I was right. . .I don't like it.

I had concerns about the format changes to Etsy shops, I didn't like the look of the previews and I was right I'm not a fan of the new layout at all.  Apparently, the look of the layout was only part of the recent changes, there have been other changes internally as to how search ranking functions and how keywords and tagging work.  Also whatever they have done on the servers behind the scenes seems to have affected search engine searches like Google too, so all the server bots will have to re-crawl and that means for a while nobody's stuff is getting results they used to get.

RainbowMaille has not had the same level of views since the change, my average is even lower than usual.  It's kind of super annoying because I had worked pretty hard at keywords and tagging and the Facebook page and this blog to promote the shop and my views had previously been on an upward trend.  This month they have dropped by half so I am working my way through all my listings checking and adjusting the tags, changing titles, re-wording descriptions, basically having to re-do the whole damn thing.  As if I have hours and hours to spend doing that stuff AGAIN, when I should be crafting cool new stuff.  

At least I am not alone in my annoyance and frustrations, I've been reading the forums on Etsy and plenty of other people have suffered drastically reduced views and sales, while some have had significant increases.  I think these shifts are a by product of the shifts in keyword/tagging and search rankings, it's helped a handful of shops while killing others.  My biggest problem is I'm now unsure of what exactly will correct it for my shop because it's new it will take everyone time to figure out how to manipulate it.  
 

Finally listed. . . .

Ok so I finally got more than a dozen of the embellished chokers finished. ~yay~   Yesterday I listed them in the leather section of the Etsy shop.  New Embellished Suede Chokers

 I didn't get all the new braided stuff listed but that's ok there is always more to be done.

Stars and more. . .

I have this growing pile of finished stuff that I'm not ready to list yet.  There are 6 of the decorated chokers which would normally be enough to list but I want more than 2 colors before I create a listing for these.  I'm not sure at all about the extra wide braided cuffs though, they are kind of cool but they don't lay flat they look weird in photos.  I think I may make a few but I'm not sure they will get listed on the Etsy shop.