Hi all,
I opened my shop in October and it’s not getting much attention. The idea opening my shop in October was to get set up in time for Christmas. However, I was hoping to have a much bigger range by now but only having the weekend to shop, design and make, building up listed items has been much slower than anticipated .
Last week I only had 29 views, 11 yesterday. Not really sure whether there’s a typical ratio of views to sales? And how do you build up likes and shop favourites?
I would really appreciate your feedback. Do I just need more in my shop? Are my photos very poor? Is my pricing set too high? Are my products just not right? Help!
Hi, first off welcome to Folksy. 11 views in one day is not disastrous, many people are lucky to get 1! It takes a long time to get noticed on Folksy and a lot of hard work - you have to promote, promote, promote using social media, word of mouth, business cards at craft fairs, in local shops etc.
I’ve just been to have a look at your shop and I would agree that you need to increase the number of items - you need a selection for people to browse otherwise they will quickly move on to another shop. Also I notice some of your photos seem to have a bit of a colour cast to them and are a bit on the dull side and do not show your items at their best - try taking them in natural daylight (difficult at this time of year I know) or using some photo editing software to alter the white balance. Another point re photos is that Folksy crops photos square in previews and search results so some of your items have had bits chopped off them - try making sure your main photo is either cropped square before uploading or is taken so that when cropped the whole item is still visible.
Other than that your items look lovely and I don’t see any problem with your prices. Try to be patient and that first sale will come eventually - meanwhile don’t forget to promote and promote some more! Good Luck
Thank you Roz,
I think I underestimated the effort I would need to put in on on promoting/ social media, plus the time setting up good quality product images.
I very much appreciate you taking the time to look over my shop.
You need to use all your photo’s slots you have 5 for each listing. An overall photo of the whole item then maybe a close up, the back, the side etc etc.
You might want to think about what words or groups of words potential customers will put into a search box when looking for one of your items. Therefore you use not just one word but two and three word tags such as Christmas Bunting, Christmas decoration, Christmas garland, gold bunting or even red bunting.
And yes it’s a lot of time and hard work as there’s loads and loads of promoting to do.
Best to do 5minutes every night or be overwhelmed doing it all at once.
I agree with the comments about photos and lighting - for example in the photo of the bunting the lighting needs to be more neutral and for some of the cushions the white background needs to be brighter lighter and less creased.
Also take advantage of the 15 tags more in the listings description.
The main thing though is time and promotion via social media.
folksyhour on twitter is always full of great advice for improving your shop - it’s every tuesday at 8pm on twitter. I have learned a lot from that.
You only joined in october so haven’t been on here long so don’t worry - and best of luck with your shop.
I think everyone underestimates the amount of time and effort it takes to run an online shop until they try it… there is the making which you suddenly realise takes longer than you thought now you’re not just doing it for fun any more, and the photography, and the listing, and the promoting, and if all goes well the processing of orders and packing and trips to the post office and keeping up with the accounts…
It takes time to get established, to build the connections, for people to know that you’re here. Good luck!
I find Bunting really hard to photograph. So I settled on my own way now, seems to do OK. Tried hanging it, but you can’t see it so well. But as far as getting views and sales, you just have to keep plugging away at social media. Some work better than others. I did quite well with Instagram, but its gone pretty flat now.
It really helps to know I’m not completely getting it wrong, just need to keep improving images, making more, promoting and of course, remain positive!
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