You've launched your Etsy shop.
You're super excited to start your business.
You might be feeling overwhelmed.
Andd......
...more than likely you're still wondering what you should focus on in your business and how to make more sales on Etsy.
If this is you, keep reading friend, or you can listen to the full episode of the podcast here:
Listen Here:
Here's the thing...Your focus needs to be on making money before it needs to be on growing your social media presence, before you build a community, before you worry about anything else.
How do you do that?
Have a large inventory of products for sale…before anything else.
...with great photos
...and great SEO
...and a clear idea of you want to sell
You want to focus on having enough optimized listings on Etsy before anything else related to branding or marketing.
This is honestly the baseline you need to establish before you worry about anything else.
Here’s why:
Let’s say you start your social media accounts and you focus on them and they start growing. You get some excited superfans who click over to your Etsy shop to buy something, but you only have 3-4 products for sale and it’s not a perfect fit of what they want, so even though they like your brand and style, they don’t buy anything and you missed out on a sale.
On the other hand, imagine if you had a LOT of listings and a superfan clicks over from your instagram. Now, they’re much more likely to buy from you because you’ve got so many options that at least one of your products is likely to speak to them.
Also, if you only sell a few things, you are limiting the size of your customer’s order. If you only sell a few things, even if your customers like them, it’s not really giving them much to choose from. Imagine walking into a tiny art gallery like the size of your bedroom closet vs like a huge craft market.
If you offer many different variations and products within your niche, you’ve got that many more opportunities for your customer to say, “Oh, I like that and that and that other thing, so I’m going to buy all of them” and now you have the potential to increase your customer’s order and make you more money.
And, when you’re small or just starting out, let’s be honest, the thing you really need is more money and more sales right? So, we want to make the most of every possible view to your shop - all of the eyeballs, and maximize those sales, even when that number is small.
So, if you are a new seller, you need to first be pouring the biggest portion of your energy into growing the size of your shop, not the size of your following on social media.
If you haven’t heard this before, I’m going to tell you this. You do not need a huge social media audience to make money on Etsy.
In fact, we made more than $80,000 on Etsy before we launched any social media accounts for our business.
Yes, social media can help and it does help. You should have a social media component to your handmade brand that you are consistent with and engage with your audience, but that doesn’t come first. First, we need to focus on growing your offering to your customers.
So, you might be wondering, how big does my shop need to be? How many products do I need to offer?
You should work towards 100+ products for sale in your shop.
Now, not all of these have to be completely different. These 100 listings are going to be variations on the same kinds of products more than likely.
Here are some variation ideas:
If you make wearable art like t shirts or headbands, you could sell different sizes, adult vs child, or couples' t shirts, or mom and toddler matching shirts...
If you make signs, you obviously will have like a ton of different quotes or designs on them and you make different ones for different holidays, gifts, and so on…
If you make one of a kind, original art, you might make 12 different pieces all in a series and each of those is an individual listing on Etsy so they can be purchased separately or together…
If you make stickers, you might sell the same sticker but in different colors or sayings…
And, we’ve talked about this in other episodes but whatever you sell, literally it could be anything, offer “bundle” or “pack” listings. People love these! So, make themed packs of stickers, or a collection of 3 signs that are meant to be hung side by side on the wall, or a collection of digital planner downloads as one big bundle.
Also, if you’re listening to this and you’re thinking so I know I need to add a ton of listings to my shop, I hear you guys, so I’m going to add a ton of really different things like maybe I’ll sell t shirts AND baby gifts, and homemade lip gloss, and sea salt scrubs, and candles...that is not what we mean. We want you to focus on offering and selling 100+ listings within one niche.
If you’re new to etsy, you might be wondering, what’s a niche?
A niche is a focused, targeted area that you serve particularly well. It’s small and specific. In fact, the smaller, usually the better.
You might think this is the same as a category on Etsy, but it’s not.
Selling “jewelry” is not a niche. “T-shirts” are not a niche.
A niche describes what you sell, the style, and ideally, who it’s for.
Selling handmade, handmade copper jewelry with a desert boho vibe to twenty-something year old women is a niche.
Here are a couple more niche examples we can talk about.
Children’s paper party decorations
Bridesmaid/wedding gifts like stickers and glitter sunglasses
DIY embroidery kits
Sarcastic or funny T shirts
Everything you do in your business, from your product descriptions in your shop, to your business cards, to your social media posts needs to convey your style and your niche. If you’re not 100% what your Etsy niche is, and you’ve been just adding all kinds of stuff to your Etsy shop, take our brand new “what should your Etsy niche be?” quiz.
So, let's wrap this up:
As a new Etsy seller, your number #1 priority should be on increasing the number of products you have in your shop. Start with at least 15 and work towards 100 listings to maximize the potential every view you get on your shop.
Ready for the next step?
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