Shop Diagnostics is a series where we share tips coming from creative entrepreneurs who can run shops in light of adjustments brought on by military life YET APPLICABLE to all those interested in improving their shop's presence online and worldwide.
This is PART 3 of a three-part Series written by Koryn of The Taffy Box:
Pimp Your Shop! Make the Most of your Etsy Site
The following are some tips that I have implemented in my shop which I believe have helped increase my sales:
Photos - If you are just getting started, I would say that the first thing I tried to (when I was new to Etsy,and even when I wasn't new but was not getting many sales) was to improve my photographs. Online sales requires great photos. If you don't have good photos your items will not show well and ultimately will not sell well. You can use a simple camera and enhance the pictures with programs like Photobucket, photoshop and Picnik. Etsy forums offers good advice on this topic. There's even a feature called FotoFuze under etsy apps for this! It is truly amazing! And it's free!
Banners- Get a great looking banner. There are Etsy sellers who will do the graphics for you and you can find them searching under supplies or handmade and typing in Etsy banner graphics or something to that effect. Search under Homefront Team and the same terms and you may even find a team member who would work a trade with you! Having an attractive site will help your Facebook Etsy shop page and also keep viewers coming back. I find that having a photo of an item or items from your shop within or embedded in your banner helps a viewer know what it is you create. If that isn't possible, try creating and then sticking with a branding logo of your own, unique to your shop.
Inventory - Make sure you have plenty of things in your store. Start with 15 items and work up from there. If you walked into a store in the mall that only had 5 things on it's shelves, you would probably walk out. You want to entice lookers and keep them there....that means having plenty to look at. After that, then create sections such as "scarves, hats, blankets, etc." (if you sell knits, for instance). Having a "sale" or "clearance' section is always attractive and may help you clean house with items you no longer wish to carry or attract bargain hunters. Tag it with the word "Sale" so that people who specifically search that word alone will run across it! Tag all your items appropriately. Be creative and try to think of ways that buyers may search.
Tags and shop names - If you have extra tags available to you, use your shop name. For instance, The Taffy Box is something I try to put into empty tag spaces. It helps in Google searches as well as Etsy searches when your shop name may not be as recognizable as an item name. This is especially important if your shop starts with the word "the" like mine does because people often do not remember the part of the name "the", they only remember Taffy and Box and if you search under sellers for Taffy, I do not show up. Bummer. I would have chosen a better shop name had I realized this a long time ago.
Thank you Koryn! If you have any shop tips you would like to share, Contact us via the Contact tab at the top of the blog.
1 comment:
Great advice Koryn! Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences with us!
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