Day 19 – Sections

To organise your listings neatly you can place them in to sections within your shop. Each listing can only be assigned to one section so it is worth taking the time to carefully consider what your sections should be to contain all of your listings.

Sections

If you’re like me and muddled together a few vague sections to fill out your shop a bit, it’s time to go back and put some time and effort in to fixing these section names up. In my research for a different post earlier in the month, I stumbled across the titles of the sections in the webpage code – turns out they are right up at the top in what is known as ‘metadata’ – essentially your section names are your KEYWORDS for your entire shop. Who knew?

The metadata keywords aren’t the big players in search engine page ranking that they once were, but nevertheless they are still there. The section names are displayed on your homepage and are indexed by search engines, so your shop can be found by people searching for the words and phrases in your section names. Every little helps when it comes to maximising your exposure.

I hope Lily over at Lily’s Paws doesn’t mind me using her as an example. I was chatting to her about sections (as you do) – her Esty shop sells catnip-filled crotchet cat toys so the sections were along the lines of ‘Mice’, ‘Fish’, ‘Halloween’ etc. She updated them all to be more descriptive and now look who’s smashing it over on google for terms like ‘animal catnip toys’:

So when you consider your section names, use descriptive terms that are meaningful when seen outside of your shop. If you have sections like ‘Christmas’ then you need to say what kind of christmas things are in that section – ‘handmade christmas cards’ etc. The more words you can include the better. Each section can be 24 characters long so pack them full of keywords as best you can without making them sound ridiculous – think about the words and phrases people would be searching for on Google to find your items. You can have up to 20 sections, so USE THEM ALL if possible. Particularly consider including section names for trending items that will be widely searched for on search engines.

HOW TO

To update your section names, go to the listings manager on desktop and in the column on the right you’ll see a little box for sections and a link to ‘Manage’ the sections.

This brings up a pop up box where you can add new sections and place them in the order that you’d like them to appear in. The order will have no effect on SEO.

You can then click the checkbox for multiple listings, then click ‘Editing Options’ to change the section of the selected items in one go.

End of Day 19

Go and do likewise!

 

Day 17 – Downloading Shop Data

With all of the effort it has taken to get your shop up and running, it is a good idea to back up your data regularly. Etsy make it easy for you to download your shop data so you can store it safely in case you ever need it.

Listings

You can download a file which can be opened as a spreadsheet which contains of all the details of your currently listed items, including images links. It is a good idea to back up this data frequently in the event of listings accidentally being edited or deleted. You might edit your listings in an attempt to improve SEO and find that the previous version actually faired better in search results, and this way you can restore that listing.

You can use this file to quickly import all of your listings in to other shopping platforms.

Orders

For your orders you can download a list of the items you’ve sold, a list with details of each order, a report on Etsy Payment sales and a list of Etsy Payments deposits. For each option you can select the timescale that you wish to access. This will come in very handy when you are filing your paperwork.

Shop Settings

You can download a copy of all of your shop settings including your announcements and messages to buyers, so they can be restored when necessary.

Reviews

You can download a copy of all of your customer reviews. Go ahead and print them out for a scrapbook, you’ve earned it!

HOW TO

You can only download data on desktop by going to Settings > Options > Download Data and from there decide what you would like to download. The files will be saved to your computer and you can open your spreadsheet software to open the CSV (comma-separated values) files.

End of day 17

Make sure you keep a folder on your computer to store these files and regularly download updated versions. Customer details are downloaded as part of the order details so make sure you store this data securely. It is also important that you only use the data for the purposes for which the customer has given permission in accordance with your GDPR-compliant privacy policy which you definitely have in place now, right? Go back to Day 9 if you still need help https://etsyoverhaul.wordpress.com/2018/05/09/day-9-shop-policies/.

Day 10 – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

In Edit shop mode, you can add your own FAQ section. It is stated that your FAQs must not contradict either Etsy’s policies or your own policies, so carefully consider what you are going to include in your FAQs.

It’s best to avoid any details that are already stated in your policies, such as production and shipping estimates so that if you need to change your policies you won’t need to remember to change your FAQs. However, if you want to include these as questions you can direct the reader to the policies for the answer.

Frequently Asked Questions

 

When you are ready to add some FAQs, you can click the orange ‘Add an FAQ’ link in the ‘More information’ section while in Edit shop mode. There are 5 common questions that you can select from, or you can choose the custom option to type your own question.

Custom questions can be up to 300 characters, and all answers can be up to 750 characters so you have plenty of space to pack in all the relevant information. You can include up to 10 questions, so have a think about what will be useful to your customers, and if possible fill up all 10 slots.

FAQ Tips

• Your FAQ section is hidden until you begin to populate it, and then it appears both on your shop homepage, and at the bottom of your item pages.
• The date the section was last updated is displayed so keep revisiting your FAQs to show signs of an active shop.
• As with all of the text you type across your shop, bear in mind that search engines are indexing everything so make good use of your keywords in your FAQs for optimal exposure.

End of Day 10

We’re now almost a third of the way through our month-long challenge! Well done if you’ve made in this far – things are starting to take shape!

Day 6 – Shop Photos and Video

Today we are continuing to work on your shops About section. Once you have your shop headline and story filled in, you can then take a look at showing off your shop visually.

Shop Photos

You have the chance to display up to 5 photos of your shop. You can use these slots as you wish but I like to think of the winning formula as:

1. A photo of you, at work. What you look like when you’re in the throes of a busy day crafting.
2. A photo of your workspace. Preferably in a clean and organised state – even though it won’t stay like that for long!
3. A ‘before’ photo of your raw materials before you’ve begun.
4. A ‘during’ photo of some work in progress – a little bit of the behind the scenes as you are in the middle of making something amazing.
5. An ‘after’ photo of a finished product, styled beautifully.

These are just suggestions of course – you can also include photos that inspire you – your family or pets. You could also include a whole range of your products laid out, either in your workspace or at a craft fair etc.

If you are taking new photos, make sure you take them in landscape orientation as they will be cropped to 760 x 428 pixels so make sure you’ve enough space around the edges of all of your photos for cropping.

For each photo that you upload, you can add a caption up to 120 characters. As usual, try to use all of your keywords here to fill up the empty space.

Shop Video

You can also add a video for your shop to demonstrate your creative process to your visitors. You could make a slideshow of images if you prefer.

Without repeating too much of this list of ideas, you can read further advice here – help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000337707

HOW TO (mobile) – on the Sell on Etsy app, go to Settings > Shop Settings to enter Edit shop mode. You can upload your video and photos here.

END OF DAY 6

If you get a chance to take new photos today then get them updated with relevant captions!

If you have any comments or contributions to this post, just get in touch.

Day 5 – Shop Headline and Story

Your ‘About’ section may be seen by some of your visitors, and others won’t notice it or take the time to read it. In my opinion the main reason for taking some time to carefully consider your shop headline and shop story is search engine optimisation. The text you include will be picked up by search engines, and people searching the web for your particular craft can stumble across your shop by accident.

Shop Headline

Your shop headline can be up to 150 characters including spaces – so make sure you use them all! Fill it with your keywords and make it sound inviting to encourage visitors to read on. What makes your shop unique? Try to use broad terms as well as specific terms to describe what you make and sell.

Shop Story

You shop story can be up to 5000 characters. Ideally start at the beginning when you first attempted your craft, or describe what gave you the inspiration to set up your shop.

Discuss the milestones you’ve reached and the path you’ve taken to bring to where you are now. It’s up to you if you want to make your story personal or strictly professional – you can mention your family and a bit about your personal life – perhaps your childhood involves your introduction to the world of crafting – or just keep things on a need to know basis and chat about your creative life as an adult.

You can also describe your future plans for your shop; your hopes, ambitions and wildest fantasies – don’t be afraid to dream big!

Revisit you shop story every few months and update it with your latest conquests and achievements, and update your keywords to include any new products or ranges.

HOW TO (DESKTOP) : Go to the About section and click on the ‘Story’ tab etsy.com/your/shops/me/staff

HOW TO (MOBILE) : In the Sell on Etsy App, click on Settings > Shop Settings and scroll down to the About section. You can click in to add your headline and story separately.

 END OF DAY 5

You might be feeling a bit nostalgic thinking back to where it all began – or you might be feeling inspired thinking about where you are going and what the future of your shop holds. Plan your shop headline and story now – draft it out a few times to make sure you have your story straight and don’t leave any details out.

Let me know if you have any contributions or corrections for this post!