Three ways to sell more on Etsy
Got your attention? Good!
Here are three simple ways to help improve your Etsy shopper conversions (that’s turning people who are browsing into buyers)
1.) Rock your socks off product images
Chances are the way someone makes it to your Etsy store is by clicking on a picture of one of your masterpieces. Generally speaking, the better the product is displayed, the more people are going to click on it. So take the time to put up images that really show the viewer who can’t feel or touch your goodies how wonderful your work really is. You deserve it!
I know, you don’t have a million dollars to hire a professional photographer to photograph all your lovelies. You don’t need one! I’m posting a special “how to” take better photos for etsy next week so stay tuned!
2) I love me, You love me: Your Banner
This is likely the next thing someone shopping your store will notice. They arrived there by clicking on a product and now they can learn more about you. What does your banner say about you? Did you cobble it together in photo-something (you’re not sure what)?
Your banner builds credibility. A great banner says “I’m a real business. I care about my work & my clients”. A not so great banner says “I need some extra cash so I put some stuff up here on Etsy”. What image do you want to project? You want it to show everyone how much love and effort goes into your products–so love on your business and get a great banner!
There are tons of designers out there willing to design okay-decent banners for a few bucks. Decide what your budget is and do two things : 1) Find a designer you LOVE and 2) spend the most you can. I don’t mean break your bank–I mean get the highest quality product you can afford.
After all, this is YOU to the people shopping in your store! You want to show your personality but with a polished edge. Attractive & trustworthy.
One more thing about your banner: if you sell things in a bricks & mortar, you should be using the SAME LOGO for both. Your Etsy shop is an extension of your physical brand. You want it to be identifiable! When people who know you in person get to your store, you want them to go “Yes! This is her shoppe!!” not “Hmm….did I type it right?”
3) Have a Sale
What? I want you to have a sale? But you worked so hard on all those things! Let me ask you this: do you want to sell one (maybe none!) or would you rather sell more? I’m betting you’d like to sell more. Its important that when you price your goods, you make sure you have enough “wiggle room” to offer sales from time to time without putting yourself in a bind. The best way to increase sales is a 30% discount. Anything lower, and it’s not enough to sway a decision. Another GREAT way to increase sales is to do buy 2 get one free. MOST people will buy two even when they were only planning to buy one because they will get one free. And if you’re paying attention, it’s the same discount–30%. Only it’s off 3 items instead of one. So now you’ve sold three vs. one. Isn’t that great?!
So there you go-three simple ways to sell more on Etsy.
One last tip: if you don’t have a LOGO GET ONE! This is for consistency. You want people to always know they found the right store and the best way to do that consistently is to have a logo. Then you need to use it on your business cards, labels, shipping, boxes, emails, banner, etc. And someday, you will probably get tired of your logo. KEEP IT! Sure, you can update the colors but don’t radically change it. You want people to continue to recognize it.
Okay, I think that’s enough logo talk for now. Your Etsy shoppe is an extension of your physical ’shoppe’. Make ‘em match!
Filed under Answers for Common Questions, SparkingFreedom | Comment (0)How do I….
See how many comments are on a specific post on my own blog?
In WordPress, its easy to see all the comments on a single post and they are even numbered for you.
- Simply login to your administrators page/dashboard,
- Click “Manage” You’ll see a list of all your posts.
- Click the number under the “comments” column that corresponds to the post you are interested in.
- Voila!
How is this useful?
If you remember that a specific post has a comment you’re looking for this can be faster than using the search function under “comments”.
And if you run blog contests that require entrants to leave a post, this is the easiest way to pick a winner. Simply note the number of comments there are and have someone special choose a number between 1 and that number. That commenter will win!
Much less work that printing out the comments and having a drawing–and still random since you will choose someone who hasn’t memorized or even looked at the comments on your blog, right?
Hope that helps!
This answer is Wordpress specific. Check with your blog hosting company if you are using something else. :
Filed under Answers for Common Questions | Comment (0)Where to start?
Q. I want to start a business. I know what I want to open (clothing store, bookstore, music store, furniture store, lighting store, photography studio, cafe…you get the picture) but I don’t know where to start. Help me!
A. I know, it all seems overwhelming the number of things you need to do to get your business off & running. Hopefully this helps!
1. Get a name for your business. Don’t fret! This DOES NOT have to be the final name you put on your store. You need a name so you can get your reseller tax ID (if you buy something with the intent of reselling it, you want this–it means you don’t pay sales tax on it since you will be collecting sales tax on it when you sell it). If you have a name, great, if not use your own or use one you’re pretty sure you like. You also need a business name in order to being working with wholesalers. No business name and you won’t be able to get catalogs or place orders. Also make yourself some basic business cards with this name & your personal contact information. You can get free business cards from www.vistaprint.com and since these won’t be a part of your permanent store identity, you don’t want to invest much into them.
2. Create a business plan. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from sources that can find the information you’re looking for more quickly. Sometimes it pays to hire someone to do initial research on locations, the market and the local economy rather than trudging through miles of internet sites and books. Having a business plan means you will have a much better idea of your target market, budget and what financing you may need to pursue. It also means you already have a polished document ready to take to the bank.
3. Learn to live & breath your target market/demographic. You want to know what they like to do, listen to, drive, where they eat, what shows they watch..you get the picture. The better you know them, the better you can serve them.
4. Gather. Start a file on wholesalers, merchandisers and other people you want to work with. Clip magazine articles & pictures that you feel represent something you want in your store. From colors & fabrics to lighting & merchandise, write it all down! By the time you open, you’re likely to have all the key items in one place and ready to go!
5. If you KNOW you are going to do this, start buying the basics. Since you have time, you are much more likely to be able to sniff out deals and save some cash on essential things like your cash register and other non-inventory items.
6. Do hands on research. Go to stores that you think might be like what you want, head to a trade show, soak up information at a conference…Each of these trips will inspire you, grow your knowledge and build a network of talent that you can readily access. Going to a merchandise mart is a great way to meet vendors and narrow down companies you think you’ll want to work with.
7. Soak it up! Again, hit the pavement…even virtually. Shop online stores if you think you may want one. The idea is to gather up as much exposure so you know what you want to and don’t want to do in your store. Take notes!
8. Read Read Read. Information again. You want to read up on every aspect of your business since its likely you’ll be running it. 
From taxes to employees to marketing and customer service, you want to know what to do, how to do it and how to do it well. At this point, you are your business so you have to be in command of everything from writing good business letters, sending appropriate emails, being professional on the phone, placing adverts. So until you hire some help, it will pay off to be prepared to handle all the tasks you will be undertaking from filing sales taxes and finding your COGS (Cost Of Goods Sold) to hiring.
9. Ruminate. Don’t jump in. Live with your business concept, name & information for a bit. Ask yourself the deep questions before running in headlong. You don’t need to take a sabbatical, but do spend some time thinking about this since it is a big decision that will impact your entire life and financial stability.
A few questions to ask yourself:
- Am I okay with how this will change my life?
- Am I willing to work hard (and even harder) to make this work?
- How will this change my life?
- Is this going to help me get where I want to go? (or think I want to go?)
- How long can I do this alone? (here I mean running the day to day business–you need support even if it’s not through having employees)
- Do have I support at home?
- If this doesn’t work out, how will it impact my life? Will I lose my home? Car? Can I sell the business? Can I break even?
There is so much to ponder as you begin the process of starting a business.
A few recommendations: hire a CPA to deal with at least the taxes for the business. Tax law is complicated–let a professional handle it.
If you can, outsource anything you don’t want to do or just don’t have the skill to do. Sometimes you can trade, but regardless, it is always cheaper to have a professional (or someone with oodles of talent) to do something that you would have to invest tons of time into. Like designing an ad–find a marketing student and an art student. Get the marketing student to figure out your message and the art student to design it. Chances are, it will be faster and better than what you would have cobbled together. Putting out poorly done marketing is usually worse than doing none at all–it puts a bad face in people’s faces. Not a good first impression.
Remember all that about reading? Make sure you put a few start-up books on your list. They will help you with things you’ve never even thought of.
I hope this helps you get started with building a business. Owning your own business isn’t a cake walk and doing your homework will always pay off in the end. In business, there’s no extra credit, no late grades, and no one to take your test for you.
If you like what you’re reading but need more answers, Jennifer & Deb are available for 1 on 1 mentoring sessions.
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