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HOW TO KEYWORD ON PINTEREST

 A question comes often is — how important is it to keyword on Pinterest? The answer — so important! But there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. Pinterest is a search and discovery network. Pinners are searching for ideas, dreams, plans, goals, recipes and more. In order to find your content, they need to search for certain terms. We need to make sure your content has those terms so they can find you in a sea of pins. 

So here’s the skinny about keywording on Pinterest and the what, why, where and how. Alright, let’s dive in.

WHAT IS PINTEREST KEYWORDING?

Keywording is a process of adding specific words from your niche allowing Pinterest users to find the content they are searching for. Example, I search “modern farmhouse bathroom lights” I hope that Pinterest will return back all those results. Why? Because I really want to find an exact match to what I’m looking for.

Learn more about SEO and Pinterest here.

Keywording is a way to help organize content. For example, if I’m a user searching for DIY Floating Shelves, then Pinterest will pull all pins with those words in the pin description. They may pull other relevant content with DIY, Shelves, Floating, etc. Their platform is still evolving so you may get a few items that are not directly related but it’s going to get as close as it can.

Moral of the story? Be specific and strategic with keywords. 

Note that Pinterest keywording is very different than Google. At this time there is not keyword tool that will allow you to see the ranking of keywords on Pinterest. You can use the recently released Pinterest Trends tool which could turn into the main keyword tool for Pinterest.

WHAT KEYWORDING IS NOT!

It’s not a way to game the system. It’s a way to ensure the right people find your content. That’s where you get qualified leads and people added to your tribe. Let me say this as well, don’t sweep wide here. I’ve heard people say you should maximize for all areas — quotes, food, DIY, Style, Fashion, etc. However, if none of those areas have your target person, do not keyword for them. Be specific and strategic with keywords. If you don’t create content or sell products in the wedding space, don’t have a board for weddings.

WHY KEYWORD ON PINTEREST?

Let’s say you have a very niche business and you’re looking to target a specific person. You want to make sure a mom, early 20s, 3 kids and does not work outside the home, finds your content about being a stay at home mom. You would add specific keywords to help her find the articles you know will give her the tools to be effective in her daily life.

For me, I want to specifically target people interested in Pinterest marketing and management. Every board, board description and pin description should include those keywords in a natural-sounding way. I’ll explain more about how that looks below.

The other reason to keyword is to help the algorithm on Pinterest know how to categorize your content and share with those that may not follow you but are interested in the topic.

HOW TO KEYWORD ON PINTEREST

Use simple words that fit into your niche. I used to say break it into three parts and add personality, but now that Pinterest has dialed back what you see in descriptions, it’s best to be brief and straight to the point. You can use up to 500 characters in your pin description.

Here’s an example:

How to clean up Pinterest boards in five easy steps. Are you lost in how to make your boards look professional and engaging for your audience? Learn more tips about how to utilize Pinterest marketing in your business from the Simple Pin Podcast!

If you are using hashtags in your pin descriptions, stop. Adding hashtags is no longer valuable on Pinterest. 

The end-user is mainly looking at the image. If the image gives them all the information they need, they will look there first. If the image is blank they will look to the description. They don’t need fancy they just need informative.

WHERE TO KEYWORD ON PINTEREST

Okay, so the very first place we always optimize images is on your site. When you write a post, speaking specifically to those using WordPress, and you add an image, you will want to put your keywords into the Pinterest description box. Stay away from the alt-text. This is specifically for the visually impaired. See image below for an example.

hands on laptop next to screenshot of alt text example.

So why do we want to keyword this first? Because when someone pins your pin, this specific description will be pulled up as the description that ‘travels’ with the pin.

For example, you’ve just created this amazing post about DIY Floating Shelves and spent hours on it and you’re so excited to have it rock Pinterest. You release your post and people start pinning it but the alt text says “image o8315”. Whoops! And if you don’t have Rich Pins, then people really can’t tell what it is beside the image. See where I’m going with this?

If you don’t know where to start in updating older posts with the Pinterest description, I suggest you use the search bar to see what keywords come up in relation to your post. You can also use the “More Like This” to see what content is coming up as related to your older pin.

PIN DESCRIPTIONS

If you’ve already filled in your Pinterest description, you won’t have to do anything when you pin a pin. However, if you want to upload a pin directly, you will need to add a pin description. 

I have a planner landing page for my Pinterest planner and have 3 different images that go to that landing page. I would like to pin all of them to my Simple Pin board, so I upload the first image, and THEN I’ll need to add a description to the pin. Once I do that I can add the pin and then edit it to add the URL to my landing page.

This is one of the only times you’ll need to add a pin description. Or you can edit them on existing pins. Note, when you edit it will not automatically update existing pins. It’s one at a time kind of thing. You can also add in the title here with 4-5 words.

PROFILE

Your profile is a great place to add keywords and it’s one that is often overlooked. There are two places you can add the keywords

First, your business name.

I have Simple Pin Media with the keyword Pinterest marketing next to my name.

Next is your profile description. Use this section to let them know how you’re going to serve them with the type of content or niche you are. You can use the same keywords you used in your business name.

BOARD TITLES

Use simple words but consider who your target person is. You are under no obligation here to sweep wide unless of course, your audience is wide (like in the case of a lifestyle blogger). But if you’re more targeted to the DIY home project crowd, be specific in the type of titles you use for your boards. Maybe every board title has DIY in it. Get creative but be consistent.

Key takeaway: the goal in keywording is to target your audience.

BOARD DESCRIPTIONS

This is a place where you will tell the user what you will pin on the board. Be smart about writing complete sentences. You can add several sentences here, but I wouldn’t spend too much time doing that. 2-3 is perfectly acceptable.

KNOW YOUR PINTEREST AUDIENCE

The goal in keywording is to target your audience. To attract the person you want to see your content. If you’re stuck on which keywords to use, start with a simple list. Or start with who that person is and make a quick story about them and their lifestyle. Then come up with a list of boards to create or update. 

6 REASONS WHY YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS A CONTENT STRATEGY

 A content strategy is crucial in helping businesses plan, create, distribute and measure the effectiveness of their content and in achieving their marketing objectives.

Creating a content strategy helps you outline your goals, content types, the format of your content and optimization process for your content, your content creation and publishing process, including how you’ll distribute your content and the metrics you’ll use to measure its impact. 

Having a content strategy is important for any business because it will give you clarity around your unique business goals, your content plan, the important KPIs you want to measure and the steps you will take to achieve your goals. 

A thorough content strategy can help your business increase brand awareness, drive website traffic, generate leads, build customer loyalty and establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry.

In this increasingly competitive (and sometimes saturated) landscape, having a strong content strategy can make all the difference in achieving business success.

Here’s why your business should have a content strategy: 

1. CREATES CONSISTENCY:

A content strategy helps ensure that your content is consistent and aligned with your brand’s messaging and values.

When you implement your content strategy, this consistency in producing content and delivering your brand’s message helps you build trust with your audience.

2. BOOST BRAND AWARENESS:

A content strategy helps increase brand awareness by sharing valuable and informative content across various channels, including social media, email, and blogs.

By sharing the content on social media channels and distributing it across other platforms, you can increase the visibility and reach of your content, which can help to boost brand awareness.

CONTENT CALENDAR 

Need help with your content marketing efforts? An effective content calendar is built with a strong foundation around strategy.

Using Calendar will help you:

  • Streamline your content creation process
  • Optimize your workflows
  • Help ensure your content mix is strategically aligned with your marketing goals

3. TARGET AUDIENCE:

A content strategy helps you understand your target audience and enables you to create content that resonates with them.

This ensures that your content is more likely to engage your target audience.

Creating strategic content begins with truly understanding your audience. Instead of looking at what other accounts are posting or saving content inspiration online, focus on researching more details about your target audience.

4. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO):

Creating content that is optimized for search engines can help improve your website’s ranking on search engine result pages.

This can drive traffic to your website and improve your brand’s visibility.

5. COST-EFFECTIVE APPROACH:

A content strategy can be a cost-effective marketing tactic that delivers long-term results.

By creating high-quality content that is shareable and engaging, you can attract relevant leads and drive traffic to your website.

This can lead to increased organic traffic, engagement and conversion rates, and can help reduce the need for additional spending on advertising or promotion activities. 

6. COMPETETIVE ADVANTAGE:

A content strategy can give you a competitive advantage by differentiating your brand from your competitors.

By creating unique and valuable content, you can distinguish yourself from competitors and establish yourself as an industry leader.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

Identify who your target audience is and who it is that you’re providing value or a service to.

Clarify your brand message and your unique selling points or unique value proposition

Create a content plan with the channels you’ll leverage and the type of content mix you’ll create to attract and convert your audience.

A content strategy is essential for any business that wants to build a strong brand, engage with its target audience and achieve its marketing goals.

Having a solid content strategy helps you create high-quality content that resonates with your audience and delivers long-term results.

Etsy SEO Tips – Optimize your Etsy Store and Gain Sales With These Simple Steps

 What Is Etsy SEO

For starters, Search Engine Optimization (aka SEO) is a fundamental aspect for every online business and service agency across the industry sectors. In short, SEO as a whole involves quintessential factors that will optimize your content, enhance organic traffic, generate new leads, and ultimately enable you to become more recognized/profitable within your niche.

Why Does This Matter in Terms of How to Sell On Etsy?

That means it is vital to optimize your Etsy store to both bolster your brand presence and compete for that first page, as not being there means you are losing 75% worth of opportunity to grow your organic searches.

By this point, you may have guessed that the best way to do this is by learning how to sell on Etsy using the power of SEO on Etsy best practices to rank higher, automate, and boost overall success.

Etsy SEO Best Practices

Etsy is a good marketplace to sell your products. However, keep in mind that there are thousands if not millions of other sellers on the platform as well. Standing out is hard especially if you’ve got lots of people to compete with. That’s why it’s important that you optimize your marketing efforts to help you out.

Whether it’s Etsy or some other online marketplace that you are posting your products on, proper marketing practices are a must. SEO is a crucial practice for everyone regardless of what business you have. If you want to be more successful, consider these vital tips for your Etsy store.

1) Choose a Descriptive Shop Title

Your shop’s name is the first thing that people are going to see and read. It’s important that from the get-go, you’re able to distinguish what your business is all about. Your potential customers shouldn’t have to read an entire paragraph just to know what you are offering. It’s always best to let them know what you have in store as soon as possible.

Make sure to include words that are related to your business within your shop’s title. This way, your store can pop up just in case your customers make a specific search on Etsy. Of course, it’s also important that your shop title isn’t the same as the competition so make sure to do the appropriate research on your competition too.

2) Avoid Keyword Stuffing

One of the common misconceptions when it comes to SEO is that your efforts should be focused mainly on keyword stuffing. Keyword stuffing means excessively using keywords so that your shop can appear more frequently to users. However, this is a practice that can get you penalized by Etsy.

Algorithms for SEO have long changed. Now, you can do with a few keywords so long as they are in the right place. Consider putting one or two keywords per 100 words of text and that should be more than enough. Don’t overstuff your posts as you’ll be seeing your shop less that way.

3) Use All 13 Tags for Each Listing

One of the great features of Etsy are tags. These basically categorize your shop into specific sections. This will make your shop more visible in certain categories, thus making it easier for potential customers to find them. Don’t be afraid to use tags. If you use them properly, they can be very beneficial for your shop.

Overall, you can put 13 tags for each listing. Use all of them. Doing so increases the visibility of your listing. Just make sure that you are putting the proper tags so that your items aren’t put in the wrong places.

4) Put the Important Keywords at the Beginning of Every Field

Remember when we said that it’s more important to put the keywords in the right places other than overstuffing your posts? This is what we mean by that. Make sure to put your keywords at the very beginning of every field. This makes the keywords easier to detect and it makes it more visible as well.

One of the last things you’d want to do is to put the keyword in the middle of long texts. This will make it harder for the algorithm to detect the keyword thus meaning your SEO isn’t proper. Most importantly, don’t force the keyword. Make sure that it’s as smoothly inserted as possible.

5) Refresh Your Listings

Always update your listings when possible. One thing you should know about Etsy is that posts that are old get placed lower because they’re no longer the priority of the platform. It’s important to refresh and update your posts every once in a while so that Etsy focuses on putting them on the top of lists on their store.

Refreshing your listings is a very important practice that you should never forget. Ideally, you’d want to refresh your listings at least once a month. That will be more than enough to make sure that your posts stay relevant on the platform.

6) Get Inbound Links

Link building is a very important practice when it comes to SEO. It helps establish your authority and it also helps your business reach out to the market of other entities online. If you want to maximize your reach, then you should consider putting inbound links on your post.

When putting inbound links, make sure that those links are from authoritative websites only. Avoid linking to content farms as those are only going to hurt your SEO more than anything else. It can be tricky to link build at first but with the right efforts, it will be easier to get more partnerships in the future.

How to Improve Etsy SEO

Visibility is the name of the game when it comes to eCommerce. So, improving your presence on Etsy should be a top priority from day one. To improve your store’s authority with Etsy marketing and SEO, you should start thinking about finding the right keywords for your product. So, here are the fundamentals you should know about keywords in order to get found on Etsy.

Keywords

Keywords are the heart and soul of SEO. To put it simply, these are search terms that make it possible for your content or text to appear when people search for specific things online. For instance, a keyword for a dentist in New York will be new york dentist – only in this case, that’s a key phrase instead of a keyword.

This is an important part of SEO as, without it, your Etsy SEO efforts won’t matter. Keywords directly link your products to specific search terms – that’s saying a lot about how powerful they are.

Short and Long Tail Keywords

Keyword research, both short and long tail, is the backbone to optimize your Etsy store.

Etsy algorithm picks and chooses the first products to showcase based on the first few keywords someone types into their search box.

From there, Etsy autocompletes the next high-ranking Etsy keywords for searchers.

Keywords and phrases you chose can help you rank high.

For reference, a good short tail keyword would be ‘necklace’ for those searching for general information about the platform, and a solid long tail for more specific searches would be something like ‘handmade green necklace on Etsy.’

Ideally, you want to use both short and long-tail keywords to optimize your Etsy search potential across every angle.

How to Find Keywords

For some more insight here, to find such keywords,

➢ Using Etsy SEO tools such as erank.com or Marmalead.com- to find keywords.

➢ Using Google Trends to see what people are searching for on that search engine.

➢ Use Etsy Search to find the most specific/popular keywords being used.

➢ BrainStorm –  

Once you have your results – you should come up with 4 keywords in total.

As for the 4 keywords you pick, the first one should be the word or phrase you think your audience will more than likely search. It could be something like green necklace.

From there, your second and third will be the next in line you feel they will search after that first one.

Occasions

Etsy users may search for terms like bachelorette party, stocking stuffer, first anniversary, or tacky sweater party.

Style

Shoppers often have an aesthetic in mind, so consider how this affects how your listing is found. Is your product rustic, minimalist, nature-inspired, art deco, etc.?

Solutions

Does your product offer a solution to a buyer? Consider how a user may search for a problem solver like drawer organizer or microchip pet tag.

How and Where to Place Keywords?

It’s no longer about keyword density. In the early days of SEO, it was very important to have more than one keyword on your posts. However, placement is more important nowadays. SEO is a very dynamic practice. Knowing proper placement is a must if you want to get the most out of your keywords.

Title

➢ The very first few words of your title are the most important to help to get your items seen for specific keywords.

The majority of the items on the very first page will have those exact keywords in the beginning of the title.

➢ Putting your exact keywords at the beginning of your title means your keywords are the first few words in the creation of the link to the listing,

and it means your item is much more likely to be found for those keywords.

➢ It’s the idea that your titles must match your tags (will discuss later). This is not true. don’t repeat the tags on the title or the keywords on the tags section, you’re going to kill your chances at getting found on Etsy.

Description

Place the most vital keywords within the first 40 characters of your item descriptions. As this enables it to show up in the meta description.

Tags

Tags are different from keywords. They are a form of metadata that categorizes your listings into specific links. To put it simply, you can think of tags as an index only this time, instead of letters, your listings are going to be linked to specific words. Proper usage of tags is another key towards Etsy’s success and might even let your post make it to the top Etsy searches.

One of the key techniques when it comes to tags is to add keywords to them. This further increases the effectiveness of your SEO.

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How to Optimize Etsy Listings

Etsy SEO and keyword tags are one thing, but promoting your products to convert those leads into sales is another. For this, you could have the best quality and authentic products on the Etsy platform. However, if you are not promoting them well or they are not priced accurately (either too little or too high), it can dull your SEO end results. To help you with this, use the following formula to get the most accurate/competitive pricing for your products:

➢ Materials + Labor + Overhead x 2 = Wholesale price

➢ Wholesale price x 2 = Retail price

For some more insight, most crafters charge an average of $12 to $20 an hour for their labor costs. Once you have that nailed down, don’t just promote your products on Etsy – branch out to other social platforms to reach as many people as you can. (see point #3 for more details on this part).

Optimize Your Tags

The very first step towards getting the most out of your tags is to optimize it. Make sure that your listings are placed in proper tags. If you don’t put them in the right categories. For instance, if you’re selling a phone make sure to put a tag on whether it’s an Android or an iOS phone. Being specific is also key to utilizing your tags more. Etsy tags that sell are those that are very specific.

Etsy lets you use a total of 13 tags for your listings. It’s very important that you utilize each of these tags. This might not make sense but you need to be as specific and as broad as possible at the same time. The key is to categorize your product in as many appropriate places as possible.

Create a Store Name That Accurately Describes Your Product

We’ve said a while back that it’s very important to make sure that your store name should be similar or related to your product. Now, this doesn’t mean that you can’t be creative. However, your Etsy shop name should at least be a reflection of the products that you sell. Remember, you’re not running a major brand so it’s a must that you let your customers know what you are selling immediately.

The good news is that you can rename your Etsy shop and link if you’ve already put a name on yours. It’s fairly easy to change your shop’s name when you can so make sure that it remains optimized at least. A good Etsy shop title should be catchy. You should check out the top stores on Etsy to see some good Etsy shop title examples.

Renew Your Listings as Often as Possible

What does it mean to renew your listings? To put it simply, this means pulling down your listing and reposting it. If there are any new details or updates about the product, then you should update the post with whatever that new information might be. It’s very important to renew as much as possible when it comes on how to get found on Etsy.

As we’ve said, renewing your listing means you are renewing it’s content as well. This will help the product stay relevant on Etsy. Doing this will help you get found on Etsy as much as possible.

Promote Using Inbound links

Adding inbound links, also referred to as backlinks, is the process of increasing website/Etsy store traffic through strategically incorporating links within your content that leads to other source pages for your business.

An example would be using ad campaigns on social media or blog content that contains anchor hyperlinks that connect to your Etsy store.

Going this route means you are opening the doors to more potential leads/sales across a broader audience while simultaneously building a respectable brand image along the way to increase followers.

Some other tips for leveraging this encompass the following:

Keep in mind here that there was once a time when search engines like Google would rank websites/stores higher by the sheer quantity of inbound links they had, but that is not the case anymore.

So, make sure to focus on the quality of your links and how relevant they are to your content to be seen as a reputable source in the eyes of SERPs.

1. Promote your Store on Multiple Social Media Platforms

Along with Facebook and Instagram, share your Etsy store products on social platforms like Pinterest and Twitter as well.

2. Consider Partnership With Other Etsy Sellers

Network with other Etsy sellers or relatable bloggers to exchange product/brand features and perform cross-promotion to gain more exposure.

3. Contact Influencers for Promotions or Sponsorships

Reach out to reputable influencers to help promote your store with a free product as payment.

4. Promote a Referral Program

Create a referral and/or an affiliate program to entice people to connect with your brand and market on a more personal level.

Prioritize Customer Service and Gain 5-Star Reviews

Rule #1 on how to sell on Etsy is that without customers, your growth efforts are going to get very far.

This very reason is why so many new sellers on Etsy tend to get frustrated as the sellers with hundreds/thousands of followers and reviews take the top spot.

However, never forget that even those high-performing Etsy sellers had to start somewhere too.

For this, the best thing you can do to gain traction as a trusted seller is prioritize customer service and gain as many 5-star reviews as you can.

Now, a large part of this still involves Etsy SEO and learning how to optimize your Etsy store because those are key factors that help position you to become a trusted source worth investing in. The other part is being transparent, friendly, responsive, and open to remediate conflicts professionally and fairly.

It also means staying on top of your inventory, having a well-oiled Etsy fulfillment process, and seamlessly managing your order operations from purchase to delivery so your customers have a seamless and favorable experience.

That, along with delivering quality products is what will get you those 5-star reviews, which will become a snowball effect for more sales.

What Else to Consider

SEO involves a lot of techniques and marketing strategies that not many are familiar with. We’ve tackled the general tips on how you can improve your SEO but those are just a small part of it. There are still a lot of things you need to consider to fully maximize your SEO efforts in Etsy.

1. Always Monitor new Potential Keywords

Be sure to change up your keywords every so often based on demand shifts. For instance, having holiday-rich keywords only works well during the holiday season.

2. Put Extra Care into Creating your Titles

Believe it or not, the title of your product weighs more towards boosting sales than the tags and the description categories.

Though every factor matters, be sure to always get your titles right.

In short, the idea that your titles need to match your tag is simply not true and trying to repeat all 13 tags (recommended to use all of them) in that title area can not only make you go slightly insane, but it can also kill your chances of getting discovered on Etsy.

3. Avoid Repetitive Tags

Never repeat your keyword tags, as this approach only wastes tag opportunities because it doesn’t help you rank higher.

Instead of using the same keyword 5, 10, or 20 times, integrate different ones that hold promising SERPs ranking power to broaden your chances of reaching more people organically.

4. Carefully Curate your Keywords

As for the 4 keywords you pick, the first one should be the word or phrase you think your audience will more than likely search.

It could be something like a green necklace. From there, your second and third will be the next in line you feel they will search after that first one.

Finally, the last one (keyword #4) is one you think people will use, but probably less frequent than the rest.

Overall, find 4 keywords using this strategy, as it will help you cover more space in SERPs and allows you to not have to add tons of keywords every single time to get the same or similar search results.

Summary – Don’t Take Etsy SEO Lightly

In summary, learning how to sell on Etsy and how to optimize your Etsy store is the cornerstone effort to spearhead your success both short and long term within that platform. Overall, those Etsy SEO tricks not only help you sell on Etsy more, but they can also help you pave the way for an advanced future filled with profit and expandability.

You can also take it a step further and enjoy the fruits of business automation using tools like Export Your Store, to streamline syncing/Etsy SEO routines so you can spend more time on other business areas to advance faster.

In the end, it can be intimidating for Etsy sellers to jump in on the action, gain momentum, and reach optimal growth potential, especially with the market landscape continuously changing.

But if there is one thing for sure, with the right software tools and SEO ranking approaches in your pocket, you are already 10 steps ahead towards succeeding than those who do not.

With that being said, if you truly want to optimize your Etsy store and outrank your competition and gain more sales, understand that it’s not as convoluted as it might seem on the surface. Because with a bit of mindful SEO tailoring and leveraging automotive SEO/syncing processes, you are well on your way towards achieving new levels of Etsy ranking success.

12+ Proven Ways: How to Get More Sales on Etsy – The Complete Guide for 2024

 Selling on Etsy is unlike selling on any other marketplace. The specialized nature of the marketplace, combined with increasingly fierce competition, presents a variety of unique challenges for sellers on the platform. Etsy sellers must always be on the lookout for ways to increase their Etsy shop’s visibility, while simultaneously ensuring that they’re always ahead of the curve and a level above the competition.

How to get more etsy sales

If you’re wondering how to get more sales on Etsy, we’ve put together a complete guide for Etsy sellers, with proven strategies to increase your shop’s visibility and boost your sales. Keep reading for insider listing tips, expert marketing strategies, and smart SEO methods that will increase your sales on Etsy with minimal effort.

Understanding Etsy and Building Strategies for Getting More Sales

Before we dive into how to get more Etsy sales, we have to look at Etsy as a marketplace and understand what it means to sell on Etsy. As a platform, Etsy functions similarly to many other ecommerce marketplaces – it allows sellers to open up shops and sell goods to buyers on the platform, it works with major payment services such as PayPal and Klarna, and has firmly established itself as a well-known and trusted online marketplace. The thing that makes Etsy unique in comparison to other major ecommerce marketplaces is what is sold on the platform.

Etsy was designed to be the ecommerce equivalent of traditional craft fairs, and its marketplace policies reflect that. Sellers on Etsy are only allowed to sell handmade goods, vintage items, and craft supplies on the platform. If your items fit the bill but you’re still struggling to get sales, it’s important to ask yourself the two questions to better understand how you can grow your Etsy sales.

Is it Worth Selling on Etsy?

Looking at whether the items you’re selling on Etsy are the right items for the platform is important, and not just from a marketplace policy standpoint. Compliance with marketplace policy given, some items are a better choice for selling on Etsy than others. Digital downloads, for example, are a great way to make money on the platform while requiring no logistics and minimal customer service. Certain handmade items, on the other hand, may be more difficult to profitably sell on the platform. Things like handmade leather goods of your own design, for example, can easily be copied and sold for pennies on the dollar by dropshippers or sellers operating from areas with lower production costs, making it more difficult for sellers who sell their own handmade creations to get noticed among the sea of competition. Whatever you’re selling, you’ll want to be sure that it is indeed a good fit for selling on Etsy.

What Makes Etsy Popular?

As mentioned earlier, Etsy is a marketplace for selling craft supplies, handmade items, and vintage goods, and it has firmly established itself as the marketplace for all things creative, custom, and crafty. This is exactly what makes Etsy so popular with buyers – they are familiar with Etsy’s distinctive artsy vibe, and know to come back to it whenever they’re looking for something that can’t be bought on run-of-the-mill ecommerce retail sites.

‍Tips for Increasing Sales on Etsy

Now that we’ve firmly established what Etsy is and what you should consider when deciding whether an item is a good fit for selling on the platform, we’ll examine a few tried and tested tips on how to get more sales on Etsy. Keep in mind that boosting Etsy sales requires a variety of approaches, but with a little time, effort, patience, and these simple tips, you’ll quickly begin seeing more sales on your Etsy shop.

Etsy SEO

1. Optimize Your Listings for SEO

When creating a listing for any item in your shop, the first thing you need to consider is how you can best optimize it for SEO. Put simply, you’ll want to ensure that your listing has all the correct components, in the right format and place, so that Etsy knows to match it to potential buyers’ searches. No matter how good your item is, if buyers can’t see it when they browse Etsy, you won’t ever make a sale. Good SEO practices include clear and descriptive item titles, complete use of tags on every listing, and making sure to keep your listings fresh. 

2. Focus on Quality

Like many marketplaces, Etsy has recently become inundated with sellers looking to make a quick buck by selling low quality goods. These can be anything from dropshippers selling mass-produced items as handmade, to dishonest sellers stealing other seller’s designs and selling cheap copies of them. While Etsy has made some effort to tackle these issues, it’s always an uphill battle for honest sellers looking to sell on the platform. For this reason, it is important to focus on offering your buyers quality items that will keep them coming back for more. Return buyers are also more likely to recommend your store to people they know personally, giving you free word-of-mouth advertising!

3. Offer Variety

Your Etsy shop should focus on its unique niche – whether that be jewelry, home décor, leather goods, or anything in between – while offering buyers a rich variety to choose from within that niche. If you started your Etsy shop selling earrings, for example, expand your selection to include other types of jewelry. Make an effort to regularly add new items and designs, and to keep up to date with what buyers are looking for. A store that offers more options will always have a bigger pool of potential clientele, while also enjoying more exposure on a bigger variety of search results.

4. Take Great Photos

The impact of good-quality, well-staged photos cannot be overstated when it comes to selling on Etsy. Buyers come to the platform to purchase things they’ve never seen in person, as opposed to buyers who flock to platforms like Amazon to find better deals on items they’ve likely encountered before. The saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” is doubly true on Etsy, and that’s because your listing photos are the only way buyers are able to assess the quality of the item you’re selling. Always use good lighting, take high-resolution photos, and ensure that your item photos are cohesively staged across your listings.

5. Offer Discounts and Free Shipping

A significant part of making a purchase attractive to buyers is offering them a good deal. This can be in the form of discounts, such as coupon codes or price drops, or benefits like free shipping. You can increase your sales by offering interested buyers who’ve favorited an item in your shop a discount code, or offer free shipping to buyers with domestic shipping addresses. You can also offer discounts for holidays such as Valentine’s Day and Christmas, or send interested buyers seasonal discount codes to encourage them to complete their purchase.  

6. Promote Your Products

Promoting your products on Etsy is a great way to get more sales and increase your Etsy shop’s visibility. This is easily done with Etsy Ads, Etsy’s simple PPC promoted listings model that gives sellers the option to promote their products in buyer searches.

When looking at how to get more sales on Etsy, it’s important to not get tunnel vision and lose the ability to look outside of Etsy itself, however. Etsy also offers its sellers a program for promoting their products outside of the platform, known as Offsite Ads, in which sellers are automatically enrolled. There is a 12-15% fee on a sale that results from one of these offsite ads, but the benefits of getting your product and store out there far outweigh the steep referral fee.

Strategies for Building Brand Awareness and Increasing Sales on Etsy

In this section, we’ll take a look at how you can build awareness for your brand or shop through a variety of avenues. By increasing visibility of your shop and bringing in buyers from multiple places, you’ll be able to not only get more sales on Etsy, but also build your Etsy shop’s reputation both on- and off-platform.

1. Utilize Email Marketing

Email marketing is a great tool for selling online, but it’s only beneficial when employed correctly. The first mistake many sellers make is sending emails to buyers who never explicitly asked to receive those emails. Never send emails to anyone who hasn’t asked to receive them; the best scenario is that the email gets ignored, and the worst is that it gets reported as spam. Instead, offer buyers who have already purchased something from your store the option of opting into marketing emails, or use other platforms (such as your own website, if you have one) to allow buyers to sign up to receive emails. Don’t forget to make these emails worthwhile – include promotions and discount codes to ensure that people will be happy to receive your marketing emails while also nudging them towards making a purchase.

2. Create an Engaging Blog

Etsy is a marketplace for many creative and artsy types, and many shoppers on the platform have unique hobbies and interest that you can write about in a blog. Your blog should focus on creating articles that are relevant to your store and interesting to potential buyers. If you sell home décor pieces, for example, your blog can talk about interior design, tips for decorating small spaces, ways to incorporate pieces from your shop into different design themes, and more. Your blog doesn’t have to feature a new article every day, but aim for no more than a month between each post to keep your blog engaging without adding unnecessary fluff.

3. Maintain a Strong Presence on Social Media

The importance of a good social media presence cannot be overstated when it comes to selling online, and that goes double for sellers who sell on Etsy. If you already have a social media presence for your business, leverage it to promote your Etsy shop and attract buyers. If you’re just starting out or don’t have established social media accounts, go ahead and open them. Choose your social media channels carefully, and take into consideration where your target audience is more likely to be. If you’re selling vintage Y2K clothes, TikTok is a more suitable platform than Facebook, for example.

4. Participate in Relevant Forums

Similar to the aforementioned social media presence, participating in niche-relevant forums is a great way to increase awareness of your brand and get more sales on Etsy. No matter what you sell – from vintage watches to mid-century style prints, naturally-dyed craft yarn to retro home décor – there is sure to be an online community that’s interested. Keep in mind that you want to be an active member of these forums, not just a seller trying to plug their store. Share your knowledge and tips before you post links to your Etsy shop. Remember that the smaller and more specific your niche, the greater the impact your participation in these forums will have, whether that impact is positive or negative!  

5. Collaborate with Influencers

If your niche allows it, influencer collaboration is a great way to boost your social media presence to drive more Etsy sales. The benefit of influencers is that they do much of the social media legwork for you – they already have an established following and presence on their social media platforms of choice, and their followers already trust their credibility. Collaborating with an influencer is a great way to get more sales on your Etsy shop, and it can be done in many creative ways. You can offer discount codes specifically for that influencer’s followers, have them promote a product, or even just give your Etsy shop a mention.

6. Take Advantage of Etsy’s Ad Campaigns

We’ve mentioned Etsy’s ad options before, but they’re worth mentioning again from a brand awareness perspective. Aside from driving sales via direct clicks, ads have the added benefit of boosting your brand’s awareness, both on and off the platform. Keep your shop enrolled in Etsy Offline Ads instead of opting out – it’s a great way to get more exposure for your shop and products because it utilizes Etsy’s advanced algorithms and wealth of analytics data to promote your products where they’ll have the biggest impact.  

7. Utilize Social Shopping

Social shopping is the next phase of digital commerce, and has taken a significant bite out of more traditional ecommerce shopping in recent years. Put simply, social shopping is a shopping experience directly through a social media platform, without leaving that platform. May social media platforms now have the option of opening stores in-platform, or linking directly to your store’s website. This poses a problem for Etsy sellers, however, since Etsy does not integrate with any social media platform to offer a true social commerce experience to the end user. To give your buyers the option of social shopping on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, you’ll want to utilize a third-party integration tool that can take your Etsy shop and integrate it with a shop on your social media platform of choice.

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Final Thoughts and Important Takeaways

As we’ve seen, increasing your Etsy sales requires a concerted effort on several fronts, including marketing, social media, and listing SEO. The most important thing to remember is that all these strategies work together to drive more sales on your Etsy shop, which is why it is so important to implement them together in order to get the most out of each one. In short, there is no single “how to” for getting more sales on Etsy, but rather a series of good practices and strategies that you can start implementing today for a more successful Etsy selling experience.

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FAQs for Increasing Sales on Etsy

Here, we’ll go over a few of the most common questions we receive from sellers who want to get more sales on Etsy. Browse them, and feel free to let us know if you have any questions of your own that you’d like us to address!

Q:  How do I optimize my Etsy listings for SEO?

A: Optimizing your Etsy listings is an important part of getting more sales on Etsy. A well-optimized Etsy listing will have a complete and descriptive title, utilize keywords correctly while avoiding keyword stuffing, take full advantage of tags, and include researched and relevant keywords.

Q:  What tips should I follow when trying to increase sales on Etsy?

A: Important tips for how to get more Etsy sales not only include good SEO practices and taking good quality listing photos of your items, but also encompass product and brand promotion strategies that make use of the marketing and social media avenues at your disposal. Brand awareness and SEO aside, you’ll want to focus on offering a wide selection of quality products to your buyers, and offer them discounts and promotions whenever possible to drive more sales.

Q:  How can I use social media to get more sales on Etsy?

A: Social media is a great tool for both building brand awareness and promoting your products in order to get more Etsy sales. Using social media correctly to increase your Etsy sales includes promoting both your store and your products to your followers, working with influencers to get the word out about new products and sales, and offering buyers a social commerce experience by integrating your Etsy store with various social media platforms.

Q:  How can I build brand awareness for my Etsy store?

A: Building brand awareness for your Etsy store requires a combined marketing and social media effort that promotes your Etsy shop and brand on multiple platforms simultaneously. You’ll want to hold on to past buyers by giving them the option of signing up to receive marketing emails, promote your Etsy shop through participation in niche-relevant forums, and collaborate with influencers to get the word out about new products and promotions. All these can give your brand and shop better credibility in the eyes of potential buyers, and ultimately drive more sales on your Etsy shop.

Q:  How do I make sure my products stand out on Etsy?

A: Creating eye-catching listings – and promoting them – is a surefire way to get buyers interested and engaged. You’ll want to follow good Etsy SEO practices to ensure visibility, and supplement them with high-quality images that attractively showcase your items. High-resolution photographs combined with deliberate staging are a good way to impart a unique brand feel while making your listings stand out from the competition.

11 Editing Tips : Instagram Reels

Everyone is talking about how the Instagram algorithm loves Reels, and that using the format can improve engagement and reach.

But getting started with such a creative medium can be intimidating. We’re here to help with an Instagram Reels tutorial that will help you master 11 essential editing tools and skills needed to create engaging content.

Keep reading to find out how to edit your videos for best results and kickstart your growth. 

Table of Contents

1. Add music to Reels

2. Add text to the beat

3. Make multi-scene how-to Reels

4. Record Reels hands-free

5. Find your favorite Reels filter

6. Use the Align tool

7. Make timelapse Reels

8. Add voiceover to Reels

9. Use the Remix feature

10. Use the green screen effect

11. Use Reels templates

1. Add music to Reels

When browsing the Reels tab on Instagram, you’ll notice that most videos have audio clips — most often songs or voiceover — playing over them. Adding music to Reels is one of the basic editing skills you should know if you want to create engaging content.

Selecting song from Instagram's music library

How to add music to Reels

  • Go to Instagram, then navigate to Reels and tap the photo icon in the top right corner to start creating content.
  • Tap the music note icon on the left-hand side. Select your song.
  • Once you’ve picked your song, you’ll find yourself back on the recording screen.
  • To select a specific segment of the song, tap the thumbnail of the album cover in the left-hand menu, then choose the section of the song you’d like to play during your Reel.
  • Got your song locked in? Time to make your vid. Hold the record button (the big one at the bottom with the Reels logo!) to start recording, and the music clip will start playing. When you let go of the record button, the recording will stop.
  • When you’re ready to share, tap Share To. You can share the recording as a Reel only (it will show up in the Reels tab in your account), or as an Instagram post as well.
  • Now you’re on the editing screen! Here, you can adjust the audio mix (turn the volume up or down), or add stickers, drawings, or text.
  • When you’re done, tap the arrow icon to proceed.

2. Add text to the beat

Adding captions to your video content serves multiple purposes:

It can add more context to what’s shared in the audio.

It clarifies your message, even for people who aren’t watching with sound or may have hearing impairments.

It can be a cool visual stylistic flourish.

One common move on Reels is to have text appear and disappear on the beat — follow the step-by-step instruction below to make it happen!

Instagram Reels captions

How to add captions to Reels

  • Open the Reels maker.
  • Choose your song, and hold the record button (the big one at the bottom with the Reels logo!) to start recording.
  • Hit the backward arrow icon to review your recording, and trim or delete if necessary. Tap Done to return to the recording screen.
  • When you’re done, tap the arrow icon to proceed.
  • Now you’re on the editing screen! In the top right corner, tap the Aa icon to add text over of your video.
  • Type out your message.
  • Use the style tools along the top of the screen to adjust the alignment or color, or add stylistic flourishes.
  • Select a font from your options along the bottom of the screen.
  • Tap Done.
  • Now, you’ll see your text on a preview, but there also will be a little icon of your text on the bottom left. Tap that to adjust when in the video clip your text will appear, as well as the duration.
  • If you’d like to add additional text, tap the Aa icon again and repeat the text editing process.
  • When you’re happy with your video, tap Share To.

3. Make multi-scene how-to Reels

The beauty of Reels is that you can quickly stitch together clips to create a mini movie. You can use your Instagram camera to record fresh content or start with pre-recorded video clips.

Combining multiple clips will allow you to create engaging how-to videos and share some of your expertise with your Instagram audience.

How to make multi-scene Reels

  • Open the Reels editor.
  • Select any effects or songs you’d like to use, and then hit the record button (the big one at the bottom with the Reels logo!) to start recording.
  • When you’re done, repeat the process to add another clip to your recording.
  • To add a pre-recorded video clip that’s already in your camera roll, swipe up and select the clip. Drag the sliders at the beginning and end of the clip to select the segment of the video you’d like, and tap Add in the top right corner.
  • To further edit or delete any clips, hit the backward arrow icon to review your composition.
  • Some things to note about your multi-clip masterpiece: unfortunately, there is no way to rearrange your clips at this point, and no way to add multiple songs.
  • When you’re done, tap the arrow icon to proceed to the editing screen. Add text as needed, and tap Share To when you’re ready to post.

4. Record Reels hands-free

No need to hold down the record button for the duration of your recording. The hands-free function allows for you to capture a moment from further than an arms-length away.

If you’ve got a fashion brand and want to show off your latest outfits in a full-body shot, or offer a mural-painting service and want to capture a moment of your production process, give hands-free recording a whirl!

Instagram Reels hand's free recording timer

How to record Reels hands-free

  • Open the Reels maker.
  • On the left-hand side, tap the stopwatch icon.
  • Drag the slider to choose how long your clip (between 5.2 se-conds and 30 seconds) will be.
  • You can also tap the number beside the word Countdown to adjust the length of the pre-recording countdown (toggle between 3 or 10 seconds).
  • Hit Set Timer.
  • Tap the record button (at the bottom of the screen with the Reels logo) and the countdown to recording will begin.
  • When you’re done, tap the arrow icon to proceed to the editing screen. Tap Share To when you’re ready to post.

5. Find your favorite Reels filter

One of Instagram’s coolest features is its huge library of filters and AR effects. And with Reels, you’ve got access to them all.

When creating Reels, don’t be afraid to get a little silly and use effects that capture the spirit of your brand, whether that’s an over-the-top beauty filter or an avant-garde blur effect.

How to add filters to Reels

  • Open the Reels maker.
  • On the left-hand side, tap the smiley face icon.
  • A selection of filters will now be available along the bottom of your screen; scroll left and right to review your options.
  • To search or browse more AR filters and effects, scroll all the way to the right and tap the sparkling magnifying glass (Browse Effects). See one you like? Tap Try It to test it out right away. Want to save it for future use? Tap the down arrow icon (save to camera) to add it to your filter rolodex.
  • To record with a filter, hold down the filter icon (like you would with the record button). Alternatively, use the timer feature to record hands-free!
  • When you’re done, tap the arrow icon to proceed to the editing screen. Tap Share To when you’re ready to post.

6. Use the Align tool

The Align tool will allow you to add (or remove!) an object or person between scenes of your Real to create a fun appearing (or disappearing!) effect.

By starting a scene exactly where the previous scene ended, it’ll appear as if your outfit change (or begrudging boyfriend or statement hat) has magically popped into frame.

How to use the Align tool

  • Open the Reels maker.
  • Select any effects or songs you’d like to use, and then hit the record button (the big one at the bottom with the Reels logo!) to start recording.
  • When you’re done, you’ll notice there’s a new icon on the left-hand side: two squares overlaid (Align). Tap this and you’ll see a translucent version of the final image of the last thing you recorded.
  • Add a fun prop, outfit change, or friend into the scene. Align yourself with that translucent image and hit record again (the timer function is helpful for a seamless transition here). When your two clips play together, any additional items will appear to have magically popped into frame.
  • When you’re done, tap the arrow icon to proceed to the editing screen. Tap Share To when you’re ready to post.

7. Make timelapse Reels

Have something longer than 60 seconds to share? With timelapse recordings, you can squeeze more into your Reels.

Use timelapse videos to demonstrate a process, whether it’s pulling together an easy smoothie recipe or sharing your oh-so-Marie-Kondo folding technique.

Selecting video speed setting in Instagram Reels

How to do the challenge

  • Open the Reels maker.
  • Tap the 1x icon on the left-hand side.
  • Select the speed at which you’d like to record. To do a speedy time-lapse, choose the 4x speed… but this tool gives you the option to do slo-mo recordings, too, with a total range of 0.3x to 4x speed.
  • Hold the record button to start recording. (Hot tip: If you’ve added music, it’ll play super-slow or super-fast so you can stay on beat!)
  • When you’re done, tap the arrow icon to proceed to the editing screen. Tap Share To when you’re ready to post.

8. Add voiceover to Reels

The voiceover feature allows you to record voice overtop of a fully recorded video — a nice way to add an overarching narrative to a compilation of clips.

Maybe you’re explaining some more background info about a new makeup line you just launched, or sharing details about a sale overtop of cute shots of your boutique: if you’ve got something to say, this is your time to shine!

How to do the challenge

  • Open the Reels maker. Record your visual content using all your newly acquired filter, music, or speed-manipulation skills and tap the arrow icon to proceed to the editing screen.
  • Tap the microphone icon at the top.
  • Tap the point in your video timeline where you’d like your voiceover to be heard, and then tap or hold the red button to record a voiceover. (If you have music in your video already, your voice will overlay on top of that track.)
  • Tap Done when you’re finished to return to the editing screen.
  • Tap Share To when you’re ready to post.

9. Use the Remix feature

Instagram recently added a Remix feature to Reels… so now’s your chance to record a video side-by-side with another Reel. Browse other Reels to find something that inspires you to comment, contribute or react, and start your beautiful duet.

How to Remix another creator’s Reel

  • Head to the Reels explore tab on Instagram and find a Reel that inspires you.
  • Tap the three dots on the bottom right-hand side.
  • Select Remix This Reel.
  • You’ll be taken to the Reels maker, where you’ll see the original Reel on the left-hand side of your screen. You’ll be making the content that appears on the right. Use effects or change the speed, and record a clip (or multiple clips) as usual. You can also add a different song on top if you’d prefer to replace the Reel’s original audio.
  • On the edit screen, tap the Mix Audio icon at the top to adjust the balance of your audio and that of the original clip.
  • When you’re ready, hit Share To.

10. Use the green screen effect

The green screen effect in Reels is a game-changer. Get playful with the background of your choosing — video or photo! — to add a fun, faraway locale or a branded graphic behind you.

How to do the challenge

  • Open the Reels maker.
  • You can access the Green Screen filter in two different ways
  • Option 1: Swipe up to view your camera roll: on the top left, tap Green Screen. Then, select the background media you’d like to use. It can be a video or photo.
  • Option 2: Tap the smiley face icon on the left-hand side of the screen, scroll through filter options until you reach the magnifying glass, and tap. Search for the Green Screen camera effect in the AR filters library and tap Try It or add it to your camera. Tap Add Media to select a video or photo to use as your backdrop.
  • Pinch or expand your image on the screen to make yourself bigger or smaller against the backdrop. (You can do this during your recording, too, if you’re really feeling wacky.)
  • Hold down the Green Screen icon to record (or use the timer function to record hands-free) over your backdrop.
  • When you’re done, tap the arrow icon to proceed to the editing screen. Tap Share To when you’re ready to post.

11. Use Reels templates

Instagram Reels templates allow you to create a Reel using pre-set music and clip durations from existing Reels. You can use templates from any Reels that have music and at least three clips. Reels templates mean you can jump on trends faster than ever — no more wasting time editing clips or selecting music to match!

How to use Reels templates

  • Find the template you want to use 
  • Add clips to your chosen template
  • Adjust the selected portion of your clips. You can’t change the length of the clip, but you can change which portion is shown.
  • Add any filters, stickers, or text to your Reel, then publish as usual.

Instagram Engagement Secrets

 Instagram has changed quite a lot over the years and Instagram Engagement is becoming more and more important (& engagement secrets are becoming more and more difficult to find).

Whilst it used to be quite easy to grow an account, it’s becoming ever more difficult with more intricate algorithms and an ever-growing user base. A user base that passed a billion monthly users just last year and there are no signs of Instagram running out of steam. If anything, they seem to be gaining even more momentum!

With more users comes more high-quality content, more competition & more difficulties in reaching your ideal audience.

It’s not all bad news though, more users also mean there are more people to discover your profile, engage with your posts & visit your website.

Here you will see 5 Instagram engagement secrets that you’re not going to find anywhere else. You can implement these secret techniques today and your engagement is GUARANTEED to increase.

Be warned though, this isn’t going to be a follow-unfollow, like a million pics or set & forget a bot to grow your account. Instagram is cracking down HARD on bots & they do know if you’re using them. Your account will be punished, whether that’s through a suspension or a shadowban, why risk either?

Now, are you ready to put in the work for great growth? Let’s get started!

All of these techniques can be used on your account regardless of what content you create, but you will yield the best results if you are posting high-quality content that’s relevant to your niche.

Message new followers

When you’re starting out, messaging your new followers is something that can bring a massive boost to your account.

You see, Instagram doesn’t actually show your posts to all of your followers. Only a percentage of your followers will see the post at first (the more engaged your followers are, the higher the percentage).

If those followers then engage positively with the post then it will be pushed to more followers and may land on the explore page or rank for hashtags you’ve included.

How does engaging with new followers help in this regard? By engaging with people that have followed you, you’re showing Instagram that you have a strong relationship with that person and that they may have a higher interest in seeing your content in their feed.

You’re also building a personal connection with this user, which will naturally pique their curiosity to look at any new content you post.

Make sure your messages are unique to the person though. This won’t work if you just copy and paste hello with some autoresponder. Instagram will mark your messages as spam and your engagement will suffer.

Instead, have a look at their profile first & look for something to compliment, ask a question, or offer some help if you can see an obvious problem they may be having.

Obviously, as your account grows, it will be a lot harder to manage, but if you can still connect with some of your new followers, you may even make connections and friends with other people in your niche & create opportunities for collaborations, and assistance, etc.

Like and comment on your follower’s posts

This is another way of reminding your followers of your account.

When you like and comment on their posts and they see your notification, as they’re already following you, they will be more inclined to return the favor.

Instagram will, of course, take note & your future content will then also be pushed higher up on their feed increasing your engagement.

The easiest way to do this is to head to your followers’ tab and then scroll through, commenting on and liking one or two of your followers’ images as you go.

Remember, only leave thoughtful comments. If you can’t think of something to say, then just move on to the next profile. By just saying nice pic or something like that, they’ll just think you’ve set up a spam bot & unfollow you.

Use Instagram Stories to build up your engagement

Instagram Stories are a great way of engaging your followers and building up some hype around your next post.

When followers watch your Instagram Stories, that relationship status I mentioned earlier comes into play once again. Instagram’s seeing that they’re watching your Stories & will take note by increasing what is perceived as your relationship with the user.

The better your relationship, the higher your posts will appear in their feed.

If they continue to engage with your posts, the relationship will grow. Once they start ignoring your posts, the relationship suffers.

If you reach out every now and then, there’s a higher chance that your followers will stay interested in your posts & keep on engaging. After all, who likes talking to a brick wall. ?

P.s. Another way of building these relationships, or nurturing them, is to reply to all of your comments. This one is far less of a secret though. ?

Link new posts in your Story

Hype! The hype around a new post, it doesn’t have to end even once you’ve posted it.

Instagram allows you to do quite a lot with your Stories and you can even upload posts to your Stories. It could be some awesome posts from your followers that fit well with your audience, another way of building a relationship, or by sharing your own recent post.

By sharing your recent posts, you’re covering your bases.

Someone may have accidentally skipped past your post without notice or it hasn’t shown up in their feed yet, this serves as a gentle reminder with a direct link to the post.

There’s a whole host of useful functions with Instagram’s Story feature, have a look at my Ultimate Guide to Instagram Stories to get a better grasp on it & make more engaging Stories.

P.s. Don’t upload too many of your follower’s posts to your Instagram Story. The rest of your followers may not be that interested & they won’t watch through your Stories as much as they would otherwise.

This is dependent mainly on your individual account though, as you may actually benefit more by sharing posts of people using your products (if you’re a brand).

Use lower competition hashtags

Hashtags are still one of the most important aspects of getting found on Instagram.

I know, it’s 2021 and we’re still talking hashtags on Instagram. They are that important still though.

You can use up to 30 hashtags in your posts (use all 30!) and it doesn’t matter whether they’re in your caption or the first comment. I personally prefer to include them in the caption as they can take effect immediately.

If you want to include them rather in the comments for a neater appearance, go ahead. Just make sure you’ve copied the hashtags to your clipboard before you upload the post so that you can paste it into the comments immediately.

Hashtag performance is most important within the first 30 minutes of posting. If you take 5 minutes to write out the hashtags once you’ve uploaded your post, that’s 5 valuable minutes your post has lost in order to rank for the hashtags.

Those few tips though are not what I actually want to talk about when it comes to hashtags.

Ranking for popular hashtags can be very difficult if you don’t have an account with hundreds of thousands of followers. Ranking for a hashtag with over a million posts is basically impossible with a new account.

On the other end of the spectrum, using hashtags that have less than 1000 posts will give you absolutely no return.

The key is to find the ideal midpoint. Look for hashtags with low competition but enough posts that your account may still be found by relevant people. This can vary depending on your account size, but a good rule of thumb is to use a majority of hashtags between the range of 10k – 500k posts.

If you get good engagement within the first 30 minutes, your post should start ranking for some of the smaller hashtags and you could even start ranking for some of the 500k hashtags.

Hashtags For Social Media

As your account grows you can then scale it up.

Final Thoughts

Instagram is paying far more attention to the relationships between accounts and by engaging within your own community you’ll nurture those bonds and your engagement will, as a result, also increase. This will then increase your reach and visibility across the platform.

Amazon Buy Box

 There are two types of sellers on Amazon:

  • Amazon itself, which sells a vast range of products.
  • Third-party retailers, who typically specialize in one or more categories.

Since there is no limit to the number of sellers who can use the Amazon platform, multiple merchants frequently sell the same item.

These sellers are known as resellers (as compared to private label selling in which you sell a proprietary item).

When multiple Amazon resellers are selling at the same time, suddenly there is competition for which seller will win the Buy Box.

What is the Amazon Buy Box?

The Buy Box refers to the white box on the right side of the Amazon product detail page, where customers can add items for purchase to their cart.

Not all sellers are eligible to win the Buy Box.

Thanks to stiff competition and Amazon’s customer-obsessed approach, only businesses with excellent seller metrics stand a chance to win a share of this valuable real estate.

To get a sense of how incredibly important prioritizing the Buy Box is, consider this:

82% of Amazon sales go through the Buy Box, and the percentage is even higher for mobile purchases.

Understanding the way Amazon’s algorithms function will allow you to work toward increasing your performance on relevant variables, ultimately increasing your chances of winning the Buy Box and beating the competition.

The Changing Buy Box

Competition heats up: According to Inc.com, Amazon is removing the one-click buy button from certain product listings if it’s offered at a lower price outside of its platform. Some sellers call it “buy box suppression.” Now, “Instead of saying ‘add to cart,’ it will say ‘see all buying options.” An Amazon spokesperson had this to say about the phantom buy boxes: “Sellers set their own product prices in our store. If a product is not priced competitively by a seller, we reserve the right to not feature that offer. Customers can still find all offers on the offer listings page.”

What Happened to Perfect Order Percentage Score? This metric, which used to have a high impact on the Buy Box, has been removed from Seller Central. We explain this further in this guide, and walk you through Shipping Time as the newest, very important factor in winning the Buy Box.

Introducing the Buy Box for Books: Amazon introduced a Buy Box for new books, allowing booksellers to compete with Amazon for the first time.

An Increase in Price Wars: This past year has seen an upswing in price wars, indicating that winning the Buy Box has become even more competitive than before.

New Research About the Buy Box: Northeastern University’s recent study explores the link between algorithmic repricing, higher prices and winning the Buy Box.

The Essential Buy Box Elements

While we refer to the goal of winning the Buy Box, it’s perhaps more accurate to say that a seller wins or loses a share of the Buy Box.

Once a merchant has passed Amazon’s minimum eligibility requirements, the Buy Box algorithm further breaks down the sellers according to different variables.

Amazon puts the competitors against each other to determine how they hold up on each variable for the same product.

For more popular items with many sellers, multiple merchants may rotate their spot on the Buy Box.

If one seller is stronger than the rest, their percentage share of the Buy Box will be higher.

For example, the top-ranking seller of a product could hold the Buy Box for 70% of the day, while the lower-ranking seller could hold it for the remaining 30% of the day.

Amazon’s Balancing Act

Ultimately, Amazon tries to balance giving the consumer the best value for their money.

This is done by weighing low prices with high seller metrics.

What this means, among other things, is that if you have near-perfect performance metrics, you may be able to price higher and still obtain the Buy Box.

Whereas if you have mid-range metrics, you’ll probably need to focus on offering the most competitive price.

  There isn’t one magic element, but a whole host of factors that go into deciding who wins.

You might be thinking:

  • Well, doesn’t that only work if I’m competing against other third-party sellers?
  • But what about when the competitor is Amazon itself?
  • Hasn’t Amazon perfected its customer performance metrics?

Well, it’s true that Amazon is hard to beat. But if you have great metrics, as well as very low prices, it is possible.

At the very least, you can share the Buy Box with Amazon.

What Makes You Buy Box Eligible?

What are the requirements for competing for the Buy Box?

While there’s no sure-fire formula to landing in — or winning — the Buy Box rotation, there are four minimum criteria you must meet if you want to be in the running:

1. Professional seller account.

Only sellers who have purchased a Professional Seller account (in Europe called a Pro-Merchant account) are eligible. An individual seller (in Europe: Basic account) is not.

2. Buy Box eligibility status.

Your status can be checked in Amazon Seller Central.

3. New items.

Your item must be new.

Used items aren’t eligible for the regular Buy Box, though they can be sold on a separate Buy Used Box.

4. Availability.

There needs to be inventory of your listed item.

Without stock, the Buy Box will simply rotate to another seller.

Buy Box Alternatives

Winning the Buy Box is not the only way to sell on Amazon.

The two other options are through:

  • Other Sellers on Amazon.
  • The Offer Listing Page.
  • Your Amazon Store Page.

While these aren’t as profitable as the Buy Box, they will still give you a degree of visibility and credibility.

1. Other Sellers on Amazon.

Right under the Buy Box is a listing of up to three select listings.

These listings must still meet all the above Buy Box requirements.

While not as visible as the Buy Box, these do have a greater chance of conversion than those prices or brands not showing up at all.

2. Offer Listing Page.

This page lists all the sellers who sell a particular product, regardless of whether they’re Buy Box eligible.

Offerings are displayed in order of Landed Price (price + shipping).

Customers can also see other seller variables, including buyer feedback and rebate policies.

The Rising Importance of Buy Box Mobile

More customers than ever are shopping on Amazon via mobile.

Amazon reported that during the 2016 holiday period, 72% of their customers worldwide shopped via mobile, purchasing at extremely high frequencies.

In mobile, the Buy Box takes on heightened importance.

That’s because, unlike on a desktop or laptop, the mobile site features the Buy Box directly under the product image.

Customers click “Buy now” to place their order, without the Offer Listing page being in their line of sight.

Note that there is no “Other Sellers on Amazon” box displayed on the mobile Amazon site.

Only the name of the Buy Box winner is displayed.

If you care about reaching mobile shoppers, that’s another reason to prioritize winning the Buy Box.

4 Key Metrics That Amazon’s Buy Box Algorithm Looks For

First and foremost, here’s a quick little takeaway for you – the Buy Box Cheat Sheet of all thematics that matter to get your brand in the box.

The Buy Box Cheat Sheet

While there are many variables that influence your chances of winning the Buy Box and getting favored by Amazon’s algorithms, there are four that have the highest Buy Box impact:

  • Using Fulfillment By Amazon.
  • Seller-Fulfilled Prime.
  • Landed Price.
  • Shipping Time.

1. Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA).

The variable that has the greatest impact on the Buy Box is the product’s fulfillment method.

Since Amazon considers its fulfillment service to have perfect metrics across variables, using Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) is the easiest way to increase your chances of winning the Buy Box.

That’s not to say that Fulfillment By Merchant (FBM) sellers can never beat FBA sellers; it’s just harder, requiring extremely high scores across all variables and a very low price.

Even though FBA is often a smart choice, you still need to look at the big picture to evaluate whether it will save or cost you in the end.

2. Seller-Fulfilled Prime.

Seller-Fulfilled Prime offers top-performing Fulfillment By Merchant (FBM) sellers the opportunity to fulfill their orders while enjoying the benefits of Amazon Prime.

This fulfillment method offers the best of both worlds:

  • You maintain control over your own shipment, which is especially good for sellers with heavy products, who can use this method to bypass FBA’s extra fees.
  • You will also benefit by having a higher chance to win the Buy Box and getting access to Prime members.

The only potential downside is that not all FBM sellers are eligible for this method. Very strong overall metrics are a must if you want to qualify.

3. Landed Price.

The landed price refers to the total price an Amazon product goes for, including shipping.

The lower the landed price, the greater the Buy Box share.

If you have higher performance metrics than your direct competitors, you can also price higher and retain your share of the Buy Box.

If, however, your competitors have better metrics, you’ll need to price down to maintain the same Buy Box share.

4. Shipping Time.

The simplest metric looked at by the Buy Box is the time in which the seller promises to ship the item to the customer.

For certain time-critical products and categories, such as birthday cards and perishable goods, the impact of this metric on the Buy Box will be even higher, since customers often demand swift shipping on such items.

Buy Box Amazon Pricing Strategies: Manual vs. Rule-Based vs. Algorithmic

The go-to method of pricing for many sellers has been to lower their prices beyond that of their competitors to increase their chances of securing the Buy Box.

However, this does not always translate into higher profits for reasons described below.

There are three methods of repricing used on Amazon:

  • Manual.
  • Rule-based.
  • Algorithmic.

1. Manual Repricing.

Manual repricing involves manually updating your prices for each ASIN.

It’s an ideal option for sellers of homemade or unique goods but proves inefficient and inaccurate for sellers of competitive items.

As your business grows, this method is generally considered unsustainable.

2. Rule-Based Repricing.

Rule-based repricing examines the prices of the competition and re-prices according to predefined rules.

For example, you can set a rule that beats the competitor by a certain amount or stay in the lowest price bracket.

This method is easier than manual repricing, but it also has some major downsides:

  • By only looking into competitors’ pricing, it is limited in its capabilities.
  • Setting up the rules is a time-consuming task, and rules can come into conflict with each other, requiring excessive management.

Finally, rule-based repricers often leave money on the table because sellers who could afford to price higher (due to high seller metrics) and still maintain their share of the Buy Box, don’t.

And it tends to create price wars, with all sellers constantly lowering their prices, ultimately driving profits down for everyone.

3. Algorithmic Repricing.

Algorithmic repricing is considered the most sophisticated and revolutionary repricing option.

Unlike rule-based repricing, which only focuses on the competitors’ prices, algorithmic repricing takes into account all the variables that affect your chances of winning the Buy Box.

A 2017 Northeastern University study found a direct correlation between algorithmic repricing, higher Buy Box share and increased profitability.

By monitoring a wide range of important factors, it ensures that you are striking the right balance between Buy Box share and profit.

This data-driven approach has been proven to deliver the highest ROI for merchants, as it requires less effort and yields better results.

This repricing method is, however, the most expensive out of all the available options, and is, therefore, best suited for larger sellers who are already turning high profits.

Wrap Up

There is no one trick to beating the Buy Box, but rather a complex web of metrics to be monitored and improved upon.

Concentrating on the most important variables, such as becoming an FBA seller, having Prime-eligible products, perfecting your customer service, and understanding the way pricing works are all key to snagging that coveted Buy Box real estate.

In the end, you’re going to have to be algorithmic about your strategy – the same way Amazon is.

“If you’re that one lucky seller who gets the ‘Buy Box,’ you make all the sales,” says assistant professor Christo Wilson, lead researcher of the Northeastern University study.

“SO IF YOU WANT TO BE COMPETITIVE FOR THE TOP-SELLING PRODUCTS, YOU PRETTY MUCH HAVE NO CHOICE: YOU HAVE TO BE AN ALGORITHMIC SELLER.”

How to Get Clients from Instagram

 Use Instagram as a portfolio for your work

If you’re a designer, photographer, artist, stylist, interior designer, home organizer, or any other type of professional whose work is visual, Instagram is the perfect place to showcase your work. Just like you might have a portfolio on your website, Instagram is a way to show examples of your past client projects, mood boards or works in progress while also connecting with potential clients and customers. Let people see the type of work that you do so they know what you have to offer! 

Pro tip: the more specific you can be with your style / aesthetic, the more likely you are to attract your ideal clients. So if your preferred design style is modern and minimal, you may not want to share that rustic farmhouse project you worked on last year if it’s not the type of client you want more of.

Share content that’s helpful for your target audience

If you still think Instagram is just a place to document your everyday life, you’re not thinking about it from a business perspective. Think about how your Instagram posts can help your potential customers and clients. How can you educate them? Inspire them? Encourage them? Help them save time / money / energy? Even if your business isn’t inherently “visual” – for example if you’re a coach, consultant, strategist, accountant, attorney, project manager, virtual assistant, etc. – you can still use Instagram to share helpful content for your target audience. In fact, we find that many of our graphics like this get more engagement (and more shares) that some of our photos – Instagram is definitely not just for visually-focused brands!

Don’t forget to use calls-to-action

When you’re sharing helpful content, don’t forget to tell people what to do next. When they get to the end of a post, make it easy for them to take the next step – do you want them to click the link in your bio to read your blog post / learn more about your services / book a call? Do you want them to comment and share their thoughts with you? Do you want them to save your post for later or share it with a friend? Whatever you want your followers to do – tell them to do it AND make it easy for them. If you’re sending people to your website, make it easy for them to find what they are looking for. If you want them to engage with you – give them a question that they can answer. 

Make it easy for people to contact you

On a related note – if you want people to contact you, make it easy for them to do so! Make sure your email is linked in your profile, invite them to DM you, or direct them to your website if that’s the best place to get in contact. This may seem like an obvious tip, but you might be surprised at how often we come across businesses and can’t find any contact information for them! Make it easy for people to reach out to you to learn more / book a call / hire you / etc. 

Pro tip: If you have an Instagram business account (which you should, if you’re a business), there’s a place to enter your email in your profile so people can click directly from Instagram to send you an email.  

Focus on quality not quantity

It’s easy to get overwhelmed with posting regularly, showing up on stories, commenting on other people’s posts, etc. but if you’re focusing on attracting the RIGHT people (who could potentially hire you) versus any people, it’s really a much simpler marketing tool. So rather than spend hours liking a ton of photos in hopes that people notice you, take the time to regularly leave a few genuine comments for people in your target audience. Instead of worrying about creating a ton of content just to have something to post every day, focus on creating a few truly helpful pieces of content in order to get clients from Instagram. You don’t need a TON of followers to have a full client roster!