After Your Etsy is Open ✽ How to Rank Even Higher

After what we talked about yesterday, your shop background details prove that you mean business and that you are dedicated to the little details. That is a big boost in helping all the other things you will be doing from now on get bigger results! From here on out, the methods of building trust are not as clear cut, and will require more work... but you have a great foundation for them, and the work is well worth it!

So what are some of these other ways that you can rank your listings higher on Etsy?

-Great SEO. This includes titles, tags, your shop description, and shop section titles. SEO stands for Search Engine Optomization, and simply put; it's how you get found without giving someone the direct link to your shop. A customer comes to Etsy and types into the search bar what they are looking for. If that phrase is in your listing title, they'll see you! I'll show you how I go about finding my Etsy Keywords in another post :).

-Visually appealing photos. This is the one I struggle with, and yes, I know it well :P. I just bought some photographer's paper, and am trying to learn how to use that, hoping that it will make a difference in my pictures and raise my sales. SEO is how you get found; but photographs are how you get views. A person searches hats, and your listing comes up. Great, it's in front of them! But until they click on it, it doesn't count as a view for you. A good photo will be what make a lot of people pick your item out of all the others listed. Some people will look past the bad picture to see the product... but others will know that it looks like you don't know what you are doing. It's truthfully I think the hardest aspect to get right, but so important, which makes it worth it to "try, try again", right :)?

-Mail your packages out on time. You got an order, yay! Now make sure that it gets in the mail on
time, because if you don't, you won't be as likely to succeed. And make sure you MARK it as shipped, too, because Etsy knows your promised date, and they'll be keeping an eye on it. Packages arriving late can upset buyers, who can leave you a bad review or complain to Etsy, and neither of these is wanted when you want to improve your shop credibility or customer relationship! If you can't make it by a certain date, don't promise it. Of course after it leaves your hand, the post office is responsible; but the date is an estimated shipping date, not delivery date :). Make it a policy to always have things done ahead of the time promised; it makes really happy reviews :).

-Good reviews. Now, this one is difficult, too. You need sales to get reviews, and reviews are important to get sales. But it's alright, they'll come in time! I'll talk about how to get more reviews in another post, too, but just think about when you shop; you like to know that past customers got their item, that it was what it said it would be, and that the seller was nice to work with! Your customers are going to want to know these thing, too.

-A good conversion rate, making sales, getting item likes, and getting shop likes. Each time a potential buyer either buys your item or "shows it some love", that listing is seen as more valuable to Etsy's search engines! It's the gift that keeps on giving :).

What of these important elements is the one you struggle with most? Which is the one that you find you are best at, and do you have any tips for the rest of us in that area :)?