New Member

[AquillaDesign]

Hi everyone, great team you have here!

I'd be greatful if anyone would mind looking at some of my tags in my shop, I just never know if I could be doing more with them?

I average around 50 views per day but think I could be doing more to bost this?

Any feedback is welcome, thanks!

[UniquesAndOddities]

Welcome......

[Former_Member]

Aquilla Design from AquillaDesign
Changed from AqillaDesign on Oct 18, 2011
says
Hi everyone, great team you have here!

I'd be greatful if anyone would mind looking at some of my tags in my shop, I just never know if I could be doing more with them?
==================================
It becomes a source of fascination when as an member of the shopping venue of Etsy you become aware of the humongous number of varieties of products that are available.
This is a world wide shopping site full of interesting things.
And in this position, you get to see them.
What is the best tag is a common question. The common answer frankly is the same.
The one that best describes your product.
Why?
Because if the method used to describe your product is the absolute most logical one that can be thought of, then believe it!
Because has the highest probability of being the description used by some one who has never seen yours, but is aware of similar ones and the customer
the one with money in their hands to buy one with
is looking for one.
The difference though is as the originator of YOUR product you are interested in coming up with a search and then tagging things soYOUR search finds YOUR product. Which works for YOU.

Unfortunately, the probability exists that some one looking for A product is interested in generating a LIST of products that represent what THEY are looking for so THEY can choose ONE of them and this list is generated as a function of THEIR search.
Which also has a probability of being nothing like YOUR search.

And

If you are gaming your tags to be found with your search than the odds are you are no invisible to a large percentage of the potential customers.

What is gamming? Try compound tags that say more or less the same thing written in duplicity but describe more or less the same product with out taking into consideration that the advantage of a compound tag is that of an
EXACT MATCH of a search term.
Yes, EXACT MATCH.
because if an EXACT MATCH is not made, a partial match can and will drive the position on a list right into the toilet (synonyms: WC, backhouse, basement, bathroom, bedpan, bog, can, chamber, chamber pot, chemical closet, chemical toilet, closet, comfort station, commode, convenience, crapper, dressing, earth closet, facilities, facility, grooming, head, hopper, jerry, john, johnny, johnny house, jordan, latrine, lavatory, loo, making up, necessary, outhouse, piss pot, pot, potty-chair, potty, powder room, privy, rest room, stool, throne, thunder mug, toilet room, toilette, urinal, washroom, water closet )
Is there a point to the above?
Yes, but in many cases the point is lost, and it is evident that it is lost when gaming takes place.
Why?
Because the purpose of tags has become lost. And what are they?
On a site that uses tags as part of the Search Field used by a search engine it is the tags that describe your product and when you limit that description to a variation of the same things assuming I guess that every one uses the same search which is a falsehood, then you product becomes invisible to those who know that product by a synonym, colloquialism, or by a different word from a different language or a spelling variation.
And you only have a limited number of spaces to be visible to be found with by some one looking.
So take a look at these two listings.
A product that caught me by surprise. What a clever idea. That some one thought it was marketable and actually made them.
NOW
They have to be found.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/82818539/custom-vinyl-record-plastic-placemat
http://www.etsy.com/listing/82901640/record-sleeve-table-mat

They are pretty much the same thing and that is just fine.
Tags, replace the description on this site and that is perfectly fine.
And most people actually write a wonderful description and that actually is amazing!
And then forget about it when it comes to Tags and Titles.
And that is just stupid because it is the description that describes what it is that is for sale and the title should do that too and the Tags are searched.
So quickly on a title.
I shop for womens Jewelry a lot. I like women, I live with one and I have daughters and friends. And I am really good at selecting jewelry that is both pretty and affordable.
So
Earrings:
Titled
a Midnight Delight
Is not my idea of a Delight at Midnight.

On to tags.
The Description of the above two products is delightful. And almost the same for both products. And it should be. Both products are something I would call a table placemat. The item placed under a table settings the things are placed on so sloppy eaters will not spill food on the table or table cloth and damage something.

A practical and decorative fixture to have in your home.
Now place your self in the position of a potential customer. This shop is somewhere in the UK, I am near Phoenix AZ and some one reading this could be some where in a whole different area a days worth of hours away.

Tags need to describe what is for sale and should represent again,

synonym, colloquialism, or by a different word from a different language or a spelling variation.

So for an exercise lets actually look for products such as these by using terms in the description for them and see what kind of list actually comes up:
Placemats
http://www.etsy.com/search/handmade?search_submit=&q=Place+mats&view_type=list
about 1700 of them,

A convenience, water proof place mats
http://www.etsy.com/search/handmade?search_submit=&q=Waterproof+Place+mats&view_type=list
4 of them.

A theme, musical place mats
http://www.etsy.com/search/handmade?search_submit=&q=Musical+Place+mats&view_type=list
1 of them.

How about place mats as one word?
placemats
http://www.etsy.com/search/handmade?search_submit=&q=Placemats&view_type=list
Some 8000+, my bad, I looked for them wrong but is the alternative term a tag? If not, you just got lost.

Musical Placemats
http://www.etsy.com/search/handmade?search_submit=&q=Placemats&view_type=list
5 of them this time.

Dinner placemats?
http://www.etsy.com/search/handmade?search_submit=&q=Dinner++Placemats&view_type=list
some 450 or so.

How about Table Mat also used in the description.
http://www.etsy.com/search/handmade?q=Table+Mat&view_type=list
some 3000 plus

Now lets try one of the tags that is written a number of ways in conjunction with another word and see how it fares?

This one, not included in the description and does not describe the product in any way manner or form, but is a tag.

Upcycled Kitchen
http://www.etsy.com/search/handmade?search_submit=&q=upcycled+kitchen&view_type=list
Some 5000 or so items that on page one seem to have little or no bearing to anything I am looking for so as far as I am concerned, a waste of my time. Thus also a waste of a good tag.
Or at least the space that represents a good tag and on these two listings frankly a lot of lost space.

The purpose of tags is to describe the product so a search used by some one looking for a list of like products can find them.
And an upcycled kitchen is not on my list of things to look for when I am looking for a placemat nor is it a synonym of one.

A thesaurus is a handy tool to create a listing with.
You asked for feedback, this is mine. I hope it was helpful!

[AquillaDesign]

Wow, very thorough and very insightful, it has really given me thought to adjust and tweak my listings.

Thank you very much!

[Former_Member]

O.k., aquilla, thanks for the comment and i'll pick on you again for the moment only because you sort of asked and I needed something to do to test out the new scrolling search prototype program.
So I looked into your shop and saw the term
ART
in your shop sections and wondering what you meant by ART I klicked on it and saw the following collage:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/80993086/handmade-digital-mixed-media-digital
Aptly titled as a;
Handmade Digital Mixed Media Digital Print
Which is exactly what it is and even though I do not make it a point to either browse looking at things or to even be familiar with the terms used for this product line I knew enough to know that the title is exactly right
IF
you are describing what it is
rather than what it is of!

I then read the description:
Which again was very good. It described what it was made of technically and also that it represented an emotional attachment to your life and family and whether everyone agrees that is good or not in many cases that is what a creation is, a representation of the artist whom ever it is or why. It does not have to be a print or a picture it good be a sculpture or a 3D collage or just a shape. The story was nice to read.

But, and there still is a but.
your request for assistance was in listing this item for sale and the use of the tags.
Implied in that request is the assumption that you want to sell this to some one that does not have that same attachment you have, but if any, it is there own or it is just a piece of Wall Art that the intention is for decoration. Said crudely, eye candy.
Thus what this is has still not be define.
What is it? A multi-dimensional collage of a small child in black and white? Or sepia tones?
I dunno, it is yours! I am guessing.
so I look at the tags, the words that are meant to describe this product so the search engine can find it.
Remember that, it is important.
And I see the following words.

Art Print, Digital, Mixed Media,
To here it is an accurate description of the product as close as I can tell.
Art, Print, Digital,
These three words are a duplication of the first 3 and at face value are not really needed so could be used for something else that describes the product.
Graffiti, Handmade, Beigi, WHite, Wall Hanging, Gift, History, Industrial, Vintage
With the exception of the tag Wall Hangine, none of these have anything to do with the product as described.
For example, if these actually described the product, then one could formulate a search request and find it as such and have it make sense.

For example, here is a perfectly legitimate search for products based on your tags that you have indicated describe your product under this listing.
http://www.etsy.com/search/handmade?search_submit=&q=Art+Industrial+Graffiti+&view_type=list
The objective of a search to a potential customer is to develop a list of similar products in a manageable sized grouping so a selection of one for purchase can be made.
Do you disagree with this?
If you don’t, do you really want your product, the one in this listing actually be included in the group that comes up as similar products when you search for it using these terms?

If you do, then that is what you get.
No problem
but if this group of products which includes yours does not fit the atmosphere that your product presents, you need to describe what it is along with what it represents and what the consistency of the materials are.
The tags you used, do not represent the product as listed.
And that is the intent of the tags.
Listing something for sale is probably orders of magnitude harder than creating it. And creating things is the beauty of being able to do so.
It is important to approach the listing with the same sense of creation achieved by the making of things and some times that is easier said than done.
I think you need to describe what the subject matter is so people looking for a wall art product while trying to describe what they would like to see, rather than browsing and stumbling on it can find it. And the tags need to reflect that description.
You write a beautiful description, a flowing verbal picture. That is what is needed to make the next step. To list what it is that you have created so others can find it.
Relevant, a word used far to often when it should not be used, needs to be replaced by the word
findable
because that is what a listing should be.

Now a technical comment.
Created on A3 paper.
I happen to know what that is. I spent half of my working career working in the printing industry where A3 paper was not common, here in the U.S. but the industry was aware of it.
You do have your products listed for the UK and I have not looked to see if they are available elsewhere but I can see them here in Arizona in the S.W. section of the U.S..
So I can assume others can to and most people here have no idea what A3 paper is.

http://www.simetric.co.uk/si_paper.htm
or
http://www.metroimaging.co.uk/technicalhelp/papersizechart.asp
will help.

By the way, what is Beigi?