The short answer
- Say what it is in the buyer's words, then who it is for: 'Freelance invoice tracker for one-person studios'.
- Put the format in the title: spreadsheet, template, PDF, pack, checklist. Buyers search for formats.
- Keep the title under about 70 characters so nothing gets cut off in a list.
- The first line of the description repeats the promise in plain words, because that is what a search result shows.
- Write the price line next, so nobody has to hunt for it.
A formula you can fill in
- Write the need as a search a stranger would type. Not your product name - the problem.
- Take the four or five words from that search that describe what it is.
- Add the format: template, spreadsheet, checklist, pack.
- Add the audience if it narrows usefully: freelancers, landlords, students, small shops.
- Read it out loud. If it sounds like a slogan, rewrite it until it sounds like a description.
- Do the same for the first description line, then the second. Two honest lines beat a paragraph of adjectives.
Before you publish
Know the price and why it is that price. A listing that cannot answer 'why this number' gets discounted on the spot, and a discount invented in a hurry is the beginning of a bad reputation.
Look at your own listing as a search result: title, first line, price. If those three do not answer what it is, who it is for and what it costs, the rest of the page is decoration.
- No invented reviews, counts or badges. Ever - it is the fastest way to lose an account.
- Say what is not included. It prevents the refund and the bad feeling.
- Use the words a buyer would say out loud, not the words you use internally.
Where this goes wrong
- Naming a product after yourself or a codename. Nobody searches for either.
- Stacking keywords until the title reads like a machine wrote it - search engines and humans both dislike it.
- Hiding the price at the bottom of a long description.
- Copying a competitor's title exactly. It puts you second in a race you already lost.
The free tool for this
A price that covers the cost and leaves something - A price that covers the cost and leaves something. It runs in the page, asks for your own numbers, and sends nothing anywhere.
If you would rather not build it yourself
Listing Lab is the fill-in sheets: titles, first lines, sections and tags for a whole shelf, with the checked examples from these twelve listings. Listing Lab is $11. See it on the shop, and there is a plain page about it here: what it holds.
Questions people actually ask
How long should a description be?
As long as it needs to answer: what it is, what is inside, the format, the price, and what is not included. For most files that is three to six short sections.
Do tags matter?
They help a marketplace's own search, so use the phrases a buyer would type, and keep them honest - tags that do not describe the file mostly waste the space.
Read next
What to fix first when a product listing gets no attention, How to write a product description that does the selling.