Etsy Shop Makeover Challenge Part 2

Hello, everyone! Hopefully you had the time to spend looking at some of the HOT Treasuries yesterday. Maybe you even had time to look at some of the individual items in the Treasuries. So, it is time for Part 2 of my Etsy Shop Makeover Challenge!

I want you to take your BEST 10 items and edit them. Make sure your TITLE is enticing and contains strong KEYWORDS in your first 3 words. Re write all of your description, making sure the best parts of the description are at the beginning and will be shown in your Google Preview. Make sure that your TITLE and DESCRIPTION in the Google preview do not truncate words or leave partial sentences. Make sure your title has every word starting with an upper case letter. It looks clean and nicer this way.

Then redo all of your TAGS. Make each word in the Tags an upper case letter. So "yellow yarn" becomes "Yellow Yarn" and "red bracelet" becomes "Red Bracelet", etc. This adds a look of professionalism to your listing. You'll note that the tags now show at the bottom of each listing.

Next, once you have changed and published your listing, RENEW it. It will only cost you $.20 and will jump your item to the top of the RECENTLY LISTED section on Etsy. After you renew it, Tweet it, Pin It, Facebook it or post whatever social networks you have. This will help people to know that you have something new to show them.

Lastly, if you are a member of Etsy Forums and or Teams, post it to any thread that says new or renewed items. This will help provide you with a little visibility. Every little bit counts! Keep track of how many more views you get on the items and in the shop as well.

Come back next week to share your results and find out what the next part of the challenge is.

13 Tips And tricks To Increase Your Etsy Sales

From time to time we forget the obvious ways to spread the word about our shops. Here are a few Tips and Tricks to help you increase your sales on Etsy. Please feel free to add your Tips or Tricks to the comment section.

1. Make sure you have a link to your shop and all social media in the signature of your email. You'll be surprised at how many people will click on the link. Even friends and family will click and share your links.

2. Put a link to your shop or social media in your signature on message boards and forums. Be sure that you are active on the forum or message board and that you have permission to post links in your signature. (Join forums and boards that relate to your craft and be active)

3. QR codes are a great way to promote your shop offline. I wrote an article about How To Create QR Codes. Check it out, create your code then use it. I suggest using it to link over to your Facebook Page so that you keep that person. If you just link to your shop it may not be a lasting customer.

4. Offer rewards to all your customers. Whether it be a coupon code (my Coupon Code Article) or a free gift, when someone receives something special they will remember you.

5. Ask if you can add your customer to your newsletter mailing. When can you ask? I send out a convo when I ship items. I ask if it is okay to add them to my newsletter. It is hit and miss but I do gain about 50% of all customers that I ask. I also set up a sign up sheet when I am at shows.

6. Don't be afraid to advertise. Coke and Pepsi didn't get where they are today by sitting around waiting for sales. Weigh the pros and cons. If you cannot afford paid advertising there are tons of free options out there. Even if you can only set aside $25 a month for advertising you'll be shocked how much of a return you can get. I suggest Facebook advertising because once they become a "Liker" of your page you can put ads in front of them multiple time rather than a one time deal. (I have an eBook on how to use Facebook Ads for Etsy here)

7. Make sure people can find your products. Make sure you have plenty of solid usable key word and key word phrases. Ask your friends or your mom how they would search for your product. This will help you figure out your key words. Etsy calls these Tags.

8. Make sure your description is descriptive. You can have some fun stories or statements but be sure your descriptions accurately describe your product. Try to go through all your senses. Does the item have a certain feel to it? how does it make you feel emotionally to wear or use it? Does smell or hearing play a roll? Your customer cannot touch your product before they buy, try and make it so they do not feel they have to.

9. Titles are super important. Bland titles generally do not do as well as cute and fun titles. Just make sure your title makes sense. If someone reads it on Google is it going to make them want to click through? If you Tweet from Etsy does the title make sense?

10. Photos are everything. One good photo is far better than five bad fussy dark ones. Try to take pictures from as many angles as you can so the customer can see what it looks like from every angle  Remember they cannot touch it so you have to make them feel like they have. (I have several Photography Articles here)

11. Selling on Etsy is a job. The more you put into your job the better it will be. Take time to read everything you can including the Etsy Sellers Handbook. Etsy produces it for a reason- it works. Read the Etsy Blog too. Tons of great info is in there all the time.

12. Schedule your time and stick to it. If you have not posted something on the Etsy forums, rewrote a Title or Description, Taken a better photo, listed a new item or renewed something today you have not been doing your job. You need to try and do something every single day.

13. Never Give Up - Never Surrender! If what you are doing isn't working, try something else. If that doesn't work, try something different again! The beauty of Etsy is you can fine tune things and test them multiple time. Once you find something that works, keep doing it until it doesn't work anymore. Things change you have to constantly keep up with new trends and the like.

That is it for today. I hope these tips help you. Please feel free to share this with anyone you know on Etsy and get their feedback. As always if you have questions please send them my way and I will try my best to answer them. MarketMyShop@gmail.com

Two Helpful Tips For Etsy Users

I hope you all had a really great day yesterday! I just picked up Starting An Etsy Business For Dummies. Let me just say, I love "For Dummies" books. They really break things down so that anyone can understand. As someone who has been doing Etsy for a couple years I sometimes forget the pitfalls and struggles of the new Etsian. This book is really helping me connect back to when I was a new user!

The book has also sparked a few ideas for experimenting with Titles, Descriptions and Tags that I had all but abandoned. I have a lot of work to do reworking a few listings to see how things go. So, being as busy as I am today I am just going to leave you with a couple of general tips.

1.Visit your Library! There are literally hundreds of books written for starting a home based business, marketing and other business aspects. If you bought them all you'd have to add a Library wing to your house! Go to your library and see if they have the book/s you want to read. If not, request that they buy it or order it on Inter-Library Loan for you. Save a few bucks and still get the info you need!

2. If it ain't broken don't fix it! If you have some items selling better than others don't change them, change the ones that aren't selling! Study the ones you are selling on a regular basis and try to figure out the difference.

I hope you all have a great weekend. I will be back next week with more info and tips and tricks. In the meantime, let me know if you have any questions or comments.

More About Etsy Titles And Tags

It has come to my attention that some people still do not understand keywords in general. That is okay, this is a very difficult concept to get. Keywords are used in your TITLE, TAGS and DESCRIPTION. The more important the keyword is the more prominent it should be. You should use your most important keywords in the first three words of your TITLE.

Let's use one of my items as an example: http://www.etsy.com/listing/99617992/facebook-ad-guide-for-etsy-shop-owners?ref=ss_listing

The title of the item is: "Facebook Ad Guide For Etsy Shop Owners" It is short, concise and to the poit and describes exactly what the item is. Anyone typing "Facebook Ad Guide" into Etsy will find my eBook. Typing "Facebook Guide" also brings my item up in search as the very first item after paid search.

Here are my Tags: Everything Else - Educational - facebook guide - facebook ads - fan page - facebook marketing - market my shop - advertising - facebook how to - facebook - social media - tutorial eBook - etsy shop guide - marketing

Here is my description:
Facebook Ad Guide For Etsy Shop Owners - Tutorials by Market My Shop
This easy to use guide will help you to understand and implement a successful Facebook Advertising Campaign. The guide is 10 pages long and has handy images and detailed instructions on how to set up your first Facebook Ad. Start gaining more Facebook Fans immediately.

The PDF eBook will be delivered to your email address associated with Etsy within 24 hours of your purchase. I you would like it emailed to a different address please list it in the notes at time of purchase.


What questions my title may not answer I answer in the description. What keywords I don't use in my title get put in my tags. Anyone searching for exactly what I typed in the title and tags will eventually find me. 

It really is a game of what phrase would you use to find my item. Sit down and think about it for a bit. Write down four or five phrases that you think someone would use to find your item. Type those phrases into the Etsy search and Google and see what you come up with. Also, remember to look at the title and tags of what you find when you search on Etsy, someone else may have a better title and tags!

Hope this clears things up a bit and doesn't confuse further. I will be back tomorrow to talk about photography. Until then please feel free to comment, leave questions or email me: MarketMyShop@gmail.com

Google and Etsy Revisited Recap

This week I have been revisiting ways to get your shop found On Etsy and Google. Tags, Titles and Descriptions need to be well thought out and well implemented.  I always start with my tags and work the description and title from there. Here are a few tips that might help you to come up with better tags.

1. Ask your mom what she would use to search for your item.
2. search all your tags on Etsy and Google and see what shows up.
3. Look at your stats and see what words people are finding you with.
4. If a tag isn't working, drop it and try another.
5. Ask someone for help.

When you come up with good tags and use them for your title and in your description you stand a much better chance of being found. Of course just being found isn't your goal. Your goal is to make money by selling your products. Soon, I will revisit photography and pricing to help you hook that customer.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Google and Etsy Revisited Part 1

Some of you have asked me to revisit making your shop listings more friendly for Google and other search engines. Where Google is concerned it is all about the content and by content I mean relevant content. Google is looking for experts.

Google looks at the title of the page to see what the topic is about. So, a clear and concise title is a must. I see some people still trying to cram what I would call a short story into the title. Google looks at that as if someone is trying to pull the wool over their eyes. You really think you can put one over on Google?

The title should be short and descriptive like a headline. Use your most important key words here. Though Etsy places a lot of emphasis on the first three words, Google uses the entire title to figure out what the page is about. The title does not have to be a complete sentence but it does have to make sense. Just listing keywords tends to confuse people.

"Red Blue Stripes Sequins Vintage Dress Summertime Sundress" is an example of a poor title. It is a jumble of keywords but does not accurately describe the dress. Of course you need to figure out what people will be searching for and optimize for those keywords.

"Vintage Summertime Sundress - Red and Blue Stripes with Sequins" is better organized and much easier to read. Google will ignore the extra spaces and dash. Using your three main keywords up front and eliminating the repetitive "dress" helps to make a more clear and concise title that works for both Etsy and Google.

Tomorrow I will delve back into relevant keywords and tags. Please let me know if you have any questions by email at MarketMyShop@gmail.com or by leaving a comment here.

If you find this blog helpful please recommend it to your friends!

Relevancy Revisited: Recap

This week we have discussed how to build the foundation of your shop item listing by picking key word phrases that answer questions about your product. I showed you how to use those keyword phrases in your title and your descriptions. I shared a few more tips with you to make it all come together.

You should have at least a working knowledge of how to make a better listing. Now the fun part comes in. Practice, practice, practice. Change a few listings and see how they work. Did you get more views? What search words are driving traffic to your shop? If what you did worked, do some more. If it didn't work go with another approach.

The point is you may never be happy with the way your shop looks. You may not be happy with how it performs. You have the power to change that. The harder you work the luckier you will get. If you have questions please feel free to leave them in the comments or email me at marketmyshop@gmail.com Remember, the only dumb question is the one that goes unanswered.

Relevancy Revisited: Part 4 Tips

This week we have been revisiting Relevancy. We talked about tags, titles and descriptions. Today I have some tips to help you out when you are creating a new listing. Of course, the tips should work for revamping a listing as well.

1. Have the item in your reach when you start your listing.
2. Upload your pictures first.
3. Type your tags second.
4. Use your tags to create your Title.
5. Use your title and unused tags to create your description.
6. Try to use two keyword phrases in your title.
7. Use as many of your keyword phrases as possible in your description.
8. If you get stuck on tags, check out what tags your competition is using.
9. Be sure to put a link back to your shop sections in every listing.
10. Use call to action phrases in your description like "When you purchase..."
11. If your item has color, list it in the tags.
12. Looking for names of popular colors? Check out what colors people are doing for treasuries.
13.  Be as accurate as possible with all measurements.
14. Provide both US and Metric measurements so your customer does not have to convert.
15. Optimize your title and tags for Etsy.
16. Optimize your description for Google.
17. Check your stats and see if the tags you used are getting people to your shop.
18. If a keyword phrase (tag) isn't driving traffic to your item change it.
19. Optimize for trends, seasons, holidays and events.
20. Check your stats every day.
21. If you have Google Analytics, check them at least weekly to track your progress.
22. Make sure your photos put the focus on your item not props.
23. Don't give up.

Relevancy Revisited: Part 3 Descriptions

This week we have been revisiting relevancy with a focus on Etsy. We talked about how to come up with good tags that answer questions about your item. We also talked about how to use the tags you come up with to create a relevant title. Today we are going to explore descriptions. Please note that Etsy all but ignores the description in their search algorithm. It pulls from tags and titles with a few other variables.

Optimizing your description helps with Google and other search engines as well as describes your item for your customer. Today we are going to use my little Teddy Bear Knight Wearing Chainmail as an example. Note the title, it is optimized for several terms. Artist Bear, Teddy Bear being the most prominent, with Knight Wearing Chainmail and Chainmail Costume being used as well. Also note that my bear is photographed with a white background with nothing that could take your eyes away from him. (Be sure to read my article on taking better pictures for your handmade or vintage items)

Though it may be a little hard to see in this snapshot you can see that the first thing I put was "Teddy Bear in Chainmail - Chainmail Home Decor by Tangled Metal" and what that does is give a keyword rich statement of what the item is and who made it. Part of the reason for this is keywords near the beginning of the text is weighed a little heavier than further down in the text and part of it is for the purpose of branding.

I go on to answer questions like, what is it, who is it for, what occasion is it good for, what materials were used, etc. I use keyword phrases where ever I can fit them in without sounding like a list of key word phrases. I try to make it sound as conversational as possible.

Writing copy is not my strong part and I struggle with it every time I list a new item. The one thing I try to do is make it so that it will come up in Google search. Google gives a lot of weight to key word phrases. Using the same keywords throughout the description is fine. How many times is too many times to add a keyword? Read it out loud and see if it sounds awkward, that should help.

Questions? Comments? That is it for today. Come back tomorrow for a list of tips to help make your life a little easier when listing an item.

Relevancy Revisited: Part 2 Titles

Yesterday we discussed more on relevancy. We talked about tags and how to come up with them. Today we are going to talk about Titles. Your Title says a lot about your item, or at least it should. If you read yesterday's post you should have come up with about 10 tags that answered some basic questions about your item. Today let's use at least two of those tags to come up with a title. I am going to use one of my items as an example.

I created these Halloween earrings a couple of weeks ago. Note the title: "Halloween Earrings Orange And Black Chainmail." I am actually using several of my tags as part of my title. "Halloween Earrings" is the tag I am trying to optimize first off. For those people that are looking for a snazzy pair of earrings to wear in October this is them. I am also optimized for Orange and Black. That is another phrase that is searched a lot during the month of October. I am also optimized for "black chainmail" which I found out was a phrase that is searched a lot on Google. I am also optimized for the generic search "chainmail" which is just an added bonus.

I answered a few questions with my title. What are they? What color are they? What are they made from? When would you wear them? So, in this case the title is very relevant to what the item is. Someone looking for Halloween earrings or chainmail earrings or black chainmail or the color combination of orange and black should be able to find me pretty easily.

One other important aspect of your title is that it is also the ALT text in your image tag. That means that if someone is doing an image search, the picture is optimized for the same thing the title is. ALT text is what people would see if they do not have pictures turned on. If their connection is slow the text will show up as the picture is loading. Text readers will also read the text aloud for those who have very poor or no eyesight.

That is all for today. Tomorrow I will revisit descriptions. Let me know if you have any questions.

Relevancy Revisited

I get asked a lot to go through people's shop and see if their tags, titles and descriptions are relevant.  They also ask me to look to see how I would tag an item or what title I would use or if I like their description.  Unfortunately I do not have the time to go through the multiple requests I get every day. I would have to stop making my art and go into checking people's shops as a living. So, maybe this will clear some things up.

Relevancy is defined as having direct bearing on the subject matter at hand or as being pertinent. In the past, Etsy did not rely heavily on relevancy for search. They relied on people renewing their items to get them near the top of the search. It gave those with a little bit of money the ability to get their items in front of people without having to do all the work of being relevant.

If you did research on Etsy shops that do really well, you would have found that those shops were not only paying money to renew their items they also had great SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for their shop and items. If you look at who is successful now, many of those shops are still on top because they were already optimized for the changes.

Take one item in your shop and look at it. Write down 10 things that it is. Does it have color? Does it have a shape? Is it a certain style? Who is it for? What will they do with it? Can it be used as something else? Who created it? What process was used? Is there anything special about it? What is the material? What circumstances will it be used in? Is it easy to use? Is it one of a kind?

All of those questions are relevant to the item and in some form or fashion those answers are your relevant tags. From your relevant tags you will create the title for the object. The title should include no less than two of your tags and those tags should be in the very first part of your title. They should also be in the very first sentence of your description. Also in your description you should use as many of your tags as possible.

That is it for today. I will add more tomorrow. If you have questions or comments let me know.

Relevancy: Changing Tags and Titles On The Fly

If you look above, you'll notice that there are currently 7,758,086 items listed in the Handmade category on Etsy. That was of the time I started writing this article. In a field of so many items how can you possibly get your item found? The very first step is knowing how people search for things on the Internet. (I wrote an article about How People Search Here.) The second thing to do is Title and Tag your items in a way that they come up in the searches. (Here are articles on Titles and Tags.)

Today I would like to talk about changing your Titles and Tags 'on the fly' when special circumstances present themselves. Take for example the Etsy Wedding Newsletter that is sent out weekly. They always have certain trends that link over to a search. This week my Renaissance Wedding Costume Knight's Chainmail Coif was featured in the costume section of the newsletter. If you were to click on the "Full Costuming" link it would have taken you to an Etsy Search page that had the search "Wedding Costume" already filled out for you with the first page of listings shown.

If you were to take some of the items in your shop that are considered "wedding costume" elements and change the title and tags to include the search phrase "wedding costume" you would certainly have a good chance of being seen when someone clicks on the link from the email. You do not have to be featured to utilize the current trends within Etsy's many newsletters. You just have to be willing to do a little bit of research and jump on the band wagon.

This goes beyond just the Etsy Newsletters, (you should sign up for all of them) it translates to what is going on in the world of entertainment and fashion. If a movie is coming out and one of your items has something to do with that movie, changing the title and tags to match what people might be searching for can help you be found. With Google it can take a little bit longer to be picked up with the new titles and tags, but Etsy is within minutes.

Being found in the first few pages of an Etsy search is great as long as it is a search that many people do. Being found in an Etsy Search that an Etsy Newsletter has already set up is even better. Follow trends and never consider your shop to be to the point where it is done. Things change and you have to go with the flow.

I would like to hear your thoughts on this subject so please leave your comments and questions.

Relevant Searching The Title Says It All

I have been discussing how tags and keywords are the foundation for "Relevant Searches" both on Google and on Etsy. Today I would like to talk briefly on how to use the keywords that you found while doing keyword research. The first place that Etsy looks for relevancy is in your title.

I am once again going to use myself as an example. I make chainmail jewelry. One of my hottest item for the last 15 years is the above pictured chainmail anklet. I did some research on the word anklet and found that many people do not use that term when searching. Many people use the term "ankle bracelet" when searching.

Now you would think that I would try and optimize for "chainmail" but the competition on that term is far too great for me to break into the top 3 pages on Google. So, I opted to try and optimize for "ankle bracelet" and "anklet" because they are searched less I have a better chance of being found.

Currently if you type "anklet bracelet" into Etsy's search, my chainmail ankle bracelet comes up on page one slot two of the search results. Why? Because the search term "ankle bracelet" is at the beginning of the TITLE, beginning of the DESCRIPTION and in my TAGS. The combination of your keywords in all three places makes your item  very relevant. It shows that you are an expert on this item.

The broader the term, the harder it is to rank high for relevancy. That is why I talked about keyword research and how to use your keyword phrases as tags. Using the keywords that you found doing research in your title helps to optimize for those keywords. Using a secondary keyword in your title helps to optimize for a second keyword or phrase. When you search for "anklet" on Etsy I am currently on page two slot 25 of the search.

I only have three ankle bracelet designs in my shop. Being able to be on page one or two in a search for the top two ways people look for anklets is great for me. Now here are the hard stats: there are 3,373 items for the term "ankle bracelet" and 17,184 items when you search "anklet" on Etsy. I optimized for the lower number of searches first and the higher number second. I did this because lower searches are easier to optimize for than higher searches. I chose my niche. Of course being in the first two pages for both when there are 20,000+ items is very good.

It may be a little harder when it comes to items on Etsy that are in the 100,000 range like 327,198 for "crochet" but if you optimize for "crochet hat" there are only 94,830. It is all about optimizing for something that is doable. Smaller numbers are easier to get on top with. I hope that helps a little. If you have questions please post them in comments and I will do my best to answer them.