Having a successful Etsy shop requires much more than simply offering the right products at an affordable price. No matter if you are a handmade artist, dropshipper, or supplier, you are likely to suffer from the same difficulties and problems when you are opening a new shop.
One way to go is to hire specialists to do most of the work for you – Etsy coaches, photographers, copywriters, marketing specialists, etc. But if you are on a budget you’ll probably have to do it all by yourself. The most reasonable thing to do is to find a set of tools that will help you do all the various tasks quickly and efficiently on your own.
This post contains a list of the most useful and commonly used tools for beginner and less experienced Etsy sellers. Some of them are created specifically for Etsy while others are applicable to other platforms or businesses as a whole.
Tools specifically for Etsy sellers
The main argument in favor of using Etsy-specific tools is the fact that they take into account the peculiarities of the Etsy platform. Furthermore, many of these tools are based on data that is extracted, monitored, and analyzed specifically for the Etsy marketplace. This is extremely important when you try to make data-driven decisions. For example, the fact that a keyword is very popular on Google doesn’t necessarily mean that it is equally popular among Etsy buyers.
Koalanda
Koalanda is not just a single tool but rather an entire platform of various tools which are specifically tailored to the Etsy seller’s needs.
With Koalanda’s Keyword Tool you can quickly and easily find relevant keywords and keyphrases for your listings. The tool offers various metrics for each keyword, including search score, competition, and search history in the last 12 months. These metrics make the search for suitable keywords as easy as possible. On top of that, the diversity of keywords suggested by the tool is impressive and is actually one of Koalanda’s biggest advantages.
Koalanda is also our favorite product for competitive research. It allows detailed analysis of every single Etsy shop. The analysis includes sales history in the last 30 days or 1 year, keyword breakdown per shop section, individual listing analysis, and much more.
Koalanda is relatively new and it is actively trying to attract new customers with different freebies. As a start, there are currently no quotas on any of its tools. It offers a free trial and a free plan. And the pricing is quite affordable as well – the monthly plan is 11.99 USD and it can drop to as low as 5.99 USD if you subscribe on a yearly basis.
eRank
eRank is probably the most popular product used by the Etsy seller community. Just like Koalanda, it also provides a variety of different tools which can help the sellers in many of their day-to-day activities.
With the Keyword Explorer and the Keyword Tool, you can search for keywords for your tags, titles, and descriptions. The main drawback of these tools is the fact that there are quotas for their daily usage. It can be really frustrating to have planned your entire day for keyword research just to get stopped in 1-2 hours because of quota limitations.
eRank also provides an easy way to track your competitors. However, the sales history is limited to just 7 days. Moreover, the history starts accumulating once you’ve added the shop for tracking, meaning that you might need to wait a week in order to get your data.
eRank doesn’t offer a free trial but it does offer a free plan. The standard monthly subscription is 5.99 USD and the Pro plan is 9.99 USD.
Marmalead
Marmalead is a tool that is entirely focused on Etsy keyword research. It is one of the oldest tools for Etsy and still has a large customer base. Just like Koalanda and eRank, it can provide valuable metrics like competition and search volume for each analyzed keyword.
One of the main disadvantages that Marmalead has is that the data it uses is not as complete as the data of its competitors. The most striking difference is in the competition value – if a keyword has competition of more than 50,000 Marmelead will simply show “>50,000” instead of the actual value. This used to be ok a few years ago when Etsy was not as big as today. However, at the moment there are more than 100 million active listings on Etsy. You can easily find keywords that have competition in the millions (e.g. “jewelry” has competition of 2.5 million).
Marmalead offers an interesting keyword research tool called Storm. It facilitates the keyword discovery process by trying to mimic the brainstorming process which naturally occurs when discussing ideas within a group of people.
Marmalead doesn’t offer a free trial or a free plan. The monthly subscription costs 19.00 USD and this price can drop to 15.83 USD if you prepay it for 1 year ahead.
Etsy Search Bar
The main purpose of the Etsy Search Bar is to help buyers find what they are searching for more easily. If used wisely, however, it can be of great help to the sellers too. It can be used to navigate sellers to what terms are often searched for by the customers. On top of that, it is completely free!
The idea is to type in the search bar a generic term that describes your product. The search bar will then automatically provide popular related suggestions which make the search term more specific. Some of these search terms might be relevant to your product. This method can be great at generating longtail keyword ideas for you to explore.
The Etsy Search Bar is an invaluable helper at the beginning of your keyword research. There is actually an entire tool that is based on this autocomplete functionality – the Keyword Tool Dominator. However, both the Search Bar and the Dominator are very limited in their functionality. They don’t display additional metrics like search volume and competition. They don’t allow you to organize your keywords in lists. They don’t even keep track of your search history.
This is why we recommend using the Etsy Search Bar simply to generate initial keyword ideas. For in-depth analysis, the tools described above are guaranteed to provide better and more useful results.
Other tools for Etsy sellers
Google Keyword Planner
Google Keyword Planner is certainly one of the best tools you can find for the generation of new keyword ideas. It is very user-friendly, fast, and offers advanced filtering capabilities. And best of all – it is completely free!
The main disadvantage is that the data it uses is relevant to Google searches only. This is true for all metrics, including the search volume and the competition. This can be very misleading – the search intent (i.e. the purpose of the online search) in Google is completely different than the intent in Etsy. Therefore, high search volumes in Google can’t necessarily be interpreted as high purchase intent in Etsy. You can still use Google Keyword Planner for diverse keyword ideas, however, it is recommended to always validate these ideas through some of the dedicated Etsy tools.
Canva
Canva is a cloud-based design tool used to create all kinds of visual content – marketing images, banners, infographics, etc. Its target audience is small business owners, online entrepreneurs, and marketers. Although it is not nearly as powerful as Photoshop or GIMP, it is definitely a great time saver for non-professional designers.
Etsy sellers can use the tool for a variety of reasons:
- to create their shop logo or shop banner
- to create text images that will be included in their listings
- to add discount codes to their photos
- to create color palettes
- to create marketing materials for social media
and much more.
Canva’s monthly subscription costs 12.99 USD. It also offers a free plan which can be completely sufficient for your first months on Etsy.
Veed
Etsy introduced listing videos a couple of years ago and they’ve become a crucial part of the listings. In some categories, videos are a must-have in order to be successful. Softwares like Veed can help you quickly create professional-looking videos. You can use Veed to add texts or images to your video, add different effects or filters, or crop it to the right size.
The monthly price is 25.00 USD or 18.00 USD if you prepay for a year.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp is the go-to marketing tool for small online business owners. Even though you might not need an email marketing strategy for your first few sales in your Etsy shop, you will definitely need to have one if you want to grow. The easiest way to build an email subscriber list is by using Mailchimp.
The best part is that it is free to use for small businesses. You only have to pay a fee once your contacts become more than a few thousand.
Trello
Running an Etsy shop takes a lot of time and effort in order to maintain it and keep it optimized. When your business grows you will most likely find different ways to automate or outsource some of your responsibilities. In the beginning, however, it is likely that you will have to do everything by yourself.
Keeping track of the dozens of daily tasks can be difficult and exhausting. You can use Trello to organize your tasks and keep track of them.
For your first steps in Etsy, the free version will be more than enough. And the paid plans cost as little as 5.00 USD per month.
Conclusion
Each of the tools above can be extremely helpful for your Etsy success. However, remember that they are just tools – none of them can magically provide solutions to the difficult questions which you are facing in your Etsy journey. It is up to you to judge and assess which are the best decisions and actions for your business.
