Tagging & Re-Tagging

We have discussed tagging before, but I'd like to expand those thoughts. Let's talk about re-tagging a listing that isn't receiving the attention it deserves. For example, I recently had a dress in my shop that I thought was amazing and should be getting tones of attention but had zero admirers. I decided to take a minute and read over my listing and see what changes could be made. It ended up being the "tags" that I thought could be improved. I often copy other listings and forget to change up the tags for specific items. I went ahead and changed a few tags to ones I knew where more popular or more related to the item, I then renewed the listing and within 24 hours it had a fair number of admirers! 

This is just an example of why Tagging can be very important. That dress is now more likely to sell then it was when it wasn't tagged correctly. 

Here are a number of links from etsy explaining the best ways to tag, what tags are, and how to use them:

WHAT ARE TAGS?

Guidelines & Tips: Brainstorming Keywords for Tags & Titles

How to Get Found in Search 

How Do I Make Sure My Items are Being Found in Search?

When re-tagging, try first going to your shop stats and looking into which tags are being most commonly searched. Try applying those tags to any item it relates to, then move onto other tags from there.

Another idea is to do some research of other shops like your own. Let's say you sell black and white photography: look up the other successful shops that sell similar themed black and white photography, then click on a few of their listings. If those listings have a large amount of admirers, chances are they've tagged them well. So scroll to the bottom of the listing and see what tags they have used. Try giving those a shot! 

Paid Promotions on Etsy

Another way of promoting your site is through Etsy itself. It is not free but like facebook ads you can set a budget for yourself. Try searching an item on etsy and you will notice the "sponsored" ads at the top, well that's what you'd be paying for.

This is Etsy's description of search ads:

Search Ads on Etsy are a new way to highlight your items on Etsy search results pages. When you purchase Search Ads, you can:

• Decide which items to promote
• Set a maximum weekly budget
• Control how long your ads run
• View your ads' performance stats

And here is a link to further information: 

https://www.etsy.com/search-ads

So to be able to do that you click on "search ads"

There is even a great video that helps explain what the search ads do! Feel free to watch it before moving on. 

Next you're going to choose what part of your shop you would like to promote. You can change this at any time so pick the one you think would help your shop out the most.

From there you're going to add "tags". Tags being what helps your item come up in the search the same way those fox cards appeared when I searched fox cards. It will also come up with your most commonly used tags and titles, you're welcome to change them to what ever you think is going to be most useful.

Lastly, you're going to set your weekly budget. You can also change that at any point along the way. So if you put it too high or too low, you can change that later. Or maybe you have a little more to spend one month vs. another slower month.

You can find out how your search ads are doing by going to your "shop stats" section and scrolling to the bottom of the page. There you can figure out how productive your ads are doing and how much you should or shouldn't be spending. Even if it doesn't lead to direct sales, it's still a good thing if it's bringing in attention to your shop.

Creating a Treasury!

Today I'd like to explain how and why create a "treasury" on etsy. A treasury is what shows up on the front screen of etsy. It's a grouping of listings that look good together, usually with a theme, to help promote those items & shops.

This image is from the current cover of etsy as an example of what it looks like. It is usually a grouping of both vintage and hand made items, as well as a mixture of a variety of items. (and don't worry, this is only something to do maybe once a month)

So why create a treasury? 

It shows you are part of the community and care about the promotion of others as well as yourself. It can in turn bring your shop attention.

Notes before you get started:

-do NOT put any of your items in your own treasury

-only use one item from each shop as to get a bigger variety of sellers.

Okay, so how do you get started? Well on the main page of etsy you'll find at the bottom left hand corner is a list of things one of them being "treasury".

Then to your right will be an option to "create a list"

But go ahead and take a look at some of the current popular treasuries to get an idea of what good treasuries look like. Then think of a theme. I often go through my favourites to see if anything looks good together and come up with a theme from there. 

So give your treasury a title, and possibly even a little description. You should also add related "tags" so that people can find your treasury easier. From there you just put the link of the items into the "listing URL" section and press "ok". The image will then show up. You can re-adjust where each image goes after you've put them all in place. 

Once you are done, make sure to save and publish it. You can then send all of the sellers a quick little message with a link to the treasury. Most sellers prefer a short little message like "I added your item to my "theme" treasury! Enjoy!" followed by the link. 

Here are some lovely treasury samples I have discovered on etsy:

By: Typo Boutique

By: King Fisher Lane

 By: Aroma Candles

 By: Bubsy Ink

All of these examples have a great use of both vintage and handmade items as well as a varied variety of items. Some even mix men's and women's wear into one treasury. This is great for everyone! 

Renew Your Listings

RENEW YOUR LISTINGS!

First of all, what does that mean?

-If something hasn't sold and it gets pushed a page or a few back, renewing it brings it back to the front page. 

It's the button at the top of the screen that says "renew" when you click on one of your listings. 

To renew a listing on etsy will cost you the same amount as listing a new item: 20 cents. 

So why renew a listing?

Renewing your listing is like refreshing your shop. It brings more attention to your shop almost the same way adding a new item does. It starts showing up more on people's "activity feeds" and just generally activates your shop. 

It is especially important when you haven't had any new arrivals for a while. It keeps your shop active and on the market. New shoppers won't know that those items are not new, and old shoppers will be reminded that you've got that thing they want. 

For example: I have two online shops and one of them is just a side project and I occasionally forget to renew listings for a while. In the time I do not renew listings my sales can go as low as none at all. The second I start renewing those listings the activity picks up and sales start to roll soon after. 

How often should I renew listings?

Every day.

Okay, but how many should I renew a day?

So this question is somewhat up to you. If you have over 100 items, anywhere between 3-10 items a day is probably a good answer to keep your activity alive and remind shoppers of your other listings. 

If you have under 100 items, even renewing just 1-3 listings a day at a strategic time will still keep your shop active.

When should I renew my items?

 Remember those statistics we talked about a few posts ago? Well, what ever times you think are best for posting new listings are also a good time to renew old listings!

(refer to links:

http://anewstartonline.blogspot.ca/2013/10/shop-stats.html

http://anewstartonline.blogspot.ca/2013/10/update.html)

Should I renew listings even if I have new listings?

This is up to you, sometimes I will list a few new items and also renew a few that look good with the new ones. As long as you have activity, whether that be a new listing or renewing an old one, it will keep your shop active to shoppers. 

*I notice a big difference in my activity feed if I renew listings every day. I also believe that it is what keeps my sale more or less steady. You can do an experiment and renew listings in the morning one day and see how much activity you get, and then don't renew any listings the next day and see what your activity feed is like. You'll be surprised how different it is!

Facebook Ads

To get started with your facebook ad, go to your facebook business page. On the left there is a side bar and I want you to click on "Ads Manager"

Next, click on the button to the right called "Create an Ad". 

There are definitely a few different potentially useful options but the ones we are aiming for today is more Page Likes. This gets you more engaged followers. This will lead to more sales in the long run. 

Next it will ask you to include a few different ad pictures. Make sure they include your business name and what you sell with a cohesive and attention grabbing photo. 

Next you will come across this page:

Go over it and just double check that everything is correct before you move on. Next you will find some things to fill out. 

Location: hopefully you've done your statistics and now it's time to put them to use (reference last post for details). Add the top countries you sell to or that you are most interested in selling to. 

Age: Pick the age range of people buying your products. This isn't always easy but it helps narrow down who to target!

Gender: You can advertise to all or target the gender you pay specify in ex. women's clothing.

Interests: Add a few interests that are related to what you are selling. For example if you sell hand made baby clothing: babies, hand made, clothing, etc. 

Connections: Who do you want to target?

Interested in: I would stick with all unless you have a very specific business related to that.

Relationship Status: if you are selling jewelry including engagement rings you may want to try targeting engaged! But otherwise you may want to click all of them.

Language: if you want it to show up in other languages?

Education: You will likely want to press anyone if you are selling hand made / vintage goods. 

Workplaces: this might be useful if you know of similar shops. This will help target people who already like other companies. 

More Categories: read side panel on image to get more info. 

Now it's time to set your budget!

So there are a few different options for your daily budget. You can spend as little as $1.00 a day or as much as $million a day! I found even as little as $3.50 is helpful and that $5.00 is actually a great starting number. Do it for one week and try it out. Do it on and off for the year. You can start and end it whenever you want. Even if you just run the campaign without a set end date. 

On the other hand you can pre-set a start and end date so that you don't forget your ad is running! 

Now review your order and pay! 

Next I will review how to understand the statistics it's showing you! :) 

Paid Ads

Now, paid ads are not for everyone but it is definitely something to start thinking about. After the research that I've been able to do it seems that one of the most productive paid advertisements are through Facebook. Google ads can also be productive if you have your own website. Just remember that websites like Etsy, Ebay, Shopify already help you with google search optimization so it can be counter productive to put more ads out there. Especially if you are on a tight budget.

So let's talk about Facebook ads and what you should know before you start! 

The great thing is that you can set a daily budget, you can start and stop at any time, and you can "boost" specific posts for a set budget. The last one is especially helpful during sales! 

Another thing to think about is that you can target your ads! You can target to age, sex(male/female), and location. To find out this information, maybe it's good to find out where your customers are from! How I found out: I went through all of my sold orders and wrote down what country each order is from. From there I discovered the USA was most popular and went through again and found out where in the USA is most popular. This information may be very different for you but that is why it's important for you to do this yourself and find out this information. It will help make your money go further!

My experiment with facebook ads gave me 697 new likes in just one month. I also started by spending $5 a day and then brought it down to $3.50 after two weeks. I have now been noticing an increase in activity on the things I post on my Facebook Page and I had my best month in sales which may be related. 

So I want you to gather the statistics I mentioned above and the next post will be the how to use Facebook ads!