What Crafts should we Make and Sell in 2021

 

If you are looking to Craft your Career as an artist in 2021 it can really help to get an idea of what things are likely to be popular this year. 

Of course we cant just jump onto every trend if what we make does not fit, but it is possible to gain some inspiration about styles and it may even change how we photograph our items for the year. For example one trend this year is still cottagecore - could our items be photographed in a room that has more of a nod to that style rather than a minimalist themed space. Or even being aware and sensitive to the world situation could mean that just now photographs of big gatherings of people might not be very good lifestyle images and it may be better to have singles or couples. 

Hobbycraft and Etsy both released style guides recently and looking at this and using a little common sense we might be able to get an idea of what the trends for 2021 may be 

Of course there are always things in the future that we cannot predict but we can make educated guesses 

And of course Hobbycraft and Etsy both have the power to make the trends become a reality as they can feature items and listings that follow these trends and as people see a similar style more often they start to love it and are more likely to buy it. 

eRanks trend buzz is a good way to time travel to past months to see what buyers were searching for in any given month and the Keyword Explorer shows us the search trend over time for any keyword phrase, did you know for example that even though Christmas obviously has a peak in searches at the end of the year but all through the year it has thousands of searches and Etsy tell us that last year sales for Christmas gifts actually started in April!

Looking at Etsy and Hobbycraft reports I can clearly see some ideas that we can think about.

Firstly thinking of styles Etsy has mentioned that its colour of the year will be sky blue. They say the feeling is to evoke freedom, health, vitality and hope. Something I think we can all get behind. 

Looking at the reports I think we can break it into 4 trends

Fabric

Home

Care

Handmade to last 

and as a bonus

Carer Change

Fabric

Fabric trends for 2021 are in 3 themes really, cozy nesting, handmade and make do and mend - but also luxury fabrics are showing more and more as people want to buy a quality item once rather than cheep items again and again

Both hobbycraft and Etsy mention Macramé and on eRank we have been seeing a steady 11k searches a month so this is a very popular style. Other top mentions are weaving, crotchet, dressmaking, knitting and embroidery 

Home

 New home, improved home, work from home, home schooling, inside activities and nesting with fabrics 

Also with this cooking and baking along with anything personalised especially to do with this - think personalised wooden spoons or chopping boards. Cake decorating was in Hobbycrafts top 3 crafts 

Care

Showing people you care with care packages, cards and luxury gifts. Of course these trends all overlap with the styles so the gifts could be kits or personalised baking goods for people who have just started cooking in the past year. 

Also Etsy is planning to start promoting Valentines day around now, and that is not just gifts for partners but can be for friends or even pets! 

Handmade to Last 

This trend is about personalised luxury and most importantly who the maker is. Think of yourself as a master craftsman and show yourself making the items. The minor imperfections but greater quality of handmade over mass produced 

In Etsy your about me section is a great place to add more about you as the maker and you can include in your listing photographs or even listing videos

Carer Change 

Sadly this next year is still likely to be difficult with people losing jobs and some perhaps wanting to start selling arts and crafts. 

This is not a bad thing and can actually have us in a positive place as we could sell supplies, kits or monetise tutorials. 

Also crafters are way more likely to be buyers and understand the quality of the work - and of course their friends might buy crafty gifts for them 

I hope this has inspired some ideas for the year ahead. We cant and should not put them all into practise but what things can you take away from this? 

 

Etsy Seller Tips 2019. eRank NEW track changes tool.

eRank, IMO the best tool for helping you with your Etsy shop SEO has come up with a new tool to help track your shop changes

and on a first look Im loving it!!

This is a pro feature, so not at the moment available for the free accounts

You get to it with the 'listings' tab

The tool can only track changes from when you actually click on the button on each listing, and it can only track a limited amount of listings, not every one in your shop so choose the listings you want to track first and then come back in a few days

Once a day eRank takes a snapshot of each of your listings that you are tracking and shows you the changes
If you have added something to the title or tags then this shows up in green, if you have removed something then that shows in red. It also tracks changes in likes etc

This will be so powerful to be able to see if any changes you made reduces the number of views to your listing and also remind you of the exact title and tags you had when it was working so you could change them back again

Here is a video of me showing my first look thoughts of this

For more tips on being an etsy seller dont forget to check back often or subscribe to me on youtube

How to rank on Etsy SEO QUICK!

Etsy has quietly given us a fantastic new resource

The 'Search Analytics Beta' Which is in your shop manager oddly enough under Marketing

and this already tells us something about it. Why is it not under stats??

There is LOTS of data here but the one thing that really got me thinking was the 'position' info - well that combined with the 'impressions'

What are Impressions on Etsy?
Every time someone searches for something on Etsy they get a page with a load of listings to choose from
If your item is on that page, regardless of if it is clicked on then that is an impression

And why is this number powerful?  It is telling you that that is a search term that customers are really searching for
There really is traffic for that term
So the terms (or search query as Etsy calls it) with high number of impressions is a good term that your item already ranks for
This could be a keyword you haddnt even thought of in your research but Etsy is letting us know its a really good term
And this might not have shown up in your stats because its possible that people didnt click on your listing - not because its a bad listing but because it was so low down on the page that they just didnt notice it

You really want your listing to be in the top 20 or better for people to really have a chance to notice you

So you want to find a term that has a high number of impressions (lots of people are searching) that you are ranking fairly well for, but not top 20 (this means you have the chance of ranking better)

If the listing really isnt driving sales then just change all your data and focus in on your keyword

If it is driving lots of views and sales then you want to either adapt your listing while keeping ranking for the other terms that were doing well - or create another listing that totally focuses in on this keyword you just found

More details are in this video on how to rank on etsy seo quick!! 

How to get 1000 sales on Etsy - scaling up and moving on!

Congratulations!! If you have been selling well on Etsy and are heading towards that 1000th sale you are doing really amazingly well

Honestly, you are now well into the top 10% of sellers on Etsy

And that means that things can be different. You have an idea of keywords and how to rank and what your customers want, you know your photographs are pretty OK and you know how to give good customer support

You are doing fantastic, I really mean it

So what different thing can you think of doing now??

You can Diversify

Consider kits, a 2nd shop, trends and even affiliate marketing (for things you really believe in)

You can be an Expert

Create tutorials, give advice on forums and blogs, create videos and podcasts or get involved in interviews (some of these things you can even make money out of as well as driving traffic to your shop - and doing something different that keeps you motivated)

You can spread out to New Horizons

Etsy is amazing but its good to not have all our eggs in one basket so consider mailing lists, websites or even getting your items in real stores and galleries

Check out my video for more details on how to get 1000 Sales on Etsy 

How to get 1000 sales on Etsy

Milestones are awesome things to aim for - and times to step back and enjoy your achievements

And heading for 1000 sales on Etsy is actually an achievement that most sellers do not reach because they give up too soon or they just dont understand the work you need to put in to get to this goal

But once you have started selling on Etsy and have got some good traction and understanding of SEO, photography and all the steps to selling then it is time to change up what you are doing

The things that worked for a small seller can still work but now you can aim higher

You can aim for more competitive keywords
Even keywords that drive traffic from google

Gather your customers offsite either on a mailing list, social media or your very own website

You can become an expert in your field with tutorials, kits affiliate links or working with suppliers

You can diversify your range with moving into galleries and stores, working with manufacturers

Or hire people for certain tasks like photography, shipping, accountancy etc


What steps are you taking this year to expand your business on Etsy from a small shop to a business that can support you and your family ?


Check out my videos for the journey for all the steps to get to 1k sales on Etsy - and feel free to share what has been working for you

Goal Setting for Selling on Etsy in 2018

 

I always loved the new year, its a time when everything is fresh and new, you havent made any mistakes yet

But

So many people make loads of new year goals that really just end up stressing and demotivating them.

When you are selling online it is so easy to set sales goals - but the problem is what happens when you dont meet them? You cant make people just buy from you

This can really stress you

It is much more motivating to set goals that you can actually influence for yourself

Set yourself a work flow

Times set aside every day to answer emails (- and not all through the day)

Times every week to list, edit, photograph improve listings - it is much better to do little often than a big chunk all at the one time 

Try and think of new item lines - sizes, colours etc

New places to showcase your work

But most importantly - just look at doing little and often, dont try and do it all at once and then do nothing for months. Search engines favour newness 

Do a little something, learn a little something, improve a little something every single week

So make your goals 

3 new/updated listings every week

Emails answered 5 days a week

One new venue approached every month

Improve/learn one new thing every month

And these things do not have to be expensive, for small objects a light tent is really affordable for almost anyone and can improve your photographs no end (affiliate link)