What am I doing wrong?

[Former_Member]

I am really struggling to stay optimistic about my shop. I work so hard on it every day, and have only had 1 sale a month ago.

Is it my items? Is it my titles, or tags?

I am very confident in my talent with graphic design, but possibly it's just me that sees the talent, haha?

I have tried paid promoting, and get a few clicks here and there. I promote on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram.

Any advice? You can be as brutally honest as needed.

[ChinaGalore]

HI ...i looked at your shop and was impressed with your story....

When you open the items, they are beautiful..but I think I would switch to strong background colors on the photos....to bring out a strong contrast....

the words on the items are lost until I open them..

just my take...lovely work

[Former_Member]

Thank you for your kind words, and suggestions. I will continue working until I find the groove :^)

It's a rough road starting here on Etsy.

[CoronaConceptsCo]

Hey!

I just started on Etsy too and it is not easy. In my honest opinion, I think your issues may stem from selling items that are really good ideas, that people probably do not know to look on Etsy for. Have you reached out to others selling similar items? They may lift their nose up to competition, but they may offer incite.

I worked as a caterer in college and I can easily see some of our wedding/party planners promoting your products. Everyone wants there weddings and parties to be special and unique to the people hosting. Reach out to local caterers and start a conversation. You never know.. it may turn into something great.

Good luck and hang in there!

Ben

[Former_Member]

Ben,

I have read a lot of people getting exposure from blogs? Are you familiar or have experience with this, and how to go about it? How would I go about getting promoted from planners?

Ray

[CoronaConceptsCo]

I really do not know too much about the blog side of things. I would just take a few samples to some wedding caterers and explain who you are and what you do and the service you could provide. You're product and presentation both seem really nice, its just making it reach the intended audience.

[MoonstruckVintageXO]

Hi there! I saw your post and totally understand your frustration. Growing your business on Etsy can be a slow road, and sometimes it just takes awhile to click! You have great work and I love your style. I am still learning, but here are some tips I have learned along the way.

1. Try to have a minimum of 50 items in your shop. Some people say there is a magic number where they suddenly start getting sales. Most advise to have at least 50 items.

2. Investigate and join a few Etsy teams that focus on what you sell or have a lot of members. Be active on these teams to help get your items in front of people and to get support and wisdom on how to improve your sales for your specific product.

3. Experiment with tags. Tags are so confusing to me still. There is a lot of information out there regarding how to tag and how to improve your tags and SEO, but how you tag definitely makes a difference. For example I clicked on one of of your bottle wraps, but didn't see water bottle in the the tags, this small change could make a difference when people are searching for you. Also for treasury promotion teams, tag your items with the team name so they will pick up your item to be included in treasuries and including the color of your items will help people and treasury makers find you. (you may already be doing this, just took a quick peek at one listing!)

4. Read, read, read. There is a ton of info out there on how to be successful on Etsy. I like this one... lots of great info! http://www.handmadeology.com/10-real-tips-for-successfully-selling-on-etsy/
I have also picked up a few books. It all helps.

Stay positive! :) take care! Kristen

[Former_Member]

Kristen,

Thank you so so much for taking the time to help! I will definitely reevaluate my tags, and try and find some teams to join to help promote. I will also work on hitting the 50 items mark today. Thank you for the link, I am a research guru.

It's time to get designing :^)

[MoonstruckVintageXO]

You are very welcome - wishing you lots of success! Kristen

[Former_Member]

Kristen,

I wish I had success too. But tags, and the relationship with titles are killing me. I don't show up in search results, unless way way back in the pages. I would be getting sales, but no one sees my work. What am I doing wrong with my titles and tags??

[MoonstruckVintageXO]

I sure wish I had a better handle on it myself to give you advice. It is very complicated and there are actually entire Etsy teams dedicated to the subject. My guess is there is a lot of competition for your product.

Try to think like a buyer and include phrases that they would use to search as you tag or title. For example if I were looking for a baby shower invite I probably wouldn't put in Baby-Q, even though it is adorable. Try Barbeque in the tag. Look at your stats and see what keywords are pulling people to you. Experiment with different tags and see what works. You can also look at the tags and titles of your competition to see what you might try differently. Sometimes less is more in titles. Honestly, I am still pretty unsure on all of this myself, just bits and pieces I have gleaned over the past year. There are lots of articles out there on the topic, which can help. You can also try to promote yourself and your shop through social media to help drive more traffic to your site. It's all a process and it definitely takes time.

[Former_Member]

Hi! Your stuff is really cute! Here's my 2 cents, I'm by no means an expert, but between feedback from others on my shop and my perspective as a customer...

Tags- most confusing part of etsy! The feedback I've gotten (and it has helped) multi word tags. So rather than "printable" and "invitations" do "printable invitations". You want the actual phrases that people are likely to search for. You are limited by the amount of characters, but I would try more phrases.

As a buyer, I don't know if I would want to buy the image and find some place else to print it. It's not a bad idea by any means, it would certainly be a custom yet not outrageously priced way to go. Maybe offer an option to mail them printed as well? Or maybe market it to diy'ers?

Lastly, as your stuff is so cute, do you do logos at all? I'm terrible at the graphic design stuff and every company that I've looked at for logo designing is ridiculous! I can't be the only one on etsy looking to have my logo spruced up. :)

[Former_Member]

Melissa,

I'm not sure why I am just getting the alert for your response? Thank you so much for your kind words! I have added a couple options now for printing. I also actually do design logos :^)

Ray

[VintageRedoux]

I looked at your shop...it's really very nice and very well organized. Believe me, it takes about a year for your shop to take off, you'll be fine!
Good luck!
Shanna

[thechillydog]

I'm a craft blogger and try to feature different artists about once a month. You can find me at http://www.thechillydog.com.

I love when I can feature other AZ folks from Etsy, so e-mail or convo any time and I can send you some basic interview questions.

[Former_Member]

Try Pinterest too, I have many friends that are getting married and that's practically all they pin is wedding related stuff until the big day arrives. I really don't recommend starting a business profile unless you don't have a prefile at all. I had a personal one and a business one and didn't get many followers on my business profile so I just changed my name to my shop name on my personal since I have about 130 followers and growing. Now it brings some traffic from there, it may not be sales but it's still views.

[ElephantBeads]

Ray - Once you've mastered your shop's photos and the basics (which it looks like you have), the most important thing (for Etsy sales) is to actually show up in the search results. I have started in the past few months to use Etsy's "Promote" (ads) tool. I have learned a LOT about which of my shop items get seen in searches (impressions) and which, of those, get actual views (clicks). You pay only when you get a click. If you spend some time analyzing your traffic, you'll learn things - not everything you need to know, but it sheds a little light. In two months, I have seen revenue that is double what I've spent on the ads, so I'm satisfied with it.

A couple of tips if you choose to try it: Set your daily budget higher than your gut is happy with. If you set it low, your ads will stop running early in the day, and traffic in the afternoon/evening tends to be higher. Also, you only have to pay when you get clicks - and I've found that my $5/day budget never gets spent. I average around $1.20 per day.

[Former_Member]

I like your products and think you should be more successful by now. I am also struggling to make sales on Etsy but do very well in person at local venues. I think getting out there and showing your work at bridal shows and meeting with Party planners would be helpful.