Workshop - Tags & Titles

[DawninCal]

Based on some discussion at Show and Tell and some related discussion between your moderators, we have decided to host a workshop on writing effective tags and titles for your on-line listings.

I've read so many different takes on the topic and never know if I'm approaching them correctly or not. As a very successful Etsy seller, Michele has graciously offered to share her approach to tags and titles. This isn't going to be the kind of workshop where someone comes in and tells you what to do to write good tags and titles. It's going to be more of a round table where we discuss our experiences, share ideas and ultimately help all of us write better tags and titles which will help our online businesses. Anyone who has a question, a suggestion, a comment or anything relevant is encouraged to participate.

If this one goes well, we have some other topics in mind for future workshops.

Let's do it!



Dawn

[Michele]

First of all, I'm by no means an authority on the subject. I will tell you what has worked for me on etsy. It may or may not work for you.

Titles need to be generic enough that the terms are what someone would search for. Stuffing the titles seems to work also. An example for a verdigris patina dragonfly necklace would be:

Title: Dragonfly Necklace - Verdigris Patina, Brass, Dragonfly Jewelry

Tags need to be more than one word, again think how someone would search. Also make sure your tags include the exact words as your title.

Tags: dragonfly necklace, verdigris patina, nature jewelry, dragonfly jewelry, patina dragonfly , garden necklace, patina jewelry, patina necklace, insect jewelry, brass dragonfly, dragonfly pendant, aqua necklace

Put on your thinking cap and think of any category that your jewelry would fit in and use that tag.

Descriptions should give accurate size and color. I'm more minimalist with descriptions, basically just the facts. Others are much better at this one.

If you would like to post a picture, we could use it as an example for coming up with a title and tags.

[DawninCal]

Thanks so much for getting us started, Michele.

I think where I get tripped up with titles is that I want them to read like a sentence and find it difficult to break it down into phrases like your example above. For instance, using my avatar as an example, this is the title I have used in the listing:

Penguin and Chick Pendant Necklace with Black Onyx and Aquamarine Beads on Black Leather Cord

But, I'm thinking it would be more effective if I did something like, Penguin Pendant, Penguin Chick Jewelry, Penguin Necklace, Black Onyx, Aquamarine, Black Leather Cord.

Is that correct?

The trouble is that it kills me to do that from a grammatical point of view - guess I need to set my feelings on that aside.

I would love to see us use an actual listing with the way it is currently tagged and titled; have us re-do it here, edit the listing to reflect our changes and sit back to watch the results. That would be a great visual for so many of us.



Dawn

[Michele]

Dawn, this is what I would suggest for your title and tags. I don't think the black cord is worth wasting a tag for. Most people are not going to be searching for that.

Title: Penguin Necklace - Pendant, Hand painted Jewelry, Black Onyx, Aquamarine

Tags: penguin necklace, penguin pendant, hand painted pendant, hand painted jewelry, black onyx necklace, aquamarine necklace, mother and child, baby penguin, bird necklace, bird jewelry, black white necklace, ocean jewelry, hand painted necklace

You could even stuff a couple more of the tags in the title if you wanted.

[DawninCal]

This item currently has 87 views, 25 favorites and has been in 1 treasury. It has had no views for the month of April.

I have changed the title and tags to what Michele has suggested. I left out "hand painted necklace" because it is more than 20 characters long and Etsy wouldn't accept it. In it's place I used "Penguin Family". I also stuffed the title with baby penguin, bird jewelry and ocean jewelry.

I will report the stats for this piece on a weekly basis.

Michele, your titles are fairly short compared to some I've seen. Do you feel that long titles aren't necessary if good key words have been used?

Thank you for the suggestions!



Dawn

[Michele]

Because my pieces are pretty simple, my titles are shorter than most. Using the example of my dragonfly necklace, most people searching, are going to search for dragonfly necklace or dragonfly jewelry. That particular necklace comes up on page 1 (out of 243 pages) if you search dragonfly necklace. Some of my titles are longer than others.

Keep us posted if the changes make a difference.

[galadryl]

Uh, this is interesting.....I am terrible coming up with tags.

I once read an etsy blog post (or was it a short video, can't remember), that one should use all 140 (?) characters available in the title, use words of the title as the tags and use them in the description as well. Very difficult to implement.
My views vary so much, sometimes I only have 25 views a day the next maybe 100.

[gbobmi]

Helpful post. I try to come up with tags, but seeing what you're doing, Michele, is making much more sense to me.

Thanks! Onward and upward.

[Michele]

If you think of all of the terms someone might use for your piece, it makes it a little easier. You have to simplify to what someone would search for.

[rocknwow]

I changed...

Vintage French, stud button, earring set in brass filigree with fresh water pearls and brass bead grapes.

To...

Vintage earring, French stud button, Art Noveau pink flowers set in brass filigree with snake chain style brass beads white pearl earrings

I went to find a list for search tags and Art Noveau and snake chain are at the top of the list so that's why I changed, grapes to snake chain style. Oddly pink feathers is at the top too so pink would seem to be a great recommendation.

I was surprised you recommended so many one word tags? I'm like Dawn. Tags and commas seem so eBay to me. I was hoping to have some flow and still get all the appropriate tags.

[Michele]

Kevin, none of the tags are one word. I think you're looking at the title instead of the tags.

[rocknwow]

Apr 9, 2014 15:04:06 GMT -6 Michele said:

Kevin, none of the tags are one word. I think you're looking at the title instead of the tags.

Yeah that's what I meant the title...but the tags and the title should be the same right?

[Michele]

I guess you could use all of your tags in the title, but that would be one long title. I've found if I use the main tags in the title, I do pretty well in searches. That seems to work for me.

I think it's trial and error. You have to see what works for you.