Tag: how to sell on etsy (Page 1 of 2)

My 2021 Etsy Holiday Sales Planner is Here!

June 26, 2021 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

Believe it or not, you need to get ready NOW for the big holiday buying season.

Last year, Cyber Monday was the largest online shopping day in US history as consumers spent $10.8 billion in one day, according to Adobe Research.

Therefore, if you sell on Etsy, below are three holiday selling tips you need to know, from my 2021 Etsy Shop Holiday Planner.

A Few Quick Tips for Etsy Holiday Sales Success

Don’t let your listings expire, sell out or become inactive. On Etsy, you list how many of an item you have in stock. If you are down to “1 in stock” and the listing sells, it will automatically deactivate. This means the listing is no longer being read by the Etsy search engine, and all the momentum you had in terms of SEO has been lost. When you reactivate it, it will have to re-rank all over again. So make sure none of your listings expire, sell out or in any way become inactive during the busy holiday buying season of mid October to late December.
Run Etsy ads on new listings to get them indexed immediately. A new listing can take a long time to be indexed on Etsy, and then a long time to move up in search, especially with no sales history. Therefore, the only way to get a new listing to immediately be indexed is to run an Etsy ad on it, even if only for a day.
Don’t have too many open or overdue orders. Many shops were suddenly paused by Etsy last year based on having too many overdue orders as well as too many open orders (not overdue, just open), costing them thousands in sales. I am not sure what the magic number is, but many shops were saying it was 100+ open orders. Therefore, try to fulfill and close orders as quickly as possible to avoid having your shop paused, which again means your listings deactivate and you lose all the momentum they gained in search.

If you sell on Etsy, my 33-page 2021 Etsy Shop Holiday Planner printable will help you be ready, packed with holiday SEO research, exclusive tips, planning pages, and so many bonus features, including my 80+ media contact list for holiday gift guides (pitches for print media need to go out by end of July!).

Bonus Material in my 2021 Etsy Holiday Planner:

80+ Media Contacts for Holiday Gift Guides (names & email addresses)
August to December Timeline with 65+ Must-Do Tasks
40+ Key Holiday Dates & Peak Search Dates
Top 150 Holiday Product Google Searches
Top 150 Holiday Gift Google Searches
Top 80 Holiday Décor Google Searches

Also Includes My Latest Advice, Ideas & Tips for:

Holiday Products
Etsy SEO
Product Photography
Promotions
Advertising
Email Marketing
Publicity
Social Media

Download my 2021 Etsy Holiday Sales Planner today and get started on a successful selling season! If you would like to see a sample page, just let me know (email AttentionGetting{@}gmail.com).

You might also want to consider my very affordable phone consultations. We can brainstorm more creative marketing ideas, or you can get an audit of your Etsy shop or you can even learn what you should be selling this holiday season for the most success!

Also Read:

Why “Personalized Gift” is the Top Search on Etsy

December 9, 2020 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

Last week, the CEO of Etsy stated that “personalized gift” was the most popular search on Etsy in November, even more so than “face mask”. So why is this important to know for your business?

Customized vs Personalized

First of all, there is a difference between customized and personalized.

Customized tends to mean the customer can change the color, size, shape, material, etc. of a product.

Personalized means a product has a personal association with the customer. Maybe it has a name, initials, birthdate, birthstone, Zodiac sign, photo, a child’s drawing, special quote and so forth.

This is one of the interesting aspects of buying and selling online. It’s just not as easy to walk into a regular retail store and get a personalized item (especially for those with atypical names) as it is online. But personalization has gone so much beyond just names, as you can see from the top Google searches below.

Get More Success Tips

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My Hot Etsy Tip of the Week

October 22, 2020 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

Want my hot Etsy tip of the week?

Well, this tip will actually work for any type of ecommerce store or business in general.

According to an article in eCommerceBytes (that I reference below) Etsy says that 7 in 10 buyers (69%) plan to buy gifts online and have them sent directly to the recipient due to COVID not allowing people to spend the holidays together.

So this presents an opportunity for your store!

When you ship out a gift to someone on behalf of the buyer, be sure to include a card inside the package that says,

Let Them Know You Love Your Gift!

Post a photo of yourself with this gift on Instagram and tag us @StoreXYZ, and we’ll send both you and the gift giver a coupon for 30% off your next purchase! Thank you for supporting small business!

Or you could say 30% off of Valentine’s gifts or send them a free gift, whatever you think will be more effective for your target market, but it’s a chance to get your shop some free exposure on social media. What have you got to lose?

Do you know anyone who owns a restaurant?

I have a hot tip for them as well in these tough times for their industry. If I owned a restaurant, I would approach a local charity that does Christmas Hampers/Adopt a Family type donations, to ask their donors if they would sponsor a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day meal to be delivered to a family in need. It’s a great opportunity to help both the restaurant industry and struggling families. You could even position it to send a meal to older parents or relatives who won’t be celebrating the holidays with others.

For more restaurant promotional ideas, check out my 12-Month Restaurant Marketing Plan.

Be sure to check out my 30-Day Etsy Success Plan.

Also Read:

How to Get Your Etsy Shop Ready for the Big Holiday Sales Season

July 29, 2020 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

Is your Etsy shop ready for the big holiday sales season? If you think it’s too early, you’re wrong!

My 28-page 2020 Etsy Shop Holiday Sales Planner is out today (and it’s on sale!), and here are just a few interesting tidbits from the research portion of the planner:

Christmas Gifts for Mom is the dominant gift search, in terms of recipient.
White Elephant gifts are still the most searched type of gifts.
Due to the difficult economic situation this year, expect to see Christmas hampers rise in popularity.
Dachshund Christmas décor is a breakout search (no idea why), as are mini Christmas table trees.
One of the most popular searches every year on Etsy is advent calendars (consider making one for your own products), but since advent starts on November 29th, searches peak November 9th.
Matching holiday family pajamas, shirts and hats are always popular on Etsy, but more so this year with all the family bonding we’ve been doing. Expect matching holiday masks to be in demand.

Of course, my Holiday Planner also has a ton of my latest tips, as well as planner pages, and bonus items such as 36 days of social media posting ideas, 86 of the top holiday gift guides to submit to and a countdown to-do-list starting in August all the way up to December 29th!

Planner Pages

Holiday Product Planner Page
Holiday SEO Planner Page
Holiday SEO Worksheet
Product Photography Planner Page
Promotions Planner Page
Email Planner Page
Advertising Planner Page
Social Media Planner
Gift Guide Contacts (for 86 of the top gift guides)
Gift Guide Submission Planner
Holiday Sales Success Tracker

Latest Trends & Advice

The Hottest Holiday Products
Key Tips for Effective Holiday SEO
Effective Ideas for Holiday Product Photography
Easy Holiday Promotions
Budget Friendly Holiday Advertising Advice
Simple Holiday Email Marketing Tips
Free Holiday Gift Guide Publicity (pitches for print publications need to go out in August!)
Current Holiday Social Media Trends

Bonus Items

36 Days of Social Media Posting Ideas
August to December Timeline / To Do Checklist
Key Holiday & Search Dates
Top Holiday Product Search Phrases
Top Gift Receipt Search Phrases
Top Types of Gift Search Phrases
Top Descriptive Gift Search Phrases
Top Money Gift Search Phrases
Top Holiday Décor Search Phrases
Top Personalized Gifts Search Phrases

You can purchase my 2020 Etsy Shop Holiday Sales Planner now.

Etsy Sold 12 Million Face Masks in April

May 8, 2020 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

by Gail Oliver, Online Marketing Consultant

Etsy sold 12 million face masks in April Sometimes when you are really successful at something, there is a Catch-22. You want to tell everyone, as this draws in more customers and sales – but it also draws in more competition.

Etsy did a smart thing letting its sellers know that face masks would be a huge sales opportunity, and, as a result, Etsy sold 12 million face masks in April. But the problem is that when you announce how warm the water is, everyone wants to jump in the pool.

And this is what has happened. It’s still a big pool, but it might be difficult for smaller sellers to compete when the big players jump into the face mask market.

Big Retailers Now Selling Face Masks

Anthropologie has released their own very chic face masks made of organic cotton.
Disney has made some really cute ones for kids currently only available on pre-order, and until September 30th, all proceeds from the mask sales will go to MedShare.
Old Navy just launched cloth face masks for adults and kids, where you can get 5 for only $13 in a various of stylish designs.
Banana Republic’s face masks sold out in minutes, but they are now back in stock.
Face Masks at Old Navy
Gap has also sold out of their face masks, but you can go on a waiting list.
Athleta has their own face masks in muted colors.
Zazzle has over 58,000 face masks listed on their site.
MaskClub just launched last month but they signed up major bloggers like Delish to do their own face mask lines and hence promote the

A lot of the big brands know that you might want to support smaller sellers due to the current economic situation, so to get around that, they are typically making a donation to a charity for every purchase of a face mask.

Has the Market Peaked?

Again, it is big market so it can afford lots of competitors, but if you are deciding to go into the face mask market, just don’t do it thinking it will make you a millionaire. Google Trends does show that searches for face masks peaked on April 4th, so it all depends on if there is another wave of the virus, or if some pharmaceutical company comes up with a mask that is 100% effective in stopping the spread.

There are currently over 60,000 face mask sellers on Etsy and over 440,000 listings.

Is Your Business Ailing?

Is might be time to do an audit of your business – re-evaluate what’s working, and what isn’t. Have sales fallen off? Is your market maturing? Not sure which direction to take? My Brand New Strategic Business Planner will help you re-evaluate your products, prices, costs, profits, revenues and where you sell; help you expand on your successes, fix your problems and find new opportunities. You’ll love it!

Have a great week!

Etsy Holiday Marketing Tips

July 25, 2019 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

by Gail Oliver

It’s that time of year! My Etsy 2019 Holiday Planner is just out and this year it is bigger and better than ever!

Featuring 23 jam-packed pages of ideas, inspiration, trends, advice, SEO research, worksheets, planner pages and much much more so that your shop can really maximize holiday sales! Below is a sneak peak with three hot tips from the planner.

- SEO: Did you know that searches for red dresses, red shoes, red jewelry, red tablecloths and red nail polish are highest in November and December? So take advantage of searches for this holiday color and maybe even add a red product into your product line.
- Promoted Listings: Do not run Etsy Promoted Listings on every item in your shop. For example, do not run them on seasonal items such as spring items, Easter items, etc. Also, do not run them on listings that have a sales conversion rate of less than 1% (divide orders by visits). As you are paying for clicks, if there is a low chance the click will result in a sale, your ad results will not be as successful.
- Memorable Package Inserts: In each product package include a beautifully printed recipe card that has a Christmas cookie recipe on it. Make sure it also has your shop information on the back or at the bottom. This way when the customer pulls this recipe out every Christmas, they will remember your shop!

4 Quick & Easy Etsy Tips

November 16, 2018 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

If you need a boost for your Etsy shop before the holiday buying rush starts next week, here are four of my quick and easy Etsy tips.

Gift Search Phrases

Not everyone just searches “Christmas Gift for”. There are other search phrases that are actually even more popular such as White Elephant Gifts, Secret Santa Gifts, 12 Days of Christmas Gifts, Stocking Stuffers, Advent Calendar Fillers, Hanukkah Gifts, Diwali Gifts, Thanksgiving Gifts, Christmas Gifts Under 10, Christmas Gifts Under 20 and so forth. So test these in Etsy Autocomplete and then use relevant ones in your titles and tags.

Send Coupons for Free

Are you taking advantage of Etsy’s FREE offer to send a coupon code to anyone who puts your product in their cart and/or favorites it? If you were planning to do a Black Friday or Cyber Monday sale anyway, why not take advantage of this offer. Go into your Dashboard/Marketing/Sales and Coupons and you will see Targeted Campaigns at the top for both Abandoned Cart and Recently Favorited.

Repeat Business

Always be selling, so in every package that you send out this holiday season (and all year long) be sure to include a flyer with a special offer for the customer to come back to your shop for Valentine’s Day gifts and/or an after Christmas sale (this is just one of the things that I recommend in my Etsy 30-Day Success Plan). Actually, any kind of insert that you can put into the package to get customers to remember your shop is always a good idea. Here is a post I wrote two years ago that might give you some ideas: Creative Ideas for Packaging Inserts.

Download Sales

Do you sell digital downloads? I do, so I am sure that quite often people contact you asking where the download is. Etsy actually has a very good description that you should put into your outgoing email to buyer, as well as at the end of the listing description. It will SAVE you tons of time answering this same question over and over again. I added a little more to it:

NOTE: If you’re purchasing a digital file that’s available for instant download, you can access the file via your account’s “Purchases and reviews” page, but you’ll also receive a separate email with a download link. If you purchased as a guest, you’ll find the link to download your items in the receipt that was emailed to you after purchase.The link will direct you to the order’s Downloads page. Also, check your spam folder as sometimes the emails will end up there.

On a fun note, back in August, I wrote a blog post about Christmas Product Ideas and Trends for 2018, and I mentioned an idea I had to create an Advent Calendar for dogs, and, guess what, Trader Joe’s came out with one this week:

This is why it is important to read my blog as you too might get a great idea (for free).

For more inspiration be sure to check out my post, What National Day is Today: The Trend of National Days.

Is Your Business Struggling? I offer very affordable Phone Consultations.

Also Read:

Black Friday Marketing Tips for Your Etsy Shop

October 23, 2018 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

by Gail Oliver, Online Marketing Consultant

If you plan on offering a Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday sale at your Etsy shop, then I highly recommend that you invest in an affordable ad graphic that you can use in your Etsy shop, in your emails and on social media to really help drive traffic. For example, this Black Friday ad graphic from the Etsy shop, TaunaDesignStudio has so many uses, just keep reading.

Tips for Your Black Friday Ads

- Include the ad graphic as one of your Etsy product photos (even asking people to pin, etc.) and/ or use it as your shop view image for one of your listings, just for the day.
- Put the ad graphic in your Etsy shop banner and Facebook banners.
- Use the ad graphic as your Etsy avatar and social media avatars for the day.
- Ask all friends and family to post the ad graphic on their social media sites.
- Use the ad graphic as a one-day ad on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.
- When posting it on social media include hash tags such as #blackfriday2018, #blackfridaysale, #blackfridayshopping, #blackfridaydeals.
- Make the ad graphic front and center in your email to customers as well as part of your email signature.
- Print out business cards with the ad graphic on one side and your shop information on the other and leave on car windshields at the malls.

What Sells Big on Black Friday?

Want to know one of the most popular items for people to buy on Black Friday? Engagement rings! This is due to the fact that Black Friday is predominantly seen as a time to get an amazing deal on those high ticket items (TVs, tires, iPhones) and engagement rings are a high ticket item. Also, 80% of all engagements occur between Christmas and January 1st so the timing is right.

Marketing Strategy & Business Consulting

GB Oliver Since 2010 I have advised thousands of small businesses and I can help yours too. My very affordable marketing consultations provide advice, feedback, direction and an experienced second opinion on any of your business struggles or questions. Learn more here.

How Publicity Helps Your Etsy Shop

May 31, 2018 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

If you think publicity can’t help your Etsy shop, guess again. One of my long time customers, Jessica from LiveinMosaics, just got featured in the June issue of HGTV magazine!

So, how can she leverage this press to increase sales, give her shop even more trust and credibility with buyers, as well as possibly turn it into more press?

How to Maximize Your Press

Add the magazine image to her Etsy photos on every listing, not just for the address plaque shown here.
Mention the publicity in her listing description… “As seen in the June 2018 issue of HGTV magazine….”
Mention it in her Etsy shop banner.
Mention it in her Etsy shop announcement.
Mention it in her Etsy shop updates.
Post it to her social media sites and tag @Etsy in hopes they see it and repost.
Thank @HGTV on all of her social media sites in hopes that they repost the mention.
Mention it in the banner for her Facebook and Twitter profiles.
If HGTV posts it to their social media sites, be sure to comment on the posts.
Email it to all of her customers on her mailing list.
Reference the mention when trying to get future publicity for her shop.
Email Etsy’s press team in hopes that they mention it at press@etsy.com.

If you need a pitch written for your products, I do offer a very affordable Publicity Pitch Writing service. Remember, print media will be looking for 2018 holiday gift guide submissions starting in July!

Also Read:

publicity helps etsy shop

Why is My Etsy Traffic (and Sales) Down?

April 25, 2018 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

Is your Etsy shop traffic down?

Many Etsy shops come to me and wonder why their traffic and sales are down from one month to another (be sure to read about my 30-Day Etsy Success Plan below). The obvious answer is because buying patterns are not constant, they fluctuate with holidays, seasons, even the economy.

So how do you know if it is just your traffic and sales that are down as opposed to the traffic and sales on Etsy being down overall?

Look at Your Etsy Ad Impressions

One easy way to tell if it is just you or an overall occurrence is to look at your impressions if you are running Etsy Promoted Listings. The number of impressions is based on search demand, so if your impressions are down from last month, then it would indicate that searches overall were down and it is likely not a problem specific to you (provided that you did not make any changes to your ad campaign from the previous month). When this happens it is a good time to reach out to your previous customers with a special offer to get things going again.

Look at Etsy’s Quarterly Stats

Etsy is a public company so they have to release their quarterly sales revenues. Historically, Etsy’s strongest selling period has always been Q4, which is October 1st to December 31st. Also historically, Etsy’s slowest selling period is Q1, or January 1st to March 31st. So you can’t always expect to sell in March what you sold in December, but again this can depend on what you are selling. However, it is a good time to run a sale because when demand is down, prices should go down (and vice versa).

Look at Your Etsy Stats

Login to your Etsy account, go to your dashboard and look at your stats for last year. A bar chart will come up that will clearly indicate which months were your strongest and which ones were your weakest. So if March was a bad month for you last year, it makes sense that it might be bad again for you this year. The key is not always to measure if sales drop from month to month, but rather that they are increasing month over month. In other words, if sales for March 2018 were lower than February 2018, but still higher than they were for March 2017, then I wouldn’t be panicking as overall growth is still there.

Look at Google Trends

Certain products sell best at certain times of the year. If I type “backpacks” into Google Trends, it is quite obvious that searches peak in mid August (see below), so I wouldn’t be panicking in February if sales were down, but I would be upping my advertising budget in July and August to maximize this sales opportunity.

Here is How to Really Drive More Traffic

I have created the 30-Day Etsy Success Plan. This is an actionable step-by-step list of daily tactics to do to improve your Etsy shop, drive more sales and improve your sales. Everything is easy to follow in bullet point form with multiple tactics for each of the 30 days. I can’t recommend it enough. All of these tactics work, so you can’t lose. Available now at my Etsy Shop.