Etsy Tip of the Day - SEO tips

Again These tips are just what work for me and what I have found. If you dont agree with them that is fine - what works for one shop is not the same as what works the other

I know many people know way way better than me about tags and titles - todays is just meant to be really quick basic advice to get people started who are really stuck

I know on the forums people often say 'you need to work on your tags and titles' but dont always explain 

So one little tip to help with the tags and titles - note this is mainly geared to Etsy SEO, other search engines are a little different although much of it is similar

On your item pick a couple of phrases that you think a shopper might use when they look for something like your item

So perhaps for me I might think of 
'needle felted dog' 'Border collie art' 'Dog sculpture' (and about a million more :) but a few at a time for each item is good) 

These three phrases have to be in your title with the words in the phrase in the exact order
For example 
'Needle felted Border Collie Dog art Sculpture' Would possibly make more sense for some people to write - but not so nice for Etsy SEO for the terms I wanted (there are some good terms in there too :) - for this title tags could be 'Needle felted Border' 'Border collie dog' ' Collie dog art' 'Dog art Sculpture' )

So for the phrases we wanted for this item a title of
'Needle Felted Dog, Border Collie Art, Dog Sculpture' would work better (I know it dosent look pretty)

Then you make 3 of your tags your exact title phrases. Then in your other tags you can muddle up things that will be smaller searches (like your shop name or a special name you give your item) and use terms that also fit the item that you will use in different listings 'Collie Sculpture' (having more than one item with the tag does seem to help)

To help with other search engines also have your title in the first line of your item description.

So to clarify (I dont 1/2 waffle on!)
The terms you pick to focus on must be in your title and tags in the exact same order as each other to be most relevant in the search 

Scottish Mondays

Etsy Tip of the Day - Dont fear change

Time again for my ramblings - and I would of course like to point out that this is just me, its just what I have found and what I think. Everyone will be different and the fantastic this is what works for one person will be different for someone else. So if you dont agree then thats cool. Also feel free to share your tips too, I need to learn as much as the next guy

So for today
Dont fear change

How often do we see threads on here basically saying things have changed, everything is broken, sales are crashing
Its depressing to look in the forums sometimes. 

Over the years Etsy has changed many time, of course there are things that I miss that used to be here but overall now my shop is doing better than it ever did.

Forgive me while I tell you one of my stories

I have been here for a very very long time. 
When I started I put a lot of effort into learning, understanding and networking. If was working, slowly slowly but every year I was doing a little better than the one before 
At around 2010 I felt I was doing really really great. I had made the front page several times and the sales that followed that were truly amazing (for me)

Then Etsy made a huge change. The search engine totally changed, we went from recency (basically to get to the front of the page you just had to renew your listings) to relevancy. Also some other tools that many of us had been using to get traffic (like chat) went away

Overnight my shop died, totally died
I did nothing about it, I didnt have the energy or the understanding to make the changes needed - I just kept on doing the same thing
and for several years my sales were dead in the water, 16 sales in the first year after the change.
If I had felt like posting in the forums I would have been crying about how broke Etsy was

Finally in the last quarter of 2013 I decided to give my store one more proper try (and if it failed I was going to close my shop). I got into the forums and teams and really tried to learn about SEO, I made some tweaks to my items and got to work listing more and more
and 
In the last 3 months of 2013 I sold more than I had sold the 2 years before combined
In 2014 I sold nearly ten times that of my worst year - and more than double my previous best ever year. This year I am actually on track to do at least 50% better than last year - and if I do that will roughly be the maximum I can actually create, I might have to think of raising prices

So was Etsy broke when the changes happened??
Nope, it seems these changes ARE better for me, I just had to learn how to use them

So before you say 'Its all rubbish' try asking 'What has changed and how can I learn to use it?'
If you are here on the forums you are more proactive than most people with shops anyways - if you ask, learn and adapt then you are putting yourself ahead of many of the rest 

Scottish Mondays

I know its the middle of summer - but I thought I would share some of my winter shots too. This was in Beauly 

Fuzzylugs Friday

Etsy tip of the day - Dont waste your energy worrying about your neighbour

Dont waste your energy worrying about your neighbour

Yes have a look at what the competition is doing to get an idea of what the ceiling price your market has and even to get an idea of tags and titles 

but not to copy them, or (and I know several people have had this happen) to mail people to tell them that their prices are too low and they are devaluing the craft for everyone else

You dont know everyone elses story, make yourself unique by being yourself and not worrying about everyone else

Also it is such a waste of energy to trawl shops to report them because of copyright problems or you dont think they made their items themselves
Yes if you come across them on your travels in Etsy and want to then report them - but dont use up your energy reporting the bad

That actually dosent hurt your shop as much as you think it does, every day more and more people are coming here realising they can find wonderful handmade and vintage items and quality supplies 

If we focus on the good not the bad, promote other peoples shops that are great rather than using clicks on shops you hate (which helps their SEO by giving them activity) 

It sounds a bit crazy but if you think negatively, look for the bad and complain all the time then things become hard work
Look for the positive, focus on what is good and you will enjoy your day - and ontop of that your energy supports and promotes good shops which brings quality shoppers which in the long run helps you 

Scottish Mondays

Fuzzylugs Friday

Etsy Tip of the day - Set goals that you can actually have an influence on

Set goals that you can actually have an influence on

I am guilty of this one (and just about everything else I talk about here :D ) 
I say to myself this year, month or week my goal is x sales

That is a rubbish goal I cannot make sales happen so if I fail my goal then I will be downhearted and if I do better then Im patting myself on the back - when in reality either one could just be a fluke

Yes of course we have bills to pay and you might *need* a certain amount of sales - but you need goals you can actually work on instead of wishing for unicorns

Goals can be things like 
List x amount of items a week
Create x amount of items a week
Post x amount of items of FB pintrest or whatever
rewrite x amounts of tags and titles 
Comment on x amount of facebook pages/forum posts/groups/blogs

Then once you have a nice routine in place you can change one or two things a time and see how they benefit you - If you double the number of pins how does this effect your stats, compare this to another week/month if you list more items
See what is best use of your time - and constantly check and double check, its not just Etsy that makes changes over time, every site you are on will change, how people use these sites will change, new places will become popular

Scottish Mondays

Fuzzylugs Friday

Etsy Tip Of the Day - Look At The Bigger Picture

Todays ramblings
Look at the bigger picture 

Too often on threads you see people saying 'My views/sales for today are right down'
and the day is about 2 hours old

While I have my own views on why some people post these types of threads (view mining - trying to just get views - I will talk about that later) it is too stressful and a waste of your time to check things hour by hour

At the most I check my stats on a weekly basis to see what my views are doing (and dont really panic about highs and lows, its just information) I check sales data monthly compared to not just last year but all the years I have
I know not everyone has many years worth of data - so if this is your first year look at your stats, try and work on always improving them but think of this year as your line in the sand, you are learning about the seasonal fluctuations in your shop, and in the worldwide market 

It is so useful to track your stats for info - but dont get too stressed out by them. Step back and look at the big picture, how is your month doing? How is your year doing?
Of course many of us have bills to pay, but is it good use of your time to be listing an item then checking back every hour to see if someone has viewed it? List. promote then step back and leave it for a week and see how it gets on compared to other things in your shop