Simply Shiny Life

Do you use the same tags in BOTH your title AND your tags? If not, you might want to reconsider doubling up.

A very smart peep on one of the forums I belong to discovered that if a buyer is browsing for items within a category, and then decides to narrow their search, etsy’s search functionality only searches the item tags, and disregards the words in the item title.

If the buyer uses etsy’s text search prior to choosing a category, the search defaults to looking in tags AND title. However, once the buyer chooses a category, the search defaults to tags ONLY. (See the images below)

Main Text Search, tags AND titles:

Search in categories, only tags:

Looks like I need to review all my item tags to ensure I’ve included everything I should. You might want to as well….

If very well crafted,  colorful handmade jewelry is up your alley, you really need to check out Catie’s Blue on etsy and artfire. Brandi, who I’ve profiled previously, is a fellow member of the Etsy Artisan Beader’s Street Team.

Brandi creates colorful, wearable GORGEOUS pieces of art, pairing lampwork and gemstone beads.  Her jewelry is a wonderful integration of color and clean lines. I was trying to come up with a word that succinctly describes her style, and I think effervescent probably fits best.

And, for those of you lucky enough to get to know her, she’s funny and irreverent and likes to challenge the status quo. I think these qualities are well represented in her jewelry. Don’t you?  For more info about Catie’s Blue, visit Brandi’s website, www.catiesblue.com.
Her blog is:  brandi-girl.blogspot.com

I’ve added a line of handmade hairsticks to my ArtFire studio. I love the way the beads look against the wood, don’t you?

Until a couple of months ago, I could wear lovely handmade sticks like this. They make getting ready in the morning a breeze. Much faster than blow drying my very much shorter hair now.

All are made with sterling silver findings, 6 inch wood hair sticks, and assorted stone and lampwork beads. Pretty, huh?

Have you enabled site search within Google Analytics yet for your etsy shop? No? Why not? Seriously, you NEED to.

Here’s what I have discovered so far about potential handmade shoppers visiting my shop from etsy’s site search:

They are arriving from text search and NOT by browsing the categories. Specifically, I learned that these visitors are using etsy’s default text search which searches each handmade item’s title and tags, but NOT the item description.

So what does that mean to you and your etsy shop? It is a key indicator that it is imperative to have ALL the key words your buyers might possibly use in their search included at least once in your item title and your tags.

And, I know that I’ve said this before in previous posts, but, for those of us that use artsy fartsy names for our designs, you absolutely NEED NEED NEED to put descriptive item tags in your titles. Remember you only have 14 tags you can using for each item. If you can’t place ALL the tags you need within those 14, you need to be sure they are listed in your item title.

So, for me, instead of naming the handmade hoop earrings pictured below simply as Twist my heart

I have instead incorporated potential tags and named them

Twist my Heart – Handmade small twisted sterling silver oxidized hoop earrings

and therein ends your lesson for the day.

BTW: here’s a link for enabling site search in your Etsy Google Analytics from the Storque.

ArtFire calls itself “the premier online marketplace for handmade products designed by artisans around the globe.”  I profiled it here and posted when I joined in November, here

So, what do I like so far about my Artfire studio and the site?

1. Artfire has an advertising plan
2. Listing your products is completed on ONE page
3. Google analytics and other site statistics are available for your studio
4. Current listings appear on the site’s front page as soon as they are loaded by the seller. They are also randomly rotated in a feature front page spot as the Item of the Hour
5. The site administrative team is active, approachable and responsive. Site member feedback is really utilized to make site changes, and those changes/improvements are made QUICKLY
6. The search functionality just gets better and better, and your items are randomized in category searches. This means no need for relisting your items to stay “on top”.
7. Studio items are automatically submitted to Google Base by the site. Nothing further is required of the studio owner to do so
8. Traffic to the site is increasing
9. Fixed flat rate of $7 a month promotion going on right now for the first 5000 studio owners that sign up as verified members. $7 a month and no additional charges for final value fees or additional listing fees, sweet.

Plus, if 10 handmade artisans sign up at the $7 level using your studio name as a referral, Artfire will convert your verified membership to FREE for LIFE. Free is good, right?

So here’s the giveaway I mentioned in the title.  I’d like to be FREE FOR LIFE, but I still need 3 artisans to use me as a referral when signing up for verified studio owner status on Artfire. I’m giving away a pair of earrings of your choice if you use me as a referral when you join Artfire at the $7 a month verified seller level.

All you need to do is use my shop name and sign up using this link, and then let me know you have done so. Once I verify your status with Artfire customer service, you can have your choice of any one pair of the following earrings:

Bling for a referral? I hope its a good trade.

I thought it might be interesting to compare traffic rankings of available venues for artists, artisan crafters and designers. It could quite possibly just be my opinion, but it seems as though a myriad of new sites have appeared over the last several months proclaiming themselves to be the next great selling venue. Are they? Time will tell I guess.

I used Alexa.com to generate traffic rankings for several dozen handmade goods selling sites. Per Alexa they “compute traffic rankings by analyzing the Web usage of millions of Alexa Toolbar users and data obtained from other, diverse traffic data sources. The information is sorted, sifted, anonymized, counted, and computed, until, finally, we get the traffic rankings shown in the Alexa service. ” So, while not a 100% statistically correct collection methodology, the number comparisons are interesting to note. There really seems to be a big divide between what I consider the top tier of selling sites vs. those in the second tiers.

Is traffic the be all end all to guarantee sales to the indie artisan? Not necessarily, as evidenced by my experience on Ruby Lane (see my experience here) and as also evidenced by the thousands of etsy sellers that are selling little to nothing.

You need to be able to clearly articulate your intended audience, your expectations of service from the venue you are considering and do your research.

I’ve sorted the sites in from most to least trafficked. Remember, the LOWER the number the HIGHER the number of visitors a site receives. LOWER numbers are BETTER.

What others should be added to this list?

UPDATED LIST HERE

(Note: these rankings change and I will periodically update the listed metrics. Last update 3/1/2009)

UPDATED LIST HERE

Stay tuned over the next weeks as I will be profiling some of these venues with interviews and giveaways from the site owners themselves.

I like handmade polymer clay beads. Actually, I like them a lot.  And there are some REALLY talented artists creating some really fabulous beads.

This handmade bracelet and earrings use some terrific surrealistic like beads I purchased from a talented artist on etsy.  Both are available in my etsy shop.

The wild party bracelet incorporates sterling silver wire and several sizes of black onyx beads. The beads in the dangle earrings are accompanied by pink tourmaline rondelles, natural rose quartz beads and more black onyx round beads.