Etsy - again and other stuff

It's been two weeks since the changes to the categories on etsy. By my own admission I'm terrible at the behind the scenes stuff that needs doing to get seen on the internet. On etsy (and google and others) this involves tags and SEO (search engine optimisation) and a whole load of other things. 

I took a couple of days off making to read all the info etsy had about titles, tags, SEO etc and tried to apply it to my listings. I have no idea if it's worked or not as I don't keep a keen eye on my stats but they don't seem to have jumped up or down since I made the changes. 

It's not enough to list an item - you have to use the internet to promote and network too.

The main points I gleaned are:

* use all the characters in a title and make the title use as many tags/keywords as possible.

I don't always do this. I probably won't use all the characters in a title

* in the tags section of a listing use two or three word phrases and repeat the words in the title.

This is what my most recent changes have done. Repeat everything in the title then throw in some extra

* think like a customer - search like a customer

For instance take miniature food in polymer clay in one inch  scale for dollhouses.

I make miniature food - but search miniature food and a lot of food jewellery come up. I'm in the UK so I say dolls house others say dollhouse. I say 1/12 scale others say one inch scale. I've tried to use as many variations as I can think of in my listings. 

* take clear photographs

I don't know what happens when I take pictures of  minis but a lot of them come out with a dark background. I take them on a clear sunny day etc etc but they are a little dark. That's my next thing to look at when I have some time. 

There is much much more info to read and it doesn't help that dolls house collectables are still stuck in the toy section. I'm hopeful this will change.