How to Set up Your Etsy Store And Start Selling in 10 Days

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With over 1 million independent sellers of vintage and handmade goods, Etsy is hipster heaven for handmade craft and vintage goods.

The ultimate global craft market, Etsy is a marketplace for aspiring artisans and small businesses to offer arty items all via a clever ecommerce platform.

If you’re looking to set up a Etsy store on this innovative platform you’ll need to stand out from the crowd and create a store that professionally showcases your businesses and products so that you’re not lost in a sea of sellers.

In this article, we share our key tips, tricks and techniques to set up a fully functional Etsy store and start selling in just 10 days.

10 Days to Launch: Register Your Esty Store 

There is no time like the present, jump on your computer, click on the “Open your Etsy Shop”, add in your details, set up your shop preferences and familiarize yourself with the layouts.

There, you’ve started the process…now you need to get serious.

Once you start setting up your store, you will see details about naming your store, stocking your shop and how you will get paid. No need to do that just yet, the main thing is setting up the initial store pages and have a look around to get a feel for the Etsy community.

If you’re a bit behind the times and aren’t too techie with setting up platforms, you could engage the services of a virtual assistant or web developer to set this stage up and running for you.

9 Days to Launch: Get a Marketing Plan 

There are so many ways to connect with customers but for most people they are stumped when it comes to marketing their own store or products and incorrectly adopt a ‘build it and they will come’ philosophy. Successful Etsy sellers can confirm that you need a solid marketing plan to get your customers flocking to your virtual door, so get one sorted as a matter of urgency.

If you’re not up to speed with strategic marketing planning get a freelance marketing expert to come up with a 12-month plan to help you find your feet. Freelance marketing experts that can turn around cost effective, descriptive and vital marketing plans for you to guide you through the best ways to implement cost-effective marketing activities that will generate a buzz around your new Etsy site and help you start selling.

8 Days to Launch: Decide on a Name 

Look at what other stores are calling themselves in the same markets and open your eyes to the potential possibilities. If you aren’t too creative with the name side of things, you can engage the services of a freelance content writer or wordsmith that can develop a list of names that could suit your store, with a sprinkle of SEO in there too. 

7 Days to Launch: Get Your Business Details All Set Up 

Do you have all the relevant business names registered? Have you set up your accounting software for invoicing? If not, you might need a hand from a freelance bookkeeper or accounting professional who can provide the necessary support to get your business set up and ready for action.

It’s not a great idea to put off the business set up till after you launch, set everything up ahead of time so everything is peachy and your store has all the right business processes set up from the get go.

6 Days to Launch: Snap Some High-Quality Images 

Your customers are going to want to see exactly what they are buying, so it pays to get high-quality images shot to showcase your wares.

Setting up your Etsy store correctly including professional product images is vital to start selling. Poor quality, low res photos will make you look unprofessional and your target market may not feel comfortable about buying your product.

If you’re not a photographic guru, track down a freelance photographer to set up some visually appealing shots of your products so you put your best foot forward online. Lighting and visual layout make a massive difference on Etsy stores, and professional images will showcase your business and help you stand out from the crowd.

5 Days to Launch: Set up Product Descriptions With Keywords 

Now you have your fancy photos of your products; now it’s time to compliment them with descriptions that make your potential customer want to buy.

Your product descriptions are a great way to describe the features and benefits of your product and make it sing.

If you’re not a wizard with words or don’t know your way around a keyword, it could be a good idea to get a freelance copywriter to help you craft your product descriptions to ensure they jump out to your audience and secure a sale.

With millions of stores on Etsy, ensuring your products are properly described and stand out from the crowd is essential to getting runs on the board and customers through your virtual doors.

4 Days to Launch: Organize Your Shipping 

With so many shipping options it’s worth spending a day looking through all the possible options, understanding the ‘total cost’ of shipping to:

-    Capital cities

-    Regional centers

-    Regional areas

-    Rural areas

-    Internationally

If you need some assistance with the research side of things a freelance virtual assistant can help you to drum up the info you need, so you can spend your time wisely on setting up other elements of your store.

As soon as you are happy with the pricing and service offering of a provider set it up in your Etsy store & get prepared to start selling.

3 Days to Launch: Get Legal Advice 

As a sole trader, you are ultimately responsible for all the intellectual property that you put on your store so make sure you’re up to speed with everything legally so you don’t leave yourself open to being hung out to dry.

Ensure that what you are putting up on your store is your design, or you have written permission to sell or resell what it is that you are selling, otherwise you could be out of business before you start selling anything!

Speaking to a lawyer is always a positive step, just to make sure you have covered everything needed to launch your exciting new business. Freelance legal advice is available on an ad hoc basis so be sure to check everything is above board legally before you launch your store to a global market.

2 Days to Launch: Test Your Site 

You are one day out….so it’s time to test your site and bring in some friends or colleagues to review and suggest any changes.

It could be a good idea to tee up a freelance marketing expert to review your site from a professional perspective to make sure there are calls to action, and everything is hunky dory for your potential customers.

1 Day to Launch: Launch And Start Selling 

And just like that…you’re an online Etsy retailer.

Now that you’ve officially launched your Etsy store, your marketing efforts should be generating leads to your site, your colleagues should be live users and actively promoting your business to others and your Etsy store should essentially be cooking with gas.

Remember, just because your site is live, there is always more opportunities to expand and grow. You can increase your range, styles, your marketing efforts, design all by engaging freelancers hourly as you need them.  If you need some help with sales or business development consider looking for freelancers that specialize in this area, or even a freelance public relations guru to get word of your new store out to the world.

How do I Find The Perfect Freelancer For my Needs?

When you’re building an Etsy store you’re going to be looking for some of the best freelance talent to help you launch your store successfully.

Whether you need a graphic designer, photographer, copywriter or virtual assistant, the process for creating a job ad is simple.

Things to include in your job ad for a freelancer:

  • Business information - tell potential freelancers about your Etsy store, what you offer, your point of difference and any other info they might need to know to get an understand of what you are selling.

  • Outline what you need to be done - do you need a few images cropped, content written, product descriptions or some research done, whatever you need to be done simply outline specifically the task clearly in the ad. Add in any other specific requirements you expect from the freelancer so it is crystal clear.

  • Add a time frame - do you need your job done yesterday? Be clear if the job is urgent or needs to be done in record time. Etsy stores are a 24/7 business, so if you need something turned around super quick you’ll need to be clear about this in your ad.

Once you’ve placed your job ad you can sit back and watch all the bids and proposals come in from awesome freelancers from all over the world.

Need to Hire Some Amazing Freelancers to Help Launch Your Online Store? Here's How.

Launching a new Etsy store doesn’t need to send you in a spin, there is a world full of talented freelancers ready and able to help get your store set up and firing on all cylinders.  

Freelancer.com makes hiring the best talent easy! Simply, post a project today, and receive bids within seconds.  

 

ลงประกาศ 17 มกราคม, 2017

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