Hello Etsy

Your Finances Made Easy

kyla — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 12:08:05 +0000

One of the most important goals of Hello Etsy is to cover a broad range of topics that are useful to small business owners. Whether it's social media or understanding why community-based economies are important we hope we've covered most everything you need to know to make your business work.

Keeping track of your finances is certainly one of those topics. And while it may not be your favorite thing to do the good news is that it doesn't have to be difficult. Or at least that is what our friends at Outright have promised us! If you are able to attend Hello Etsy in Portland, Los Angeles, San Francisco or Brooklyn you can see for yourself at one of the workshops they will be leading. But for those of you who can't make it we asked Outright's Ryan Thompson for a little insight on how to keep our finances in good order. The first thing he suggested we tackle is the income statement.

One of the easiest ways to get a handle on the cold hard facts of your business finances is to look at your income statement. Also known as a “Profit and Loss Report,” an income statement shows how your business did over a period of time, say the month of May 2011 or January 1 through December 1, 2010.

Let’s go over some terms you’ll encounter when looking over your income statements, plus some ways you can make more money through your business.

Income: This covers everything you’ve actually sold through your store or jobs you’ve worked. Anyone selling products online values income as “x” units sold – 100 necklaces, ten handmade soap sets, etc. To grow your sales and make more income, you must either sell more items or adjust prices. If you’ve never tested your pricing, right now is a good time to start.

Cost of Goods Sold: Cost of Goods Sold, or COGS, is every penny you’ve spent making or buying the products you sell online. For many Etsy sellers, this includes money for fabrics, beads, junked items, or gallons of paint. If it went into making your product you sold online, it goes into COGS.

Operating Expenses: Of course, COGS are not your only expense. You were probably wondering where printer ink, listing fees, and marketing expenses went. Well, you found it – it’s called operating expenses, and it includes everything else you spend for your business that doesn’t directly go into the product you made. Now you have a place to categorize all your PayPal fees!

What’s left? Profit, i.e. how much money you actually made by being in business. Well, except for one exception: taxes. Depending on your exact situation, you may have collected sales tax which you’ve paid in. That must be figured in, as does any income tax. But tax deduction is a topic for another day – stay tuned.

Berlin Event Overview

matt — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 11:13:42 +0000

We are so glad you will be joining us in Berlin this weekend. Herein you will find all the basic information you need for Hello Etsy: A Summit on Small Business and Sustainability.

ps. Please help us spread the word about the conference near and far. If you are a tweeter, please use the hashtag #helloetsy.

The Venue:

Hello Etsy is being held at ewerk, Wilhelmstraße 43, 10117 Berlin

The venue is centrally located but is a bit tucked away. Once you get to Willhelmstrasse 43, follow the long driveway down to the conference (It’s nestled between Willhelmstrasse and Mauerstrasse.)

Train: As you can see there are pantloads of subway stops nearby.

Cab:Most cabbies should know where it is, but if not, just tell them to take you to Checkpoint Charlie, it’s just around the corner from there.

The Schedule:

Friday, September 16^th:

4:00pm-10:00pm: Pre-registration and tea party. Be sure to bring a printed conformation of your ticket purchase.

Hudson’s, Boppstrasse 1, 10967 Berlin

7:00pm-9:00 pm: Community organizer roundtable.

Etsy Labs Berlin, Ritterstrasse 12-14, 10969 Berlin.

Saturday, September 17^th:

All events on Saturday take place at the conference venue, ewerk, Willhelmstrasse 43, 1011, Berlin

8:00am:Registration opens (Be sure to bring a printed conformation of your ticket purchase.)

8:30am: Yoga and stretching with Bettina Shzu

9:00-8:00pm: Conference Day 1: Full schedule downloadable at http://bit.ly/qWALYh or online at http://helloetsy.com/schedule

8:00pm-10:00pm: Cocktail Reception

Breakfast, lunch, and snacks will be served

Sunday, September 18^th:

All events on Sunday take place at the conference venue, ewerk, Willhelmstrasse 43, 1011, Berlin

8:30am:Registration opens (Be sure to bring a printed conformation of your ticket purchase.)

8:30am: Yoga and stretching with Bettina Shzu

9:30-5:00pm: Conference Day 2: Full schedule downloadable at http://bit.ly/qWALYh or online at http://helloetsy.com/schedule

Breakfast, lunch, and snacks will be served

Accommodation:

You are on your own for sorting your lodging. Well, not entirely, Airbnb is offering a 75€ discount to all attendees for a stay in Berlin from September 16th to 19th. Use the code HELLO_ETSY

Visit http://helloetsy.com/location/accommodations/ for more housing options.

Helpful Links:

Hello Etsy website: http://helloetsy.com

Etsy’s city guide to Berlin: http://de.etsy.com/blog/handmade-berlin

Etsy’s visitor guide to Berlin: http://helloetsy.com/2011/09/foreign-visitors-guide-to-berlin/

Berlin mass transit info: http://bit.ly/26eOQk

Berlin weather: http://bit.ly/mqSF4L

Berlin airports: http://bit.ly/1mJ9h

New York Times articles about Berlin: http://bit.ly/pnRifX

Foreign Visitors Guide To Berlin

matt — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 20:13:11 +0000

image by concreteLace

Here is a quick, little guide we created for those of you who will be joining us in Berlin. You can also see our handmade city guide to Berlin here

See you this weekend!

Emergency Contacts:

Police : 110
Ambulance: 112
Firefighters: 112

Transportation

Bikes:

With bike lanes on basically every street and nary a hill, Berlin is a biker’s dream. Most hotels offer bike rental.

Trains and Buses:

If you don’t like biking or are simply too lazy to ride, you will certainly benefit from the vast and efficient public transportation system. It consists of the U-Bahn (underground train), the S-Bahn (City Train), the Tram Bahn (tram), Buses and ferries, which will bring you almost anywhere in the city 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The bus or underground ticket costs € 2.30 (fare zone AB), or € 2.80 for trips to the surroundings (fare zone ABC). Trips of three stops or less are kurzstrecke and are only € 1.40

Everything here runs on the honor system. You need to buy a ticket and stamp it at the little machine on the platform. Well, you don’t NEED to, but if you do not and you get caught it is a €40 fine on the spot, plus you have to deal with weirdly aggressive, undercover, subway fare inspectors.

Taxis:

There are 7000 taxi cabs (watch out NYC!) that you can hail on the street, find at a taxi stand, or call at your convenience.

Can’t find a cab? Call one, it’s free: 030 20 20 20 and they will come pick you up, generally within 3 minutes

Airports:

There are two major airports in Berlin for international travel: The small, incredibly efficient, and conveniently located Tegel (TLX) and the larger, less convenient and more generic Schönefeld (SFX). Cabs to/from Schönefeld to the city center are generally around €30. Cabs to and from Tegel are generally around €20. Taxi drivers are usually tipped a euro or two on top of the fare.

Money

Berlin uses the popular ‘Euro’ as its currency of choice. The current exchange rate of 1 Euro is anywhere from $1.35 – $1.40.

You will soon learn that there are basically two ways of paying for things: Cash or EC-Karte. The latter is the German version of a Debit Card and is accepted in every store or restaurant even for small payments. Credit Cards are accepted at some restaurants and most stores, especially Visa and MasterCard, but you may want to check before starting to feast lavishly.

ATMS:

Cash is king and you will need it to get around! Don’t expect to find dirty ATM’s in even dirtier bodegas. Most bank branches have ATMS that will take your foreign card. Fees for withdrawal of cash are set by your bank, not the machine.

Note: if you are a customer of the Bank of America you can withdraw money at Deutsche Bank’s ATMs without additional fees.

Food/Entertainment

Berliners love not working, leaving cafes and restaurants filled at every waking minute. Here are some of our favorites:

Bars/Cafes:

Mitte

Clärchens Ballhaus, Auguststrasse 24, 10117
Strandbad, Kleine Hamburgerstrasse 16, 10117
Bar 3, Weydingerstrasse 20, 10178
Beth Cafe, Tucholskystrasse 40, 10117

Kreuzberg

Madame Claude, Lübbener Strasse 19, 10997
Luzia, Oranienstrasse 34, 10969
Würgeengel, Dresdner Strasse 122 , 10999
Heinz Minki, Schlesischen Tor 3, 10997
Cuccuma, Quality Coffee, Zossener Strasse 34, 10961

Restaurants:

Mitte

Al Contadino Sotto Le Stelle, Auguststrasse 36, 10119
Al Contadino Sottoe Le Stelle Winebar, Gormannstr. 10, 10119
YamYam, Alte Schönhauser Allee 6, 10119
Bandol sur Mer, Torstrasse 167, 10115
Che Che, Rosenthaler Straß, 10119

Kreuzberg

Kimchi Princess, Skalitzer Strasse 36, 10999
La Crapule, Skalitzer Strasse 68, 10997
Miss Saigon,Skalitzer Strasse 38, 10999
Der goldene Hahn, Pucklerstrasse 20, 10997
Santa Maria, Oranienstraße 170, 10999

Prenzlauer Berg

Maria Bonita, Danziger Straße 33, 10435
The Bird, Am Falkplatz , 10437
Fleischerei, Schönhauser Allee 8, 10119

Shopping

Just be prepared for most things to be closed on Sunday.

Health

Pharmacies or “Apotheke” are a special experience in Berlin and actually make you feel better upon entering. The pharmacists are more like actual doctors and everything is beautifully organized. There is basically no self-service. Just say what ails you, and the good “doctor” will take care of you.

If you need a pharmacy at night or on the weekend you can always go to Hauptbahnhof (central train station) where they have a 24/7 pharmacy.

Medical Glossary:

Headache = Kopfweh
Sore throat = Halsweh
Aching tooth = Zahnweh
Cold = Erkältung
Fever = Fieber, erhöhte Temperatur
Nausea = Übelkeit
Hangover = Kater (translates as male cat)
Home Sickness = Heimweh

Understanding Germans:

Glossary of Key Terms

Hello: Hallo
Bye: Tschüss
Thanks:Danke
Please: Bitte
How are you?: Wie geht’s?
Pardon me : entschuldigung
I only speak English: Ich spreche nur Englisch
Sparkling water :Mineralwasser mit Kohlensäure, or you can just say “mit”
Stillwater: Stilles Wasser oder Mineralwasser
Tapwater: Leitungswasser
Draught Beer: Bier vom Fass
Coke = Cola

A few more things to know:

Ice Coffee is only on the rarest occasions what you think it should be. Mostly you will be served cold black coffee with vanilla ice-cream and potentially some whipped cream on top.
Tapwater does not come with meals, you have to ask for it (leitungswasser) (Free of charge)
Drinks are never served with ice unless you ask.
Tips at restaurants should be generally around 10% or less. Tip is almost never included on the check.
There is 19% VAT added to the total in restaurant. That is not tip that is included.
Paying in a crowded restaurant can make for the longest part of your meal.

Ettiquette:

•   Don’t burp, not considered funny
•   Don’t jaywalk, you will immediately identified as a foreigner
•   Just nod politely if somebody tries to tell you how to do something better (especially in traffic)
•   Don’t look directly into a German’s eyes, refrain from quick hand gestures, and roll into a ball, covering head and neck, if attacked

The Final Countdown

matt — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 13:58:18 +0000

Hello Etsy is only days away, and things are moving into high gear here in Berlin and in our partner cities around the world. Each day this week we will be posting important information for each and every Hello Etsy event happening this weekend. So, please be sure to check back here regularly.

For now… We’re heading to Venus, but still we stand tall.

Find a Hello Etsy Gathering in Your Area

kimm — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 18:24:00 +0000

One of the special things about Etsy is its passionate community of creative entrepreneurs. Our community has rallied around the Hello Etsy Small Business Conference with the same drive and support that they use to run their businesses, and it is truly inspiring to see communities around the globe engaged in conversation about micro-economies and small business.

If you’re not near one of the main Hello Etsy conferences, start your own gathering! Here are a few of the DIY Summits being hosted around the globe.

Menlo Park, California

The local Techshop in Menlo Park, California will be hosting a day of laser cutting, industrial sewing machine and glass bead making demos on Sunday, September 18. They will also be showing some of the workshops from the Berlin conference, as well as hosting an Ugly Lamp Workshop. Be sure to RSVPand check out their full schedule.

San Francisco, California

The San Francisco, California Techshop will be hosting workshops on Sunday September 18, including one called “Stories from the Front: Etsy & Small Businesses Created at TechShop.” Learn from the folks who started their creative business at TechShop! The day wouldn’t be complete without a craft swap with Scrap SF. Go here for more details and to RSVP.

San Jose, California

The San Jose, California Techshop will be hosting workshops on Sunday, September 18. There will be a silkscreening station, CNC Shopbot and quilting machine demos, as well as a paper craft and photography workshop. Go here for more details and to RSVP.

Raleigh, NC

The Acorn to Oak Handmade Team will be teaming up with the local Techshop to host two days of crafty demos and activities Saturday and Sunday, September 17 and 18. Check out their meet up page for a full agenda and to RSVP. With tutorials from professional wood workers to an Arduino workshop, you’re sure to find something that catches your interest!

Hudson, NY

Join Etsy’s Hudson office on September 18, 2011 as we open our doors to the community. We’ll be hosting a live workshop on the definition of a local economy, as well as highlighting some of the content coming out of Berlin. RSVP here.

Ithaca, NY

Join Local First Ithaca, Down Town Ithaca, GreenStar Cooperative Market and our Ithaca Localistas Etsy Team on September 18, 2011 as they host a day of workshops and livestream content from Berlin. RSVP here.

If you can’t make a DIY Summit in your area, be sure to tune in LIVE in our Online Labs. You can watch from anywhere in the world! Use this handy timezone conversion tool to find what the Eastern Standard Timezone converts to for your region. Be sure to RSVP for each event so you receive an email reminder to tune in. Use the #HelloEtsy tag on Twitter to join in the global conversation all weekend long!

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Hello Etsy Berlin: Doug Richards – Why Creativity is the Heart of a New Business
3:30 a.m. – 4:00 a.m. ET on September 17, 2011

Hello Etsy Berlin: Tom Hodgkinson – Mind Your Business
4:00 a.m. – 4:30 a.m. ET on September 17, 2011

Hello Etsy Berlin: Charty Durrant – Changing Normal
4:30 a.m. – 5:00 a.m. ET on September 17, 2011

Hello Etsy Berlin: Matt Stinchcomb and Chad Dickerson
5:30 a.m. – 6:30 a.m ET on September 17, 2011

Hello Etsy Berlin: Natalie Chanin – Connecting Your Business to Your Community
8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. ET on September 17, 2011

Hello Etsy Berlin: Charlie Festa – On Tour with the Grateful Thread
8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. ET on September 17, 2011

Hello Etsy Berlin: Marco Clausen – Urban Farming and Local Empowerment
9:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. ET on September 17, 2011

Hello Etsy Berlin: Judy Wicks – Building Community Through Local Living Economies
10:15 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. ET on September 17, 2011

Hello Etsy Berlin: Tony Greenham – Business as if People and Planet Mattered
11:00 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. ET on September 17, 2011

Hello Etsy Berlin: Ulla Engeström – Tools for the New Market
12:30 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. ET on September 17, 2011

Hello Etsy Berlin: Lisa Rodwell – Branding on a Shoestring
1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. ET on September 17, 2011

Hello Etsy Berlin: Farai Chideya – Beyond Branding
1:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. ET on Sep 17th, 2011

Hello Etsy Portland:: Duane Sorenson and Rebecca Pearcy – Intentional Growth
2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. ET on September 17, 2011

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Hello Etsy Berlin: Moritz Grund – Smart Resourcing Scenarios for Small Businesses
3:30 a.m. – 4:00 a.m. ET on September 18, 2011

Hello Etsy Berlin: Michiel Schwarz – The Culture of Sustainism
4:00 a.m. – 4:30 a.m. ET on September 18, 2011

Hello Etsy Berlin: Biba Schoenmaker – Trust-Based Insurance for the Self-Employed
4:30 a.m. – 5:00 a.m. ET on September 18, 2011

Hello Etsy Berlin: Douglas Rushkoff
5:30 a.m. – 6:30 a.m. ET on September 18, 2011

Hello Etsy Berlin: Jakob Berndt – The Story of LemonAid and ChariTea
8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. ET on September 18, 2011

Hello Etsy Berlin: Fraser Doherty – The Adventures of Jam Boy
8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. ET on September 18, 2011

Hello Etsy Berlin: Danielle Maveal – Secrets to Your Success
9:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. ET on September 18, 2011

Hello Etsy Vermont: Intro/Farewell – Bill McKibben
10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. ET on September 18, 2011

Hello Etsy Berlin: Musical performance by Josh Wise
10:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. ET on September 18, 2011

Hello Etsy DC: John Maeda
11:15 a.m. – 12:00 a.m. ET on September 18, 2011

Hello Etsy Brooklyn: Matthew Crawford – The Case for Working with Your Hands
12:00 p.m. – 12:30 p.m. ET on September 18, 2011

Hello Etsy San Francisco: From Prototype to Product Panel Discussion
2:15 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. ET on September 18, 2011

Will you be hosting your own DIY Summit or travelling to one in your area?

SEO Questions Answered

Hessam — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:44:29 +0000

(photo by digtheearth)

A few weeks ago I asked Hello Etsy blog readers to submit their questions about search engine optimization and promised to answer them in a follow-up post. I received a great amount of questions and I hope my answers here will help getting you on the right track to be more successful with your online businesses.

I have also written a more detailed article which will only be available for conference attendees, so make sure to grab one of the remaining tickets if you haven’t already done so.

Below is the list of your questions and my answers. Please note that my answers are not specific to Etsy’s marketplace, but should rather be read as general advice for optimizing any web content. I hope you will find the answers helpful and do let me know if you have any follow-up questions.

So without further ado, here we go:
(Questions are ordered by the time they were added.)

What’s the most common SEO mistake?

There are many, for instance building a website in Flash, which search engines cannot read. Another common mistake is to create page content using overly commercial and unclear language or leaving out highly relevant terms used by potential visitors.

How important to SEO are inbound, outbound and internal links?

Very important! Search engines use incoming links as a way to measure a website’s authority so you should aim to increase the amount of contextual links from relevant and high-quality websites. Internal links, likewise, are very powerful and should be used for promoting high-value pages within your website.
When creating links (both internal and external) it’s important that you are using relevant keywords in your link anchor texts, and avoid generic anchor texts such as “Click Here” or similar.

Which pages you are linking to (outbound) has no impact on the authority of your website – only your internal and incoming links count for SEO.

Why can’t web design programs be compatible like Word docs? I have spent a fortune of getting help, and then when I get something done, my website crashes at the most crucial moment. What is your best choice of programs, and how do you learn to do it yourself?

Sorry to hear about your issues, I hope you’ve managed to sort out these technical problems by now. There are a number of powerful tools you can use to build high-performing websites relatively fast and cheap. One popular CMS for creating websites is WordPress which incidentally is used to power the www.HelloEtsy.com website. In any case, Flash should be at the bottom of your list of tools for building your website.

If I have multiple domain names pointing to my site (e.g. .net & .com), does Google care which I use for inbound links? Or is it best to always use the same one?

By having multiple domains running in parallel, you are diluting the power of your links, as well as confusing search engines and your customers. You should generally aim to have one single domain online for your business at any time. It’s a good idea to own domain names with similar names or with other TLDs (e.g. domain.com, domain.net, domain.org, etc.) but you need to make sure they redirect visitors with a 301 Permanent Redirection to your main domain. This way you still own the variations of your domain name, but visitors will only ever see one single copy of your website. Also, by putting in place 301-redirections the power of links to your other domains will be transferred to your main website.

Obviously this is an ongoing process; is it one fell swoop of doing it followed by minor add-ons and adjustments?

The technical parts of your website should be reviewed first and it would make sense to plan around one major tech-optimization round. Optimizing the editorial parts of your website is an ongoing process and something that you should analyze and experiment with. It can for instance take several experiment rounds to figure out what the best title for your homepage is, based on how it appears in search listings.

I’m wondering how important it is that the descriptions in each listing be vastly different from each other? I’m finding it’s difficult when I really make two types of products at the moment: cards and photos. I try to vary my language but there are some components that they all share (ex.: type of paper, size, shipment methods, etc.). Any tips?

This is a common challenge for anyone working in e-commerce where product descriptions are often very similar in nature. But looking at this particular example, photos and cards (postcards I guess?) can be used in very different contexts so I would try to think about related terms and keywords for each product category and use them in your descriptions where appropriate, e.g. card, postcard, art postcard, photo postcard, customized postcard, wedding postcard, etc.

We hear a lot that Google picks up on “your first three tags.” When making a new listing are those 3 tags the dropdown menu categories or the first three tags that I write myself?

This sounds like an Etsy-specific question. In general you should use your most important keywords as soon as possible in your content. A useful metaphor is that of newspapers where the important news headlines are placed at the top of the front page, while the less important items are placed further down and to the back. You can use this metaphor in the context of any web content, whether it’s your product title, description, or tags.

We have been seeing a lot of sellers putting a long string of tags into their item title (which we find obnoxious.) Does that kind of title-tagging give a seller an SEO advantage?

You should always keep your users in mind when writing text. Over-optimized text can leave your visitors wondering and it can affect your credibility negatively. Also, search engines such as Google don’t tolerate over-optimized text (e.g. repeated keywords) and can take action against your website for using a user-unfriendly and spammy language.

Do SEO spiders read content within grayboxes?

Are you referring to the image box on the Etsy product page? Search engines cannot read content within images or video clips, hence you should use descriptive image file-names, image captions, img-alt text (where possible), and surrounding text to help search engines better evaluate your graphic content.

When I’ve gotten SEO advice for my Etsy shop (from teams who critique shops), I’ve always been told that the first few lines of my listing need to JUST be a chunk of key words for search engines. Nothing that makes them into a sentence, words like “and”, “the” and so on are completely verboten. I understand that it’s good to get dense keywords in there for search engines, but the purpose of that is to get people in to the shop looking at the listing, and it seems to me that it’s off-putting to read “necklace silver pretty beads beaded rainbow pink purple blue elegant fun banana vulture crayon free shipping” instead of, y’know, something that looks like it was written by a human. (Not that those are reasonable keywords, just as an example). So I want to know – are those people right, is it helpful to have that chunk of words at the beginning of every item description on Etsy? Or is it alright to try to stuff several key words in, but have them as part of a real description?

Search engines dislike content that’s been created without the visitors in mind. I would hence recommend avoiding repeating keywords which has a negative effect on your credibility, and potentially also on your search rankings.

Why Etsy Search box not working as good as Google and other search bars I usually get irrelevant results which is not good for me as a seller and for buyers to find my stuff?

Sorry, but I don’t work at Etsy and cannot answer this question.

What are other ways we can do to get more views beside Twitter and Facebook?
Starting a blog is a powerful way to spread the word about yourself and your product(s). It’s also a great way to drive more traffic from search engines for relevant keywords which can later be channeled to your Etsy shop.

Should I periodically change/rearrange the words in my Etsy Shop Title and the first line of my announcement? I’ve heard that Google will see that as new content and rank it higher.

Offering new and fresh content is generally an effective way to improve your rankings. It’s however not sufficient to simply reorder your words, rather you should experiment with different titles and keyword combinations to see which combination drives the most amount of converting traffic (=buyers) to your shop.

From Google Analytics I can see that only 10% of my Etsy shop traffic comes from Etsy site search. Is that considered low and I should (further) improve my SEO techniques? Does it depend on my niche?

I can’t comment on whether 10% is a “good” rate, you should try to analyze which segment of your traffic converts the best and try to further optimize that channel. For instance, you might find that visitors coming from your Facebook page are highly interested in your products and consequently convert better than traffic from Google. Based on this knowledge you can try to increase your activity on Facebook and measure the results in terms of improved sales or visits.
Depending on your niche, you might also find that it’s much more cost-effective to generate traffic from social media channels compared to Search traffic (SEO) where the competition can be very high.

Again from Google Analytics I can see only the search terms that people used successfully to find my page. That’s not very helpful because what I really need is the keywords that people use, are relevant to my products, but are not present in my shop right now. Is there anyway to get this information?

Try using the Google AdWords Keyword tool which helps you find related terms together with data about their popularity.

I think I have followed all the suggestions I have read, tweaked my keywords as much as I can figure out, used the Google key word search thingy to find out what are the most popular words and still I can not find any of my items or my shop when I do a Google search. I have also started adding backlinks from within my shop and my blog and nothing seems to work. I have succeeded in moving my page rank from “not ranked” to “1″ but that was a month ago. I am so frustrated because I can’t seem to understand what to do. My competition comes up on my searches but not my store or items.
My questions are:
- what is an absolute no go for Google and will bring down your ranking?
- does it matter how many times my particular keyword is named in an article or on the whole website? What are the ‘rules’ for being found on a specific keyword?

I can understand your frustration, but you need to keep in mind that SEO is a long term activity and often you’ll only see the results of your efforts after an extended period of time. I don’t know enough about your project to offer any specific advice, but you could perhaps ask yourself why your page should rank over other websites in Google? You could for instance find that your competitors might have been around for longer, are using more targeted content, or have accumulated more links and a higher authority which gives them a competitive advantage.

This is a bit of an AdWords/SEO question, but what is an alternative approach if keywords and phrases in your niche rank high in both relevance and competition OR if alternatives show up practically non-existent in the Google Keyword tool? This makes me just want to just give up.

Could you provide a specific example of this? It’s difficult to give any useful answer otherwise.

We run two sites, example.org and example.com. We use the .org for practically everything except the project promotion that’s being done on .com.
Using WordPress, we are considering enabling “network mode” (multisite) on example.org. It would then make sense to move the .com website to some place like tour.example.org. However, what should we do about the example.com domain? It’s got a pretty good ranking and a great deal of incoming links. Way I see it we have two options: Redirect or domain masking.
Redirect is straight forward enough, but what would it do to example.com’s ranking? Domain masking is a little more finicky. When people link to or visit example.com, which domain will get the stats? example.com or tour.example.org?

It’s a great idea to consolidate your content under one single domain – avoid using subdomains though if possible, instead use subdirectories which are much more search engine friendly.

Using 301-redirections is the way to go if you’re worried about your rankings. It may take up to a few weeks (often much less) until everything is settled, but soon you will get your rankings back again with the new domain.

Most, if not all, of our clients would rank SEO at the top of their ‘must have’ list. We’ve been building accessible sites for quite some time and am convinced this plays a key role in search engine rankings for many of our clients. However, there is an on-going debate in our office about page titles. Titles that are good for SEO are not always good for accessibility. Generally, as the developer, I have to relent to the wishes of marketing and the client.

I agree with your logic: over-optimized titles look spammy and can be ignored by users even when they rank high. They can also be confusing and can affect the credibility of the website owner in a negative way. Titles should therefore be optimized for search engines, but to aim for a high CTR in search listings is just as important as your ranking.

Another feature which helps improving a site’s CTR in the organic search results is Meta Descriptions. The content in this Meta tag has no SEO effect as such, but users tend to rather click on listings which have a pretty and clear description underneath them, than those showing a random snippet from the page content.

Networking and Making at Hello Etsy

emily — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 08:11:38 +0000

"Let's Network Together" by manvsink.etsy.com

Hello Etsy will bring you inspiring talks and hands-on workshops. But we also want you to connect with your peers and get to know other small business owners.

Therefore we’ll have a networking area where we’ll collect your personal secrets to success that you can later share on the big stage on the last day of the conference. Our friends from KNNK will collect your tips in their words-of-wisdom factory. KNNK – KreativNetzNeuKölln is a local network of creative entrepreneurs.

Our friends at MOO.COM will also be present, so please do pop by the MOO Networking area to say hello. You can meet people and try out some cute MOO Networking Cards (they make conversations with strangers so much easier!). Plus, personalise a MOO Postcard for a friend, then pop it in the box – they’ll do the rest.

And don’t forget – if you’ve pre-ordered your free MOO Cards for Hello Etsy, you can pick them up at the MOO booth at registration, along with a Networking Card for you to trade stickers and win prizes. Yay!

After listening to lots of interesting speakers during the day, get a break and come and join the burda style lounge. You will get the chance to craft and network with fellow visitors. Doing something yourself with needle and thread will be a great alternation to all the intellectual input.

Also, we are partnering up with marimekko, Planet Modulor and the Linkle Nähinstitut for a second maker area. How about Stop by and get crafty!

Come and visit the networking and marking area in Hall C!

New Mutualism Will Save Us

kimm — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 22:40:52 +0000

As we prepare our US locations for Hello Etsy, the recurring themes of small business and community keep recurring. The words from Sara Horowitz, Executive Director of Freelancers Union, and speaker at Hello Etsy Brooklyn ring true: “New Mutualism Will Save Us”!

Today’s creative professionals face a paradox: with declining economic stability we need social services more than ever, yet our employers and our government are giving us less than ever. However, our unprecedented technological savvy and inter-connectedness have led us to the Age of Mutualism: businesses, organizations, and groups are re-inventing the principles of free association, mutualism, and community into market-oriented models that address their social needs.

From individuals banding together to access health benefits at group rates, to cooperative housing, to crowd-sourcing information, to the national proliferation of local farmers markets, group affinity and mutual support are at the core of a new economic and organizing model that is going to make freelancing the best way to live and work in the 21^st century.

What do self-employed professionals need today to thrive that they aren’t getting? Sara will answer this question and more at her talk at Hello Etsy Brooklyn on September 18th.

Are you part of a mutualistic community that empowers itself?

We want to know about it! Please tell us more in the comments below.

About Sara Horowitz

Sara Horowitz has spent her career building entrepreneurial solutions to support the needs of the growing independent workforce. She is the founder and Executive Director of Freelancers Union, and founder and CEO of Freelancers Insurance Company.

The mission of Freelancers Union is to promote the interests of independent workers through advocacy, education, and service. We build model solutions to support independent workers so they can be secure and thrive, no matter how they work.

A Creative Career Commences

emily — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:34:09 +0000

Story by Vanessa Bertozzi

Photo by Jack Schow

When soon-to-be alumni collected their caps and gowns at this year’s Rhode Island School of Design commencement, they also picked up a compact pouch that packed a punch. It’s called the Artrepreneur Kit. Amongst the goodies inside, grads found a letterpressed faux airline ticket with details on the Hello Etsy + RISD fellowship, which is awarded to the RISD recent grad or alum whose Etsy shop shows the most promise.

Today we’re excited to announce the recipient of this fellowship.

We will be sending Kellie Riggs of KELLIERIGGSJEWELRY to the Hello Etsy Summit in Berlin!

Hello Etsy + RISD Fellowship ticket included in the Artrepreneur Kit.

Her classical architecture-inspired jewelry is fresh and unique, and the care she’s taken to present them professionally in her Etsy shop really shows.

We were also impressed by the statement she submitted as part of her application:

“I have tried to initiate pursuits I feel embody creative entrepreneurship wholly… In the fall of 2009, with the support of RISD’s OSL, I co-founded, designed and organized the RISD Exposé, a fine art and design sale. The mission was not only to give students the opportunity to show and sell their work, but also to build a bridge between the RISD community and Providence.

“Within my own work, I want to follow in the footsteps of artists/designers like Isamu Noguchi and Gijs Bakker, who straddle the line of fine art and design as commerce. I feel I can be both an artist and a jewelry designer/maker, creating environments where I can work in both ways simultaneously.”

While in Berlin, Kellie wants to connect with other people working in fine art jewelry. She told me, “There’s a great contemporary art jewelery scene in Berlin. I want to explore fine art and jewelry in Europe.” Unlike those who may feel they need to fit in a tidy box — either fine art jewelry in a gallery setting or commercial jewelry designing — Kellie is interested in “doing it all.” That’s what makes her a creative entrepreneur, blazing her own path. “People think they have to choose if they want to make or design. Today people are interested in trying to do both.” We hope that Kellie finds the combination of concrete business tips and intellectual inspiration that she needs at the Hello Etsy Summit. We will be hearing from her upon her return…

If you’re a RISD student or alum, please join the RISD Etsy Team. There are now over 600 members!