Okay, so you’ve decided on an excellent digital product and started your Etsy shop, but you’re not getting a lot of traffic to your page. I understand how frustrating that can be, but there are ways around that and you can take my word for it!
In 2020, I wanted to break free of the desk job that was holding me back so I opened my very own Etsy shop selling digital products, hoping to make a bit of extra money on the side. What happened next still feels like a dream! By the third month, I was making more take-home money than in my 9-5 day job! After one year, I made $37k in additional income.
Fast forward to today, and I’ve supported more than 1,300 students in doing the same thing. I know plenty of tips and tricks to garner tons of attention to your Etsy page and turn that attention into sales. Read on!
Why Etsy?
I encourage anyone keen on making and selling digital products to get started on Etsy. Etsy is a trustworthy and popular site and it’s where I got my start, too. This year alone, there are more than 81.9 million buyers looking for unique products, just like yours, and 4.36 million sellers.
Etsy is a great option for people who feel they aren’t the most tech-savvy too, as it is super user-friendly and easy to set up your own trendy storefront. This means absolutely anyone has the potential to get online and start making a ton of money.
To set up your store, all you need to do is:
- Create or login into your personal Etsy profile.
- Navigate to your Etsy profile and update the status to “sell on Etsy.”
- Complete the straightforward prompts that ask you about yourself, your digital products and setting up your payment details.
- Spend time creating the about page, where you should elaborate on the details of your shop, including a personal touch about yourself and your brand. Remain professional but friendly in your tone.
- List your products that are for sale, being sure to make the listing detailed and accurate.
Now, there is a fee to run a store on Etsy, but let me tell you, it is significantly less than running a brick-and-mortar shop! You will be charged a listing fee of 0.20 USD for each item that you list for sale and they take 6.5% of every sale you make. The good thing about the 0.20 USD fee is that with digital products, you only need to pay that fee once to get your ad live.
Garnering People and Traffic to Your Etsy Shop
When a customer enters the Etsy site, they will go to the search bar and type in what they are looking for, and all items relevant to your product will likely pop up on the search results.
Should they be intrigued by your digital product, they will click on your listing and visit your Etsy store.
Sounds simple enough right? It is! However, there are certain strategies that you can implement to drive traffic to your Etsy store, by enabling Etsy to recognize your listings and ensure that your product is showing up on a shopper’s search results.
- Implement Strong Keywords and Etsy Tags
Etsy is a very intuitive app and loves to connect buyers and sellers via keywords. This means, with the right keywords in your store and listing, you can increase visits to your Etsy shop.
The better your keywords, tag, title, listing description, and category, the better your chances are of being shouted out by the platform. You must be careful to implement accurate and detailed words as Etsy sellers can be penalized by adding anything that is “false, deceptive, or misleading.”
For example, a consumer might look up a digital calendar for students, in a specific category. The closer the keywords in your content match the keywords used in shoppers’ searches, the more likely your online shop and its products are to show up!
You also need to tag your products using the Etsy tag function, which are labels you can pick for your digital product using words and phrases by matching the search results of customers.
You can do this through SEO research, such as Google SEO. SEO is a complicated and ever-changing aspect, so to become a pro, I recommend you check out my Digital Shop From Scratch course, where SEO and optimizing your tags and listing are covered in module 3!
- Make Your Etsy Storefront Appealing
Think about it when you go shopping in real life. What kind of stores tend to draw you inside? Ones that are visually appealing, of course! Shops that are clean, organized, bright and inviting.
The same thing goes for your Etsy store. You want to entice customers to click on your page over anyone else, which you can do through crisp, bright photos, professional languaging and consistency, which ultimately builds trust with your customer.
You can also build trust by replying to customer questions, ensuring your policies are up to date and your exchange/returns are fair. Dont skip on the “small details” and be sure to grammar-check everything!
- Be as Niche as Possible
Going back to your actual product, one way to be appealing and discover more is by being as niche and specific as possible. For example, if you are selling a social media template, instead of adding it as a generic “social media template” get specific by making it a luxury, neutral-themed Instagram social media template.
- Promote and Market your Page
While mastering Etsy SEO and creating a stand-out page is vital, you can help drive traffic through marketing and promotion on other mediums. You can do this by building a brand around your digital product on other social media pages like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Using Pinterest for your Etsy store is a great option, as Pinterest offers features that allow you to promote your Etsy store.
Many people opt for making a website, blog, or Youtube too, to promote their brand and digital product even more. There is also an option if you wish to put a little budget behind your marketing, for buying advertisements on Google and social media.
This is something I am very fluent in, so if you want some additional advice on marketing, register for my Free Masterclass on How To Make Extra Income With Digital Products.
Conclusion
Digital products, especially those that are appealing, valuable and specific, continue to perform extremely well on Etsy, and you can be a part of this action!
While running a digital product business is primarily a passive income lifestyle, meaning you don’t need to actively work at it daily, it does require attention and care at the start to garner tons of attention, people and traffic to your Etsy shop! Get started today on changing your life with an Etsy storefront!
