28/6/2021 0 Comments 5 Essential Points To Include In Your Etsy Listing Descriptions To CoNvert Visits To SalesEtsy listing descriptions can be hard to write – what should you include? How much is too much information? How much is too little? While Etsy does not read descriptions for SEO purposes, they can be the key to converting your customers to click ‘buy’ instead of the back button. In today's blog post I will be sharing 5 things to include in your product descriptions to help convert visits to sales. What is the product?
You should be describing your product as if the customer cannot see your images. Describe what it is, the shape, the colours, the materials used and the size. *TOP TIP* Give your ‘what’ description to a friend and see if they can figure out what you are describing and what it looks like. If it's accurate, you have written a fantastic description section! Who is the product for? Tell your audience who the product was made for. This is where identifying your shop's target audience is key. Is it for women or men? A certain job? A certain lifestyle? Although you shouldn’t be naming every detail of your target audience in your product description, you can highlight the main aspects that make your product the perfect purchase, whether it be for your customer or bought as a gift! Format example: ‘This product is the perfect gift for a sister, mother or best friend who needs a pick me up!’ ‘This product was made with small businesses in mind, especially Etsy sellers’ ‘This is the perfect gift for a man who loves to keep his beard in tip-top condition!’ Need help identifying your target audience? Check out my target audience planner here to help you find your ideal customer and how to reach them! Why should your customer buy your product? This is where you will want to identify pain points. What problem does your product solve? Make this as relatable as possible, to make your customers think of that particular product and want to buy! A common example is acne adverts on TV. You see the teenage girl with a zit, panicking about meeting up with that hot guy from her school. Then she uses this amazing spot-busting product and her skin is crystal clear. She meets up with the guy, and he likes her. The pain point in this example is the fear of having a zit in front of a boy you fancy. And the resolution is no more spots. Teenage girls view this advert, relate to the scenario, and want that end resolution. You need to do this with words in your Etsy descriptions. You will need to keep your ideal customer in mind with this. If you were targeting acne products to older men, it may not work so well. Think about your ideal customer and what problems they have, and how your product will solve them. You can also include what makes your product unique. Is it made with locally sourced materials? Is it a unique item? Is it one of a kind? For example, why should your customer buy your version rather than a cheaper one at their local supermarket? Identify key points that will make your customers go WOW. How will your customer get your product Have you ever purchased something and then hear nothing about it? Or have you been put off buying an item because you didn't know when it would arrive or where it’s coming from? Although Etsy provides some of this information, there is no harm in repeating it in your product descriptions. You can include how to purchase through Etsy, whether you need to contact the customer post-purchase (for proofs, for example), how long it will take to make the item, an estimate of the shipping times and where it is shipping from, the postal service or courier you use, and how it arrives (can it fit in a letterbox? Does it need to be signed for?). You can easily do these in bullet point sentences rather than one long paragraph to save confusion to buyers. Where can your customers find you Etsy likes to see your customers browsing your shop. You don’t want customers looking at one page and then going back to search again. You should be aiming to keep your customers in your shop as long as possible, or even to your social media pages so they may return at a later date. So in this part of your description, you want to tell your customers where they can find you and keep updated. You can include your shop link, your social media page handles, a sign-up sheet for your mailing list or even your blog. Either way, you want to keep your customers centred around your shop and not other people’s. This is an example of mine: ‘The Digital Booktique is a small digital download shop that specialises in creating planners and resources for small craft businesses. All of the resources are created by me to help makers with their admin tasks, giving them more time to focus on creating rather than sitting behind a desk. You can check out my whole shop by visiting www.etsy.com/uk/shop/thedigitalbooktique For free Etsy seller tips and notifications of sales, be sure to join my VIP Facebook group by copying and pasting the following link into your browser: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1615992081909413’ This should be placed near the end of your product descriptions because your focus should be on the product. But you still want your customers to be looking at your shop rather than clicking the back button. Hopefully, you now have some ideas of how to write your Etsy product descriptions - and getting those customers to click buy! Have you got your copy of my free Etsy checklist? Click here to see the daily, weekly and monthly tasks you should be performing for your Etsy shop now!
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27/1/2021 0 Comments Top 8 Etsy Myths: Debunked!Selling on Etsy can be incredibly difficult. It takes time to learn the ins and outs, optimise your time, and give fantastic customer service. But there are many myths about selling on Etsy floating about the internet, making it even more difficult! This blog post will debunk the top 8 Etsy myths so that you can focus on crafting new products rather than repeating the same tasks with incorrect information. Please note, the below is accurate at the time of writing (Jan 2021). Future algorithm changes may affect the accuracy of this blog post. 1) 'Changes to Etsy SEO can take 30 days to take effect'
Any changes made to your SEO usually take effect within 24 hours. However, it may take up to 30 days for you to see if buyers are searching and buying your products from that change. You will unlikely see instant results from changing your titles and tags, but be sure to monitor them over the month and then change after if necessary. 2) 'Favourite for favourites will help your shop rank higher in search' 'Favourite for favourite' threads is a massive no-no, and you should avoid sharing your shop link in them. When people visit your shop and favourite but don't buy, Etsy's algorithm will assume your product isn't selling well. This is shown in your Etsy stats under 'conversion rates'. This can push you lower in rankings and result in less organic buyers finding your listings in search. You have no control over organic buyers favouriting your items so you shouldn't worry about that, but do not participate in 'favourite for favourites' on purpose. To get a breakdown of the meaning behind your Etsy stats, you can click here to have a read of my previous blog post. 3) 'Etsy prefers short titles over long ones' There was some confusion recently when Etsy released an article saying buyers prefer short titles. This is true since short titles are easier to read for buyers. However, you will not get Etsy SEO to work in your favour if you are using short titles. Long titles give you more opportunities for keywords which, in turn, allows you to be found in multiple searches. So, even though short titles are favoured by buyers, Etsy SEO loves long titles with relevant key phrases! 4) 'You should repeat your title in the first sentence of the listing description' There was a trend of sellers copying and pasting their titles into the first sentence of their description. However, this can be flagged as SPAM by sites like Google, so it will reduce your chances to be found in external searches. The best way to be optimised for Google is to use keywords from your title into easy to read sentences. This stops you from keyword stuffing, and can create a lovely introduction for your product descriptions! Remember, Etsy does not read your description for SEO purposes, so this only affects external searches. 5) 'You should use all ten pictures for Etsy SEO' The number of images you use in your listings does not affect your ranking in search. If you have good quality images that show different angles or uses for your product, then using all ten images can be beneficial for your buyer. But it can also have a negative effect if you are using all ten spaces for bad quality images. 6) 'You should get the majority of your traffic from social media' A massive bonus of having an Etsy shop is that they have a set of buyers looking for items. It means you don't have to do as much marketing. If you are bringing the majority of your traffic from social media, you could be missing on the opportunity to reach those Etsy buyers. And let's face it, it's less time consuming if Etsy brings you the customers rather than having to find them yourself! Of course, social media marketing is still fantastic and can be used to bring in extra customers, but you should be getting the majority of your traffic from Etsy's customer base to make the most of your time and Etsy fees. 7) 'You should price-match your competitors' Pricing can be a tricky aspect of running an Etsy shop. You worry about overcharging, or can even undercharge and barely make a profit! Price matching can be detrimental to the long term success of your shop. Your competition may have cheaper materials, a lower quality product - or they may not have their pricing dialled in! Always price your products according to your expenses rather than matching someone else - you don't know the method behind their structure! If you want a clearer idea of how to price your craft products, you can check out my pricing planner here to help you create a shop that will make a profit. 8) 'You will become an overnight success on Etsy' Building a successful Etsy shop takes time. The majority of sellers don't have everything figured out overnight, and it can take months to start seeing consistent sales. The key to being an Etsy seller is to be both patient and willing to learn. The more active you are in learning about running an Etsy shop, the better your shop will become! Keep going - You've got this! Have you got your copy of my free Etsy checklist? Click here to see the daily, weekly and monthly tasks you should be performing for your Etsy shop now! Let's be real - social media is hard. Coming up with content for a consistent and fresh brand can be so time-consuming, and when you only get a few likes it can be so disheartening. I used to sit at my laptop, stressed out trying to come up with content that was both informative and engaging. I decided I was no longer going to be stumped! So I created a checklist of 125 content ideas, that I could check off as I posted them - and I stopped struggling! Suddenly, content creation was easy and I was writing captions that my audience loved - and I wasn't spending countless hours racking my brain for a witty caption. Well, I have made this checklist available to you - you can check out my 125 days of social media content planner right here! Or, if you want a sneak peek, I have listed 10 social media content ideas for your handmade business below (and even given details to be extra generous!). Share Your 'Why'
Most small businesses start because the owner wants more money. That's the easy answer to your why, but not a very effective one. When we say our why, we want to connect to our audience. Maybe you want to buy something in particular, or you struggle financially and want a more comfortable life. Or maybe you just love your craft and want to share it with the world! There isn't a wrong answer, but getting your story across is fantastic for building strong relationships. You don't need to go into massive detail, but tell your audience why you started. For example, I started The Digital Booktique because I wanted more funds for a house deposit. I want to have options when choosing a house, and to have some money left over after the deposit for furnishings and redecorating. I love helping Etsy sellers and small businesses reach their potential, and I love that my business not only supports my dreams but also my customers. Answer Business FAQ's This is a simple, but very effective type of post. Some people are too shy to ask a question about your business, so it's good to give answers so they don't have to ask them! If you have something that you are frequently asked, why not write a post about it. Tell your audience where you ship to, how to order or what materials you use. Answer those questions your audience may have about your shop to get them to buy. Introduce Yourself Who are you? Where do you live? What are your hobbies? What are your passions? Let your audience know the REAL you! Your business isn't just a shop - it's a reflection of you. Let your audience know the face behind the business to make it more personable, and your customers will gain ideas of what your business is about. Thank Your Followers Saying thank you is free, and can go a long way! Say thank you to your customers and followers regularly so they know you appreciate them. Tell them why you are thankful, and what their support has done for you. This can make you more personable and can encourage current and future customers to support you even more. Share Your Unpopular Opinion This is surprisingly a really fun social media post to do. Everyone has quirks, and sharing that with your audience can get them talking! It will give your audience a little known fact into your life. For example, my unpopular opinion is I hate milk. I find it disgusting, and I struggle having it near me. My boyfriend thinks I'm bonkers - and likes to tease me with a milk moustache after he's had a good gulp! Let your audience know a little bit about yourself that can get people intrigued and commenting. Do A 'This Or That' Post Do you prefer sweet or savoury? Books or films? Are you organised or last minute? Ask your audience this or that questions to get them commenting! You can even relate it to your business - do you prefer this or that style? Or ask for a vote on the colour of your product. Either way, you are directly asking your audience to comment on your post, which will raise engagement! Talk About Your Product Benefits You need to sell your products to customers - and I don't mean by saying 'Buy this product please'. I mean really SELL. Tell your audience why they need your product and how it will benefit them. Maybe your product helps a certain issue or can help make the customer feel pretty and stylish. Tell your audience why your products are beneficial to them to push the sale! Share Your Least Selling Product Ummm... Why? Surely we should be promoting our best sellers? This is true, but why not change it up and share your least selling product. It could be that you're not promoting it enough, so putting it on your feed may get some extra sales! Or, you could even ask your audience for suggestions. Getting your followers involved can be great for engagement, and by asking them their opinion you are showing that you care about good products in your shop. Ask Your Audience To Sign Up To Your E-mail List E-mail marketing is a great way to connect with customers who have signed up to hear about your products. They are interested in what you have to say, so building that audience is important. But to get subscribers, you need to tell them you have a list. You can ask your audience to sign up for your list by clicking a link in your bio - or you could ask them to DM their e-mail to you. Use your feed to help build your other marketing platforms! Share Another Small Business Because sharing is caring right? Even if you don't sell products catered to business, the beauty of being small is that we can support each other. We understand the frustrations of being a one-person band trying to juggle it all, or of feeling frustrated when things aren't going our way! Sharing another business can not only help them but can build bonds with other sellers. You could share a small business you recently purchased from or a product that compliments your own. Sharing another small business is free, and can have long-lasting effects. If you want to share my page (and tell people how helpful this blog has been!) you can find my Instagram here! Like these ideas? Check out my Social Media Content Planner here to get 125 post ideas to help engage your followers and plan your social media strategy effectively! Do you ever find yourself spending hours in your business, and having little (or nothing!) to show for it at the end? This was me a few months ago. I was spending lots of time doing tasks and I didn't have the desired results because I was winging it. So I came up with strategies to boost my productivity, and work smarter rather than harder. Continue reading if you want to learn 5 ways you can work smarter, not harder, in your business. Automate Your Social Media The biggest mistake I made when I started my business was manually posting on my social media. Not only did it mean I had to remember to post every day, but I also had to keep my content well organised to make my page coherent and effective. Using automation software saved me a lot of time and meant I could do all of my social media planning at once Do you struggle with your social media planning? Then check out my resources to help you boss your social media pages here - including my 125 days of social media content planner! Chunk Your Tasks To-do lists are meant to help you organise your tasks, but there needs to be a method to help you complete them! Tasks should be organised in terms of what they will achieve. For example, you should separate your social media tasks from your production tasks. When completing tasks, you want to chunk them together and do similar tasks at the same time. You can waste a lot of time by 'task jumping'. For example, if you go from creating social media graphics to updating your Etsy listings, to completing your bookkeeping, your brain will be in a haze trying to get in the rhythm of your other tasks. However, if you do a bunch of social media tasks in one go - for example, create captions, create graphics and schedule content - you will get in the flow of your social media brain and complete tasks more efficiently and effectively. Think About Passive Income Many Etsy shops focus on physical products. They handcraft beautiful items and ship them to customers. But Etsy is also a fantastic platform for digital downloads. Digital downloads are a great asset to any business because they don't require any shipment, and they can be purchased repeatedly once made. Some examples of digital downloads you can add to your physical product shop are craft planners, PDF patterns, how-to's, checklists, workbooks and beginners guides. For example, if you run a shop that creates knitted garments, you could create a PDF for 'knitting for beginners' with how to get started, a list of necessary tools etc. This kind of income is easy and can generate a lot of extra income for your business. Hire A Virtual Assistant Hiring a VA for Etsy shops is commonly overlooked. They are seen as an asset you should get when business is booming. But that doesn't have to be the case. There is a whole group of VA's out there who are ready to help you grow your business, leaving you time to focus on making your products. Some VA's will require you buy a set of hours in bulk a month, but if you are new and only just starting to make a profit you can hire a VA that has a fee dependent on the job. A VA can help with a variety of jobs, including e-mail marketing management, hashtag research, copywriting, SEO assistance and more. Hiring a VA can give you room to focus on the parts of the business that you love, or can free up time so you have a good work/life balance. Look At Your Profitability We run businesses to make money. Regardless of whether you have a side hustle, full-time biz or a charity - you want revenue. And with revenue, you want profit! You want to sell items that have high profitability. For example, if Product A gains you a profit of £10 compared to Product B's profit of £2, you will want to sell lots of Product A! Because each sale results in more profit. Making sure your business is profitable is very important, and the more profit you make the better! If you are under-pricing, you will be spending more time and resources trying to find more customers to buy. For profitability, look at your pricing structure and push your marketing efforts towards those products that get you high profitability.
Perfect your pricing strategy today with my pricing planner. Click here to get the resources you need to start earning a good profit in your business! 20/10/2020 1 Comment etsy stats explainedYou should be looking at your Etsy stats to review your performance. They can tell you so much about what type of traffic you are getting, what listings are successful, and what you need to work on. But, some statistics are confused, and Etsy don't make it very clear what it all means - so I've compiled a run through of exactly what your Etsy stats are telling you! This information is correct as of October 2020, and is done from the desktop version of the shop manager. The descriptions will be the same for the mobile version, but the layout as described may be different. DASHBOARD The dashboard is a very general view of your stats. It gives you limited options of the period you can choose, but it is ideal if you want an overview of your performance. I recommend having this set as either 'this month' or 'last 30 days'. Using daily stats can be inaccurate and fluctuates regularly - Etsy monitor bots views, and will eliminate those views from your statistics throughout the day. Using the last 30 days will show a more accurate reflection of your stats. From the dashboard, you can see views, visits, orders and revenue. Views and visits are often confused with each other because they are fairly similar figures, so I'll use an example to explain them. A view is the amount of clicks you get on your listings or shop. A visit is the number of unique visitors you get to a shop per session. For example, if a user clicks on a listing of yours from search, then goes to your shop, and then clicks on another listing, Etsy classes this as three views. However, these three clicks are only considered one visit. You want your visits and views number to be far apart. You want users to be browsing your shop rather than clicking once and leaving again. Orders are the number of times a user has made an order. This is fairly simple, but it is sometimes confused with the sales figure in your shop. The sales figure represents how many items have sold in your shop, whereas your order number will be how many checkouts you have. So, if a customer purchases five items from your shop at the same time, five will be added to your sales total but only one order will be added in your stats. And finally, you have revenue. Revenue shows the total value of your sales. This will include any tax Etsy collects on your behalf, but you never receive. This figure will be different than in the finance section because of fees and the tax collection from Etsy. STATS TAB The stats tab will show you detailed statistics about your shop - These should be your main focus over your dashboard. Again, it's better to have a good period shown for your detailed stats - I recommend 'This Month' or 'Last 30 Days'. 'All Time' or 'This Year' is also a great option if you want to see long term trends and improvements. At the top of the stats tab, you can see visits, orders, conversion rate and revenue. Visits, orders and revenue will be the same as your dashboard. Conversion rate is how often a customer buys a product compared to when they visit your shop. The formula to figure out conversion rate is (orders/visits) x 100. You want to aim for a conversion rate of at least 1%, but optimum level is 3-5%. Want to see what your conversion rates are telling you? Check out my free Conversion Rates 101 eBook here! The next part of the stats tab is how shoppers found you. The left side shows what visits Etsy brought you. This includes the Etsy app, Etsy search and Etsy marketing and SEO. Etsy app is visits brought via mobile, and Etsy search is visits brought by the desktop version of Etsy. Both of these together show how well your SEO is dialled in or if you are being found through high ranking. The last option is Etsy marketing and SEO - which is often confused with title and tag stats! But this is actually your offsite ads traffic - the advertising Etsy do on your behalf. This can be turned off for shops that earn less than £10,000 in one year, although you have access to marketing you may not be able to do as new Etsy seller. The right side shows what visits you brought in. This includes direct traffic, social media and Etsy ads. Direct traffic is visits from a website, blog, e-mail marketing etc. Social media is broken down into the five main channels - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr. This can show you how well your marketing is working for each individual platform. And finally, you have Etsy ads which are the ads you pay per click and you set a daily budget. And the final part of the stats page is your individual listing performance. You can see how many times your listings were viewed, and your average views per visit. You can also see your individual listings views, favourites, orders and revenue. Hopefully you've learnt a little bit more about your stats - but if you want something explaining more, simply leave a comment below so we can chat!
30/9/2020 0 Comments THE TOP 5 MISTAKES ETSY SELLERS MAKE ON PINTEREST (AND HOW YOU CAN AVOID THEM!)I do a lot of Pinterest account work for Etsy sellers who are trying to promote their products with little to no success. A lot of them say the same thing - they are confused, frustrated and upset that they can't get it right. Especially with the knowledge that Pinterest can drive so much traffic, and you hear about so many people getting successful results. They say to me 'why can't I do that?'. And the answer is you can! Usually, simple little mistakes are the reason they are not finding success. And - even more so - everyone is making the same mistakes! I often find myself repeating the same advice over and over. So, in today's blog post, I will be highlighting the top 5 mistakes Etsy sellers make on Pinterest, and how you can avoid them! 1. Having a lot of empty boards This tends to be a pattern for POD shops, but I have also seen it in handmade shops. For example, I have seen Pinterest pages that have 100+ boards, but each board only has 3 pins each. They have used a separate board for each design, scent, product etc. This will not get you good results. You want a few nice full boards rather than lots of little ones! Think about a clothing store - they organise their products by type of product. Tops, Jeans, Pyjamas, Shoes and Bags are located in different areas. They are grouped together because they are similar, and there's large quantities of them. Most people will go into a shop looking for a specific item, like a T-shirt. If the T-shirts were dotted around the store it would make it harder for the customer, and make it less likely that they'd bother looking at everything. This is the same as your Pinterest boards. You want to group your items together like a shop would so your customers can easily find what they want in one board. You should be aiming for each board to have at least 100 pins, however you shouldn't rush adding pins to it and avoid repinning the same pin over and over in a short space of time. I always recommend newer shops with fewer listings have one business board with all of their products, but when they have more listings I recommend adding more specific boards. For example, I have a board for Etsy Business Printables, where all of my items are pinned. I also have boards for Etsy Shop Bookkeeping, Etsy Social Media Marketing, Etsy Shop Organization and Excel Spreadsheet Templates for Etsy Sellers - where I still only pin my own items, but they are split up if a customer knows what type of item they want. 2. Mixing work and play This is a massive issue that occurs a lot, and can be a big factor in why you aren't seeing the traffic or engagement you require - and that is using the same profile for both your personal and business boards. Usually, the issue starts with a seller who already has a Pinterest account but then wants to use it for marketing their shop. They decide instead of starting over, they will just add on to what they already have because they already have some traffic from the boards they have. The reason I don't like personal mixing with business is 1) You attract the wrong type of audience, and/or 2) You confuse the Pinterest algorithm. For example, if a shop that sells natural vegan soap has boards for their children's birthday party inspiration, this will bring parents who are looking for birthday ideas, but may not necessarily be interested in soaps. So the unique monthly visitors number they are seeing on their page are traffic that have absolutely no interest in their product, so those viewers are useless. Not only that, but the more you pin of others that have no relation to your products, the more you confuse the algorithm because Pinterest doesn't know who you are trying to target. The key thing to remember is your Pinterest account should be made for targeting a specific audience. If you are using it for marketing, it should be purely for that, not for your own personal likes and inspiration. Check out my FREE target audience worksheet to help identify your ideal customers interests for board inspiration by clicking here. The best thing to do in this circumstance is to make a business account completely separate to your personal account. If you have already done a lot of work on your personal account for your business, you can add your business account as a collaborator to your board so you can continue adding to it, but you will eventually want to make your own boards on your business account. For example, on my business account I have a board for Etsy business printables, but on my personal account I have a board for Etsy seller help that has both my personal and business account as a collaborator. This means I can save the progress I made on my old account, and not have to redo the entire board. 3. Only pinning from Etsy I see a lot of accounts use the share button on Etsy to create pins. There isn't anything wrong with doing this - it's a quick easy way to make pins. However, pins directly from Etsy should not be relied on. To be successful you need to make your own pins regularly and upload them. The reason for this is that Etsy optimisation is different from Pinterest optimisation. For Etsy, they prefer square or horizontal images, multiple keyword titles and detailed descriptions. For Pinterest, they prefer vertical images, short and concise titles and brief keyword filled descriptions. Use free programs like Canva to make vertical images that are optimised for Pinterest and upload them manually to create great titles and descriptions that will reach your ideal customer. 4. Being scared to repin others Many accounts get worried that if they repin others they will lose potential customers. But repinning is essential for good traffic. Not only does it bring users to you, but Pinterest also love it! They don't want you to add content and then leave it at that. They want you to share others so more people add content to be shared. The general rule of thumb is for every pin you add, repin 4 other pins. The confusion comes when Etsy sellers worry about promoting their competition - and the simple solution to this to to not promote them! For example, my board Printables For Businesses includes pins of my own, but also other peoples. However, I do not repin users who are in direct competition with me. So, I may repin others who sell printables for appointment making, MLM sales etc - but if someone sells Pinterest workbooks and checklists I will not repin. This ensures a good variety of products in your board, but also doesn't promote your competition. Don't be scared to repin others, but you also don't need to repin everything that relates to a topic if it has potential to take away custom from your shop. 5. Lack of optimisation This is the big one that can make or break your Pinterest account. There are two ways you can optimise your page to get traffic. 1) Keywords - You should be using long tailed keywords on your page, board titles and descriptions, and in your pin titles and descriptions. These can be found for free using the Pinterest search bar. And, 2) Image matching - Your pins should look similar to those that you find in your niche. This is so Pinterest can easily determine what will be popular with their audience. Optimisation will get your content in front of the right audience, rather than everyone seeing it with low link clicks. You want pins that generate high levels of traffic to your shop, rather than pins that are seen by everyone but don't gain traffic. And that's my list of top 5 mistakes Etsy sellers make on Pinterest! Have you been making any of these mistakes? Let me know in the comments! Do you struggle with your Pinterest account? Check out my free downloadable checklist here to up your Pinterest game today!
As an Etsy seller, I used to feel overwhelmed often. I would look at my to-do list, my product planner, my finance spreadsheets and everything else in my inbox and feel like crying. It felt horrible and almost caused me to close up my shop multiple times. And then I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself and actually do something about it. I knew there was a way that would help my productivity. I wanted something different to my usual to-do list, which was just a bunch of words scrawled down in a mess. Don't worry friend, I'm not going to leave you hanging! In today's blog post I will tell you how I organised my to-do list so that I actually get stuff done and beat overwhelm. While I was looking at all the paper I had I knew there was another way. A way that didn't leave me feeling exhausted and incapable. I didn't know what to do, but I was determined to find a way - and I'm happy to say I came up with a great method that got my to-do list organised and made me more productive.
Fresh beginnings The first step is to start a new planner. This isn't essential, but I see a new planner as a fresh start. When you start over, you have room to make a whole new method, or to mix and match your old methods into your new one. Your fresh beginning could be a new notebook, a binder, or even some digital software. A new start is a great way to get rid of your old, unproductive habits and bring in a good routine and motivation. This doesn't mean you have to get rid of the old planner (I kept mine to look back on for a few months), but starting something new can be refreshing and easier to organise. Task chunking Next, I split up my tasks into sections. Most tasks are very similar, so these can be grouped to increase productivity. A common mistake made in task completion is jumping between different tasks, so you never settle and it takes time to get into the rhythm of doing a new type of task. I was finding I would make a new product, add a new listing, make pins, come up with promotion material etc, and each task was so different that it was hard to keep up. By splitting my tasks into sections, I could chunk similar tasks together to complete more. The sections I used were:
Assigning deadlines Due to the nature of my business, I found a lot of my tasks had no time restrictions. If I didn't make pins on a certain day, it wouldn't matter because I could do it at a later date. This was a nice, relaxing way to see my to-do list, but it didn't help for productivity. So I started setting deadlines - which changed my entire perspective. I found that by prioritising certain tasks, I was setting a little pressure on myself to actually get them done rather than watch another episode on Netflix. It's important to note that setting pressure on yourself should NOT result in feeling overwhelmed. If you are feeling overwhelmed, you are setting too many tasks for yourself. Using deadlines is purely a way to help encourage you to work on your business. If you do feel overwhelmed, there is nothing stopping you from pushing that deadline on. Using deadlines is simply a way to make you feel productive and set a schedule of what you have to do that day rather than picking random tasks. Assigning Importance Deadlines are a good way of adding importance of your tasks, but you'll also be setting deadlines that don't have a specific time restriction. For example, promoting in Facebook groups is a task I can do any time. If I don't get around to it, I can decide to push it on. However, posting on my Instagram page is a very important task that has a time restriction. If I don't post on the specified day, I will be behind and it will mess up my whole content strategy! So I also assign importance to tasks. Tasks that have a date that it ABSOLUTELY MUST be completed by get first priority over tasks that can be done at any time. Assigning Order This is a really important part of productivity - and that is the order in which you complete tasks. Everyday, you should be focusing on your very important tasks and they should be the ones you are completing first. No matter what section they are from, you need to do your time restrictive tasks first. Then, you can go on to your other tasks. First thing I look at is the next few days tasks. What very important tasks do you have to do? Is it something you can plan or do early? If there are other important tasks, do those first. I usually look up to 3 days forward and see what tasks I can compete early. Then, I go on to my other tasks. Using the grouping method we started with at the beginning, I pick 3 tasks that are similar. Sometimes, they are exactly the same (e.g. creating pins for three different products) or they can be related, but not the same (e.g. Creating a set of pins for one product, scheduling the pins and repinning old pins). Using these methods, I was able to create a foolproof system to organising everything in my business. It tells me what I need to do, how important my tasks are and gives me a schedule to follow. Got any new ideas? Let me know in the comments below! Start organising your Etsy shop easily with my FREE Etsy shop checklist! With tick boxes for tasks you should be doing on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, you can star to develop your to do list easily! Click here to get your free copy. A big mistake many small businesses make is not identifying who their target audience is. They don't realise the importance of targeting a niche because they are scared of loosing other customers who aren't their 'ideal' client. But, creating a target audience does not mean you won't sell to any other group. In today's blog post, I will be discussing why identifying your target audience is important, what you need to know about your ideal customer and how to reach them. WHY BOTHER WITH A NICHE TARGET AUDIENCE WHEN I CAN TARGET EVERYONE? The point of having a target audience is to attract an entire group of people very well. When you target everyone, you end up targeting no one. Alternatively, if you try to target multiple niche groups, you end up with a confusing brand. That is often why you see people set up multiple shops if they are targeting different audiences or sell different products. The other end of the spectrum is that small businesses target a broad audience. For example, males in their 20's. If you talk to 50 different males in their 20's, they will all have differences. Not every 23 year old male is interested in the same thing, have the same fashion sense, watch the same TV shows etc. For example, if you're trying to promote organic beard serum to all males, those without a beard won't be interested because it won't be any use to them. Targeting men in their 20's with a beard will be a better marketing strategy. Even better, men with beards who prefer natural and organic products. Targeting all males will be a waste of time, and you will reach an audience who have no use for your product. Targeting men with beards who like organic products doesn't mean you won't reach other audiences. You could still reach men with a beard who have never tried an organic product, men with beards who are in their 40s, or even women looking for a gift for a man. But niche targeting means you reach a population of consumers who are interested in your product, rather than a lot of people who aren't. WHAT DO I NEED TO IDENTIFY? So, what exactly do you need to know about your target audience?
Get my FREE customer profile worksheet here to help you dig deep into your target audience! Additionally, you can use the what, why, where and how method. For this you need to identify:
HOW DO I REACH MY TARGET AUDIENCE? Now you've got a target audience in your head that follows all the above, you need to think about how to reach them. You need to get your product in front of the correct audience, and there are a couple of super easy ways that you are probably already doing (but maybe not as optimised as you should be!) 1) Keywords - This is particularly important in your Etsy listings. Using optimised long tailed keywords that will reach your target audience is so important. For example, let's say you sell printable wall art with a leaf design. You want to reach people who like leaves, but this isn't really a thing. Most people don't just really like leaves and that's it! People who like leaves could come under the category of 'nature lover'. So, let's expand on that. After some research, I can see 'Gift for nature lovers' auto populates in the Etsy search bar. This is a specific term that is actually being searched for by Etsy buyers. Using a term like this would allow you to reach nature lovers - and people who know a nature lover and want a gift! So, even though you have targeted a niche, you are still reaching either your target audience, or someone who is buying for your target audience. 2) Hashtags - Usually, hashtags are rather rushed. We stick them on the end of our Instagram captions and pick any that seem relevant. For example, #Etsyshop - In all honesty this is a pretty rubbish hashtag. Hashtags like these are commonly used because you are an Etsy shop. But, unless your target audience are Etsy shop owners, the majority of people who find you from a hashtag like this aren't going to be interested in your product. They may give you a follow because you have something in common, but we want followers who want to click the link and buy! There's nothing wrong with using a couple of hashtags that relate to Etsy - doing a little bit of networking isn't harmful - but you don't want to rely on these hashtags to get sales. So, using the example above, you could use a hashtag like #natureloverforlife to reach an audience who loves nature! Hopefully, you've learnt a little more about how to find and reach your target audience, and you can use the above to start getting organic traffic that are interested in your products! Who are your target audience, and how do you reach them? Let me know in the comments below! Want help identifying your target audience and specific methods of how to reach them? Check out my target audience planner here! With a guide and worksheets to help you tap into who your niche are and tips on how to reach them.
It's a good feeling when you get that first payment deposit from Etsy - whether it be for £1 or £100. But what should you do with your profits? I recently got my largest chunk of money deposited into my bank account from Etsy, and my first thought was to have a massive online shopping spree and get myself some new work clothes (and by work clothes I mean pyjamas!). I mean, I deserve it right? I could buy a whole new bunch of clothes, and next month do the same. But what about if I reinvested some of that profit back into my business? Next month, I could have double that amount of profit - or even triple! Instead of blowing all my money, I set aside a little bit and bought myself an Etsy treat (To support a fellow seller!) and I have reinvested back into my shop to bump up profits. Now, next month, I will (hopefully!) have more profits because I reinvested. But what can you reinvest in? Keep reading to see how you can invest your profits back into your business - to get more profit! Put your profits towards new products So you have a bestselling item - it sells consistently and you make a bunch of your income from it! But what happens when new competition comes along and starts to take your target audience? You still get some sales, but no where near as many as you used to. Then more competition comes, and that decreases again. Unfortunately, the longer a product is on Etsy the more time your competition will realise its profitability and may replicate you in some way (Unlikely exactly the same, but maybe similar!). So what can you do? Use your profit to invest in new products. Don't rely on what is currently working to create a steady stream of income forever. Continue to develop new products that will match future trends - this could be new materials, new design software, or even trying a whole new product! If you're lucky, your bestselling item will continue to be so, but imagine if what you invested in also becomes a bestseller. Then you would be bringing in more income than before. Worst case scenario, you have back up products to keep you afloat if your bestseller suddenly dies down. Investing back into new products is an absolute must when it comes to business. Put your profits towards new equipment Equipment are items that you use to make your products. This could be a sewing machine, a cricut maker, a laptop, or even smaller items like fabric cutters! If your equipment is slow or depreciated it could be stopping you from reaching your full potential. If you reinvest your profit to buy a new piece of equipment that is super speedy and will get you creating quickly, you'll be creating more products and receiving more income. You may have started your Etsy shop with a second hand instrument, or something you've had for years. Why not give yourself an upgrade that will benefit your shop? Mechanical equipment, such as sewing machines, often slow down over time or don't function as well as they once did. Or maybe you have a 5 year old computer that takes forever to do simple tasks - getting an upgrade can save you valuable time to work on other tasks. This is why it's a good idea to invest in new equipment when you can to create more products and increase your profit. Put your profits towards new software and/or subscriptions New software and subscriptions can make your life so much easier. You can invest in subscriptions that help with content creating, automating your social media, e-mail marketing, bookkeeping or even towards building your own website. Anything you can subscribe to to speed up the process of your day to day tasks will give you more time to focus on your products and doing what you love. For example, signing up to a social media scheduler would allow you to bulk create social media content in one chunk, rather than having to post daily. Put your profits towards learning new skills Personal development is a big factor in growth. Although you can't claim personal development in your business bookkeeping, you can still use new skills to improve your business processes. Whether you use your profits to invest in a new course, or even an eBook that will help you gain understanding on a new topic. Investing in yourself can be a great investment in your business. You could learn new tips on social media, bookkeeping, marketing, optimising your shop, or even just general business management. If you look on Etsy, there are loads of planners and guides specifically to help with Etsy shops! For example, some of my most popular products are my Pinterest resources because my customers buy them to learn how to optimise their profiles. This increases their traffic to their Etsy shop, which in turn results in more sales. They are investing their profits into a digital resource to gain more income over time. This is a fantastic way to increase your profits. Put your profits towards outsourcing and delegation Outsourcing and delegation doesn't have to mean hiring a permanent employee. It can be hiring a subcontractor, or a one off package from another shop. You can hire subcontractors to complete tasks such as customer service, content creation, e-mail writing, blog creation, website creation, product research, audience research, and even SEO! If you struggle with a particular task, delegating can be a great way to free up your time and let you focus on the tasks you are good at. Small business owners are often scared of the thought of delegation - but you can't perfect everything. When you start learning to delegate tasks you may not be skilled in, you will see an improvement in your business profits because 1) Someone who is more skilled in a particular area will yield better results for your business, and 2) you have more time to do what you love - and that is creating your product! Hopefully you've learned a bit more about the benefits of reinvesting in your business, and what you can reinvest in to boost growth! Let me know in the comments what you've reinvested in, or something you will reinvest in in the future.
Have you checked out my FREE Etsy shop checklist? Get your copy here to see what tasks you should be doing daily, weekly and monthly! Nothing perks up your motivational vision board like a good quote! And for us fempreneurs, we need some inspiration to get us through the tough times! I have hand picked 10 girl boss quotes that you NEED on your vision board. I have used these on my own vision board, and it boosts my motivation when my Etsy shop is having a low moment. 1. 'I'm building a brand, I'm always busy' - Unknown 2. 'I never lose. I either win or learn' - Unknown 3. 'Well behaved women rarely make history' - Unknown 4. 'Be stronger than your excuses' - Unknown 5. A wise girl knows her limits, a smart girl knows she has none' - Marilyn Monroe 6. 'Anything's possible if you've got enough nerve' - J. K. Rowling 7. 'There is no force more powerful than a woman determined to rise' - Unknown 8. 'Know that you can start late, look different, be uncertain and still succeed' - Unknown 9. 'Sometimes you gotta be a beauty and a beast' - Nicki Minaj 10. 'If you're too comfortable, it's time to move on. Terrified of what's next? You're on the right track' - Susan Fales Hill Do you have any girl boss quotes you want to share? Leave them in the comments below.
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