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If you want to become a successful Etsy Seller the hard work starts long before you open your Etsy shop!
In this blog post, we will explore what factors contribute to building a successful business on Etsy either as a full time Etsy seller or as a side-hustle!
A few years back, I opened up an Etsy shop selling luxury dog treat gift boxes. Before opening my Etsy shop, I created my brand identity and set up a basic website on Squarespace with a blog and lead magnet. I also created Facebook and Instagram pages.
I did my competitor research, worked out my pricing and completed my Customer Avatar. Choosing your niche and having a good understanding of your target market is vital – I can’t stress this enough!
Next, I opened my Etsy shop. I completed my profile in full, added my logo, wrote my SEO-friendly product descriptions which included the keywords I wanted to rank for, and added my product photos. As I had a website, I was able to drive traffic from my website to my Etsy shop, but you could also do this by adding a link to your shop from Instagram.
There is so much competition on Etsy so if you can find a celebrity or influencer to help promote your products, then this will really help create brand love and boost sales! I sent a dog treat gift box to Fabulous Finn after reaching out to his Dad, Dave Wardell via Twitter. If you think outside the box as I did, you never know where it might lead! After sharing the photos of Finn with his box of dog treats on Instagram it created hundreds of likes and lead to a surge in sales!
Top 10 tips for supercharging your Etsy seller success
It goes without saying that your products must be fabulous before you start selling them on Etsy! With that taken care of, you can then focus on the other things you need to do which will help you become a successful Etsy seller.
1.Do a basic business plan
If you want to be a successful Etsy seller you need to do a business plan! A one-page business plan which contains the goals of the business, how you are going to achieve them and the timeframe for attaining them will be fine. Writing a business plan will help focus your mind and keep you on track.
2. Do your market research
Doing your market research should be a fundamental part of your business planning. You need to understand your market, your competitors and who your customers are. It will also help you gather useful business and consumer insights to help you get ahead of the competition! Etsy market research is essentially the process of looking at the threats and opportunities your shop may face. If you skip doing your market research thinking you have a unique idea, you might be in for a shock when you set up your shop only to discover how many other Etsy sellers have had exactly the same idea as you! Smart Etsy sellers do their market research!
3. Choose your niche
Choosing a niche will help you pinpoint your ideal customers and stand out from the crowd. If you’re selling something unique you will also be able to raise your product prices. So how do you determine your niche? Well, you need to think about what you’re good at, what your ideal customers would like and what your competitors don’t have. It’s also important to choose a niche that you’re interested in, so you enjoy what you’re doing. If it becomes a chore, you’ll lose interest, and this isn’t conducive to a successful Etsy business!
4. Build a strong brand identity
Creating a killer brand identity is your secret weapon to business success! It helps you connect with your target market and reflects the vision and values of your business. When you’re building your brand identity think carefully about your business name, logo design, the colours, shapes and graphics you use and your tone of voice (the type of language you use).
5. Research your competitors
You need to find out what your competitors are doing so you can be one step ahead. To do this you need to find out what they are selling, how they are they selling it and how successful they are. Once you have this information, you can use it to your advantage! However, you need a strategy so you will need to do a proper Competitive Analysis. Read this article about how to carry out a competitive analysis for your Etsy shop.
6. Nail your pricing
Getting the pricing right for your small business is essential. You want customers to buy your products and make a profit. You also need to take into account Etsy fees when doing your pricing.
A simple formula for calculating your pricing is often as follows:
(Materials + Labour + Overhead) x 2 = Wholesale price
Wholesale price x 2 = Retail price
7. Get to grips with Etsy SEO
It’s essential to nail your Etsy SEO to ensure your Etsy shop gets found! Think like a customer when you do your product descriptions. What words would you type in when looking for your products or your shop? Nailing your keywords will also help when choosing the Etsy tags for your item listings. Click here for more info on the Etsy search algorithm.
8. Create a basic website for your business
You can easily create a simple website using Squarespace, WordPress or Pattern by Etsy. Adding a lead magnet and blog will also help establish you as a leader in your niche.
9. Make sure your photos look professional
If you can afford to get professional product photos taken for your Etsy shop, I would strongly recommend you do so. However, I know many Etsy sellers are on a tight budget but it’s still very important that your Etsy product photos are good quality. Poor images will damage your credibility and you just can’t afford to look sloppy!
10. Create a robust marketing strategy
If you want to be a successful Etsy seller you need to create an efficient marketing strategy and not just post randomly on social media. Grab a copy of my ‘Little Pink Digital Marketing Toolkit’ which will help you nail your marketing without the faff!
Finally, check out the top 10 Etsy sellers in the UK and learn what makes them successful!
Mini Etsy Sellers Toolkit
My ‘Mini Etsy Sellers Toolkit’ will help you identify your target market, build a strong brand identity, nail your pricing and write SEO friendly product descriptions for your Etsy shop.
You can buy the toolkit here: https://bit.ly/39b7dqQ
Good luck and wishing you every success!
