Want to know how to boost traffic on Etsy? Do you want to do it the quickest and easiest way possible? The truth is, the holidays are the best time of year for an Etsy seller. Which means now is a great time to boost your Etsy traffic.
So here’s how to do it.
Now is the time when many budding entrepreneurs and artisans look toward the upcoming colder months to prepare their business accordingly.
For many Etsy sellers, that means fine-tuning an income stream and tidying up their business. It’s as simple as making a few key changes in your Etsy shop and product marketing. But it helps to know where to start.
After all, the only difference between you and the top 1% on Etsy is a handful of strategic business moves.
In this short article, we’ll look at some simple yet effective ways to boost your Etsy traffic and prepare your store for the upcoming holiday season.
Boost traffic on Etsy with holiday-based promotions
The best opportunity to promote your Etsy shop is during the leadup to a holiday. Whether it’s a massive festivity like Christmas or something a little more niche like International Bacon Day, there’s probably a few days out of the year that your brand can leverage.
Tying in your brand and/or product to the big holidays is a no-brainer:
- Thanksgiving
- Christmas
- Halloween
- Easter
- Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM)
- 4th of July
- Veteran’s Day
These are just a handful of the bigger days where our society comes to a halt because of the occasion.
But there are also plenty more.
Every day can be a holiday
The aforementioned International Bacon Day is just one of them. Falling on September 3, International Bacon Day would be a fantastic day to promote your bacon-based products (should you sell them).
International Flamingo Day is April 26th, so if you’re selling pillows, clothing, decor, or anything to do with Flamingos, that’s your time to shine.
If you take the time to look, there’s an obscure holiday on every day of the year. Most of these won’t be helpful for your business. But if you pick out a handful, you can drum up some interest for your products on social media, offer timely promotions, and boost your Etsy traffic.
Here’s the idea: Create a discount or promotion for your products leading up to the holiday of your choice. Then ramp up your product marketing on social media (and wherever else you market your products) to bring attention to your Etsy shop and your holiday sale.
And here’s how to get bonus points: Pick a holiday that larger charities celebrate, then donate a percentage of your sales to that charity. Choose a charity that’s important to your target audience, and you’ll create goodwill with your customers while doing your part for the cause.
Using the right keywords to boost traffic on Etsy during the holidays
Holiday promos is one way to boost traffic on Etsy. But another way is by using holiday specific keywords.
This is a sure-fire way to get your products found during whatever holiday you intend to target because shoppers will already be searching Etsy for things to buy leading up to that holiday.
This might not work for a holiday like International Bacon Day (how many people do you know celebrate this “holiday” without outside influence from ads or social media?).
But it’s sure to work for major consumer holidays.
Think of it this way, if your local retail stores change out their decorations and products leading up to a specific holiday, it might be a holiday you should consider targeting as well.
The best way to target these major holidays? Holiday keywords. Not sure where to start? Here’s how Marmalead can help:
Now when we say you should “use holiday keywords,” we don’t just mean you should go ahead and start adding keywords like “Christmas gift” and “Easter decorations.”
Instead, you should search for keywords that align with your product niche and are terms buyers would most likely be searching during that specific holiday.
Boost traffic on Etsy with pop-culture trends
Remember Squid Game?
Unsurprisingly, all the hype around the TV show died shortly after its conclusion.
The same thing happened with Game of Thrones. But Game of Thrones is now back, thanks to its spinoff series, House of the Dragon. And keeping up with the fantasy TV theme, there’s always a new Star Wars series just around the corner.
A surefire way to boost your Etsy traffic is to leverage the surge in popularity of these fandoms within pop-culture.
Does this mean you should go ahead and add a bunch of Disney keywords to your listings? No! But ‘dragon’ is fair game. Along with ‘fantasy,’ ‘sci-fi,’ and any other keywords that align with current pop-culture movements.
Here’s a tip: Instead of just using the keyword ‘dragon’ on your fantasy products, try using Marmalead to see what other long tail alternatives you can come up with. Why? Because long tail keywords are more likely to bring engaged shoppers that are ready to buy.
Boost Etsy traffic with internet trends
Another ‘newsjacking’ trend is to look at what’s being spoken about in popular internet culture.
It’s corn!
A big lump with knobs
It has the juice (it has the juice)
I can’t imagine a more beautiful thing (Woo!)
For the most part, such internet fame is void of copywriting laws, making it an excellent opportunity for your Etsy brand to leverage.
Other ideas (that are indeed locked to the period that this article is being written):
- It’s corn!
- Adam Levine & ‘your body’
- Cbat
Pro Tip: Keep an eye on publications like Husspost, Mashable, Buzzfeed, and such. Especially watch for terms like ‘we love’ and ‘can’t get enough’.
Boost your traffic on Etsy with better branding
You’re probably not overly attached to the brand of sugar that you buy in the grocery store. It’s a minor, cheap ingredient that plays no real bearing on anything.
But you’re probably a little more partial to the brand of computer you buy. Or brand of car. It’s a more considerable sum, and there’s an element of trust between the consumer and brands at higher price points.
Where’s your product sit in terms of price point?
How does your brand’s name impact the trust between you and your customer? This is worth answering, regardless of your price point.
While this tip may not directly relate to a boost in traffic, it will certainly help you convert more of the traffic you get into paid customers.
How does your logo look once uploaded as your store’s default picture? Could it look better? Does your brand story, in fact, tell the story of your brand? Whether you’re a larger operation with several people in the background or a single operator, it always pays to present your brand in the most professional light.
Yes, many buyers come to Etsy because of the handmade and artisanal vibe and don’t necessarily want perfect – but there’s a vast chasm between unprofessional and imperfect!
Boost your Etsy traffic with the right keywords
If you’ve invested a lot into your Etsy SEO (and you should have), you’ve probably spent some time picking and fine-tuning keywords.
But how do the search volumes for your keywords fluctuate throughout the year? Have any new long tail keywords related to your main keywords recently increased or decreased in search volume?
Using Marmalead, you can quickly and easily find this out.
By getting on top of keyword trends as they start to emerge, you can reposition your products accordingly and perhaps even launch new products to capture that demand.
In other words, closely monitoring your keywords (and other keyword trends related to your product market) helps you stay informed of the demand around your product and/or business so you can adjust your actions accordingly.
Boost traffic on Etsy through TikTok & Instagram Reels
TikTok and Instagram Reels have evolved into powerful marketing platforms in recent times.
Products that are novel, interesting, and genuinely unique thrive on these short-form content platforms as users usually have short attention spans and want to be entertained immediately.
But how can you use these platforms advantageously?
There are two ways:
One way is to treat these platforms as an acquisition channel. Rather than create your own account and your own content, many brands create ‘throwaway’ accounts based on an individual person, and then use that account to reach out to larger accounts, asking to share content on that product. This is more often than not a paid mention or affiliate link. If you’re new to online selling, this type of social media marketing can get complex and doesn’t always provide a noticeable ROI, but it pays big time when it does.
Spend some time on TikTok and Instagram looking at brands similar to yours and see how they’re using the social media accounts of others to promote their product.
The second and more ‘honest’ way of using TikTok & Instagram is to use it to document your business and the creation of your product. Rather than pushing their product, many small businesses and artisans are using these short-form social media channels to document the creative process and how much joy they get out of creating such products. The result is more honest and insightful content that appeals to a broader audience. Ultimately, such content makes a product more desirable, as customers want to buy a part of that creative process.
Keep it simple
There’s no point investing in social media influencers if you don’t have your profit margins sorted out.
Don’t try newsjacking if you can’t decide on a demographic you want to sell to in the first place.
Being a small brand and marketing your Etsy products isn’t about reinventing the wheel. It’s about doing the fundamentals right and then building from there.
Keep that in mind if you’re struggling to generate more Etsy traffic.
Looking for more tips? Here’s how to get even more traffic on Etsy.
