00:00here are seven Etsy seller mistakes you
00:02need to avoid if you're just starting
00:03out an Etsy store and I've been doing
00:05this for a while and I've made a lot of
00:06mistakes on my own as well as helping
00:08others and seeing the pattern that
00:10people are making so if you're starting
00:11out definitely check out this video I
00:13think it'll help you a ton if you're
00:14starting up an Etsy store so let's get
00:20number one your shop is too broad I see
00:23a lot of people opening up General
00:25stores and in a lot of cases it
00:27definitely works but if you're in the
00:29digital product space A lot of times I
00:30see the shops that succeed the most are
00:32the ones that are more Specialized or
00:34more Niche category shops that will
00:37excel in a category I'd rather be a
00:39specialist than a generalist when it
00:41comes to Etsy stores meaning if you're
00:43in a category where you're competing
00:45with a top seller that has a lot of
00:47different products and you're just
00:48starting out and you're trying to
00:50compete with them doing all the exact
00:51same products who do you think the buyer
00:53is going to buy from buying from a store
00:55that has a lot of reviews comparing to
00:57yours where you just a similar General
00:58store or if you have a new shop but
01:00you're very specialized you're very
01:01honed in on a certain category your
01:04branding's on point your everything's
01:05talking about this exact same context
01:07it's exact same product most likely the
01:09buyers will buy your products over from
01:11a popular General Store just because you
01:13are specializing that you have authority
01:15in that space you might have less
01:17reviews less listings but if you Market
01:19your store and be very focused in a
01:21certain category then that's a great way
01:23to start and over time you can
01:24definitely expand into more categories
01:26so let me just give you an example if
01:28you are starting a local template store
01:31you want to be specialized in it every
01:33listing is different logo designs maybe
01:35different colorways and over time once
01:37you're able to saturate that market then
01:39you want to expand into maybe social
01:41media templates something that feels
01:43like a natural progression to expand
01:44your product line and also this is
01:46something that your customers might want
01:48they might want a logo but over time
01:50they probably are building a brand out
01:51of it so offering social media templates
01:53is a good natural progression for your
01:55shop and also another reason why you
01:57don't want to go to abroad is if you're
01:59trying to tackle every a single category
02:00out there it takes a lot of time to
02:02specialize in these products if you're
02:04doing Lightroom presets and you're
02:05dabbling into Excel templates and then
02:08you know you're doing wedding invitation
02:09canva cards right all these different
02:11digital products require different
02:13skills right it requires a huge learning
02:15curve to go through all of them so not
02:17only is it not good for your shop to
02:19have it brought but also for yourself
02:20trying to learn all these different ones
02:22creating all the different products
02:23creating all different mock-ups it's
02:24just too much and it takes time to
02:26master a certain categories so you want
02:28to make sure you spend that time be
02:30Authority in that space and go from
02:31there so number two is a lack of
02:33research I go on and on about the supply
02:35and demand ratios how to find out right
02:38using places like e-rank cell Samurai
02:40ever be but I want to talk about
02:41something a little different now that
02:42I've been doing this for a while
02:43teaching people how to create a
02:44successful Etsy Shop a lot of people ask
02:46me questions like hey you know for this
02:47category what I do for this you know
02:49what I do for that and for me I take my
02:51time to try to help everyone as I can
02:53giving a more specialized answer for
02:54every single one that messaged me for it
02:56but what's a quick way for you to do is
02:58if you do your own research and actually
03:00be a customer in that category maybe
03:02even purchasing a couple products from
03:03your competitors right to fully
03:05understand what it takes what file size
03:07to make what are the procedures what are
03:09they uploading right things like that
03:10you can learn a lot by just doing that
03:11simple researching on your own and not
03:13just because I want you to work on that
03:15area of your own but it's just momentum
03:16right you can go on Google you can go on
03:18YouTube to try to search for every
03:20single answer you can which you can find
03:21a lot of good information but you can
03:23shorten that amount of time by just
03:25quickly becoming a consumer of it and
03:26you can get all the answers you want and
03:28just like that really quickly and it's
03:30just a momentum game right everything
03:31that I do even for my YouTube for my
03:33Etsy shops everything's all about
03:35momentum I want to get my answers nice
03:36and quick and be in the wheel driving it
03:38and go through that process myself so
03:40resource research research it's all
03:42about getting that good foundation done
03:44and understand everything you can in a
03:46category and become an expert just like
03:48I talked about in the first stage all
03:49these tips I'm going to go over all
03:51these mistakes I see people make they'll
03:52all make sense in that kind of all
03:54compound with each other and create some
03:56Synergy for you to start also if you're
03:58liking this so far make sure to
03:59subscribe to my channel if you want to
04:00learn more about how to be successful
04:02song on Etsy and also sign up to my
04:04newsletter because I'm going to be
04:05opening up a private group coaching
04:07session next month so I'll be announcing
04:09that through my newsletter you'll be the
04:11first to know if you sign up to it so
04:13you have a chance to get into the first
04:15initial group so I'm super excited for
04:16that if you want to learn more you can
04:18use a link in my description to sign up
04:20for our newsletter to get the
04:21announcement so number three is stop
04:22copying competitors competitor research
04:25is something I talk a lot about I just
04:26talked about that in my earlier tips but
04:28that's super good but you don't want to
04:30copy them exactly and I see a lot of
04:31people doing that they see a winning
04:33product and they go exactly step by step
04:35how they did it to the T right think
04:37about it yes you can probably get a
04:39share of that market but if you think
04:40about it you know if you have two
04:41products exactly the same mock-ups
04:43products descriptions everything exactly
04:45the same you got one that has all the
04:46reviews right it's called Authority on
04:48Etsy computer yours is brand new what do
04:50you think the buyer is going to buy from
04:51most cases they'll go for the one that's
04:53been established right so you need to
04:55find an edge in it when you're creating
04:57a product you want to research the
04:59competitors but see how you can put a
05:00spin to it right get Inspirations from
05:02different categories if you are doing we
05:04talked about Lightroom presets earlier
05:06you're doing Lightroom presets see how
05:07you can get Inspirations on creating
05:09better products creating better mock-ups
05:11through wedding planners through doing
05:13ebooks doing social media templates get
05:16Inspirations from those different
05:17categories and see how I can bring them
05:19back into your space so you can lead
05:21that category right become a leader in
05:23that space so just to give you a quick
05:25example here's an image of one of the
05:27shops that I own console designs where
05:29we sell plant pots so a lot of times I
05:31would just create my product photos like
05:33this where they're all linear showing
05:35the different color variations but we've
05:37been doing this for a while now and I
05:38wanted to do something different so
05:40instead of searching what my competitors
05:42are doing in this space I looked around
05:43and since I do a lot of digital product
05:45shops as well I looked at digital
05:47planner so here's one that I saw where
05:49this person was showcasing three
05:51products kind of in staggering formation
05:53and I thought that was super cool so I
05:55took Inspirations from that and made my
05:58product like that as well same kind of
05:59test out but I'm using elements from a
06:01totally different category and see how I
06:03can incorporate that into my own Niche
06:06into my own category here's an example
06:08you know we're selling Decor trades so I
06:10wanted to find a good way to show the
06:11different variations but also something
06:13different so again I looked at different
06:15categories this one we're looking at
06:16resume templates and I found this
06:18staggering effect that I thought was
06:20super cool and I applied that to our own
06:22products and this is our home decor
06:24trays check it out if you're interested
06:25in getting some Decor Trace but yeah
06:27this is how we are doing our Pro
06:29mock-ups and this is just a quick
06:31example of how you can leverage other
06:33categories other spaces and try to
06:35innovate your own right remixing
06:37different ideas spin it you're not
06:39copying exactly but you're drawing
06:40inspiration so this is the kind of like
06:43samples that I like to see and when I
06:45see people doing things like this it's
06:46amazing and you can really jump ahead
06:48and become a leader in that category
06:50alright so number four is your brand
06:52lacks consistency so sometimes when
06:54you're starting to scale your shop
06:55offering different products it starts to
06:57vary right the different styles of the
06:59products becomes different but one way
07:01on how you can pull that back and still
07:03create a very cohesive brand is through
07:05your branding for example the last shop
07:07some of the photos I showed you the
07:08products are starting to be different
07:10now but we always keep it consistent
07:11using the same exact background for us
07:13we're using a great minimalistic
07:15background right and the palettes are
07:17usually similar so even though you might
07:19be doing something different as long as
07:21your branding is still relevant and
07:22still cohesive just still makes sense
07:24okay for the consumer for a brand it's
07:26still a little professional so keep that
07:28in mind and a couple easy ways on how
07:30you can just quickly assure that your
07:31branding stays on point is your font
07:33Choice before you start you want to make
07:35sure you have a selected font style that
07:37you're using on everything right in your
07:39images in your logos and your banners
07:41and your color palette so make sure that
07:43all those are in line from how you start
07:46and if you want to start pivoting that's
07:47totally fine right sometimes a brand
07:49evolves so you don't be stuck in the
07:51same way but as you evolve keep it
07:53consistent as you're evolving all right
07:54so number five is not listening to
07:56feedback or analytics so if you're at
07:58this point and you're like hey Brandon
07:59every things that you listed earlier I'm
08:01doing them all correctly none of this is
08:03applicable to me then perfect if that's
08:05if you've done all that then at this
08:07point you should be getting traction you
08:08should be getting traffic and Views and
08:10once you're getting traffic this is
08:12where the fun part happens this is where
08:14you can actually start collecting that
08:16data and see how you can improve on it
08:17get that customer feedback and let the
08:19data and feedback just kind of steer the
08:21wheel a bit and navigate where your shot
08:23can be it's easy for you to have a
08:26vision of what everything needs to look
08:28like on how you're pushing a certain
08:30idea through the products and everything
08:31but sometimes you need to get that
08:34feedback loops in order to improve even
08:36in any e-commerce brand or anything that
08:37even on Etsy Shop you need to get that
08:39feedback you need to always adapt to new
08:41changes see what's working double down
08:43on it and the things that aren't working
08:45he let it let that sit and not to try to
08:47put more efforts into it most of the
08:49time it's better to continue working on
08:51what's been working already and just
08:52double down on that so for example if
08:54you got some products that are getting a
08:56lot of views getting a lot of favorites
08:57but maybe no one's actually committing
08:59in-depth buyer's journey and finishing
09:01and making that purchase what you want
09:02to do is create variations of it because
09:04you know that there's traction to it but
09:06maybe is the color the style the pricing
09:08play around with it until you get to
09:10that sweet point where people are
09:11finishing up that purchasing Journey but
09:13don't just ignore everything and just
09:15create what you feel like it's going to
09:17be good it works a lot of times but I
09:19like to play both sides of it right
09:21using your own creativity knowing what's
09:23good for you but also incorporating that
09:25feedback all right so number six is
09:26incomplete or unclear policies so this
09:29is actually a more technical one right
09:31it's not as high level but you want to
09:32make sure you have all these shop
09:33policies in place a lack of clarity into
09:35the policies makes it confusing for the
09:37customers and actually might not bring
09:39them through that purchasing Journey
09:41they might lose trust and but hey you
09:42know what there's they don't do refunds
09:43maybe they'll go for someone else that I
09:45can put that through and especially if
09:47you're a new seller you gotta get that
09:48trust so one way is definitely offering
09:50that refund and if you're doing digital
09:52products your products are essentially
09:54free anyways so it's not that much of a
09:56risk for you even if they do the return
09:57you might lose some in the processing
09:59fee but it's not that big of a deal the
10:00pro of increasing a conversion rate
10:02outweighs the con of having to refine
10:04your product to the consumer so number
10:06seven it might be a bit cliche but you
10:08know it's giving up too soon I talk a
10:09lot about this one a lot but I really
10:10really need to keep talking about this
10:12because this is one of the most
10:13important ones I can talk about all
10:15these different tactics all these
10:16different things saying that hey someone
10:18Etsy is worth it but at the end of the
10:19day if you don't believe in it if you're
10:20quitting too soon none of it really
10:21matters right so I need to keep saying
10:23this and especially in this position now
10:25I'm talking to a lot more Etsy Sellers
10:27and a lot of times I'll be investing a
10:29lot of my time and helping someone
10:30getting into a category helping them
10:33build up the products giving revisions
10:35just spending all the time and do it and
10:37then when I was talking to they messaged
10:39me last week and saying hey Brandon I
10:40was doing this category but as I was in
10:43the middle of it building up my products
10:44the 16 listings talked about I saw
10:46something else right I want to do
10:47something different now because I feel
10:48like there's a better return in it
10:50what's your advice here I switch Should
10:51I stick with what I'm doing I'm not sure
10:53if it's going to be working and for me
10:54that's the whole shiny object syndrome
10:56isn't a topic but all these ideas that
10:58the person had they'll all work right
11:00it's not like the first it's not going
11:01to be as profitable or lucrative about a
11:03second one they're both going to be just
11:04as fine one might be making more one
11:06might be easier one might be better for
11:08a certain individual but at the end of
11:09the day it's not so much the idea but
11:11how you execute it okay and the worst
11:13thing you can do is create a couple
11:14listings put it out there and hey I'm
11:17not getting the attractions I'm gonna
11:18quit right now go for something else the
11:19same thing's gonna happen you're gonna
11:20do that new thing you might find
11:22something else that's more interesting
11:23things like AI which is amazing but
11:25that's a whole different conversation I
11:27talk about but keep jumping to different
11:28things without seeing it through it's
11:29not going to work out that's why when I
11:31talk about building at least 16 and 24
11:33listings for digital products is go
11:35through that process regardless of what
11:36the data shows you at the end date then
11:38you can reassess but don't quit too soon
11:40it's one of the biggest mistakes none of
11:42this matters if you guys don't follow
11:43through and go with that stage and make
11:45sure everything's right because you know
11:46data shows like these things work these
11:48strategies I talk about as long as you
11:50implement it correctly you execute it
11:51correctly you will see success in it
11:53that's gonna last one a bit of a ramble
11:55at the end but I just want me to clear
11:56that it does work you just need to go
11:57through that process and just don't quit
11:59too okay don't keep switching from
12:01things things and not committing so me
12:03rattling again but if you enjoyed it
12:05subscribe if you want to learn more
12:06about how to be successful so I'm going
12:08to see And subscribe to my newsletter
12:09I'll be announcing something soon about
12:11my private group coaching session next
12:13month so that'd be super exciting I'm
12:14excited to get a good group going and
12:17see how I can actually truly help and be
12:18there step by step in the process so
12:20until then hope you enjoyed it leave a
12:22comment let me know any questions you
12:23have and take care bye
