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Story by
redrowstudio
Published on September 4, 2009 in How-To |
Photo by |
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!
133 comments Login to add your own!
StudioCherie
This looks very helpful on a number of levels. Thanks for reporting. Keep up the great AP's everyone!
aBreathofFrenchair
Great info! Is there any way of placing the ads to the left of the page? I have to scroll down to use this tool.
SewnNatural
this is incredibly helpful. taking time to do a little research pays off, and this tool can help a ton.
SusanFaye
As somebody who constantly struggles to find the best tags, this is a fantastic idea and I can't wait to try it! Thanks!
bebeandalice
i LOVE LOVE LOVE this.
it is exactly what i have needed.
this guy is a genius.
seriously.
i am flabbergasted.
yes, flabbergasted.
MetalheartDesign
this looks like an excellent site! can't wait to try it out. thanks!
Wirlwind
Great tooL! I will try it as we speak. I agree, as I new selling, I definitly did not know which tags I should be using.
TheCottageCheese
This is awesome! I think your server may be overloaded right now though, as it's not currently working for me. (My search was "vintage polaroid", but maybe the polaroid part was too specific).
PookieandPierre
I love this and the innovation behind it (thanks redrowstudio). Wonderful to have someone else out there listening to the community and responding with the perfect tool to meet our needs! (and thanks for including my hydrangea brooch here too :)
AmongTheZinnias
This is really awesome! Its such a helpful tool!! Thanks for reporting on this :)
dragonhouseofyuen
I've just noticed this feature and I know Jane (online) from the McEtsy Scottish Team - and I recognize Martin and puppy Moss from Jane's blog so it's great to see him here too!
Congratulations Martin! and Jane :)
Waterrose
How wonderful! I'm putting this on my list of things to do this weekend...along with rearranging my shop!
KellySchwark
What a fantastic site! Thanks for the heads up on that gem!!! :)
DalenaVintage
Thanks...It's always so nice to come across tools like these online!
jenniferladd
That is a fascinating site! I know where I'm going to spend the next few hours! Thanks!
barefootweaver
Thank you, thank you! I have been on quite a learning curve since I joined Etsy!!!
redrowstudio
Many thanks to everyone who's commented! I've noticed that some browsers are having trouble with the layout. If the ads are not showing up in the right place for you, could you please drop me a convo or email and set me know what browser you are using.
strandsoflight
Wow! What a great tool. How cool of Etsy encourage and feature independent selling/shopping tools. Thanks to everyone involved.
magickalrealism
What a wonderful resource - and I hadn't known about it! I can't wait to see how this works with my shop!
BlueCrushBeads
OMG-This is the best thing out there...this may solve my issues :)
Oh happy day...
heidiburton
I had plans for tomorrow but looks like I'll spend the day dabbling with Craftweasel instead! Looks fantastic!
theLostEarring
I've used the tag finder tool. It's simple to use and very helpful. Thanks! :)
JamSculpt
Just stumbled in,I'm new, ahem, brand new, and this looks like something I need to further investigate, and Thanks!
FrenchLogic
WOW! Craftweasel covers so many areas. Thank you so much for your help and generosity!
mafemaria
This is my favorite of all third-party apps related to etsy out there. The tag finder is greatness, and the distribution of prices is the icing on the cake. Sooo incredibly helpful!
ovgilliesdesigns
Great tool! I've already been using it without knowing who made it - hooray for Scotland-based Etsians!
beadinbythesea
Thank you for sharing this tool with us. Tagging is something I constantly struggle with. Off to check it out!
loopyllama
This was a great article. I plan on using this tool on my items from now on, nice work!
fatcrowpress
I will be looking this up as soon as I am done here! Thanks to smart people like you!
sweetirie
Love this site! Is it strange that I got a HUGE boost out of being up there on the image explaining what Craft Weasel is??? lol ;)
menzocollection
Thanks again for such an amazing tool!! I can't say enough great things about it from both the seller's and buyer's perspective.
And thanks much for including my vintage goblets among the items - you folks are too kind!
shopgoodgrace
oh my gosh! This is sooooo incredible! I'm so glad their are smart, generous folks like you who are willing to share these great tools with us. Thank you!!
MerCurios
What a wonderful tool. At time tags are my biggest struggle so I can't wait to try this out.
Thanks!!
MJ
MerCurios
http://facebook.com/mercuriosjewels
ForYouDesigns
I'm going to be trying out Craft Weasel. Thanks so much Martin for the info and the app.
Cheers,
Tasha
HibouCards
These are really great tools, thank you so much for inventing them! I have already used some of them and I'm sure I'll find the tag helper very helpful :) Finding the right tags can be such an ordeal!
Congrats on your success.
Hibou
dsenyo
What a fantastic tool and great service you are providing. Thank you!
botanigirl
I don't get it. How do you get to "Tag Finder?" I did a search on it and nothing is found in the help. Under Tags in the Help section it doesn't mention it. When I edit one of my items, Tag Finder is not an option.
qualitybeadworks
Being new to etsy I know I will need this tool. Thank you so much for sharing with us.
HandmadeShoppe
Just checked out craftweasel.com. Super fantastic! Thank you Etsy for the info, and thank you, craftweasel for the great tools!
smilingbluedog
Thanks so much Martin for making such wonderful tools
available.
I tried the Tag Finder a couple of times (so far) and found it to be user-friendly, great for those of us with only moderate technical skills :)
Thank you
anne4bags
I have had a play with this and it has already helped me sort out my tags a little better. Thanks for another thoughtful tool.
If there are 2 tags that seem to be similar (eg hand embroidered and hand embroidery) would I use both tags? Any thoughts welcomed.
melaniepaulson
What a great tool! As someone just starting out on Etsy, this is going to be very useful for me. Thank you!
adoseofjen
this is so wonderful! i just changed up ALLLL my tags and then i got a sale!!! amazing.
Allabala
Wow, amazing tool. The reports and the amount of detailed information is just unbelievable.
Thanks so much, great work, Martin!
makeshoplive
Etsy makes it so easy to create your own success story! Thank you so much for yet another AMAZING TOOL :)
SepiaSmiles
Thankyou very much craftweasle for creating these tools and letting us use them for free!
Esty - I can't believe (as a newcomer) how much support we get as sellers.
I have had my own website for over a year and spent days and days on website optimization and such like - I wish I had known about Etsy years ago, I would have saved myself soo much energy and time!
Thanks again
Yayahandicraft
What a great tool, sounds to fun and enjoying to start working,
SilverandEarth
This is a GREAT tool and v-e-r-y interesting!! Thank you so much for all the support and tools that Etsy offers to sellers!!
2harrisons
Thanks so much. The Tag Finder is very interesting and can prove to be a wonderfully helpful tool.
artigianajewellery
Thank you so much - I am going to have a look at it right away!
TheSecondTimeAround
We were delighted with this tool! It made an immediate difference. THANK YOU for sharing this with us Mr. Jones!!
JustineJustine
this is a tool i have never heard of and it makes me sooooo happy i just discovered it!!
this is amazing! thank you craftweasel!
Resign
This is great...thank you so much! I'm going to change some of my tags right now.
JuliesAtelier
I'm a new seller and had no idea there were third party apps for etsy. What a find this was! I found new categories I never even thought of. Thanks!
HandiworksbyJanice
I agree with JuliesAtelier.....had no idea about third party apps....of course, I am finding a LOT of things I knew nothing about on etsy. Thanks to everyone for all input and advice. This helps newbies be the best they can be....successful!



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