Launching a website or store on a marketplace like Etsy is a little different to building your own website from scratch. Etsy is one of the most popular environments for selling creative items. You can use this platform as an environment for advertising your home-made paintings and pottery. Etsy is also a good place to sell digital downloads, with automated download options built into the checkout.
When small business owners are just starting out, they often find an Etsy store easier to manage, and more effective than a complete website. After all, with Etsy, you already have access to a wide selection of potential customers, used to browsing the platform on a regular basis. However, just like you need to use SEO to ensure people can find you on the search engines, you’ll also need to optimize your store on the marketplace.
How Etsy Benefits from SEO Strategies
There are two main ways to optimize your Etsy website. First, since individual pages and storefronts can show up in the Google search engines, it’s worth taking steps to do some basic optimization from a traditional perspective. Knowing which keywords your customers are likely to look for and adding the right pictures (with meta descriptions) to your listings are crucial.
On the other hand, you’ll also need to think about optimizing for Etsy’s own search function. Customers can visit Etsy and search through various categories to find the products they want. The search tool intends to help shoppers find the items they need as quickly as possible. Guides online can help you to examine the best tips for success when it comes to optimizing your store both for the Etsy search function, and the search engines. However, some of the primary strategies you should expect to use include:
- Choosing the right shop title: Like a business name or website URL, a shop title should help your customers to identify your store and determine what you sell.
- Using the right keywords: Customers use keywords to help them with all kinds of searching. Make sure you know what kind of terms your clients are looking for.
- Learning about your customer: Knowing how to rank in the search results (and with Google) means knowing who you’re trying to appeal to. Think about the kind of terms they’ll use, where they’re from, and which categories they’ll visit.
Mastering your Etsy Strategy
Just like ranking with search engines, learning how to use your listing correctly can ensure that you attract more of the right customers – those already ready to make a purchase with your brand. However, you’ll need to make sure that you’re committed to constantly updating and improving your listing over time. Just like Google, the algorithms Etsy uses can change and evolve over time, so make sure you keep an eye on your listings, and how well they perform. Every now and again, it’s worth adding a note to your schedule so you can go through your product pages, audit your storefront, and make sure you’re not missing out on chances to find your target audience. Something as simple as a single product listing word change could make a huge difference.