Below is my answer to a question on Quora: https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-biggest-things-I-need-to-do-to-be-successful-on-ETSY/answer/James-Dillehay
Before you set up an Etsy shop, decide what kinds of things you will sell. Use a research tool like eRank – Grow your Etsy business or Marmalead to find popular categories on Etsy. Pick a niche you will enjoy working in. Another place to look is EtsyRank under “Competition”. Here you can view top sellers by categories.
Setting Up Your Etsy Shop
Read and follow all the guidelines and store policies when setting up your shop. It’s painful to invest time and effort building a great looking storefront and then have it suspended because you did something against one of the rules.
Write a compelling artist’s story. Shoppers want to know about your creative journey. They are as interested in your item being handmade as they are in the story behind the artist.
Your “Shop Announcement” gives you a place to add interesting details about your products and your process. It is also an overlooked area for placing popular keyword phrases used by Etsy shoppers.
Choose a memorable business name and logo for your shop.
Include your Etsy store URL on your business cards, receipts and other printed promotional material.
Product Listings
Product listings are pages that display information to viewers about your product. Listings include images, a title, a product description, tags, price, shipping, quantity, and materials.
When setting up a product listing, take your time and fill in each section that is appropriate to your product. Each of the areas in the set up page can provide opportunities to appear in searches.
More product listings are better. Look at your product line and think about how you can expand into new lines.
Images
Images play the biggest role when online shoppers browse your listings. 90% of shoppers report that great photos played a part in their buying decision.
Etsy allows you to upload ten images for each product. Use them all. Take photos of an item from different angles. Include images of people using your item, you making them and images of the product with a plain white background.
Etsy SEO
In your product listings, there is a place for tags (popular keywords shoppers use to search for products like yours.) Look to Etsyrank or Marmalead for popular words to include.
Use all your tags. Etsy allows you thirteen.
In your listing’s title, use the exact words and phrases used in your tags when possible. This one tip boosted my page views within days.
Include popular tags in your product listing description also. The most important areas for SEO of your listing are title, tags and descriptions.
Build up the number of items you have under a specific category like scarves or hats or placemats. Your listings will show up more in searches than shops with only a few items in those categories.
Categories are search terms themselves. So don’t waste your tags by including the same word as a category. For instance, under the category of tote bags, you wouldn’t need or want to also use a tag for tote bags.
Add new item listings to your Etsy store regularly, but not all at once. Aim for a minimum of fifty to a hundred listings. Each listing is a new opportunity to be found in Etsy searches, especially if you use unique keywords and tags in each listing.
Your Product Descriptions
In your product descriptions, tell the customer how your item will transform their life. Features are great, but benefits sell. How many different ways can a person use your item?
Spell check your listings before posting. When shoppers see misspelled words or grammatical errors, they can’t help but imagine your item may be as carelessly assembled as your text.
Share on Social Media
After you have posted your listings, it’s time to share. Etsy makes it easy for you to quickly share your product listings, five-star reviews, items that have been recently favorited and special sales to your social profiles on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
To make use of this feature, go to your Shop Manager > Marketing > Social Media and then look for the tab near the top that reads “Social accounts.” From there, connect your other social profiles. Etsy’s tool is free.
Paid social sharing programs that reach more social sites include Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard – Hootsuite and Social Media Marketing tool for Online Sellers.
Customer Service
Treat every customer as if they were your only customer and you’ll get great reviews. When I get a message from an Etsy shopper, I respond right away.
Etsy allows you to program a Thank You message that goes out automatically upon a sale. Mine expresses my gratitude for their purchase and tells them when they can expect to get their order.
Another way to automate building customer relationships is to create a discount coupon on the next purchase and set it up to be sent to the customer upon every checkout. Go to Shop Manager > Marketing > Sales and Coupons.
When you get complaints, offer to replace problem item or issue a refund. Put the customer in control. Don’t make them feel they are wrong.
Just fix problems even if doing so costs you extra. You’ve heard the saying “the customer is always right.” It’s never been more true than with online sales.
Promoted Listings
Invest in Etsy’s “Promoted Listings” feature under “Marketing.” Since I began using paid promotions, I’ve gotten more than 200,000 impressions, 1855 clicks, ad costs of $392, to bring in $3,117 in revenue. Not everyone gets these kind of results, but Promoted Listings have worked great for me.
Market Your Etsy Store Offline
More than 20% of my Etsy buyers come from my business cards collected by shoppers visiting my craft show booths.
I inform store buyers who see my display at a craft show how they can place an order through my Etsy store using a 50% off coupon.
Home parties and trunk shows make great venues for mentioning your online store.
Wear or carry something you make whenever you leave the house. When someone comments, hand them your business card—printed with your Etsy store URL—and enthusiastically tell them, “you can see my entire line at my Etsy store!”
If Sales Are Poor
If your Etsy shop has been up for awhile but performing poorly, hire successful Etsy sellers critique it. You can get shop reviews on Etsy for anywhere from $20 to $100 or more.
Search fiverr (dot) com for “etsy review.” I bought three different critiques of my shop (for around $30 total.) I got useful, actionable advise that helped my shop. If you use Fiverr, work with providers who have 5-star reviews. I bought three reviews because I wanted different perspectives of my shop. You might think all of them would offer the same suggestions. On some points they agreed. But each of the reviewers gave unique ideas that after making their changes helped my sales.
Browse the community forums and teams (groups) on Etsy to learn and share experiences with other craft artists about setting up, marketing and running an Etsy store. There are teams for your region of the country, your craft medium, for marketing and many other niche topics. Teams with more members tend to be busier and more current.
Boost sales by offering free shipping if your profit margin allows it. Go to your Shop Manager > Marketing > Sales and coupons. By using Etsy’s free shipping coupon (choose “no end date”), Etsy displays a free shipping badge on your shop’s product pages. If you set up free shipping as a shipping option, you won’t get the Etsy badge. The Etsy badge helps your listings show up better in search results. Even if you have to raise your prices to pay for the shipping, it will increase your visists and sales. My sales doubled from this tip, though I can’t promise you will have the same results.
Submit your product for reviews on shopping blogs:
Cool Mom Picks – the coolest gifts and gear for parents
Backpack, Luggage and Handbag Reviews
Try Handmade – Shopping blog featuring products made by people not factories.
Handmade Cards, Jewelry, Clothing, Craft Ideas, Gifts, Arts and Crafts Blog
Mixed Plate – A little bit of everything
Blogging
Start your own blog around your items and how to use them. Write useful tips on how people are using products like yours. For instance, if you make fashion accessories, write about tips for dressing up or casual looks. Include lots of photos. Link to your Etsy store. Start collecting subscribers by offering a newsletter. I use Aweber to manage my mailing list and newsletter delivery.
Etsy Apps
Many apps are available to help you market your Etsy shop. Most are built for users who have little technical background. These apps integrate your Etsy product listings with social media, direct mail marketing, photo editing, keyword research, keeping records for tax filings, credit card processing and more.
I use the Etsy Seller app on my smartphone. With the Shop Update function, I can upload an image at a crafts fair, tag it to one of my product lsitings, and hit update. This update is then viewable by my previous customers and followers. The Etsy Seller App has also been helpful for managing orders when I am traveling between shows. I love it when I hear it making a ‘cha-ching’ (sounds like a cash register) whenever a new order comes in.
There are too many third-party apps for Etsy sellers to list here. The reality is tools come and go, developers get bought out, or go out of business. Do a search for “Etsy seller apps ____” (fill in the current year) to get the most current Etsy seller tools available.
For more tips for selling your handmade products, see free newsletter at About James Dillehay