How to make Etsy sales without social media
Apr 03, 2024If you’ve spent any time searching for how to generate lots of Etsy sales without harnessing the power of social media, you’ve probably been bombarded with an endless amount of confusing and conflicting information on what tools to use, where to look etc.
It feels like every person you see is screaming “you need to be on social media if you want to make Etsy sales” but honestly, I beg to differ. In fact, I would say that I stand tall and proud in the opposing camp of “you DON’T need social media to make sales on Etsy” - that’s how confident I am in the fact that the strategies I use work.
Social media can be an amazing tool for driving a high volume of traffic, and it relieves some of the pressure off that dreaded SEO, however imperative it is not.
If you are a member of any of my social media communities, you will have seen me discuss this topic quite often.
So, if you don’t need social media to bag some cash on Etsy, what DO you need?
Let’s have a look.
1) Remain active within your shop
This isn’t as difficult as it seems. You need to chain yourself to your desk and be constantly reinventing the wheel with brand spanking new products every single day - I totally understand each task takes you a whole lot longer in the beginning. I have been there, sister!
Instead, remaining active in your shop could look like:
- Listing something new
- Updating SEO on expired listings
- Using Etsy updates and BETA function
- Updating photos
- Updating descriptions
- Answering questions/ messages
- Day to day running of your shop - whatever that looks like
If you aren't using social media you need to go a little bit harder with this part to really show Etsy you mean business and you deserve to rank higher because you haven't got a social media backup to fall back on.
2) Get into your Search Engine Optimisation groove
Think of SEO as the connecting bridge between your product and the customer. Every single search engine uses an algorithm to find the best possible answers for what is being sought out, so when someone searches on Etsy, the algorithm is essentially scanning millions of pre-existing listings to try and connect the right listing with the right person, based on how likely they are to go ahead and purchase.
Etsy is using this system to rank the listing in order of importance, so by including those goldmine keywords within your listings you are showing the algorithm that you deserve to be shown first!
I know that SEO can feel like one big uphill battle when you’re just starting out but once you have a few listings up and running, you will start to get the hang of it!
3) Expanding on my second point, uploading daily listings does go a loooong way!
This is a whole new kettle of fish to simply being active every day.
Here’s some ways YOU can upload daily without feeling as though you are on a never ending hamster wheel churning out new products without catching a breath.
- Copies of your other listings, perhaps focusing on a different holiday for example.
- Listing different colour variations separately instead of inside 1 listing
- Use different images
- Switch up your SEO strategy to see what works best for you
What I want you to imagine is that every single time you upload a new listing you get a little bump in the search engine ladder. Just imagine the compounding impact of that little bump every single day. Sounds great, right? This is the perfect way to get more daily visitors to your shop…
More eyes = more sales, simple as that.
4) Etsy Ads/ offsite ads
Before you jump the gun with this one, this is a great strategy for someone who already has organic sales coming through but are looking to raise that number further.
Jumping on ads too early is essentially inviting more people to a shop that isn’t primed for conversion. As cliche as it sounds, focus on building solid foundations first. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, your SEO needs to be nailed down in order to bolster your ranking position as high as possible. Otherwise you may as well flush your hard earned money down the toilet. Nobody wants that for you.
Once you do have those almighty organic sales rolling in, it’s now the perfect time to ramp that up and have a bit of experimentation with ads.
You are paying Etsy to show your listings higher up in the search results. I recommend trialling $1 a day, per best selling item and you can expect a 2.5X return on investment (with potential for this to grow)! The reason I want you to avoid bumping every single listing is to prevent your budget from twiddling faster than an ice pop in a heatwave.
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5) Is your brand eye-catching?
Are you attracting the right people? If not, ask yourself why you aren’t. Here’s some things to consider:
- Is it clear what you do in your shop banner?
- Are your listing photos clear and in natural light?
When customers search on Etsy, they are faced with 1000’s of different listings and it can be overwhelming AF. You need to make sure your visuals stand out amongst the rest once your SEO has done the legwork of getting you to the top of their screen.
6) Etsy updates/ Etsy Explore
Think of this as a non-toxicant version of social media but inside Etsy itself. This is the perfect homebase to keep your lurking customers up to date on your existing/ upcoming products. I use the word lurkers because the people who are favouriting your listings/ shop are the people that are going to be consuming this content…
I absolutely love your feedback! Let me know which tip you gave you the biggest lightbulb moment and what you managed to sell within your Etsy shop on the back of this blog post!
Steph x
If you'd prefer me to visually teach you this blog post, then you can watch it HERE.
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