How To List Items: Helpful Hints

Good Morning,

Today the blog has some helpful hints for listing those wonderful handmade items you create. 

Let's begin with Titles and Tags.  Depending on where you list your items, character count and number of tags may vary, but the process is the same.  Choose a title for your  item.

Does it have a name?  Many artists choose to call their piece something, names like "Emma", "Aurora", "Bob" to differentiate one piece from another, things like, "Paramour", "Enchantress", and "Princess" work just as well.

What is it? Bracelet, Earrings, Painted Box, Etched Glass?  Be sure to be specific.  

Helpful Hint: Many sites have crawlers or bots that will pick up on words in your title, their own little SEO searchers, make sure everything is spelled correctly.  Check out the sites categories and try to include one word in your title that matches the category you would like your item to be found in.  Spelling, spell-check does not catch all errors and even insists words are wrong if it does not recognize them.  Take the time to check your spelling, and double check those triple score words, like Labyrinth and Cephalopod, twice.

Example: Fafnir Chainmaille Silver and Gold Dragonscale Bracelet

*It doesn't have to have a name, Chainmaille Bracelet works just as well, or you may include the name at the end of the title instead: Chainmaille Dragonscale Bracelet - Fafnir

Tags:  Tags should reflect the above, and they should also be descriptive if possible.  Ask yourself these questions when thinking about tags: What is it?  Who is it for?  What does it do?  What color is it?  What is it made from?  Is it a particular fashion or style? 

Example: bracelet, women, teens, jewelry, chainmaille, gold, silver, fashion, Rocker, Biker, Fantasy, handmade, dragonscale

Helpful Hint:  Include words from your title in your tags as well.  If your stuck you can also use words like: "traditional", "modern", or "classic".

Photography:  Is it necessary to have a professional take your photos?  No, many do, but most handmade artists are also the photographer.  Getting that perfect shot is tough and there are all kinds of how-tos around the web.  Here are a couple of more suggestions.

Do not use your cell phone. Just no. Although the picture looks great on the phone's screen it will not translate well to a site and will look blurry and out of focus. If you must use your cellphone, get a "selfie stick", this will help steady the phone for a better picture.  Go through the phone's photo settings, many times the app has different size settings, use them, they will help.

Use at least four pictures, even if two are kind of the same. Try to shoot the item from different angles, both sides, from the top down, on a different background and a close up of the detail.

Helpful Hint: Get to know your digital camera.  Does it have a MACRO setting?  The Macro setting is used to magnify and capture very small things in focus and detail.

Example:  Tiny Frog-Prince Charms

  
Almost there.  You have a title, tags, and a photo.  Now comes the hard part, the description.  Should it be long or short?  What information should be included?  What does one say about the item?

Does it have a story?  You can make one up.  Where did it  come from?  What did it experience on its journey?  What can the customer expect from the piece?  Is it heavy?  Light weight?  Comfortable? 

Take the time to jot down words on a list that you can refer to when listing the item and construct a simple sentence around it.  

Example: This pair of earrings is light weight and comfortable enough for all day wear.

Completed Listing Example: 

Chainmaille Dragonscale Bracelet - Fafnir

 

This beautiful chainmaile bracelet is elegant and understated.  Simply stunning in Silver over Gold rings, one might imagine why a Dragon is required to guard a King's horde.  Named after the dragon of myth that once guarded a great King's treasure, Fafnir is sure to keep your treasures safe and will effortlessly coordinate with everything in your closet.

Perfect for Fantasy Film or Event attire, Cos-play, SCA, LARP costume needs or a wonderfully fun piece for Game of Thrones or History Channel "Vikings" fans.

8" long and 1" wide.  Handcrafted from 14Kt Gold--plated and Silver-plated (over brass) jump rings, finished with a Slide clasp for a secure fit.

Arrives boxed, ready for gift giving.

*Also available in Gold over Silver rings.  Please see the shop for our collection of ready-to-wear items or contact us with your custom request.

Tags: Chainmaille, jewelry, bracelet, Fantasy, Film, costume, Viking, cuff, women,  dragonscale, gold, silver, metal

Please see the actual listing here:

Chainmaille Dragonscale Bracelet - Fafnir

Thank you for stopping in and having a look.  In hope this post is useful.

The Alchemists Vessel would like to wish you a pleasant day.

Thursday's Featured Tools and Tips

You thought I was going to say artists didn't you.  I would like to, but so many of them are busy creating and crafting and promoting that it is difficult to do one more thing!  So in light of an artist this week, I thought we would discuss Macro Photography and then Etsy's coupon code entry.

For the longest time I put off internet sites and shops because I felt my pictures were not good enough to use as a selling point.  A friend, who is a wealth of knowledge, taught me about Macro Photography, or more appropriately taught me about the menu on my camera, which as luck would have it, has a MACRO setting.  Macro photography is for taking clear, close up shots of tiny objects.  Below are two examples of Macro Photography.  A bracelet of my own (Brecciated Jasper), that I photographed using the Macro option on my camera, and a professional photograph of a baby octopus.

Detail of the focal stone.  Shot at home on a gray velvet display board.

Professional Macro photograph.

 Macro settings allow you to capture the smallest detail.  I use a Canon Power Shot A480 - the Youtube video below was originally e-mailed to me by my friend.  I love this camera.  I will say that the manual is lacking in instruction on the menu and the settings the icons represent.  This young man will walk you through the basics.  If you are unsure if you camera has a Macro setting, search Youtube or other tutorial pages for your camera's make and model.  Your shop items or whatever you're photographing will look better for it.

A quick note about coupon codes.

As most of you have probably seen, I post the occasional coupon code for a percentage off your purchase price or free shipping.  Either you all forget to enter the code or not sure of where or when to do so.  Like so many I am guilty of rushing though a purchase at times, the information is automatically entered for you, what's there to think about!  That darned coupon code!  That is important, it saves you money!

I urge you to REVIEW you orders or whatever you are doing on the net, before pressing that "Submit" button.  This first picture shows your order before you click the check out button.  Notice the Apply shop coupon code link in light blue between the payment options and the order summary.  Click that before clicking the check out button!

This second picture shows your order before you click the check out button and after you have clicked the Apply shop coupon code link.  Notice the Apply shop coupon code link has been replaced with a text box between the payment options and the order summary.  Enter the coupon code here if one is provided before you click the check out button.  Your discount or Free Shipping will be applied and subtracted from your total!  Your new total will appear and your order will reflect the discount in the order summary.

Now you can shop to your heart's content and get all the good discounts offered by so many of the shop owners / vendors.

Thank you for stopping by and having a look.  Comments are always welcome!