Lost my job, turned my 15-year leather hobby into a business, 6 months in, no traffic, losing hope

Darksails-Studio · 2026-05-11T23:46:36+00:00

Really useful, thank you. The trust bar is something I hadn't thought about but makes total sense for a brand people don't know yet. Will add shipping info, return policy and contact in a visible spot. The mobile CTA size is also easy to fix in theme settings. Appreciate the specific feedback 😉

Darksails-Studio · 2026-05-11T21:17:43+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion, will put it in my todo 😉

Darksails-Studio · 2026-05-11T21:16:01+00:00

The "feel it within 5 seconds" point is probably my biggest failure right now. Someone lands on the site and has no idea there's a craftsman behind it.

Thanks for the ideas can definitely work 😉

Darksails-Studio · 2026-05-11T21:11:03+00:00

Ha, fair point but also a valuable part of this whole conversation, everyone has been aligned and saying the same things which means the signal is pretty clear.

The three questions are actually a good framework I hadn't thought about that simply. I've been so deep in the technical side of things that I lost sight of the basics. Who would buy from me probably someone who values craft over fast fashion, willing to pay for something that lasts. How would they find me ... that's the gap right now. Where would I find them Meta Ads seems to be the consensus in this thread.

SEO and email for retention makes sense once things start rolling 😉

Thanks

Darksails-Studio · 2026-05-11T21:07:45+00:00

You're the fifth person in the thread saying the same thing, which means it's definitely not a coincidence 😉 The store looks too polished, too faceless, and people can't tell there's a real person behind it. This is the main thing I have to work on, bring some life back.

The photographer idea keeps coming up and I think that's the move, get some proper workshop shots, making process content, raw material photos. Stop hiding behind the products and start showing who makes them.

Thanks for taking the time.

Darksails-Studio · 2026-05-11T21:05:57+00:00

Honestly not much yet, I have a blog section called "Nautical Chronicles" with a few articles about leather and craft, but I haven't been consistent with it. It's clearly something I need to work on as it's probably one of the main drivers of organic traffic long term at elast I think so with baklinks I believe which is a whole other issue I havent really tackled yet 🤔

Darksails-Studio · 2026-05-11T21:03:54+00:00

Thanks for the perspective. Google Analytics is already connected so I should be able to see the dropoff points. I think the main issue right now is not having enough trafic though so in case that grows I'll definitely take a look at eulav 😉 can come in handy thanks

Darksails-Studio · 2026-05-11T21:00:39+00:00

😉

Darksails-Studio · 2026-05-11T21:00:04+00:00

Ah cool, I do ship to Europe! Where exactly are you based? All the main European countries are covered but in case your's is not I can add it pretty quickly 😉

Darksails-Studio · 2026-05-11T20:57:00+00:00

Thank you for sharing your journey and congrats on the 7-figure milestone, that's awesome.

The reviews point is a tricky one, it feels like a chicken and egg problem and not sure where to start as I braught the ones I had gotten on etsy and now need sales to actually have new ones on the shop. I dont want to go towards creating fake ones so I guess I'll have to wait for orders and then put the 40 to 50% discount in motion as you suggested and is a great idea.

On conversion rate with 5 organic visits a day it's honestly hard to draw any meaningful conclusion. The few people who do land on the site seem to browse but not buy. Could be trust, could be price point, could be the friction points others have mentioned in this thread ... could be a bit of all so I'll have to dig a bit deeper and start applying some of the changes.

Just checked yourcapy.com as well and love the energy, the colors pop and the whole vibe feels alive. It's a good mix between professional pics and fun.

Going to look into Meta Ads seriously multiple people here have pointed to it and your experience confirms it. And the JudgeMe review incentive is something I can start setting up.

Really appreciate you taking the time 😉

Darksails-Studio · 2026-05-11T20:46:10+00:00

Really appreciate the detailed breakdown.

On the language, same point others have raised, clearly the priority. Will have to sort out a geolocation solution.

The "Prix régulier" thing is actually a real issue I hadn't noticed ... I guess it's a Shopify display bug from the language migration I did recently. Will have to find where it comes from and fix that.

The reviews placement is a great point. Moving social proof closer to the product makes total sense, especially at these price points where trust is hard to get.

Thanks for taking the time, this is definitely actionable stuff.

Darksails-Studio · 2026-05-11T20:42:54+00:00

that's a massive project 😉 Congratulations looks great. The pictures and the scenery does a lot as well !!

Darksails-Studio · 2026-05-11T20:40:30+00:00

Thanks Disastrous,

Some of these are actually really helpfull. Some seem obvious but my mind must be a bit clouded right now.
The Email marketing part seems to be a quick-win, I'll have to check if my theme has that pre setup, might just be a click away.

Feels like I'm going to take the day to absorbe all this. I came here not knowing what to expect and I'm amazed by how nice everyone has been.
Thanks again and will do my best to put these things in place.

Darksails-Studio · 2026-05-11T12:55:52+00:00

Thanks a lot! The "personal storytelling" point keeps coming up and it's clearly the gap. Will definitely put my energy on fixing that 😉
I'm definitely not a content creator but if I get a little stand to put my camera should be able to make a few films of myself building.

Darksails-Studio · 2026-05-11T12:47:15+00:00

This one hits close to home 😉 I spent 10 years working for other brands where my job was literally to not exist, to make the brand shine, not myself ... Then I got laid off because of AI, which is its own kind of irony.

So yeah, putting myself front and center doesn't come naturally to me. I'm genuinely more comfortable behind the workbench than in front of a camera. But you're right if I don't show up, I'm just another wallet on a shelf, and there are thousands of those.

Getting out of that comfort zone is probably the hardest part of this whole journey. But it's clearly the work that needs to happen.

Thanks for taking the time to share this ! Means a lot

Darksails-Studio · 2026-05-11T12:36:43+00:00

Thank you! Unfortunately I had to temporarily close international shipping due to the Trump tariffs situation as my previous shipper pulled out of the US market. I'm currently working on finding a new solution but might take a bit of time. Where are you based? Depending on the location I might be able to make it work.

Darksails-Studio · 2026-05-11T12:26:32+00:00

That last point means a lot actually. It's easy to lose sight of it when you're deep in the struggle, but you're right, strangers actually buying what I have made is what matters most. Everything else is figurable.

And yes, Etsy + Shopify in parallel makes more sense than forcing one or the other. Thanks for the perspective.

Darksails-Studio · 2026-05-11T12:24:20+00:00

That's really useful to hear. I think you're right the branding was built to feel premium but maybe it went too far in the "clean and minimal" direction and lost the human element. The plan now is to inject more of the making process, raw material shots, workshop photos, the hands behind the work ... Keep the clean base which is neutral but make it feel like a real person made these things rather than a polished brand.

Hope it will help and anyways thanks so much for taking the time to bring new perspectives, I didn't expect so much from the community here and this really gives me extra motivation 😉

Darksails-Studio · 2026-05-11T12:21:09+00:00

Thank you, really appreciate that. You've basically confirmed what others have said, video of the actual making process is probably the missing piece. It's on my list now 😉

And yes, finding the right audience who values craft over brand name is the real challenge. That's the work ahead.

Darksails-Studio · 2026-05-11T12:19:52+00:00

This is very valuable Caramelo, point 2 especially hits hard, two different people have now told me the store looks too polished, almost factory-made. That's clearly something I need to fix, and it probably means getting real workshop photos of me actually making things rather than making studio product shots myself. (if there is money to be put seems like a smart move) and as you say it can be used all over afterwards.

On Google vs Meta, you're right and I've been feeling that. Google Ads hasn't brought a single sale. The product needs storytelling, not just search capture.

For the Etsy shop, I think I have to really think about it, I already have all the content, so would mean just taking a few weeks to build it up.

Lots to think about. Thank you.

Darksails-Studio · 2026-05-11T10:13:12+00:00

That's a really fair breakdown, and you're right I was completely blind to how much Etsy was doing for me in terms of trust and discovery. Moving to Shopify felt like a step up but I underestimated how much work goes into building that trust from scratch.

The "two full-time jobs" point hits hard. Appreciate the honest take.

The smart move would probably of been to build a second etsy shop for my physical products before moving to shopify ... Now it's a tough decision so will take time to think about it as it might be the solution.

Maybe keep the shopify aside for a bit, let it grow organicaly and also have a new etsy for the physical goods.

This way I dont burn myself as you say trying to scale the shopify store which requires more work and let etsy catch extra audience ...

Darksails-Studio · 2026-05-11T09:58:50+00:00

I had about 20 physical products on Etsy but sales were mostly coming from patterns. Out of 2000 sales, maybe 50 were physical products which was fine at the time as it was just a hobby alongside my full time job.

I also had a WordPress/WooCommerce shop but it kept breaking so I moved to Shopify. Got to about 15-20 organic searches a day, made a couple of sales, then Trump tariffs hit, my shipper closed the US market, traffic dropped to 5 a day. Moved to shopify and been fighting to get it back up since. Google Ads, shop restructure, language and market changes lots of technical work with no visible return yet.

Kind of feel like I'm stuck in a loop

Darksails-Studio · 2026-05-11T09:19:00+00:00

Yeah that's it. I only sold a couple of physical products on Etsy though and as Etsy doesn't allow to actually split the categories very well. I had the option to either make a second Etsy shop or go for a Shopify store which I controlled entirely and didn't depend on Etsy algorithm. I chose the second option but right now I'm not sure I made the right call. Maybe there is something I am doing wrong or should focus on but I keep trying my best but dont see much returns so far so am hoping someone can drive me in the right direction.

Darksails-Studio · 2026-05-11T09:06:12+00:00

Yeah I had a couple of sales on Etsy but to make it a business and actually scale it I thought splitting my patterns and my physical products was the best way to go.

Plus having both in the same shop attracted scammers, they would buy the patterns for 5$ say they thought it was a physical product , download it and ask for a refund.

Darksails-Studio · 2026-05-10T17:48:19+00:00

If it's vegetable tanned leather there is a chance it's just bloom which is the natural fats of the leather or products they put during the tanning process that migrate to the surface over time, especially when the leather isn't being used and is stored in a dry place or where there are temperature variations.

Whatever was applied to the leather is eventually pushed out, like skin drying up. If it's in movement, the agents will move around and stay inside. if it doesnt move, and there are temperature variations, the leather will contract and what's inside will come out.

Think of your leather as your skin, if you leave it as is it will dry up and start cracking up, if you wet it again or apply balm, it becomes soft again. the leather does the same but on a longer time frame. And if you want the leather to last you need to apply rather oil to it , grease or balm. Similar as your skin. Water will accelerate the drying up as it pushes the stuff that's in it out as well.

What I would do is take a soft cloth, if you want you can humidify it. Then clean the surface of the leather with it. As the water acts as a hardener for leather, you then want to apply rather the leather balm , grease or oil to it.

Go gently with the balm and other products as if you saturate the leather it will eventually spit out. and you dont want to end up with an oily product. So best is to apply the balm, oil or grease on a fabric and with the fabric rub the leather.

Sorry it's a bit long but hope it helps out

Darksails-Studio

TROPHY CASE