Google Analytics - Care to Share Results?

[Fairy Cardmaker]

March:  Based on the track record for the first quarter of 2011, visits are expected to be greater than last year.  I am just under half of last year's visits and we are only 3 months in to the year!

I *hope* that translates in to more sales too... but so far not much luck outside of my giant (and very thankful!) custom order.  Where are the sales?  I have a lot of inventory listed in my shop.  I've been working on my photos.  I can't figure out why I don't get more bites.  Either my prices are scary (or the shipping) or my stuff is ugly or I'm a terrible marketer.  I'll keep the wheels turning in the ol' brain on this one.

How is your year going?  It is 1/4 gone already!  Improved over last year?  Proud of any accomplishments thus far?

[PetiteTuques]

My views are gotten a lot better from last year, in March of 2010 I got 73 visits, and this March I got 324. No sales though.

I don't think we are both have terrible products, or that we are terrible marketers... maybe we need over 1000 views in a month to get a sale??

I even got to use Google Adsense for free last month. I got lots of clicks, but no sales.

I'm here everybody *waves

[Fairy Cardmaker]

Google Adsense is one thing I've been reluctant to learn.  I'm glad you've had some success with it, Petite!

I've updated my stats for April.  The short version:
* I am woefully behind in listings.  Part of it is that I already have over 100 products here so I am not really eager to list more.  I am, instead, still working on re-doing photos.

* I'm doing better in sales thanks to my custom order.  I think iCraft has a very easy custom order format.  Sellers can get the query here and handle it entirely off of iCraft.  iCraft can operate like a portfolio that way.

* Without the custom order, I am doing worse in sales volume.  Understandable since I havent' listed as much new as I did last year.

* I let Project Wonderful slide during my day-job busy time.  As a result, my referring sites are down and my replacement engine traffic is up instead.

* I am on track for more visits than last year.

* My bounce rate has gone from 66% at the end of last year to 62% so far.  I'm very proud of that.

I don't think you're far off the mark, Petite.  I do need about 1,000 visits before I get a sale.

Feeling discouraged.  Not sure if it's true discouragement or just day-job busy-time burnout.  The good news is, my sister has upped her crafty-ness and helping her pick stuff for her tool arsenal has inspired me to get cracking on some ideas I've let float in limbo for too long.  I just made the proto-type for a new product.  So, I will be listing something totally new to the lineup once I snag some more supplies.

Before I throw more stuff in the jumble of my shop, though, I am also hoping, wishing and dreaming about the curator collections so that I can organize my goodies for my customers' viewing pleasure.  Well... that's my excuse for now anyway!

(Thanks for allowing me to reflect and ramble.)

-- Lisa.

[iCraft Admin]

FYI, iCraft's overall bounce rate this year is around 55%.

[Fairy Cardmaker]

I'm still tracking things.
Visits are way up over the same point last year, but sales haven't budged.  This is true of both my online venues.  So, my combined $60 of blog ads per year are getting me traffic but not the buying kind.  I don't know what else I can do though.
Hrmmm.

[Fairy Cardmaker]

FYI, iCraft's overall bounce rate this year is around 55%.

But, wouldn't sellers coming and spending more time on the site for shop maintenance make the site-wide stat lower?

[iCraft Admin]

It would... though we don't have that many members, especially active members, compared to the number of unique visitors to the site, to lower that number by much.

[iCraft Admin]

As for what else you can do... If traffic is good, but no sales, it's possible, that you are attracting wrong traffic. If your ads on blogs attract other crafters, they are probably not the buying types. I'd also do a Keyword rereplacement to see if you are using good terms that will target right audience.

Did you try free classifieds like Kijiji? Do you use social media? Do you "hang out" in forums, where you could "meet" your potential buyers? Do you know who your Target Audience is and what they are interested in now, this summer etc.?

Speaking of social media, we are very close to releasing Facebook app that will allow you to display your iCraft products  on your Facebook page. That might help you with reaching potential buyers too.

We are also planning to have a series of training sessions with iCraft sellers, especially once we roll out new product categories etc, in how to optimize their stores online and offline.... sort of like an SEO Bootcamp that we had before.
Though, if you have questions now, feel free to ask them here and we'll  try to help you out as much as we can.

[PetiteTuques]

I did a little experiment where I changed my keywords for my etsy shop, and now people spend at least 2 mins in my shop (but no sales) whereas I haven't changed a thing for iCraft,  and people will spend 26 secs on average here. So I know that people aren't replacementing for toques, since that is mostly a canadian term.

I've also spent A LOT of money this month on a business coach, to try to get my online presence larger. I see a bit of difference, but people are still going to prefer etsy to shop from. Is it possible for buyers to not make an account on icraft to purchase? Like maybe have that login as facebook thing-  I really like that.. saves a lot of password memory.

Do you,  fairy cardmaker, spend time on other blogs and leave comments? Follow other cardmakers? I really think you should sign up to facebook, even if you just visit it once per week, it'll get people hooked into you. I know that once I put up my email newsletter link on facebook, I got some sign ups that day! It was awesome!

[Fairy Cardmaker]

Both very good points, thank-you.
I seem to come up well in google replacementes when I look for my keywords.  My iCraft site does, that is.  And my blog, but not my Etsy shop.  I think the iCraft one comes up because iCraft tweets and all that.

Petite - interesting experiment.  What about using "beanie" as a keyword too, for the hats shaped like this:
https://icraftgifts.com/handmade/26464/3-6m-hot-pink-cap.php

I have my own blog.  I comment on other crafter's blogs, which is not my target market (but I feel those people will understand how much time it takes to make a card!).  I don't have twitter or facebook and I refuse to.  Besides, my target market doesn't hang out there either.

My market is 30-40+ traditional persons with decent disposable income who are either in a serious relationship or with children out-out-of-the-home or grandchildren who are not within frequent visiting distance or both.

My target market is roughly 80% female 20% male. The males need an card to impress.  Since my cards are designed for mailing, my market wants to demonstrate their efforts to stay in touch in the absence of travelling to visit. They want to *be* there even when they can't *go* there.

My market is more traditional and also methodical (those who can plan ahead), generally the 40+ group.  They are not the last-minute shopper type who need to snag an e-card (or free e-card even) the day before the occasion.

My cards have practical, clean lines.  So, I think they would appeal to people who enjoy logic, organization and tidiness. I like to think the sort of people who are good at or who also enjoy: architecture, photography, engineers, personal assistants, and professional organizers (or their TV shows).  (My quilled cards are the premium line for the more fanciful card seekers.)

As a result, I advertise of photography blogs, a few on social connection blogs.  I've also done some book blogs and some fantasy blogs.  I've tried other crafter's blogs too, hoping their target market (craft buyers) would overlap into mine.

I've actually had some buyers from the UK.  The UK actually appreciates handmade cards and they pay a pretty penny over there ($7-$10) which is what mine work out to after shipping for them.  I'm not sure how else to grab that market.

To be honest, I think my best bet for sales is craft shows.  That's where my 30-40+ traditional market shops.  Not so much online.  I don't see myself doing craft shows though.  Any other suggestions of advertising, besides social media, are welcome.  (My traditionals don't use social media.  What would they need cards for if they were always hyper-in-touch already?)

If there is already some training or introductory info on business advertising, please point me to them!

[Fairy Cardmaker]

I have hit my head on the 50 item limit of my package.  My listed to sales ratio was 6:1, so I made sure to list at least 6 new things in July (when I was averaging 4 new per month before).  No sales since June.  GA says my visits are tanking - some days only 1 now.  I have 125 products listed (of which 50 are showing).

To be honest, my views are tanking because I have all but stopped using Project Wonderful.  It brought me views but not sales.  Not the right eyeballs, it would seem.

I know I need to list more new, but I can't decide what to cycle out of my 50!  I'll pick something eventually.  Other than changing up the listings, I don't know what else to do.  The keywords in my GA are relevant, so I think I'm doing okay there.  Plus my replacement engine traffic (of what traffic I get) is also a healthy % of total traffic.

I blog.  I haunt other crafter's blogs.  I haunt scrpabook forums.  I donate product.  I may just have to break down and take some of that excess product to a craft fair to promote myself.  (Maybe next year because I would have to invent an entire display system and all that jazz first.  Sigh.)

Any hints on things you did to test your target market?  How did you experiment?  What did you tweak?  How did you measure market response in order to hone in on your target market?