4 Ways To Make Your Etsy Shop Stand Out

Etsy is an enormously popular marketplace for independent ecommerce businesses. The website primarily provides a platform for vintage or handmade goods, which has led to a huge range of interesting products being available on the website. However, while the amount of choice available is good news for consumers, businesses may have a hard time standing out from the crowd.

So, to help you beat the competition, we’ve created this helpful article, with our four top tips on how to stand out on Etsy. We’ll examine the different ways you can drive customers towards your ecommerce store, which helps increase sales and improve brand awareness.

How to Stand Out On Etsy: Our Top 4 Tips

Work on Your Etsy SEO

The search bar on Etsy works just like any other search engine. First, someone will enter keywords related to the product they’re looking for. A results page will come up, with the more relevant results at the top and the less relevant ones towards the bottom (or on the later results pages).

To attract more attention, you’ll want to be at the top of that results page. But how do you achieve this? Just like an independent website looking to rank high on Google results pages, you’ll need to use search engine optimization (SEO) principles

For Etsy SEO, the two deciding factors are quality and a process called ‘query matching’.

Quality: In Etsy SEO, the quality of your store refers to the number of positive reviews it has, the number of visits it receives, its location compared to the searcher, and the language the page is written in compared to the language the searcher is using. While you may not be able to easily alter some of these points (like location and language), encouraging your customers to write positive reviews is a great way to improve your SEO.

Query Matching: The words a customer types into the search bar are called ‘keywords’ in SEO. However, query matching refers to the process Etsy’s system goes through to check if the relevant keywords appear anywhere on your website. To rank higher on results pages, make sure you have all of the below areas filled in:

• Titles: This is the title of your business page and product pages.
• Tags: Short descriptions you can apply to products. They can be a single word or multiple.
• Categories: The type of product you sell. You can mark your product pages as belonging to a category or a more specific sub-category.
• Attributes: While tags describe what your product is, attributes describe its characteristics.

Say a customer searches for “sterling silver mens jewelry”, and that’s something which your store sells. If you have each of the areas we listed above filled in with accurate descriptions, and you use the right keywords, you’re much more likely to rank highly on the results page — and are, therefore, more likely to stand out from your competitors.

Think ‘Big Picture’ For Visual Branding

As with any business, consistent visuals on your Etsy store are important. If you’re looking to build your brand, you’ll want to create a visual style that’s both recognisable and easily recreated throughout every one of your product pages.

Obviously, this visual style needs to fit within the bounds of Etsy’s website, so you can only customize so much. Look at things like the setting your products are displayed in, the models you use (for clothing or jewelry stores), or the colors and logos you use on your products and company branding. These will be relevant to every single one of your product pages, so you should take steps to ensure everything is visually aligned.

Depending on what your Etsy store sells, you may also want to think about consistent product design. While stores selling handmade products can’t guarantee each of their goods will be the same, other businesses should try to keep the design, color palette, and materials used within their products consistent. Doing so will make your business look professional and appealing, which in turn helps your Etsy shop stand out.

Quality Photography is Key

Where possible, use high quality photography for your product pages and listings. Quality photography doesn’t just mean using high resolutions and powerful cameras — a good photo is one that clearly and favorably displays the product you’re trying to sell.

When taking photographs, providing different angles of a product is crucial, to make sure anyone looking at the image fully understands what type of product you’re selling. Photographing the product in a context that helps customers clearly understand its color and size is also very important.

Additionally, photography helps immensely if you’re trying to set up a business abroad. There may be a language barrier which limits the effectiveness of written product descriptions, so you may want to rely more heavily on images.

If it’s financially viable, consider hiring a professional to take photos of your products (unless you or someone you already employ has significant photography experience). If you can’t afford a photographer, you might still be able to pay someone to edit and optimize your photos to erase imperfections before you upload them to your website.

Stay True to Your Original Ideas

While there are tons of gimmicks to grant your business some temporary attention, if you’re wondering how to make your Etsy shop stand out, original and unique business ideas are still the best way to go. As such, it’s important to highlight your company and your products’ originality and unique selling points to ensure ensure your Etsy page stands out from the competition

For example, businesses that sell handmade goods should use product descriptions to highlight the crafting process and the people creating each product. If a big part of your business model is that you use locally sourced materials and ingredients, make sure you explain that on your business page.

Even if a new marketing trend is relevant to your business, try to put your own spin on it to ensure your brand and Etsy presence stays unique. This is also true for seasonal business ideas — make sure you retain your own brand personality if you choose to incorporate seasonal imagery or ideas.

Transfer and receive payments for your Etsy shop with Zyla

While the advice we’ve provided above is great for marketing and sales, you also need to think about the financial side of your Etsy shop. If you need to perform fast and secure transactions between accounts, and often deal with multiple currencies, then you need a Zyla Account.

Zyla can connect seamlessly with hundreds of online marketplaces (including Etsy) so you can collect funds from your product sales with ease. Zyla Accounts are also free to open, and don’t require a subscription fee to maintain. Finally, as well as being easy to use and set up, we also offer excellent customer service if you need assistance.

If you’re interested, you can sign up for your free Zyla Account today. For further information, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team.