Etsy - Marketing Tips

This is another hard one, because some of it just comes down to having a good sense of things. You can't teach that. But I'll try to help.

Today we are going to talk about the actual Etsy listings. Specifically, the pictures and the text.

(Sorry about the weird hugeness of this picture. I wanted you to be able to see it well.)

Pictures

The main picture is the most important. It's the one that shows up as the thumbnail when you're searching, and it's the very first impression that anyone will get of your product. It should look good in both thumbnail and large size. It should also be well taken. (More later.)

The side pictures, while not as critical, are still important. Don't just load one or two. Use all five slots every time. People are buying this online. They won't make the purchase unless they're convinced by the listing that it's something they'll like when they handle it in real life. The best way to do that is to give as many pictures as possible. 

The hardest part about a post on pictures is teaching what's good and what's not. If you don't know anything about photography, you won't notice little things that make all the difference to someone else. 

I'm certainly no expert, but I've lived with several photographers in my various apartments. So I consider myself a professional amateur. In other words, I have no idea what I'm doing in terms of real art. I couldn't even take someone's bridal pics without making a mess of it. 

BUT

I do know just enough to give me an edge when we're talking about regular every day people. 

I'm going to give some good examples and some bad examples. I'll try to explain them a little, but I'm afraid a lot of this will be up to you, since it's mainly a visual thing.

2 Disclaimers:

- These are my pics, but I usually delete the worst of the worst, so I don't have any really excellent personal examples of terrible things. We're going to have to make due with semi-terrible examples. 

- This isn't a "how to make professional pictures" course. Remember that cool black backgrounded hallows pic from yesterday? Yeah, that's not what we're doing. My point is to give a few tips to people who don't have a studio and a 500 dollar camera. So every time I say "good" I mean perfectly decent for the average person.

Good. Reasons: It looks good as a thumbnail, the colors are bright but natural, and it very clearly shows exactly what the purchaser will get.

Bad. Reason: weird shadows. People very frequently forget to check for weird shadows. 

Good. Reasons: Framing. (Mostly. Admittedly it isn't perfect, but it's pretty good.) All of the things in this picture are cut off at some point, but they're in it at angles and in positions that make it look nice instead of "whoops, I zoomed in too far."

Bad. Reasons: All sorts of washed out. The flash was too close, so it smothered everything with bright light. You can't see any of the details because it's just too... whited out. 

Bad. Reason: Blurry. Yes, it's only very slightly blurry. You can't even really tell when the picture is small. So no biggie, right? Most people won't notice it. Well, they won't ... not outright anyway. But they will notice that something seems weird. It's hard to look at it. People don't like to buy things from blurry pictures. It turns them off and doesn't give your work a chance to shine. Blurry pictures are the worst kind. And slightly blurry pictures are the biggest problem within that category.

Bad. Reason: Too dark. When there's not enough lighting, it's just as bad as when the flash washes it out. You can't see the details and the colors the way they need to be. 

Good. Reason: Because interesting things are going on. It's not just a straight shot of the bookmark on a boring solid background. It's being shown in use, with other related objects around it to set a scene. 

Well, I think that's the best we can do with the pictures. I hope it helped a little.

Text

This text part is going to be much easier. I only have a few tips here which I think will cover everything important. 

First, the title. 

It has to be descriptive enough to interest people, but short, sweet, and easy enough to be quickly taken in. 

12 3/4" Bellatrix Lestrange Wand

That is a good title. Tells you exactly what you get without verbosity. Or

12" Harry Potter Wand - Leather Grip

Again, gives us an idea and showcases one of the interesting features, but doesn't over-do it. 

What would be a bad title?

Gorgeous wand of approximately 12 inches in the style of that used by Bellatrix Lestrange in the Harry Potter movies

This is a real one that I just got off of etsy at random:

Love Bracelet : Dear Diary... Original Silver Handwritten Cursive Wire LOVE Bracelet with Brown Cotton Cord, Adjustable Closure, Crimp Beads

Bad, bad, bad. Why? 

A) Too dang long. People don't want to have to wade through bad prose or lengthy discourses just to see what objects are for sale. (With the one I snatched from etsy, I had to try three times just to read it all the way through. I kept wandering off.) 

The title is not the place for tag lines, witty hooks, or sealing the deal on the purchase. They just have to catch your eye (quickly and easily) and spark your interest.

B) Again with the search engines. People aren't going to type gorgeous wand into the box. The more clear and specific you are, the better the chance that their keywords will catch your product. 

These are common problems with the description as well. 

Now, I have read a few blogs and etsy help pages that tell you to flower it up in your item description. After all, it is a sales pitch. This is where you want to give all the information that a person will need to decide whether to buy your product. 

But honestly, I'm gonna go with a 'don't do it' on this one. Just don't. When you get all prosey, it makes you sound like those radio commercials for Kay Jewellers or something. And no one listens to those. It also makes you sound pretentious. 

(Real from etsy) Example:

Deep deep red and beautifully faceted quartz gemstones
sit on matte silver rings and hang from sterling silver hoops. The 
gemstones measure 12 x 13 mm and have a timeless appeal to them 
and make a perfect Valentine's Day gift......

A) She needed to back off on her ellipses a little. Also the run-on sentence.

B) When I am considering buying something, I just want to know what it is, how big it is, what it's made of, etc. It's harder to find that stuff when it's encased in timeless appeals and beautiful facets. If the facets really are beautiful, I can tell from the picture. You don't need to remind me, in case I forgot in the 3 seconds since I was just looking at it. 

I personally do a list with a short catch line. (See picture above.)

Yeah, I know. It's not very artsy. But it gets all the information there in an easy list, and allows people more time to look at the pictures, and less time deciphering what I mean by deep deep red. (As opposed to just deep red, which is different apparently). 

Having a list instead of prose will not lose you any sales. Most people won't decide not to buy your product based solely on the lack of fancy wording. However, having unintelligible prose might actually drive customers away. They won't buy what they can't understand. 

Well, that's all I've got for now. If anyone has any more etsy questions, feel free to ask. (I can't guarantee that I'll know the answer, but you certainly are welcome to ask anyway.)