Top 10 Go-to Resources for Etsy Business Owners

Etsy has put hand-crafted, unique items within the reach of everyone. The platform is a great place for crafty entrepreneurs to connect with interested customers and share some beautiful and special creations. Etsy sellers can become very successful, too:

• Etsy has over 2.5 million sellers.
• 62 percent of Etsy sellers are based in the U.S.
• Top Etsy sellers can make $1,000 to $5,000 a month or more.
• Etsy has over 60 million products listed on its platform.
• More than 45 million people purchase goods on Etsy.

It’s an exciting time, and there’s a lot to think about when you’re creating your Etsy store.

We can help! We’ve got a couple of in-depth guides for when you’re just starting out.

Our “How to Start an Etsy Business” guide talks you through everything you need to get your basic business structure in place — from deciding on the type of business you want to run to creating a business plan, validating your products and working out your finances.

We’ve also spoken to successful Etsy influencers to get their insight into what works and what doesn’t. You'll get a helpful view of how an Etsy business really runs, and how you can optimize yours for success.

We know there are many more great Etsy resources out there. That’s why we’ve talked to more Etsy shop owners and gathered together some of the most recommended guides and tools to help you maximize your Etsy success. We’ve divided these into sections:

• Starting Up an Etsy store
• Marketing on Etsy
• Keywords and Search Engine Optimization
• Sales Management Tools

Let’s get into it.

Resources for Starting an Etsy Business

The Beginner's Guide to Selling on Etsy

Etsy’s own beginner’s guide is the best place to start if you want to open an Etsy shop. The guide goes into detail across the following areas:

• Get to know Etsy
• Open your shop
• Finish your shop setup
• Adding listings to your shop
• Marketing, branding and promotion
• Manage your shop
• Questions about setting up your shop

It provides simple step-by-step instructions on each area, along with links to get more detailed information for shop owners who want to dig a little deeper.

The Beginner's Guide to Selling on Etsy is available on Etsy’s website.

How to Start an Etsy Shop

This guide from Bplans brings together some good, unbiased thinking to help you get started with your shop. It covers several important areas, including researching the right products, understanding SEO and social media and getting your shipping and returns right.

How to Start an Etsy Shop is available on the Bplans website.

Your Ultimate, No-Stress Guide to Opening an Etsy Shop

There are several guides that aim to be the “ultimate” resource for starting an Etsy shop, but this one lives up to the hype. Crowdspring’s guide runs to over 5,000 words(!) and covers everything from setting up your Etsy account to inventory management, marketing, product listing and more.

Your Ultimate, No-Stress Guide to Opening an Etsy Shop is available on the Crowdspring website.

Etsy Marketing Resources

Etsy Marketing Tool for Boosting Etsy Sales

The Etsy Marketing Tool provides a wide range of features to help you maximize your sales. Features include:

• Social media marketing
• Automatic listings renewal
• Bulk image uploads
• Banners, badges and tags
• Repricing tools
• And more

Find the Etsy Marketing Tool here.

The Ultimate Guide to Product Photography

Capturing your products in the best light is essential to selling your listings. Pauline Orr, blogger at Pink Pursuits, finds it to her top recommendation. "If I could go back in time and hand over my favorite resources of the present to my past self ... first would be a gift of a set appointment with a photographer willing to give me pointers on how to do product photography."

Even if you can't hire a photographer, this incredible 14-chapter guide goes into every aspect of making your products look great — from understanding the right types of product photos to editing your photos to perfection.

The Ultimate Guide to Product Photography is available on Etsy’s website.

Outfy for Promotion on Social Media

Social media is a critical part of marketing your Etsy business. By utilizing it, you can increase your reach, notify customers of new items and attract new customers. Jeremy Rice, from HouseFloral, has found that going outside of the social media box has been successful for him. "Oddly enough, we’ve found a great place or resource to be TikTok. Once you start going down the feeds of Etsy shop or business TikTok, your feed will be full of info. ... You also can see what other shops have done that has worked and what hasn’t. Lots of soap shops do pouring posts. Jewelry makers show their process. Sticker makers show ... how they draw it, to actually unpacking them from the printer. It helps to see your process in a new way through theirs."

Using a tool, such as Outfy, makes it easy to get on social media by providing social promotion tools, the ability to create quick GIFs and videos, tools for easy automation and analytics tools to see what's working and what's not.

Find Outfy here.

Etsy Keywords and Search Engine Optimization

Marmalead for Etsy Keyword Research

Marmalead is a tool that helps you discover the keywords that shoppers are typing into Etsy. Abby Herman, Director of Strategy at Snap Agency, uses Marmalead. She shares: "Etsy search is powerful so don’t overlook those keywords and tags on your listings. A good tool to use if you can is Marmalead, which helps by generating keywords related to the product you are selling." You can then use this insight to optimize your product listings to improve your placement in search.

Find Marmalead here.

eRank to Boost Your SEO on Etsy

eRank is a growth tool designed to help you compete more effectively on Etsy. It helps you to craft your product titles, descriptions and tags so your listings appear for the most popular shopping searches. You can also track your search ranking and growth over time. Jacqueline Gilchrist, founder of Mom Money Map, says that eRank is one of the top three resources she's used as an Etsy shop owner over the past year.

Find eRank here.

Etsy Sales Management Tools

Etsy on Sale for Easy Sales Management

Everyone loves a good sale, and Etsy on Sale makes setting up and managing one a breeze. Etsy on Sale helps you manage sales events, renew your sales and optimize your tags.

Find Etsy on Sale here.

Seller Tools for Professional Online Sellers

Seller Tools is designed for ecommerce sellers across multiple platforms, not just Etsy. It does work with Etsy though and provides a formidable set of features:

• Automation of repetitive tasks
• Integration with all major marketplaces
• Simple design for fast shop and product management
• Promotion of items across multiple channels
• Marketing to help you reach your target audience
• Planning for smart scheduling and preparation
• Analytics to see how your products and sales are performing
• Trend analysis to identify patterns and popular items
• Auto-renewing agent to renew your listings as needed

Find Seller Tools here.

Fees and Taxes for Selling on Etsy

Etsy’s fees are generally very reasonable, considering the amount of exposure a seller can get. It’s important to understand what those fees are so you can build them into your costs and work out your profit. This guide, written by Etsy lists all of their current fees and charges.

Fees and Taxes for Selling on Etsy is available on Etsy’s website.

We hope you’ve found this collection of Etsy resources helpful. Remember, when it comes to managing your business right, we can help. If your Etsy business needs assistance with compliance, taxes, expanding to a new state and more, we're here to walk you through it.