If you have an ETSY shop or even thinking about opening a shop, your first concern is about selling products. Whatever your niche is, you want to promote and sell products and there are things that you can do to assist with that.
The ETSY Algorithm
Etsy uses an algorithm which ranks the listings and also determine the listing that visitors to the platform will see.
The algorithm, while secret, relies on several things. The first thing is what is called the “Query Matching”. Query matching takes the titles, tags, attributes and Categories from listings.
After looking at those items in the Query, ETSY tries to match listings to the search based on several factors: Age, Relevance, Customer Experience and Buyers Experience. We have no control over a buyers experience which is their browsing history and types of listings they have searched. We do have some influence over the other areas, to a certain extent.
One factor is age of item–newer items have a slight advantage so it is important to update and post to your store on a regular basis. Tis slight advantage is only a few days at most, but that could be significant for a new type of product.
Another of these factors is the listing score, which is based on conversions and reviews. Conversions are the number of views compared to number of sales. So if you get a large number of views, and very few sales, this could results in a low conversion.
Customer experience is based on reviews, customer service and store policies. You can help this by responding to reviews, reaching out to buyers to see if they need anything further, offering additional services or even customization.
Titles
The title of your product can be as long as 140 characters but ETSY will focus on the first few words. Your most important information needs to be in the first few words. If you are making wall art and title the piece, save the actual title for a description and use words like ‘Wall Art’ or ‘Digital Wall Art’ instead of an obscure title. This will help your product be more searchable.
Tags/Attributes
Tags have two purposes. They help buyers find your products and helps ETSY match your products to searches. You can have 13 tags and it is recommended to use all 13. Sometimes, I just run out of ideas and put in only a few. Later, I go back and research to all the rest.
Try to use terms that buyers would look for. A buyer looking for a recipe planner might add more information because they have something specific in mind. Grandma’s recipe book, vintage recipe book, family recipe book are options that might be more specific than generic “recipe planner”.
ERANK.COM
You can also use tools to help you improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO), compare your listings to the competition or search trends in keywords searched. One such tool is Erank.
There is a free version. 5.99 a month gives you 100 searches a day. 9.99 a month gives you 200 searches a day.
Trend Buzz is one of those Basic plan tools. It shows the most popular keywords on ETSY, EBAY , Amazon and others. We probably could have guessed graduation and father’s day. But even with the free version, you can still gain a lot of information about your listings and trends that can help you plan products.
But could you have guessed the most often looked for recipient is baby? Or that dog would be in the top 5 before men and mom?
An examination of products shows that SVG is the top but art is also in the top 5. After researching, perhaps some of the products you are currently working on could include Cut files (svg) or wall art. Using these trends and looking at searched products could indicate future trends and inspire ideas for products.
SEO
There are a number of keyword tools. Use the upgraded plan to find the top 100 search terms or recent keywords. You can use the keyword analyzer. For this search I typed in Monthly Planner:
This could help identify niches where there is less competition for products.
Another strategy is to use the tools to search the keyword further. In the far right column, not shown in the image above, it allows more analysis of each keyword. One of the most useful areas for me is to look at the average pricing.
In the example above, it looked at monthly planners and found the average price is $3.00. I never want to be the cheapest product on ETSY but you also do not want to price yourself above all the competition. If products are priced too low, it could signal a lack of quality. You can also compare up to 4 different listings which are similar to yours to get a full pricing strategy.
Total views and average views are also listed. With the competition at over 77,000, it would appear that it is important to niche down to attract specific buyers.
Premium Options
One of the options of the premium version is the conversions report. This report will give you where your traffic originated from: was it from Pinterest? Instagram Post? Blog Post? This is important to show you the places your customers are most active so you can focus your efforts on those platforms.
There are other tools that can be used. Marmalead is a tool that was specifically made for ETSY and is very popular. It is priced at $19 a month, but you can save by paying annually. It gives top searches from the past year as well as predicting trends for the future.
Other Tools
Keyword Scout gives information on SEO mistakes you may be making and tips on how to correct these. You can also use it to generate a list of tags based on your keyword. It cost $49 a month. Find out more HERE.
Google Keyword Planner is free. It generates terms and keywords that are entered into Google so you know what people are searching for. This is also helpful if you want your listings to show up in Google searches.
If you are looking for products to add to your ETSY shop, check out this POST