Etsy is an online marketplace for creative entrepreneurs who want to sell to a global audience.
This is the Etsy sales graph. Its growth is very fast. Etsy saw its popularity soar during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. That year, its gross merchandise sales volume totaled about $10.3 billion, more than double what it was the year before.
On Etsy, less than 20% are professional sellers. The remaining 80% are hobbyists, creatives, or part-time salespeople. More than 90% work from home.
Among the millions of sellers it is difficult to stand out, so here are some tips, some are from the platform itself. And others are applicable to any online business.
1. See what can be sold
Etsy has its own policies and not everything can be sold. And she has no compunction about closing a store as soon as she detects something that goes against her policies.
In this link you can see Complete Guide to your Etsy Selling.
2. Beware of plagiarizing
In the creative world, the line between being inspired and copying is very fine. If you have similar products to another Etsy shop, they could open an incident. Never use brands of others, or photos without rights, or sell products without a license.
3. The importance of the name of the store
The name of the shop is your brand on Etsy so give it a thought to choose a good name.
Names with the category of the product you sell is usually a good idea. Just like some creative and unique name. It should be a name that is easy to remember and sounds good.
If one day you open your own store, that name will already have a history. Therefore, think of the name as if it were the name of an ecommerce or physical store of your own.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the name is not already taken on Etsy. There are many stores so it is not easy to find a free name either.
4. Add several payment options
As in any online business, the more payment facilities you give, the better. Still, there are people who are reluctant to put their card number. You can take advantage of Etsy Payments that gives you the option of a multitude of payments such as credit and debit cards, PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay...
5. Create a mailing list
In any business, having an email list is essential because that list will always be yours and, in addition, the subscribers are people aligned with your business.
Getting subscribers within Etsy is difficult because it doesn't let you add buyers' emails to subscription lists, so you'll have to have subscription forms outside of the platform.
6. Write a good page “About…”
It is important to fill in all the information of our Etsy shop so that your search engine lists us in the first positions.
The “about page” will also help buyers understand the work you do and who is behind the products you sell.
In this section you can include photos, videos and links to both your website and your social networks. That's where you can get mail.
7. Optimize your Etsy profile
Your Etsy profile is the representation of your business brand. A professional profile gives confidence.
Add a cover photo, logo, banners, keywords, team… It is very important to have all the fields carefully studied and well filled out. You can do it little by little.
8. Add your store policy
If someone reads it, it means they want to buy something. The clarity in the shipments, manufacturing time... can decide a purchase, especially in personalized designs. Policies should be simple and clear.
9. Optimize product photos
Product photographs make the difference in online stores. Add photos with more than one point of view and if you can video. Photos are shareable and the photo title provides information to search engines.
The photos must be large enough and of good quality, with elaborate lighting.
10. Add categories and subcategories
This will help Etsy's algorithm match your products to the right buyers. Add labels, manufacturing material, uses... If you use the Etsy search engine it will give you ideas about the main categories.
11. Work the labels
Tags are words or short phrases that describe your product. Etsy relies heavily on these tags to catalog your product.
You must think about the buyer who enters Etsy to buy a product like yours. What words will he use for the search?
Identify words that are unique to your product. Tags can be phrases.
12. Work the descriptions
A good description is very important for the sale and for the positioning of your store. heal them. Define the composition of the product, materials, use, techniques, style, dimensions... Do it with a good writing.
13. Get the price of the product right
The price of the product and more in own-made products is very important. You have to adjust very well to sell with sufficient profitability.
Count well the price of materials and time spent, plus shipping costs and Etsy commissions. Also look at the price of the competition and products similar to yours.
14. Take advantage of the indicated dates
There are many special dates throughout the year. From Christmas to Black Friday or Mother's Day. Prepare for those dates and launch a campaign both on Etsy and off. Those days the expenses in gifts multiply.
Etsy offers you the opportunity to make offers and discounts.
15. Identify your traffic sources
Etsy offers you in its control panel a lot of data related to marketing and analytics, for example, because words find you, websites that have redirected traffic to you, visits to your store, purchases, data from your Ads campaigns...
Study all the data to maximize your efforts.
16. Update your store
Update the product lists by removing those that are not sold and adding new ones to test what your customers like the most.
Add new photos, create videos, refine descriptions... Make it a living store.
Etsy is an ideal way to start a business with little investment. But if you only add the product for sale and forget, you will not have any return and you will not know if what you are selling really has its audience.
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