Misplaced Lens Cap
occasionally subtle
DEAR READER
Cosimo Galluzzi
styofa doing anything
Monterey Bay Aquarium
YOU ARE THE REASON
⁂
$LAYYYTER
izzy's playlists!
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
we're not kids anymore.
#extradirty
Kaledo Art
★
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"
NASA
TVSTRANGERTHINGS
PR's Tumblrdome
Today's Document
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@valeriafittipaldi
★★★★★ "Very nice bag, cusom made for me in good contact with Valeria. Sent very quick as promised when it was ready." Moontje https://etsy.me/3x0343s
Questa tracolla personalizzabile senza genere realizzata artigianalmente in ricca pelle 100% Made in Italy di alta qualità. Cuciture grigie.
Crossbody handbag though to stay comfortably over your shoulder. Check collection. #widestrapcrossbodybag #designer
RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, February 15, 2021
Welcome to my latest summary of recent ecommerce news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & Etsy! This covers articles, podcasts, videos and infographics I came across since the January report, although some may be older than that.
I am currently working on Etsy search testing, after which I will update my ebooks and put out a few new blog posts on search. Once all of that is done, I plan on revamping this format, so please tell me what you want to read! Drop me a line here on Tumblr, reply to this post, email me, or contact me on Twitter.
TOP NEWS & ARTICLES
“Passage ranking” rolled out for the Google search algorithm in the US on Feb. 10th. Here’s a bit more on how it will work. I am not seeing too much discussion of this yet, but with 7% of queries affected, it is bound to have positive or negative impacts for some people.
Reusing your TikToks as Instagram Reels is no longer a good idea; Instagram doesn’t want to see a TikTok watermark (or many other types of overlays) on Reels, and videos that do not comply will be penalized in the Instagram algorithm.
ICYMI, shipping label company Pirate Ship is changing their Simple Export Rate option and is now using Asendia for their non-Canadian international labels.
ETSY NEWS
Etsy has changed how they report a seller’s message response time, and sometimes they are getting it wrong. If you are experiencing this problem, please contact me, as I am collecting stories on this.
Another trends update from Etsy, covering what is continuing from 2020, and newer ideas for the first part of 2021. [Text with links to several podcast platforms in the first paragraph.] “2021 is all about a Nordic concept and it’s called “friluftsliv”. This concept directly translates to “open-air living,” so it’s about making the most of being outdoors.” … “now I’ve started seeing a few sellers create these beautiful tea bombs. It’s like an explosion of these beautiful tea leaves and sometimes some botanicals that just explode in the water.” … “Pocket hugs are small trinkets that can fit in a pocket or a purse or wherever that person wants to put it. It might be made of wood, metal, or acrylic, and it just says sweet phrases like “pocket hug” or “I love you always.”…”As we continue to work remotely, above-the-keyboard fashion is going to be here and it’s still a thing. For our vintage sellers, jewelry and accessories are key. Statement earrings, statement brooches, removable collars, eyeglass chains.”
There’s another article on trends, specifically focussing on Home & Living, which was Etsy’s biggest category in 2020. It includes a whole list of popular searches by sub-category, as well as broader trends. For example, “41% YoY increase in searches on Etsy containing “wall hanging” and “312% YoY increase in searches on Etsy containing “skincare”.
They’ve released more categories & attributes, including categories for mask accessories, shelving, and barware, as well as attributes for miniatures, wreaths and signs. They also updated their attributes article with some new quotes, and info about the “new” suggested attributes. As always, note the following regarding holiday and occasion attributes: “Attributes should describe what a product is, not how it’s used. For example, the Father’s Day “Holiday” attribute is appropriate for a Father’s Day card, but shouldn’t be used on a wallet that might make a good Father’s Day gift.”
Yet another interview with Josh Silverman [transcript & podcast]. He’s said things like this before: “when I joined Etsy, it was about handmade. And I don’t think there’s a market for handmade, I don’t think anybody wakes up in the morning and says, I want to buy something handmade and anything will do.” How localization is working out: “So now in the UK, and in Germany, more than 50% of purchases in those countries are from local sellers.” And finally, take this to heart, folks: “I think it’s incredibly difficult for [a] standalone shop to succeed …. So build your own shop sites allows you to federate your item on to places like Amazon or Ebay or others where you will be commoditized, racked and stacked versus things that are mass produced, and sold cheap and shipped fast, without the opportunity to showcase what’s so great about your particular product, which was made with love and care just for the person who’s buying it. So our goal at Etsy is not to give you a shop, it’s to give you sales. And the way that we do that is by building a brand that stands for something in the minds of consumers and then lending that brand to our sellers in a way that really creates connection with the buyers trust in and therefore sales, and allowing what is so special and unique about each seller to really stand out and be highlighted.” [emphasis added]
Etsy’s 4th quarter and 2020 annual report will be out on February 25th. Look for some other announcements from Etsy around this time, as the new policy changes take effect February 23rd, and they need to find another new source of income to keep increasing their profit growth.
SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES
Confused by the concept of keyword difficulty/competition? Mangools put out a good explanation with tips. [Like many websites, they run their own paid SEO tools which they will mention in their posts, but just consider them examples; definitely no reason for most of us to ever pay for them.]
Google Trends shows how the volume for a keyword/phrase has changed over time for Google searches; here is a deep dive into how to use it for keyword research. You can also use the tool for other marketing & product research.
This shouldn’t be that controversial, but it still is for some SEOs (and mostly for Google staff): the quality of your website can help or hurt ranking for individual pages. So can specializing in one particular area.
Image optimization is important if you have a website; here’s a 10 minute video [with subtitles available in several languages] on SEO and Google Images.
Semi-advanced content: Google will be using Core Web Vitals as a ranking signal starting in May 2021; here are some tips on improving your site. For people using website builders instead of coding your own, you won’t always be able to do a lot of this on your own, but do look at image file sizes and how quickly they load, & nag your provider to fix most of the rest if required.
Advanced content: SEO and JavaScript. [Don’t even think of clicking that link unless you do your own coding.]
Since Google often rewrites the meta-description portion of a page for its search results, should you even bother writing one? Turns out, around a quarter of pages don’t have one, and Google rewrites nearly ⅔ of them anyway.
Some SEO’s criticize Shopify for SEO issues, including creating “duplicate content” pages that can lead to none of the pages ranking. Fortunately, there are ways to fix that.
If your problem is instead having many similar but not identical product pages on your website, here’s how to fix that. [text & video at the bottom of the text] They also discuss having items in two website categories, or having text from the product manufacturer in the description.
Google has released a video showing how to get copied or other problematic content removed from Google.
Pinterest does very well in Google search, but there are things you can do to increase the chance your pins are found.
Bing search now comes with new spelling corrections in over 100 languages.
(CONTENT) MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA (includes blogging & emails)
Every single “best time to post on social media” article seems to contradict the others, but this one has more info than most. Remember that many platforms have scheduling apps available, so you don’t have to be online all the time. [I use Tweetdeck to do that with Twitter.]
Facebook’s US growth has stopped, despite online usage rocketing during the pandemic.
Thinking about opening a Facebook group for your business? Here’s how to get started.
Snapchat has joined the dark mode side. [You are permitted to think that joke is lame…]
Pinterest had a huge 4th quarter in 2020, driven by ad revenue and more shopping options. “Pinterest now features several methods of conducting transactions, including through Lens, a visual search tool that added commerce functionalities last June, and Pinterest boards, where users can collect images and ideas in one place.”
ONLINE ADVERTISING (SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA, & OTHERS)
Despite having no extra fees, “Buy On Google” isn’t attracting many sellers, or buyers.
Websites that use Google Shopping can add themselves to Google’s new “black-owned business” category through the Google Merchant Help Center.
Google Merchant feeds must include accurate pricing, and as of April 6th, if the actual price on your website is higher, sellers will be penalized.
If you run regular Google Ads (not Shopping), be aware that they are changing how some query matching works. “Before the change, phrase match respected word order, but the updated phrase match will only respect word order when it’s important to the meaning.”
Microsoft Ads (formerly Bing Ads) are also changing, getting rid of Manual CPC at the end of April.
Did you know you can schedule your Google Ads to run at certain times?
You have probably heard that Google Chrome will be phasing out advertising cookies next year; here’s an article on what that might mean for everyone.
If you use a lot of video in your marketing, you may be interested to know that YouTube is now testing shoppable videos. “The tool, which will roll out to select creators and their brand affiliates this spring, will consist of a prominent shopping cart button that will link mobile and web viewers directly to a list of products relevant to the video — which can then be purchased.”
STATS, DATA, OTHER TRACKING
While we can still use the old version of Google Analytics, they are strongly pushing people to sign up for the new version as well, so sites can start collecting their new data now. [downloadable pdf file] Here is another primer.
One thing I hate is how many stats programs show sales conversions based on the last click instead of the first. You know, when someone finds something in Google search, bookmarks it, then comes back in an hour to buy, and the stats say it was bought from Direct Traffic, not Google organic? This piece shows you how to track those earlier clicks in Google Analytics, automatically.
ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS
eBay had a stronger-than-expected 4th quarter, and expects that success to continue this quarter. Here is the transcript of the earnings call.
Amazon also did very well, but that was expected. “The company said it had a record-breaking holiday season, which included 50% year-over-year sales growth for independent sellers on its Marketplace.”
Shopify’s “Shop Pay” is going to be available for Shopify users who also sell on Facebook & Instagram.
BUSINESS & CONSUMER STUDIES, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE
2020 was a difficult and sometimes bizarre year for retail, so it is difficult to predict 2021. Apparel was one of the hardest hit areas.
Brick & mortar retail is not expected to recover very quickly in the US; 60% of Americans are currently avoiding in-person shopping during local COVID-19 spikes, and felt less safe in January 2021 than they did in November 2020. Also, “[a]t the end of February 2020, 44 percent of respondents felt that the pandemic was impacting their purchase decisions, versus 76 percent in January of 2021 (a 73 percent increase).”
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Looking for a cool winter outfit?
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