How to Improve Your Etsy Sales Through Advertising and Exposure

I’ve been in creative business for four years, but I’ve only been editor of Create Hype for a few short months. Frankly, I’m dying to get to know you and your businesses better. I want to see what you’re building, what’s driving your business, and what problems you’re facing. Ultimately, it will help me serve you better and make Create Hype a better resource.

I have experience in the industry, and I know I can help. I’m transparent about my business (I publicly announce my monthly results and income), and this is how I earn my living. I’ve coached hundreds of other business owners to help them build the same. I hope to work with you, too!

Because we’re in the same industry, there are a few problems I already know you face every single day. Such as,

How do I get found on Etsy?

The short answer is: you don’t. You’re one in a million shops, and that number grows bigger every day. In fact, Etsy stopped releasing statistics on how many active shops are in the marketplace, though they continue to report how much the website as a whole sells every month. I suspect this is because the numbers aren’t going to make any seller happy … if you divide the number of shops by the amount of sales, the average shop is making less than $1,000 per year.

Here’s another toughie:

How do I compete in a saturated market?

Other versions of this question:

• How do I compete with a shop selling at lower prices?
• How do I compete with resellers?
• How do I compete with the new Etsy regulations (that allow sellers to hire help)?

Here’s another short answer: you don’t. In my four years of business, I have never once competed with another jewelry designer or blogger. The concept doesn’t even make sense to me, but online sellers get stuck here.

I have a few questions: What makes you think your potential customers have ever even heard of your competition? And why are you focused on what they’re doing? If you put that same amount of thought and creative energy into your own business, you’d be soaring by now!

Let’s be honest, it’s quite easy to click around the internet and blame the competition because you’re not getting sales. It’s quite another thing to venture out into the world of marketing and advertising, take the reigns on your business and drive it toward success. Am I right?

You have to rewrite the story of your business.

Here’s one way to tell your story:

My customers can’t find me because there are hundreds of resellers crowding up the marketplace. The competition hires cheap help, and who can compete with those prices? If it weren’t for all this danged competition and this saturated market, my business would take off!

That sure is one way to look at it. So in other words, if every other seller got off the flipping internet, your business could finally get ahead? Hmmmm. Not likely.

Here’s another way you might tell your story:

I have an amazing product that is of excellent quality. There’s definitely a market for it,  as evidenced by all the other sellers in this niche! I know that if I could get my online storefront in front of the right customers, it would take off. How do I find my customers and point them to my shop?

Seriously, how much better does that feel? It’s an active approach: one where you’re in control of your shop’s destiny rather than a victim of the marketplace.

Here’s what I’ve learned:

The more I actively try to help other sellers, the more I realize that many people insist on keeping their problems.

Did you ever have a friend who was going through a hard time, and you supported her, listened to her and tried to help her work it out? But the next day, she called back with the exact same problem still unresolved. She repeated the same questions and needed you to give her the same advice all over again.

Suddenly, you realize your friend is on a continuous loop with her problem because she doesn’t mind keeping it. We sometimes get very comfortable with our obstacles, for one reason or another:

• We like the nurturing attention it brings from the outside world;
• We’re addicted to the dramatics an unsolved problem adds to our life; or (most likely)
• We feel overwhelmed, uncertain and too scared to take the first step in the right direction.

Telling everyone else in the world your problems simply dissolves your productive energy. It’s a form of complaining. And while there’s definitely a time and place for complaining (it’s the prequel to change), you have to realize that some people complain for a living.

It’s what they’re doing today, because it’s what they did yesterday and what they’re going to do tomorrow. It’s the equivalent to chasing your tail or running on a hamster wheel. If you don’t use your complaints to learn what needs to change in your life, then you’re getting nowhere fast.

Are you willing to carve your own path?

I can teach you how to get what you want: more customers, more sales and more income. My new program is called, Advertising and Exposure.

You can read more about it and grab your copy by clicking here. But, I have something special just for you, dear Create Hype reader.*

I’m throwing in one of my top-rated shop critique packages (a $249 value) with your purchase of Advertising and Exposure.

Here’s how to take advantage of this exclusive offer:

Simply click here to buy Advertising and Exposure for $68, forward your receipt with your name + a link to your online storefront to [email protected], and I’ll get to work! I will record a brief audio file that will convert into at least two pages of detailed analysis. I’ll have those notes transcribed and return the complete package (audio + PDF file) to you within 10 business days.

This package helps us both in 3 ways:

1. You’ll get a copy of Advertising and Exposure to expand your business and get it out into the world;
2. You’ll get a non-biased, professional critique of your online storefront from a proven expert in the field. It will help convert your views into sales;
3. I’ll get to know you, which will help me make Create Hype a more valuable resource.

A better offer simply does not exist! Click here to get started. I look forward to working with you.

*Bonus shop critique offer expires March 15, 2014.