Coming soon - New Categories and more

[GalleriaLinda]

I haven't updated existing listings yet. I did list quite a few things this weekend and have a feel for how the categories work.

But I found it confusing because many seller's items are good for a bunch of those categories, events, audiences, etc... Should we just make sure that each item is in something?

[iCraft Admin]

Hi Linda,

Yes, the same product may fit into multiple categories and that's ok.

That's because the same product could be described differently, depending who you ask.
For example, the same pillow could be described as a "Throw pillow" or as a "Decorative pillow", or as a "Zebra pillow". Those are actual terms that people use when they search for pillows on Google. So if we had only one category for all "Pillows", those who are searching for very specific pillows would not land on our pages, because the term "Pillows" is too generic (and it's harder to rank for those terms). Plus, users who are looking for Zebra pillows might not find our pages relevant for their search.

So the goal is to specify all that apply and to be as specific as possible. Hope this helps.

[Fairy Cardmaker]

Hi.  Could you please add "paper" to the media dropdown?
Thanks

[iCraft Admin]

Done! Thanks for suggesting

[iCraft Admin]

We still have a lot of products in the system not wired to new Product Categories or have no mention of the Intended Audience or the Occasion. So I was wondering if you guys have any particular questions about those new fields and what would help in terms of training.
I am putting some additional instructions together, but any feedback and suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

[Northern Girl Jewelry]

I don't know what others think, but I find the new product categories problematic.  In the jewelry category, the choices of sub-categories seem pretty random and often don't fit my jewelry, so I end up defaulting to "necklaces for women", "earrings for women", etc. 

The sub-categories are a mish-mash of types - some are styles, some are materials, some are colours, some are audience but none of these are complete.  So my style of necklace may not be there, or my material, or my technique, etc.  I actually find trying to select these to be pretty frustrating and I'm not sure how useful this will be for shoppers with such a random selection. 

As for Occasion, I don't make items that are for a particular occasion, so I'm not using that section at all.  Could one of my items be a gift for Christmas, an engagement, a birthday, Valentine's Day, etc?  Of course.  But it's not specifically for that (like a birthday card, or a Christmas tree sweater or something), so I don't think it's appropriate for me to use this feature.

[iCraft Admin]

Thank you for your feedback, Northern Girl Jewelry! Those are excellent questions.

Sub-categories seem pretty random, because they are based on the users' random search behaviour. Those are the exact terms that people use on Google when they search for your kind of products. Sometimes materials are included as part of the search phrase and sometime colours or audience. We only picked phrases that have a relatively high volume of searches behind them. That's why the list is not complete. However, those phrases that we chose are the phrases we want to optimize our product pages for. The terms will be useful to users, as those are the exact terms that will bring them to our site in the first place.

As for the Occasion, choose only things that truly apply to your products. If nothing applies, then don't select anything.
However, I think you could select "Casual wear" and "Dress for Office" for a lot of your products.

I know choosing precise terms that describe your product is a hard work. 
But the right terms will bring the right traffic to your store and give your products right exposure on our site. Hope this helps. Thanks!

[Fairy Cardmaker]

Sometimes the categories make me feel like I'm pigeon-holing my product.  I might make a blank snowflake card.  Yes, it might serve as a holiday card or Christmas card, but it might just be a winter hello card.  So then I don't want to pick an occasion.

[Ahkriti]

After a break of 2 and a half months coming back to icraftgifts.com and viewing the changes was lovely! Congratulations!
 I was quite stoked with the category that you guys put in for the Indian ethnic wear.
My views are this. Regarding the categories that you have outlined for the product - am not sure whether my products will be found should I put it in shall we say in the "gold jewelry section. Because when I am describing my jewelry I would rather somebody  find the indian necklace first and not specifically a gold necklace.

Well, what I am doing now is trying to specifically put some in the category specified else I just leave it.

But you guys are doing an awesome job! So happy that things are going for the better here!

[The Knitting Lady]

As I understand the new categories are like broccoli and carrots - we don't always like them, but they are good for us. 

[Ahkriti]

Okay! I think under the jewelry category, can a subcategory of ethnic jewelry/ethnic jewellery be added?