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S05|L04 - how i use etsy ads to boost my free traffic & sales
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Hey there and welcome back to a new video. And in this video, I’m going to explain how I use Etsy Ads to boost the FREE sales and FREE traffic that I get from Etsy’s organic algorithm.
But first, let me explain what Etsy ads are because they are VERY different from other forms of paid traffic and advertising that you will find online.
So, here’s the thing, right? When you come to Etsy and you do a search for a phrase, such as funny mugs, Etsy will show you a bunch of search results. Well, some of those search results will have a little word, ‘ad’, with them. If it does, it means that this is a paid ad. It isn’t an item that is organically placed there, for free, by the Etsy search algorithm.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_05/lesson_04/ex01a-funny_mugs.png
And just to clarify as well, you do NOT have to use Etsy ads to make sales or run a successful store on Etsy.
Nope. As I showed in earlier videos, I recently started a new store and within 2 weeks, I already had my first 2 sales, and I ran no ads: it was just free, organic traffic since, well, you have to wait 2 weeks to turn on ads anyway, even if you do want to run them.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_05/lesson_04/ex02a-sales_graph.png
So no, you don’t need to use them. They are indeed optional. In fact, truthfully most people I know who run successful Etsy stores, don’t even use ads. And that isn’t because ads are bad, or they don’t work. It’s just, well, understandably, most people don’t like paying for ads so honestly, most people don’t bother turning them on.
But I’ll be honest, I think that is a lost opportunity because not only as I’ll show you, they can be very powerful, but they’re just simple and easy to turn on and run. Yep. Because here’s the thing right. Let’s say that you decided to run a paid advertising campaign on a social media app, like Instagram, or Facebook.
Well, you have to provide Facebook with the data, to run that advertising campaign. So, for example, you have to provide Facebook with a picture, photo or video of your product to use in the ad. And you have to type out advertising copy that you want Facebook to use to, well, advertise your product.
Whereas on Etsy, as you can see, it’s literally just the listing. Etsy just shows your standard, usual listing, but they artificially inflate it in the search results.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_05/lesson_04/ex03a-listing_mugs.png
This means you don’t have to provide Etsy with a photo, or any advertising copy. All you literally have to do is open up your Etsy listing, and click to turn on ads for it. And it’s just a little toggle button inside of your Etsy item listing. That is all you have to do.
It is a very beginner friendly form of traffic. And it’s especially beginner friendly because, well, for better or for worse, you don’t even choose who Etsy shows your ads to.
Nope. Instead what happens is that Etsy’s ai will look over your listing and it’ll look for keywords that you added to your listing, when you created it, and they use those keywords to identify search phrases to show your product ad on.
So, let’s again take this funny Dachshund Mug for example, and say that you had titled it, Funny Dachshund Pun Mug.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_05/lesson_04/ex03b-dachsund_mug.png
Well, what Etsy does is it takes the keywords in your listing, and it will start to show your mug for search phrases that use those keywords.
So, for example, if somebody searches for the phrase, Dachshund Mug, the Etsy ad algorithm will start to show your mug to people who are making that search.
However, this also has a downside. Because let’s say that somebody was searching for the phrase, Funny Pun Mug.
Well, you used those keywords in your listing. So Etsy might choose to show your mug to that customer. The only problem though is that, in this scenario, the person who was making this search does not own a Dachshund dog. And so, chances are, they won’t want to buy your mug. So showing it on that search phrase is useless.
So as you can see, there are pros and cons of Etsy choosing your search phrases for you. On one hand, it means that it is less effort and it’s easier to get started compared to other forms of paid advertising, that make you select and pick your audiences.
But on the other hand, it means that Etsy will show your listings on search phrases that are not relevant. Luckily though, this isn’t quite as bad as it sounds. Because unlike other forms of paid advertising like Facebook ads, which charge you for views and impressions, Etsy only charges you money if somebody actually clicks on your ad.
So, these ads that got shown to me here: well, as long as I don’t click on them, then it costs the store nothing to advertise them.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_05/lesson_04/ex03c-listing_mugs.png
But, if I did click on one, then Etsy would charge them money regardless of whether an item sells or not. And they usually charge around 50 cents per click. Sometimes more, sometimes less. But it’s around 50 cents on average per click.
Now, while this is annoying, I personally would not be too upset by this. And that is because, if you think about it, if you did not own a dachshund dog, then even if Etsy did show you an ad for a funny mug featuring a Daschund pun – what are the chances that you’d actually click on it? It’s very small.
And so in my experience, while a lot of people complain about this, I don’t think it’s too big of a downside. Most people are worried that if they run ads, they’ll rack up a bill for a bunch of useless clicks, and lose a bunch of wasted money. But in my experience, that isn’t the real downside of this strategy since usually those sorts of people don’t click anyway. The real downside is instead the time lost.
Because what Etsy will ask you to do when you turn your ads on, is it’ll ask you to keep your ads running with them for 30 days, before you consider turning them off. And that is not a requirement, by the way. You can turn your ads off at any time that you choose. But, they will recommend that if you can, to keep them running for at least 30 days.
And that is because that gives their algorithms time to learn more about which search phrases actually match best with your product. So they’ll take the keywords in your listing, and use that for a bunch of search phrases, and see which search phrases actually result in clicks, and then overtime narrow it down and only show it on the search phrases that get clicks from viewers.
But of course: all of that takes time. So, it can be slower than expected for your ads to actually start making you money while it figures out which search phrases actually get bites.
Whereas on other more advanced advertising platforms, such as Facebook, since you pick your audience, if you pick it right, you can find your target customers faster – overnight even.
But I view business more as a marathon, rather than a sprint. So: since I treat it like a marathon, I don’t mind waiting that time as a trade-off for how simple and easy they are to turn on and run. Plus, in my experience, I haven’t actually needed to wait 30 days, which is something that I’ll discuss later in my next video, where I show my exact $5 a day Etsy ad strategy.
But yes, that is what Etsy ads are, and how they work. So then, here’s the next question. Sarah, You said that Etsy ads help you boost your FREE sales by giving you FREE traffic. Yet here you are, talking about how much money they cost. What gives?!
And that’s a good question. So, here is the thing, right? A lot of Etsy content creators will, rightfully so, point out that Etsy has said that the search results are not influenced by Etsy ads. Which is somewhat true. Etsy does not inflate your organic free traffic if you run ads. So, you can’t brute force your way to higher search engine rankings, by buying clicks from Etsy ads, unfortunately.
However, consider this. On Etsy, in my experience, anywhere from 5 percent to 30 percent of customers will leave your store a review. And, in my experience, the more reviews you have, the higher your store conversion rates. And do you know what is one of the biggest factors that the Etsy algorithm considers, when raising up a listing in its search results?
It is conversion rates. If Etsy sees a high number of customers clicking on an item, and then purchasing it, then it is going to want to show that to more people.
Etsy is financially incentivized to promote listings with high conversion rates. Because that increases the number of sales their website makes which makes them more money from seller transaction fees. And so that is why I love Etsy ads. Especially for new stores.
Because it helps you get eyeballs on your listing. Which can help get you more sales. The more sales you get, the more reviews that you get. And once you’ve got a small collection of reviews, then it’s going to be much easier to get organic, free traffic because people will trust your store more and convert at higher rates.
And plus, in my experience, while Etsy have said that the search algorithm is separate from their Etsy ads, and that they don’t influence each other, I have never personally seen Etsy say that their discovery pages are not influenced by the data that they collect from Etsy ads.
Nope. Because as I said, my new stores don’t really get search engine traffic anyway, and that isn’t the traffic I care about either. It’s traffic from the discovery pages like the homepage. That is where my sales come from.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_05/lesson_04/ex03d-discovery_listing.png
And: if you’ve watched my previous videos on how to get more traffic from these pages which, by the way, I STRONGLY recommend you do if you haven’t already.
* How I Hack Algorithms By Choosing A Store Niche
Then you’ll know that a big way to get that is to provide Etsy with data on your ideal type of customer. So, for example, if you’re selling this mug, then you want to help give Etsy data that your target customer is Dachshund owners.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_05/lesson_04/ex04a-dachshund_mug.png
That way, they can pick some customers to test your product on by showing it on their homepage. And if any of those customers that Etsy shows it to click on your product or, even better, buy it, then Etsy’s algorithm can look through its customer database, and try to identify customers similar to those and show it to them. This is how clicks and sales can grow and snowball on the platform.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_05/lesson_04/ex04b-discovery_listing.png
It’s like a chain of dominos. But, that one domino has to first of all fall in the chain, so that the rest can fall after it. And so, I’ve found that by turning on paid ads, that ad can be the domino for a product. If my ad can get a sale, then Etsy will still be able to use the data from that customer profile to find other similar customers, and show it to them.
And so do you have to use Etsy ads if you would prefer not to? Absolutely, no, you don’t. But, if you can, do they help speed up the process of improving your position in the Etsy algorithm to get free traffic from its recommendations on the platform?
Well, in my personal experience, yes. Yes they do. So, now that we know what the ads are, how to use them and turn them on, in my next video I’ll share with you my low budget Etsy ad strategy. So, go ahead, watch my next video, and I’ll see you over there