June 25, 2009 at 5:25 pm (ETSY 101: Promoting Your Shop)
Tags: etsy, ETSY GOOGLE ISSUES, ETSY SEO, handmade jewelry, LOW SALES ON ETSY, LOW VIEWS ON ETSY, NaturalAmber, PROMOTING ON ETSY
The talk of June on ETSY has been SEO, how shops are being affected in the ranks on google. One of the hot threads on the forums is:
Concerning Shop Metal Titles, Stella Said….SEO Issues Still a Problem
So where do you stand with this SEO fiasco, has it really affected you or is there a bigger picture outside of SEO? I personally think there is a combination of many things that are affecting the lack of sales, lack of views, and lack of Google hits. I know for myself, my google traffic was never that huge. Right now I think we are all experiencing:
* SEO issues.Google must be getting confused and the spiders aren’t updating fast enough. Give it a week, maybe the dust will settle.
* Vacation and Summertime. No control over this, you will have to find new ways to promote to those who are in front of their computer or going shopping. Local advertising may be a great venue to look into during this time. Reach those customers. Pin up some business cards. Invest in postcard mailings. Like that local boutique down the road? Pitch to them.
* Your Shop Needs Improvement. Use this time to take better pictures, make your shop more SEO friendly. Change your titles. Add a new line.
This is a great website to grade your website. It gives you an overall feeling for what Google sees, your Meta Information, and things you can improve:
Website Grader
Summer is realistically a slower time in retail. March – July tend to be slow with things kicking back once the kids start Back to School Shopping. Just remember on ETSY we are given a shopping cart and a virtual store, we need to bring the customers.
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June 17, 2009 at 10:55 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: Artfire, Artfire vd ETSY, etsy, HANDMADE, handmade jewelry, NaturalAmber, promoting your jewelry, selling handmade
Everyone who loves handmade has heard of ETSY, and many artists sell on their everyday, but with the increasing amount of sellers on the handmade site artists are looking to branch to other venues, one of these particular ones is Artfire. Today I took the plunge and finally opened my shop on Artfire, NaturalAmberDesigns. I have no intentions in replacing my ETSY shop NaturalAmber but I am looking to not keep all my eggs in one basket. The Google SEO is having some issues on ETSY, there are increasing amount of sellers on a daily basis, and the jewelry section is just tremendous. Being in such a saturated category makes me feel like a needle in the haystack, but I will never leave ETSY. Within my short observation of Artfire, this is what I have concluded between the two:
* Artfire is quick to setup, and has a wonderful virtual studio for your shop. There is definitely nothing wrong with the shop that ETSY provides but I do love being able to have 10 pictures, custom background colors, endless amount of tags, and not onlya description space but a space on what inspired me to make the piece.
* Right now ETSY gets more views, but the jury is really still out on that. For being a new handmade site, just beginning in October 2008 you really can’t expect the same amount of traffic. The site is wonderful though and I can imagine it booming in the near future.
* Artfire automatically puts your items in Google Base. No more Letsets tool (except for you ETSY shop).
* There are so many promotional tools on Artfire to market your items, you can list them in Kaboodle, Tweet about them on Twitter, and so much more. They have over 30 widgets to choose from!
* ETSY forums look pretty and are more cleaner looking, but Artfire’s seem more friendly and admin more responsive in helping sort out issues.
Those are the main difference I see right now, but as I said this is just my first day. I will post more in the months to come about my experience with Artfire. Unlike 1000markets and Shophandmade, I think this place is really going to grow! The jury is still out on Artfire, but as I said I think I see promising results in the horizon for Artfire sellers.
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June 12, 2009 at 8:21 pm (etsy basics)
Tags: etsy, etsy 101, etsy forums, ETSY Jewelry, HANDMADE, handmade jewelry, NaturalAmber, successful etsy seller
The forum on ETSY is a wonderful way to get to know other sellers, a great place to get information that can help you sale and get information to improve your shop, and a great way to get encouragement when you are feeling discouraged about your little store, but lately and more often I have been noticing a trend of forum posts about low views, no sales, and calling out. Many of these threads seem to be more on the negative side then the positive. I think it’s wonderful to discuss things that are affecting your shop, but we always have to remember that there are buyers on the forums (many sellers buy too) and often time a discouraging and negative post could keep from someone clicking your avatar and seeing all the wonderful and pretty handmade and vintage you have inside.
Please Don’t:
* Call Out
* Gripe and Complain because others are successful and you are not
* Whine because you have no sales, no views
* Bring other members down
* Participate in hate threads
Please Do:
* Ask for Critiques to improve your views and sales
* Participate in the Thinking Positive Threads
* Compliment People in the Thread
* Start a Positive thread of your own
Positive people draw friends, customer, alliances, and most of all their shops get more love. I have been participating in positive threads this last month in the forums and I have noticed a 457% increase on Google Analytics from the previous 30 days which I personally think is Karma is saying “Thank you for keeping positive!”
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June 11, 2009 at 4:53 pm (ETSY 101: Promoting Your Shop)
Tags: beaded jewelry, etsy, etsy 101, ETSY help, ETSY Jewelry, marketing, NaturalAmber, promoting, Tagging
Dainty Turquoise Earrings
Everyone wants to be seen on ETSY, and good tags and good pictures are what gets people coming into your shop and browsing around. There is definitely an art behind coming up with creative tags, but relevant tags. So when it comes to tagging you have to be creative, you have to think like a buyer, and you have to describe your items in the following ways:
* Color (and not just the basic colors, how about rogue for red, or aqua for blue, plum for puple)
* Size (small, medium, large, x-large, X inches, X cm)
* Material (the main materials, if you have a hit of silver I wouldn’t add it to your tags, I would to the first list under materials on the front page)
* What Is It?
* Commercial, Handmade, Supplies
* Shape
* Mood (elegant, beautiful, classy)
Tagging is essential to being seen on ETSY, and because of that I wanted to compile a list of great sites I like to use for great tips and adjectives for ETSY Tags!
For a great list of synonyms, and treasury help:
http://etsytreasuryteam.blogspot.com/2009/03/tagging-for-maximum-exposure-in-etsy.html
Great ETSY Storque Articles:
http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/guidelines-tips-tagging-on-etsy-281/
http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/seller-how-to-international-tagging-yeah-baby-2011/
http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/shop-makeover-series-tagging-for-success-877/
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June 2, 2009 at 5:27 pm (Simple Ways To Promote Your ETSY Shop)
Tags: etsy, etsy 101, ETSY Jewelry, etsy mini, NaturalAmber, promoting, promotion, selling on etsy
Are you using your ETSY Mini to showcase items from your ETSY shop? If not why aren’t you? The mini that ETSY provides sellers is a wonderful way to attract people to your shop, whether you post it on your social networking site or use it on your blog. What can it do for you?
* bring new customers in
* build a visual portfolio to convince people to see what you have to offer
* great and easy way to point to potential wholesale and retail clients a quick glance at what you have to offer
* a great way to glance at your own shop and see how your pictures stack up!
Promotion is the key to attracting new clients and customers, and the ETSY Mini is one small and simple way to do that.
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