So here’s the stitch. I love Folksy, really I do! I stopped listing because I stopped selling. From a few sales a week to a few a year. From being found on Google with my shop here to vanishing…
But… I was just doing a searching game for what I sell and some of my Folksy previously listed books rank really high in the search. Things that were listed in 2011/2012 featuring higher than things in my active shops (which are fairly busy)
Which brings me to my question really…how are you with active shops doing at being found via google! I know that you can drive your own traffic here etc but there are limitations with that, are you being found by a casual passer by looking to buy something from an unknown source?
The google thing has really enticed me to give my shop on here another go! Would welcome your experience/opinions! Thanks
I know when you search Google it will bring things to the top that it knows you have searched for in the past or may like, so giving the wrong impression, compared to what other people might find when they search for the same term.
I know you can use Google analytics, but it’s a bit confusing to me, I really need to spend some time understanding how it works.
I hope you start making more sales. I’m really trying to sort out my Folksy shop at the moment, because 1 sale since Xmas doesn’t help pay the bills!!
Not sure Folksy is going to like my answer.
You know about my fordite jewellery and there aren’t many people world wide working with it so I should do pretty well in the google searches you’d think so I went looking… Like you I’m finding listings from a few years back but unless I’m putting pretty much the exact listing title into google the current listings aren’t being found, if I search ‘sterling silver fordite cufflinks’ even though I have 6 pairs listed in my shop (with those words in the title and description and tags) it is finding 2 of my old (sold) pairs - couldn’t find the current stock listings at all and they didn’t show up in the google shopping PLAs that we are supposed to have. (but there are plenty of links to pinterest pages with them on showing up and they are there in google images) Searching for the earrings and pendants produced similar (lack of) results. It is as if my current shop is invisible (but not the version from about 2 years ago) which might explain why this spring has been my worst online to date.
I know I have had people find my work via google search in the past and I have had people contact me about making similar items to sold out ones that they have found via pinterest or google but it is putting extra hurdles up compared to them being shown the available items in the first place.
Edited to add - I regularly clear my internet history/ cache/cookies so that it forgets what I’ve been looking for in the past to reduce the bias of it knowing that I’m looking for my own items.
I seem to remember someone saying that it takes around 30 days for SEO changes to show up in searches. I know that doesn’t explain results from years back! But if you do make changes to tags and titles you need to give it a while before you see results (or not as the case may be!)
That is really interesting Sasha, something is obviously a bit disconnected. When I sold well on here - like a few sales a week - lots of my custom was direct from google searches.
Thank you for taking the time to have a look on google searches for your work
Hi Sasha - I’m on the ferry so had a bit of time to kill (!) and I googled Fordite jewellery uk. Your folksy shop came up 7th - 5 other uk jewellers came up first (two of which were Etsy) and the other 3 were individual websites shops. There was one newspaper article on fordite with made it 6 listings. So good result I thought.
In the early days, it was reasonably possible to manipulate data or websites to get listed highly. Nowadays, though, that google algorithm is so complex and sophisticated that it knows, I suspect, that you have a fordite biz (even if you delete your browsing history and delete caches etc regularly) probably because there are so many apps out there that talk to each other and leave those little breadcrumbs there waiting for google to make decisions based on them. I honestly believe there is no such thing as being able to delete a browsing history these days.
I think the key to being top of natural search is 1) have a unique product description that people use, 2) being on a high traffic site than other people using that search term and 3) using some form of paid search to drive traffic and influence how people get to you. You have def got numbers 1 and 2 sorted, hence you are on the first page, which is great news.
Most people are never going to be on page 1 of search because there are so many other people making what they make, or using the same descriptions to search for an alternative result eg for my products, if i use fabric in my search enquiry then I just get manufacturers of fabric designs, so even if I search for ‘fabric beach hut picture’ I’d probably end up with loads of beach hut fabrics and no artworks!
So my personal view is that I can’t ever drive direct traffic to my shop unless I pay for some search. So my business cannot operate purely online, no matter how much I would love it to… I get online sales from Folksys traffic and from the people that come across my work at exhibitions or craft shows.
Anyhow, sorry to ramble but ferry now a bit rough so signing off lol!
Thank you and I hope your googling on my behalf isn’t going to trigger any seasickness. I ran the same search as you and got different results - I’m still on the first page but it isn’t my folksy shop it’s my fordite portfolio on a local artists group website (which does link through to my folksy shop), I guess google knows roughly where I live then and is showing me things in my area. (wonder what google makes of my spotify playlists?) I think I shall stop trying to understand it, except that it is what it is and go back to polishing (a piece of fordite from ford’s mustang production line in the 90’s as it happens).
Enjoy the rest of the ferry ride.
Sasha
I think a general understanding of how search works is essential but I don’t think it’s possible to plan for a consistent result because I do believe google now has the capability to give everyone a unique result based on their online footprint.
I keep wondering whether to invest in some online paid search but I haven’t taken the plunge yet. If I thought it would work I would, but I don’t want to waste money. But if I don’t take the plunge I’ll never find out - catch 22!
I think you are right Heidi - I just got my Son to do the same search on his PC and it came up with different results, so even if you paid it would be very hard to see if it was working as it seems to give you what you want to see!
It’s so hard working all this stuff out isn’t it?! I wouldn’t mind paying, but I’d have to be sure it worked and at least got me in front of potential buyers! If they then didn’t buy, that’s fine, I know I have to work on other things eg subjects etc but at least I’d have people looking at my shop!
I just googled for “fused glass ring dish” and was quite pleased to come up 9th - directly to my fused glass collection rather than a single dish.
A search for “stained glass unicorn suncatcher” came up 9th again but brought up a previous unicorn which I listed last September and of course it shows as not available… which is a shame as I actually now have two different coloured versions.
Of course I always make new listings via Copy rather than doing a relist when I list a new make.
Reason being, if I relist then the photo of the one I just sold changes to become the one currently on offer. As one of my USPs is that everything I make is unique that doesn’t work for me at all and I do like to be able to go through my sold things to see the exact piece I sold not just something similar.
Oh well, I give up and people do seem to find my stuff. My stats show a lot of views comes from Google so must have something right.
Hope this means you are starting up on here again @dottiedesigns ??
Thanks Joy and that’s interesting regarding the copy rather than relist which is something I always did so that the url would remain active if it was being found by google?
Maybe is the answer Joy! I sell really well over there - more sales a week than during the last year I was active on Folksy but there has been a shift change with 60% of sales now to UK customers, nearly 30% of them land at me via google so on the premise that my old Folksy stock was showing on google I would rather they landed here (as I love Folksy) although over there is OK (pays the bills!) x
I just can’t bring myself to sell to the USA. I do if someone asks specifically but I hear / read so many stories from Etsy of people saying parcels haven’t arrived even though they are signed for , are too late before they’ve had a chance to get there or just want to send them back - all things which I just don’t encounter with my lovely UK customers. Can’t be bothered with the hassle. If I get an overseas enquiry then I set the postage accordingly but otherwise I stick to the UK.
Another big big plus for me on Folksy of course is the Plus account option. I can list as and when I please without having to work out how much it is costing me. I don’t need to bother if something has been in my shop for a year and without Plus would already have cost several 4 month listing fees. It’s definitely a Plus plus for me… and another reason I wouldn’t move to the DarkSide unless something pretty awful happened over here.
(Large hint to Folksy - advertise that Plus account… The Dark side doesn’t do it !)
I don’t actually have any problems selling to the US and always used tracked & signed for. I did have a scary Japan order where I cut and pasted the address & crossed my fingers! I do think the Plus Acc is good although over there you can get 40 free listings if you entice someone else to join, which I continually do via BC Twitter so last paid for a listing in about 2013
Me neither, and I generally send standard delivery unless they ask for tracked. I did have a heart failure at having to send to Italy once because i’d read that their post system was a complete lottery as to whether things get there or not, but it was fine. I think you’ll always find the bad news stories on international shipping. It wouldn’t be often that someone would start a thread raving about all the perfect deliveries they’ve had. The thing with the bad news stories is you don’t know how well things have been packed, or labelled. I use Royal Mail for all my deliveries, UK and international, and I couldn’t be happier with them. I make sure my labels are clear and stuck on well, I check the address and make sure it’s a full address, and my parcels get to where they need to be. And I find my international customers are just as lovely as my UK ones
As for the Google searching, I thought just out of interest, as I hadn’t done it for ages, I’d have a go and see what came up for ‘mosaic bird bath’. I got me and I also got the blinking cheeky woman who has got a remarkably similar (some would say too remarkably similar) design to one of my very first designs that was a best seller. Thankfully I have moved on from that design as I had the train of thought to do it and I’ve adapted and got more complicated. She seems to be a bit stuck with where to go next with things and that design is still about it for her. Doesn’t pay to not have original thoughts in the end. And now I remember why I don’t check Google for seaches, I try not to look at other mosaic so I don’t get influenced and I keep my own style. I think I’ll stick to using Analytics and the stats on the Dark Side to find out where my customers are coming from
Unfortunately it takes time for your goods to appear on google search engine. They have changed their way of doing things and you have to keep up with what the criteria is for being found on google. You need to make yourself aware of whats required, a good start being Google Webmaster https://www.google.com/webmasters/#?modal_active=none also sign up for google analytics if you have a web presence
