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Are you an artist or crafter looking to sell your work online? If so, Etsy may be the perfect platform for you.
Etsy is a website dedicated to handmade and vintage items, and it has millions of users worldwide.
This guide will teach you how to create an Etsy shop and sell your art on Etsy.
We will also share some tips on how to make your shop successful. Let’s get started!
If you are trying to develop some DIY projects for Etsy, check out 22 Creative Things To Sell On Etsy.
Sell Art On Etsy With High-Quality Images
Sharing high-quality images online is crucial. It can not emphasize enough if you are interested in building a successful Etsy shop.
How do we sell our art online? With no physical representation, Etsy shoppers are left guessing about what they’re seeing and buying -or even worse-not, bothering at all because of low-quality images.
The first step is to purchase a good camera to take great pictures of your work. If you don’t want to spend any money on a new camera in the beginning, use the one on your phone. Smartphones have decent cameras, but if you are interested in selling prints of your original artwork, you will want to invest in a digital camera.
Practice taking photos with different lighting.
Digital cameras allow you to take hundreds of photos for free.
Discover what room and lighting work best for your art.
Many artists have done well by taking different photographs of their art to see the artwork from different angles.
Staging your art on a wall is another good idea.
Staging your paintings allows the viewer to see what the art will look like hanging on their wall or a shelf.
Don’t settle for something that looks “ok.”You take pride in your art, so make sure you take pride in the images you upload on your own website and Esty shop.
Best Cameras For Photography:
- Nikon D800 Digital SLR Camera Body (36.3 M/P)
- Panasonic Lumix DMC-G85
- Canon EOS Rebel SL2 DSLR Camera
- Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-RX100 V Digital Camera (20.1 M/P)
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Selling Paintings On Etsy
What You Will Need:
An Etsy Store – Etsy stores are free to create, and listing fees are $0.20 per listing.
High-Quality Camera – visit Digital Camera Bundles. These bundles have everything you need for photographing your art, including lenses and tripods.
Photo editing software – PicMonkey is an online photo editing software that is easy to use.
After creating your Etsy store, you can start selling art on Etsy.
To Create an Etsy listing, login to your Etsy Store and click Crete Listing.
The first step is to upload a digital image of your art from your computer.
The recommended image size for listings is 2000px for the shortest side and a resolution of 72DPI.
Etsy allows you to have up to 10 images per listing.
Next, you will add the title of your painting. It is important to add keywords in the title description and the tags. More information about keywords will be explained later in this post.
Fill in the about this listing section:
- Who made it
- What is it
- When was it made
Add a category so shoppers can find your Etsy listing.
Decide if you want the listing to renew automatically or manually.
Type of product:
- Physical
- Digital
Description of the product
Next, add the price, quantity, SKU (optional), variations, if any and if you all personalization.
The last step is to add the shipping information and then click publish.
Space Your Postings
A new Etsy listing will be showcased at the top of the search results for a short period.
The more engagement an Etsy listing receives, the longer it will stay on top.
This little boost gives your products increased visibility, increasing your business brand and your sales.
Consider creating a weekly posting schedule and see what days and times work best for you.
You might find better results if you post an item once every three days rather than posting three things simultaneously. The objective is to have your work seen by as many potential customers as possible.
Download the Create An Artist Brand Workbook by clicking on the image below.
This workbook will guide you through your branding process so you can separate yourself from the other artists selling art online.
Brand Your Etsy Shop
To be discovered online, you must take the time to market and brand yourself.
Take some time thinking about the background colors, font style, logo, and policies you will have for your Etsy business.
Branding starts with being consistent with your listings, so art buyers will begin recognizing your art when scrolling through Etsy. Your images should be consistent, and your products’ descriptions should be similar.
Create a template for your art listings to save time when uploading new products.
The template you create will make it easy for you to stay consistent with each listing.
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How To Write Art Descriptions That Will Sell Your Art
Utilize Etsy’s Categories And Tags
Tags (keywords) are shoppers’ words on Etsy to discover new products. When potential customers type in a phase into Etsy’s search bar, a list of related products will be displayed.
Using tags that best describe your product will help Etsy showcase your posts to people interested in purchasing your creations.
Optimize Titles And Descriptions With Keywords
Keywords are the same thing as Etsy’s tags. Adding keywords that describe your art will make it easier for people to discover your products in search.
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Create Etsy Categories
Categories make it easy for your shoppers to discover similar items you offer instead of scrolling down a hundred listings.
There are a lot of Etsy paintings for sale. Make it easy for your viewers to find what they are searching for.
For example, create a category for each group if you paint wildlife, landscapes, and domestic pets.
The categories will make it a more pleasant shopping experience for your buyers.
To learn how to create categories (Etsy Shop Sections), visit How To Create And Manage Shop Sections.
Promote Your Etsy Listings On Your Art Blog
Your art blog will be your traffic-generating machine. Your blog will attract and drive your target audience to your Etsy listings.
When people land on your website, you can direct them to your Etsy shop or a particular sales page.
It takes some time to see blogging results, so it is essential to start it once you open your shop.
When your blog starts to be ranked by search engines, you will notice traffic to your Etsy shop will increase.
The more people you can drive to your artwork, the better your chance to sell it.
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Grow Your Email List
Start building your email list from day one.
Gather emails from opt-in forms on your blog and social media accounts.
Ask everyone who has purchased if they would like to receive updates.
Send out weekly, bi-weekly or monthly newsletters to keep your following updated with your new Etsy listings.
Your email list will be the biggest asset to your online business.
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Increase Etsy Sales Through Social Media
You can engage with your target audience in new ways with social media. Social networks are perfect for sellers who want their product or service seen by as many people as possible.
Just join different groups related to the products/services that interested parties enjoy using on these platforms, then share photos of what’s available while engaging actively through conversations. It’ll help build a strong brand identity while increasing sales on your Etsy store because customers feel connected when they receive feedback directly from those they’re buying from, eventually becoming loyal customers.
To keep people returning to your social media pages, create a strong brand identity that you want people to remember when they see your posts. And remember to keep things fresh, so mix up your content with valuable items you sell.
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- How to Create a Social Media Marketing Plan – Sell Art Online
- How to Create a Social Media Marketing Calendar
Identify Your Competitors
To run a successful Etsy store, you must first understand how competitive online purchasing is. These words hold little meaning, but looking around your competitors’ shops might provide important information.
Look for artists whose work is comparable in size and substance to yours to obtain the most knowledgeable view on what sells.
The next aspect to consider is the price of their services.
To avoid being overpriced, you must promote the work of art at reasonable costs. Many artists are forced to charge excessive amounts since they are time-consuming to produce, shipping costs are high, and materials are costly to buy.
Study Other Artists
One of the best ways to learn is by watching others.
Take some time to research other artists on Etsy and see what they are doing to build their business.
After researching a few different Etsy artists, you will discover some common strategies they are using.
Take note of these and see if you can incorporate them into your strategy.
Do not try to invent the wheel. If a strategy is working, use it.
Another great feature Etsy offers is the Etsy Community.
You can join a team, browse the forums, or start a discussion.
It is easy to find the answer to any question you might have with the Etsy Community.
Build Your Reputation
Selling art is a customer service business.
You are providing products and services to people.
Take care of your customers, and they will take care of you.
Strive to provide excellent customer service.
Everyone who purchases from you will have nothing but good things to say about you and your Etsy Shop.
How To Make Money Selling On Etsy
Making money selling your art starts with knowing the costs of doing business.
You will create a profitable pricing strategy when you know how much it costs to create and sell your products.
Art Business Costs:
- Cost of supplies
- Cost of shipping supplies
- Cost of shipping
- Marketing costs
- Home business costs (internet, electricity, etc.)
Your selling price will be determined by how much it costs to create the product and how much profit you would like to earn for each piece.
For example, if it costs $15 to create your art and you would like to make $20, you would have to sell it for $35.
You will have to consider knowing what people are willing to spend on products similar to yours, known as market value.
Before you start listing your items for sale, you should take some time to research what other artists are charging for their paintings.
Search for artists who are selling art that is similar to yours.
Write down all of the prices you have gathered and price your art within that range.
You might not be able to sell your products at the price you are hoping for at first, but your art’s value will increase as you build your brand.
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- How to Price Art – Ultimate Art Pricing Guide
- How To Price Your Artwork
- When to Increase Art Selling Prices
How To Sell Prints On Etsy
Selling art prints on Etsy or digital downloads of your original paintings is an excellent way to supplement your income.
Esty makes it easy to sell giclee prints from print-on-demand sites like Printful.
You can easily integrate Printful on your Etsy shop, and when a buyer purchases a print, Printful will fulfill the order and ship the product directly to the buyer.
You can even print your prints at home and sell them on Etsy, just like you would with your original paintings.
What You Will Need To Sell Prints On Etsy
An Etsy Store – Etsy stores are free to create, and listing fees are $0.20 per listing.
High-Quality Camera – visit Digital Camera Bundles. These bundles have everything you need for photographing your art, including lenses and tripods.
Photo editing software – PicMonkey is an online photo editing software that is easy to use.
Printer – or service to outsource the printing jobs.
How To Make Art Prints For Etsy
There are a few ways to create reproductions of your paintings to sell on Etsy.
The first way is to invest in a printer to print high-quality prints.
You would print the print at home and ship it to the buyer when an order comes in.
The costs of a good printer, ink and paper can add up, and if you do not sell enough prints, you might not make a profit.
To read more about printers, visit 7 Best Printers For Printing Fine Art Prints.
The other option is to outsource the printing job.
If your art prints are in demand, you might consider having prints made at a local printing shop.
You might get better deals in most cases if you purchase in bulk at local printing stores. The downside is that you will lose money if the prints do not sell.
The best solution is to outsource your printing jobs with print-on-demand services.
Professional print-on-demand services like Printful offer high-quality giclee prints on different sized archival paper, frames, and prints on canvas.
To learn more, visit, How To Sell Art Prints On Etsy With Printful.
Outsourcing the printing to professionals will free up your time so you can create more artwork.
Some artists are doing very well selling digital downloads of their artwork on Etsy.
All you have to do is create a digital download listing, and when a buyer purchases a digital download, Etsy will send them a link for the download. When the buyer receives the link, they will be able to print prints from their Etsy purchase.
To learn more visit, Selling Digital Art On Etsy Complete Guide.
Be Consistent
The last tip I would like to cover is staying consistent with the quality of your art and art marketing strategies.
Building an online presence will take some time, but you will speed up the process if you are consistent with your efforts.
Keep in mind that everything you do today will reflect the growth of your business tomorrow.
Final Thoughts On How To Sell Art On Etsy
It takes more to sell art online than just publishing new art.
Your job starts after you have uploaded your images.
You will have to work daily on marketing your art for your business to grow.
The artists you see online selling art are those who learned how to market their art.
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