9 Easy tips on how to promote your Etsy shop

Etsy has opened up a tremendous opportunity for creative people to follow their passions and make money at the exact same time.

The only problem is, it isn’t quite as easy to enjoy effortless success on the Etsy marketplace as most people make it out to be. Contrary to popular belief, Etsy isn’t the “Field of Dreams” – even if you build it, the customers may not come!

Thankfully though, there are a couple of things you can do to immediately improve your chances of building an successful Etsy shop and it gives you your creative outlet and a considerable chunk of change at the exact same time.

Here are nine tips and tricks to help you do exactly that!

List new products as often as you can

It’s impossible to really understand how the Etsy marketing and ranking system works, but people have noticed that the shops that regularly post new products for sale are the kinds of shops that get the most “help” selling their stuff directly from Etsy.

Rather than release a whole bunch of products at once, instead think about “drip feeding” those products by uploading them to your Etsy shop one at a time every day or every other day.

Have amazing photos and killer copy

Secondly, you need to make sure that all of your photos and all of the copy written on your Etsy shop is as top quality as humanly possible.

Because it is so easy to sell on the Etsy platform, you need to know that you’re going up against if competition – and your pictures and the words you used to describe your products are going to make or break your success on Etsy.

Get your shop featured outside of Etsy

Even though the people behind Etsy are going to do a lot of the “heavy lifting” when it comes to marketing all of the stuff that you have available for sale in your shop, you don’t want to rely on them entirely to get your stuff sold.

Start to market and advertise outside of Etsy and you will be able to skyrocket your chances of success, most of the time dramatically. Google advertising, Facebook advertising, and even advertising in off-line magazines and newspapers can be a great way to find new customers that wouldn’t have found you any other way.

Don’t be afraid to fool around with creative approaches to marketing

Creativity is King on Etsy, and that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone.

Unfortunately, most people try traditional marketing and advertising approaches to build their Etsy shop – and most of the time that just isn’t going to cut the mustard.

No, you’re going to want to get creative with your approach to marketing and advertising your products and your Etsy shop. Work together with complementary Etsy shop owners, create other products that you can sell through other channels while directing people back to your Etsy shop, and find ways to really grow your Etsy brand.

Post something to your market every day

Even if you don’t have new products to upload to your Etsy shop on a daily basis you need to have some kind of contact with your market every day.

Fire up a Facebook post, send out an email blast, or just talk to your customers and prospects on social media and see what they are up to. It’s the only way that you’ll be able to grow the kind of influence you need to sell regularly and consistently on Etsy.

Treat your Etsy shop like a real deal business

Too terribly many people have lofty expectations for the kind of money that they are going to be able to make on Etsy but do not treat they are shop like a real business but instead a glorified hobby, and then are disappointed in the results.

But not you.

No, you know that you have to treat your Etsy shop like a real deal business to enjoy a real deal business results (and real deal business profits). Focus on marketing and advertising, knock customer service out of the park, take care of your accounting, and hire others to help you grow.

Etsy shoppers focus on your visuals more than anything else

Your Etsy shop has to be visually stunning or you don’t have any chance at coming out on top.

There are all kinds of templates you’ll be able to use directly from the people behind Etsy but if you really want to create a stunning Etsy shop you’ll want to hire a graphic designer to (and the very least) create a beautiful logo that will become the focal point of your shop.

Really focus on your target market and giving them EXACTLY what they are looking for

It is absolutely impossible to succeed today without really zeroing in on a specific segment of the market and then giving them EXACTLY what they are looking for – even if they didn’t know that was exactly what they were after in the first place!

We live in the middle of the most competitive time in human history. The only chance of success is to become a master of your own corner of the marketplace, then (and only maybe then) branching out into other areas.

Don’t be shy about letting your personality shine through

At the end of the day, you want to be sure that you are really showcasing your personality, your style, and everything that you are able to bring to the table.

There is a world of difference between the special gifts you have to offer in the special gifts someone else does come and you want to make sure that your Etsy shop customers understand that, embrace that, and respect that.

Best of luck going forward!