6 Tips to Add Listings on Etsy Faster & Make Sales Sooner

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Table of Contents

Podcast Description

If you’re an Etsy shop owner, this episode is for you. I’m sharing 6 tips to help you add listings on Etsy faster and more effectively than ever before so that you can make sales sooner.

Links Referenced in Episode:

▶ Etsy Listing Workflow

▶ Free Seasonal Products Guide

▶ Keysearch

▶ Episode 13: A Question Hack to Stop You From Overscheduling

▶ Episode 7: Templates for Online Biz Owners to Speed Up Processes

Connect with me:

Website | Instagram

Watch on YouTube:

Episode Transcript

(Note: This is a formatted AI-generated transcript to make it easier for you to read through, but is not an optimized blog post. Please excuse any spelling or grammar errors and filler words – it’s just how I speak LOL)

Episode Intro

If you’re an Etsy shop owner, then this episode is for you. I’m going to be sharing six tips to help you add listings on Etsy quicker and more effectively than ever before, so that way you can start making sales a whole lot sooner. Are you ready? Let’s dive in.

Hey, I’m Lucy Reyes, your host of the Cheerful Productive Chats Podcast, where I’m on a mission to help online entrepreneurs that like you focus on all the right things and kiss overwhelm goodbye. Here, you’re going to learn strategies that will boost your productivity so that you can scale your online biz and impact lives sooner. It’s your time to shine. So let’s get started.

Life Update

Hey, Hey, welcome back to the Cheerful Productive Chats Podcast. Now I am going to do a full disclaimer here. My daughter is home with me, which I usually don’t record podcast episodes when she’s home, but I’m kind of running behind on the schedule. And this is, this has been one of those weeks where nothing has really been going as planned.

And so we’re going to hope that there’s no loud sounds that happen outside. We’re going to hope that she stays okay. She’s been a little sick. We have a doctor’s appointment later, so I have one chance to get this recorded for you. So I just wanted to kind of throw that out there because I’m going to keep going. I’m going to keep going no matter what happens, so I’m apologizing in advance.

I Finally Posted on Etsy!

Now, I want you to stick around if you are an Etsy shop owner. If not, then you can feel free to stick around, but just know that I am specifically directly talking to you if you do have an Etsy shop where you’re specifically setting selling digital products, because the examples that I’m going to be using and the tips I’m going to be sharing are very specific for that audience.

And I got inspired to record this episode because I recently added some printables onto my own Etsy shop.

So my Etsy shop is something that has been kind of like an on and off project for me that I’ve done here and there. And I haven’t uploaded anything to Etsy. I haven’t done anything to that shop in probably a year. And it’s something that has always been on my to-do list and I wanted to get, get to it.

And so I finally got to a place where I was like, okay, you know what? I’m going to take out, you know, dedicate some time every month to work on something related to my mom blog, which is one of those projects that I just absolutely cannot let go. I still run that business. And so the Etsy shop is a part of that business.

And I finally did it. This past week or last week, I was able to get some new listings added on Etsy. And so I was really inspired to record this episode because as I’m going through the process, I’m looking at my own workflows. I’m looking at what I did, what I did differently based on what I did before.

And even though I haven’t posted or done anything, absolutely nothing with Etsy and over a year, I was still able to get them all uploaded efficiently. I got five listings done in less than like in a morning, probably two hours worth.

Tips to Add Listing on Etsy Efficiently

And so I’m going to be sharing those tips here, so that way you can do the same. Because the truth is if you don’t have stuff to post on Etsy, like if you have your Etsy store and you have the printables or the small digital products created, but you’re not loading them up on there, then you’re not making sales, right? Like that is the truth. If you don’t post them on Etsy, then you’re not going to make the sales because they’re just sitting in your Canva folder, looking all nice and pretty.

And that was the situation with me. And so within two days of posting these new what listings, I had made seven sales on a shop that I haven’t touched in forever. So I am very happy with that.

So I wanted to bring those tips here to you. Now let’s go ahead and dive into the. Oops. The six tips to add listings on Etsy quicker.

Tip 1: Plan ahead.

The first one is to plan ahead. So you want to set a date on your weekly planner or your monthly planning calendar to help you work specifically on your listings.

So you’re going to say on this date, I’m going to dedicate time to posting my Etsy listings, because I don’t know about you, but I love creating. I love creating, but the fact of like having to put it on something like an Etsy shop, like those are tedious tasks, like having to do the keyword research and what is the title going to be?

What is the listing description going to be like, what am I teaching or what am I doing or what is this going to, like those are all tedious tasks that are not my favorite personally. And so if you’re like that too, those are ones that you tend to procrastinate on and why you keep creating, keep creating, keep creating, and never adding anything to your Etsy shop.

So the first tip is for you to plan ahead and to actually add it into your calendar so that way it’s there and you know that on this date, this is what you’re going to be working on. Okay.

And another thing that I want to mention here is that it is also important for you to know or have a rough estimate of how long it’s going to take you to complete those tasks.

So whenever you are listing products on Etsy, you know that there’s a whole long list of things that you have to do, right? You have to get the listing graphics ready. You have to create the listing descriptions. All of those take a certain amount of time. And while we want it to take like two minutes and be super fast at it.

Realistically, sometimes that’s not how long it takes us and that’s okay. It doesn’t matter if it’s taking your friend five minutes to get something done, whereas it’s taking you this, 15 minutes instead. That’s totally fine. But you need to know how long it’s going to take you so that way you can plan accordingly because what we don’t want to happen is for you to over-schedule for you to plan ahead, for you to add it to your calendar and then you don’t get it done.

And now you’re frustrated. You’re like, see, I knew I shouldn’t have done that. I knew I shouldn’t, I should have focused on something else instead, like, no. Like be realistic with how long it takes you to complete certain tasks so that way you avoid over-scheduling.

Now episode 13, you can go and check that one out. Listen to that one if you haven’t yet, where I share two question hacks to help you from, to stop over-scheduling or to keep you from over-scheduling.

Tip 2: Create a workflow.

Now, tip number two is to create a workflow. C’mon if you listen to this podcast then you know this was coming. You want to create a workflow for your Etsy listings.

Now I presently have an Etsy Listing Workflow inside of my Shopify store and is literally the exact workflow that I use whenever I’m listing my own products on Etsy.

So if you are listening to this in real time, like as in the day that it goes live, then the Etsy Listing Workflow is on sale right now. So head to cheerstoproductivity.com/etsy-listings, the link is in the show notes to grab it on sale.

Like I did the whole thing. I was like, oh my gosh. I created my printables. We put them on Etsy and it got some sales. I need to help my people do the same. And so I went in and I updated, I tweaked the Etsy listing template, slightly the Trello board templates, and so now that’s available and I’m celebrating with a sale for you. Okay. And now.

What a workflow can help you with… so what an Etsy specific workflow can help you with is that it will list out all of the steps involved with getting a listing added to Etsy. It will help you keep track of all of the steps that you’re working on, even if you’re creating multiple Etsy listings at once.

So maybe you’re doing one at a time. Maybe you just have one printable that you need to upload and that’s totally fine. But if you’re like me, you might have multiple. And if you’re like, you might have like a backlog. You’re like I have so many printables or just so many small digital products that I have created, and all I need to do is add them to Etsy, but that’s the part where you get stuck.

Now, having a workflow will help you do all of them, all at once and you, or you can choose, you can choose to do one at a time, or you can choose to do them in batches, five at a time, five at a time. And we’ll get to one of those steps actually.

But it helps you keep track of all of your steps, regardless on how many you’re working on at a time. And then it also gives you an easy and accessible way to have everything you need to list your products on Etsy a lot faster. Like you’ll have everything at your fingertips.

So if you want the exact workflow that I use, then head to the link in the show notes to grab the Etsy Listing Workflow. And again, if you’re listening to this in real time, then it is on sale. So is one of the best times to grab it. Okay.

Tip 3: Do keyword research first.

The third tip that I have here is to do your keyword research first. Before you even create the printable or the digital product, you should do some keyword research to make sure that it’s something that will actually sell on Etsy.

Are people actually searching for the thing you’re wanting to create to sell? If not, then no one is going to search to find it right? So you can use tools like eRank. eRank is a very specific tool, keyword research tool, not just keyword research, but it’s a very specific tool for Etsy. I used that for a long time.

Or you can use Keysearch, which is my favorite keyword research tool. I have a code where you can get 20% off of it if you like. Just send me a DM on Instagram, saying “Keysearch” and I will send you that code so you can get a discount.

But do your keyword research first. Okay. Because what we don’t want to do is for you to create, create, create. And then you go to the list on Etsy and you realize, oh, crap. No one is actually searching for this thing. And now you’ve wasted time, maybe not wasted time, but you’ve spent a lot of time creating this thing that doesn’t have that much demand on Etsy.

Sure. You could do other things with that thing, but again, the purpose of this episode specifically is creating something specifically for Etsy, and you go to try to sell it and no one is looking for it, which means people are not really going to buy it because they can’t find it. So do your keyword research first.

And if you want more help on how to know which printables or which small digital products to sell on Etsy, then there’s a super amazing Free Seasonal Product Guide that I’m going to link to in the show notes.

So definitely check that out and grab that because that is going to give you like a cheat sheet of all of the popular products that no matter how much competition there is out there, then you’ll be able to create something in your own unique way and put it up for sale quickly.

Tip 4: Use templates.

Now the fourth tip is to use templates. Template-cize, everything. I don’t know if that’s a word. But we’re making it a word. Template-cize, everything, and anything you possibly can. Okay.

So when you’re going through your Etsy listing workflow, like, I want you to think which one of these is repetitive, something that I can duplicate, something that I can copy and paste and make a template out of it for yourself. I’m not talking about templates for you to create and sell anywhere else.

Like, no, I’m talking about a template for you to use for yourself. Kind of how my Etsy listing workflow came about. I created it for myself. Now I sell it, but that’s not why I created a template for it. I created a template for it because it was helping me with my process. And you want to do the same with anything that you’re doing.

So as you’re going through the process of getting your listings on Etsy added, then see what can be template-cized. Okay. So some of these things include your product listing graphics.

If you’re, if you’re selling the same style of products in multiple versions, then you want to have templates for those listing graphics. For example, if you’re selling planners, then you’re probably going to have a standard set of five or more graphics that show the different pages, the different planner pages etc.

Maybe you have a spreadsheet, then you’ll have another template set where you can easily just crop in a picture of the spreadsheet. You want to have a product listing graphic template for all of the different types of products that you have.

And also something that you may not have considered is to have a description, a listing description template, or outline. So usually when you’re posting your stuff on Etsy, there are certain sections that you’ll want to have. And there are certain sections that will be repeated for every single listing.

Well, just create yourself a template that you can make a copy and then just add in the relevant information for that printable. And if you’re like me where you’re throwing in keywords everywhere, then you can do some highlights in that template where you’re saying, okay, this is where I’m going to put the product name.

I’m also going to put it down here. I’m also going to put it down here and up here, this is what I’m going to include for this specific product that I’m trying to sell. So that’s another thing that you can templatize.

And even repetitive designs for your small digital products. So going back to the example, if you are creating multiple different types of planners, Well, then a standard design that you’re probably going to have in many of these planners is like a calendar.

Right. And so just turn that into a template. You can use Canva, just make a page where it has the calendar, then you can copy and paste that, design it into the specific planner, but basically think about everything, everything, everything.

And if you need some ideas, then episode seven is where I kind of go into so many different ideas of what you can use template for along with some recommendations. So definitely go check that episode out if you haven’t listened to that one yet.

Tip 5: Use Ai Tools.

Now the fifth toe here is to use AI. So with the evolvement of AI, it is easier and faster than ever before to write copy. But there is a caveat here. Okay. Because you should never rely on just AI alone. Like it’s a great first draft. And it’s great for helping you spark ideas and inspiration, but it should not be used as is.

There are some very common, repetitive words that if people read it, they will know, oh, that was done by AI. I’ve done this mistake and there are some listings that I’m like, Ooh, I should probably change that one word. Right. But you still want to edit it, whether you’re keeping some of those common AI words or not.

You still want to edit its output to sound like you, to make sense for you and your audience, because AI is only going based on what you’re telling it. Whereas, because you have all this other knowledge in your head of what will actually resonate with your audience.

So you can use tools like ChatGPT. Now a pro of ChatGPT is that it’s free. That is a huge pro. So if you’re not using this at minimum, then definitely, definitely go check it out.

But there is a con to this, which is the fact that you will need to train ChatGPT every single time to sound like you. And the output it gives you is only as good as the prompt that you give it, which means if you’re not giving it some good prompts, the output that is going to give back to you is going to be mediocre.

And hopefully that’s not what you’re copying and pasting on to Etsy because chances are, it might not be, quote-unquote good enough. And of course is going to depend on the prompts and you know, your audience, you know, your stuff best, but that is like a pro and a con of using ChatGPT.

Personally, I like using a tool called Marketing Magic. Now this is an incredible tool. And that I use for so many different things in my business. Now, the con is that it is not free. You do have to pay for it. There is a free trial. I’ll add my link to the show notes that you can use to check it out for yourself and then see if it’s something that you want to use.

But the pro is huge and definitely outweighs the cons because it is so worth it. The pro is that it has everything built in about you, your brand, your business, your products, like everything that ChatGPT or AI should know about something, it’s already built in for you.

And even if you put in a simple prompt, It will spit out something in your voice. It’ll take all of the information that it knows about you to give you a better output, which means that you’re doing less editing.

The information is more like you. It sounds more like you and it requires less prompting. Because you don’t have to give it this whole big explanation of this is how I want it to sound.

And this is my target audience. And then this whole long paragraph before you actually get to the actual prompt, like you don’t have to do any of that because you’ve already done it once and it’s saved. It’s stored inside of your profile. And so there’s less editing when it spits out the information to you.

So those are some tools that you can use to help you write Etsy listings faster, but definitely take advantage of AI. It’s there for you. It’s there to help you. It’s there to make things easier and faster for you. Just make sure that you are editing it before you actually upload it to Etsy. Okay.

Tip 6: Batch similar tasks.

Now, the last tip that I have here for you is to batch similar tasks. If you’re not sure what batching means, batching pretty much means that you are completing similar tasks in a single setting.

You want to prevent as much bouncing around as possible because when you do that, it makes you lose focus. It makes you lose concentration, and then you’re having to refocus, which takes a while, Because when you’re programmed to do one thing, then you’re doing that.

But if you’re coming around here and you’re coming around here and you’re trying to do these different tasks, you’re starting to switch different parts of your brain on and off and your brain is trying to keep up, right?

But when you’re doing the same task, well your brain is already using the same muscles, the same everything to get that thing done. So you get into a flow. That’s why you get into a flow.

Have you ever noticed that whenever you are completing certain things, then you just start to get the flow and it becomes easier and easier and easier until you’re done. That’s why. So it helps you get through the task faster.

So now here’s an example. So let’s say you are listing five printables all at once, right? You have five printables ready to go onto your Etsy shop. So don’t complete the entire process for one printable at a time.

For example, don’t do this. Don’t create the printable, then do the research, then do the title, then the graphics, then the description, and then start over with number two. Don’t do that. Okay, because every single one of those tasks is a different task.

What you want to do instead is have your workflow ready for all five printables and do the same thing for each one in the same order. So you’re going to do the keyword research for all five printables. The listing graphics for all five printables. The listing description for all five printables. You’re going to publish them all at the same time.

You’re going to do that process and that is batching. The fact that you are doing the same task for multiple things, that is batching and that is going to help you get them done faster.

And then you have more chances at selling more in Etsy because you have five new printables of maybe the same topic, like I posted some on Easter and It’s very timely because we’re in March and Easter is in a few weeks.

So that is the power of batching and it helps you just get it done faster versus you might have gone through the whole process and Just got one printable up before you’re like, oh, no, my time’s up. I don’t know when i’ma publish the rest, right?

So this is where the workflows really come in handy And so like I said, if you want to check out the one that I specifically use for Trello, The Etsy Listing Workflow is on sale right now so definitely go check out the link in the show notes.

Episode Wrap-Up

Alright friend, I don’t know about you, but I feel like I was talking really fast there because I am watching the clock. I’m trying to make sure I get this out to you on time, with all of the wildness that’s happening in my life this week, so it really feels like Nothing has gone as planned.

It really feels like yesterday was a Monday, it literally was Monday, but it felt like a Monday, and usually it doesn’t feel that way for me. And now today’s Tuesday, and it feels like a Monday, so it’s kind of like ugh okay, I don’t know how the rest of the week is going to go, but I really wanted to get this out there for you.

And I hope that you enjoyed it and that you got so much value for it, and I will talk to you in the next episode. Thank you so much for listening to the Cheerful Productive Chats Podcast with me, Lucy Reyes.

To view the complete show notes and all the links mentioned in today’s episode, visit cheerstoproductivity.com/63. Before you go, make sure you follow or subscribe wherever you’re listening so you know once the next productive chat is released. Talk soon, and cheers to productivity and success!