
http://www.handmadeology.com/how-to-write-etsy-shop-policies-tell-your-customers-what-to-expect-from...

Oh and the comment about scammers I would ditch...it sounded kinda bitchy,even if it is true. :) LOL!

Good Luck!

[Former_Member]

Hi Jen!

Beautiful jewelery -- I like your unique designs, quality material and originality. My favorite is the chicken feet freshwater pearls. How neat!

The thing that struck me was the jewelery isn't consistently lit or displayed. I think I'd be more attracted to the jewelery if it did have a consistent display (i personally like white backgrounds so your jewelery pops. Maybe even have a few photos scattered with a model, so I could see how it looked on someone.

Additionally, I also noticed that all of your tags weren't used. I'd be sure to add all 13 tags, and put organic in there. Some people look for "organic jewelry."

Otherwise, I think you have a really solid start! Best of luck in your jewelry endeavors.

Best,
Mary

[DreameryGifts]

Hi Jen,

You have some good stuff there. But first thing I noticed was some of the jewelries are being cut out from the thumbnail pictures. I can see that some of your pictures are in the landscape orientation and some are portrait. The portrait ones will have some part cut out.
For keywords and tags, you can use the search bar on top to look for ideas. Type in a keyword you want to use first and it will automatically list out other popular ones. Or I also the Google Adword planner
https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner
It gives you lots of good suggestions on related keywords and tells you search rate of each keyword. Very useful.

I'm new on Etsy too and I totally understand how you feel right now. Keep on reading related SEO articles and keep on working on your site and I'm sure you will do fine.

Best of luck!

[JMSjewelryandgifts]

Hi all,

Thanks for your comments. I'm definitely planning on retaking all photos this weekend to put everything on the same background, and rework the titles and keywords.

The organic jewelry is a good idea - hadn't thought of that. Many of my pieces are made of "organic" components so this is descriptive.

Jen

[theVexedMuddler]

Hi Jen,

I also use a lightbox, but still find I need to tweak my photos in Photoshop. I usually find that most issues can be ironed out with two adjustments:
First, I tweak the exposure (Image > Adjustments > Exposure). Be careful not to overdo this, or you'll end up with "blown" or overexposed images and lose detail.
Second, I remove any colour cast by adjusting the colour balance (Image > Adjustments > Color Balance). Usually I end up having to tweak this setting for both the mid-range tones and the highlights.