Want To Make A Successful Etsy Store? Avoid These 5 Mistakes

Selling your own creations on Etsy is a great way to start a home based business. If you are creative and have an eye for crafts that can sell, then you can do very well on that platform. After all, there are millions of people shopping on there everyday. And you only need a fraction of them to find your products.

But, there are plenty of things you can do to end up spinning your tires on Etsy and not make any money no matter how beautiful your crafts are. A platform like Etsy is not a set it and forget it type of thing that makes you money while you sleep.

Instead, you need to realize that it is like any other business and there are some best practices to follow to succeed. There are some pitfalls you should be aware of so you can avoid the mistakes countless others have.

In this article, I will make sure you don’t hit the same roadblocks so that have caused so many before you to give up.

1 - Make generic products

Whether you are making gold bracelets or something much simpler, the product should be made to be better than the competition. Something should set it apart from the competition.

People are shopping on Etsy for something unique. If you look like all the others out there then you aren’t likely to make it work. Let’s suppose you are looking to make accessories, then pay attention to small details. Little things make a difference like some of the hardware used. If you are going for a sort of industrial look, then use some metal strap adjusters.

These are just examples of the mindset you need. It’s up to you to decide what you want to make your craft look like.

2 - Going too broad

If you do a search on Etsy for tshirts, then you will understand the need to go niche when creating a store. There is a lot of competition when you make items that are too broadly represented on Etsy. It will be very difficult to stand out unless you have a certain expertise.

Try to find a way to make your product fit within a certain niche. At the same time you want it to be something that people are actually looking for. For instance, if you plan to sell t-shirts then design them for a certain group of people. Steampunk is an example. Skateboarders is another. This way those people that belong to that group will be looking for products related to the thing they are passionate about.

3 - Not treating it like a business

Spending money to make money is important with Etsy. You should be spending money on ads to promote your products. It shouldn’t cost too much to run some ads to have your products show up in the top positions for the keywords people are searching to find the product.

At the same time it can cost a lot if you are not careful. Make sure you are using the right keywords and not ones that are not relevant to your product or you will spend a lot of money without any conversions.

You should also look to brand yourself off of the Etsy platform to become recognized as somebody who is an authority in your area of expertise. Make a blog in which you generate traffic from Google through posts about the topic. When they arrive on your blog you can send them to your Etsy store where they can buy the product.

4 - Using poor pictures

Piggybacking on the last section, you should be spending money on professional photos. If you are using your phone and not getting the right lighting or angle, then your conversions will be low.

It will cost a few hundred dollars to have these done. They will pay for themselves over time in the increased conversions you are getting by people ordering that wouldn’t have if the pictures were low quality.

5 - Using bad packaging

Poor packaging reflects poorly on you as a seller. Your product can arrive damaged, but even if it doesn’t, people notice when a product is packaged well and when it isn’t.

If they feel that you didn’t use good packaging, it is an instant distrust signal to them and they may not be so enthusiastic about receiving it. Use this as an opportunity to further brand yourself by putting your logo clearly on the box. A thank you note placed inside is also a nice touch that people appreciate.