So you opened an Etsy shop, or your own website, or an eBay store, or you started selling on Amazon, and that means the people will just come running, right??? Ummm….. not so much.
You have a great deal to learn and become savvy at in order to make that venture successful. Over the past few months quite a few newbie shop owners have come to me with enthusiasm for their new venture and a fair bit of unrealistic expectations. As their Etsy expert or business coach, I have had to break it to them that just because you opened a store online, the people will NOT come running.
It takes hard work, dedication and knowledge of what to do and not to do, learn by mistakes already made, and an understanding of how search engines work plus quite a lot of patience. No one wants to hear that! But it is what it is, so if you really want your online business to succeed, keep on reading.
Here’s a rundown of just a few of those things you really want to keep in mind before you expect customers to come flocking to your store:
1 – Trying to rush Google into indexing your site – Even with the help of a good business coach or Etsy expert and implementation of the best SEO and social media marketing practices, Google cannot and will not be rushed to acknowledge your website or shop. That is a fact of life and that’s that. You cannot rush Google. Period end of story.
2 – Sourcing your products – Buying your products anywhere but domestically, (for the purpose of this article domestically means in the United States), will add to the cost of each product. Why? Shipping from overseas suppliers can be astronomical. Ouch. The more you spend on your products is the more you’ll have to charge your customers in order to cover your costs. Which boils down to either you short change yourself and your profit margin or your prices will not be as competitive as they could / should be.
3 – Do your due diligence – Some extensive internet research is required to see what others who are selling products that are the same or similar to your are doing. This helps you get a feel for what you are doing, it helps you to identify main sources of competition, and to see what works and what doesn’t.
4 – Having the “I’m going to do it all myself” attitude is simply bad for you and bad for your business. Being a jack of all trades means you are a master of none. Understanding your business and acknowledging your capabilities is essential to your success.
5 – SEO – how much do you realistically know about proper search engine optimization? If you think for one minute you are going to learn proper SEO in a crash course, or in 15 minutes, or that you’ll just make it up as you go along, you can easily bury your business. Hire an SEO expert so that you will get found.
6 – Social Media Marketing – again, how much do you realistically know about the very tricky world of social media marketing for business? If you don’t, you can watch as many videos as you like on YouTube, take as many webinars as you like, and you still will not have the expertise to make it work. Hire an expert.
7 – Paid ads – watch a great deal of your hard earned money get flushed this way. If you don’t know what you’re doing, how to target and how to get the eyeballs, you’re going to waste lots of money. Better to have a business coach who can help you decide whether to pursue getting the eyeballs organically or with paid ads, than to do it yourself blindly.
8 – Titles, Tags and Descriptions – it doesn’t matter on which venue you sell – Etsy, eBay, Amazon or your own website – but titles, tags and descriptions make the content King and make it able to be found! If you don’t put some serious hard work and sweat equity into this one, no one will find anything you are selling. That’s doesn’t sound too profitable to me.
9 – Have a business plan – you can’t be bothered? Too much work? Ok, have it your way. However, creating a business plan helps you to keep track of your business, your vision, your budget, your goals, and enables you to have the flexibility to re-evaluate what’s working and what’s not and to evolve as needs be.
10 – Having unrealistic expectations – Rome wasn’t built in a day. As much of a cliché as that sounds to be, it is the truth! If you have hired the experts you needed to, and the proper SEO and social media marketing plans have been implemented, it should take your store / shop / website 3 months or sooner on the short end, and 6 months on the long end to finally gain traction. If you are not prepared to be patient and nurture your new venture, why did you begin it in the first place?