How To Get More Etsy Sales & Grow When Things Are Slow

When Etsy sales are slow, a lot of us tend to get a bit worried, panicky, or stressed. It creates anxiety and sometimes we even freeze up or feel stuck! When we aren’t sure how to get more Etsy sales, we tend to just lounge around watching Netflix and praying that sales pick up. Or (even worse) we dump a ton of hard-earned cash into advertising to get things moving again. But there’s better ways to turn slow Etsy sales into actual GROWTH. This article is going to show you how to use these slow times to UPGRADE your store- how to increase Etsy sales, increase your visibility, and more!

Stress-induced indecision and stagnation are a thing of the past! This is literally a list of ways to make your store better than ever before. Next time you’re feeling stuck, just scroll down this list to see how to boost Etsy sales & get more eyes on your stuff!

Growth Tip #1 – Update Your Etsy SEO & Listing Keywords

I know, I started with the most obvious of all Etsy selling tips! Haha! But one of the BEST things you can do for your store when things are slow is to update the Etsy SEO and do new keyword research on our OLDER Etsy listings. 

And would you believe it if I told you that some (ok many) Etsy sellers don’t update their Etsy SEO at all? Many times, we set up our product listings for the first time, do the keyword research during our setup process, and then move on to the next thing.

But after a few months (or even years), the keywords that fit your Etsy product the best can change!

Taking an hour or two to squeeze in some much-needed keyword updating can be a powerful refresh for your store. (Psst! Have you seen my free Etsy SEO cheatsheet?)

First and foremost, there’s three things I always tell clients to remember when updating Etsy listings:

1. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it! Leave your top Etsy sellers alone unless you notice a dip in those particular sales. Whatever you did, it’s working, baby! Don’t mess with success. Focus on how to get more Etsy sales for the slower selling listings, or the ones not selling at all.

2. Start small. Don’t go changing all of your keywords at once, unless it’s a product that has never (or rarely) sold. Change the keywords that are outdated or just not serving the product. Leave the rest alone to preserve what rankings they DO already have. 

3. Update it once and let it settle. It can take up to 4-6 weeks for the Etsy algorithm to read the SEO in our listings and determine which Etsy searches to show them in. But every time you change the SEO in the listing title or tags, it essentially ‘resets’ the listing in the Etsy algorithm to various degrees. So make your changes, then wait a few weeks to see if there’s any improvement BEFORE you update anything else on that listing.

I go into DEEP detail on how Etsy SEO works and how to build a strong, evergreen SEO strategy in my Etsy Seller Success Workbook & SEO Strategy Set. It’s the ONLY Etsy SEO strategy based on the real, current data of 1,000+ top Etsy bestsellers, in addition to my 15+ years of Etsy knowledge and SEO expertise. If you’re really serious about getting more Etsy sales and growing your store, check out everything that comes in the Etsy Seller Success Workbook. 

Updating Etsy SEO Tip

I always start by updating the worst-selling listings’ titles and tags and going up from there. This way, you’re able to use your time wisely to maximize the impact. 

Okay, now on to the best sites for keyword research. These are good for any e-commerce store unless I specify the platform name. For the most part, these are all GREAT tools, and some do offer premium/upgraded features that are really, truly worth the investment.

Best Sites For Etsy SEO & Keyword Research

I don’t recommend anything I don’t genuinely believe in! So check out each one to find the best fit for you. (I also have a great article that digs a bit deeper into each of these Etsy SEO tools here.)

And while you’re taking the time to update your Etsy SEO, make sure you’ve got a good strategy in place that will grow along with your store! My blog post about what 1000 Etsy Bestsellers all have in common in their SEO is a great starting point!

How To Get More Etsy Sales Tip 2: Add A New Selling Platform

It might seem counterintuitive to add a new sales platform when working on how to increase Etsy sales. After all, it’s not even ON Etsy! But there are TONS of benefits for expanding beyond Etsy when growing your business.

When Etsy sales are slow, it’s a GREAT time to spend a few hours (maybe a day or two) and increase your reach! There are multiple places you can sell your products, and some platforms offer better benefits than others. So having your listings in multiple places can REALLY help in boosting your Etsy sales! 

Before getting started with a new platform, however, let me give you two quick bits of advice:

1. Keep your branding the SAME across all platforms. It might be tempting to go with a fresh, new style. But keeping things the same helps buyers feel more comfortable spending money in your new shop! This is because you look like you’re an established seller with clear branding. (Leveling up your new store with an *As Seen On…* label on your shop header can also help boost a customer’s spending comfort.)

2. Don’t stop directing customers to the store you’re already selling on, unless there’s a drastic profit margin increase. Your reviews and customer base are already established, so keep doing what you’re doing! Use the new platform to find NEW customers and don’t confuse the ones you already have.

Here are some of the largest sites to expand your shop when boosting Etsy sales:

#1 – Amazon.com – Amazon allows for LOTS of products to be sold and has their own customer base, minimizing your advertising efforts. This is one of the most expensive platforms to start selling on. But since it drives customers literally right to your products, it is hard to beat.

#2 – Amazon Handmade – If your products are handmade, this is a GREAT way to utilize Amazon’s traffic without needing all of the professional things like being a registered brand, having UPC codes, etc. It still has a lot of the same Amazon selling fees, but again, that traffic. Wow. 

#3 – Shopify.com – Shopify is a great place to launch your own store and keep your profit margins higher. Other platforms like Etsy and Amazon take a higher cut with fees, making Shopify an easier place to control costs. The downside is that you have to direct all of your own customers. A Shopify store works like any other standalone website, so you have to handle marketing.

#4 – IndieMade – Indiemade is a fantastic platform for any type of product, including handmade, one of a kind, vintage items, or supplies. They have a built-in integration with Etsy, making it easy to add your listings. It isn’t as expensive as Shopify, but they have fairly competitive features. 

I also have a FREE pdf guide with a HUGE list of alternative platforms you can sell on, which is perfect for expanding beyond Etsy! You can download my FREE ‘Diversifying your Income’ freebie here. (It will also help you find the best platforms to start with first, based on your specific niche/product type!) 

How To Get More Etsy Sales Growth Tip 3: Create New Products & Expand Your Offerings

Here’s my favorite way to increase Etsy sales- sell MORE stuff! Since a lot of our brands are products that I design myself, and I absolutely LOVE designing, this is my go-to way to increase our sales, literally every time I find myself bored. 

Here’s some ways to find new products to sell for YOUR shop:

1. Look for products that you can sell as compliments to your current products. Think about bundles or sets you can create that puts multiple listings together. For a great example, see how the Etsy print on demand store in this case study uses group products to bring in HUGE Etsy sales!

2. Create new designs of your current products (tees, jewelry, and other handmade items) based on current trends (NOT super short trends though! Choose something that will last longer than -hopefully- a few weeks.)

3. Look for alternative products to things you already sell. For example, if you sell shoes, maybe you can expand into boots or sandals! 

4. Create an (affordable) related digital product to sell as a cart upgrade or a bonus with purchase. (You only have to create digital products once and they can sell over and over again!) One of my favorite digital product upgrades I’ve seen clients come up with is a printable Letter From The Tooth Fairy that sold as a $1 upgrade to their cute little handmade Tooth Fairy pillows.

How to Boost Etsy Sales Tip 4- Market, Market, Market!

Last but not least, let’s dig into some Etsy selling tips on MARKETING that you can start working on when your Etsy sales are slow. 

1. Come up with a freebie you can offer with each purchase. For example, digital planner sellers often offer free planner stickers with their products. If you sell yarn, you could toss in a small sample of yarn you’ve had in stock that hasn’t been selling well. Get creative, there are so many ideas! Freebies and upgrades are quite powerful for boosting Etsy sales! Check out this youtube video where I explain a geniously simple way one digital products Etsy seller uses a freebie to bring her tiny niche year-round traffic!
2. Likewise, offering coupons for buying multiple products is a great strategy for how to increase Etsy sales with very little extra work!
3. Check out my video all about how to increase Etsy sales using sales psychology and simple marketing tweaks! It’s a goldmine of information!

Okay, y’all, I think I’ve given you some GREAT ways to kill some downtime and really start boosting Etsy sales! (And lots of great Etsy selling tips and resources along the way! LOL!)

I hope you find these suggestions useful, but there are SO MANY more things you can do to increase Etsy sales and get more buyers to see your products! 

As a quick summary, in case all of this information was a lot to process at once, here’s the list of things you can do to grow your business:

Any time you find yourself with extra time on your hands, jump back to this article to see where you can grow! And don’t forget to brainstorm NEW ideas, too! 

The important thing is to use your time wisely, and don’t get too caught up in the worry that slow sales can bring. Look at this as an opportunity to get to all the things you can’t normally get to on busier days! This, my friends, is how we keep moving forward, and how to increase Etsy sales in the long term. 

I can’t WAIT to see how much you can grow! So go, get busy, and have fun!

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And don’t forget, I’ve got TONS of FREE RESOURCES FOR SELLING ON ETSY! From how to get sales on Etsy, in-depth Etsy selling tips, a guide on the best Etsy SEO tools, and so much more!

P.S.- When you make a purchase using one of our affiliate links, we may make a small commission at no cost to you! Thank you so much! 🥰