Recycle? Upcycle? Refashion? Repurpose?

[Former_Member]

Hi fellow upcyclers!

I was curious of what you guys think about the different terminologies used to describe the same thing. When I tag my bags, I don't know whether to put "recycle", "upcycle", "refashion" "repurpose"??? I have recently taken out "recycle" because by definition that's not what I'm doing and I can tag another word that describes my bags better but am wondering what potential customers search for. Do they look up "recycled bags" or "refashioned bags"??

What do you guys tag on your products?? Do you feel like one is better than the other?

Thanks!

Akiko

[Former_Member]

I think people are more likely to search the word recycled than refashioned. Even if your item does not meet the specific definition, it still might make sense to a customer. It seems like lately we throw the word recycle around to mean many different things, and I allow for that too in my listings. Just explain what you do to make your bags, and I doubt anyone would complain of being mislead.

Maybe the best answer for this is using both tags.

[Former_Member]

I am never sure what to do about this either. I usually include a couple different terms in my tags. Then I vary my listings... for example if I put up a couple different pairs of barrettes, I might list one as Recycled Magazine Barrette, another as Upcycled Magazine Barrette... etc.
Not sure if that's right but that way I can figure out which tags/terms drive the most traffic.
Now if only I could make a sale- then I'd be a happy camper!

[Former_Member]

i try to vary it as well...i think some people might not search for "upcycled", but if i use one in the title i usually add the others in my tags.

you'll break the sales barrier dandelion...it took me MONTHS to get my first sale, and over a year to actually quit the day job!

[Former_Member]

I use upcycled, more often than not.

[Former_Member]

Hi, I'm new here. Looking forward to meeting some of you!

I recently found a way to check how many times Google searches for a certain word. I had the same question as you all do...I found that 'recycled' was searched for hundreds of thousands of times, while 'repurposed' and 'upcycled' were searched for under 2000 times. I'll try to find the link to the page so you can try different words or phrases yourselves.

So I use 'recycled' even though 'repurposed' or 'upcycled' would be a better description of my items.

[Former_Member]

Here it is!

https://adwords.google.com/o/Targeting/Explorer?__u=1000000000&__c=1000000000&ideaRequestType=KEYWOR...

It's actually pretty interesting. Enjoy!

[TheSalvagedEdge]

Another word to think about is salvaged. It seems to fit better with what we do and there are a good amount of people searching it.

[LoveTheWissahickon]

What a lot of good ideas!

[Former_Member]

Wow, thank you for all of your responses!! This is very helpful! I will go back and add "recycled" to my tag. Yeah, I agree that "recycled" is more used than "upcycled" or "refashioned".

Thanks again!! :)

Akiko

[Former_Member]

I think recycled is more "searchable" than other words, I personally use recycled and upcycled.

[maydaylabels]

Very helpful, thanks.
I think I'll add recycled as well.

[Former_Member]

I forgot to add, some people tag their items "trashion" but I'm not sure if that works.
I'm trying to imagine myself searching for trash; although I do since I use it to create. I'm just saying (roll eyes and smile).

[Former_Member]

I like the idea of getting the word "upcycle" out there whenever I can though--it's one of the reasons I joined this team! It says 'I'm not only RE-using or RE-cycling, I'm actually taking materials not necessarily associated with art and elevating them, turning them into art.'

[Former_Member]

I agree with jhrcorrea! Upcycling is not just reusing or recycling, it's elevating and adding value and hopefully removing things from the cycle (at least for a while). I use "upcycle" to help increase its usage and "recycle" because that's what people use more in searches.

[TheGreenCoyote]

I think it would depend on what you're selling. The more specific your tag is, the more likely it will be searched by someone looking for that item. In other words, if you put 'recycled' as your tag, and someone does a search for a '1965 recycled Brunswick Pool Table', your item will eventually come up, along with the thousands of other recycled items. But if you were to ad 'recycled pool table' it would be hit much less, but the odds of making a sale would be greater. So I think its better to be more specific and be searched less, because it's more likely to generate a sale....

[VerdantViolet]

I've read that the amount of competition for a search term is more important than the number of searches - so it's possible that if you use
"upcycle" you'll get more hits because fewer websites use that keyword, i.e. less comptition, so you may end up higher in the search results. The adwords site linked to in a previous post lets you sort by competition.

[Former_Member]

The problem with the word upcycle is that not everyone know what it means or even heard of. I list both upcycled and recycled when I can.

[Former_Member]

I use repurpose, recycle, and upcycle. I also use revamped, but that's because it's my shop name. :) I try to use different ones in different listings. I feel that if I can people to my shop based on one of my listings, hopefully they'll stop and look around!

[Former_Member]

I was just wondering if instead of calling or tagging the items with words such as:

-eco-friendly
-reconstructed
-recovered
-recycled
-refashion
-regenerated
-remake
-remodel
-repurposed
-reuse
-revamped
-salvaged
-trashion
-upcycled

and I can go on and on we can just simply call them CREATIVE TRANSFORMATIONS. I like that ;D

[TheSalvagedEdge]

I love the idea of creative transformations! I don't know how well it searches, but it sounds much more elegant! :)

[Former_Member]

This whole thread is like a thesaurus lesson, lol! :)

[Former_Member]

Maybe that's a name for my first treasury; what y'all think?
I work on it this weekend since I'm still looking at at the shops here.

[Former_Member]

All great tips!! I'll be reviewing my tags now thank you.

[Former_Member]

definitely doing another review of my tags.
Thanks for the ideas.