According to the latest study, Etsy has roughly 7.5 million sellers and 96 million active Etsy buyers. Most of my clients don't realise the power of this marketplace to help grow an ecommerce business, how active it is and that the Etsy platform is doing THAT well!  That's alot of "eyeballs" looking at products.

Right now, global marketplaces are opening up opportunities for small businesses who are selling their products online, just like yours.

The Etsy platform is a great one to choose, especially if you are just getting started and your products are focused on beauty, crafting products, handmade products of any kind, plus children's products, toys and games (as there is a great mummy audience on there).

So with this in mind are you wondering how you can sell more on Etsy this year?  We have used Etsy to create a significant stream of traffic for our clients, that helps get real business growth.

Let’s start at the beginning…and explore why this platform will be great for your business!

What is the Etsy marketplace platform?

Etsy is a global online marketplace. It focusses primarily on handmade or vintage items and craft supplies sold by millions of independent sellers. It is perfect for independent retailers to use to launch and grow their product-based business.

Each item you see on the platform is listed and sold by a seller. This means there is no central Etsy warehouse. Customers using the Etsy platform are buying from and supporting the sellers directly.  Etsy simply take a commission fee % on each sale to help cover their own business costs.

How To Step Change Your Growth On Etsy

Optimise Your Product Titles For SEO Keywords

When you list your products, make sure you name the product title with your SEO keywords in mind. This is vital so that you are found easily in the Etsy search results.

For example, let’s imagine a buyer is searching for a gift for a family member. In the search bar of Etsy they type ‘silver heart necklace.’ You want your product to be one of the first products that shows up for that potential customer. To do this, you need these same short, sharp keywords that match your product exactly.

If you don’t have these keywords in your listings, Etsy won't know to return your product for that search term and you are therefore limiting the reach and sale of your products. If your typical customers search ‘gift for women’ you also want to ensure that wording is in your product descriptions too.

Write compelling product descriptions that get a "wow"

When it comes to your product description there are 3 things you need to think about:

• Capturing the shopper’s attention
• Showing the shopper how your product can improve their life or solve a problem
• Removing any barriers of purchase and creating a smooth process towards the purchase

You want your product descriptions to take Etsy shoppers from intrigue to the final payment. Add detail that makes your product compelling. Tell them a story and help them see how your product will fit in beautifully in their lives. 

Next, make sure you remove any objections or worries they may have about your product.  Answer obvious questions in your product description - like "what size is the box? ",  "what does the fabric feel like?", "how long will it take to arrive", "is there a guarantee?" and the important one - "who are you anyway!".  Customers want to know, like and trust you before they buy from you.  Your product description is the place to put any concerns they have to rest. 

Your customer is here for one thing and one thing only, to find a product right for them. Show them why yours is the one through matching your beautiful product images to equally beautiful product descriptions and helping them make a confident purchase at checkout.

Utilise the power of visuals

Professional product images increase conversions. Fact.

Yes your shoppers are likely to be viewing on their mobile but even a device as simple as a phone needs to showcase high quality images.

Get your product images professionally done.  Make sure each product has great lighting and shows all angles / sides so that the customer can really understand what they are buying.  If there are textures, show them that too.  On a marketplace like Etsy, you don’t just want to enhance your writing. You want to ensure the images of each product are clear and of high quality. 

We all like to "eat with our eyes" as the saying goes.  Images matter. 

Promote your Etsy products on social media

Social media is often overlooked when it comes to the strategy to drive potential shoppers to your Etsy listings. By creating social media posts with links directly to your Etsy listings you are encouraging your audience to browse the Etsy platform...and the Etsy algorithm loves that! 

By proactively bringing traffic to the Etsy site, you are increasing the views on your product listings and the chances for that visitor to potential buy from other sellers on the platform too... making a very happy Etsy business - and so Etsy monitor how much traffic you are bringing on a monthly basis as an important stat. 

It's not proven but from our experience, the more external traffic you bring to the Etsy platform yourself, the better your search exposure appears to be for your product listings - ie. you get a ranking boost within the marketplace.  It's like a big tick in the Etsy performance box. 

Invest In Etsy Ads 

One of the fastest ways to get more "eyeballs" on your Etsy product listings is to invest in Etsy Ads.  This way your product gets shown at the top of search result pages as a "sponsored product" - giving you the best chance to get seen and make a sale.

This makes it easier for you to reach buyers with a higher intent to purchase. 

In our experience with our clients, the most successful Etsy accounts we've seen are the ones who use Etsy Ads to the fullest extent and are the businesses who scale up their daily ad spend as quickly as possible. 

You can use Etsy Ads to advertise your products, in Etsy search results and other pages on Etsy. For example your products may be shown on Etsy Search, Category Pages, Market Pages on both Etsy.com and the Etsy app.

Set your budget and choose which listings to advertise, and the Etsy platform will then optimise and place your ads automatically for you. Etsy Ads optimises your budget to advertise your listings in the places on Etsy where they perform best.

There is a limit to how high you can set your daily budget. All sellers start with a maximum daily budget of 25.00 USD.

I recommend you start with a small advertising budget per day to begin with, see what's working, how many views you are getting on each product, which product listing is proving most popular and look for what's not working too. Then scale up your daily spend from there.   

Make It Happen In Your Business

It’s time to get started!  Optimise your products on Etsy today for a successful tomorrow.  Yes, these enhancements to make your product listings beautiful do take time and supporting with paid for Etsy Adverts is an investment but when done right, can yield great sales results.

Next Steps:

• If you would like help with creating and managing Etsy listings, you can schedule a call with me here to talk through your business growth goals and see how we can help.
• Make a start with optimising your Etsy listings for your important keywords in both the product title and description fields.
• Take a look at the Etsy Marketing area and switch on Ads for your most popular products.