What I Know Now: Etsy
What’s your perception of Etsy? I’ve always thought it was way overpriced, growing up. I used to window shop through the fabulous homemade jewellery and Doctor Who memorabilia for hours but never actually bought anything.
Now that I’m an adult, I can not get enough of the thing. I’m obsessed with all the homeware, the crafts and pretty much everything they sell. Recently I’ve been making my fabric masks with some fabric I bought from a seller in Nottingham, my Kindle case looks like a vintage hardback and was handmade by a bookbinder on Etsy. It’s a fantastic place if you’ve got the budget to shop with a small business.
In a new post-COVID culture, I’ve seen people all over the world look for ways they can shop small and support local businesses. Instead of buying clothes off Boohoo people have gone to sustainable clothes stores and Depop or go to greengrocers instead of Tesco.
As someone whos worked With small independent businesses for a few years now. I’m bloody happy that people are looking for ways to champion their local markets and encourage a new wave of community and socially-distanced support.
Most small businesses that have survived lockdown have also realised the importance of social media and websites like Etsy and Depop to stay afloat. For many, fulfilling small orders helped grow their brand globally.
But that’s a story for another blog post; today I’m interested in the people who have started a business over lockdown. It feels like hundreds did, including myself. Steph Writes Stuff was launched just a month before lockdown, but it’s flourished over the past few months, but it’s not my only business venture this year.
I started an Etsy store about a week ago. I’ll be honest, I’d planned it for much longer than that. But I started it five days ago, and I’ve already made £175 in profit. Without any promotion, no advertising costs, no social media accounts, NOTHING.
As a marketer, who can spend £100’s on Facebook advertising. This new experience felt euphoric.
I thought it would make a fitting start for my new feature. “What I know” is not a comprehensive guide of X Y Z or any other letter of the alphabet. It’s everything that I’ve learnt, within a short period. Which I feel is necessary to pass onto others who may not have a marketing mindset.
Etsy does feel like the perfect way to start this series. I feel like it’s underappreciated as a way to make money. It provides you with free social media advertising, free google advertising and comprehensive SEO to make sure that your items appear in the perfect place to catch your customer’s eye.
It makes the job of a seller incredibly easy. All you have to do is create and post your items, can’t be that hard, right?
Entirely right, but still there are a few extra things you should know before you list your first item. To start your business off on the right foot.
Sort your branding out
Branding is the key to everything. But as a term can also feel incredibly vague. I am a massive fan of the ‘It’s a marathon, not a sprint’ mentality. Bide your time, plan what your business is going to look like and put together a few mockups on Canva. For my Etsy store, I decided to do a bit of a Y2K vibe; it’s trending like hell at the moment and isn’t mainly devoted to my niche.
But if you’re thinking about using this branding on more than just your Etsy banner (for example, if you’re planning on making business cards etc.), then I’d recommend taking some time on the colour scheme. Have a look at this blog about colour theory in business.
Have you done your market research?
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What are you selling? Is anyone else selling it? Is there a CLEAR interest in this item? What are they charging?
There are so many questions you need to ask yourself before you even buy the materials to make your store a reality. If there’s no interest in what you’re doing, then you’re wasting money.
Learn a bit of SEO
I love SEO, but I’m nowhere near as confident in it as I should be. But SEO skills are quite essential for ensuring that your items are listed in the perfect place to make some £££.
Etsy looks for these SEO keywords in everything; in your title, description and hashtags. All of this information helps Etsy decide where your item should be listed in search results.
Etsy SEO is worth a whole other blog post within itself (if you’re interested). But until then, this is all I have learned in my first few days as an Etsy seller. I have no doubt this list will continue to grow the longer I keep my shop open. I think moving forward, so many of us will wanna be business owners and looking for side hustles. These past few months have made us realise that multiple strings of income are vital for survival.