Having an Etsy shop is a wonderful thing, especially if it is successful and providing you with an income. But just like with anything else, making it successful takes some work and effort on your part. Luckily, there are plenty of tools and resources that can make that easier for you! In this post, I’ve shared a list of my favorite tools for running an Etsy shop.
Tools for running an Etsy shop
I’ve broken this list down into different categories of tools and resources. You can use one of them, all of them, or anything in between — it’s all up to you! Some are more beneficial to your shop than others, but any little bit that you do will help in the long run.
Promoting Your Etsy Shop
Using some social media, in general, for promoting your shop is pretty much essential today. It’s just the way things are done.
But, I’ve found that the most effective way to get my shop seen in by using Pinterest. Being able to get a picture of your item in front of the eyes of your potential customers is crucial. And Pinterest does that.
Pinterest is also known as the social media platform that people go to first when they are ready to purchase something. They use it as an actual search engine, many times before they even go to Google, to find what they want. When an item from your shop shows up in their search, you are far more likely to make a sale.
Tailwind
Tailwind is a tool made specifically for promoting on Pinterest. And it is incredible! In fact, it’s one of my most recommended tools for running an Etsy shop.
Before Tailwind I was getting pretty good traffic to my shop and blog from Pinterest. But after I started using Tailwind, traffic to my Etsy shop and blog more than tripled!
Tailwind allows you to schedule your pinning activity, in advance, so that you can more effectively manage your time and tasks associated with your Etsy shop.
I typically use my Tailwind account to set up at least a days worth of pins, and sometimes two or three days’ worth, depending on what my schedule requires. It works great for scheduling all of my pins for a weekend so that I can spend more time with my family during those days!
Use my link to get a free $15 credit just for trying Tailwind!
Email lists and marketing
Building an email list of your customers is extremely important for any business. It’s how you stay in touch and help them remember who you are and how much they loved your product.
An email marketing service is also one of the most important tools for running an Etsy shop. There are a whole bunch of different email marketing services available, and they all make it pretty darn easy to build a list of your customers. Over the past 10 years, I’ve worked with several. These are my favorites.
Convertkit
If you really want to have the best of the best, in regards to an email list platform, then ConvertKit is the way to go.
It allows you to do just about anything with your email list, including automated emails (emails that you can set up ahead of time and have go out automatically to the new people on your list), and it has incredible design features.
ConvertKit also makes everything easy! Sending an email to your list is a snap. Make it look exactly the way you want, write what you have to say, and off it goes. Send it now, schedule it for later — whatever works for you.
There are so many incredible features with ConvertKit, so the best thing to do is watch the Demo. You’ll be impressed!
Aweber
AWeber is another great email marketing platform, and also has tons of great features.
They have automated emails, easy design features, and email templates so that you can always write engaging emails that your people want to read.
Mailerlite
MailerLite has been around since 2009 and is another incredible email marketing service.
MailerLite has a clean and uncluttered platform, and it’s super easy to navigate.
Putting together an email to your customers on this platform can literally be done in a matter of a couple of minutes if you already know what you’d like to say. It’s intuitive, and they make it easy to design your emails to look exactly the way you’d like.
MailerLite’s free trial is nice because it’s not based on a number of days, but rather the number of people on your email list. You can have up to 1,000 subscribers on your list before you have to pay a dime!
Etsy marketing tool
The Etsy Marketing Tool is a little-known resource on my list of tools for running an Etsy shop. I don’t think that too many people know it’s out there and how beneficial it can be.
This tool was literally made to help you get more sales in your Etsy shop!
The Etsy Marketing Tool allows you to easily share your items on social media, automatically renew your Etsy shop items (seemingly important for Etsy SEO), run sales in your Etsy shop, manage your tags in bulk to improve Etsy SEO, reprice your items in bulk, and much more.
This tool is a one-stop-shop for promoting and maintaining your Etsy shop.
Business Cards & Marketing Materials
This is another one of those tools for running an Etsy shop that is an absolute must.
There are a million ways to distribute a business card and get your shop name out there, and having a nice business card will seal the deal.
PS Print is a part of the Deluxe Company, which is a very reputable brand associated with business supplies.
PS Print not only offers high-quality business cards for a reasonable price, but they also have just about every imaginable promotional product available for your Etsy business.
Another great place to find promotional items for your Etsy shop is MOO. MOO also offers high-quality items like business cards, flyers, postcards, stickers, letterhead, envelopes, and more.
MOO even offers a free business card sample pack so that you can see the quality of their product, first-hand before you make a purchase.
Need more ways to promote your Etsy shop? Here’s some!
Resources To Make Your Shop Look Nice
Having nice-looking images and graphics, well-written item descriptions, properly maintained books for your business finances are vital to having a successful Etsy shop. This next set of tools for running an Etsy shop are perfect for those tasks.
Picmonkey
Whether you’re making a graphic for your Etsy shop (like a banner or image for a listing), or for an email, or for Pinterest — PicMonkey makes it easy.
PicMonkey allows you to edit photos and create eye-catching graphics to draw your customers in.
Have a product image that isn’t quite up to snuff? Use PicMonkey to edit and improve it.
Need a new Etsy shop banner? You can design one with PicMonkey and be showing it off in a matter of a few minutes.
Need a really great Pin graphic to promote your item on Pinterest? Design it with PicMonkey. Then, save your PicMonkey pin to use as a template for effortless pin designing for all of your future pins.
Make a collage, watermark your shop images, or do any other quick graphics tasks that you need.
Grammarly
Grammarly might quite possibly be one of the best tools for running an Etsy shop that I’ve found.
Grammarly is a FREE resource that checks all of your writing for errors of any kind, and helps you correct them! You simply use their handy extension and it will automatically catch errors.
If you have an Etsy listing description that is loaded with spelling and grammar errors, you might very well lose a customer. Don’t take that chance.
Freshbooks
Keeping proper track of your business finances can make or break your shop. You have to know what is being spent, what is coming in, and everything in between.
Freshbooks is the easy solution to that task! It’s the perfect accounting software for any type of business, no matter how small or how large.
When I started using Freshbooks, all of a sudden I had a crystal clear picture of exactly what my shop expenses were (all of them!) and how much was coming in. That allowed me to make any changes or adjustments that were needed to trim the expenses and increase the income. It was awesome!
Craftmaker Pro
Craftmaker Pro is an ingenious tool that is made especially for handmade business owners! It’s absolutely ideal for an Etsy shop.
Here are some of its incredible features:
- Automated Stock & Inventory Management
- Automatic Pricing Of Your Completed Craft Work
- Works With All Countries, Currencies & Tax Rates
- Gives You Stock Level Alerts
- Notes And Images For Ideas & Designs
- Track Your Favorite Suppliers
- Calculate Tax On Completed Pieces & Invoices
- Promote Your Work On Facebook
- Print Professional Invoices, Catalogs & Labels
- And more!
Their tagline is “helping crafters profit,” and that’s exactly what we want!
Skillshare
I LOVE SKILLSHARE!
If you’re not familiar yet, Skillshare is this awesome place where you have complete and anytime access to 22,000+ online classes on just about any topic, including an entire selection of classes specifically for small businesses! I literally use Skillshare for anything that I’m working to improve in my business. It’s a gold mine!
Some of the business classes have subjects like marketing, productivity, accounting and finance, entrepreneurship, graphic design, product photography, and more.
You’ll find classes on social media, shop branding, planning and growing your business, email marketing how-to, SEO (search engine optimization), and how to sell your art on Etsy.
There are also topics like goal setting, time management, and how to plan your day out to get more done.
The amount of useful information that I’ve gotten from these Skillshare classes is ridiculous!
There’s also a huge selection of “fun” classes to choose from, so if you like to learn new things you’ll find classes on painting, watercolor, drawing, crochet, knitting, sewing, journaling, and many more. Who knows — maybe you’ll pick up a new art form to sell in your Etsy shop!
Skillshare is a fantastic resource for both business and leisure.
Want to try it for free? Get complete access for a full 2 months right here!
Creative market
Creative Market is an incredible marketplace where you can get just about anything that you’d need for the design aspect of your Etsy shop.
We all know shop/business branding is very important. Creative Market can help you put together a beautiful brand and style with gorgeous fonts, graphics, images, and clip art to use in your branding.
Branding includes the fonts and colors that you use, logos, and watermarks for your images — among many other things.
It’s free to make an account and when you do you’ll get 6 FREE goods every Monday! It makes Monday mornings fun. :)
If you end up really getting into your branding and designing, or maybe even selling your designs on Etsy, Creative Market Pro is an exceptional value and worth looking into.
Actual Tools
Having exceptional product photos plays a big role in getting more sales. Better photos just sell more. I can’t stress that enough, and you’ll find that Etsy claims it’s extremely important as well.
Digital Camera
This high-quality digital camera takes excellent photos and is priced right. It’s a bundle, so you get literally everything you could need to start taking pictures right away.
It took me a long time to realize that using a tripod can make a picture 100 times better. And they’re not even expensive! Don’t wait like I did.
Proper lighting also does wonders for your product photos. Many times, when you’re experiencing sub-par product photos, it’s only the lighting that needs to be fixed.
If your products are smaller in size, a simple photo lightbox can do the trick.
Complementing Your Etsy Shop
If you’ve read my additional blog posts on Handmade Businesses, then you already know how I feel about having another “home” for your Etsy shop. A place that you have full control over.
Your Own Website
I promise, having your own website is not difficult or expensive! It’s actually quite easy and affordable. Read my post about the many good reasons for having your own website for your handmade business.
Weebly
Weebly is known for its ease of use and setup, so you really can’t go wrong with them. Weebly is also affordable and offers some great benefits like marketing tools to grow your business, inventory and shipping features, creatable coupon codes and gift cards, and more!
Shopify
Shopify is the platform that I use for my website that mirrors my Etsy shop. It’s easy to set up and you can choose from a big selection of free themes for your design. It also has some great features for reporting and traffic insights.
Indiemade
Indiemade is another awesome platform to have a website, and it’s where I started out. Indiemade was actually designed by artists, for artists. If you’re looking for a super simple way to have a first-time website, then this might be it.
If you’re not excited about having a website, you could go another route — have a blog instead. Blogs are also easy to get started and inexpensive to maintain. Since you’re reading this list on my blog, you already know that I have both. A blog can provide different benefits for your Etsy shop. I don’t suggest trying to set up both, a website and a blog, at the exact same time. But it definitely helps to have both.
Hosting
Bluehost
Bluehost is the hosting company that I use. They are super affordable, reliable, and their customer service is outstanding!
WP Engine
WP Engine is a very high-quality hosting company that specialized in WordPress. So, if you decide to put your blog on the WordPress platform (that’s where mine is), you might want to consider WP Engine.
Themes
When you set up a blog, the easiest way to give it some style is to use a “theme.” When you use a theme, all you have to do is add it to your blog and you’re set! The colors, font styles, and page styles are already there. It’s amazingly easy!
StudioPress/Genesis
I’ve always found that the themes that I like the best are the ones that are used with the Genesis Framework. It keeps your blog secure and SEO friendly — two very important things.
StudioPress also has a fantastic selection of beautiful themes. The theme that you choose can really set the tone for your blog, so you want it to reflect your style and your products.
Restored316
Restored316 also offers some gorgeous, feminine themes to use on a WordPress blog. They’re easy to set up and they provide great customer service.
Make Your Shop Successful
So there you have it — my entire list of awesome tools and resources that can help you make your Etsy shop successful!
If you’re first starting out and building your shop, don’t feel that it’s necessary to use all of these. If you are established and struggling to get sales, then I would suggest using as many as possible. They’ve played a huge role in the success of my own shop.
If you have any questions along the way, please feel free to email me! I’m happy to answer them. :)
Best,
Tammy
