Dear Diary, What's in a Tag?

One of the most time consuming things about listing items is sometimes the Tagging....
It's also sometimes one of the most important and one of the most controversial. 

What are tags meant to do? They are the keywords that are filed through when someone uses the search box on etsy. According to etsy this is the most used way to find an item that is eventually purchased, so you can see why these are so important. 

I "searched" etsy blog and forums for posts related to tagging and found more information than I wanted. After sifting through them these were the points I found most relevant.

• Your first tag isn't really a tag it is the category. The other 13 are considered true tags
• Tags should only describe the item, they should not be uses for the item, verbs, etc.
• Only use synonyms that are truly synonyms ie. don't use tote bag to describe a clutch, although purse could be used for either. 
• The who, what, when and even where are most relevant. Kitchen could be used for pot holders.
• Do not use words that are in your title, titles are searched for keywords too. 

So you are stuck? I wondered how I could find out what tags are most used by people searching so I tried Google's keyword finder, part of their adwords program. I used business card case and found that an even more relevant keyword for that with more than twice the searches was business card holder.

If you have the time to use it it's a great tool. So Links? 
Etsy's Guideline to Tagging 
Tag-o-Rama (lots of actual tagword examples to choose from)

Both were very helpful. I've been falling down on the blogging lately, I'll try to be more regular about it! Good Selling! Jamie.

Thanks to paperquick, click on the picture above to see the other "tags" in her shop!