Building an Etsy shop is the first step toward building a profitable online business, especially if you want to sell digital or printable products. But, like any tool, you need to use it properly if you want to succeed.
Your Etsy listings play a key role in your ability to attract new customers and make sales. Some shop owners don’t spend much time on their listings – and it shows. They’re not taking advantage of SEO and they’re also not considering the people in their target audience or how to attract them.
So, let’s look at the anatomy of an optimized Etsy listing. What do your listings need to stand out in a crowd? Here’s what you need to know.
Product Photos
The first element you need to think about is the product photo. For each Etsy listing, you can have up to 10 photographs. You need to think about the quality of the photographs first. Every photo should be:
- Clean
- Well lighted
- Bright
- Attractive
You want your photos to show off your products. Visitors to your shop should be able to understand, at one glance, what your product is.
10 photos might seem like a lot for a digital or printable product, but I think you should use all 10 spots. Your main photo should show the entire product on a white background (or another single color if white doesn’t work.)
Then, you should include:
- Additional photos, including close-ups or alternative angles
- Items for scale to show the size of your products or designs
- Images highlighting the benefits of your product
For example, if you’re selling a digital design and including multiple sizes, you should create an image that shows the different sizes printed out.
Product Title
Your product title must be descriptive. In other words, reading the title should help people know exactly what they’ll get if they buy your product. You should include your most important keywords in the title while also thinking about how people are likely to search for products like yours.
A lot of Etsy sellers include additional keywords at the end of the title. There are two schools of thought about this practice, but I think if it helps potential customers find your products, it’s a good idea to do it.
Product Description
Your product description should get to the heart of what your product is. While the title should be short and snappy, your long description should explain in detail what a potential customer will get if they buy your product. You should include information about:
- Sizes
- Colors
- File types
- License types
- Materials
- Instructions
This is your chance to address common questions about your product and provide the details customers need to choose your product.
Finally, I recommend including links to any related products in your store. For example, are you selling invitations? If so, you should link to name tags, party decorations, and anything else that might interest a customer who buys the invitations.
Product Tags
In addition to the keywords in your product title, Etsy will also allow you to add up to 14 tags to each product listing. These tags include keywords and product categories and they are designed to help Etsy shoppers find the products they need.
My recommendation is to use all 14 tags for every product. Again, they provide an opportunity to help people find your products. If you’re struggling to figure out which tags to use, try peeping at products similar to yours to see which tags appear. It’s a perfect opportunity to do some market research.
Free Shipping
Etsy has its algorithm to favor products that offer free shipping. If you’re selling printables, shipping isn’t an issue. That said, you can still list the shipping price as free to give your products an edge.
If you do ship, then I strongly recommend building the cost of shipping into your price. People are more likely to choose a $20 product with free shipping than they are a $15 with $5 shipping even though the total cost is the same. It’s a psychological thing.
Pricing
It can be difficult to set prices for your products, and yet choosing the right price is essential if you want your products to sell. Here are some suggestions to help you.
- Research products like yours and check out the prices. There will almost certainly be a range of prices but figuring out an average can help you set your own price.
- Don’t set the price too low. You want to attract customers, but it won’t help to sell yourself short. People believe they get what they pay for.
- Don’t set the price too high. Even if you know you’ve got a unique and beautiful product, you don’t want to price yourself out of the market. Calculate an average price range and think about how you can justify a higher price. If you can’t justify it, then your price is too high.
- As mentioned above, include shipping. Make sure to specify what type of shipping is included.
- Consider offering different licensing options to increase your profits. People who sell digital patterns and designs may want to sell commercial licenses. You can charge up to 10 times as much for a commercial license as you can for a personal use license.
I suggest keeping an open mind about the price of your products. If you set the price and your product isn’t selling, it may be an indication that your price is too high.
Options & More Details
The final sections to include are Options and More Details. Let’s start with Options. This section is good if you sell multiple sizes or colors of a product or you want to offer personalization. It’s an easy way to get additional information from your customers without needing to exchange emails or leave notes.
More Details is useful because it’s where you can include information about occasions, uses, and other relevant information. While these details may not show up in the product listing itself, they help Etsy to deliver relevant items when customers search for them.
Conclusion
Using the information here, you’ll be able to create optimized Etsy listings that make it simple for potential customers to find and buy your products – and for you to earn the profits you deserve!
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