Top Referrals
Referrals are really important so you know where your traffic is coming from. If you have a good source of traffic from one site, you know to focus on that. These had the top views:
twitter.com
linkreferral.com
craftcult.com
mythreadofthought.blogspot.com (this site!)
etsyveg.blogspot.com
community.livejournal.com
craftster.org
the-n.com
Though seeing the number of times people click is important, it's also important to consider the time people are staying in your shop (because it's important that people are looking at your shop and not just clicking it). By looking at both the top views and times people stayed on my site, I learned that being featured in blogs helped the most to get a lot of views and had quality viewers that stayed a while. Sites like the EtsyVeg Team blog, where they'll usually be a link and picture of an item, seem the most helpful.
Posting in messages boards or putting my link is profiles on sites also get a lot of clicks with people staying a good amount of time. I post some of my crafts on crafting sites like craftster.org. You're not allowed to advertise your shop there, but there's a link in my profile. I also noticed livejournal.com helped and that's a place I'll frequently post something about my crafts or journals (sometimes advertising my shop, but sometimes just posting for fun).
I was also surprised to see sites like the-n.com, which is a community unrelated to crafting and etsy, get a lot of views. I post on the message board on The N about TV shows and other random stuff, but people check out my profile which has a few photos of some etsy items and a link. So if you're on another site or network and get a chance to put your etsy in your profile, it could be helpful.
I use flickr, twitter and other social networking sites that a lot of people use to promote their shop. These are a lot of fun and a good way to connect with other etsy members. I don't think they're the most effective though. Twitter helps to get clicks, but people don't stay for a long time. I get views and comments on my Flickr page, but it seems not that many people go to my profile and click my Etsy shop link (you're not allowed to post your link in photo descriptions because it's against Flickr rules). I still think social networking sites like these are good to use though. And I still love posting my items on Flickr and sites like that even if it doesn't bring a ton of views to my shop page.
This blog was more helpful for getting views than other social networking sites, but it didn't get as many clicks/time people stay as being featured on other blogs (maybe because those blogs get more exposure?).
Pages with the Most Views
It's interesting to see what pages people check out once they get to my shop. Overall, the Journals section had the most views (besides the front page) followed by Mini Journals, Recycled Items and Sale items. These items had the most clicks:
Red and Gold Marbled Heart Shaped Journal
Little Gold Crinkled Address Book
Black and White Faces in Crowd Greeting Card
I think seeing the top items is interesting because they don't have the most hearts.
Top Times People Come
This is important to see what times people are coming to your shop and so you know when to renew your items. I don't know if it helps, but I heard a good way to get exposure is to renew or post new items at the top times people come to your site.
Overall, it seemed the most people came at 2-3PM or 8PM(central time in the U.S.). I think these times are probably the times Etsy in general gets the most traffic. I used to list really late at night or at random times, but now I always try to list at those times.
Dates with Top Views
It's fun to look at what days your site peaks and gets the most views. The highest dates with views for me (in 2009) were:
April 12, 2009
July 8, 2009
I don't know why April 12 had so many views, but I know I was featured on the front page July 8.
There's a ton of more features on Google Analytics. It's almost too mathematical and analytical for me, but it's fun to look at and can be really helpful for your shop. Do you use Google Analytics? What are your stats? Do you find it helpful? I just set up an Analytics for this blog so it will be interesting to see those stats too.
1 comment:
Interesting!
I was studying my GA reports for a while. Eveyone said list when you get the most views. That would have meant for about 5 hours each day.
I did add other countries in my shipping locations, because I was missing the boat there.
http://christiecottage.blogspot.com
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