Top 5 things you need to be doing to be successful on Etsy
Etsy is the perfect platform for a beginner creative business.
I like to say’s it’s the pre-k for business school.
It gives you all the tools for running a business but it will teach you business lessons at the same. It will bring you customers but if you want more you have to work hard.
Use the tips if you haven’t had any sales yet, if you’re just starting out, or if you can’t figure out why you’re sales only seem to be trickling in.
1) Riches in the Niches! Who are you selling to?
Before you start selling anything you should always know who you are going to sell to. By doing this you narrow down your customer and eliminate competition. This usually the easiest because most of the time, you create a product that’s most like you! Your customer is probably someone like you or similar to you!
To figure out who you’re selling to, I want you to answer these questions about your product:
- Is your customer male or female?
- How old are they?
- Where else would your customer shop?
- Where would they find inspiration?
- What type of clothing would they typically wear?
Once you do this I want you to keep narrowing your customer down until you get so specific, you can say my customer is a 20-30 year old female that loves yoga and Buddhism with a bohemian attitude and she loves active workout gear.
{Want more tips on how to start an Etsy business? Take the mini-course!}
2) Etsy is all VISUAL; your photo’s need to be awesome.
The awesome thing about creating beautiful photos is that you don’t need a professional photographer or an expensive camera.
I bought a professional light box ($80) and stopped using it because my card box and tissue paper worked better.
3) Be consistent every day.
Success is an everyday grind, not an overnight occurrence.
When starting a business can be easy to get caught up in the comparison game. You read about the stories of success and think that this must have happened over night for this person. What you don’t read about are the years of work this person has actually been putting into this business. Overnight success doesn’t exist. Success is an everyday grind. Stay present in your shop, always keep renewing items, adding new items, and stay on top of social media; you’ll see a definite difference.
4) Make your shop cohesive! Show me your brand, baby!
What do I even mean by that? Of course your shop is cohesive! You’re selling all beaded jewelry or you’re only selling knitted scarves?
What I mean by cohesiveness is that you’re shop
screams at a certain type of person.
Example: You wouldn't sell a bohemian poster next to a diamond studded purse. These are 2 different types of women. You could sell a bohemian poster next to a leather, hippy purse. That's the same type of person. Now clean up that shop!
5) USE ALL THE TAGS.
The tags in an Etsy listing are what Etsy uses for its searches. For the tags keep it as generic as you can. For example in my Etsy shop I sell artificial wedding bouquets. In all my tags, I always tag wedding, flowers, bouquet, and bride.
Use the rest of the tags for whatever else you can but again keep everything else simple.
