You created a great handmade product.
You set up a shop on Etsy.
You published your listings.
Waited patiently.
Insert cricket sounds.
Where the heck are the cha-chings?
Don’t lose hope! If you’re sitting on Etsy waiting for the sales to magically appear, it’s going to be a lonnnng wait. Back in the good ‘ol days, you could just post your items on Etsy and start selling pretty quickly. Now, that’s not the case. You’ve got to do a lot more leg work to drive traffic to your shop.
So, what does that mean? And, how do you do this?
What this means is that in addition to creating fabulous handmade products to sell, you also need to be the person holding the proverbial spinning billboard for your shop.
You do this by telling people outside of the Etsy platform that you exist.
Translation: get on social media.
If you’re a new seller or limited on time (who isn’t?), it’s important not to try to be on all the platforms. This is a fast track to overwhelm and burnout. Choose one or two platforms that you can focus on and do them well. It is much better to be consistent on one platform than it is to post and run on five platforms. So, figure out which platform is most popular with your target audience and learn it as best you can.
Most businesses can also benefit from having a presence on Pinterest. Pinterest has an average of 2 billion searches a month and 84% of Pinners report using the platform to make purchasing decisions. My favorite tool for Pinterest is an app called Tailwind (affiliate link) You can schedule pins, join group boards, and expand your reach to help drive even more traffic to your shop.
You’ve taken the first step by starting your shop (be proud of that!), now it’s time to share your products with the world and make your talents known. You deserve to have a successful business, but Etsy is not going to do it for you.
