Shownotes
When you're selling your crochet you're going to keep mentioning that it's crochet - makes sense right, after all that's what it is!
Wrong - stating that you're item is crochet is not the selling point you think it is and can even harm your sales numbers.
So why is crochet a dirty word and how do you describe your crochet so it sells instead?
Listen into this episode to discover all.
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Transcripts
Welcome to the Crochet
Business School podcast.
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:I'm your host, Kelly Thomas, and I'm
going to help you to make your crochet
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:business dreams a reality stitch
by stitch without you being changed
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:your hook and being able to live
that lifestyle you've been dreaming
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:of, using the power of your crochet.
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:Today I want to talk about how crochet
is a dirty word, which sounds bananas,
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:but when you are selling what you
make, the word crochet can have a
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:really bad effect on your sales.
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:So this doesn't apply if you're selling
patterns doesn't apply if you're selling
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:courses or eBooks, anything like that.
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:If you are selling what you make,
so the crochet that you finish, what
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:you sell postings out at craft fairs.
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:Do you use the word crochet
when you are selling?
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:So when you are listing your crochet
on, say, Etsy or Shopify, are you
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:using the word crochet in the title?
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:Are you talking about
it in the description?
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:If you are, you might want to
rethink it because crochet can
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:have an unconsciously bad effect.
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:So people might not even know
they're doing this, but they
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:can see the word crochet and
skip off and go somewhere else.
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:And it's not because you are a
bad crocheter, it's not because
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:what you're selling is terrible.
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:You could have the most perfect
icing for someone, but seeing the
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:word crochet can give them the ick.
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:I know it's insane, but
the reason is simple.
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:Most people who buy crot.
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:Are not crocheters.
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:They do not get it.
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:They do not understand it.
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:They love the look of it.
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:They may not know why.
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:They may not know the name of the
technique, but they love the look.
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:They want to buy it.
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:However, their knowledge of
the word crochet, for the
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:most part comes from grandma.
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:They see grandma crocheting in front of
the TV at night, just crocheting away,
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:and she gets through loads of yarn.
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:She gets through loads of projects.
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:She showers her kids grandkids
with blankets, with sweaters,
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:with dishcloth, all sorts.
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:There's always something
crochet going around,
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:but this also cheapens your crochet.
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:Because grandma does it.
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:It can't be that difficult.
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:It doesn't take very long.
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:So why is it so overpriced?
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:There can't be that much skill involved.
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:Grandma's doing it.
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:It's an old lady.
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:They see crocheting and so it
becomes old fashioned in their minds.
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:It brings the value down.
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:So if this is someone's experience
of crochet, the word turns them off
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:really unfair.
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:It's very unfair, but they don't
actually know they're doing this.
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:This is all in the subconscious.
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:They may not have any clue that they don't
like the word when it comes to something
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:they're buying, and we like that.
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:Our shopping choices are
governed by our subconscious.
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:We get this nagging feeling that
something's not quite right and
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:that stops us from buying online.
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:And that defense is quite useful,
especially when it comes to spotting
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:like scam sites and something
that's just too good to be true.
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:But our subconscious can also.
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:Unfairly make us walk away from
something that's actually really good.
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:And this is one of those examples,
if someone's only experience with
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:crochet is grandma and her granny
blankets, they're going to think twice
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:about buying crochet for themselves.
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:So what do you do about it?
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:Why you just take the word crochet out.
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:If you are selling a bag
and your title on Etsy is.
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:Um, over the shoulder crochet bag.
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:Take the word crochet out.
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:Think about when you are
buying anything else.
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:Shoes, bags, whatever it is.
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:Do you care about how it's made?
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:Chance is, oh, you don't, you
don't care if it's sewn together
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:by hand, sewn together by machine.
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:If it's, um.
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:Stitch together using an overlock.
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:You don't care.
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:You don't care what stitches
used to put it together.
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:You don't care if it's woven or
loom made, maybe you do, but for
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:the most people buying it who are
not crafters, they, they don't,
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:so they're not really going
to care that it's crochet.
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:95% of people who buy crochet are not
crocheters because most crocheters
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:will simply crochet themselves.
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:So you are selling to people who
do not know an awful lot about
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:their experience of it comes from
family members who maybe sat on that
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:back porch, crocheted the day away.
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:And this is the part that
cheapens the, the word crochet.
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:And this is the part
that's doing the damage.
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:Because, you know, crochet
is such an accessible craft.
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:Anyone can do it, but
not everyone can sell.
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:Not everyone can make something
that is so eye catching is so well
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:put together that they can sell
it and make a business out of it.
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:But your average Joe blocks on the
street does not know the difference
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:between a hobby crocheter and an artisan
crocheter who's making money from it.
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:They are two different things,
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:and so your sub, their
subconscious is going to work
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:and not in a good way for you.
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:And so you gotta get past using
the word crochet all the time
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:because you care that it's crochet.
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:You are very proud of your skill, which
you absolutely should be, but most people
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:who are buying crochet do not give a
monkeys about how it's put together.
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:They care that what they're
looking for does the job, looks
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:fabulous and satisfies their need.
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:How it's made isn't important.
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:Now, the story behind how I came up with
the idea to make it, that's important.
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:But the actual method of construction, ie.
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:Crochet, does not matter.
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:You do not need to work.
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:Use the word crochet.
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:When you are selling what you
make, it can do you a disservice.
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:It can trigger that subconscious,
um, connection with grandma
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:who is crochet all the time.
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:So can't be that difficult.
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:It can't be.
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:Maybe they could just go
ask Grandma to make it.
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:Instead, it's all at work
in the back of their minds.
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:It gives 'em the ick.
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:They move away and they'll
go buy something else.
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:Instead, if you take the word
crochet out of your title, you
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:are going to stand a far better
chance of selling what you make.
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:You need that title to be descriptive.
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:You need it to have keywords in, but
crochet should not be one of them because.
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:It can do a disservice.
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:It really can lose you sales.
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:Now you can put a sentence or two
in the description about it being
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:crochet, preferably down at the bottom
for people who are curious, because
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:some people will be absolutely.
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:But when you appear in search results,
you have one chance to get someone
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:to click to find out more and find
that all important buy button.
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:But if they see the word CRO and go, Ooh,
they can just really easily scroll on
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:to the next item that catches their eye.
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:When you have a split second to
influences someone's decision to
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:click, they can also be influenced
by that split second it factor that
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:their subconscious has brought up.
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:They may not even register that
they've seen the word crochet,
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:but it just makes 'em scroll on.
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:You've got to stop that scroll.
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:The way to get people to click
and buy is to stop that scroll.
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:And even the slightest bit of
that doesn't seem quite right
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:to me, will make them move on.
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:They won't even stop for long enough
to figure out why they've moved on.
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:They've just seen something that
doesn't quite fit for them, and
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:crochet can have that effect.
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:To me, it's a very, very old word.
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:You know, it goes back to the 17 hundreds.
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:It's a very old word.
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:Most people have heard of it.
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:Many might not know what it is, and
someone who is buying something that
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:is crocheted don't necessarily know
much about it, and so you gotta get
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:past that first and the way to get
past it, it's just simply not make
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:it an issue in the first place.
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:And admit the word crocheted from your
title because it doesn't matter that your
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:item is crocheted how it is constructed.
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:It is not important to the buyer.
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:They care that it does the job.
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:It's the item that they are
looking for, and it suits them.
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:The method by which it was made does
not factor in, so why give people the
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:chance to turn away from your crochet
and buy an absolutely fabulous product
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:that's gonna be amazing for them.
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:Because of a word that has
no bearing to the sale.
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:Let's remove that possible issue by
simply not making an issue at all.
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:It can improve your sales, it can
improve your click through rate,
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:which is going to improve your sales
as well, and it will stop people from
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:scrolling, make people hang around
a bit longer and take a closer look.
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:And stop that ick factor
from coming through.
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:All those connotations of crochet being
old fashioned, of being cheap, easy.
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:It goes away if you simply omit the word.
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:Because you know, people who are
looking for um, a nursery rug are not
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:looking for a crochet nursery rug.
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:They're just looking for a nursery
rug that suits their decor.
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:That suits their vision for
their new baby's nursery.
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:The method by which it was
made is not important to them.
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:You don't need to use it.
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:It's your pride wanting
to use it, and I get it.
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:I absolutely get it.
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:It feels very natural to put it in.
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:It feels like something that should
be used because it's a search term.
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:But it's only a search term for
those people who are looking for it.
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:And very, very few people will be
looking specifically for crochet.
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:In fact, most people who search
crochet say, um, crochet nursery rugs
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:are crochet cells themselves who are
researching keywords that they can
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:use for their listings, not actually
people who are, who are buying.
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:And it can completely skew.
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:How your perception,
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:you have to decide if you're
going to use the word crochet
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:or not, but my advice is to not,
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:I understand why you want to use it to
give as much detail as possible because
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:you're very proud of your skills because.
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:It feels like you should, but sometimes
what feels like we should do is not
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:right in terms of getting more business
coming through and making more sales.
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:So I hope that's been useful and,
you know, the, these things we
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:live and learn and you can test
this out by trial and error.
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:You know, it's, it doesn't
have to be, uh, all or nothing.
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:You can put some listings in
with the word crochet in some
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:without, and test them out.
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:So thank you for joining me and if
you would like to hear more about
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:the podcast and what's coming up
and more crochet business tips,
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:then subscribe to our newsletter.
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:Go to crochet business
school.com/subscribe
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:or check out the link in the show notes.
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:So thank you for listening, and I shall
see you next time for the next episode.
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:Bye for now.
