This Isn’t About Promotion…
This is about doing all that you can do to maximize the appeal of your items for search engines and shoppers. There are four components in each listing that sellers have complete control over and that must be optimized in order to convert a shopper to a buyer.
From an organic search results perspective, item titles, descriptions and tags are of primary importance. Well chosen keywords and phrases that accurately describe the item must be included if you expect the item to be found in a search. What you don’t want to do is include keywords that are irrelevant to the item in an attempt to bring in more visitors. This is one form of keyword spamming and is almost guaranteed to turn people away permanently. If you use the “Copy this listing” feature, be careful to edit the title and description to make them significantly different from the original. Remove tags that are irrelevant and replace them with appropriate descriptors. For more information, read No Sales? Hmmm… Part 1 Your Shop, SEO 103: Item Titles and Descriptions, What’s In A Name?, Tagging Revisited, The Zibbet Tag Game and Tag! You’re It!
I can’t stress enough the importance of presenting high quality images. Your title, description and tags cause an item to be found. However, I believe that it’s the images that lead to the item being sold. When I’m shopping, I look at the photos before I read the description. I only invest time in reading if I like what I see. If I see poor quality images it causes me to question the quality of the item itself. I won’t purchase a poorly presented product. Will you? For helpful tips on improving photos, read Tips for Improving Your Photographs, Image Editing Tips and Digitally Speaking.
The quality of your products will most often be revealed by the quality of your photographs and your descriptions. Feedback and repeat customers also say a lot about your products. But quality control starts with you. Knowing the product inside and out, ask yourself this question before listing: Based on quality, would I purchase this product? If your answer is no, then back away from your computer and place the item in your component recycling bin. Although having a full shop is important, be extra careful not to sacrifice quality for quantity!
Probably the most challenging aspect of selling is determining the right price for the item. Finding that “sweet spot” involves both art and science. As I wrote in No Sales? Hmmm…Part 4 Putting It All Together, many factors have to be considered when pricing an item. When pricing my jewelry, I use a forumula that takes into account the cost of materials, my time, overhead and desired profit margin. My spreadsheet generates both wholesale and retail prices. I evaluate the calculated retail price based on my competition and what I think the market will bear and adjust the price accordingly. Whatever method you use, make sure that there is a logical and realistic reason to back it up. For help with pricing, take a look at “Sweet Spot” Pricing Research: Too Much, Reasonable, Bargain and Steal, How to Find the Pricing Sweet Spot, and How to Price Your Handmade Goods - Items.
Please share your thoughts on item presentations that sell!
Best wishes for much success on Zibbet!
Zibbet Wristlet Key Fob by PaperOnParade on Zibbet
Vicki is committed to assisting her fellow Zibbeters improve their shops for successful online selling. She is the owner of three Zibbet shops: LOC Design Studio, Denim and Pearls and A Stitch and a Prayer. You can follow Vicki on Twitter and through her LOC Design Studio blog.
Tags: Images, Item Descripton, Item Titles, Keywords, Photographs, Pricing Your Work, Quality, search, SEO, Success on Zibbet, tags, This Isn't About Promotion
Great information! For the SEO, the description and tagging are critical! For browsing clients, photos will motivate them to linger in your shop or not. And we all know what the eye sees, the heart desires:)
Thank you for including the Zibbet key fob!
Nice article Vicki.
Judy
Great article Vicki. Keep up the great job of writing so we can all keep learning.
Lori
Thanks Vicki! You present your items beautifully in all your shops.
I personally like to keep things simple, but that’s because it’s part of my personality.
I have difficulty capturing the true color of some of the gems I work with; for example, Botswana agate and turquoise. To get the true colors I play with the brightness and contrast and color settings on my desktop picture manager when editing my pictures. I sometimes have to get creative with my backgrounds. I have discovered that if I choose a contrasting background but with a similar color as the gemstone the colors show up perfectly and the picture won’t require editing except for making it a little brighter. Here is an example of what I mean http://www.zibbet.com/HannahsGems/artwork?artworkId=387570.
I wrote an essay for school quite like your article just last week.
Vicki, SO true on all counts! I’m exactly like you when it comes to a purchase: I won’t invest the time to read about the item if I don’t like the picture. There’s just something about those photos that has to appeal - sort of like walking through any store. You can walk through a store all day long and see everything in there, but there are only a certain few items that will make you stop and find out more. Same here and that “stop factor” online starts with appealing photos.
All this is so true! With respect to photos - not that I’m an expert by any means but I see SO many low quality pictures on Zibbet. Improving our photos (which I’m constantly doing) will help us all out, making the overall appearance of Zibbet look more appealing. Other than the design/creation of the product itself, it should be the one area we spend the most time on when listing our items. I kind of like how ETSY lists “handpicked” items from shops. This keeps the front page looking very trendy and it raises the bar for those who want to get that sweet spot on the front page.
Great article Vicki. Pricing has given me a hard way to go, and I have been involved in a discussion about some of the issues cited in this article regarding underpricing handmade goods and talents.
Thanks for sharing!
Kathleen
Sometimes when I look at some sewn items I think “how are they making any sort of profit?” I think sometimes people JUST think about making a profit on the materials used, not the hours it took to sew/create it.
Excellent points about difficult issues. Thanks for your insight and congrats on your new position.
Thank you, Vicki, for sharing so much valuable information with all of us - and how fortuitous of Jonathan and Jess to make you part of the Support Staff, wise move on their part! Congratulations!
Excellent advice.
Thanks for the article! Great input!
Thanks for sharing! Very great advice!
I always learn from you, Vicki. And ditto what Carolyn said - congratulations on becoming part of the Zibbet Support Team.
Thanks everyone for the positive feedback and for the well wishes! I look forward to continuing to share helpful information here through Success on Zibbet as well as through my new role as a member of the Zibbet Support Team.
Best wishes for much success on Zibbet!
Vicki