Opening an Etsy shop seems like an obvious step for people wanting to turn their creative passions into a business.
Etsy has natural traffic, it is a marketplace with millions of daily users looking to shop small and find unique products. It is a perfect site to step out of your comfort zone, grow a business and make an income. However, attracting shoppers on etsy to buy from you specifically is harder than it may seem.
The site has 45 million product listings for sale which, makes for a lot of competition for anyone on the platform. Before you establish yourself on the site and know how to reach your potential customer base, it will be easy to get drowned out!
Whether you are new to selling on Etsy, or a long-time shop owner, the following tips can be used to help you increase traffic to your Etsy Shop.
Use SEO Keywords for more etsy traffic
Unless you are a household name brand like gucci or versace, people won’t automatically go to your Etsy shop. You will never get customers if they can’t find you. Therefore, you need to take advantage of search engines to pull people to your website.
Keywords are your friend and will help you to optimize your placement! Keywords are words that you can use to describe your products. In terms of SEO, they’re words that potential customers will be entering into search engines.
Here is how you can get started with SEO on etsy:
You have to put yourself in the shoes of someone that is looking for something to purchase.
Let’s say you are selling hats on etsy. Think of what a potential customer looking for a hat searches for.
GOOD: Orange bucket hat (This is what most people search)
BAD: A lovely hat from Karlashandmade collection. (Too much uneccessary information! remember, they don’t know you yet and they don’t care)
When you use keywords that people are searching for to find a hat throughout your titles, in the description and in the tags, you will be able to easily reach more customers on etsy.
You should also consider creating an etsy shop announcement
HOW TO CHOOSE KEYWORDS ON ETSY THAT BRING TRAFFIC ?
Think Like Your Customer
Consumers may be searching for a specific product, category, or to gather information. Customers already have an idea of what they want as well as the words that describe that item. A good formula for etsy keywords is to use words that describe qualities of the item + words that quite literally state what the item is.
So if you were selling wallets you could have different variations:
Handmade (Description) leather wallet (what the item is)
Brown Vegan (Description) leather wallet (what the item is) for women (Description)
Descriptive words are essential because very few buyers on etsy are simply using one-word terms to find products. They do this because they are trying to be specific about what they are searching for. Avoid subjective terms, this is advice that translates to other marketplaces other than etsy.
Be specific and avoid over-exaggerating when designing your keywords, whether something is “hot” is not up to you to decide as a seller but the buyer to make up their mind after seeing your photos.
Research! Do Your Research!
After you brainstorm your keywords, you need to do research to figure out if your words will reach your customers. There are loads of free ways to do keyword research on etsy. So if you’re just a start-up or a business that doesn’t have a big budget, this may be the most cost effective way to start.
The first way is to by utilizing existing search engines to search up your keywords. The most popular search engine today is google, however you can also utilize the etsy search bar.
All you have to do is search for a keyword describing your item and take note of similar products or your competitors popping up at the first page of google or at the top of etsy’s search result list. This is a good indicator that the keywords you are choosing will work.
If you are having trouble thinking of keywords, there is another way to research them. Keyword research tools are available to help you narrow down your options and pick the best words for you. They can also be useful in finding high volume and low competition words, so your products don’t get lost in a sea of other products.
Now once you’ve exhausted the free methods of keyword research you have a few more options:
There are several paid etsy SEO tools that are exclusively designed for Etsy shop owners to find the keywords appropriate to their products with Etsy’s analytics and algorithm in mind.
Some examples of paid etsy SEO tools are Marmalead, eRank and EtsyHunt.
EtsyHunt has the largest database which includes data of over forty-five million products and one hundred million stores on Etsy. It presents itself as a research tool and spy tool at the same time. When you are exposed to the amount of data, as a seller you can lookup for key product metrics, charts featuring top products/stores and trending products/stores, and spy on competitors’ actions.
In addition to the massive database, EtsyHunt provides other tools to help sellers get easier on store management and operation. Users can receive a free report on how to optimize listings using the “Listing Optimization” tool. EtsyHunt helps sellers to request customer reviews with the tool “Followup reminder”. EtsyHunt provides email templates and message effectiveness analysis so that users can optimize their messages to get a higher response rate.
It features a chrome extension that allows you to research products and trends, scout the best keywords for your listings and comes with free tools such as an etsy tag generator and profit calculator. They have a massive and up-to-date database of product information and great support to help you out with queries about the tool!.
Include attributes in your etsy listings
How you fill out your attributes when setting up your product page is very important when trying to drive traffic. A lot of the time, attributes are looked over by sellers. However, if you fill them out correctly and accurately, they can drive traffic to your Etsy.
Attribute categories that are available on Esty include color choice, sizes, clothing style, occasion or even celebration. When you take the time to fill out these choices, your product will show up in customer’s searches when they are looking for a product under any of those categories. Therefore, you absolutely need to include relevant attributes in every listing. It is a simple way for your business to get more traffic.
Differentiate Yourself from Competition – Find Your Niche!
Just like any other business, you need to find a way to stand out to your potential customers, so they choose you over another similar business. This is particularly important with etsy.
Why ?
Because there are so many etsy shops currently operating and thousands being added each day. A lot of those sellers are going to be selling something similar to you, so you need to keep your competition in mind.
The solution to etsy competition: niche down your etsy shop
For your business to gain more traffic, you must figure out what you are an expert in and use that strength to draw people in. It can either be your branding, add-ons or maybe dial your business back to one specific product/category.
Niches are key to any successful small business, you don’t have the resources to go for a large market so stick to one thing and do it very well
Let’s use an example of a leather wallet maker. If you try to compete with Mont Blanc you are going up a multi-million dollar company!
However, you could reasonably dominate the search space for handmade vegan leather wallets on etsy ! especially if you have a unique story/selling point.
Mont Blanc can’t compete with that.
If your product seems like it can bring a higher value to the customer compared to your competition (eco friendly etc.), you will get an increase in orders.
Really dig into your keyword research here to find customers. If you are in a saturated space, it would be the best option to not always compete with them in all your customer’s searches. Overall, you’ll need to think creatively but still be as specific as possible to take a different route and find keywords that your competition doesn’t use.
Create Detailed Description
Once you finally are getting eyes on your product, you’ll need to focus on getting the potential customer to make an order. Descriptions are the place where you get the chance to really sell your product.
As your Etsy business is online, the customers will need a detailed description. The description will assist in converting views to sales as it will help your customers clearly understand the product, answer questions they may have and hopefully convince them to purchase.
If your description isn’t satisfactory, it could be the reason orders are not rolling in regularly. Being vague in the description could break the buyer’s trust with your business and ultimately be a dealbreaker.
To build a strong description, you need to get your customer excited about your product. Therefore, the description should be strongly worded and give helpful details such as the color, texture, sizes, and use. Essentially, after a customer reads your description, they should have no questions left. Also, to make the description an easy read, try incorporating bullet points, short paragraphs, and bolded words to make the description easy to read.
Set Up a Business Social Media Accounts
Social media is a great way to drive traffic to your etsy shop. It gives you multiple outlets to increase traffic on etsy for free (well, mostly free). Joining key social media platforms can be a great strategy to find new customers on etsy.
Key social platforms for etsy shops tend to be platforms that have a strong visual element to them AND have a large userbase to advertise on.
Increase etsy traffic with pinterest
Pinterest is both a search engine and social media platform. People usually go to Pinterest to find a source of inspiration. It is a site full of pictures and videos that you can utilize to share your products. By creating boards that inspire your customers while also promoting your products, you can gain a following and increase Etsy traffic. It is a VERY popular platform for etsy sellers
Increase etsy traffic with instagram
As Instagram is one of the best social media platforms out there for businesses, it can serve as a great marketing tool for your Etsy business. Instagram focuses on aesthetics, so you will need to post engaging pictures and videos. This will allow you to promote products with content creation, engage with your followers and expose your brand to more users.
Increase etsy traffic with facebook
The longest-running and largest social media platform should not be overlooked while trying to increase Etsy traffic. Facebook is a place where you can highlight your products, create targeted ads, and engage with your customers. Overall, its many tools and billion users make it a fantastic platform to help you grow your Etsy business.