Behind the Scenes: Opening an Etsy Store

First, I want to thank everyone for your kind words of support after the launch of my store.  I'ts been on my "to do" list since the first of January, and it feels great to have accomplished this goal.

I thought I would do a quick behind-the-scenes of what goes into setting up a store on Etsy.  For the most part it is a very intuitive process, but there are several steps you have to take to go from "I want to open an etsy shop" to "My shop is open!".

Step 1 |  Shop Name:  This probably seems like an easy step (to name your store and to add products), but, Etsy requires that each of its stores bear a unique name.  So, before I even considered finalizing my business name, I checked Etsy to make sure that GoldenberryPaper was an available store name.  I didn't want my customers to have to type something different to find me on Etsy, so this played a critical role in the very early stages of setting up shop!

Step 2 | Images:  Once you've narrowed down the products you wish to sell, it is very important to have a clear image of these on display for the shop.  Pictures are actually what entice buyers more than anything else on Etsy, so this is a very important step.  While my long-term goal is to shoot my own product photography, I currently lack the knowledge and resources.  So, I created my product images in Adobe Illustrator using a neutral vector backdrop.

Step 3 | Policies:  If you've ever purchased anything online, you can understand why this is an important step.  In order for the buyer to have a clear understanding of what they are purchasing, the responsibility is on the seller to make sure the policies are clearly stated.  This took a bit of time and research on my part.  I know that once I get into the swing of things, I may need to alter these to better fit my operations, but make sure you do your research here.

Step 4 | Tags:  When you type something in the search bar of Etsy to search for a product, I bet you don't think about the marketing that the shops put into your searches.  In fact, each item in everyone's store is allowed 13 tags, or keywords that can help their product get found.  So, if you search for "Mother's Day gift that's purple," you will actually see items that have these words tagged behind-the-scenes.  This is a very time-consuming process for shop owners to try and get inside the mind's of buyers, but it can be a very valuable and useful tool.  I will be changing my tags often nonetheless! 

Step 5 | Promotion: With any launch it's important to let people know about it!  Luckily, with my background in marketing, I am active in most social networks and have created several email newsletters in the past.  I sent out an email blast to almost every contact I have to let them know about my shop opening.  It was a great way for me to announce not only the shop, but introduce my business.  I am looking forward to continuing these newsletters, so if you didn't receive it I would love to get you on my list (email brittany@goldenberrypaper.com).

These are just a few of the things that I worked on to make sure that I had a presentable storefront upon launch.  For more tips on how to open an etsy shop, check out this article.