Nice article! Very interesting. I'm gong to give it a try. Thanks for sharing.

Nicely done. I'm off to check my own!

excellent tip! I really need to engage more, I tend to be a 'cut to the chase' kinda person,and forget that most people want to be engaged in the details a little more. I sure am going to to work on this! Thanks!

I like the idea, but I find it hard to tell a story about a vintage card with a shoe on the front. I am just starting out & I am having a difficult time just getting people to my etsy shop, even with a free giveaway. I was told by another FB friend that if I created a blog I would get more traffic, but still nothing. I have invested a lot of money in supplies and equipment to make this a success, but I just don't know what else to do. If anyone has another suggestion, I would love it. Another problem is that there are tons of people doing the same thing.

I write little stories about my couture aprons.. customers seem to like that. It's fun to do also. I think it absolutely adds to the originality of my creation..which helps sales.
Janet

oh! the most difficult thing to do….. but I understand the importance… need to work on my descriptions…

My problem is trying to stay away from a longgg story in my Product Description. Being the frustrated writer I am, it's hard for me to stick with the facts and lighten up with the prose.

Lovely article and great advice but easier said than done. I have stumbled across such sellers and thought WOW I wish I could do that but I have a very difficult time, for sure..
It's really hard to sell on Etsy, you list an item in the morning and a couple of hours later your on page 60! It takes a lot of time, money!, effort, smarts, luck, shall I go on.. :)
Thank you for your article

It looks like you have to find a happy medium. Either I give detailed info and people love it or hate it. Or you give a small description and the same happens.

Great post. I love having little stories in my descriptions. Now I just need to become a grade-A copysmith to do it :)

Thanks for the article. Good advice!

Great Advice. I just re did all my tags and titles…now off to write a few stories
Thank you

Thanks for the article. I'll try right away :)

I think it will be much easier now to write about the products. Thanks :)

Great article and great reminder for all online sellers. Thank you so much for sharing.

Thank you for the very helpful tip. I may need to review my item descriptions.

Thanks for the advice.

This is great advice! Your story is lovely too! Thanks!

I agree! Easier said than done! But probably worth the effort.

Denise, you have 32 feedback, that's not too shaby! One thing that can help is adding more pictures for each item. Your pictures are very nice, but for instance I would like to see what the inner pages look like, or a side angle of your pretty flowers. This is just my instant thought, maybe it can help a little. Keep up the good work, you will get there!

Desiree

An intriguing angle! Thanks!

I keep working, working, working on my descriptions…Thank you for sharing!

Hmmmm……….What a great Idea for marketing. I have thought about doing something like that actually, I should work on it soon!

Sounds like a great idea, I am going to start making changes. Thanks for sharing….

By the way there are some great things everone is doing. Keep up the good work something has got to get better for all of us.

You can also get a google analytics account its free. It will help you track where your customers go on your site, how many people see your work, what key words they're looking for then you can advertise on google or any site add it to your analytics account and see what is pulling people in. It helps you gear your site to the types of customers your products attract. Also have you tried any live shows? Flea Markets, ect? You may find you sell more when people can pick up and touch the items as apposed to online. Also get business cards hand them out to interested lookers. This way they see your items live and instantly become impressed you have an online store and will show up there to see OL exclusive content!

Great article…alot of my miniatures I find it difficult to tell a story let's say about a bowl of fruit. Any advice will be so helpful. I know there are some items, like my miniature cherry pie which has been my favorite since I was a little girl. I did say that but I would like to know if that's enough….PLEASE HELP. Thanks

Denise,__I'd like to respond to your posting regarding telling stories to engage your shop visitors. (I'm still working on getting my photos completed and up, but I am a working and awarded creative writer.)____The lovely thing about vintage items, even a little card, is that it has a history. It was wanted (or not) by someone before it got to you. It has a story for you to tell! Imagine what that story might be, and offer that tale as a possibility. Your card may have been first purchased (or made) to send to a distant lover, but was never sent. Why was it not sent? Did the lover die? Did he disappear? Or did he return with a new wife? The little card never got to fulfill its purpose of uniting old lovers, and so it lingered for ever so long in the lady's vanity, so long that she finally – - – well, leave the ending up to the reader.____

PS
I love to complete art projects which contain all the imagined small mementoes of a woman's life: a dried flower, a pretty rock, a button from a child's coat, gifts of costume jewelry.____So try to make the connection between your item and where it might have been, what it might have meant to someone else before it came to you. ____I hope this is some help to you. Don't worry about the fact that other people are doing the same thing as they aren't doing it with the vintage goodies YOU have.__Have fun and good luck!

Great ideas! Thanks~~~I try to describe what I am selling so the buyer knows what they are buying. Will work on adding less description and more engaging comments without being to wording. I think to wordy makes a customer move on. Thanks for a very helpful article.

Your article got me thinking alot about my items and how I could tell a story about them thank you for the great ideal

Interesting ideas! I use a story with my rag dolls but haven't tried it with my other items… hmmmm need to be creative on this….
http://www.mrstalbott.esty.com

Thanks! Great article and advice.

wow. I am inspired. Thank you!

I don't know if any of you are old enough to remember pet rocks, but the story was entirely the selling point. A rock is a rock is a rock – unless, of course, it is jewelry grade. What you were buying was entirely – the story.

I love the idea of the concept – telling a story has always been important to me.
I have an issue with your description of your milagros!! An "altar" is a location for which one worships from. An "alter" (which is the spelling you used!) is NOT a place it is an action!!
As a spiritual woman who uses an altar and creates items for use on altars, I see this common misspelling all the time.

very interesting thank you.

i hope i shall try and make my items sound as interesting as you have with those malagro.

Ryan

Tactful suggestions about what to do with the items I sell seem to do it for me. Since these things are vintage, they are used. The shoppers that seek out vintage know they're getting previously loved goods but it is still helpful–and friendly, engaging, connective–to give a LITTLE background or SUGGESTION in a description. On occasion, I give an opinion on an item (ie: "it's a classic…") but I don't get it when I see opinions as a norm in descriptions–and especially in item Titles. I would never waste precious SEO characters on words like "beautiful", "amazing", "unique" in an item Title–just wouldn't do it. It doesn't matter what I think or feel–it matters what the shopper thinks and feels and if my photographs and words tell them the right story they will be interested, and they will buy it.

Thanks for the tips. As a writer and artist I am eager to try out some story-telling.

Delicious article! Time to update some descriptions on #Etsy ;)

great write-up. This is where I have the most trouble! I wish that I had my own little personal copy-writer next to me when I write up my descriptions!
Thanks again for reiterating the importance of good product description and for inspiring me to be a little more imaginative in my writing!

Wow!!! great ideas!! great article!!! Thank you ! its very helpful!

Great article. I soooo need help in this department. I’m going to give it more thought and hopefully be able to come up with interesting and engaging descriptions. Thanks!

Helpful – thanks!