Brilliant Business Moms with Beth Anne Schwamberger

 

If you build it, no one will come, because there are 1 billion other people who are also building “its”. Their “its” are really unique and fabulous.  Their "its" come with bonuses and amazing customer service.

If you are building "its" without a marketing or SEO plan, please stop building.

No, seriously.  Put that hammer down. 

You may just end up with a pile of dusty "its" in your garage that your grandkids will inspect and wonder about.  For your sanity, stop your building and start your marketing.

If you build it, your mom might come, but then again, there are a lot of "its" in the world, and she's a busy lady.

How does SEO Help my Marketing?

This intro on Off-page SEO could also be called an Intro to Marketing your Etsy shop, because the beautiful thing is, these two concepts go hand-in-hand.

The more you get the word out about your shop, the more Google acknowledges all of those beautiful links and clicks back to your site.

The more you share about your shop and brand on social media, the more Yahoo stands up and takes notice.

So what are we waiting for?  With hammers safely stowed for the moment, let's get started.

5 ways to dominate Off-page SEO for your Etsy shop or Website

          1. Blogs

- Partner with blogs to do giveaways or product round-ups and reviews

- Be sure the blog has plenty of traffic so you won't waste your time and money (I suggest 20,000 visitors/month minimum)

- Ensure that the blog's audience will be a good fit for your products.  Do their interests/passions/problems line up with what you're selling?

Websites to get you Started on Finding the Right Blogs

Bloglovin.com

Search within the relevant categories, and you can find the most popular blogs within that category (such as DIY & Crafts or Art).  Once you click over to a blog, it will suggest other similar blogs to follow.

Within the blog's page, you can get a really quick, thumbnail glimpse of all of their most recent blog posts.  Figure out if they do giveaways or talk about products they love.  Get a sense for what they blog about.  What’s the focus of their blog?

Feedly.com

Feedly makes it easy to search for popular websites that discuss a given topic, such as "nature crafts".  Unlike bloglovin, feedly's search engine is more targeted.

Quick Pointers for Reaching out to Bloggers

  1.  Read their blog.  No really...read it.
  2. Compliment them on a recent post.  Let them know why it was unique and the level of value they brought to their audience.
  3. Find something you have in common with that blogger that you can mention.  Whether it's children the same age or a mutual love of leopard bullfrogs, common ground not only makes you more relatable, but it also gives that blogger a frame of reference from which to view you.  After that point, they'll see you as, "Beth Anne, the lady who collects Japanese stamps."
  1. Paid Advertising

Using the same blogs you found above, hunt for that blog’s media kit. Many blogs require you to email to request a PDF of their media kit, but they will generally get back to you quickly and let you know what the sizes, locations, and pricing of their ads or sponsored posts will be.

  1. Social Media

Start with at least one form of social media, get familiar with it, then build additional social media channels from there.

Social Media Channels that Seem to Generate the Most Views and Sales for Etsy Shops

Pinterest

Instagram

Wanelo

  1. Directory Sites (NOT link directories) that are relevant to your field

Craftori

Craftcount

Craftcult

Topshopsofetsy

You can add your shop to these etsy shop directories within the appropriate categories.

Only other Etsy Shop Owners are on these Directory Sites, why should I care?

Google views relevant, non-spammy links as a vote for your shop.  So a valid crafting site with high traffic would be a vote for your shop.  (And many times, adding your shop is free.)

  1. Guest Posting

Even if you have no intention of starting a blog or becoming a blogger, there is still so much you can do as an Etsy Shop owner to get the word out about your shop.

You can submit a great DIY project with step by step photos or a video.

Share photos of your workspace or inside info on life as an Etsy seller.

Write about secrets of the trade, ex. take one of your more simple items to make and turn that into a step-by-step tutorial with photos on another blog

The benefits of guest posting

These posts written by you let others get to know you, position you as an expert within your field, and, let's face it, DIY projects make for amazing, pinnable, viral-able, content!

There are also Crafter DIY sites where you can upload your projects, ex. Craftster.org

So what are you going to do once you've set that hammer down?

Ready? Count ‘em!

  1. Partner with Blogs
  2. Paid Advertising
  3. Social Media
  4. Relevant, Non-spammy Directory Sites
  5. Guest Posting

Bonus SEO Tip

Ubersuggest.org

Ubersuggest simplifies the process of finding suggestions for keyword phrases that you may want to target.  Google's keyword planner does the same thing, but you have to toggle through multiple categories and see many repeat suggestions.  Ubersuggest shows everything on one page and lists the most popularly searched terms.

So what are you going to do this week while your hammer goes on vacation?  I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

~ Beth Anne

Direct download: Episode2025_mixdown20final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:27am EDT