It would help if you also included my reply to your cross-posted question so people can see that I answered the question(s) and comments you raised yesterday. Here was my last response to your last question / comment:
"Hi Witty Dawn,
We do consult with sellers and - as we have said - on this occasion we didn’t because we did not appreciate it would be a significant issue (there are links to other pages all over the product page) and thought we would move straight to test. With hindsight we would have communicated and consulted on it. Consultation with shopkeepers (and through channels like suggested features) has led to a range of releases (including: discount codes, improved shop pages, better product pages (larger images etc) and a simpler listing process) and will hopefully continue to.
Thanks,
James."
This forum itself - which comes at considerable cost - was also a result of seller consultation (and I’m sure there’s a joke about that somewhere).
Whilst emotions can run high when people feel unhappy about certain decisions please try and refrain from making general accusations as you could potentially bring Folksy into disrepute, which on a public forum viewable by buyers as well as sellers would not be acceptable.
but also bear in mind… happier sellers that feel engaged and valued by their marketplace promote and list a good deal more enthusiatically than those who feel ignored and uninvolved.
If the forum comes at considerable cost, why did we move? I know that we can post pictures easier, but other than that I can’t see why this new forum is so much better as I got along with the old one just fine. Just wondering.
I would like to apologise to anyone who was offended or upset by my comment yesterday that was flagged and removed. Not even really sure what can be said or not now now so will keep my opinions to myself.
I agree Dawn, but I do also think that it matters more when sales are low. I know from my own experience that when I’m selling well, I don’t worry too much about feeling engaged and valued, I’m just happy to be selling. When buyers are thin on the ground, these frustrations and feelings seem to have much more importance to me, and I get quite irritated by the site problems and apparent lack of care about my own shop issues. I suppose we all want the same thing - more buyers, more sales - but Folksy’s focus is on the site while ours is on our shops.
Dottie, I read your post and I have absolutely no idea why anyone would flag it up, but it does seem to be happening a lot more often these days. It does feel a bit like Big Brother is certainly watching over us at the moment - and he’s very touchy apparently.
Thanks James,
I am quite happy that Folksy is secure (otherwise I wouldn’t be on here ) But I am concerned about perceptions. If a potential customer sees a screen full of green flagged sites they could go to instead, why should they “take a risk” and come here? I’ve got no idea if it’s an easy tweak or asking for the moon though, sorry.
I’m afraid I have never used google’s keyword planner tool either. It will probably say that we should all be selling mobile phones or printing ink cartridges! I can only go by what I would search for, and I would never type in “gift” because absolutely anything can be a gift. I would type in “hand spun wool”, or “craft bag” for my sister, “card making supplies” for my niece, or find an online craft shop before searching.
Do you try to target Folksy towards the google planner popular searches, or do you try to improve the hits on what is for sale on Folksy?
Fair point about security. I’d rather it wasn’t flagged as a grey site and I’ll look into it. In our browser and security tests to date we’ve passed all the tests (we did have period earlier in the year where some browsers flagged up as insecure due to the way we handled the image service but it was brief). But I think this issue relates to software people buy to provide extra security - e.g. Norton - rather than browsers.
Re: search: I didn’t mean people would type in gift, rather that people search for gifts (for themselves or others) and these could be things like “door stop” “glasses case” etc. Supplies are a bit different and you’re right to suggest the examples you do. Interestingly Folksy doesn’t have any control over how product or shop pages rank - it depends on a few things: how well you describe your item or shop (this goes into the metatags on the page which google looks for); how many other web documents point to your page / document (which is why promotion works - blog posts etc etc); and finally the competition for that term - you may be one amongst millions or one amongst a hundred and that will affect your position too. We do have control over category pages and gift guides and how they rank and we work hard to make sure they rank well but some do perform better than others for reasons above. Handmade cards is consistently in the top 1-3 in Google for example.
It’s worth having a play with Google keyword planner if only to see what other people search for and to get a sense of how they might find what you are selling (and how many people search for that kind of thing). Good market research!
) But I am concerned about perceptions. If a potential customer sees a screen full of green flagged sites they could go to instead, why should they “take a risk” and come here? I’ve got no idea if it’s an easy tweak or asking for the moon though, sorry.