Second Hand Land: 2011

Saturday, November 26, 2011

First Editorial Photo Shoot

Finally, I have done an editorial photo shoot with Hotshiznik Vintage clothing!
I have been dying to experiment with photography and a live model, which I have not done in sooo long. Thematically, I had in mind a nature shoot that would have a slight fairytale aspect going on ( a kind of a wood-land nymph story). I also did not want to deal with gadgetry/technical problems while shooting, so I could be spontaneous to direct the model. I felt my biggest challenge was to get my model to feel comfortable enough, to not look awkward since she is not a professional and gracious enough to give me her time. Luckily my model was great and at ease, a real natural! Thank you Nara! This was a great experience to learn from and the results were not too bad. Having a lovely model, a pleasant environment and a good vibe going on were key. Special thanks to Tracey for her help wrangling my four year old underfoot, providing a lovely vibe and for raising a wonderful, beautiful daughter, who is a pleasure to behold and the star of this editorial, Nara.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Search Engine Mystery Train

O.K. I admit I had some SEO issues that needed altering in my Etsy listings. I have 72 items up right now so tweaking is time consuming. I am currently working my way through all 72, with about 20 or so tweaked out the ying-yang. In doing so, I have been checking search results on Etsy with some basic keywords to see what pops up first, then analyzing what that first item may have had in SEO ( title + keyword) to boost it to the top. After about a week of this checking I have some very strange results that vary daily.
I have 3 vintage plaid skirts for sale. I tweaked and tweaked all 3 listings. I waited a few days to see if they made it into the first few pages of search results and yay! they did. Today, about a week after tweaking these same 3 listing titles I checked again. To start with I checked in the 'vintage' category using the phrase 'plaid skirt', 7 days ago. At least 2 of my plaid skirt listings showed up in the first 2 pages. Today I did the same search. Now my listings are nowhere near the top.
These are the search results;
http://www.etsy.com/search/vintage?search_submit=&q=plaid+skirt&view_type=list&ship_to=US&page=1
1)The weirdest thing is the number 1 search listing title; "60's Disneyland Pendleton Tartan Plaid Skirt". The word "skirt is last"! Big faux pas according to Etsy!
2) The second skirt here was first a few days ago, so that makes sense.
3) 4th listing title is also whack!; "NOs Vintage Pleated green gray plaid Skirt size M"

I checked on the keywords to these top 4 listings thinking there may be some treasury contest /team challenge something, but nothing I can tell.
One other tidbit to mention on the Etsy search engine mystery train; last week I 'favorited' a couple of #1 search results in order to learn from what they did. Then a few hours later I did the same searches and those # 1 listings had completely disappeared! Like poof!
I am just trying to learn what to do to improve my absolute lack of sales. I am trying to learn from what I see out there on Etsy and also learn from Etsy's tutorials, forums, team discussions.
I am having a very hard time making sense out of any of this, except to say that something is definitely very wrong. I have read a bunch of theories, none of which I know enough about to repeat. Except to say that the folks that seem to understand what Etsy is up to have compared the search engine issues to that of ebay and a 'carousel effect'. In my simple honest, uneducated attempt to improve my SEO results, it seems a 'carousel' or 'merry-go-round' effect fits the situation.
I am hoping this post might shed some light on the subject for me.

For comparison, my 3 vintage plaid skirts;
http://www.etsy.com/listing/83704727/plaid-pleated-skirt-vintage-highland?ref=v1_other_1
http://www.etsy.com/listing/83703492/plaid-skirt-pleated-wool-original?ref=v1_other_1
http://www.etsy.com/listing/83645612/plaid-kilt-skirt-by-strathmore-original?ref=v1_other_2

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Vintage Dress Sale

After some super stupid SEO mistakes I have made in my etsy listings, I realize WHY no one can find my dresses! After they have sat on the shelf so long now I have decided to clean house. So look for some cheap vintage dresses in my shop this week. Also, I am having fun playing with some new aps like Instagram and Pose, hence the odd photos below. I am curious if any of these aps can benefit my shop marketing. If anyone from Pose could even navigate here I would be amazed. So, if you happen to find this blog, please follow my Pose casts- hotshiznik vintage- and send me your connect. I want to do a giveaway, but need some feedback first. For now, follow me here on this blog for updates and join hotshiznik vintage Pose to receive secret discounts and specials! The dresses below are all on sale for super super prices, like $20-$80! Check it out;

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

New Treasury Created by Hotshiznik Vintage

Monday, October 10, 2011

New Plaid Listings For Fall

New fall haul! Coming soon... Vintage wool tartan kilts, houndstooth wool skirts, cashmere sweaters,boiled wool jacket, and a few vintage pairs of shoes! My photos to follow soon... In the meantime...check out the latest trends in plaid;

And now here are some sneak peeks at the new fall listings at Hotshiznik Vintage;

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Etsy Treasury Front Page

Two very nice treasuries hotshiznik vintage is included in!
I think this first treasury 'Autumn Rust' made it to the front page of etsy!
(I wish I knew how to tell for sure).
Many thanks to tubbytabby the curator! Lovely selections!
Also, thanks to tagsandtreasures for the 'Vintage Gray' treasury inclusion!

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Vintage Finds For $20 Bucks and Under!

Its come down to this folks, $20 and under. I counted this week and its about half my store that has been reduced to $ 20 and under, that is about 30 items!!! Great Fall bargains!