How to Start an Etsy Shop in 2021 | Make Your First Sale & Grow on Etsy

if you want to start a small business or side hustle without eventually having a plan in mind of where you want to take your passion you might actually be stunting your later growth if you clicked on this video i'm going to assume that you want to start with etsy or maybe branch out to etsy if you're already doing some kind of word of mouth sales or using an entirely different platform hi everyone i'm kirsten but if you want to be bff so you can call me kay i make videos weekly on digital planning and note taking productivity and getting digitally creative in today's video i'm going to be going through 10 steps to starting a successful etsy shop and making your first sale before we jump on into it please don't forget to hit the subscribe button and the notification bell to see more small business content from me i do recommend checking out the description box at the end of this video because i'll be sure to include links for all of the etsy fees as well as the chance to get 40 free listings whenever you first open a shop up on etsy down in the description box and more resources to getting started with creating your own etsy shop alright so i'm going to make one more assumption about you and it's that you already have some ideas of small business or side hustle that you want to pursue maybe you have already started that process in a different platform like instagram or facebook or you've already started creating some things that you want to sell if you know you want to start a small business or a side hustle but you don't really have any ideas of what you want to sell or create i really recommend just turning into yourself and your passions before moving on to later steps in this video but if you do have ideas of things you want to sell or maybe you already have a haul of things that you can sell let's go ahead and jump into those steps okay so step one i actually recommend creating potential products that you would list in your etsy shop i recommend having at least three to five products already created and ready to be listed on etsy before ever creating your shop or your shop name and all of that it would be really disappointing if you went through the trouble of creating a shop but realized that you don't have the time or the energy or it's just not feasible for you right now having a small little haul of products already ready to go in your shop you have a better idea of the time and effort it takes to create each one and also whether or not that hustle is really something that you want to pursue later and also having more products quality products means more opportunities that those products get in front of the eyes of potential customers step number two super easy just hop on to etsy.com creating a shop itself is free on etsy what actually costs on etsy is the listing fees the fees that come with actually creating a listing for a product to be shown on etsy's website another thing that etsy also does is essie also takes out a fee each time somebody makes a purchase from me again i'll include all those links to the etsy fees because i don't know them off the top of my head but that is something to keep in mind so once you're on etsy and you're getting started you'll be prompted with creating a shop name i wouldn't get too hung up on this step i recommend just jumping into it and getting started i do believe etsy allows you to change it later so if you end up going with a shop name that you don't like in the beginning it's super easy to change it up and rebrand your shop later so when it comes to creating a shop name i recommend going with a few keywords of things that you might be selling in your shop i also recommend doing a search of that name on different domains and platforms perhaps you want to kind of expand your business as it begins to grow so you might want to check for those keywords that's shop name on instagram or facebook or in the google search bar for myself i go by k and i create digital products and studio is just kind of a name that was floating around so i kind of just meshed them all together to come up with k digital studio and i've gone back and forth on this name quite a bit not sure if i really like it but it's kind of what stuck and now everyone knows k digital studio by that name so yeah just come up with something that you love and reflects what you are doing and what you're selling on your shop so step three after setting up your shop and getting started with the whole formal process of creating a shop on etsy you're going to start actually personalizing your shop page i recommend making a shop banner making a profile picture make sure to fill out the about and faq sections those are super super important if you don't have any graphic design skills i recommend using free websites like canva where you can create cohesive shop banners and profile pictures professional cohesive branding is going to draw customers in they're going to see the effort that you put forward in making everything cohesive they also know that you're putting in that little bit of extra effort to up level your shop on etsy and honestly it's just more visually appealing we are humans and we are drawn to more visually appealing things speaking of appealing things you want to put in as much effort as possible into your listing photos on etsy and i say this because on etsy if a customer searches for keywords about your product which we will discuss in the next step they will see a ton of different results and the only thing that they're going to see aside from the title is the listing photos and your potential customer will be clicking on the best listing photo if you're selling physical goods that means taking high quality images of flat lays or the item in usage or the item being worn i recommend using different scenes and flat lace and the same thing is true for digital goods they want something clear easy to read bright and visually appealing i recommend also trying to tie in your branding from your shop banner and your profile picture as well again you can use free websites like canva i recommend also just googling keywords of products that you're selling and seeing what those listing photos look like it's important to stand out as a business but there is a reason why a lot of listening photos look similar and that's because they do very well step five use keywords plain and simple this is how you will get found in the first place keywords are important for driving clicks and clicks are what drive sales if you're selling a 1970s inspired dress you want to use keywords like 1970s inspired corduroy dress vintage groovy 1970s inspired dress etsy gives you 13 slots for keywords and i recommend using each and every single one on every product that you list in your shop there are also websites like e-rank that can help you match for the most competitive keywords but neglecting keywords is one of the most detrimental things that you can do on etsy sc like most other platforms is a search engine so your customers are going to come to etsy type in a few key words and hope to find a product that they want to purchase so you want to make sure that you are using the keywords that your customers are searching so you can drive sales to your shop step number six which i think is super overlooked on etsy is detailed descriptions i sell things on etsy therefore i'm a seller but i also purchase things from etsy therefore i am a customer and once i'm on etsy and i'm searching my keywords and i click the best looking listing photo i'm automatically going to the description and seeing how thorough and detailed that description is customers want to know exactly what they're buying they want to know how and when they will receive what they're buying they want to know what happens if they don't like it what is the returns and refunds policies of your shop and they'll likely want to know how to contact or connect with you further therefore you need detailed descriptions that include all of your keywords and if you're writing descriptions well enough you won't have to worry about making sure that all those keywords are in there well-written detailed descriptions will automatically have all of those keywords that you need for example i always start out my description by reminding customers that they should read the full description and contact me if they have any questions about anything that's presented within the listing because i sell digital goods i ensure that i have my no refund policies at the very top and now they can contact me with any questions before they make that purchase and then i write in detail about what they're getting because i sell digital goods i say you're getting a pdf file you're getting pngs you're getting a dot zip file that contains this amount of pngs you're getting a good notes file i also discussed how they will receive it so if you're selling digital goods on etsy etsy normally sends an email with the download links but they can also log into their etsy account to access those downloads if you're shipping you want to include your shipping estimates your shipping policies the amount of time it might take for you to create the product if it's made to order the amount of time that you'll need to ship the order to them again if you're a physical shop i would also include what to do in the event of delays or tracking numbers just write detailed descriptions i cannot say this enough it will also reduce customer confusion and disappointment if they know exactly what they're getting and what they can do with what they get step number seven make sure that you have all the supplies that you need for your shop this is especially important if you are selling physical goods on etsy because you will need to worry about shipping you want to make sure that you have all your mailers and packaging ready to go before a person ever makes the purchase on your shop if you wait for sales to come in before ordering all your mailers and your bubblers and your packaging it will lead to a lot of stress on your end and frustration on the customer's end for having to wait if you're a digital shop obviously make sure all your links are working if you're including any links in any files whether that be products that you've made on canva or google drive or other programs if you're a digital shop you're obviously going to worry most about whether the product itself is actually functional and etsy obviously handles out sending out the emails with the confirmation and download link step number eight is be prepared with future questions from customers run through scenarios in your head of things that could go wrong or things that customers would have a question about and be ready with an answer for them for example make sure you have a good understanding of how you would respond to a customer that's upset about shipping delays or perhaps a customer is asking questions about how to download files from your shop be ready with those solutions having solutions in mind will help you feel less panic later if a problem does arise step number nine once you have set up your shop it's time to promote it on other platforms etsy is great and will drive a lot of sales i think etsy is very friendly to small business owners but you want to make sure that you're reaching as many customers as you can which also means reaching outside of the etsy platform for example etsy drives about 40 of my sales which is a pretty good percentage but in the beginning it was actually 60 to 70 percent of my sales i was using facebook to start out with promoting my shop but i actually recommend starting with pinterest first unless you already have another well-established social media platform that you can promote on using multiple platforms means more chances to attract customers to your etsy shop step number 10 don't wait for your first sale to keep on creating if you know you want to dedicate time and effort to the shop i recommend just keep creating more products to list in your shop don't wait for the few to sell out before working on more to replace them or don't wait for all of your products to sell out before creating your next product even if you don't make your first sale list the next thing that you create anyway perhaps it will drive better traffic to your shop or be a more popular purchase among your customers it will also just increase your chances of getting noticed in search you might not make your first sale the day you open your shop but if you're consistently using a cohesive branding amongst your shop banner your profile picture filling out your shop description in your about section as well as adding faqs using beautiful bright well-created listing photos making use of those keywords and writing detailed descriptions you'll be making your first and your next sale in no time thank you so much for watching everyone i plan on sprinkling in a little bit more small business and creative business content amongst my usual digital planning videos so let me know what you'd like to see down below in the comments i'm happy to create and help other small business owners also please don't forget to check the links in the description box i'm going to be listing a few links to really help you get started with your first etsy shop as well as a chance to get 40 free listings through a referral link in the description if you're new to sc and you're creating your first shop please don't forget to give this video a like to boost the algorithm and put this video in front of the eyes of other people who want to get started on etsy to see more small business content for me as well as digital planning and note-taking and productivity please don't forget to hit the subscribe button as well as the notification button to be alerted every time i post a new video i post here on youtube weekly but you can also follow me on instagram doodle studio if you want to see more daily content from me i will see you all in my next video thank you so much for watching again and yeah bye you

Channel: KDigitalStudio

Views: 28,839

Keywords: how to start an etsy shop, how to start a successful etsy shop, etsy shop, etsy store, how to start an etsy shop 2021, make etsy sales, make daily etsy sales, etsy growth, grow on etsy, small business tips, online business ideas, grow on etsy 2021, kdigitalstudio, k digitalstudio, kdigitalstudio etsy, start an etsy business, start an etsy shop, how to start an etsy business, make money on etsy fast, make money on etsy with printables, make money on etsy 2021, etsy algorithm

Id: FAPRCiZWoek

Length: 12min 15sec (735 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 16 2021