A lot of bloggers out there have Etsy (or other) shops in addition to their blog. Their shops are filled with cute headbands and jewelry or pins, clutches and other things that everyone should be seeing! But how do you get more people to see your shop?
There are many ways you can promote your shop. Make business cards, put links on your Facebook profile page, tell your friends and family, shout from the rooftops, etc. I’m going to help you promote your shop with a blog.
What is the benefit of promoting your Etsy shop through your blog?
A blog can help you tell the story behind an item or line in your shop. Promoting your shop through your blog can help you relate the items in your shop to potential customers. It also gives you an avenue to show your products put to use in everyday life.
Typically, a shop listing will include one photo and a short description. While that may get some results, being able to tell a story and include more about the items is also nice. In a blog post, include photos of you wearing jewelry available in your shop and just leave a simple link to it in your post.
In a Tweet or Instagram post, add a quick note like “I featured a new Chevron clutch from my shop in my latest post!” to get people interested.
Another way to promote your shop through your blog is to contact other bloggers and ask them to do a button swap. Give them the button to your shop and put the button for their blog on your own blog. You could also offer to send bloggers an item from your shop in exchange for writing about it and your shop. It will help a bit if you have a blog accompanying your shop, because bloggers relate to other bloggers very much and are likely to want to help out! Furthermore, you could do a giveaway on your blog (or others) for items in your shop.
Let’s get to some detailed ways to promote your shop on your blog.
Include a link to your shop in a prominent place on your blog. I would suggest to all shop owners to put a link to your shop in your top menu. For example, if I had an Etsy shop, here’s what I would do:
Not only would I put the link at the top, I would put it directly after the key info like “home” and “about” or “contact” if you have that too. You want people to KNOW that you have a shop! I don’t know about you, but if I am curious as to whether or not a blogger has a shop, I jump to the top of their site and look for that menu item for their shop. If it’s not there, I simply assume they do not have one.
I would also add a button for your shop in your sidebar. Lindsey from The Pleated Poppy does a great job advertising her shop. She has the top menu item for her shop and the first thing in the sidebar of her blog is a nice little graphic that links to her shop. Take a look:
This is a great example of using your blog to promote your shop. You’ll also notice that the most recent post is highlighting a sale in the shop! If you spend some time on her blog, you will notice that it is indeed a blog and not just one big advertisement for her shop. Take notes folks!
Having a blog gives you one more avenue to promote your shop, but you should take care to not make it seem like one giant ad for your shop. People follow a blog because they want to get to know a real person, so give them that. A post here and there about a sale or new item is just perfect! Your readers will relate to you and be more interested in the things that you are promoting and the sales will happen naturally.
I hope that helped give you some ideas on how to promote your shop through your blog!
Do you own a shop?
What are some ways that you promote your shop?
Hi Zack,
Great post. I do agree that a blog can give a personality into a business. In a matter of a shop an existence of a blog can build long lasting relationship with costumer.
Thanks Okto! Yes, a blog can certainly tell a story that a simple item description cannot.
Hi Zach
I’m Susan from Homeroad. I love your blog, your tips have helped me out more than once! I have an Etsy shop and I do have a link in my header… glad to know I’m doing it right! My sales have picked up and I do think people like to see posts on how I make things then a link to the shop… A great big Thank You!
Susan
Susan you made my day! So glad the blog has helped you out! With a shop as great as yours, I’m sure it’s quite easy to promote! I love those signs!
There is a new tip for etsy shop promotion – TreasuryPromo.com
TreasuryPromo is an Etsy treasury exchange network! It is like a big treasury team, but they do not have a limit for the number of treasuries to be made per month. You can create treasuries whenever you want and earn karma points that way! Also you don’t need to notify shops for including them in your treasuries, because if you make treasuries, you will be in treasuries!