Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Noteworthy....

So you think its so easy to be an Etsy seller? NOT! Ok, simple yes...easy NO And why do I say so you ask? Well I have been on Etsy four years and pretty much it was "easy", until everyone else thought "hey I should sell on Etsy." Now there's a multitude of factors that make selling on the big E more of a challenge than ever. I'm starting to feel like I need an education in SEO/SEM marketing, web design, journalism, photography, and yes even design school.

The simple thing about it is its easy enough to take a picture of your item and list it, anyone can accomplish that. But to be found in the sea of keywords, ah that is a daunting task that I am learning to navigate through. Take a simple search for handbag. Wow! 37,000+ results. Even if I narrow that down by category its still a lot to search through. So here's where it gets tricky and all that education stuff I mentioned feels like its needed. See searching keywords on Etsy alone is a challenge of itself. Figuring out which ones will get your item listed closer to the top, or what is the most popular for your type of item?

But now if you step outside your little Etsy box, and go to our big G (google), well now your surely going to loose yourself. (or your mind) Because I never realized (until recently) that Etsy works with Google analytics and that Etsy products are returned in google product search results. So now...if you want an even bigger chance at making a sale, you have to also think in terms of google keywords when creating your listings. Yeah, I know its a lot to cram into an already crammed head. :) I barely have the time to design and list let alone figure out all this keyword stuff. I think I remember at some point thinking why cant Etsy be more like ebay in the keywords aspect? Well thats probably another post but it seems uncool to let people pick thier own keywords when the majority likely will tag their items wrong.

Well its not all bad, it is a learning curve but it just seems so daunting when you already have a lot to do. I still haven't gotten to my website yet! EEK! But I have found a few useful links that can help you navigate some of this keyword mayhem.

Quality Backlinks for better SEO
The Etsy Business Tips Blog
50 questions for Etsy Sellers

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