Tuesday, August 27, 2013

In case you missed it: Many new Features!


In case you've missed the news lately, Etsy has rolled out a number of updates and new features to your selling and buying experience.

Feedback is rolling over to a 5-star system with new ways to edit and resolve feedback issues with buyers.

Item listings have a whole new look with more information.

New Shop Dashboard helps you manage your shop with stats and orders status at a glance.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Tutorial: Google Keyword Tool


How to Use the Free Google Keyword Tool

I get a lot of people asking how to use the Google Keywords Tool to do keyword research for their shops, so I threw together a quick tutorial with screenshots for those who find it too intimidating.

The Google Keyword Tool is found here: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

The tool does several things:
1)    tells you how many people search a specific term each month on Google
2)    tells you how much competition there is for the phrase from people buying Google Adwords.
3)    gives you other related terms that you might not have thought of using


Load the Tool, and start filling out your first search keywords. It will look like this (click to see image larger):




1)    enter your main search term
2)    click the “x” to change the search options to worldwide instead of your country
3)    enter the “captcha” letters (those weird words in black) into the box
4)    click “Search”


Then you will see this (click to see image larger):




 
 What does this mean? First, the top result shows you that 880 people do searches on Google every month that include the words “abalone earrings”. The keywords beneath are Google’s suggestions, some of which will be completely irrelevant for your item, but others will give you new ideas & info.

Do a quick skim through to get more keyword ideas to try, and then unclick the “Broad” search box on the top left, & click the “[Exact]” box (see the arrow on the left, above). This will tell you how many type the exact search you are researching every month. Clicking “Exact” is a key step, or you may end up choosing keywords that aren’t very popular by themselves & are therefore not particularly useful.



When you click “[Exact]” you will see:




[Exact] match tells you that 210 people search “abalone earrings” on Google each month, and that there is high competition for the phrase (as opposed to Medium or Low competition), in terms of paid Google ads.


Clicking on the blue keyword links on each line will give you several options including “Google Search” which takes you to a Google search for that term, so you can see what is currently ranking on the search pages. There is also a link to “Exclude term” if it is useless to you & you want more relevant results, & one to show more phrases similar to the one you click on – very useful!



Take note of all of the good keywords you see (there can be up to 100) then enter another term to get more suggestions. Keep doing this until you have a full list of keywords that describe your items. Now you are ready to optimize one listing, several similar listings, or even a whole website!

There are a few other things you can do with this tool; here are a couple of more advanced tutorials including different aspects of it:





But to do basic Etsy keyword research, using the above tips & also checking the suggested searches on Etsy, you don’t need to get too complicated, so only click on those links if you have mastered the basics and are looking for more advanced ideas  

Post by Cindy.  Cindy is the co-captain of the SASsy Mentors team and an SEO expert.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

USPS Announcement

Important news for Etsy Sellers:  The USPS announced today that there will be a change to mail delivery services starting in August.
You can read the full press release here: Press Release
Or the quick fact sheet here: Fact Sheet
images courtesy USPS website

Monday, February 4, 2013

What do YOU want to know?


We are working on putting together a list of blog topics for the next few months and we would love to have your input!  What would you like to see here?

  • Is there a particular topic you would like help with?
  • What questions would you like us to answer?
  • I would really love a tutorial to show me how to do _________________.
  • I need more resources for learning __________________.
Please leave a comment and let us know.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Shipping Rates go up January 27


If you haven't heard, shipping rates for most package services with USPS are going up on January 27.  Most services have a pretty small increase, but some of the international rates have almost doubled!  If you ship internationally, you should probably be prepared to do some updates.  Check out this handy summary from Etsy or see the new chart from USPS.