I am by no means a marketing guru, nor will I claim to have any experience in advertising beyond the one public relations class I was required to take for my major in college. That said, after reading through the Etsy forums in the last few weeks a two major things have become apparent to me.
1 - People don't understand what the ads are all about - And for good reason. While Etsy did a decent job (in my opinion) of explaining HOW to set up an ad, they have done a fairly poor job of explaining exactly how these ads can and will benefit sellers. Many people are confused, especially after the recent switch to relevancy as the default search, about how any ads they may take out will impact their shop and sales.
2 - People are impatient - And again, for good reason. With so many companies switching to online only or expanding their reach online, it's no wonder people just assume that all they need to do to be successful on Etsy is set up shop and let well enough alone. Nothing could be farther from the truth. It takes work, dedication and patience to be successful at anything on the Internet, not just selling on Etsy. This even includes the "overnight sensations" and things that have gone "viral" quickly. It takes getting whatever it is you're doing, from selling merchandise to writing poetry to sketching comic books, in front of the right person at the right time to be successful and that my friend requires patience.
All of that said, I have a few hints and suggestions for fixing these problems.
1 - Do some research - Yes, it's hard to make sense of all the mumbo jumbo floating around about the advertising industry, but that's no excuse for not doing your research. If you don't understand what a word means or what a sentence is trying to tell you, look it up. Believe it or not, they now make an online version of that old fashioned thing called a dictionary. It's even "published" by the very same people. http://www.merriam-webster.com/ will take you to Merriam-Webster's online dictionary. They even have a thesaurus!
2 - Know the difference among all the ad options out there, not just on Etsy, so that you can make the most informed decision about advertising your business that you're able to make. Pay per click is a lot different from pay per impression. Either could be the right type for you, you just have to know the difference and choose which you think fits your business the best. If you're not sure, it doesn't hurt to do a low budget trial of both to see which one is more beneficial to you. A lot will also have to do with the venue where your ads are displayed, among other factors you will have to research and weigh the pros against the cons.
3 - Wait and see - When something is new, a lot of people will inevitably want to jump on the bandwagon and try things out. It's a lot like trying to keep up with the Joneses. Sometimes it's better to sit back and see what happens when others try something out than to jump in yourself. It may save you more time and money than if you'd rushed into something. Plus, when things are still sparkly and new there will be bugs. Websites will crash, things won't work exactly as planned and people will be upset. If you wait a week, or even two, and see how things go and wait for the bugs to be worked out, your shot at things may go a whole lot smoother than if you'd jumped in on Day 1.
4 - Choose the keywords associated with your ad carefully - If you're already showing up on page 1 of a search for "Blue Flip-flops," there is no need to use "Blue Flip-flops" as one of your ad key words. People will see your ad at the top of their search and also see your same, or similar, product a little further down the page in the actual search results. Yes, it will help get your product(s) out there more, but if you're paying for an ad that costs per impression, that was kind of a waste. The searcher would have seen your actual product on page 1 anyhow. All of this is not relevant to those who have an ad for "Blue Flip-flops" but are showing up in listings on later pages. The point is to bring your shop and product(s) to the immediate attention of consumers, so anything that bumps up your spot is great. Anything that shows them what they would have seen regardless of the ad is not as useful.
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