The trials and tribulations of learning SEO and the new Google search

I have recently been checking out various venues for showing my handmade craft items. Hearing so many good things about Artfire, I decided to check them out. I just love how they have it set up!  They offer so many options to their members, up to and including clear instructions on SEO, ways to have sales and offer coupons, and the ease of the one page listing, it was a clear choice for me.  And that is only mentioning a few things I love there.

So, I have started moving some of my products from Etsy to Artfire. Now, I have no plans for the immediate future of shutting down my Etsy shop, but I also think it is a wise thing for me to have more than one option.

I also found that within hours of listing an item on Artfire, that it was crawled by Google. Whereas, with Etsy sometimes it took days. And, even when my Etsy shop was crawled, I very rarely show up on Google search. In fact, most times when I performed a Google search for my products, only a couple shops from Etsy showed up. Most often they were very popular shops with wonderful products that have been active for a long time, but for someone like me, that was not a good thing. It is hard enough getting "out there" on the internet, but having to compete with established shops is a bit discouraging.

The recent changes Google has made with their search, using shorter url tails, and SEO, etc is a bit daunting to someone like me. I know, if I wish to survive on the internet and hopefully prosper, I do need to learn this. With the help of Artfire and their wonderful support staff it looks like this potentially painful process will become much easier.

So, without further ado, here is my new Artfire shop, if you would like to take a peek!

A couple things I have moved over there (I will only show a couple a day until I catch up):

Coasters:

Lemonade rag style quilted coasters

Black and white vase mat coasters