One of the biggest myths that I see floating around the Etsy universe is that there is a magic number of listings that you need on Etsy to start getting sales and traffic.
When I was first starting on Etsy, I often heard be at number 50. You just need 50 listings and then you’ll get found. Now, most commonly when I hear people talking about this, it’s 100. But I’m putting this myth to rest once and for all.
There is no magic number of listings that you need on Etsy in order to start getting traffic and sales.
The unique thing about Etsy as a platform is that there is some aspect of quantity needed in addition to quality of listings. It’s just the way Etsy SEO works and that’s where the beginning of this myth comes from. Because it is much harder to get found with five listings than it is with 50 or 100. But there is no specific number of listings. And here’s why.
How you get found depends on so many factors. Your niche, your competition, how saturated your market is, your photography, how you’re formatting your SEO, how much outside traffic that you’re sending from your social media and email list, your past sales history, your reviews. All among other things.
So instead of focusing on the number of listings that will get you found, I’d rather you focused on the quality of your listings and the consistency when you’re adding them. Let’s talk about quality first.
You need quality, researched keywords in order to be relevant to buyer’s searches, and you need to format those keywords in your listings correctly.
You need quality photos that are bright, clear, and not distracting in order for buyers to click on your items when you pop up in the searches.
How the consistency comes into play here, is that if you continue to focus on adding quality listings, you will eventually be found by buyers. It may be at 25 listings, or 40, or 50, or 100, or 200. But you’ll be found if you keep focusing on improving that quality as you list.
And that’s why the magic number myth trips up so many Etsy sellers. If you start focusing on quantity over quality, you never get traffic. Maybe you rush listings that aren’t enticing for buyers to click on or don’t do keyword research because you think it will take too long. Maybe your shop ends up being really confusing because you’re focusing so much on “more’ that you forget who you are really doing all of this for…which is your buyers.
So if this is something that you find yourself doing, today I want you to rethink that strategy. Every time you find yourself focusing on quantity, stop and ask yourself is the quality there as well? If it is, great you’re on the right track. If you’re not sure, I want you to spend some time honestly assessing your SEO, product photography, and listing quality to determine where you might be excelling and where you might be lacking in those three categories.
If you want help accessing this strategy, I’ll invite you to join me in my free masterclass that teaches you how to get daily sales on Etsy. We cover the steps you need to take to start getting consistent sales on Etsy. I’ll see you there!
-Sarah
