If you are a creative person, then you may have already heard of Etsy and the benefits of selling your homemade items online. If not, Etsy is a place where people will go and sell their handmade jewellery, crafts, homeware and artwork, if you have a talent for making things Etsy could be a great money maker for you.

Before you start looking into selling on Etsy, there are a few questions you will want to ask yourself. First of all, do you have the skill?

You might be a dab hand with a paintbrush, but can you handle uploading the content, creating your product advert, sending emails, shipping items and everything else that goes with selling your art?

You will need to take some time to look on Etsy and really delve into the online business world. If your Etsy shop becomes popular you will have a lot of work on your hands, and you need to be prepared for it.

Secondly, do your items fit the handmade guidelines of Etsy, and will they be popular enough?

You don’t want to put all of your work into a piece of art or jewellery only to find that it won’t sell for enough to cover your labour costs or it won’t be popular. You will need to to invest in the right materials to make your products so that they are good quality too. Etsy has a guideline which only allows you to sell handmade product, you cannot simple buy things and redistribute. You will need to buy yourself a jewellery making kit, ink cartidges from Cartridge People, paintbrushes or whatever else you need to make your items from scratch.

How to Sell on Etsy

Connect with your buyers

In your about section, make sure that you really talk about your business and how you came about. Connect with your audience by sharing stories about yourself and the reason you make these particular products. Connecting with your audience will allow them to see you from the crowd and it will also mean that you get more sales.

You can also create products which have a story behind them and which are completely unique- this will often draw people in because they get to have something no one else has.

You can also share images which aren’t to do with your products. By sharing an insight into how you make your products, or sharing stories about your family life can bring that sense of connection even closer and make people notice you.

Brush up on your photography and writing skills

The first place anyone will see your product is the photo you post on the website to promote it. Once they click on it they will read your item description and decide whether or not to buy. The key to creating a successful advert and bringing in those sales comes in two steps:

Photography: to get people to stop scrolling and look at your item in the first place, you need to make sure that your photography is drool worthy. Take the time to set up a photo shoot for your product, create an appealing background and make sure that there is enough light on the image to make it stand out. If you don’t have a camera, a smartphone will be ok as long as you use editing software on your phone such as Snapseed to make sure that your image is the best it can possibly be. If you have the money you could even hire a professional photographer to take photos of all of your products.

Writing: once you have your killer images, you will need to snappy description to sell the product. Keep the title of your product simple and to the point. When it comes to the item description you will want to tell the audience how unique this product is, what it is made from and how it can benefit them.

Keyword tags

If you are familiar with marketing technique at all, you will know that tags are a way to make your content easier to find on the web. It can be used in the form of tags for your websites, hashtags on social media, and in this case, you can tag your products. The key is finding tags which relate to your product and which are popular. For example if you were selling a piece of artwork which was a painting of a woodland scene, you would tag it with words like: painting, paint, canvas,art, woodland, landscape, nature, print, animals etc… you need to make sure that all of the words you use fit the piece you sell, and that they are relevant to anyone searching for this particular item. What might help you decide is to think like a customer. Search something on Etsy or google and see what words you instinctively search for, as well as what results come up. This can help you figure out which keywords to use on your tags.

Social Selling

To really set your Etsy shop apart from the rest you will need to get onto the social media bandwagon. Social media can be your best friend when it comes to promoting your products because you can create paid promotions online to showcase what you have to offer and direct people to your website. Using websites such as Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram are particularly successful as people love to see the imagery and will jump at a stunning photograph.

To stay successful and gain a good following on social media you will need to post consistently and gain a relationship with your audience. Opt for witty captions, funny stories and share more than just your products. It will draw people in and create a loyal audience.

Spreesy allows you to import your products from Etsy and open a shop on Facebook. They charge a 3% fee but it is worth it for the advertising and sales you will gain from the service.