One of the biggest benefits of selling on Etsy is getting traffic from the millions of buyers who purchase on the platform each year. Showing up in buyers' organic searches is the fastest way to get traffic in sales on the platform and the easiest way to run a profitable, successful Etsy shop.
Unfortunately, so many sellers don't have an effective strategy when starting there at the store. This makes progress very slow at the beginning of your business.
If that describes you, keep reading for the top strategies to increase Etsy traffic.
Fill your Product Lines
A product line is a group of similar products in your Etsy shop. Think about how buyers are searching for what you make. Not all of the search terms are necessarily interchangeable, right?
If I type a keyword like “social media planner” into the Etsy search bar, I'm not going to end up buying a meal planner instead. Those are two different product lines. Yes, they're both planners (the same product), but they are for two very different potential customers.
The reason this matters is because Etsy sees you as more important for keywords that you have saturated in your shop with the right quantity of listings. If you have 50 earrings listed in your shop and 1 necklace, it's going to be hard to get Etsy to test you for the necklace keywords because you're telling them that you're more important for earrings.
You will find it much easier to rank in Etsy search results faster if you focus on one product line at a time. Then you'll be getting some traffic and sales which will make it easier to rank other related keywords quickly.
Want to learn more about product lines? Click here.
Optimize your Etsy SEO
Search Engine Optimization on Etsy, or SEO, is how Etsy decides where your listings should rank in your potential customers' searches on the platform.
There is a lot involved in Etsy search engine optimization. Here are the top things to consider:
Keyword research: Query matching, or how closely your target keywords related to what your potential buyer is searching for, is an important part of the algorithm on Etsy. You will want to focus your keyword research on finding the exact phrases that your buyers are using to search on Etsy. Using the right keywords will increase traffic much more effectively.
Long tail keywords: Etsy is saturated, just like the rest of the internet. Using longtail keywords gives you a better chance of showing up in Etsy search because your keywords are less competitive.
Avoiding spammy behavior: There are some behaviors that search engines see as spammy behavior and the Etsy search engine is no different. Avoid using the same keywords in the same order too frequently in your titles, and don't reuse the same titles in multiple listings.
Click here to learn more about the Etsy algorithm.
Professional Quality Photos
High-quality photos are a necessity on Etsy as competition on the platform increases. They are essential to getting traffic because when you start showing up in searches, potential buyers need to be interested enough in your product to click on the listing. Your product photos are what encourage them to do that.
Make sure to use natural light, avoid distracting backgrounds and props, and plan on practicing a lot to get the perfect shot.
Don't forget that you can outsource your photography too!
Effective Descriptions
Once your photos draw potential buyers into your Etsy store, your descriptions can help convert them into sales. Descriptions should be easy to skim and include all of the information that a buyer needs to purchase.
Confusing listings and descriptions that require buyers to contact you before purchasing, lower your conversion rate as buyers are more likely to move on and purchase from a competitor than they are to wait for you to respond to their questions.
Excellent Customer Service
At least customer service metrics play a much bigger role in your search ranking on the Etsy platform now than they did a few years ago. The better you rank in these customer service standards, the better your chances are of increasing your product's visibility.
Positive reviews, answering customer messages quickly, and shipping orders on time can help more buyers find you by increasing your rankings in buyer searches.
Use Etsy Ads to Promote Your Products
If you have products that are already converting for you, running ads for your Etsy shop can be really profitable. But remember, if your listings aren't converting already then ads will only magnify the conversion rate issues you have.
Click here to read more about Etsy ads.
Build a Community of Followers Using Social Media
Social media marketing will always be a great way to help people find you and then get to know, like, and trust you. Plus Etsy loves it when you send traffic to them!
I know that not all Etsy sellers love marketing on social media, so here are my best tips to make it easy and fun.
Pick one platform
It may seem that you will drive more and see sales by peeing everywhere in your social media marketing, but that can often backfire especially when you're short on time.
I recommend focusing on one platform to grow your community quickly. You will get to know your followers and learn what works for you and what doesn't in a more effective way.
You can always add new social media platforms when you feel that you have the time and bandwidth to do them effectively and consistently.
Be consistent
Speaking of being consistent, this is one of the most important things when it comes to getting more traffic from social media.
Your most loyal customers might find you on social media, but if you ghost them for months at a time, they're going to start forgetting who you are, and why they followed you.
Consistency can mean different things to different people. It does not have to mean posting every day. It will be better for your Etsy shop, to post consistently 3 times a week than it would for you to try posting daily then get busy and go weeks without any content.
Try new things
The one thing that every social media platform has in common is that they are going to change what works and what doesn't. This can be because of algorithm changes or a difference in user behavior, but you can't expect white worked last year to work this year or the year after.
Make sure to include experimenting with new content in your strategy.
Reach Out to Influencers, Bloggers, and Collaborators in Your Niche
Getting in front of someone else's audience on social media can be effective in increasing your traffic quickly for your Etsy business! Start with micro-influencers who would love to trade product for a post on social media. The key to making this work for you is to work with a lot of influencers at the beginning in order to find what types of audiences really respond to your products.
I encourage you to let the influencers you work with use their own creative process because they know their audience on their social media platforms best.
Experiment with Sales and Coupons
Offering a sale on Etsy can be a great way to attract buyers who are using the search filters to look for great deals.
You can reach your target audience by offering automatic discount codes like coupons that are sent after a potential buyer favorites one of your listings or adds it to their cart and doesn't check out.
You can also run sales to the general public to get more traffic to your Etsy shop.
Before you use this tactic though, you need to make sure your profit margins are where they need to be. Don't run sales just to get more revenue without any profit. That's not sustainable and won't help your business long term.
Offer Free Shipping
Buyers love free shipping, and Etsy rewards your shop when you opt into using their free shipping guarantee. Please remember though, that free shipping isn't actually free and you need to account for shipping cost in your item price to stay profitable.
Consider Email Marketing
Once you are getting some traffic to your Etsy shop through Etsy search results, growing an email list can be one of your most powerful marketing tools to drive repeat purchases.
New customers may sign up to receive a discount on their first order. They are then on your email list where you can market to them again and again.
Make sure to use your Share & Save link to save on Etsy fees.
Conclusion
The fastest way to get more traffic on Etsy is to fill your product lines and focus on Etsy SEO to get organic traffic from buyers already coming to Etsy to shop. Your Etsy listings will show up in search results if you use the keywords that they are using and hit Etsy's customer service metrics.
Ready to learn more about this process? Click here to grab my 5-part Etsy Framework that walks you through getting organic traffic quickly.
2 Responses
Hi,
I am an etsy seller getting alot of traffic to my shop but no sales. I have only had 1 sale for 2 years but nothing after that. I have great products. what could I be doing wrong?
You’ll need to make sure first that you’re actually getting enough traffic. Remember it takes up to 100 visits to get a sale with a normal conversion rate. If conversion rate is a truly a problem (which is rare), you need to figure out why people aren’t purchasing and experiment with changing those factors one at a time to increase your conversion rate. Here’s a podcast episode about that!