There are lots of different ways to get more traffic to your Etsy shop, and it can get a bit dizzying trying to decide which ones will have the best results.
Pinterest, Instagram, Etsy SEO, paid ads and all that is all well and good, but at the end of the day you’re a normal human being with 24 hours a day to play with and probably not a huge budget to spend on marketing if you’re still a fairly young business.
So today we’re going to talk about the different options you have to get more traffic to your Etsy shop…and perhaps more importantly how you can decide what makes the most sense for you right now—because you can’t do them all or you’re going to spread yourself super thin and that never brings results…
And no one wants that to happen!
Let’s dive in.
The first thing that’s important to understand is that there are really 2 different types of traffic you can send to your shop: free traffic, and paid traffic.
So, let’s look at each in more detail, starting with the free ones.
Inside of the “free traffic” sources family, there are 2 different categories of free traffic. One is free traffic that comes from search engines, and the other is free traffic from social media.
There are some key differences between the two. Search engine traffic is going to come from Etsy, Google, and Pinterest . . . those 3 platforms being search engines.
And social media traffic is going to come from platforms like Instagram, Facebook, tik tok, or whatever other new social media app hits the market before I finish writing this blog 🙂 !
The main differences between search engine traffic and social media traffic is that people use them differently . . . and so your strategy is going to be different on search engines vs. on social media.
On search engines, you don’t need to be social— you need to optimize for keywords.
So it’s going to involve keyword research, keyword tweaking, keyword optimization, and really making sure that you are spending some time doing that research so that your products can be found in the search results of this platform.
On social media, it’s very different because there aren’t keywords being used. Hashtags can work a little like keywords but they’re not the biggest aspect of a successful social media strategy.
Instead, on social media it’s really a matter of engaging with people . . . so that when they like your content, comment on your content, or save your content, the algorithm picks up on that activity and thinks “Hey, this person likes what you’re putting out and is responding to it.” —and therefore it’s going to start showing more and more of your posts to them.
So the main difference between SEO and social media is that one of them is going to need keyword research and creating content that matches those search terms so people click on your content when it shows up in search, and the other one is going to be more about creating engaging captions.
So – what does that mean for you in terms of your workload?
[free] handmade shop traffic guide
ARE YOU TIRED OF HEARING CRICKETS? TO MAKE SALES, YOU NEED PEOPLE TO VISIT YOUR SHOP, LET’S MAKE IT HAPPEN WITH THIS FREE TRAFFIC GUIDE.
Well, with SEO you’re going to do a big batch session to review your strategy, review your keywords, and what worked and didn’t work over the last couple of months.
You’ll tweak each area and then you wait and reassess in a couple of months to see what worked and what didn’t.
With social media, it’s a little different because you actually have to engage every day on those platforms. You have to connect, you have to comment, you have to reply to comments, you have to create captions . . . so it’s a little bit more work on a daily-weekly basis than SEO platforms are.
The other difference between the two is that SEO will often have people who are already looking for something to buy because they’re using keywords . . . so they’re going to Etsy with the intent of buying, they’re going to Google and typing something with the intent of buying, and they’re going to Pinterest and looking at pins with the intent of buying.
On social media that’s not what’s happening.
Instead, people go there to be entertained and have fun, they go there to be inspired, or maybe they’re there because they’re a little bored and they just want to scroll mindlessly for a couple of minutes. And so your role is to provide what they want, which is to entertain and inspire, not sell to them directly.
Of course, from time to time you’re going to be announcing a new product and encouraging them to visit your shop . . . but you don’t want every one of your social media posts to be “Go to my shop!”, it’s really about engaging with them and meeting them where they are on that platform.
So as you can see, although SEO and social media are both sources of free traffic, they are going to be used differently. And practically that reflects in how you’re going to work on them.
When you do SEO you will sit down for a full day every couple of months to really analyze, optimize, and batch that entire process for the next two months.
Social media is a bit more of a mix. You can batch the creation of your graphics and captions in one big sitting, but you will still need to go in there every day to comment and react and engage with people on the platform.
Each one can be really effective, just in different ways.
Now let’s talk about paid traffic sources.
Some of you might be thinking if it’s paid you’re investing money, not time, but that’s not always true.
You’ll still need to spend some time figuring out how to make paid ads work and choosing which sources are the best fit for your handmade shop.
So – let’s look at your options here.
One option is using influencer marketing or brand ambassadors. This might mean payment in the form of free products that you send them to showcase on their social media, or commission on sales—one way or another you’re paying them to help you promote your products.
Another option is Paid SEO ads. These are ads that you’re going to use on search engine platforms . .. so these are ads on Etsy, on Google and on Pinterest.
These ads can be really effective because you can target keywords that are exactly what your product is about—that people are typing when they are looking for products.
Remember what we were saying before about search engine platforms being great at driving people who already INTEND to purchase to your shop? Well if it was true using “organic/free” strategies on those platforms, it certainly is true for ads too.
So it’s really about putting your products in front of people who are highly qualified to purchase what you are selling. . . and it can work pretty well whether the person searching has seen your products before or not.
Finally, you can also pay for social media ads, meaning ads that you would pay to show on for example Instagram or Facebook.
These are different from SEO in that they work best if you target people who already know you exist.
If you are trying to show your ads on these platforms to people who have never seen your page, your profile, or never heard of your brand before, it’s going to cost a lot of money and be far less effective. It’s possible – but typically those ‘demographics or interest” targeting ad campaigns are not something I’d recommend to smaller businesses with smaller budgets.
So for paid social media what I often recommend instead is to actually do what’s called retargeting, which is only showing your ads to people who have already engaged with you.
Maybe they’ve liked your page or they’ve liked one of your posts or videos . . . anything like that. And so they already know you exist, and you’re kind of nicely putting an ad back in front of them to remind them of your shop, which costs less money and is a lot more effective.
OK! So we’ve talked about the main differences between paid and free, and how within each one you always have search platforms or social platforms to choose from.
So what would I recommend?
3 main tips:
1. First— if you’re new to the online marketing game, wait to pay money for paid ads, or paid partnerships. This is simply because often you need to know what works organically to figure out what’s the best way to spend your money.
If you want to start with paid ads as your main traffic source, then just be willing to spend a little more and have a budget allocated to experiment with those ads . . . because they’re not going to work out perfectly straight away— even the pros have a budget to experiment with things like ads and copy.
When you advertise straightaway you have to be willing to really spend some money to get it going and figure out what works or not. This is why I often recommend this as more of an advanced strategy, when you have a bit more experience under your belt and know what’s been working for you “organically” first, so you can boost what’s already proven to work with your ads.
2. Next, I recommend starting with just one social media platform—otherwise you’ll overload yourself! If you try and do two right off the bat, then you won’t have time to be consistent on both or actually engage and do things that will get results.
I know it’s hard. . . but just pick one, and don’t worry that you’re missing out on the other one— just focus on the one you pick and do it well.
3. And finally, on top of that social media platform . . . always always have an SEO platform in your marketing strategy! Pinterest is my go-to recommendation outside of Etsy, but of course if you’re selling on Etsy you must start there.
Etsy SEO is one of the best things about Etsy – they have millions of people looking for products and using their search feature – you want to be sure your products show up in those search results!
If you need help with this and want to get your Etsy SEO ducks in order – I have 2 great resources for you:
GET THE ETSY S.E.O SUCCESS BLUEPRINT
READY TO MAKE ETSY S.E.O WORK FOR YOU… FOR GOOD?
THE ETSY SEO BLUEPRINT COURSE WILL HELP YOU GET FOUND IN ETSY SEARCH RESULTS + GET MORE SALES WITH SIMPLE AND EFFECTIVE ETSY SEO STRATEGIES ↓
you might also like…
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
[Free] handmade shop traffic guide
Hi there! this article is really awesome, thanks for sharing this detailed and informative article with us, my friend has a etsy shop I am definitely going to share this article with him. This will definitely help him.
Thank you for your comment, Priya! We appreciate you sharing our article! We hope it helps your friend!