I opened my ETSY shop on Mar 6, 2013. It’s been more than 2 years since the day I moved on from growing number of custom orders and decided to pay most of my focus towards premade digital blogger templates. As any other business person, I had my ups and downs during my career. Despite all the bad days, I can feel how much I grew since the day I started. At the moment, I can happily call myself one of the top 5 web designers selling their work through Etsy and I’m here to share some of my tips with you all!

In the past 2+ years, my shop had almost 3000 sales and has been one of my main sources of income. I work on ETSY daily. Even after moving most of my traffic towards my personal website- www.kotrynabassdesign.com, I still receive customer requests and orders through ETSY on regular basis. I’m gonna tell you a story about why I decided to finally start selling through my own platform next time, but for now, let’s focus on the secrets of selling primarily through ETSY. I’d like to share 5 tips I that help me to maintain a successful shop and I hope you can find something useful for yourself here!

BUILD A BRAND

If you want to be noticed between all those sellers, you really have to stand out. Get your social media game on, create shop’s cover that stands out from all the rest, make sure your product images are in the best quality and display your product right. Fill up your ‘about’ page with personal stories about you & your business. It’s important for your customers to know you in order to feel connected and hopefully take their businesses to your hands.

MAKE YOUR CUSTOMERS HAPPY

Customer service is super important if you want to be successful on Etsy. I always read reviews before buying anything and so do my customers! By giving great service, you can be sure that people will spread a word about you, leave reviews and send their friends your way. I know it can be hard to catch up with every single letter, but it’s a must. Dedicate few times a day to focus on your messages and reply them in an honest and friendly manner. If you delay in getting back, there’s always a risk your potential buyers are looking for someone else with faster response time.
Remember, ETSY is a community after all, if you behave badly- no one will be friends with ya!

KEEP CONSISTENCY

Always keep improving! Of course, you will get new customers with time, but don’t forget about your regulars! I have quite a few people coming back for updates and they’re usually really happy to find a new selection of themes ready for them. I try to reorganize my shop every 3 months or so. During those times, I design new products and get rid or improve the ones that are not doing so well. You should also engage with your audience online by using social media or sending out e-mails to your mailing list. Renewing your items from time to time helps too, so don’t let them get hidden on the last page. If you want this to pay off- you have to stay consistent and keep growing.

KNOW YOUR PRODUCT

Do a research on your field. Look through similar shops and see what they offer. Can you do anything better? Compare the pricing too. Evaluate your work, your knowledge, your time dedicated to customer service and price your items right. Don’t forget to keep up with the latest trends too. I know it might be hard to catch up with everything changing so quickly these days. I personally dedicate a few hours a week for research. I look through what bloggers are tweeting about, what my competitors offer and experiment with new techniques. You have to be on top of the game in order to succeed.

UNDERSTAND SEO

You can’t expect ETSY to do all the work for you. It’s important to have a great SEO score if you want customers coming to you, not your competitors. I found this article really helpful in helping to understand how you can help your shop. You should try contacting bloggers and work with them in order to get published. I sponsored a number of bloggers and hosted giveaways on their blogs. It helps to get your links out there and is also a great way to connect with bloggers community.

Follow the tips above and you’ll get one step closer to building a successful Etsy shop!

If I can do it, what’s stopping you?