
How to find the best Etsy keywords in 3 simple steps using Alura
If you want to be found in search results on Etsy, you need to optimize your product listing for SEO. And if you want to
join
join
Let’s talk about the current crisis! I’ve been in contact with hundreds of makers and “How can I make sales during this crisis” is THE question on every shop owner’s lips… and I bet it’s been on your mind too!
So… let’s chat about it (and look at a few examples):
Without furter ado, let’s talk about the 6 steps to help you make decisions and take action in the next couple of months so you can make sales and grow.
If you still have a twinge of guilt about selling in our global context, here’s a quick pep talk for you (if you’re cool with the idea, feel free to move to Step 2)
Our minds play all sorts of tricks on us, all the time. Now? More than ever.
With fear, uncertainty, and anxiety becoming a little too familiar these days, it can be easy to see things through a reality-distortion filter.
FREE WORKBOOKS, CHEAT SHEETS, AND RESOURCES TO HELP YOU START, GROW AND PROFIT FROM YOUR HANDMADE SHOP.
It’s easy to …
That’s neither smart nor true.
Most niches are actually seeing higher than usual sales. In fact, a Klaviyo survey comparing sales in 2019 to sales in 2020 per product categories shows that all are either the same as last year, or way up.
Your job is to not let your emotions dictate your strategy.
Your job is to see things for what they really are in your market and for your potential customers – so you can respond to it strategically.
This is your BEST shot at winning this fight, so take 10 minutes and write/talk-out-loud-to-
Once you’re a bit clearer on what has changed in your market and on what your potential customers are going through…
… you’re much better prepared to start responding to those changes VS reacting to them (with a side-dose of panic) which is never a good move.
Without changing what you are selling, how can you talk about your products in a way that reflects what your potential customers are going through?
How can you change your social captions, product descriptions and emails to reflect their new normal, to speak to their new desires?
For example…
Always ask yourself: what are my potential customers lives looking like right now, and how does my product fit within it?
Can you offer products you didn’t offer before but that “make sense” with the rest of your shop, that are still consistent with your brand?
A great example of this came up during last week’s coaching call inside Tizzit HQ. I was doing a shop review for a member who sells amazing craft kits for kids.
Her products are MORE than relevant right now, because every parent on this planet is wondering how to keep their kids busy for even just one hour so they can … I don’t know… cry out of exhaustion in the pantry? Take a shower?
Anyhow, she can ship and sell her kits, happy times! BUT… …instead of focusing on improving the listings for those kits, I wanted to highlight an opportunity she was yet to tap into:
What her potential customers REALLY want is an activity for their kids to do right now (keyword: ‘right now’).
She’s NOT competing with other physical/mailed-to-you craft kits for kids.
=> She’s competing with downloadable coloring pages and printable activities.
=> She’s even competing with any educational video on Youtube that would keep the kids busy… right this second please.
Her customers might of course be also interested in buying and receiving a physical kit, but right now…
… they want to buy an activity, download it, print it and put it in front of their kids at the kitchen table within the next 15 minutes… so they can get a break without relying on Netflix to save them once again.
Even if selling PDF downloads was not part of her shop plan initially, she has the skills to come up with printable coloring pages rather quickly, and it fits perfectly with what her shop and brand are about…
…that’s a great opportunity to adjust her offer and provide her customers with what they desire and need most right now… while also gaining visibility which will end up increasing her craft kit sales at the same time.
Similarly…
…people might not be buying “save the date” cards, but they are buying “change the date” ones (Etsy reported 7,311% YoY increase in searches containing “date change”).
… some sellers are also using their skills in a new way, like offering watercolour classes instead of selling their own prints…or turning their “finished products” into kits (sending supplies and instructions) to appeal to people who are at home and looking for stuff to do.
What’s the new intersection between your skills and your potential customers new needs and desires? How can you meet people where they’re at?
We’ve seen a lot of sellers do this recently to meet the demand for face masks and face covers for example.
Other shop owners decided to open a second shop or start fresh to sell products they feel are more relevant not just right now, but that will also stay relevant in our future “new normal” (because let’s be honest, things will never get quite back to the old normal). Big pivots can be a great way to adapt to a new market …but make sure it is not a “panic pivot” (driven by fear and emotions, rather than facts and reason).
If it is a short term fix for example (“I need cash right now and this could be the way to get it”), can you get this new idea off the ground quickly enough?
If not, you *might* be better off doubling down on your current shop’s marketing strategy (because remember: people are still buying products, across all e-commerce categories, that’s a fact).
If your sales are in fact slow, I’d like to encourage you to still work on your business and keep showing up.
Personal reasons aside, there is no reason you should “pause” your shop’s activities right now.
If you just woke up and were handed this life, not knowing there was ever anything “different” to what it is now… would you put everything on hold for a couple months?
…or would you do the best with what you have?
There are SO many other things you CAN do to make progress – and to use this downtime to have have a stronger shop in a couple months than you had at the beginning of this all (…or a shop at all, if you’re thinking about opening one). I have a video and a free checklist about it that you can access right here.
The last one is about mindset. We’re all in this together and I’m not going to lie – sometimes it’s hard.
Life’s throwing lemons at us left, right and centre right now, and I wouldn’t blame you if you weren’t so sure you had the courage to turn them into lemonade.
I’ve seen a few comments on social recently asking for advice on “how to stay motivated” during these times, and I’d like to suggest that what you need is not “motivation”.
You already are “motivated” …
=> to get your handmade shop off the ground (cause you already know it’s a great time for it)
=> to get selling online (especially if you used to rely on stores or craft markets – that’d be considered a “pivot”)
=> to make more sales from your shop (and more often) so you can get a consistent, stable extra income from your shop every single month.
You know why this is important to you.
The motivation is there.
What’s missing is the strength and the energy and the belief that you have what it takes right now, when things are harder than they were before.
I get it, I really do.
These last few weeks have asked us to show us in all sorts of new ways.
And we signed up for none of it.
The problem is, we also don’t have a choice.
Whether it is for yourself, your kids, your family, your friends, or even your business…now more than ever, you have to be strong and you have to be resilient.
Maybe you are going through some real hard things right now and in this case please feel free to disregard this email. You know what’s best for you.
I appreciate that things are really rough right now, and that some of you might be experiencing grief and difficulties. Taking care of yourself and your loved ones always comes first.
But, having said that, if just like me a couple of weeks ago, you’re justifying a little too much Netflix and a little too much red wine (or whatever your poison of choice is, chocolate anyone?) on the count of what’s going on in the world …
… I say what you need is a dose of resilience, not motivation.
That’s what did it for me.
Because YES, things are harder, but you can do hard things – and right now, we all have to.
I repeat: YOU. CAN. DO. HARD. THINGS.
I can sit here and tell you that “you have what it takes” and that “everything that has happened in your life and business before today has prepared you to find creative solutions to this new set of obstacles you’ve been handed”…
… but it won’t work even remotely as well as the exercise I’d like you to do instead.
So, if you feel like you could do with a little extra “motivation” and morale boost right now…
=> Grab a pen and a piece of paper and write down 5 things (at minimum, try and find 10+ if you can) that you have gone through, achieved, or experienced in the past and that are proof of what you can do and overcome.
It can be anything from your personal or your business life.
Big things but also small things (for example, listening to Frozen for the 48th time of the day without totally losing it counts as a proof of strength in my books)
Anything that felt hard and made you think “I just can’t do this” while you were going through it, but that you DID do or overcome in the end 🙂
I am sure that life has given you lemons before – and I’m sure you squeezed them like a champion, even if it meant you had a couple of bruises.
You might have forgotten all about it though (our brains tend to do that!) and this list is a reminder of it – proof of how resilient you already are.
Write your list.
Remind yourself that you’re more than capable to show up for this weird, weird life we all share right now.
When you’re done and ready to do the best with what you have, to control what you can, and to use the next few months to make progress with your shop…
…consider joining the HQ to work with me alongside other makers.
Much love and speak soon!
you might also like…
related articles
If you want to be found in search results on Etsy, you need to optimize your product listing for SEO. And if you want to
There has been a lot of talk in the Etsy community — and I mean A LOT of talk — about Etsy’s payment account reserve
Anyone who knows me knows that I am a HUGE advocate for using email marketing to grow and scale your handmade business. But you may
disclaimer
subscribe to youtube
THE LAUNCHPAD
get in touch
We acknowledge and give thanks to the Budawang and Yuin people, the Traditional Owners of the land we work and live on. We pay our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and elders past, present and emerging.
Get Instant Access to
The FULL Resource library