Search results (tags) for: "engineers"

Handmade Code: Statsy

2009-12-18T13:45:00-05:00

As part of our Handmade Code series, we're bringing you news and how-to's about the innovations emerging from the Etsy Developer Community. Located at developer.etsy.com, the Etsy Developer Community serves as a hub for third-party software developers who are making neat and helpful programs for Etsy shoppers and sellers. In this edition, TheCrocodileRock tells us all about the applications on Statsy.

I started Statsy this summer as an experiment with the Etsy API to try to see how effective renewing items is. The first tool I created, the Locator, was created so I could see how long my stuff would stay on top of search results when I renewed. Later, I decided to share it and announce it publicly, and thus Statsy was born! The tool was quite a success, and that motivated me to create more tools for everyone to enjoy. Afterwards, I wrote the Biggest Fan and Featurator tools, and in August, my favourite – Vutrac.

What's the basic idea of the application? What need does it fill?
Statsy has a variety of tools designed to assist sellers in finding out cool info about their shops and the listings inside them! Currently, you can see where your shop and listings are when someone searches for certain keywords in Google/Etsy search, track your listings' hearts and views across time, find out who hearts you most, and get notified by email when you're featured on Etsy's front page!

Who is it for? How many people are using it right now?
Any Etsian with a shop! And my statistics say that there are about 7000 of them!

Where do we go to find it? What's the URL, etc?
The tools live at http://statsy.org/

How do you use it?
Well, everything is quite simple! For Vutrac, simply enter your shop name, and hit enter, and wait a bit (the tool needs to get a lot of data about your stuff from Etsy). And...

Ta-da! A table with the counts of new views and hearts since your last update (it needs something to compare the new data to) shows up, and you can even click on the number of new hearts, to see who's hearted you! The Biggest Fan tool is just as simple to use, and tells you who has hearted the most items in your shop:

The Featurator, apart from your shop name, also needs an email address, so it can know where to send the featured-on-the-front-page notification and the Locator just requires a shop name or listing # and some keywords!

Are there any costs or further opportunities/ways to get involved?
Nope! Statsy is free for anyone to use and enjoy! However, sellers can support the site and promote their shops by getting advertised.

What should one do if there's a bug or a problem? Who should one contact?
Just drop me a line at info@statsy.org or send me a convo.

What's one surprising/fun/amazing story you've heard about someone using your app? Or what is your favorite part about the app?
My favorite parts of the app would be Vutrac and the Locator. I usually use the Locator to tweak my tags, and then use Vutrac to see if it made a difference! Granted, I'm not a great seller, but it's still a lot of fun! They also happen to be the most popular tools, and I get a lot of feedback on them.

Anything else you'd like to add?
I work a lot on Statsy, and I've got a couple of incoming new tools up my sleeve, so stay tuned!

Calling all Statsy users! Post in the comments below and let us know what you think.

Handcrafting Etsy

2009-12-17T09:15:00-05:00

I recently heard Professor Richard Sennett, author of The Craftsman, speak and was pleased to hear him connect traditional crafting cultures to the culture of computer programming. Here at Etsy, we think of software coding as a craft and fully embrace one of Sennett’s central ideas: namely that craftsmanship, by combining skill, commitment and judgment, establishes a close relationship between head and hand, man and machine.

Against that backdrop, I am thrilled to introduce the newest additions to the Etsy team: Jason, Greg, Isaac, Matt and Stefan. They are the team behind Adtuitive, a New York-based company which yesterday became part of Etsy. These are five highly-skilled craftsmen with deep technical expertise in algorithmic search, machine learning and data interpretation, and advertising infrastructure. In other words, five really smart guys who can help Etsy accelerate progress towards our longer-term goals. All five members of the Adtuitive team will immediately join the Etsy team.

Etsy bought Adtuitive, the company, but ultimately companies are made up of people. This team of crafty coders – with their deep knowledge, experience of working together, and fit with the Etsy culture – will help us to more quickly and successfully serve our sellers and delight our buyers. They will work on key initiatives for 2010: improving Etsy’s search algorithms and expanding Etsy’s Showcase advertising system with an eye to improving the overall user experience on the site.

Please join me in warmly welcoming Jason, Greg, Isaac, Matt and Stefan to the Etsy community.

Handmade Code: ESellerAds

2009-12-04T14:37:00-05:00

As part of our Handmade Code series, we're bringing you news and how-to's about the innovations emerging from the Etsy Developer Community. Located at developer.etsy.com, the Etsy Developer Community serves as a hub for third-party software developers who are making neat and helpful programs for Etsy shoppers and sellers. In this edition, Kael Goodman tells us all about his application ESellerAds.

I run a web development shop called Blank Slate Factory that’s located in the awesome Brooklyn neighborhood called DUMBO. Etsy moved its offices to DUMBO recently and this led me to taking a deeper look at the tools Etsy offers to software developers. Developer tools are to software developers as knitting needles are to knitters, or brushes are to painters. We had already made some great software that makes ads and just needed to figure out how it would work with the Etsy developer tools. So, over a few weeks we made a couple of versions of ESellerAds and launched it on October 26, a little over one month ago.

Kael with his son Max, who is wearing a T-shirt by charlieandsarah.

What's the basic idea of the application? What need does it fill?
The idea behind ESellerAds is that your customers should be able to shop anywhere and buy your products on Etsy. Etsy has given us the means to do this through the Etsy API. All we needed to do was make an ad builder. When I say make ads, I mean with a single click... and maybe (in the future) customizable ads with a few more clicks. This is the ESellerAds home page where you enter your Etsy username or seller ID to make your ads.

In order to really show your products, we designed ESellerAds as slide shows with photos as big as we could get them. Your customers can scroll through the items, left and right, and zoom in to see more detail. We made the ads in standard sizes so that they can fit anywhere on the Internet, for example on ad spaces available on blogs, on social networks, and on websites. We currently have three sizes: rectangle, wide skyscraper, and narrow skyscraper. We can make more sizes if people need them. Here's an example from Craftsquatch.

Another important aspect to ESellerAds is that you can place them all over the Internet by clicking the Share link in the lower left corner of the ad. It opens up some screens that look like this.

There is also an embed code that you can copy and paste into a web page yourself. Once your ad is on the Internet your friends and customers can also copy the ads onto their sites. If you want to put the ads on your Facebook fan page or tweet a link to your ads, you can do that too.

Where do we go to find it? What's the URL, etc.?
Go to www.esellerads.com and type in your Etsy username or seller ID number.

Who is it for? How many people are using it right now?
ESellerAds is only for Etsy sellers. ESellerAds does not work with other shopping venues. Over the last four weeks about 300 sellers have registered. Here is a chart from zero to 40,000 impressions per day. Dips are weekends.

Here are the countries where people have installed ESellerAds so far.

How do you use it?
Go to our site, enter your username, wait a few seconds for your ads, and then enter your email address to activate. You'll get an email with a link to your dashboard where you can access your ads and performance reports. Here is a sample performance report that shows views for a charlieandsarah ad on a site called brooklynheightsblog.com.

You can also track how many visitors come to your Etsy shop from ESellerAds through your Google Analytics account. Here is a report that shows traffic from an ESellerAd on www.brownstoner.com to Tinahdee's Etsy shop. Notice that the ad sent 105 visitors in just under two weeks.

Are there any costs or further opportunities/ways to get involved?
ESellerAds is free. Why is ESellerAds free? In the future, we plan to offer enhancements and additional products that we will charge for. Also, we are actively looking for people to get involved: developers to help us add new features and make additional products, experienced sellers to help us get the word out.

What should one do if there's a bug or a problem? Who should one contact?
We provide an FAQ and you can always reach us through the Feedback tab on our website.

What's one surprising/fun/amazing story you've heard about someone using your app? Or what is your favorite part about the app?
I love to see the amazing range of things that people are selling on Etsy. I often go to the ESellerAds Gallery and scroll through the ads.

This was the first review of ESellerAds that I saw:

"With a tag line of 'Shop anywhere, buy on Etsy,' it's clear that this free ad producing site is geared towards the Etsy handmade seller. Basically, it's an upgrade to the regular Etsy mini used on blogs, social networks, and other sites. It's easy to set up with only having to enter your shop name and a click of a button. There are three sizes to choose from and each ad features an animated slideshow of items from your shop. When you update your shop items, they automatically update. People can also share your shop by clicking share and copying the html." — Akane Designs

We found the items below using the ESellerAds Gallery.

Sellers, let us know what you think in the comments below!

Read Posts About Etsy Addiction | Handmade Code Posts

John Allspaw Joins the Etsy Team

2009-11-19T00:27:00-05:00

One day in early 2005, I got a call from a friend and former colleague asking for career advice. My friend was considering a role running site operations at a fledgling Internet company that was creating a whole new way of connecting people on the Internet. They were a small but inspired operation running in a data center in Vancouver and the site was starting to really ramp up. The company needed his unique blend of good humor, playfulness, creative spark, world-class technical chops, and unmatched ability to get things done. I was already an early adopter and major fan of the company he was considering and told him it seemed like a solid bet. The company was Flickr, and the friend was John Allspaw.

Fast forward to the present, and after five very successful years at Flickr, John and I talked recently about another career move, but this time it was a little closer to home: John will be joining the engineering team at Etsy as VP of Technical Operations, responsible for the site operations, database, and quality assurance teams. I think his reasoning for making the move from Flickr to Etsy illustrates just what a great fit John is for Etsy:

“The reason I stayed here for five years wasn't for the vesting or the accolades. It was because I worked with people who *care* about building something that people *care* about. This also happens to be the same reason why I chose my next step: Etsy. They care, and it shows.“

I couldn’t be more excited for someone with John’s incredible experience to be joining Etsy. Before Flickr, John and I worked together at Salon.com and IDG/InfoWorld. He then went on to Friendster, one of the earliest social networking sites. Once he got to Flickr, John built site operations from 20 servers in a small Vancouver data center into a cultural phenomenon spread across six data centers around the world, with 40,000 photos being served per second and four billion photos being managed. Over four years, traffic to the site grew 40x while the number of users grew tenfold. All the while, John and the excellent team he built were the ones turning the knobs and pulling the levers to make it all work along with the developers at Flickr.

John recorded his hard-earned knowledge in a well-regarded book about capacity planning for web sites (The Art of Capacity Planning) and became a favorite speaker at technical conferences – when you’re successful, everyone wants to know the formula. With all of that happening, he also found time to play guitar in an itinerant bluegrass band, filing in the gaps between the washboard and the banjo. And have two kids!

John will joining us officially in late January, bringing his know-how to help us make Etsy better. I can’t wait to work with John again. Without further ado, please join me in welcoming John to Etsy!

About Us series | Tech Updates

Tech Update: Upcoming SEO Improvements for Shop Home Pages

2009-10-30T19:40:00-05:00

UPDATE: We have completed the SEO improvements for shop pages, including the 302 to 301 redirect changes for username.etsy.com URLs.

[The following was originally posted on October 30, 2009.]

UPDATE: We're happy to announce that all the search engine optimization (SEO) changes described in the post below are now live on Etsy, except for the 302 to 301 redirect change for username.etsy.com URLs, which will roll out over the next 24 hours.

[The following was originally posted on October 28, 2009.]

As part of our ongoing initiative to increase SEO effectiveness on Etsy.com, we will be releasing an update within the next 24-48 hours that is designed to improve page rankings on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.

Search engines look at the number of links into a web page, such as a seller’s shop or product listing page, and the quality of those links to determine the relevancy of that page in response to a search query. Our change will ensure that ALL incoming links to Etsy pages are counted by the search engines.

Prior to this change, all links to your shop URL (username.etsy.com) were 302 redirects to www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=123456, which many search engines viewed as temporary and therefore did not count in their algorithms. From a technical perspective, we changed 302 temporary redirects to permanent 301 redirects, which are counted.

In the process, we’ve also updated the current shop page URL (www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=123456) from a format that uses a numerical “user_id” to one that is SEO-enhancing as well as shopper-friendly: www.etsy.com/shop/username.

We anticipate that you’ll have questions and hope to address the majority of them below:

Do I need to make changes to all the current links to my site?
No, you do not need to make any changes to your current site references — whether you’re using username.etsy.com or www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=123456. Both will be automatically redirected to www.etsy.com/shop/username. In the future, if you’re embedding the link to your shop page on another site, please use http://www.etsy.com/shop/username. If you’re marketing your site and need a URL that’s easy to remember, continue to use username.etsy.com in your marketing materials.

When I create a new shop, what URL will be generated?
When a new shop is created on Etsy.com, two URLs will be generated: username.etsy.com and www.etsy.com/shop/username. Etsy will automatically assign www.etsy.com/shop/username to the page URL. Shop owners can continue to use username.etsy.com for marketing purposes — this will be automatically redirected to www.etsy.com/shop/username.

When can I expect to see the results of these changes?
Once changes are made on any site, it takes search engines a few weeks to recognize that change and reflect it in page rankings. Search engines crawl Etsy.com more frequently than most websites because of its size, number of inbound links and frequency of change.

Tell me more about 302 vs. 301 redirects.
On the Internet, there are different types of redirects used for different purposes by the search engines. The redirect from username.etsy.com to www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=123456 was a 302 redirect. Search engines assume 302 redirects are temporary and therefore do not count links to 302 redirects towards the number of links to a page. In contrast, 301 redirects are seen as permanent, and do count towards the number of links to a page. We're changing the 302 temporary redirect to a 301 permanent redirect to make sure all links to username.etsy.com are counted by search engines.

We’d like to recognize and thank our partners at SEOmoz – Rand, Lindsay, and Jen – for their involvement in our initiative. SEO is an ongoing process and as we continue to roll out enhancements, we will communicate them on The Storque. If you have questions or comments, please join us in this discussion thread in the Forums. We’d love to hear from you.

P.S. If you want to get the breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens — delivered straight to your email inbox, then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.

Handmade Code: Sellit.com

2009-10-23T15:00:00-05:00

As part of our Handmade Code series, we're bringing you news and how-to's about the innovations emerging from the Etsy Developer Community. Located at developer.etsy.com, the Etsy Developer Community serves as a hub for third-party software developers who are making neat and helpful programs for Etsy shoppers and sellers. In this edition, Katie (pictured below at a toga party!) tells us all about their application available at Sellit.com.

What's the basic idea of the application? What need does it fill?
We created Sellit to provide sellers with an easier way to display and discuss their handmade, vintage, or supplies in places they’re already hanging out and having conversations like Facebook, blogs and even Twitter. Also, we thought it was important to not reinvent the ecommerce wheel by asking you to upload more product images or designs in yet another shop. Sellit works with what you already have.

Sellit is already helping thousands of other online merchants gain the extra visibility and buzz, and now we have made the application available to Etsy sellers. The basic premise behind Sellit was to complement or add to what you’re already doing to create awareness for your shop‘s items.

Where do we go to find it? What's the URL, etc?
To get started, just visit www.Sellit.com and be ready with your personal Etsy shop address (http://www.username.etsy.com). You simply copy and paste that into the open text box at the top of the page and click Get Started. You can just plug in your existing Etsy shop and let us handle the setup for you.

After you register, you’re ready to go. It’s exactly the same as your original Etsy shop but now ready for additional activities like sharing to Facebook, easily tying product links to Twitter posts, blogs, advertising, etc.

How do you use it?
So let’s talk about this “Share” thing. In the bottom left corner of each Sellit Mini-Shop there is a Share button. If you click this, you’ll see all the places you can instantly share or discuss your shop’s products. Our motto: Why have one shop location when you can have hundreds? And we’re not kidding! Friends, supporters or customers who love your products can easily add your Etsy Mini-Shop to their social network pages or blogs too.

There are three ways to begin using your account to loop in friends, customers or like-minded folks:
1. Click-n-Post: As long as you are logged into your Facebook or MySpace account, Sellit will post your Mini-Shop directly into your profile where all your friends can see it, and yes, you get to choose what section or page you would like it to appear on. You can also copy and paste or grab the html code to embed it onto your blog or personal website.

2. Shout It! (When logged in): Using today’s most popular micro-blogging sites like Twitter and Plurk and places you can update your status like Facebook and Friendfeed, Sellit allows you to type a short sentence at the top of your admin screen where is says “What’s new with your shop?” After typing your sentence, you then click Shout It to update your selected destination with relevant posts about your products. We even include a short url linking to your items as not to take up the precious limited characters in Twitter, etc. Your buyers and customers can also "Shout” about your products from any Mini-Shop location wherever it’s been shared. You can even bookmark your new Etsy Mini-Shop to sites like Del.icio.us, Diigo and Reddit to help with SEO. Sellit allows you to administer all your social media outlets from one location. It’s all about simplicity and saving you time. For more info on this, check the Shout FAQ.

3. Copy & Paste: Just in case you want to point people to your Mini-Shop or link to it in a blog post or email blast, we make it easy for you to find.

So that’s the skinny on sharing. If you would like more info, check out the Selling Online 101 FAQ.

Are there any costs or further opportunities/ways to get involved?
For those of you wanting maybe a little more, Sellit now has some additional features for you to check out:

AdPAK: Imagine being able to turn your Etsy Mini-Shop into an instant advertisement without all of the normal advertising headaches. With no advertisement design needed, the Sellit AdPAK advertises your products or items on the best sites possible so you don’t have to lift a finger. Check out the AdPAK FAQ.

Sellit PRO: Everyone can use Sellit Basic for free, but if you desire even more visibility and marketing for your shop, Sellit Pro is for you. You’ll have access to automated Twitter and Facebook marketing, advertising and statistics and at least 3000 additional placements of your Sellit products. Check out the Sellit Pro FAQ.

Premium Shout: Just like Sellit Basic, everyone gets to use the manual Shout for free, but with Premium Shout everything is automated and you have access to advanced options for posting sales, new products or upcoming events.

What should one do if there's a bug or a problem? Who should one contact?
In case you have any additional questions, concerns or just need a little help, we are here for you 24/7 (by way of UserVoice) to get you the answers you need. Plus we really like talking to our users. Just look on the very left hand side of any Sellit page for the Feedback button. You can also follow us on Twitter, subscribe to our blog (we feature Etsy sellers!) and become a fan of our Facebook page.

What's one surprising/fun/amazing story you've heard about someone using your app? Or what is your favorite part about the app?
We love hearing from sellers who use it. Here's what a couple of them had to say:

“LOVE your Sellit network! I've been able to quickly post to Twitter, Facebook and my blog using your product AND I love how you guys promote all over the place! Less time promoting and more time sewing and selling — I'm all for that!! It's so easy to use! Love the layout! I'm just there!”
- Charlotte Blackwell, Bizzie*Lizzie*Creations

"Sellit is easy to set up and use. Within minutes I had a free personalized Mini-Shop that seamlessly integrated with my shop. Sellit easily supports the admin side of my business; from my workbench I can simply send one shout (message) across multiple networks. Less time on the computer gives me more time to work on my craft."
- Marcella Austenfeld, Good To Go Jewelry

Anything else you'd like to add?
On average, 40% of the people who interact with your Etsy Mini-Shop should convert to additional sales leads. In the Related Items below, find some Etsy shops who are already using Sellit.

Have you used Sellit? Post in the comments below!

Etsy Guide to SEO

2009-10-08T10:30:00-05:00

Attention, sellers! The Etsy Guide to SEO is here!

UPDATE: Daniellexo has made this handy video from Rand's first Virtual Lab chat. We suggest watching it over at Vimeo, where you can see the screenshots a little bigger. Rand will be giving another chat on Monday, October 12 and again on October 28. (See below for details.) He'll be going over this same material and taking questions. We hope you can join in!

[The following was originally published on September 24, 2009.]

SEOmoz, the Search Engine Optimization consultants we've been working with, have put together this handy document for sellers. It's full of great tips and insights into how to enhance your shop for search engines and improve your rankings. SEO is an evolving process, so it's possible there will be updates to this guide. We will bump up the post when this occurs.

Please download the PDF file of the Etsy Guide to SEO here.

(Note: The file is approximately 2.0 MB and may take some time to download. If this is the case, please right-click on the link and save the document to your computer.)

Additionally, we will be continuing a series of three live online workshops in our Virtual Labs with Rand from SEOmoz. The schedule is as follows:

Thursday, October 1 at 5:30 p.m. ET
Monday, October 12 at 7 p.m. ET
Wednesday, October 28 at 4 p.m. ET

Click here to see what time the Virtual Labs are in your hometown.

These Virtual Labs will be an overview of what's been outlined in the Etsy Guide to SEO. So mark your calendars! We will also do our best to record one of the sessions and post a link to that video back here. So check back at the end of October if you can't make the scheduled sessions.

Thanks!

Neelam

We're closing comments here and linking to this Forum thread so we can follow your discussion there.

Find more how-to's in Etsy's Seller Handbook.

Tech Update: Site Maintenance 2009 Schedule

2009-10-02T17:00:00-05:00

UPDATE: Our engineers will be working on the site on Monday, November 16, but the site will not be taken down for this maintenance window. That the site will be accessible during maintenance is actually part of the improvements that have been made.

We apologize for the back and forth. We are getting down to the final preparations before the holidays and we are working hard. One new factor appeared on the scene: the new baby of MCR, our chief Sys Admin, and his wife. No, this is not the sole reason for the shifting schedule, but it is the only one with a high enough cuteness factor to be worth mentioning.

As I wrote back in January, we have planned a number of behind-the-scenes changes and improvements for the rest of the year that will enhance the stability and scalability of the site, but require site downtime. To put those improvements in place, I announced monthly maintenance windows in which the site would be unavailable while we make these changes Since then, we have realized that we need more frequent maintenance windows to make these improvements more quickly, so we will now be doing these maintenance windows roughly every two weeks. To give everyone the most notice possible, we are publishing the new schedule below.

Our first maintenance window on the new schedule will be next Monday, June 8 from 2 a.m. - 6 a.m. ET. During this time period, all functions on the site will be unavailable, and all Etsy users will be directed to a page that notes that the site is undergoing scheduled maintenance. For updates during the maintenance window, please see http://fix.etsy.com. (Note: Any sellers who have purchased a Showcase that would run during this maintenance window will receive a pro-rated credit for the 4-hour maintenance period. You can expect your bill to be credited within two to three business days after the date of the maintenance.) The new schedule for maintenance windows is as follows (all are 2 a.m. - 6 a.m. ET):

Monday, October 5 postponed to October 12 (2 a.m. - 8 a.m.)
Monday, October 19 (cancelled)
Monday, November 2
Monday, November 16

We are still thinking about and discussing the maintenance schedule for after November 16, since we want to be as sensitive as possible to the holiday shopping season and minimize any disruptions during that time.

We will communicate these dates in advance each time as a reminder. While there may still be occasional emergency maintenance windows, our goal is to use these regular planned maintenance windows to proactively make changes that will minimize emergencies.

Thanks in advance for your patience during our site maintenance periods, and thanks for using Etsy!

*To translate these times into your local time zone, please click here.

[The previous schedule was published on January 21, 2009.]

About Us: Dan a.k.a. McFunley

2009-10-02T14:00:00-05:00

This is a special edition of our About Us series, in which we profile Etsy staff. Today, we're not just getting to know Dan McKinley, a.k.a. McFunley. We're also paying tribute to Dottie, a.k.a. Dottie Matrix, his miniature daschund, in all her speckled glory.

Dan, a mainstay in the prickly pear contingent of Etsy's Admin, has been an engineer since September of 2007. He's got a lot going on in the ol' noggin. You never know when, after a brief moment of simmering silence, Dan will either burst out in a bright, slightly unhinged peel of laughter, or if he'll grumble a snide remark.

Similarly, you never know if Dottie will run over to your desk for an extended snorgle session, complete with belly scratches and frollicking, or if she'll lay a turd in the middle of the floor. Hard to tell what's going on with these two, but we love them! Dan is an excellent engineer and Dottie has become the Etsy mascot.

Dan Fun Facts:

Dan seems to have a deep, personal connection to Hunter S. Thompson, judging by his T-shirt collection.
Amy says she keeps "waiting for the 'dress as your favorite Etsy Admin' day so I can dress as Dan with a Spoon T-shirt, stuffed dog and Haskell book."
Dan once authored an Etsy Finds posts entirely about the Mountain Goats. Anda says he can sing all the lyrics of all their songs.
Nicholas also notes that Dan's favorite programming language is lisp.
Tim describes him as stern but never cross. He adds, "One time he half-smiled in my general direction."
Starpoli claims to make him homicidal every time she cheerily says, "Good morning, Dan!" So she says it a lot.
Gerry says he keeps a book about atheism at hand for bathroom reading.
Starpoli says Dan came up with one of the best names for our conference room naming contest (the theme was mashups of food and rockbands): Soy Division.
Eliz, whose desk was targeted for pooping under, is not a fan of Dottie.

One of the categories of his blog is "angst." From his bio: "I have severe disdain for C++, Java, PHP, and XML, but so far haven’t figured out how to avoid them." Dan's mindset is full of disdain.
Anda recalls that at the Etsy holiday party two years ago, Matt made us all sing Christmas carols and Dan busted out his guitar and sang. A lot.
He says he's in a band, but none of us can confirm that. Eliz points out that he does have 9583290 guitars.
Eliz says he likes to spend his time staying up late formulating arguments for emails, mostly to other engineers.
"Dan hates everything" — Ian, a.k.a. imm.
Sean says Dan is an ISTP personality type. (He hates Myers-Briggs personality tests.)
At Etsy's Fourth Anniversary Party, we all had name tags that said "I make _____". Dan filled in the blank with "eliz angry."
Sean dug up some of Dan's old posts for The Storque (back when we forced all Admin to contribute). "Dan pens baroque Etsy Finds."
Dan, who is the only engineer left on the team who understands The Storque's special Django programming language, won't touch The Storque's code with a ten foot pole.
Kevin adds, "Dan loooooves vim."
Kyle says that Dan was "all about keg stands while in a college frat." (See awkward photo below.)

Dottie Fun Facts

Nicholas points out how she likes to walk around holding her toy in her mouth and whining at people to throw it for her.
Her muzzle can barely mouth a tennis ball's full diameter.
Dottie loves playing hard to get. However, she also loves to have her belly rubbed.
Eliz hates her.
Starpoli loves her, but Dottie plays hard to get. "But then she lets me scratch her belly sometimes, and I feel like I'm the luckiest person ever."
Nicholas notes that Dottie will sit on your lap while you work, especially if you have a snack on your desk.

Dan takes Dottie to work in the wicker basket mounted on the front of his bike...like he's in Wizard of Oz or Elliot from E.T.
Dottie has her own Facebook page.
Alison and Tara love her, and they get down on their hands and knees and let her play in their long hair — hair-scapades!
When Alison dog-sat for Dottie, the little pup was quite high maintenance and needed to be in constant contact. Dottie even needed to sleep in Alison's bed — at the foot, deep under the covers. "It was most 'ENH!'," Alison says.

Dan claimed to not have an awkward photo for this post. Pshhht! Here's one compliments of Eliz, who documented this failed keg stand attempt, recalling Dan's frat boy yesteryear, late night at the Etsy fourth anniversary party.

Dan in more peaceful times (note the early indicators of angst):

Etsy has had quite a growth spurt lately, and we have the awkward pictures to prove it. We've been posting a series of About Us pieces to help you get to know the Etsy Admin (and for us to get to know each other!). You've seen the admin badge, and maybe you're a bit curious about the person behind it! For more on Etsy's mission and about the company, please see our About page (the link is in the little blue footer of every Etsy page).

Some favorite dachshund related items below...

Tech Update: Upcoming Changes for Shop and Item Page SEO

2009-09-23T18:00:00-05:00

UPDATE: We're happy to announce that the search engine optimization (SEO) changes described in the post below are now live on Etsy. It's important to note that the changes won't appear in Google search results immediately. Google checks web pages for updates periodically, so the changes won't appear in Google search results until Google visits your page again and updates the information it has about your page. If you want to see when Google last checked one of your pages, search for the page in Google and click the "Cached" link for your page.

At the top of the cached version of the page, Google states when they last viewed the page.

We're also excited to announce the launch of a tool that enables sellers to preview how their item pages and shop home page will appear in Google search results. When you list a new item or edit an existing listing, you can click a link to "View a preview of how your item will appear in Google search results."

This shows a preview that updates as you enter or edit your item title and description. You can simply enter your item title and description and instantly view how your item will appear in Google search results. This tool is also available on the Your Etsy > Appearance page where you can update your Shop Title and Shop Announcement and preview how your shop home page will appear in Google search results.

As we mentioned in the original post below, SEO is an ongoing process. We'll continue to make improvements and keep you updated on our progress here on The Storque.

[The following was originally posted on September 1, 2009.]

Etsy has been working with SEOmoz, a third-party consultancy, to improve the search engine optimization (SEO) for Etsy.com, including shop and item listing pages. Improved SEO means shoppers are more likely to find Etsy pages when they use search engines like Google and Bing.

We're excited to announce that we’re getting ready to move forward with some changes based on the guidance of the experts at SEOmoz. (Big thanks to Rand, Lindsay, Jen and everyone at SEOmoz!)

We're pre-announcing these changes to ensure sellers have time to prepare, but it's important to note that you don't need to make any changes to your shop or item listing pages. It's your choice whether you want to work on SEO. We know some sellers will want the opportunity to optimize their pages and take full advantage of these changes, and we also want to explain what Etsy is doing to improve SEO.

These changes will take effect within the next few weeks, and we’ll update this announcement to let you know when the changes are live on the site.

We'll start with an overview of changes we're making and then dig into some examples.

Titles

Google and other search engines limit the number of characters displayed in the page title of links on their search result pages. SEOmoz has found that the likelihood of Web searchers clicking through on a specific link in search results increases if the page title appears complete in Google or other search engines. To prevent page titles from getting cut off, we will remove non-essential characters, such as periods and commas, and then truncate page titles at the end of the last complete word up to 66 characters. (If this sounds complicated, check out the details and examples below.)

It's important to note that page titles are only visible to search engines, on search engine search result pages, and at the top of web browser windows.

SEOmoz has also found that brand names tend to increase the likelihood of Web searchers clicking on a page title in search results, which is why we're putting "on Etsy" at the end of page titles. Familiar brand names help searchers quickly identify links they trust, and to the extent the Etsy brand has gained significant awareness, SEOmoz recommends including "on Etsy" at the end of page titles. However, sellers' shop, section, and item titles are likely most relevant to searchers, and will be prioritized at the beginning of page titles. In certain situations "on Etsy" will be removed to create more room for the seller's shop, section, and item titles. We're also making sure that the seller’s username, which is often the seller’s brand, appears in page titles.

And now for some detailed examples.

Shop homepage title

The current format is: <username> on Etsy - <shop title>
The new format will be: <shop title> by <username> on Etsy

In order to keep the page title tag to 66 characters or fewer, we created rules for how the content will be truncated. The rules ensure that the full username is in the title tag, remove "on Etsy" if the <shop title> is too long, and truncate the <shop title> if it's still too long after "on Etsy" is removed.

If the <shop title> + <username> is greater than 54 characters, but less than 62 characters, "on Etsy" will be removed.

If the <shop title> + <username> is greater than 62 characters, "on Etsy" will be removed and the <shop title> will be truncated to the end of the last complete word, up to 42 characters + (20 - <username>). If your username is less than 20 characters, there's more room for a longer <shop title>.

Here are a few examples:

<username>: littleblackrabbit (17 characters) <shop title>: vintage and recycled inspiration (32 characters) <shop title> + <username> = 49 characters, so "on Etsy" will be included and nothing will be truncated Page title: vintage and recycled inspiration by littleblackrabbit on Etsy

<username>: BettyTurbo (10 characters)
<shop title>: mostly involving cake ice cream and moustaches (45 characters)
<shop title> + <username> = 55 characters, so "on Etsy" will be removed
Page title: mostly involving cake ice cream and moustaches by BettyTurbo

<username>: iheartnorwegianwood (19 characters)
<shop title>: Harnesses cage skirts fringe leggings specialness (49 characters)
<shop title> + <username> = 68 characters, so "on Etsy" will be removed and the <shop title> will be truncated
Page title: Harnesses cage skirts fringe leggings by iheartnorwegianwood

Here's a tool you can use to calculate the number of characters in your <username> and <shop title>.

Because you have limited space in titles it's best to include the most important keywords at the beginning of your <shop title> and to focus on the unique value of your shop.

It's important to note that your <shop title> will only be truncated in the page title, which is visible to search engines, on search engine search results pages, and at the top of web browser windows. Your full <shop title> will still appear on your shop homepage on Etsy.

Item page title

The current format is: <item title> by <username> on Etsy

While we're not changing the format, we are adding rules for how content is truncated. The rules ensure that the full username is in the title tag, remove "on Etsy" if the <item title> is too long, and truncate the <item title> if it's still too long after "on Etsy" is removed.

If the <item title> + <username> is greater than 54 characters but less than 62 characters, "on Etsy" will be removed. If the <item title> + <username> is greater than 62 characters, "on Etsy" will be removed and the <item title> will be truncated to the end of the last complete word up to 42 characters + (20 - <username>).

Section page title

The current format is: <username> on Etsy - <section name>
The new format will be: View <section name> by <username> on Etsy

If the <section name> + <username> is greater than 49 characters but less than 56 characters, "on Etsy" will be removed. If the <section name> + <username> is greater than 56 characters, "on Etsy" will be removed and the <section title> will be truncated to the end of the last complete word up to 37 characters + (20 - <username>).

Canonical tags

We're going to use canonical tags on shop homepages, section pages and item pages.

What's a canonical tag? This is part of the code for your Etsy pages that lets search engines know when different URLs (web addresses) are actually the same page. For example, check out these two URLs: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sc_main_21&listing_id=29577528
and http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=29577528

The URLs are different, but they point to the exact same page. Generally, search engines assume that a different URL means it’s a different page, unless the code of the page uses a canonical tag to tell the search engine otherwise.

This change will only be visible to search engines, but is important because it will help improve the search engine rankings of sellers' pages. The number and quality of links to a page is an important factor in search engine rankings. If Google thinks those two pages are different, it will count the number of links to each page separately. If Google knows pages with different URLs are the same page, it will add up the links to the different versions of the page and give credit for all of those links to one version of the page, likely increasing the ranking of the page.

If you're interested, SEOmoz has more info on canonical tags.

What's next?

It's important to note that SEO is an ongoing process, and we'll continue to make improvements. We're working with SEOmoz to identify how to improve site-wide SEO, and we'll keep you updated on our progress here on The Storque.

Over the past several weeks, many Etsians have participated in Forum discussions and a Virtual Lab with Rand Fishkin, CEO of SEOmoz. If you didn't get a chance to participate in the recent Virtual Lab with Rand, we'll be announcing additional Virtual Labs in the coming weeks.

We're closing comments here and starting a Forum thread so that Etsy Admin can better answer your questions and the discussion will be searchable. Join us there

Handmade Code: Tag Finder Tool from Craftweasel.com

2009-09-04T13:15:00-05:00

As part of our Handmade Code series, we're bringing you news and how-to's about the innovations emerging from the Etsy Developer Community. Located at developer.etsy.com, the Etsy Developer Community serves as a hub for third-party software developers who are making neat and helpful programs for Etsy shoppers and sellers. In this edition, Martin Jones tells us all about his Tag Finder tool, just one of the applications he's developed for his website Craftweasel.com.

Photography has been a hobby of mine for a while, and at the start of this year I set up an Etsy shop called redrowstudio for my photographic prints. At the same time, I was taking the photos for my partner's shop, thedoghouse. My day job is in computational biology, and I do a lot of programming, so straight away I started thinking of ways to use the data from Etsy's API to make useful tools. The first thing I built was the Personal Shopper tool — I've been interested for a while in recommendation systems, and I thought that Etsy Favorites might be a good starting point. I put up the craftweasel.com website, posted a link in the Forums, and got lots of good feedback. I wrote the Tag Finder tool to see if it could help me with my own tags, then realized by reading the Forums that others might find it useful, so I added it to the website, and straight away it became the most popular tool.

What's the basic idea of the Tag Finder tool? What need does it fill?
A lot of sellers (myself included!) find that one of the most difficult jobs is deciding on tags for our items — if you search the Etsy Forums on any given day you can pretty much guarantee that someone will be asking for help with their tags. Sometimes you can't think of enough tags for a particular item, and sometimes you can think of too many and can't decide which to use!

The idea behind the Tag Finder tool is to help with both of these problems. You give Tag Finder a couple of tags to start with, then it gives you a list of suggested tags that are associated with your original tags. (This bit works like the Google and Yahoo keyword tools).

It also lets you see the average number of views per day of each suggested tag. (It's a bit more complicated than that; see the website help page for more info). This is very useful if you're a seller, because you can choose tags that generate high numbers of views.

Very Important Editorial Note from our Etsy Support Team: Please remember to only use tags that are accurate and relevant to your specific item listing to best help shoppers find your items on Etsy. Inaccurate tags may be flagged by other members for review and removed from your listing by Etsy, without notice. Also, remember to consider appropriate tags that function as subcategories within your item's category. Check out the Selling FAQ for more info about using tags properly.

Who is it for? How many people are using it right now?
The Tag Finder tool is for Etsy sellers who want to optimize their tags. Of course, you can also use it for market research — to see what color of hats get the most views, for instance. We've had about 5,000 visitors who have used the Tag Finder tool, and they've searched using about 7,000 different sets of starting tags.

Where do we go to find it? What's the URL, etc?
Go to http://craftweasel.com, and click to go to Tag Finder from the menu bar at the top of any page on craftweasel.com. Or go directly to this link: http://craftweasel.com/TagToolQuery.do

How do you use it?
The Tag Finder page is very simple — just a single box! You type in some tags that describe your item (for example, wool scarf) and click the button. You might have to wait a while for the results to load,
because the application has to go and retrieve a bunch of data from Etsy.

The results page consists of a few graphs and a table. The first two graphs show the distribution of price and average number of views per day for items that match your input tags. For instance, for "wool
scarf" we see that most items cost between $20 and $40, and that most items get fewer than 10 views per day.

The next three graphs show some suggested tags, with views/day on the up-down axis and price on the left-right axis. From the first graph, two suggested tags stand out as getting high numbers of views —
"'woman" and "organic." So if these tags are suitable for your item they would be good to include in your tags.

Right down at the bottom of the results page is a big table that shows all the suggested tags and for each one the average views/day, price, and the number of items that were found. You can click on the column
headers to sort by that column. The table shows all tags that are associated with "wool scarf" so it can be useful for market research. For instance, imagine that we are trying to decide what color scarf we should make next. If we look in the table for color words, we can take a note of the views/day for each color:

red 3.10
blue 2.75
green 2.61
silver 3.31
gray 6.68

Gray wool scarves seem to get more views than the other colors, so we might decide to make our next scarf a gray one.

Are there any costs or further opportunities/ways to get involved?
All the tools on craftweasel.com, including the Tag Finder, are free to use — the website is supported by advertising through Project Wonderful. I'd love to hear any feedback, and I'm always interested in ideas for new tools — contact me using the details below. I'd also love to hear if you've come up with an interesting way to use the Tag Finder; I'd like to put more examples on the craftweasel blog.

What should one do if there's a bug or a problem? Who should one contact?
I've tried to make it easy for users of the tool to report problems or give suggestions, etc. You can:

Email me: martin@redrowstudio.com
Convo me: my Etsy username is redrowstudio
Leave a comment on the craftweasel blog: http://craftweasel.blogspot.com
Message me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/craftweasel

If you do encounter a problem, please let me know what tags you were searching for, as that will help me track down the problem. There are a couple of known issues: the Tag Finder tool won't work when Etsy is
down for site maintenance, and the site can be slow when a lot of people are using it. Hopefully I will be able to move craftweasel.com to a faster server in the future, which should speed things up.

What's one surprising/fun/amazing story you've heard about someone using your app? Or what is your favorite part about the app?
My favorite thing about the app has been the response from the Etsy community — lots of people have given feedback, and helped out with bug reports and feature suggestions. I also love the way that people have come up with creative ways to use the tool. For instance, because top-level categories are also tags in Etsy, the Tag Finder can be used to choose which category to list an item in when it could fit in more than one ("knitting" and "accessories," for example).

Anything else you'd like to add?
I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who helped with craftweasel.com by reporting problems and making suggestions. I chose the Related Items below from some of the shops of sellers who have helped. Particular thanks go out to my partner Jane (thedoghouse) who came up with the name and color scheme for the website.

Also, there are a few other tools on craftweasel.com that might be useful. They are:

Shop Stats tool: Summarizes a bunch of information about your shop, prices and tags.
Personal Shopper tool: Finds recently listed items for you based on your Favorites.
Similar Items tool: Enter a few items and it will try to find similar items that have been recently listed.

Post in the comments below if you love the Tag Finder!

About Us: Ian a.k.a. imeyer

2009-08-28T13:30:00-05:00

Ian, a.k.a. imeyer, a.k.a. imm, is our prickly pear on the Engineering Team. He works with servers and such to keep Etsy running smoothly and faithfully.

Fun Facts:

Ian is a great photographer. Here's his website to prove it and his Flickr too.
Apparently, he has bursitis.
Ian is concerned with efficiency. He once used a timer that calculated how much money we were wasting by having an all-engineering meeting every day.
Ahmed claims to have once seen Ian "on a hotel roof after Arlo & Esme on a Friday night with no pants screaming 'I'm a golden god!'" This sighting has not been corroborated.
He loves to go out to the club but refuses to ever dance.
He brought us our office manager, Sarah S., a.k.a. rockstarpoli. They know each other from working at Right Media, which was acquired by Yahoo. "The first day I met him, he was late for work because he went to a sale at Barneys."
Project Matt brought Ian to Etsy. They know each other from the club.
Vanessa thought his handle "imm" was an IRC robot.
Sarah S. says he has the cutest cat named Dexter, of whom he has taken about 10,000 pictures.
Sarah says he's OBSESSED with that Leighton Meester song.
Alison points out that she and Ian are the only Iowans in the Etsy office, though Sarah S. says he pretends he's from Philly.
Adam described his outfit at the Etsy 4th Anniversary party as Don Johnson-esque. Some unfortunate late-night events that occurred on a fire escape were not as smooth as Don Johnson, however.
Ian "eats really slow," according to Ian's boss Mike, who knows nothing else about Ian because he only concentrates on working people to death and sending them to the data center.
His first concert was Joan Jett.
He takes no guff.
Ian is upset that Ian from EtsyHacks got hired. However, Ian from EtsyHacks is upset that we hired an Ian before him.
He likes to bait people in the IRC.
Lauren and Ian got into an argument about his dislike of the Midwest. She accuses him of being scared of boredom and ashamed of his heritage.
When he first appeared in the Etsy office, we thought he was Jared Tarbell, back from the desert and clean-shaven.

Ian claimed to not have an awkward photo from his teen years, so we went for this gem:

And then we found this specimen online with the caption "Man or woman? Nobody knows?"

Here's the young cat-lover:

Etsy has had quite a growth spurt in the past year, and we have the awkward pictures to prove it. We've been posting a series of About Us pieces to help you get to know the Etsy Admin (and since many of us work remotely, for the Admin to get to know each other!). You've seen the Admin badge, and maybe you're a bit curious about the person behind it! For more on Etsy's mission and about the company, please see our About page (the link is in the little blue footer of every Etsy page).

Some of Ian's favorites below...

Etsy and SEOMoz: Helping the Etsy Community with Search Engine Optimization

2009-08-10T16:30:00-05:00

UPDATE: Join us for the first in a series of workshops with Rand Fishkin, CEO of SEOmoz, a well-known search engine optimization consultancy. Rand will provide an understanding of SEO tactics, give tips to increase your Etsy Shop's visibility in search engine results, and take questions.
When? August 14, 2009 at 4 p.m. ET
Where? Etsy's interactive online classrooms, the Virtual Labs.

[The following was originally posted on July 21, 2009.]

We are pleased to announce that we have hired SEOmoz, a well-known search engine optimization consultancy, to assist in helping Etsy and its sellers to increase their visibility in search engine results. SEOmoz will work with us in the coming months on a comprehensive SEO strategy as well as an implementation plan.

Rand Fishkin, SEOmoz’s co-founder and CEO, is a renowned SEO expert and has spoken around the world on SEO topics. We wanted you to meet him and hear from him directly as he begins his work with Etsy. Without further ado, here’s Rand.

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by some of Etsy's staff, asking for my assistance. They explained to me that a lot of folks in the community have been thinking about search engine traffic and how Google, Yahoo!, Bing, & Ask.com can help drive business to their stores.

I was only too happy to help. After all, Etsy had been a crucial resource in one of the most important days of my life: my wedding. My wife's headpiece, the fascinators that her bridesmaids wore, and even her garter were from Etsy. She told me that she wanted something special that she could pass down to our children — not something mass-produced and sold at the mall. Etsy was her answer. Her experience was incredibly positive, and since then, Etsy's role in our lives has grown — from birthday presents to thank-you gifts to the holidays, Etsy has helped us time and again.

I know the value of Etsy, and all of the amazing creations that are offered on the site. But how could I get that message out to the millions of shoppers on the web? More importantly, how can I empower Etsy sellers with the skills they need to get the message out themselves? I've faced some of these same struggles myself — I started my SEO company with my Mom, out of a tiny office in Seattle. We were responsible for everything — managing finances, making sure we had satisfied customers, and having a steady stream of business coming into the company. It's very similar to what a lot of Etsy sellers have to do.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Some Etsy sellers are very familiar with the term, and others aren't. My goal is to help everyone. There's a lot of misconceptions about SEO — some people think it's black magic or random luck. But like my friend Susan's perfectly knitted creations, it's more of an exact science combined with a dash of creative marketing. You start with some raw materials, and bit by bit, intricately weave them together to create something amazing — you just need to understand how all the pieces come together.

In order to do that, you need to know a bit about how search engines work to rank documents. The process can be complicated, but there are a few important things to remember:

Search engines rely on the use of keywords — the words and phrases people type into search engines — as indicators of relevance. Employing the right terms in the right places is a basic tenet of good SEO, but it's important not to go overboard or appear manipulative.
What you say about yourself is valuable, but when Google was conceived in 1999, they realized that what others say about you is both more credible and more useful for producing relevant results. Thus, the engines in the past 10 years have turned to links as a huge part of the algorithms they employ to rank the search listings. If many unique websites link to your page, you're viewed as a more credible, relevant result.
The engines don't just look at individual pages, they look at entire domains. If you've ever noticed low quality, half-empty pages from Wikipedia taking over the top rankings, you've observed this phenomenon in practice. Search engine algorithms have evolved to measure "trust" and "reliability" on a domain-wide basis, and thus, Etsy.com is a very exciting opportunity. Every member of the Etsy site who points a link to their shop and every news article on the web that links to Etsy.com helps every one of us rank a little bit better. In the SEO world, we call this phenomenon "the rising tide lifts all ships," and it works in precisely this fashion — the rising tide of Etsy, through the traffic that comes to the site and the links it earns, means that every page has a better opportunity to earn traffic.

So, as an Etsy seller, what can you do to optimize your page and get more business? There are a few quick tips I'll share now, but it's my goal to get a comprehensive "Etsy Guide to SEO" online in the weeks to come.

Research Keywords

Google offers a great tool for researching terms and phrases that people are searching for in their engine. By typing in a few words and phrases that relate to your products, you can see what keywords have higher and lower degrees of search volume. Remember that high volume keywords are going to be harder to rank well for, so taking advantage of the "low hanging fruit" can be a great tactic.

Get Links

Many of us have personal websites or blogs and networks of friends, colleagues and family who operate websites as well. Creating links to your products and stores is a terrific way of boosting your rankings and it also encourages direct traffic who will come through those links and see your work.

Read the Ranking Factors

Every two years, SEOmoz runs a survey of the world's top SEO minds, asking for their opinions about what factors matter most for high rankings. This collection of data is available here — SEOmoz's Search Engine Ranking Factors — and a new version is only a couple weeks away. If SEO is important to you, take a few minutes to browse through — while the engines use hundreds of factors to determine rankings, only the top 10-20 are really important to worry about.

Great SEO doesn't happen overnight, and the constant evolution and myriad of issues make it a challenging subject to master. But over the weeks and months to come, I (and possibly a few other staff members from SEOmoz) will be participating in the Etsy community and working hard behind the scenes to give us all the best possible opportunity to succeed.

What's impressed me most about Etsy is the sincerity of the site. Everyone puts their greatest creations forward, and stands behind their work. It's something I intend to do as well. Etsy has been a great part of my life, and I can't wait to spread the word to even more people through the power of SEO.

Sincerely,
Rand (a.k.a. randfish)

Thanks to Rand for his thoughtful contributions to the future of SEO here at Etsy. As Rand noted, a comprehensive "Etsy Guide to SEO" will be available in the coming weeks. We will provide further details here in our blog once this is available.

As always, we appreciate your feedback and suggestions. We'll close comments here so we can follow discussion in this Forum thread.

Kind regards,
Sara (a.k.a. saralouhicks)

Tech Update: Caching and Site Speed on Etsy

2009-08-10T15:05:00-05:00

In recent weeks, Etsy has been experiencing record site traffic, and we are grateful to the buyers and sellers who are visiting Etsy now more than ever, even in summer months. In fact, the past three weeks have been the three biggest traffic weeks in Etsy's history. With the surge in traffic, the demand on our systems has grown, and we have had to make adjustments to deal with the increasing demand. One of the methods we have used is known as "caching." In a nutshell, "caching" refers to the practice of saving a copy of the original source of information in a place that is faster to access than the original source of information. When lots of users visit the site, the speed of access is important, but since a "cache" is a copy, the copy can be slightly out of sync with the original information. In those cases, there can be a "lag" when the information is accessed from the cached location.

Many of you have experienced this in the past two weeks during our high-traffic period, as you may have noticed item listing edits appeared to lag in updating. In all cases, the price of an item has always been reflected accurately when a buyer places it in a cart. After further tuning of our systems to deal with the recent surge in traffic, I think we overcompensated with our caching approach on listing pages, and I have asked the Engineering Team to change our caching strategy back to the way it worked previously. In practical terms, this means that sellers' edits to item listing pages should show much more quickly. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

Caching can be a complex subject. You may be familiar with the term "caching" from your use of a web browser like Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer or Opera. With this type of caching, your web browser pulls data (usually images) from remote systems on the Internet and saves a copy of (or "caches") that data on your computer to make access to the information faster. In that scenario, instead of going repeatedly to a far away server to fetch an image, your computer saves a copy of the image on your hard drive to make the web page load faster. As web sites have grown rapidly, computer systems that power web sites like Etsy have developed caching practices of their own to speed delivery of web pages. When a site like Etsy is slow, fewer buyers come to the site, and shopping is more difficult and frustrating.

There are different caches (or copies) of information that live in different systems inside a large web operation. At Etsy, we use Solr (open source search software) to provide the fastest search experience for users. Our use of Solr resulted in immediate increases in search speed and volume (see the post here), making it easier for buyers to find and purchase items on Etsy. To achieve that level of speed, Solr essentially acts as a high-speed cache, or copy, of the original listing data. As new listings are created on Etsy, they enter a queue that updates the items in the site search cache (or copy) in a matter of minutes in most cases, keeping the copy synchronized as closely as possible. Visitors to Etsy are rewarded with a fast search experience. Compared to a year ago, Etsy's search is roughly 10 times faster while handling twice the volume of listings.

We also use a number of other caching mechanisms to keep the web site fast and responsive as our traffic grows. We have always used caching as a means to increase the speed of the site with the ultimate goal of making it easier for sellers to manage their shops and for buyers to find and purchase products in those shops. Our goal is to always provide the freshest information possible to our buyers and sellers as they use Etsy. As we continue to grow, we may have to make trade-offs to keep the site fast and speedy for buyers and sellers, but we will do our best in the future to minimize any lags you may experience and do a better job of explaining up front any changes that might affect the user experience. In trying to provide greater stability on the site, we ultimately turned one of our system tuning knobs too far in one direction, and I apologize for the confusion it caused.

Please see this Forum thread for discussion.

Tech Update: Unscheduled Forums Maintenance 7/24/09

2009-07-23T12:00:00-05:00

On Friday, July 24, 2009 from 12 a.m. - 2 a.m. ET we will be doing unscheduled maintenance on Etsy's Forums. (Click here to translate this time on a world clock.) During this time period, all functions on the site will be available, with the exception of the Forums. For updates during the maintenance window, please see http://fix.etsy.com.

We have published the scheduled site maintenance times for the rest of 2009 here.

P.S. If you want to get the breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens — delivered straight to your email inbox, then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.

Tech Update: Unscheduled Site Maintenance 7/16/09

2009-07-15T19:00:00-05:00

Heads up! On Thursday, July 16, 2009 from 6 a.m. to 6:20 a.m. ET we will be doing unscheduled maintenance on Etsy's systems. (Click here to translate this time on a world clock.) During this time period, all functions on the site will be unavailable, and all Etsy users will be directed to a page noting that the site is undergoing maintenance. For updates during the maintenance window, please see http://fix.etsy.com.

We apologize for the inconvenience, but it's a sign of good things to come! Our engineers are preparing the site for new features currently being tested.

Handmade Code: Find Fabric with morecloth

2009-07-10T10:15:00-05:00

As part of our Handmade Code series, we're bringing you news and how-to's about the innovations emerging from the Etsy Developer Community. Located at developer.etsy.com, the Etsy Developer Community serves as a hub for third-party software developers who are making neat and helpful programs for Etsy shoppers and sellers. Recently, Etsy Admin daniellexo suggested we interview Catherine about her application, morecloth.

For years I've been fascinated by textiles and textile design. I like looking at fabric, stitching it into one-of-a-kind quilts and potholders, creating fabric designs of my own, and writing software for that purpose. I wrote the morecloth app partly just for myself ⎯ as a window through which I could look at emerging design and color trends in the make-it-yourself fabric world. But I also wanted to do something that might benefit small fabric-related businesses and, indirectly, the many ingenious designers whose work appears in this milieu.

What's the basic idea of the application? What need does it fill?
There's a lot of attractive fabric for sale at Etsy. This application selects some of what's available and groups it according to color, giving buyers a new, color-oriented way to browse through fabrics in many shops at once, as well as giving sellers another way to reach buyers.

Where do we go to find it? What's the URL?
Go to http://www.morecloth.com.

Who is it for? How many people are using it right now?
It's for anyone who wants a quick, distraction-free glimpse of Etsy fabrics sorted by color. This is just a glimpse, not a comprehensive view; there are many ways to sort by color and far more fabrics at Etsy than the thousand or so currently visible at morecloth. But this changing sample of what's available has caught and held some people's attention. In the month since I started this project, over 4,800 have visited morecloth. And many have spent over an hour there.

How do you use it?
On the front page of morecloth, there's a collection of striped bands of color. Clicking on a band will take you to a page of fabric swatches in that color range. Clicking on a fabric swatch will take you to the corresponding Etsy listing.

Are there any costs or further opportunities/ways to get involved?
No costs — the application is free for both buyers and sellers. Each week I add a few more Etsy shops. If you're a seller specializing in fabric, your shop may already be included, but you're welcome to email me (catherine@morecloth.com) to make sure I've come across it.

What should one do if there's a bug or a problem? Who should one contact?
If there's a problem, please email me: catherine@morecloth.com.

What's one surprising/fun/amazing story you've heard about someone using your app? Or what is your favorite part about the app?
Maybe the best feature of this app is its simplicity. It samples a wild abundance of textile patterns and colors, and presents them in a way that feels manageable.

Anything else you'd like to add?
For you sellers out there, I talk a bit about how listings get selected for inclusion on my blog.

Have you used morecloth before? Post in the comments below!

More Handmade Code Posts

Browse for Fabric on Etsy | Shop by Color on Etsy

Handmade Code: Etsy Hacks

2009-06-24T14:17:00-05:00

As part of our Handmade Code series, we're bringing you news and how-to's about the innovations emerging from the Etsy Developer Community. Located at developer.etsy.com, the Etsy Developer Community serves as a hub for third-party software developers who are making neat and helpful programs for Etsy shoppers and sellers. In this edition, Ian of EtsyHacks tells us all about his most popular application, Copy Listing.

There are many aspects of having your own Etsy shop that are fun, exciting and rewarding. Managing your shop is not one of them. When my wife, Sara, started her shop twolittlewrens on Etsy, she found this out quite quickly. Once she found it out, I also found it out, because she started making me manage her shop so she could get on with actually making things.

I realized that Etsy's engineers probably had a to-do list of epic proportions, and any changes I might want would probably take time to appear. So, since my day job is in software engineering, I started building tools to help me avoid some of the drudgery until the features I wanted appeared on the site. (This backfired somewhat, since Sara announced that I could start packing orders in my newly-acquired spare time. Such is the life of the spouses of Etsy addicts.)

I started sharing my work on etsyhacks.com so that other Etsy sellers (and their long-suffering family members) could benefit too. There are now over thirty "Etsyhacks," varying from the simple to the complex, but one of the most popular is "Copy Listing."

Here I am with my daughter Evie, hard at work.

What's the basic idea of the application? What need does it fill?
Lots of Etsy sellers sell variations on a theme. The majority of their listings are the same, with only a few tweaks here and there to account for different colors, patterns, and options. Currently, if you want to make a new listing based on an existing listing, you have to find a similar sold item, re-list it, and edit it to suit. This isn't particularly useful if you're starting a new product line, or if you don't want to have to search back through your sold items to find the right item to re-list. What you need is a way to copy an existing, for-sale listing. The "Copy Listing" Etsyhack does that.

Where do we go to find it? What's the URL, etc.?
You can download it at http://www.etsyhacks.com/greasemonkey/copy_listing/

Who is it for?
It's for sellers who want to quickly list a number of similar items. Unfortunately, it's only for people who use the Firefox web browser at the moment, because it uses the Greasemonkey add-on for Firefox. But the good news is that you can run Firefox as well as Internet Explorer, Safari, or any other web browser, and just use Firefox when you want to use "Copy Listing." (I love Firefox. It's a great web browser. You should try it even if you don't want to use Etsyhacks.)

How do you use it?
First, you need to have Firefox installed. Then, install the Greasemonkey add-on. (Greasemonkey allows you to run programs — like the Etsyhacks — that modify web pages when you view them, adding extra useful features.) Installation instructions for those are at http://www.etsyhacks.com/greasemonkey/installing_greasemonkey.html

Before:

Then, in Firefox, go to the Copy Listing page and click on the orange "install" button. Greasemonkey will pop up a box asking you to confirm that you want to install the software. Once you've said "yes" to that, you can go to a listing in your shop and there will be a "Copy this item" link in the "Page tools" section of the listing page (in the right-hand column). Just click on that link and you'll be taken to a "Create new listing" page with all of that listing's information already filled in. Make your changes as you go through the listing process, and then click "Finished" and you're all set.

After:

The one thing it doesn't do is copy your photos, because that is rather hard to do. Hopefully you're going to be uploading different photos anyway!

Are there any costs or further opportunities/ways to get involved?
Firefox and Greasemonkey are both free, provided by a community of developers for the benefit of all. The hacks are free, too — I'm of the opinion that people should be able to use these tools, even if their shops aren't generating revenue yet.

Etsyhacks is supported by donations — people pay what they think is right, or what they can afford, if they want to, when they want to. Sellers can also "sponsor" a hack — paying a fee to have their shop featured on the hack's page.

You can also contact me and suggest a hack you'd like to see. Not everything is possible, but I'll do my best! Send me a message (just convo me at ehax).

What should one do if there's a bug or a problem? Who should one contact?
Not Etsy! Because of the way the hacks work, it can look like a bug with a hack is a bug with Etsy. If you're using any Etsyhacks, the first thing to do when you find a bug is to disable Greasemonkey (click on the monkey icon at the bottom right of your Firefox window — the monkey will go grey) and then reload the page. If the problem goes away, then it's a problem with a hack, and you should send me a message (just convo me at ehax).

What's one surprising/fun/amazing story you've heard about someone using your app? Or what is your favorite part about the app?
I often see forum posts and tweets from people who've saved themselves time and effort with the "Copy Listing" hack, or who had been putting off listing a new product line because it was going to take them hours. I like knowing I've helped people.

Are you using EtsyHacks? Post in the comments below!

Handmade Code: ColorMatch from 26OliveStreet

2009-06-11T10:30:00-05:00

As part of our Handmade Code series, we're bringing you news and how-to's about the innovations emerging from the Etsy Developer Community. Located at developer.etsy.com, the Etsy Developer Community serves as a hub for third-party software developers who are making neat and helpful programs for Etsy shoppers and sellers. In this edition, Staci and Alex of 26OliveStreet tells us all about their application called ColorMatch.

Love finding and hearting (favoriting) new shops and items? Get chills when the Treasury’s about to open up? Brainstorming for tomorrow’s blog post? Have something in mind for that gift and want to find it in a specific hue? Buying craft supplies by color palette? …Yes, we thought so. Try out 26 Olive Street’s ColorMatch!

Alex, the developer and web designer half of 26 Olive Street, whipped up ColorMatch after the exciting news of Etsy’s API release to not only enhance our own Etsy experience (we’re avid sellers, buyers, and browsing addicts), but also that of our fellow Etsy users and any other website or blogger fan of all things Etsy handmade and vintage.

What's the basic idea of the application? What need does it fill?
ColorMatch is designed to allow anyone to easily upload an inspiration jpeg and have the hues analyzed into a paint palette used for searching items on Etsy by color. Get even more creative by adding optional keywords.

Discover new Etsy favorite sellers. Find an Etsy item in that color you’ve been searching for. Find color-specific inspiration for Etsy Treasuries and/or blog posts.

Where do we go to find it? What's the URL, etc?
You can visit us and try it out at: http://26olivestreet.com/colormatch

How do you use it?
ColorMatch is a breeze! Here’s a little step-by-step tutorial if you’d like some visuals. Here we are…a fresh ColorMatch palette:

Start by clicking the "browse" button to open up a "file upload" window to locate your chosen image from your computer. (You’ll know if this worked if the image title shows up on the image line after the "file upload" window closes.)

(We used FoundVintageStyle's vintage buttons.)

If you’d like to narrow down your results, type in a keyword or multiple keywords at any time. Example: soap, purse, illustration, felt, bead, etc… Keywords are optional. You can leave this space blank if you’d like ColorMatch to give you a set of random Etsy items in your image’s colors.

Click the "analyze" paint splotch button, and voila! ColorMatch will start loading and extract out the different color hues of your image and compile an Etsy item grid with items that...well, match!

The first ColorMatch "quilt" is made of a random selection from the palette.

Now here comes the extra fun part…. Go on and click any and/or each individual palette color and ColorMatch will find images that match that hue predominately.

See an item in the "quilt" you want more info on? Click it and a new window will appear that shows a mini Etsy listing hosted on the 26 Olive Street website.

Click the item title, picture, or "see additional details" link to go straight to that item on Etsy. Click the shop name to go straight to that shop on Etsy.

Easy as pie! And more colorful!

Are there any costs or further opportunities/ways to get involved?
ColorMatch is free to anyone who would like to use it and free to anyone whose item happens to be viewed. Ah yes, that explains the traffic coming from 26 Olive Street! :) Yes guys, we advertise you for free!

We’re in the process of allowing an option to customize size and embed your ColorMatch color "quilt" results straight to your blog or website! Keep an eye out on the news section of our blog for updates.

What should one do if there's a bug or a problem? Who should one contact?
If you having trouble or have got some questions, please don’t be shy! The idea behind ColorMatch is for others to enjoy it, so we will be more than happy to help in any way we can.

There’s also bound to be some bugs, so if you run into any, let us know! We want to keep everything running smoothly.

Suggestions? Send ‘em over! We like a good brainstorming! Contact us regarding ColorMatch at colormatch@26olivestreet.com.

What's one surprising/fun/amazing story you've heard about someone using your app? Or what is your favorite part about the app?
We just relocated cross-country from NE to CA. Alex happened to mention ColorMatch on his first day of work at his new faculty position at a nearby university and found to his surprise that several colleagues already knew of and use the application! Small world!

We’re so glad to see people using ColorMatch and have been featured a few times out there in the blog world at The Glass Onion and by Celeste Frittata. Celeste actually said, “Using ColorMatch is like being in heaven!” Ah, an Etsy user after our own heart!

Below are a few of our favorite listings from the above tutorial including our inspiration image and some of our reviewer shops…

Post in the comments below if you use ColorMatch. And tell us your favorite color!

Tech Update: One Hour Site Maintenance at Midnight 06/03/09

2009-06-02T13:15:00-05:00

Heads up! Early on Wednesday morning, June 3, 2009 from midnight until 1 a.m. ET we will be doing we will be doing site maintenance on Etsy's systems. (Click here to translate this time on a world clock.) During this time period, all functions on the site will be unavailable, and all Etsy users will be directed to a page noting that the site is undergoing scheduled maintenance. For updates during the maintenance window, please see http://fix.etsy.com.

For our regularly scheduled site maintenance times for the rest of 2009, please see this post.

(Note: Any sellers who have purchased a Showcase that would run during this maintenance window will receive a pro-rated credit for the 1-hour maintenance period.)

P.S. If you want to get the breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens — delivered straight to your email inbox, then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.

Etsy in Action: Bay Area Maker Faire in San Mateo

2009-05-29T13:28:00-05:00

For anyone who's ever been to an Austin or Bay Area Maker Faire, I'm sure you'll echo my sentiments that it is a respectable spectacle filled with spectacular spectacles. With an emphasis on the experiments of tinkerers from around the globe, it's a great way to get inspiration for new projects as we head into summer. This weekend's event in San Mateo, California, May 30 - 31, 2009, will not disappoint!

Steam carriage, photo by staxnet on flickr.

While this g33k gala is pretty out there, it isn't just for geeks. Maker Faire is a family-friendly event and attracts all walks of makers and explorers. In my previous jaunts to these events, I've met an architect who builds portable, modular, panoramic towers the size of a four story building. I've met people who build Tesla coils, just so they can have sword fights with lightning. I've met children who have built functioning robots, and bicycle enthusiasts who have built pedal-powered carnival rides out of recycled cycles. I've met people who use walnuts for gasoline, and a man who built a full size Babbage difference engine #2. As you might imagine, the list goes on and on, but certainly this is the hub where computer programmers, Steampunks, the Burning Man crowd, and the typical family of four can come together and rejoice in the marvels of mankind's imagination.

Naturally, you should expect to see some Etsy folks there too, so if you're coming to the Maker Faire, stop into the Bazaar Bizarre craft area and see the faces behind some of the glorious Etsy shops you know and love.

RedSheep battles AbsolutelySmall's chickenpants.

Etsy Admin Adam and I, Eric a.k.a. objecked, will also be on hand, with goodies and crafts. Make sure to stop in and say "hi" to us at the Expo Hall, where you can enter to win one of many Etsy tote bags stuffed with an Etsy t-shirt, Diana Eng's new book Fashion Geek* from My Craftivity Store*, Eco-Cotton yarn and sewing supplies, fashion embellishing goodness from ilovetocreate, cool markers from Marvy Uchida, coupons, and more!

Free stuff not enough...? We will also have a station set up for you to get creative and make your own comic strips!

Give a shout in the comments below if you'll be attending (or vending at) this year's Maker Faire. We hope to see you! Not in the area? Find inspiration in the Geek Chic gift guide right now!

*Psst... yes, you! These links include a 10% discount code for Etsy Storque readers.

Handmade Code: New "Etsy Addict" iPhone Application

2009-05-01T10:00:00-05:00

The Etsy Developer Community, located at developer.etsy.com, serves as a hub for third-party software developers who are making neat and helpful programs for Etsy shoppers and sellers. We here at Etsy's blog, The Storque, started this Handmade Code series where we invite the developers to step up to the mic. Here's Daniel, maker of the new iPhone application "Etsy Addict"...

Say you're waiting at your bus stop with a coffee in one hand, and suddenly you're overcome by a sense of curiosity and anxiety: has your favorite Etsy seller listed any new items since you last checked twenty minutes ago? This is a condition known as Etsy addiction. Now, you have an iPhone, so you pull it out of your pocket, slide to unlock, fire up Safari, dig out your Etsy bookmark, wait for the page to load, click on Favorites... By then you realize that your bus has rumbled to a stop in front of you, and now you have to fish quarters out of your pocket WITHOUT spilling coffee on the driver or, worse, on your iPhone! You sigh.

That's where Etsy Addict comes in, a brand new app for iPhone and iPod Touch. Checking your favorite seller's new listings is now just a couple of taps away, and it's way faster than doing it via the browser, so you actually get to see stuff before your bus arrives. And everything's formatted just right for your iPhone or iPod's screen, so there's no awkward zooming and panning around. Even if you close it to pay the bus driver or check your email, Etsy Addict takes you right back to where you left off. Sweet!

And it works just as well in the car (as long as you're the passenger!), living room, office, coffee shop, bar (Quick! You have 2 minutes while your date is in the bathroom) or airport. Yes, my wife has actually made a purchase waiting to board a plane. A major source of inspiration for this app is my wife, Joyce (zebracakes on Etsy), who named the app, though you could also say that it's named after her.

Q: Where do we go to find it? What's the URL, etc?
It's available on the iTunes App Store for $0.99 USD. See http://danieldickison.com/etsyaddict

Q: Who is it for?
It's designed exclusively for Etsy addicts! Of course, even if you don't think you're an addict, you're most likely in the denial stage. It's best to face the fact: Etsy Addict will let you lead a healthy life. (Of course, some may claim Etsy Addict simply feeds your addiction. I guess that's ok, too.)

I'd say that as of now, this app is more useful for Etsy shoppers than shop-keepers. But I do have plans for adding useful seller features in the near future (such as viewing recent feedback and sales), so stay tuned via the mailing list!

It was released on April 24th, which, by coincidence or perhaps fate, was Etsy Day. It looks like it's slowly gaining in popularity as the word gets out. I want to say thanks to everyone who has downloaded it already!

Q. How do you use it?
Whenever I write applications, I put myself in the shoes of the user. Actually, if it's a personal project like Etsy Addict, it's always exclusively about making an app that I personally want to use but doesn't exist yet (see the bus stop horror story, above). And, I figure that if I want something, there must be other people that do, too, especially with something as popular as Etsy and iPhone. And the new Etsy Developer API made this all possible.

Q. Are there any costs?
It costs $0.99 USD (also available in other currencies) to download on iTunes. You get free updates after that.

Q. What should one do if there's a bug or a problem? Who should one contact?
I always love receiving comments, questions, feature ideas and criticism. There's a mailing list, which is the best place to air these, or you can find my contact info here.

Q. What's one surprising/fun/amazing story you've heard about someone using your app? What is your favorite part about the app?
My favorite part is that it's so snappy. I put a lot of effort into making everything run smooth and quickly, and I think that's a key feature for a cell phone app.

The reviews on iTunes so far has been great! In fact, they're virtually all rational, fair and intelligible reviews, which is really refreshing considering the quality of some apps' reviews on iTunes. Maybe Etsy users are just that much cooler!

"So far, it's fast and attractive, just what etsy store owners would want for their customers."
— 5/5 stars by Etsy user smallbell

"I am an Etsy addict so I am thrilled that there is finally an app!"
— 4/5 stars by ZooplesAndCo

Q. Anything else you'd like to add?
Pictured is the Etsy Addict headquarters (aka our bedroom) in Pittsburgh, PA, and I'm wearing a t-shirt by kidpirate. If you squint, you can see the Etsy Addict source code in the background where I'm working on the first update. And I look disheveled from hay-fever sneezing all day long!

Seller How-To: Optimizing Your Etsy Shop for Search Engines

2009-04-29T17:01:00-05:00

UPDATE: Please see the most recent information on this topic in our Help section. Click here!

We've been making some changes around the site that we hope will have a big impact. Over the past several months, we've implemented a series of changes to improve Etsy's SEO (search engine optimization). Improved SEO means that it's more likely Etsy pages will be found by people searching with sites like Google, Yahoo and other search engines. While we've done a lot of the work behind the scenes, Etsy sellers can also help maximize the impact of Etsy's SEO on their shop and item pages.

Meta Data: Understanding the Components

Much of this SEO work is done through meta data, which is part of a website's code that is read by search engines. Meta data for SEO has three main components: page title, meta description and meta keywords.

ABOVE: In this screenshot of the Jewelry Category, the meta page title is highlighted in orange in the web browser title bar.

The page title is visible on the site in the top bar of your web browser window. This also shows up when you add a web page to your browser's Favorites or Bookmarks. Ever wonder how a search engine gets the text for the link that is shown in results pages? That's right: it's the page title.

ABOVE: This screenshot shows how Google displays the meta page title and meta description for Etsy's home page in search results.

Both the page title and the meta description are displayed on search engine results pages. Search engines display just a short bit of text for the description, between 140-180 characters depending on the search engine. Meta keywords are generally not visible to someone viewing a web page, but they are used by search engines to help rank relevancy of pages in search results.

We’ve updated the meta data for many of the pages on Etsy: Category and Subcategory pages, the shopping features (like Treasury and Pounce), Etsy shop and item listing pages. Certain pieces of information you control for your shop and item listing pages can impact your shop's SEO. Below we'll explain how you can boost your Etsy shop's SEO.

Your Etsy Shop Pages

ABOVE: This diagram of jenniferladd's shop home page shows how Etsy uses parts of your shop text for the page title, meta description and meta keywords for your shop page.

The page title format on shop pages is: "[username] on Etsy - [Shop Title]"

You can partially control what appears here by using your Shop Title wisely. Your Shop Title is the text that appears in bold just below your banner in your shop. To edit your Shop Title, go to Your Etsy > Appearance. We recommend using this Shop Title to briefly describe your shop and the items you sell so search engines will pick it up more readily. You may also want to include your full name or your business name in your Shop Title if potential customers are likely to search for you that way.

The meta description is the short blurb that appears on a search engine result page to help people quickly learn what the page is about. For your Etsy shop page, the meta description is the first part of your Shop Announcement. We recommend you use the first 1-2 sentences of your Shop Announcement to describe your shop (what kinds of items you sell) and use welcoming language that will entice someone to explore your shop further.

Meta keywords are a less critical component to SEO, and various search engines use them differently to help rank relevancy of a page in search results. For Etsy shop pages, we have automatically pulled the Section Titles for the shop to be used as the meta keywords. We observed that many sellers use basic terms for their sections that translate relatively well into keywords. For example, it's common for jewelry shops to have Section Titles such as: bracelets, necklaces, rings, earrings. To edit your Section Titles, go to Your Etsy > Sections.

Your Item Listing Pages

ABOVE: This diagram of an item listing page from FriendlyFairies shop shows how Etsy uses parts of your item listing text for the page title, meta description and meta keywords for your item listing pages.

On individual item pages, the page title format is:

   • For handmade items – "Handmade [Category] on Etsy - [Item Title] by [username]"
   • For vintage items – "Vintage on Etsy - [Item Title] by [username]"
   • For supplies – "Craft Supplies on Etsy - [Item Title] by [username]"

Once again, you can partially control the information that appears as the page title for your listing pages. You create your Item Title on the first step of the listing process. (To edit an Item Title, go to Your Etsy > Currently for Sale, and click the edit link by the item you wish to edit. Make sure to click "finish" to save your changes.) We recommend you clearly describe your item in the Item Title so search engines will understand what the page is about.

For listing pages, the meta description is taken from the first portion of your Item Description. You create your Item Description on the first step of the listing process. (To edit an Item Description, go to Your Etsy > Currently for Sale, and click the edit link by the item you wish to edit. Make sure to click "finish" to save your changes.) Remember: search engines only display the very beginning of this text, just 1-2 sentences. We recommend you use the first part of your Item Description to draw in potential shoppers: describe your item briefly and use engaging language to encourage them to want to find out more.

Meta keywords on item listing pages are taken from the listing's tags. You tag your listing on the second step of the listing process. (To edit the tags on a listing, go to Your Etsy > Currently for Sale, and click the edit link by the item you wish to edit. Make sure to click "finish" to save your changes.) If you're using your tags wisely for Etsy's on-site search already, then most likely you'll be in pretty good shape with your tags for SEO. For more help with tagging, check out Guidelines & Tips: Tagging on Etsy.

These are a few easy ways you can help bring more targeted traffic to your Etsy shop from search engines by improving the SEO of your shop and item listing pages. Search engines are complex, and there are several other factors that contribute to how high your pages rank in search engine results. For more insight on some of these other factors outside your Etsy shop and item listing pages, you may want to read Shop Makeover Series: Google PageRank Tips for Your Etsy Shop.

Seller Handbook | Shop Makeover Series

P.S. These exercises are also published in the Etsy Success Mailing List. Sign up here to get helpful tips delivered to your inbox twice a week!

About Us: Bryan aka bschwab

2009-04-24T15:25:00-05:00

Meet Bryan Schwab, an Etsy Admin who works on the Engineering Team. Bryan has been with the Etsy engineering team since January of 2008 and focuses mainly on payment system projects. He's based on the West coast, so we don't get to see him face-to-face all that often. We wish we could! His well-tempered voice comes through as insightful and business-minded when we hear him on the daily Engineering Team conference call.

Bryan Fun Facts:

Bryan used to work at eBay.
He speaks German and has a viking beard.
Schwab actually means Q-tip in German.
Bryan is also very tall.
He's a family man, with a wee one (actually not so wee! A 10-pounder!) recently born.
He lives in the San Francisco Bay area with his wife and two young children, though he lived in Manhattan for one year.
He is obsessed with Abe Lincoln.
He recently bought a painting with Boston terriers.
He ran a marathon.
According to Dan, he's really good at shaking exactly two aspirin out of the bottle.
He's an iPhone wiz and has every app known to man or beast, including that one that recognizes music.
His ringtone is Starship's "We built this city."
His first concert was Pearl Jam.
Bryan is a really good guitar player, and you can see awkward youth Bryan jammin' below. We think he looks like the perfect Zep fan.

Yum!

Etsy has had quite a growth spurt in the past year, and we have the awkward pictures to prove it. We've been posting a series of About Us pieces to help you get to know the Etsy admin (and since many of us work remotely, for the admin to get to know each other!). You've seen the admin badge, and maybe you're a bit curious about the person behind it! For more on Etsy's mission and about the company, please see our About page (the link is in the little blue footer of every Etsy page).

Some favorite shops below...

Handmade Code: Etsy Developer Community and API Now Available

2009-03-23T13:45:00-05:00

Today we are happy to announce the Etsy Developer Community and API. The beta phase went smoothly, with over 80 software application developers building a range of new applications for the Etsy community. We first announced our API in a previous post by Chad Dickerson. If you're wondering what is an API, check out this explanation in our community Forum from Etsy's blog editor Vanessa.

The Etsy Developer Community, located at developer.etsy.com, includes everything developers need to integrate the Etsy API into their applications. The Etsy API will allow developers access to the code for actions one can do on the Etsy website, such as searching product listings and viewing members' favorite ("hearted") items. If you are a developer, joining the Etsy Developer Community will be free and getting started is easy. We provide both a complete set of reference documents and tools for developers to test their API calls.

What does this launch mean if you are not a developer, but an Etsy seller or buyer? The applications built by developers using the Etsy API can be valuable tools for enhancing your Etsy experience. Of course, you will still be able to use Etsy without these applications, and Etsy’s Product and Engineering Teams will continue to work hard to deliver improvements and new features to the site for our members. The applications created by software developers around the world using the Etsy API will be wonderful bonuses to the Etsy experience.

So, who are these developers, and what are they making with the Etsy API? Here are a few we would like you to meet:

Karena Colquhoun and Julian Lievano run CraftCult.com. The Heartomatic on CraftCult provides a set of tools to Etsy sellers showing who is "hearting" your shop or items (marking your shop or item as an Etsy favorite). The tool also lets you compare such information over a period of time and provides a search feature to see if you've been featured in an Etsy Gift Guide or on Etsy’s front page handpicked items. Julian says:

"We've found the new API to be easy to learn and use. Access to the vast amount of information on Etsy is going to enable us to build all sorts of exciting tools. I'm looking forward to the new features, and it will be exciting to see what everyone else builds, too!"

Ian Malpass runs the EtsyHacks website, where he manages numerous programs and tools to help Etsy sellers. Ian already has built three applications using the Etsy API. The Shop Value tool calculates the total value of your currently-for-sale listings, along with some other statistics. The Where Am I? tool looks for your shop in a set of search results, and tells you which page you first appear. The Shop CSV lets you download your current listings in CSV format, so you can load them into a spreadsheet. Ian says:

"The API is great — I love that Etsy has extended the site's 'making cool things' ethos to developers working with their data. I'm looking forward to Etsy adding even more features to it, making it even more useful. My only problem is that I don't have enough hours in the day to make all the tools I want to make with it."

Joseph Hinson and Tim Grahl built Makerspot to allow Etsy sellers to syndicate their products on their own websites. With Makerspot, your Etsy shop is built right in; your items, profile and favorites update automatically. Also with Makerspot, you can use your own domain name and choose from dozens of customizable designs. Tim says:

"The beta test of the Etsy API was a fantastic experience. The documentation was thorough. The development staff was responsive. And, most of all, the API worked from the start. Big thanks to Etsy and their team for providing this extremely helpful resource."

Ed Lea is the man behind SoopSee. The service aggregates your Etsy shop, listings, photos and more all in one website. You can customize your site and run it under your own domain name. Ed says:

"Producing an in-depth app using the Etsy API was a breeze. Documentation is straight forward, response times are quick and the API is comprehensive."

Finally, we will also feature additional developers and applications in our upcoming series "Handmade Code" here on Etsy’s blog, The Storque.

If you have questions or concerns about our new Developer Community and API, we have set up a discussion thread in our Forums, or you can email us at developer@etsy.com.

Unscheduled Site Maintenance: Thursday Morning 3/12, 2am EDT

2009-03-11T15:00:00-05:00

We apologize for the short notice, but we need to take Etsy offline for unscheduled maintenance for approximately 20 minutes at 2am EDT (follow this link to convert to your local time zone). During this time, all users will be directed to a page noting that we are undergoing maintenance.

During this maintenance period, we will be providing updates at http://fix.etsy.com/. Thank you in advance for your patience!

P.S. If you want to get the breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens — delivered straight to your email inbox, then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.

Talking Tech with Etsy CTO Chad Dickerson

2009-03-09T17:15:00-05:00

When I wrote my last update in September, the days of summer were retreating and I was sleeping on an air mattress on the floor of my new Brooklyn apartment, waiting for my household goods to arrive from California, and more importantly, quietly begging for the summer heat to subside. I got my wish, and was rewarded with one of the coldest winters in my personal history. On my frigid walks to work in the morning past Brooklyn brownstones, my two key accessories have been a scarf I bought on Etsy and a messenger bag to carry the tools of my trade (a laptop). The ritual of wrapping the scarf and putting my laptop in the messenger bag each morning reminds me of how special Etsy is and how important it is for me and my team to deliver a stable, high-performing web experience for the buyers and sellers who pour their passions into their work and our community every day. While we are continually making improvements and our work is never done delivering that experience, we have made progress on many fronts, all while Etsy has continued to grow rapidly and welcome lots of new talent into the Engineering Team.

Monitoring and Communication

I realized early on that the Engineering Team needed to communicate more transparently with the buyers and sellers on Etsy, and that we needed to improve our systems monitoring capabilities so that we had an immediate understanding of the nature of core problems when issues did arise and could communicate them appropriately and reliably. When I arrived at Etsy, the systems for proactively monitoring the site were very limited and the approach was primarily reactive. After a lot of hard work and planning, we rolled out a sophisticated monitoring system in November that today enables us to keep an eye on 700 services running on over 170 pieces of hardware, including servers, network gear and storage systems. When there is an issue with one of our systems, our engineers are proactively alerted. The monitoring system performs over one million automated checks every day — about 12 checks per second — and notifies us of any problems 24x7. The end result is that we know about systems problems faster and typically fix systems and networking problems before users notice them.

Occasionally, we will experience a new problem that we haven't seen before, so we add detection mechanisms for those problems to our monitoring system when we see them. The monitoring system has become the central nervous system for Etsy's site operations team and improves every day as we make it smarter. We also use a third-party service from Gomez to proactively measure page load times for Etsy at various points around the world. Gomez (which is used by 14 of the top 15 most visited sites on the Web) is an incredibly rich information source and tells us how fast Etsy's home page is loading right now in Los Angeles, or last week in Madrid or the average for the world last Tuesday.

While we have made strides in monitoring, sometimes our various monitoring systems indicate problems that can't be fixed immediately and cause inconvenience or disruption for you, so we have been posting updates to fix.etsy.com to keep the community informed. We use fix.etsy.com because it is hosted separately from our main site. In the event that our main site is unavailable and we need to update the community, we can post updates there. We will continue to use fix.etsy.com as a place to post about issues that affect large numbers of Etsy users.

In some cases, the issues we discover as we rearchitect Etsy's systems, database, network and hardware require disruptive maintenance to correct. We know that downtime without warning is disruptive for both buyers and sellers, so we announced monthly scheduled maintenance times for the rest of 2009 in late January. I am hoping that this approach makes it much easier for buyers and sellers to plan. While we may still need to take the site or particular services offline in emergency scenarios, we will do our best to limit any disruptive maintenance to these windows. When we do have to take functions offline, we will always provide the most possible notice given the particular situation. I would like to thank you in advance for your patience in those situations as we make Etsy better. I watch services like Twitter very closely during our maintenance windows and know the sense of withdrawal that even planned downtime creates, so we take downtime very seriously, planned or not.

Performance and Scalability

In Maria's most recent Talking Shop update, you might have noticed that site performance was in our list of priorities. Site performance is not a product per se, but is fundamental to user experience on the Web. We consider site speed a critical feature of Etsy. In order to make and keep the site fast, we are constantly tuning our systems to seamlessly meet the increased demand on them. As a site grows, what worked well in the prior six months may not work well or even at all, now. In technology circles, you often hear engineers talk about the word "scalability" along with performance. In simple terms, a scalable Web site is one that can maintain its existing performance as the number of users, transactions and page views climb. In Etsy's case, our performance as measured by our own systems and Gomez has vastly improved in the past six months even as site usage has grown considerably. In other words, the changes we have made to our systems and approach are demonstrating scalability. The numbers from Gomez, our third-party measurement service, tell the story in clear measurable terms. Our home page now loads 2-3 times faster in most locations around the world compared to October and as much as nine times faster in some places. Our average home page load time over a 24-hour period as measured by Gomez in the US in October was 4.6 seconds and today it is 1.5 seconds. Singapore? From 18.6 seconds in October to 2.2 seconds today.

We achieved some of these improvements by using the services of Akamai, a web infrastructure company. Akamai directs 25% of the world's Web traffic using 40,000 servers in 70 locations around the world. When you load Etsy.com in your browser, the images and other pieces of our pages are served via Akamai's worldwide network from a server that is nearest to you. For buyers and sellers on Etsy, that means Etsy is now almost as fast in Paris, France as it is in Paris, Texas.

Taken all together, all of the changes outlined above are helping make Etsy faster and more stable for you as our traffic continues to grow. These improvements were especially evident during the holiday shopping season, and I was very pleased that our site was fast and stable during this critical period for buyers and sellers (this was not true for other Web sites). I would like to thank the Etsy Engineering Team for its efforts to make this possible.

Search and Developer API

When I arrived in September, Etsy’s search function was unacceptably slow, plain and simple. As I wrote in that update: "Some searches are taking as long as 60 seconds to return results and others are timing out altogether." We began work on Search immediately. You should have noticed speed improvements in search and across the whole site beginning in November as we improved existing search and eventually migrated the backend entirely to a widely used open source platform (Solr) in January. Today, search on Etsy is faster than ever and we have measured 8-30x performance increases since October based on our Gomez measurements. We have solved the Search speed problem. There is more to come with search, as described by Sean Flannagan on Etsy’s Product Team.

As I wrote in early February, the Etsy API has also been released to a small group of developers and a public beta launch will follow soon. I'm looking forward to letting developers outside of Etsy access the infrastructure that we are working so hard to build.

Looking Ahead

While I am pleased with some of the progress we have made on infrastructure, we still have a lot of work to do. (Of course, the engineering team is only partly about infrastructure – we have been working closely with the Product Team to develop a number of new features, but I am going to leave it to my colleague Sara Hicks to tell you about that in an upcoming article.) Looking ahead, our goals in the Engineering Team are very simple: to continue to refine Etsy's technology architecture towards a high-performance and scalable model, and to deliver the new features to buyers and sellers in the areas described in Maria's update on Etsy's priorities for 2009. The Engineering Team at Etsy and I are really excited about the rest of the year, and we look forward to continuing to make Etsy even better for all of you.

P.S. If you want to get the breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens — delivered straight to your email inbox, then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.

Tech Update: Scheduled Site Maintenance

2009-02-16T13:02:00-05:00

UPDATE: All done!

On Monday, February 23rd from 2am EST until 6am EST, we will be doing scheduled maintenance on Etsy's systems. (Click here to translate this time on a world clock.) During this time period, all functions on the site will be unavailable and all Etsy users will be directed to a page that notes that the site is undergoing scheduled maintenance. For updates during the maintenance window, please see http://fix.etsy.com.

We have published the scheduled site maintenance times for the rest of 2009 here.

(Note: Any sellers who have purchased a Showcase that would run during this maintenance window will receive a pro-rated credit for the 4-hour maintenance period.)

P.S.
If you want to get the breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens — delivered straight to your email inbox, then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.

Shop Makeover Series: Google PageRank Tips for Your Etsy Shop

2009-01-09T19:00:00-05:00

The following article on Google PageRank was originally written by Aprilrobin for TimothyAdamDesigns' blog (a great resource for Etsy sellers!).

I've seen the question so many times on the Etsy forums, "Why isn't my Etsy shop showing up in Google when I search for XYZ?" While that is actually a very complex question, in a nutshell: to get seen, you need to optimize your Etsy shop for Google and increase your "PageRank".

Google's PageRank is the designation from 1 - 10 of an algorithm that assesses how important your website is (10 being the most important). Here's the kicker: it’s machines making this determination. You may have heard these machines referred to as "spiders" or "robots". I prefer to think of them as robot spiders merely because it amuses me. These robot spiders crawl the web hunting for information and bring it back to the Googleplex. This is known as indexing. If your information is good and full of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), the robot spiders will come back often and give you a higher PageRank, therefore greatly increasing your chances of top search results.

PageRank for any website can easily be viewed by installing the Google's Toolbar. How do you get this PageRank?

If you search the web for SEO techniques you'll find plenty of them — too many. Unfortunately, a lot of the information you'll find is either not applicable to current versions of the algorithm, spam techniques, or not applicable to Etsy. Etsy is not the same as your regular personal website and I'm not going to suggest you obtain a personal website today either. Baby steps.

Inside Your Etsy Shop

The best thing you can do on Etsy is provide good titles and descriptions and use all of your tags. When writing your titles and descriptions, think of key terms. “Key terms” in this sense simply means that you are using descriptive language that includes words and terms buyers might use to find products like the ones in this listing.

If you were searching for items such as yours in Google, what kind of language would you use? Put yourself in the mind set of the searcher and write accordingly. Keep in mind that Google likes change. If you re-list the same items again and again, change your titles and descriptions up every once in a while. Try some slightly different verbiage and new key terms each time.

Outside of Your Etsy Shop

Link, link, link! As in, get people to link to you (inbound links/ IBL). To start, use links to your Etsy store in your signature on any blogs, forums or message boards you belong to.

One of the biggest factors in boosting your rank is inbound links from sites with a high PageRank. Not only is Google more likely to index these high ranked sites quickly and repeatedly, but you're more likely to get click though traffic to your site and more people linking to you. Site click through rate (the people following these IBL to visit your shop/CTR), is another important factor to determining your PageRank. Inbound links from a low ranked site won't necessarily hurt you, so don’t freak out on your friend for linking you from his low ranked site. Ignore reciprocal link services and engines that litter the web. These are spam and Google hates spam.

Relevant Links

There is some argument among web developers on the topic, but many, myself included, agree that your IBL should be “relevant” whenever possible. Relevant refers to the relevancy of your IBL to your store.
An example of relevant IBL: If your Etsy shop containing crocheted face scrubbies is linked to by a cage fighting website, Google is going to see that and be sort of “Ok, what the...?” If your Etsy shop containing crocheted face scrubbies is linked to by Martha Stewart, Google is going to see that and be all “WORD!” Your store is now associated with high-ranked information on crafts and handmade goods. You’re also bound to attract higher click through traffic. Consider how relevant IBLs are to your shop before investing time pursuing them or paying to advertise.

Hyperlinks

A hyperlink is when you use words to link to your Etsy store instead of graphics, or in addition to graphics. Remember, the robot spiders can’t see pictures, so do not rely solely on graphics when you link to your shop. Use descriptive key terms in your hyperlinks. Creating a link to your shop that says “buy handmade crocheted face scrubbies” is going to be more valuable than a link that‘s your shop’s name. “Daisydoodle’s Boutique” might be the perfect shop name for you, but how the heck is Google supposed to figure out that has anything to do with handmade crocheted face scrubbies?

Tips

1. Don't try to trick Google.
Google’s main purpose is to weed out spam and garbage content and organize legitimate content. Google also carries a grudge. Even though we’re dealing with robot spiders here, they’re a lot smarter than you may think. Filling descriptions and links with nothing but irrelevant key words and trash can get you on the blacklist or “sandboxed”.

2. Be realistic and don't obsess.
Get this through your head right now. Say it out loud… “I WILL NEVER RANK A 10”. Say it again and believe it. PageRank is global compared to all other websites in the world. At the time I’m writing this, Etsy’s homepage has a PageRank of 7 and Amazon ranks a 9. Those would have to be some very magical face scrubbies for your shop to have a PageRank like that!

Find other Etsy shops to look up to and compare yourself to those. Figure out what it is that they’re doing right. Your ultimate goal might be a 4. That’s completely OK and likely very appropriate. As part of my business — I run very popular statewide real estate websites — if I can rank a 5, I’m over the moon.

3. Be patient.

New shops might take a while to be indexed at all and jumping an entire number is an enormous job.
Keep up with ethical SEO: write organically, be thoughtful, network for relative IBL, DO NOT SPAM, and in time you’ll get there. The cream always rises to the top.

4. Keep your eye on PageRanks.

Download Google's Toolbar to find out the PageRank of any site your browsing (including your own!) Learn more about this here.

Seller Handbook | Shop Makeover Series

Tech Updates: Feed Enhancements, Google Base and More

2009-01-08T17:45:00-05:00

UPDATE 11/25/09: Google Product Search no longer supports submissions from individual sellers on marketplaces like Etsy. Etsy is partnering with Google as a participant in the Google Product Search Marketplace Partner Program. Learn more about Etsy's Google Product Search Syndication feature.

We've rolled out some small but important improvements to Etsy's RSS feeds. (What is RSS? Check out this post for an introduction.) These enhancements are designed to make Etsy's feeds more discoverable, useful and visible.

What's changed?

1. Shop feeds now include thumbnail images! They're also much easier to find. Previously shop feeds could only be found on shop pages. Now, in addition to shop pages, every item listing page on Etsy includes a link to that shop's feed. Look for it below the "Bookmark and Share" link under "Page Tools":

2. We've also made Favorites feeds easier to find. Did you know how easy it is to keep up with the latest items from your favorite sellers, or your friends' favorite sellers? All public Favorites pages now include a prominent link to the associated Favorites feed:

3. RSS autodiscovery has been implemented throughout the site. This means Etsy feeds will be easier to discover by both people and search engines. If you use the Mozilla Firefox web browser, you'll know you're on a page with a feed when you see the little RSS icon in the web address field. You can click it to access the feed.

4. Shop feeds now come pre-formatted for easy upload to Google Base! Uploading items to Google Base is a great way for sellers to help Google — specifically Google Product Search — find their items. Shoppers will then be able to find sellers' items via the 'Shopping' link on the upper left of any Google search page.

ps
If you want to get the breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens — delivered straight to your email inbox, then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.