Updates to the Homepage

This week we are making some more improvements to the homepage, which will include the removal of the community-curated Pinterest boards.

We know that some of you will find this upsetting and so we’ve written a blog post about the changes and the reasoning behind our decisions here:

We’re really sad to see the Pinterest boards go from the front page too, but unfortunately we’re just not getting enough submissions and the boards that are published are not being clicked on or converted to sales. The good news is that the space will be replaced with a panel of recently listed items.

However, we really love seeing your boards and we know that many of you enjoy curating content. If we can get more people involved in curating Pinterest boards (or themed collections of items on Folksy on another platform), we’d like to re-introduce them somehow. So if you have any ideas for how we could use Pinterest or other platforms in a different or better way, and get more people within the community involved in curating, please leave your suggestions here.

In the meantime, please do keep curating boards and submit them using the same link http://folksy.it/yourhomepage - we will continue to tweet our favourites and include them in the Folksy Weekly newsletter.

2 Likes

Never against trying something new but I am hoping that the panel of recently listed items will include only genuine recently listed and not re-lists as currently on the unsigned in FP as I think when shops re list vast quantities of items in one go it does rather clog up the list. I personally would love to browse the recently listed but in the past have given up when the first few pages are just items from one shop. I’m as guilty as the next person of re listing in blocks (although rarely more than about 20 items at a time) but just don’t like the idea that these would dominate the listings.

11 Likes

I’ll be sad to see the Pinterest boards go. I used to do a few, but forgot my Pinterest password and couldn’t get back on so I got out of the habit. It was a chance for everyone to be included, which will be missed.

I’ll be sad to see Pinterest boards go too. I quite enjoyed the ones I did. However I have to admit there are quite a few days I forget to scroll down the homepage and view what’s there and wonder if this is why it doesn’t get much interaction?

PS How do I get any of my makes in a Gift Guide?

Aww… I really enjoy curating Pinterest boards from Folksy - and it’s been exciting when mine (or one of my items) have been on the front page. I do hope we can get this going again some time soon (I’ll have a think about what we could do to encourage participation).

I also hope there will be a way to prevent the “Recently Listed” list being filled by just one shop. I still feel that we need a limit on the number of items listed at any one time, as many people still re-list their entire shop stock at once. That was the real problem with the old “Recently Listed” and I’ll be sad if the problem is still there with the new setup.
Unlike some folks, I don’t think it needs to be restricted to only New listings, but we do need some kind of curb on listing large numbers of items all at the same time (or something that only picks up the first X number from each shop for the Front Page list, perhaps?).

Anyway, thanks for your efforts to keep things going smoothly.

Lizzie

4 Likes

I must admit I lost interest in curating them , when they got moved down the page and reduced to 2 lines ,they seemed a bit unnecessary when the smorgasbord was the main focus. Many folk don’t spend the time to sit and scroll.
When they were the main front page, quite a few of the items on the boards seemed to sell.

I think it would be good if we could offer items for consideration for the gift guides within Folksy if we have or see something that is appropriate . These seem to be very biased towards the shops that are already on the curators radar.

6 Likes

Good point @Rozcraftz and @LizzieMade recently listed will initially be all re-lists but this is something we’ll be looking at changing asap. The issue is slightly more complex (as you note @lizziemade) because some re-listings are genuine. If an item hasn’t sold after the listing period then it feels right to still see that item in recently listed. What we want to move away from is items being constantly re-listed.

6 Likes

Gift Guides are currently editorially curated. However, we want to find ways for sellers to curate content that can be promoted. Do chip in with any suggestions…

How about we nominate items for gift guides like we did for Pinterest Boards?

Without knowing what puts people off curating the Pinterest boards in the first place it’s hard to say what would be a better way. As a place to curate images I think it’s a great platform and very easy to use. I’d have been happy to do more!

Hopefully some other Folksy sellers will comment and give some feedback too. I shall ponder whilst doing the weekly shop this afternoon!

1 Like

I am sad too to lose the curated boards I love making them and having a look around other shops discovering and buying from other sellers. Lack of clicks and conversions may also be down to the fact that they are not seen by all prospective customers as surely guest buyers won’t get to see them.

Gill

3 Likes

I should add that out of the boards I’ve done I’ve had a few re-pins from people, so it’s def worth doing for promoting Folksy and our lovely makes. [@JamesB do you know if there are many hits coming from Pinterest from boards we’ve curated?]

Perhaps the curated Pinterest boards just need to be more visible on the front page rather than scrolling to the bottom?

2 Likes

Be fine as long as its not always the same stuff being shown, all the time!! I go check on the off chance I will be there, nope, but just the same stuff all the time, makes no sense?

I like the idea to be able to suggest items for the gift guides. What put me off before is that it took quite a lot of work to create a whole board myself and find enough items to add on the same theme. But if I could contribute just one or two as I find them I’d be more inclined to take part. Maybe use the group boards feature on pinterest? Then Folksy could pick their favourites to actually feature in the gift guide on Folksy.

5 Likes

I submitted a few Pinterest boards, but never was chosen so I got a bit disheartened and stopped. They are time consuming to do a really good job on.

I’m thinking maybe a Board of the Week with a theme, that we could all pin to with a couple of items, one of our own and one of somebody else’s perhaps? That would surely produce more content. Still no good if people are not seeing it hidden away at the bottom though, I do think it should be visible on the unsigned in page. Probably not workable, just thinking aloud really.

3 Likes

I must admit, like Deborah, I lost interest in submitting Pinterest boards when it got moved down to the bottom. I also noticed that when something of mine was featured, it didn’t get the views that it used to when it was on the only Folksy page, not just the signed in page. Maybe the majority of people (buyers) don’t sign in, so don’t see the Pinterest page at all, which would explain the lack of sales from it? Is there still a need for a signed in and not signed in page, could we go back to just having one?
As for re-listing, could it be limited to 5 at a time?

1 Like

I do think it is most important that you retain a section on the Front page which is not editorially curated. Is there any way to have a Pinterest board where we could all select our favourites, on the same way that admin select theirs, with the proviso that we must limit our selections.

I do miss the Pinterest board already. I (used to ) sign into the front page every day just to see it.

2 Likes

I think the idea of a ‘themed’ Board of the Week, as suggested by NightOwlCreative, where we can pin things we like from our own and other boards is a brilliant idea as long as it gets seen by visitors to Folksy as well. May entice the casual looker to visit shops tucked away!
Feasible?

3 Likes

I also think we should have some items featured from us, the sellers. Items we find here on Folksy. Like…‘Recommended by Folksy sellers this week’…kind of thing.

Not everyone uses Pinterest (or social media much) for promotion so some of us might not be found on Pinterest.

1 Like

I see Folksy have changed the home page already. All of the new listings were from one shop nothing new there then. New listings from my favourite shops were 90% the same seller which happened to be the same seller as newly listed so I saw the same things twice.
Until some of the things on the front page are picked/curated by sellers themselves not Folksy it holds no interest for me and also until all buyers get to see it conversion/click rates are unlikely to increase.

Gill