Or: If my time as a Cafepress Shopkeeper were a game of Jeopardy, the categories would be*…
More than just a White T-Shirt: Product Names
Product names are imperative to higher search engine ranking - every product in your shop should have a product name prefix added to the default name. For example, if your Default Product Name is “Purple Monkey” and you add a “Dark T-Shirt”, “Mug”, and “Kids Sweatshirt” these items will be named “Purple Monkey Dark T-Shirt”, “Purple Monkey Mug”, and “Purple Monkey Kids Sweatshirt”. These names also make it easier for you to tell what you have sold, as they are used in sales e-mails and reports. You want the product name to be descriptive of the design and if relevant, with keywords people would use to search for your products. Product names can be changed to existing products by using the section’s bulk change drop down. New products will use the name as specified on the Section Info tab.
Google Food: Product Descriptions
Every product stocked in your shop should also include a product description. This is a great place to get in a few more of those keywords people would use to search on your shop. Google (and other search engines) love content to eat up and spit out as results. I try to describe the design as if it can’t be seen. If it’s too complex, or I just get a case of writer’s block, I try to at least convey the style. I have found that if you have designs with a distressed or vintage finish, it is a good thing to let people know. Early on, CP contacted me to make sure I wanted it that way, as the customer thought it was a printing error. Product descriptions can be changed to existing products by using the section’s bulk change drop down. New products will use the description as specified on the Section Info tab.
Tag! You’re It!
Image tags that you specify when you upload a new image to CP are only used only for searches within the CP system (Marketplace, Topic Ads, misc. 3rd party tools). They can’t be seen by any other search engine. Tags should be used to describe the image, not other offerings in your shop. You should use relevant tags that pertain to the specific design. I can’t stress this enough. For example: In Lekker Designs, I have a variety of categories. When I upload a new Geek image, I am not going to tag it “Alice in Wonderland”, even though I offer those as well. If someone searches “Alice in Wonderland” - they want to see “Alice in Wonderland” designs. I do use a few “persistent tags” unique to the Lekker Shops. These are for my third party search service as well as for Affiliates to use in Topic Ads or other third party stools. All of my images are given a tag of the Lekker brand & shop that they are in.
Catch ya on the flip with more lekker tips…
Where the heck am I?: User friendly navigation
KISS - Keep it simple, Stupid! At the Lekker Shops, I try to keep child or sub sections to a minimum. I want to make sure it’s relatively easy for a shopper to browse through my site, and keep it from becoming a “Spaghetti Mess”. It’s difficult with larger shops, but it is possible. My sites have really evolved over the past 3 years, getting tighter along the way. The current version is a result of over a month of planning and usability studies. We visited a lot of online shops to see what I liked and didn’t. My husband and I analyzed everything to the last pixel. Originally, we didn’t have the vertical divider between the side bar and content. We found that it helped draw they eye down to the bottom of the page - a visual cue that the page continued past the fold. Using the same template for all of the Lekker Shops has made it much easier to maintain more shops and makes it a little easier to open new ones. Changes to the code can be made easily in each shop, since the code is essentially the same.
Knowledge is Power
If it were not for the wonderful community of CP Shopkeepers, the Lekker Shops would not be what they are today. One of the first place I visited back when I opened Kerry Swag (now Lekker Politics) was the CP Forums. Success with Cafepress was just a twinkle in Dan’s eye, so I had to teach myself all about this fantastic opportunity in front of me. There is just so much that can be learned by being an active part of the CP Forums. See you there! A over-paid TV star once said “The more you know…” - he wasn’t far off.
One of the best things we did last year was attend CP Connect, the first Cafepress user conference. I was very hesitant at first, I’m just not an extroverted person. My husband and I were blown away. We were able to tell all kinds of CP employees what worked, what didn’t, what we wanted & what we’d change. We met a bunch of whitty, smart & inspiring CP Shopkeepers who we look forward to seeing again. We learned what’s on the horizon for CP, and what we could do to make our shops better. We came back feeling like we got a swift kick in the butt to work harder and do more. We feel as if we’ve been in overdrive since October, but loving every minute, honestly. The one constant I have found with CP is that you get out of it what you put into it. We’ve logged a lot of hours in the past month and it is paying off.
More Power: Cafepress Learning Center, Cafepress Chat and Workshop Archives, Working With HTML in Your Premium Shop
SEO: Learn It, Know It, Live It.
The Lekker Shops aren’t the best example for good Search Engine Optimization. It is one of our resolutions for the new year. However, we have always made sure that all of our products had a product name and description unique to the design. Even that little bit makes a world of difference in our rankings. It’s important that when you put SEO in practice on your site that you do so in a way that’s not a turn off to the customer. It’s a fine line to walk, but it is possible to get good ranking and not turn your site into a spammy keyword casserole. Links to helpful sites and info can be found in the CP Forums.
Update Early & Often
If you haven’t kept up on your product names and descriptions, I am here to tell you there is a silver lining to all that monotonous work: updating your site regularly will improve your rankings in search engines. In fact, you can use it to your advantage by updating over a longer period of time. For instance, I did about a dozen or so sections per shop, per day, when I recently updated our shops. Doing so also kept me from poking my eyes our with my stylus. 
I know, as if you didn’t have enough to do… But I can almost promise you will see results.
* Inspired by one of my favorite books, Microserfs
