The Ultimate Guide to Making Your First Sale on Etsy

Before I became a full-time Etsy seller, I was a construction worker as an electrician for six years. I knew that wasn't the path for me and I wanted to take an entrepreneurial road, so I decided to take a leap of faith in 2016 and jump into the Etsy seller journey. Since then, I've never looked back. Today, I'm going to share with you my tips and strategies on how I was able to become a full-time Etsy seller and how you can achieve the same. So let's get into it!

How Many Etsy Listings to Start?

There are many different Etsy strategies out there, but what has worked for me and my students is starting out with 16 to 24 listings. Once you've seen results from there, you can strategically build more listings based on the results you're getting from those initial listings. A common mistake I see a lot of new sellers make is they will post one to three listings in a shop and then don’t see any results, thinking Etsy doesn't work for them. But that's a huge mistake because if you think about a physical store, when you go to the mall and see only one or two products on the shelf and the rest of the shop is empty, chances are you’ll think it’s not a professional shop and you probably won't even look into it. The same applies to online stores. You want to make sure you have a full collection of products.

How Long to Start an Etsy Shop?

Depending on the difficulty level of the products that you're creating and launching, it averages around 1 to 3 months. That's what I've seen for myself and also for our students. Once you've launched the shop, you can potentially start seeing results the following day.

How Much Does It Cost to Start an Etsy Shop?

The one-time set-up fee of Etsy is around $15. The product creation tool (e.g., Canva) costs around $10 for, $20 for different research tools, and $20 to $30 for high-quality mockups. It's really important to present your store professionally, so I like to invest a bit in quality mockups. Typically, $75 is what you need to get your shop up and running.

Do you need to advertise your Etsy shop?

Yes, for any online store, you always need some form of marketing or advertising. However, we like to use the organic SEO world. We don't do any other external marketing and have found amazing results by just leveraging different keywords in our listings. By figuring out what people are searching for and creating products for it, you can get organic traffic to your store. This is a very sustainable way to run your business and is the primary strategy we use.

How exactly do you find a low-competition but high-search-volume niche?

This relates to the research phase, and it's the first thing you want to do when building up your shop. Use research tools like eRank to find a niche that has low competition and high search volume. Type in certain keywords you're trying to target, and the platform will show you how many people are searching for that keyword and how much competition there is. This helps you determine if it's a good category to pursue.

Should You Focus on One Niche Per Etsy Shop?

Yes, when you're first starting out, I definitely recommend you become a specialist in a specific category. Many top sellers sell a bit of everything, but as a new seller, you need to be specialized to compete. This specialization makes buyers more likely to choose your shop over others.

How much Does Etsy Cost to Maintain Monthly?

There's no monthly cost to Etsy. The only cost is 20 cents per listing, which is charged when you first upload the listing and each time a listing is sold and renewed. If you are making sales, this cost is manageable.

What is an Etsy mockup?

A mockup is a visual representation of your product in use. For example, if you're selling wall art, you might show it in a frame or in a specific interior design setting. This helps buyers visualize how the product can be used and enhances the appeal of your listings.

What Program to Use to Create Etsy Digital Products?

The program you use depends on the product you're creating. For example, if you're creating social media templates, you might use Google Docs or Microsoft Word. For Notion templates, you would use Notion. Reverse-engineer the process by first knowing what product you're creating and then choosing the appropriate software.

Do I Need to Promote Products on Social Media?

That's perfectly fine. You can promote your products within the Etsy platform by optimizing your SEO in titles, tags, and descriptions. This allows you to get free, organic traffic without needing to share on your personal social media.

Shopify vs Etsy Shop

Is opening a Shopify store in parallel also profitable?

Yes, but the amount of effort needed for a Shopify store is greater than for an Etsy shop. Etsy has an existing active audience, while with Shopify, you need to actively market your products. For beginners, Etsy is often easier because it requires less marketing effort.

Do You Need Hundreds of Listings to Succeed?

No, you don't need hundreds of listings. I've had successful shops with around 20 listings, and many of my students have found success with 16 to 24 listings. It depends on your strategy and the quality of your products.

How Long Until You Make Your Etsy Shop Sustainable?

For my first successful shop, it took a couple of months. I was still working as an electrician and monitored my sales daily. Eventually, I was making more from my Etsy shop than my job, which allowed me to quit and travel. It's definitely possible and sustainable, and the process gets quicker with subsequent shops as you gain more experience.

Conclusion:

I hope you found this post valuable! Watch the full video here.

Are you ready for more in-depth strategies and tips on building a profitable Etsy shop? Check out the Digital Freedom Academy! Our step-by-step guide will help you easily master selling digital products on Etsy.

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Cheers to more sales!