An awesome reader sent in the following question:
What are the top ten things I can do to to get more Google hits to my Etsy shop?
Here’s the thing with SEO: Search engines are looking for the best result available for the search in question. So the two steps to ranking well in search are first to try and actually BE the best result available and second to try to understand how search engines make that determination.
They guage this using a long and complex set of indicators. How long your shop has been online, how many people have shared or liked your shop or your items, how well your item titles match the keywords in the search, and how many other places link to you are all part of the equation.
You can only do so much. Focusing too heavily on search is a bad idea. It’s much better to focus on the customer and keep asking yourself how you can do a better job of showing, sharing, and telling about your products.
But as for good solid SEO, here are the top ten items (there really is no order):
- Create a blog and write posts about your products – See Using Your Blog to Promote Your Etsy Shop
- Engage in social media and build a following
- Provide tools for social sharing of your blog posts and images – see Like Building is the New Link Building
- Connect your Etsy shop to Twitter and Facebook
- Try to build links to your items within Etsy
- Use relevant and search optimized keywords in titles – See Etsy Shop SEO Video
- Write good item descriptions
- Syndicate your shop and participate in Google product search
- Pin images of your items (and try to get more pins)
- Increase the number of items in your shop
As I read through the list above and consider these steps I’m again confronted with the question:
What size do you want your business to be? What is your goal?
If your goal is to create a long-term business then you’re not going to dislike the idea of putting many hours into doing these things right. You’ll also be more comfortable with the reality that this is only a small part of success selling online.
Search is more likely to be a source of additional sales for a shop already on-fire than it is to be a source of a sustained level of sales for a shop that doesn’t get customers from many other sources.
In other words, don’t count on Google for success!
If you put too much weight in the items in the list above you might tend to make some mistakes.
For example:
- You’ll write blog posts about your products that aren’t anything more than a picture and a link. That’s not helpful and too much of that can hurt you.
- You might try too hard to build links within Etsy and end up essentially spamming teams and forums with links to your items. This is bad.
- You might go too far with keyword usage and have titles that are flat and boring.
- You might increase the number of items in your shop just for the sake of larger numbers, when an “improved selection” in the eyes of customers is what you need.
So to sum this idea up, the ten item list above can be a gold mine if you make it a part of your daily selling routine.
I’ll repeat that last part: Your daily selling routine.
Building your business on Etsy can help you to shape a perfect-fit selling routine for you, your life, and your products. It might seem unnatural at first, but it really doesn’t have to be. Selling is fun and it can easily fit into everything you do in some small way.
Remember that your products help people and are worth the money. Just keep your conversations natural. Tell people you have a business. Share your excitement for what you’re doing. Tell your story so we know why you do what you do. Tell stories about individual products and what they mean to you.
These are easy selling methods that are interesting and get attention. They work great over time because online, everything stays. Real conversations are indexed by search engines and people browse old posts of interest.
How do you feel about selling?
Let me finish with a question or two of my own. Is part of the allure of “SEO” because it’s automatic and you don’t have to “sell”? Are you comfortable with the idea that you are a “salesperson” for your little business? Does the idea of “selling” make you want to quit?
I’d love to hear your answers on these questions because it might give me some insight into how I can help you reach the levels of success you really want to reach with this. Thanks for taking the time to share in the comments.
Great info for anyone out there still baffled about SEO!! Still working on mine and learning new things everyday!! Thanks so much!
Great advice and ideas, as always. I’m struck by the last paragraph, though – I adore the “making” of things. But the “selling” of them? Not so much. I wish I could get past the feeling I’m annoying people by hawking my stuff. :-/
Hi Kim!
I so understand where you’re coming from! I’ve always had that feeling but I’m learning to overcome it. As I started to promote my items and blog more and more I noticed that people didn’t have a problem with it and I actually got more sales! It may seem a little uncomfortable at first, but when you start seeing a response it gets easier.
People can’t buy it if they don’t know you sell it…and they want to buy from someone they know!
~Kim
I think you totally hit the nail on the head with this one. A lot of people are afraid of being seen as someone who is trying to sell you something like that’s a bad thing. Images of your pushy neighbor who’s a consultant for one of the direct selling companies or, if you’re old enough, the Amway salesperson come to mind. I watched my dad with a customer once who was actually walking out the door and my dad was just making closing/good-bye conversation with him. Or so I thought. He had the guy back in the door in less than a minute buying a new TV. The reason? He listened to his customer and saw a need he could fill that hadn’t come up in their previous conversation. I thought “That’s how it’s done!” It’s all about listening, being active, not giving up, and finding what need the customer has that you can fill. It’s also about honestly being your authentic self. When it’s done honestly and you are yourself then the customer becomes grateful that you’re there to help them. I think this is the great thing about social selling. It’s more like the conversation my dad had then the used car salesman type of selling. It’s about getting out there as yourself and defining that first for the customer. People liked my dad and they bought TVs from him because they wanted to. Same thing can go for us. But if we’re just trying to get the right words in then the honesty isn’t there. I think SEO will come after we define ourselves for the customer.
Great post! Thanks very much. Your comments really clarified some things for me. Your dad sounds like a wonderful person.
Yeah, that last paragraph…
I love making things, and I love ‘selling’ things (it reaffirms that I can make things others will like.) It’s the stuff in between that makes me go “UGH!” The taking good pictures, writing intriguing descriptions, searching out the right keywords… yadda, yadda… yucky! I [bold that 'I', please] I don’t mind “annoying people by hawking my stuff” (I’ll take center stage wherever I can, thank you very much.) ;-D
However, I know I’m not a ‘chatty’ social media diva – I’d like to not even own a land-line phone! OMG!!! To be explicit: I *suck* at social media. And, as a result, I think most of my ‘friends’ have hidden my FB postings by now. (I think that because, when my cherished 20 year old kitty cat died two weeks go, I didn’t even get a FB comment from my Mom. Ouch.)
So, my question is… now that I’ve alienated everyone on FB by “picture and a link” spam postings – how do I get them to un-hide me? I’m talking real ‘friends’ here, like people I knew 20 years ago, not business acquaintances that I’ve ‘liked’ etc.
I love reading your blog – I always learn so much! Thank you for teaching this stuff.
Kim – Thanks so much for your encouragement. It’s not that I don’t believe in my product; I’m just not one to “toot my own horn,” I guess. But there’s really not much way around it in this business, huh?
Laura – What a beautiful memory of your dad! It’s nice that you have that to draw from as you go about your work.
Catherine – I’m so sorry about your kitty! And I’m intrigued – I’ll be interested to see what happens next with your promoting.
As always, great post…but I especially like the question you left us with…time for some honesty with ourselves!
I guess I enjoy “selling” my products….I make bags and wallets and such, and carry all my own products. It’s kinda funny, because when people ask me what I do, I point to my purse, open it up and start pulling everything out of it! Even as I’m reaching for a business card, I’m show off the case I made..and sell!
It hasn’t been until recently, though, that I realized my selling style on line needed some work. You are so right about using a blog. My blog isn’t even directly about my products, but I’m usually able to slip in a very non-obnoxious link to my shop in just about every post. My topics seem to interest people, and, when they see a clickable link, they will often pop in for a peek. It’s still in the beginning stages, but I am noticing visits to my shop from my blog….that’s kinda fun!
Laura, I love the connection you made with your dad conversing with the customer…what a perfect example of what we need to be doing!
Selling…augh! Selling gives me the creeps…I would much rather someone do the selling for me.
Great points and replies from everyone. I wish I had more time to explore more social media, although I personally don’t care for it. But it’s what’s done these days, and you have to keep up.
I am slowly becoming very comfortable with selling my items, and am headed back out into the public after many years off. I too, love what I do. It is so fun and rewarding. I’ve always made gifts for my family, and the more I looked at the “big” picture, the more I wanted to do!
I agree, you have to be comfortable with what you do, look at with an honest eye, and be able to sell the beauty, handiwork, and craftmanship. I am my own worst enemy, and am very critical of my pieces. It’s only just recently that I have been able to look at them, and feel pride to the point that it excites me and I want to share it with everyone!
I especially liked Laura’s comment about SEO coming after we define ourselves. Which is what this little series was all about correct?
Jane, Kim, and Malaika – Thank you for your kind comments and I’m glad if my story helped you. I thought after I posted this I made it sound like my dad’s dead but he’s not.
Laura – Oh, good! I expected as much, but wasn’t sure. Either way, it’s good to have memories of those teaching moments to recall when we need them.
Hello!
I’ve subscribed your newsletter since post n#3 or #4, I don’t know it anymore, but eversince it has been one of the expectation moments of my day.
I hardly ever comment, because I’m no native speaker (I’m portuguese, living in Lisbon, and love to read your precious words of advice), and sometimes I lack a bit of vocabulary, then I just read and make the comments to myself, sorry… But today I felt – no pain, no gain – and realized that such a great post (as always, I may add) deserved some answer:
- I don’t care much about SEO, simple because I didn’t know how it worked, until now!
- I love blogging, but sometimes I don’t have enough time to do it on a daily basis, I’m a full time worker, I have 4 kids at home (2 daughters, one step-daughter and one step-son) and time flies through my fingers like sand…
- I like the selling part. I mean I like selling on-line better than to my friends, because I don’t want them to feel like “hey, there comes that nagging friends that only talks about her clutches, her pouches, her elephants, and so on…”
- I hate having to spend some hours of our week-ends trying to take pictures with the best light of the day, creating the best positon for a clutch with a round bottom to stand on its own, not too big that it won’t fit an etsy photo…
And I will keep around learning a lot more from you all – bloggers and commenters
Thanks