Antoniya “Tonka” Zorluer is a maker with a passion for sustainability with over 6-year experience selling Earth Superhero totes & recycled jewellery on Etsy.com as pErix. She helps brands like TheBexShop & ShtereviHandmade in starting their successful Etsy.com shops and making their first $1,000. Tonka’s on a mission to support passionate makers open an Etsy shop with the FREE 7-day Etsy Shop Makeover email course. If you are a creator and planning to open a shop or you already have one, you sure want to connect with Tonka as she is incredibly talented.
Antoniya Zorluer, Tonka:
We are lucky.
We live in a time of forums, social media and live video. This means constant access to free information, knowledge, advice and wisdom.
I started my Etsy.com business in times when all of this was readily available!
But it still took me 3 years to not feel like the new kid on Etsy.com.
Part of it was because of the overwhelm–there’s so much you can learn about Etsy.com. From the forums, to blogs, podcasts and whole academies!
I felt the overwhelm again as I started working on this article. What was the one most important topic I wanted to cover to help you out in starting your Etsy.com business?
Well, it turns out that there are thousands of questions you could be asking…
…from how to set up shipping profiles to what should be the background of my pictures…
But very few people are actually asking the important questions. The questions that will make you sales!
Yes, shipping profiles are handy and picture backgrounds are important, but before you spend hours contemplating on those, take a look at the 6 most important questions about Etsy.com… Because being clear on those will actually help you make more sales tomorrow. Shipping profiles won’t.
How can I start selling on Etsy?
It’s no biggie, really! Just go here to open a shop and upload 40 products for free.
To open shop you’ll need:
- 40 product photos and descriptions ready
- Keyword and competition research done
- Cover photo
- Avatar
- Shop announcement
- Shop story (About page)
- Bank account (in most places is enough) or a PayPal account + credit card
What sells most on Etsy?
You might be surprised but that’s… craft supplies! So much so that Etsy created a new site, called EtsyStudio, dedicated especially to selling craft supplies.
If you’re a maker and you want to sell your handmade designs you can still discover what sells best in your category. Is it lavender soap or honey soap?
Here’s how:
Find a shop in your category, for example, a shop that sells organic vegan soap. Then look at how many sales they’ve had and for what time frame. Would that do for you? Then click on the number of sales they’ve had, and you’ll be able to see what sells the most!
How much time does it take for a regular Etsy seller to make her first sale?
Well, a regular Etsy.com seller that DOESN’T have a brand, coherent shop, product line, a marketing plan and consistent keyword strategy might take 4-6 months to make a sale (if ever).
A smart Etsy.com shop owner that has figured out the best keywords for titles and tags, taken professional looking photos and created a coherent look for her shop will start making consistent sales within 30 days.
Why don’t I have any sales?
There can be a number of reasons, so I’m just going to touch upon the two most common reasons (no, it’s not your prices):
- People don’t come to your store. Having less than 50 shop visitors per day? Work on your titles, tags, pictures and make sure to stock up.
- People come to your shop, but don’t buy. You should have one sale for every 100 visitors to your shop (that’s the standard rate for online stores). If you have more, you’re doing awesome! If you have less, it means that people come to your shop but something stops them from buying. Try answering all their possible questions in the item description and look at your shipping prices and time frames again.
How do I bring people to my store?
Currently, the best way I know to bring people to your store is…. To utilize the already existing 200-million monthly audience of Etsy.com! There are hundred of millions of people coming to the side every month, why not focus on attracting those buyers first?
The best way to do that is by…
- Having awesome pictures
- Using customer-attracting keywords in titles and tags
- Having a diverse but coherent, fully stocked shop
What makes Etsy shop successful?
You define success for your Etsy.com shop! Nobody can tell you if you’re making few sales or too many, or how your shop should look or feel.
It’s successful when you say it is!
For most of us, this means consistent sales, though.
To get there, you need…
- A unique product in demand (based on research)
- Coherent shop with great variety, aim for 100 items or more
- To have figured out your branding so you are remembered
- To “wow” people with your packaging so they come back and tell their friends
- Near-professional, well-lit, crisp photos that stand out
- Keyword and ranking strategy that helps you get found in the crowd.
In conclusion, my best advice when starting your own Etsy.com store is to focus on the big picture–building a handmade brand offering products that people care about and are of high quality. The nitty-gritty technical details are something everyone can take care of.
Am I forgetting something? I’d love to read your Etsy.com-related questions in the comments and help solve the Etsy.com mysteries together.
Get in touch with Tonka:
shehustlin.com
Community @ bit.ly/etsysuperstarcommunity
Ah, Tonka, you are the guru of Etsy!
This post was really, really helpful, and 200-million people per month? THAT’s INSANE!
I had no freakin’ idea!
WOW!
She is amazing, isn’t she?
And yeah, an audience in Etsy sounds like a great deal!