Promoting on Etsy: The Lowdown

Promoting on Etsy: The Lowdown - making your Etsy shop WORK for YOU!

Now that you have an Etsy shop, how do you make sure you are being seen? The Promotion tool is a good one- but only if you know how it works, and how to utilize it properly.

Let's start with some words used in Etsy Promotion, and the meaning behind them.

• Impressions - This word means how many times your ad is seen by Etsy users. Each impression is a chance for a sale.
• Click - This word means how many times people have clicked your ad open to view the actual shop item. Each click is a chance for your shop to be viewed.  
• Cost - This is how much you have paid Etsy to promote your items.
• Revenue - This is how much your shop has made based on people purchasing items you have ad's for. They only count money that comes directly from an ad Click. 
• Daily Budget - This is the amount of money you are willing to pay each day for your ad's to be shown.
• Bid - This is the amount of money you are willing to pay per click on each specific item. This amount can be $0.05 to $0.99. 

Ok, now you know the words, but what do they all mean for your shop?

Over the past 2 months, I have done a lot of tests on my daily budget, how many items I promoted at a time, and how much I bid each item at.  Below is my promoted listings graph for a 7 day period. You can see my daily budget (currently $3), my impressions (over 3500), my clicks (73), my cost ($11.42), and my revenue ($37).

You can also see that my daily graph goes way up, then starts coming down. The last day is small only because it's only 4pm right now, and it is not representing a full day.

The change represents my budget. From Feb 10-20th, I had a daily budget of $1.50. I split it over 5 items in 2 categories. During that time frame, my promoting was not successful. I got clicks, but I ran through my daily budget fast, leaving me with no advertising for the rest of the day.

On the 21st, I bumped my budget up to $2.50, and cut back my items to 3 items, all in the same category, with the same keywords. That's when you see the jump. My 7 day revenue is solely based on purchases made from Feb 21-25th. There was no purchase during the first few days when I was at $1.50/day.

Here are my suggestions, based on what I have seen work with my own shop.

1. The amount you bid, and your keywords, determines  where your items are seen. Etsy shows up to 250 pages of items when you do a basic search. If your keywords are not up to snuff, you'll be on page 5 or 10, or 25. You won't be seen. If you only bid $1.00, but expect that $1 to cover 45 items, you will blow through your budget before 6am, and won't be seen. Bottom line- pay in more than $1, and make sure your keywords are SPOT on. 
2. Your bid amount matters. If you bid your items at $.05 each, but another shop in the same category bids $.15 each, which do you think Etsy will bump forward on the page? You can bid up to $.99 per click, but I do not recommend it. Unless you are paying $20 a day, that $.99 click will shut down your advertising every day before it really starts. There is an automated amount- this amount determines how much other shops are paying, and will try to come in the middle of the line. It won't bump you to the front of the list, but it won't let you linger at the back. For people just starting out, automated is perfectly fine. If you plan to do a custom amount, start out around $.15-.25, and see how it goes.
3. You pay for every click. This is one thing that confuses new users. Quite often, I see the question, "Why is my bill so high?" or "Why am I paying to promote if I'm not getting sales?" The answer is "Because you are promoting your items." When you promote an item, you are paying for people to click the ad open. You are not paying for a sale (if that were the case, we'd all spend a LOT!). Each time someone opens your post when it's an AD, you are paying the amount you bid on it. This add's up fast, so make sure you are prepared for the cost. Start low, and go up as your shop grows.
4. Promote a few items, not a lot. It's counter-intuitive. You want to promote everything in your shop, right? Well, here's the problem. If you promote everything, your budget is spread out over all of it. Without a large budget, that means you are not getting the most bang for your buck. Because your ad's end when you hit your daily budget limit, you are less likely to be seen when it's spread out over 50 items. Instead, concentrate on 3-5 items at most. I found sticking to 3 gets me the best results. I also promote the items that are all in the same category, with the same keywords. This means I'm seen more often under that search result, usually 1 ad each on the first 3 pages. When someone searches that item, they'll see my 3 ad's, plus the 3-6 items I have that show up on the first 3 pages as well. Lastly, keep this in mind- even if all your items are unique, drawing someone in by blasting your ad in 1 category still brings people into the shop. They still see the other items you have.

With all of that in mind, it takes a bit of playing around to see what works best for your shop.

Personally, for me, $2.50 worked great with 3 items promoted. I do switch out the items I promote, but I stick to the same category. That means people who may regularly search those keywords are not seeing the same thing over and over again.

Promoting can work great, but you have to be willing to spend money to make money.

Want to know more about making your Etsy shop work for YOU? Check out my links below!

10 Tips For Selling on Etsy

Promoting Your Etsy Shop Online
Etsy: Setting Goals

Etsy Shop Tips - Learning To Maximize Your Sales Potential

 

Etsy Shop Tips - Learning to Maximize Your Sales Potential

Etsy is one of those places that people either find success on, or sit and stare at it, and wonder why their items are not selling. When you first sign up for Etsy, you are excited. You just know your items will sell fast, and before you know it, you'll be able to quit your job.

Reality is far different. In reality, it takes a lot of hard work to get Etsy to work for you. The average brand new user on Etsy does not realize how much work is involved in making sure your shop is gaining organic views.

What are organic views? Views that are not coming from a clickable link. Someone searched for something, and stumbled across you. Organic searches are worth everything, because those are the shoppers looking for you.

I've learned a lot about Etsy over the years. I've had a shop since around 2012, but it was not until late 2014 that I really started to focus on running it. Before that, I was lucky to snag a sale here and there, usually not many, though.  I did not have many organic views.

In 2014, I earned around $1600 total on Etsy. In January 2015, I sat down, and got to work. I looked up how to make my shop efficient. I looked up how to get more organic views. I talked to other shop owners. I made some serious changes. I mean, I made a LOT of changes. From January 2015 until today (February 22, 2015), I have already made over $750. That's almost 50% of what it took me 12 months to earn in 2014.

Here is my very basic list of the changes I made to my shop, the tips I followed, and some plain old common sense thrown in.

1. Make sure your titles, descriptions, and keywords are working FOR you, and not against you. The first 3-4 words of your title are the MOST important words, and should ONLY be used to state exactly what you are selling. Don't clutter the front of your title with descriptive words. If you are selling a Lavender Candle, then that should be the first two words. It should not be Glass Votive, handmade, soy based, purple lavender candle.  
2.  Look up SEO. Don't ask about it, look it up. There are countless websites, blogs, and even YouTube videos that explain it. Put the effort into it. I see people asking about it all the time, and getting conflicting info. It is JUST as easy to type "What is SEO" into Google, as it is to post it on Facebook. It's worth your time to make sure you understand it by looking it up, vs having someone give you an answer that may or may not be correct.
3. Your photos are what people notice first. They don't look at the titles. They look at the photo, and that's how they decide if they are going to click the item open. If your photos are dark, blurry, covered with watermarks that obscure it, they won't bother looking at it. Your product photos are worth their weight in gold. If you are unsure about your quality, lots of people are around and willing to critique- just ask.
4. Invest in a banner, or make one that is the correct size for Etsy. Don't use ill fitting graphics, or stretch or shrink graphics. Make one that is the correct size. While you are at it, matching avatars, and business cards can brand your shop's look. I am happy to help here. My shop is shopkandy.etsy.com
   
5. At most, Etsy will give 250 pages of items back on a search. At most, the average "browser" will look at 5-10 pages. If your items are not in the top 5 pages, they are much less likely to be viewed, or sold.
6. The number of items you sell will effect how quickly your shop is seen. If you have 5 items sharing the same keywords, you have 5 chances of being seen. If you have 45 items with the same keywords, you have 45 chances to be seen. Your shop should have as many items as you can post. If you offer an item with multiple variations, it would work better for you to have individual listings for each variation. The cost is the same.
7. Where do you fall on Etsy's search? Your title, keywords, and first 2 lines of your description are how Etsy decides where you fall in the results. Find where you fall for all your items. If you can't find your own items with BASIC search words, then neither can anyone else. Remember, while you named it a Bright Baby Blue Super Soft Cowl, shoppers are only searching for a Blue Cowl, or Baby Blue Cowl, so those are the words you need to use to search for your items (to clarify- the words need to be about your own items)
8. Network. If someone favorites your page, or an item, return the favor if they have a shop- but NEVER send unsolicited convo's to them about YOU. Sending coupon codes, sending "I saw you liked this... want to buy it?" convos are all unsolicited, and against the Etsy TOS.
9. Research & Compare. Look at 1st page of results for items you have. Look at what other people have for titles, descriptions, and photos. Don't copy them, but keep in mind that they are your competition, and they're doing something you aren't. Try to figure it out.
10. Photos and Descriptions SELL your item. You are not Walmart, or Target. People can't walk in, try on what you have, inspect the item, decide on the color, pattern, and fit. They have to rely on YOU to tell them they WANT your item. You know what the item is, but if you don't tell your shoppers what it is, why would they want it? I often see descriptions that simply say "Blue shirt". Ok, that won't make me buy it. SELL the shirt by telling me about it, and why I want it.  Your quality work means nothing if you can't tell us about it, and back it up with good product photos.

These are just a few brief tips. Your shop may need different help than another shop. But until you start looking at how to fix it, you'll never know the potential you have.

Need more help with your shop? Check out both of my links below to see how you can utilize social media and Etsy both to promote your items!

Promoting Your Etsy Shop Online

Promoting On Etsy: The Lowdown
Etsy: Setting Goals