Learning The Lessons Etsy Didn’t Teach You

 In Blog

The chances are that you already have some idea of what Etsy is and what it could offer your creative startup. If for some insane reason you’ve missed this trend, consider that Etsy is like eBay for creatives. It provides fully formed ‘shops’ for sellers of creative wares. It’s such a fantastic platform than many makers and movers wouldn’t be able to make money without it.

But, Etsy has its downsides. While most people agree that it’s an excellent place to start, it’s not the best long-term method. Those shop fronts don’t come for free. Etsy takes a commision and processing fee, usually at around 23p. That may not seem like much, but a growing business could end up paying a fair amount. It’s also difficult to grow on Etsy due to unpredictable listing trends.

After starting on this platform, then, you may wonder what your next step is. Perhaps you’re ready to shut up shop on Etsy and take the knowledge you gained into a private store. That’s fantastic, and your Etsy days will have taught you a great deal about making this work. Sadly, there’s also a lot that you don’t learn when you run a shop on someone else’s platform. Lucky for you, we’re going to look at the gaps, and consider how you could fill them.

How to design a website

Basic layout and design are in place for you when you on Etsy. As such, this doesn’t teach you much about website design. Hence, you may panic when faced with pages of indecipherable coding for your solo pursuit. The good news is, there are plenty of online tutorials to help you get going. At the very worst, you could work with a company who can design your page for you. Either way, this is by no means a difficult hurdle to overcome.  

How to accept payment

Etsy also takes care of payments, hence a 20p processing fee. This is good when you’re starting, but it also leaves you unaware of how payment processing works. Your best bet here would likely to be to reach out to a company who offer credit card processing solutions. That way, you can accept every payment method, and get your money in the shortest time possible.

How to make friends with Google

Etsy is useful for marketing front, as it enables you to learn how to bring customers to your store. What it doesn’t teach you is something called search engine optimisation. Or, SEO. As we’ve mentioned, there are rankings within Etsy, but they’re difficult to determine. By comparison, Google results are easy to understand. ‘Relevant’ and popular sites come highest in searches. Thus, the last lesson you need to learn after fledging your Etsy nest is how to make friends with Google. Lucky for you, this isn’t as tricky as it sounds. Both linking to relevant external companies and including pictures should help you here.

As simple as that, you may well find yourself ready to go it alone!

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