Etsy is definitely one of the most exciting e-commerce platforms to come about in the last ten years or so.
At first, it seemed like the site might simply become an alternative to eBay, with sellers focusing on vintage items that appealed to modern tastes.
While vintage wares are still a big part of what the site has to offer to buyers, Etsy has become a major hub for small-scale craftspeople who offer handmade goods.
Today, handmade items are the lifeblood of Etsy, and that's a good thing. Sellers don't need to go through all the legal hoops that would be required to sell items on a major retail site like Amazon, and they also don't need to have hundreds or even thousands of the same item available to be able to list it.
From artwork to decorations to clothing, you never know what's going to show up on Etsy. But if you're starting your own Etsy store, you might be wondering how to get your Etsy shop noticed.
After all, there are thousands and thousands of sellers on the site, spanning many different categories. How can your little shop gain some attention in this sea of handmade goodness?
You're in the right place. Read on for some key tips that can help take your shop to the next level.
When a product, or an entire Etsy store, has zero reviews, it's going to be off-putting to potential customers, which makes sense. People want to know what they're looking at is going to be good, and without reviews, they won't be able to confirm that.
Sure, you'll need to make a few sales to get any kind of reviews for your shop, but once purchases start going through, it's very important to encourage buyers to share reviews of their purchases.
One of the easiest ways to do this is to include a line on your main store page or on specific product pages that says something along the lines of, "Once you receive your item, tell us what you think!"
Depending on what you're selling, you can also offer returns and refunds, which will help mitigate potentially bad reviews by offering a fix if the product doesn't meet expectations.
A lot of people associate handmade items with specific seasons or holidays. Just think of all the handmade Christmas tree ornaments, birthday cards, and Mother's Day gifts that were around when you were growing up.
That strong association is good news for Etsy shop owners. It means that you can attract more attention to your Etsy store by offering seasonal items.
Based on how long it takes you to make your items, pick an upcoming holiday or major event and design a few products specifically for it.
That way, in the weeks leading up to that event, you'll be able to post a number of items well-suited to the occasion.
If you don't manage to sell all of them by the time the event has passed, no problem, just list those items for sale or hang onto them until next year.
Imagine walking into a small store that you've never been to before. You're excited to take a look at what they have, but once you're inside, all you see are walls lined with shelves but only two or three items total.
You probably wouldn't be encouraged to stick around for very long, and the chances of finding exactly the item you want would be slim.
This same idea translates to Etsy stores as well. Keep your shop well-stocked, with at least several different items for visitors to look at.
Aiming for about ten different items that you can list on your store page is a good rule of thumb, at least in the early days of your online store.
Even if you don't have a lot of reviews for your shop at this point, offering many different products will help visitors feel like this is a professional operation, not a casual page that's poorly maintained.
Even if you temporarily sell out of a specific item, keep the item page live and mark down when you'll have more of that item in stock.
If we're talking about giant companies with tons of money, quality assurance is a whole department. Teams of people make sure that the company's products, from the design stages all the way through production and shipping, meet quality standards.
But since Etsy is all about small-scale makers, you'll probably need to be your own QA department.
So why is product quality important for getting your Etsy shop noticed? Well, it's all about the cycle. Earlier in this article, we talked about considering the types of products you offer and making sure that people who have purchased from you in the past share their thoughts on those purchases.
But all of that depends on the products themselves, which is why we saved the biggest tip for last.
Now, we can't tell you how to make what you make. We can't tell you how to create a product that catches fire and spurs all kinds of new sales. All of that is going to be up to you.
However, we can tell you that if neither you nor your customers feel that the products achieve a high quality standard, growth on Etsy is going to be very difficult, and that's for good reason.
You have to be confident in what you're making, and, of course, quality means different things for different types of products.
For example, if you're creating custom illustrations for buyers, you really just need to be sure that the work itself is solid and that you ship everything safely.
If you're making clothing items, on the other hand, quality refers not only to style but to durability as well.
No matter what you make, you need to feel proud of it if you're going to offer it to the world.
