So you've just started an Etsy shop and you're just waiting for more views. Maybe you're getting 15 views a day. Maybe less. And you are siting there thinking, Is that a lot? I have no idea. How many views until I get a sale?? Well never fear, I have some quick tips to help get things going! I've had five friends start Etsy shops within the last two months, and I thought that maybe others might benefit from my tips and tricks too. These are things I have learned from experience with my two successful shops, and helping friends with their shops as well!
These are just things to start with. I will make more detailed and specific posts and provide links for them here once I get to that point.
(You can check out my shop and listings for examples for all of this: PegtalesShop.com)
- First, above all else, Pictures are EVERYTHING. Make sure they are beautiful and always use natural light! I will write a whole post about this soon, but just know that even if your stuff is at the top of the search page no one will click on it if it's not pretty.
Search Engine Optimization
- So when people search for items, like, say..... peg dolls just as a completely random example, Etsy will show what it considers to be most relevant near the top. So the best way to get your items more relevant and seen is to have good tags, title, and description.
- Use all 13 of the tags that Etsy gives you for each item. Also, use more than one word in the tag, so instead of using individual tags like "superhero" and "peg doll", combine it into one tag "superhero peg doll" and maybe another one "spiderman wooden doll" and "superhero toy" and "painted wooden people" etc.
- When you look at my listings you will notice that my titles are long and repetitive. I try to use and re-use a bunch of key words because it thinks your items are more relevant when you use a bunch of key words. So an example might be "Peg Dolls- Mini Superhero Peg People- Hand Painted Peg Dolls" It might sound kind of ridiculous or redundant, but I got the words peg dolls/people in there three times.
- Add a bunch of keywords into your description as well. But in sentences. No one wants to read a big jumble of words when they are trying to figure out what you're product is.
Other ways to get more views
- Shops with 8 or more items get more views.
- The more action your shop is getting (like views and favorites) the more relevant you will be. So try to share a few items on your FB page and have friends and family view and like your stuff to help jump start you.
- I heard a rumor just the other day that if your items are in someone else's cart, your items rank higher on the search page. Don't know if it's true or not but maybe worth a try!
- Remember that it takes a while for your shop to gain traction and for the search engines to start finding you. It could be a few months before you get steady sales. Plus, January and February always seem to be the worst sales months. I hardly make anything in these months.
