How To Grow Your Business with Etsy Ads

You’ve set up your Etsy shop, published your product listings, and are ready to launch. However, the final hurdle is gaining visibility in a crowded marketplace and driving sales. With over 9 million sellers vying for attention among more than 96 million active buyers, the competition on Etsy is fierce. To stand out and gain a competitive edge, you might be asking yourself: Are Etsy ads worth the investment?

Absolutely! Investing in Etsy ads can significantly enhance your store’s visibility, attract potential customers, and pave the way for success. Etsy ads provide a powerful tool to elevate your shop above the competition and reach a larger audience.

This article will guide you through the various types of Etsy ads available and explain how they function to help you achieve your goal of running a successful online store. By understanding the different ad options and how they can work for your business, you’ll be better equipped to make informed decisions and leverage Etsy’s advertising capabilities to boost your shop’s performance.

What Are Etsy Ads?

Etsy Ads provides two main advertising options: onsite ads and offsite ads.

Onsite Ads: These operate on a pay-per-click (PPC) basis. Sellers bid on specific keywords to display their listings prominently within Etsy’s search results and category pages. To succeed with onsite ads, sellers need to actively manage their campaigns by selecting relevant keywords and setting competitive bids. This approach helps secure high-visibility placements, driving targeted traffic directly to your listings.

Offsite Ads: These are commission-based and automatically include all Etsy sellers. Instead of paying upfront, you only incur a fee when a sale occurs through an offsite ad. The commission rate varies depending on your annual sales volume, making it a performance-based option that aligns your costs with your sales outcomes.

Using both onsite and offsite Etsy Ads can significantly boost your brand visibility. This combined strategy is particularly advantageous if you sell across multiple marketplaces or are considering expanding your Etsy presence to additional platforms.

By leveraging both types of ads, you can enhance the performance of new listings, giving them an initial boost to improve their organic rankings and attract more engagement. This dual approach effectively elevates your store’s profile, driving more potential customers to your shop and increasing overall sales potential.

Types of Etsy Ads

Etsy Onsite Ads

Etsy onsite ads enable sellers to actively promote their listings within the Etsy marketplace. You can choose specific listings to highlight, select relevant keywords, and place bids for each keyword. This approach directly impacts the visibility of your listings in Etsy’s search results and category pages.

With Etsy’s cost-per-click (CPC) advertising model, you pay for each click on your ad rather than per sale. Etsy evaluates your bid amount and your listing’s quality to determine the placement of your ad. While Etsy automatically enrolls all listings in onsite ads, it’s crucial to manage and refine your campaigns strategically to maximize their effectiveness.

Onsite ads have a daily budget cap of $25, ensuring you can control your spending and optimize your advertising efforts. Additionally, these ads are displayed only in the countries where you offer shipping, which helps tailor your advertising reach to your target markets and manage your daily budget efficiently.

Etsy Offsite Ads

Etsy’s Offsite Ads program is designed to give sellers an easy way to boost their visibility. All sellers are automatically enrolled, so you don’t need to take any action to participate. Etsy selects your most promising listings to feature in their offsite ads, showcasing them based on a set of criteria known only to them. To improve your chances of being featured, make sure your listings are well-optimized with detailed information and relevant keywords.

The commission rate for offsite ads varies based on your shop’s annual sales:

• Under $10,000 in sales: 15% commission, capped at $100 per sale.

• Over $10,000 in sales: 12% commission, capped at $100 per sale.

While you have the option to opt out of the Offsite Ads program if you’re in the lower sales bracket, it’s generally recommended to stay in the program. It’s essentially free advertising that extends your reach across the internet. Unless the commission rate would significantly impact your profitability, this program is a valuable tool for increasing your visibility and attracting a broader audience.

Other Promotional Tools

Etsy offers a comprehensive suite of promotional tools designed to enhance your marketing efforts and drive sales. Beyond Etsy Ads, you have access to several powerful features to help you promote your listings effectively. Here’s a breakdown of the four key promotional tools available in your Etsy Seller account:

Offers: This tool allows you to automatically send personalized discounts to specific shoppers. By targeting individuals who have shown interest in your products, you can entice them to make a purchase with tailored offers.
Sales: You can set up store-wide or listing-specific discounts to attract customers looking for bargains. This feature helps drive traffic to your shop and encourages more purchases by highlighting savings opportunities.
Promo Codes: Create unique promo codes that customers can use at checkout for special discounts. Promo codes can be shared through various channels, providing an extra incentive for shoppers to complete their purchases.
Automatic Targeted Offers: Etsy can automatically send offers to potential customers who have shown interest in your products or similar items. This feature helps you reach out to interested buyers without manual intervention, increasing your chances of making a sale.

With these tools combined with the Etsy Ads dashboard, you have a robust toolkit at your disposal to effectively market your products. Leverage these features to reach the right audience, boost your visibility, and watch your sales grow.

Prepare for Your Etsy Ads Campaign

When starting an Etsy ad campaign, it’s crucial to apply effective search engine optimization (SEO) practices to your shop and listings to ensure your promotional efforts are successful. Without proper SEO, you risk investing resources in promoting products that may not perform well. Here’s a comprehensive guide to mastering Etsy SEO and improving your store’s visibility organically.

Keyword Research

Keyword Research is a foundational step in optimizing your Etsy shop. Utilize free and freemium tools like eRank, which are designed specifically for Etsy keyword research. These tools can help you track relevant keywords, identify top-selling products, and gain valuable insights into effective keyword usage. By understanding the keywords that drive traffic, you can better tailor your listings to meet search demand.

Optimize the Product Listings Title and Description

Optimizing Titles and Product Categories involves applying your keyword research to your listings. Ensure that each title includes relevant attributes and keywords. Titles should be concise, informative, and easy to understand, as lengthy titles are truncated in Etsy and Google search results. Place the most important keywords at the beginning of the title to enhance visibility. Avoid generic descriptions; instead, provide specific details that accurately represent the product.

Quality Product Images

Quality Images are essential for capturing potential buyers’ attention. Etsy allows you to upload up to ten images per product, so place your best photos first, as these will be the initial impressions for potential customers. Follow Etsy’s guidelines for formatting images with the highest possible resolution to maintain quality and appeal.

Store Description and Policies

Store Descriptions and Policies are crucial for building trust and improving SEO. Complete the About section of your Etsy shop to connect with customers and enhance your shop’s ranking. Provide information about yourself and your store’s background. Additionally, clear policies on returns and refunds are important for creating a secure shopping experience. Etsy offers guidelines to help you establish comprehensive shop policies.

Shipping Options and Cost

Shipping also impacts your Etsy SEO. Offering free shipping can help improve your ranking on the platform. You can set this up in the Settings tab under Shipping Profiles. Ensure you factor shipping costs into your product pricing to avoid absorbing these costs yourself. This approach not only boosts your visibility but also enhances the overall customer experience.

By implementing these SEO best practices, you can effectively enhance your shop’s presence on Etsy, making your advertising campaigns more impactful and driving increased traffic and sales.

How to Start Your Etsy Ads Campaign

Once you’ve fine-tuned the descriptions for all your products, listings, and categories, you’re ready to launch your Etsy ad campaign. Here’s a step-by-step guide to setting up your campaign effectively:

Firstly, navigate to the Shop Manager page in your Etsy account, select Marketing, and then click on Etsy Ads. Then, start your campaign creation by clicking Get Started. Next, clearly specifying your advertising goal is crucial, as it allows Etsy to tailor your campaign to meet those specific targets. Whether you aim to increase traffic, boost sales, or enhance visibility, having clear goals will help Etsy optimize your ad placements effectively.

Additionally, setting your budget is an important part of this process. You need to determine your maximum daily advertising budget, which can range from $1 to $25. A higher budget will enable Etsy to position your promoted listings in more prominent locations. After setting your budget, click Start Advertising to launch your Etsy ad campaign. Your ads will now begin running based on the parameters you’ve established, reaching potential customers.

Track your ad performance over at least a month to gather sufficient data. During this period, avoid making changes to your campaign parameters. If necessary, you can adjust your maximum daily budget in the Manage your Budget section to align with your performance goals.

To refine your campaign, use the Manage advertised listings section to further optimize your listings. Make adjustments based on performance data to enhance their effectiveness and improve your overall ad campaign results.

Finally, manage your campaign settings as needed. If you need to disable your Etsy advertising campaign, you can do so at any time by going to Other options and clicking Turn off ads. This feature allows you to pause your campaign when necessary.

How to Create Etsy Offsite Ads

Offsite Etsy ads provide a valuable opportunity to extend your reach and drive traffic to your store from across the internet. The best part is that you don’t need to take any action to start benefiting from this system. Etsy automatically enrolls all sellers in the Offsite Ads program and manages the advertising on your behalf.

You might be considering opting out of Offsite Ads if you’re not ready to commit. If your store has generated less than $10,000 in sales over the past 365 days, you have the option to opt out of this program. However, we generally recommend staying in, as it offers essentially free advertising that can significantly enhance your store’s visibility and attract new customers.

If you decide that you want to stop running Offsite Ads, here’s how you can do it:

Access Shop Manager: Go to the Shop Manager page within your Etsy account.
Navigate to Settings: Click on Settings, and then select Offsite Ads.
Opt Out: Click on Opt out of Offsite Ads to disable the program.

By following these steps, you can manage your participation in Offsite Ads according to your preferences.

Where Is Offsite Ads Shown?

Etsy’s Offsite Ads have an extensive reach, leveraging Etsy’s network to display your products across a variety of platforms. Your ads can appear on major search engines like Google and Bing, popular social media platforms such as Facebook and Pinterest, and on various partner websites throughout the web. This broad exposure helps drive traffic to your store from diverse sources.

There are fees associated with Offsite Ads, which are commission-based. Here’s a breakdown of the costs:

Commission-Based Fees: You incur a fee only when a customer clicks on your offsite ad and makes a purchase within 30 days.
Fee Structure: Depending on your shop’s annual revenue, the fee is either 15% or 12% of the total sale, including shipping.
Cookie Tracking: Etsy tracks clicks on your offsite ads for 30 days. You will be charged a fee for any purchases made by users who click on your ad within this timeframe.

Optimizing The Offsite Ads

To maximize the effectiveness of your offsite ads, you should optimize your product listings similarly to how you would for Etsy’s onsite ads, with a few additional considerations due to the broader audience. Here are key strategies:

Update Etsy SEO Regularly: Continuously refine your SEO practices to keep up with market trends and niche changes outside of Etsy. Regularly adjust your tags and descriptions based on current best practices to enhance visibility.
Engage Customers with High-Quality Images: Capture attention with striking product photos. Refer to our blog for tips on taking exceptional product pictures that can make a significant difference in attracting potential buyers.
Craft Compelling Product Descriptions: Write detailed, honest, and valuable descriptions for your products. Engaging descriptions help convey the benefits and features of your items, making them more appealing to potential customers.
Use Keywords Wisely: Conduct keyword research using the Etsy search bar to identify popular and relevant keywords. Incorporate these strategically into your listings to improve search visibility.
Address Customer Concerns: Anticipate and answer potential questions or concerns through your product images, descriptions, and store policies. This proactive approach builds trust and increases the likelihood of conversion.

By following these optimization strategies, you can enhance the performance of your offsite ads, attracting a larger audience and driving more sales to your Etsy store.

Etsy Ads Tips For New Sellers

Setting up Etsy SEO and launching an Etsy ads campaign are ongoing processes that require continuous adjustments to ensure long-term success. Here’s a comprehensive guide to managing and optimizing your Etsy advertising efforts effectively:

Right Timing

Timing is crucial when starting your Etsy ad campaign. It’s advisable to run Etsy ads after you’ve achieved some organic sales. This approach allows Etsy to gather valuable data about your shop and its sales performance, which helps the platform optimize your ads more effectively. Patience during this initial phase can lead to better results and a more strategic ad campaign.

Understand Your Ads Performance and Optimize It

Effective ad management involves constant testing and evaluation. To start, begin with a lower daily budget to gauge your ads’ performance and learn from the data you collect. As you analyze and identify what works and what doesn’t, you can gradually increase your budget. Furthermore, be prepared to stop advertising underperforming products, reduce your daily budget, or remove listings that aren’t generating sales. This iterative approach ensures that you’re investing your advertising budget wisely.

Focus on Profitable Ads

At the outset, Etsy recommends running ads for all your products to build initial momentum. As you gather data and gain insights into your listings’ performance, it’s crucial to shift your focus to the top-selling products that offer the highest return on investment (ROI). By prioritizing these high-performing listings, you can maximize the effectiveness of your ad spend. If certain products consistently underperform, consider canceling their ads and, possibly, removing them from your store. This approach will help you optimize your product offerings, thus ensuring your advertising budget is spent wisely.

Study and Assess Your Ad Campaign Data

To accurately assess your ad campaign’s success, Etsy suggests running it for at least a month. This timeframe allows you to identify trends and assess the impact on your listings’ quality scores. While promoted listings are visible on the search results page, you can track ad performance in the Marketing section under Etsy Ads. Pay close attention to your Return On Ad Spend (ROAS) and analyze which advertised products are generating the most sales. This data-driven approach helps you refine your strategy and improve overall ad performance.

By following these practices, you’ll be better equipped to manage your Etsy ads effectively, continuously optimize your approach, and drive greater success for your shop.

Other Ways To Increase Your Etsy Store Sales

Running ads on Etsy can significantly boost your listing visibility and drive sales, but their effectiveness is greatly enhanced when combined with strategic practices. Here are additional tips to maximize your ad campaigns:

Conduct Regular Keyword Research and SEO Updates: Stay proactive with your keyword research and SEO practices. Regularly updating your keywords and optimizing your listings for search engines helps improve your organic search results, making it easier for potential buyers to find your products both through Etsy’s search and external search engines.
Leverage Social Media: Promote your Etsy shop on social media platforms to increase visibility and attract more clicks from potential buyers. Building a strong presence on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest can help you connect with your audience, foster trust, and drive additional traffic to your store.
Utilize Etsy’s Marketing Resources: Take full advantage of Etsy’s built-in marketing tools. Use features like sales, coupons, and targeted offers to attract and retain customers. These tools can enhance your ad campaigns by providing additional incentives for buyers and improving overall engagement with your shop.

By integrating these strategies into your Etsy advertising approach, you can further enhance the effectiveness of your campaigns, improve your store’s visibility, and drive more sales.

Final Thoughts: How To Grow Your Business with Etsy Ads

In the competitive landscape of e-commerce, Etsy Ads offer a significant opportunity to enhance your shop’s visibility and drive sales. Leveraging these advertising tools effectively can make the difference between being seen and being overlooked. By understanding how Etsy’s ad platform works and continuously optimizing your campaigns based on performance data, you can then position your products in front of the right audience.

However, the journey doesn’t end with setting up your ads; it involves ongoing evaluation and adjustment to meet your business goals. Invest time in understanding your audience, stay updated with market trends, and refine your strategies. With a thoughtful approach and consistent effort, Etsy Ads can be a cornerstone in your business growth strategy, helping you reach new heights and expand your customer base.

How To Grow Your Business with Etsy Ads

What Are Etsy Ads?