Wow, interesting reading Melanie. You can see how search engine views plummeted in the last 3 months of 2013 (when beta started?) and only began to pick up again in April this year. Also interesting is the fact that the main keyword that brings people here is ‘Folksy’ - so, if they’ve never heard of the site, they’re probably not going to find us!
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I don’t get many views, but since the front page was changed, I get even less! Here’s the strange thing, since signing up to Facebook and Twitter and trying to promote (which I don’t find easy) I have had no sales at all! Unfortunately I upgraded to Plus just before the front page change, I had started to get more views, but the last week or so my shop has been like a ghost town - ok for Halloween I guess, but not much else! I am feeling more than a little disheartened, as I did sell things before.
That does make interesting reading Beledien Handmade, can see now why views and sales have dropped dramatically.
@Beledien Thanks for sharing that link - it explains a lot I think! You can dress up stats/sales/visitors etc but those numbers are facts!
Oh my - look! Right at the bottom of the page
Hello,
The webarchive data is just the amount of time the site is crawled so is not particularly relevant. The Alexa data is more interesting. Alexa is a proxy - a ‘rough’ estimate based on people with the installed software viewing sites and has a strong US skew. It does however show a decline in google organic search - which we have also seen in the last 12mths, mainly from a drop back in Sept 2013. This decline predated the beta work and doesn’t seem to be related to any significant google releases (see http://moz.com/google-algorithm-change). What needs to be understood, however, is the type of effect it has had. Here are things we need to consider:
A. Search performance is not a blanket metric. We are performing as well and sometimes much better for some searches.
B. We are getting lower bounce rates (the rate at which people leave after just looking at one page - traditionally a measure of engagement and relevancy) and more engaged buyers - so the people coming from search are actually better customers. This means Google’s search is working! Sales are also up year-on-year so people coming to Folksy are converting into buyers rather than looking.
C. Google shopping appears to be becoming more significant. We are trialing this soon to see what impact it will have though it is a costed service so we have to make sure it provides a return on investment (in our case the 6% - less processing fees - we get for each sale OR the lifetime customer value we get from a customer).
D. Social discovery is becoming far more important and starting to challenge organic search. People are coming to Folksy via Facebook, Pinterest and - to a lesser extent - Twitter and other platforms. So, Google is losing its monopoly and we are seeing a more rounded ‘acquisition’ of customers that is less reliant on Google.
Updates:
We have recently changed all product pages to be https which should improve product page rankings (Google seems to prefer https over http).
What does this mean for you? The same as it always has really:
- Be descriptive in your titles - but don’t put lots of keywords in. If you are selling a red leather purse then say “handmade red leather purse” etc
- Link to your work and do interesting things that would make others want to link to your work. This creates “search value” and makes your product / page more relevant to google.
I hope this helps. I’ll keep an eye on this thread if anyone has any more questions or points they want to raise about search. It’s quite a complex topic and consequently there is a lot of misinformation around it. I’ll try and get Dan Barker - the expert we use - to write a blog post on the subject that would be useful for sellers.
Update on homepage query:
I forgot to say that any correlation in the homepage changes to differences in your views is probably just a coincidence. Most people who come to Folksy land on a product page not the homepage. The homepage wasn’t working well for new people to Folksy - it was too busy and confusing - so we made it easier to find ways into the content and data so far shows that new visitors coming to the homepage are staying longer and looking at more. So it seems to be working.
Thanks,
James.
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The main keyword people use to get to Folksy is indeed Folksy and derivatives of Folksy. However this is the case for ALL sites. People tend to be either:
- Lazy / efficient - and just use Google to get to the site they already know the URL for. e.g. Amazon’s main search term will likely be “amazon”!
- Trying the term they have overheard or got from word-of-mouth in a conversation (“I found a lovely scarf on Folksy today…”)
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Thank you James for explaining the stats a bit, and giving us a bit more information. I’d love to know whether the visitors from social media sites buy as much as those from google/direct sources - I always imagined they would probably be people looking for ideas/inspiration or just interested in crafts rather than customers. Is there any data that shows where most buyers come from?
Yes, I suppose it’s obvious that ‘Folksy’ would be the most popular keyword that brings people to the site, but it’s all the people who haven’t heard of Folksy that I’d like to get here too!
I don’t get that many views anyway to be honest. I might get none one day then it might shoot up to 4 or 5 the next. Am actually thinking of letting my listings run out as Folksy doesn’t seem to be working for me. X
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Thank you @uxtest for your explanation. I think all we want is to return to the days when shoppers seem to be able to find their way to our shops to buy things! My customers used to come via google and I’m not really there now with my Folksy shop, or if I am it is from listings 3 or 4 years ago. With an average of less than 10 views a day the chances of a sale are rare nowadays and it seems that the “wonder years” where I could get up to 20 sales a month are long gone as I often now get none at all.
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Thank you for taking the time to post this to us James.
I do wonder though if the increase in traffic from social media is down to us the seller more than anything else, I know I promote my art work via social media and more recently we on the forum have been campaigning for Folksy - having set up threads and using Facebook and Twitter many of us on the forum here have been promoting not just ourselves but Folksy as a place to shop …
It is interesting that “sales are up” as I was only saying in Art chat today how can you go from selling 20 paintings in January or 15 in April and being on the best sellers list in and between to nothing much at all in the Summer and yet elsewhere my Art is selling great … and I’m not the only one apparently …
I have a plus account which I invested in this year so I’ll be staying around for a bit yet and hopefully things will pick up 
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Susan … I know what you mean !!!
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I’ve bought via twitter - not from @Folksy, but an online vintage site.
Sarah x
I think this is exactly what’s happening. And it would explain why most customers land on a product page as James has said, if Facebook and Pinterest are now outdoing Google organic searches.
There is a massive customer base on Facebook. I have to admit I never used Facebook personally so it’s one of those things that I had ignored as a selling tool. But this year I’ve made an effort to get to grips with it and it’s now my 2nd best selling venue behind my website. If some sellers don’t want to do the Paypal invoice thing I expect they just point their customer here and sell through Folksy. Pinterest might be more the crafter looking for better pics and more info to ‘recreate’ an item. That really is one place I can’t get my head round as a selling venue. I do see that more as a place people go to get inspiration. I don’t know anyone that shops via Pinterest.
Same here. I noticed the massive drop in organic traffic across all my shops in September 2013. Did a bit of research. Found out about Google changing the way their search worked to return more relevant searches so figured all the web pages were being re-crawled, or whatever it is that happens. Watched as my website and Etsy shop recovered nicely into November and December, and saw that Folksy never did. Very odd.
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Susan… I think those days are over. The were times when we used to get on the best sellers list now we are lucky to get a sale !!!
Valerie
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I have had a shop on folksy for just under 2 years. The first 18 months or so I did nothing much to promote it and consequently had very few views and sales. Since may this year I have tried hard to promote it both on the folksy forums and on social networks/word of mouth and my views/sales have increased significantly but are stil not brilliant. Unlike many others here I dont seem to have much success over on e**y with even fewer views and sales than here.
One thing I do wonder though is whether the changes to facebook are affecting the views here. Whenever I list a new item I put a post on my facebook page with a link to folksy. Recently however the reach of my facebook posts have become so bad I’m not surprised no one is coming over from there.
I do feel it is in folksys best interests to do something to advertise the presence of the site as they are the ones losing out with everyone going elsewhere. There is only so much the individual shop owners can do.
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I agree Roz only today I moved three pictures over the other side as I had sold out of Lady’s over there and I’d had more interest and they are just sitting in my shop here !!!
I don’t know what the answer is ! I’m a bit frustrated to be honest - but will plod on ! It’s good we are having this discussion I think at least I know it’s not just me or just Art that isn’t selling - I have had my shop 3 years now and it ebbs and flows … Hoping it will start to flow here again soon for us all
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I’ve been here since 2010 and had good sales for a long time…I have only had 3 sales since July 16th and I am now losing money…I always said that I would stay as long as I wasn’t out of pocket…so I am struggling to hang on. I even advertised folksy on facebook and started a promotion thread on here to get people to promote folksy…so it isn’t for the lack of trying…
I get good sales elsewhere, so there has to be a reason for this…
I even joined the daily listing threads but now sadly I will have to reduce my listings to once a week…If people keep leaving then folksy will fail which would be a terrible shame…I just don’t know the answer…
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I feel that Folksy may have spent the last year or so concentrating on promoting Folksy and the plus account far more as a selling site to fellow crafters via crafting magazines, rather than as a buying site through other media.
This has obviously worked well, as there are so many people selling here, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of promoting the Folksy we love to potential buyers, through different avenues.
Surely long term that’s better all round?
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That has been true all along I think Sarah @thesherbetpatch - I remember similar threads to this appearing at regular intervals since I joined in 2011, all containing the same complaints about falling views/sales, so it’s not a new problem for some. I have always maintained that promoting in craft magazines and on craft sites only benefits Folksy by bringing in more paying sellers, and does very little to bring in buyers, which would benefit all of us. It’s no different with craft fairs - the organisers are the ones making money from the stallholders, regardless of whether they sell anything or not. While there are so many people into crafts and trying to sell, very few of them will do well, as there just aren’t enough buyers to go around, and most of them are buying on bigger, better marketed sites.