Latest / The Modern Etsy Seller Podcast / 57. 10 Tools I Use In My Etsy Print on Demand Business (What You Need & What Can Wait)
Transcript
- 0:05SPEAKER_00: Hey there and welcome to the Modern Etsy Seller, the podcast where busy women build, grow, and profit on Etsy.
- 0:11SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Melissa Carroll, a full-time teacher, a busy mom, and an Etsy seller who's built two successful Etsy shops in the small moments of everyday life.
- 0:20SPEAKER_00: Here you'll find simple strategies, real behind-the-scenes insight, and the clarity you need to stop second guessing and start moving forward one intentional step at a time.
- 0:30SPEAKER_00: Let's get to it.
- 0:33SPEAKER_00: Hey guys, welcome back.
- 0:35SPEAKER_00: When you are starting an Etsy print-on-demand business, one of the decisions you'll have to make is if, when, and where to spend your money.
- 0:43SPEAKER_00: There are tools that can help you research products, create designs, manage orders, and market your shop.
- 0:50SPEAKER_00: Some of those tools are free, while others come with monthly subscriptions.
- 0:55SPEAKER_00: But which ones do you really need?
- 0:57SPEAKER_00: And which ones can wait until your business is a little further along.
- 1:01SPEAKER_00: Today I'm going to walk you through 10 tools and platforms that I use and think are worth knowing about as an Etsy print-on-demand seller.
- 1:10SPEAKER_00: We're going to talk about what each one does, what it costs, and how I use it in my own business.
- 1:15SPEAKER_00: And I'll share where I think it's worth spending money and where you can save it, especially if you're just getting started.
- 1:22SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's dive right in.
- 1:23SPEAKER_00: The first and most obvious tool is Etsy itself.
- 1:26SPEAKER_00: So I use Etsy for three different things, right?
- 1:29SPEAKER_00: Selling, managing my business, and researching products.
- 1:32SPEAKER_00: Etsy is, of course, where I sell my print-on-demand products.
- 1:37SPEAKER_00: And one of the biggest advantages is that Etsy already has shoppers coming to the platform looking for things to buy.
- 1:43SPEAKER_00: I don't have to build my own website or figure out how to attract every customer on my own.
- 1:48SPEAKER_00: And then through the shop manager, I can manage my listings, process orders, respond to customers, keep track of my finances, advertising, the overall shop performance, right?
- 1:59SPEAKER_00: I can see which products are getting traffic, I can see which products are making sales, and I can see how my shops are performing over time.
- 2:08SPEAKER_00: And that information helps me make decisions about where to focus my time and what might need some attention.
- 2:14SPEAKER_00: But the main reason I want to talk about Etsy as a tool is because it's one of my favorite places to do research.
- 2:21SPEAKER_00: I spend a lot of time searching Etsy to see what kinds of products are selling, what designs and messages are popular, and how other sellers are positioning their products.
- 2:32SPEAKER_00: I like to look at bestsellers, I like to look at reviews, pricing, and just the different types of products that keep showing up in search results.
- 2:41SPEAKER_00: I also pay attention to Etsy's search suggestions because they can give ideas about what shoppers might be looking for.
- 2:49SPEAKER_00: And more recently, I've been spending a lot of time in Etsy's Marketplace Insights.
- 2:54SPEAKER_00: You can find that under stats in the shop manager.
- 2:58SPEAKER_00: And what's great about this tool is that it uses Etsy's own search data to show you what shoppers are looking for.
- 3:05SPEAKER_00: You can enter a keyword or a keyword phrase and see how many times it's been searched, how many competing listings there are.
- 3:13SPEAKER_00: And then this is kind of unique to Etsy, it also gives you whether that search term has a high or a low conversion rate.
- 3:21SPEAKER_00: Another thing you can do in there is look at search trends.
- 3:24SPEAKER_00: They give you the options of looking at those trends over the last 30 days, 90 days, and 12 months for whatever term you put in there.
- 3:32SPEAKER_00: And that's really helpful when you're trying to figure out whether something is seasonal or gaining popularity.
- 3:38SPEAKER_00: And then one of my favorite features is that Etsy suggests related search terms.
- 3:42SPEAKER_00: And so that's going to help you to discover keywords or product ideas that you may not have thought of.
- 3:48SPEAKER_00: Now, all sellers get 15 free marketplace insight searches every week.
- 3:54SPEAKER_00: If you want unlimited searches, you need to be an Etsy Plus member.
- 3:59SPEAKER_00: Now I do personally pay for Etsy Plus, and I'll tell you why.
- 4:03SPEAKER_00: It costs$10 a month.
- 4:05SPEAKER_00: And in addition to unlimited Marketplace Insight Searches, it also gives you 15 listing credits per month.
- 4:12SPEAKER_00: So that's a value of$3, and then$5 in Etsy ad credits each month.
- 4:17SPEAKER_00: So if you're regularly creating listings and running ads and you would have spent that$8 anyway, then you're essentially paying an additional$2 a month for unlimited Marketplace Insight searches and the other Etsy Plus benefits, which there are a couple, but if you plan to use Marketplace Insights as one of your primary research tools, then it is, it's absolutely worth it.
- 4:38SPEAKER_00: If you're doing that plus, you're already running ads and you're creating listings of at least$15 a month.
- 4:44SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're not yet running ads or creating enough listings to use those monthly credits, then maybe you want to wait.
- 4:51SPEAKER_00: Play around with your 15 free searches each week and see how you like it before deciding whether to upgrade.
- 4:57SPEAKER_00: So before you start paying for additional research tools, I'd encourage you to spend some time exploring what Etsy already offers because most of it is going to be free.
- 5:06SPEAKER_00: Okay, the next tool I want to talk about is Printify.
- 5:10SPEAKER_00: Printify is my main print-on-demand platform of choice.
- 5:14SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of print-on-demand providers to choose from, and they don't all operate the same way.
- 5:20SPEAKER_00: Some companies handle their printing and fulfillment in-house, while others, like Printify, work with a network of independent production partners, and that's actually something that I like.
- 5:30SPEAKER_00: Now there are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches.
- 5:34SPEAKER_00: You have to decide what you want.
- 5:36SPEAKER_00: When you're deciding which print-on-demand provider to use, I would start by looking at the products that they sell and seeing if it's stuff that you want to sell.
- 5:45SPEAKER_00: Not every company offers the same products or the same styles, colors, or customization options.
- 5:52SPEAKER_00: You're going to want to look into that.
- 5:54SPEAKER_00: And then you'll also want to compare the product quality, the pricing, the shipping costs, how long it takes for them to produce the items, how that platform integrates with Etsy, and probably just general reviews of what people are saying about that company and their customer service.
- 6:12SPEAKER_00: Now you don't have to just use one print-on-demand provider for everything that you sell, but if you do want to use more than one, you just have to keep in mind that there's likely going to be an additional cost that goes along with it.
- 6:23SPEAKER_00: Now, for me, the biggest advantage of Printify is the variety of products and production partners that they have available.
- 6:30SPEAKER_00: I can compare all of the different things, the production costs, the shipping prices, the fulfillment times, and then they also offer performance scores for each of their different providers.
- 6:41SPEAKER_00: So I can look at all of those things before deciding which provider I want to use.
- 6:46SPEAKER_00: And then on top of that, I have found that Printify is really easy to use.
- 6:50SPEAKER_00: It's straightforward to navigate, it integrates with Etsy, and I've been satisfied with the customer support that I've received when I've needed help.
- 6:59SPEAKER_00: It is not a perfect platform, but I find that the benefits outweigh the negatives.
- 7:03SPEAKER_00: Printify has a free plan, and you can and should use the free version when you're just starting out.
- 7:10SPEAKER_00: That way you'll only pay Printify for the product and the shipping when an order is placed.
- 7:15SPEAKER_00: There won't be any additional costs.
- 7:17SPEAKER_00: Eventually, though, you will reach a point where upgrading to Printify Premium makes more financial sense than staying on the free plan.
- 7:25SPEAKER_00: So premium costs$39 per month, or they have an annual plan where if you pay annually, that comes to about$25 per month.
- 7:34SPEAKER_00: And what that gives you is discounted product pricing.
- 7:38SPEAKER_00: And the savings can be up to 20% on a lot of their products.
- 7:42SPEAKER_00: So whether that's worth paying for is going to depend on your order volume and how much you'd save on the products you're selling.
- 7:50SPEAKER_00: There's some math involved there.
- 7:51SPEAKER_00: Once those savings outweigh the cost of the subscription, upgrading becomes a pretty easy decision.
- 7:57SPEAKER_00: Now I go into more detail about how to figure out when Printify Premium is worth it in episode 16.
- 8:04SPEAKER_00: So I will link that episode in the show notes, but I explain more about the math and how you can figure that out in that episode.
- 8:11SPEAKER_00: Alright, the third tool that I want to talk about is Canva.
- 8:15SPEAKER_00: This is where I do all of my design work for my Etsy shops.
- 8:19SPEAKER_00: One of the things I love about Canva is how easy it is to use.
- 8:22SPEAKER_00: I didn't know anything about Canva when I started selling on Etsy.
- 8:25SPEAKER_00: I really just learned by using it.
- 8:28SPEAKER_00: I'd start working on something, wonder if Canva could do what I had in mind, and then I'd either figure out how to make it happen on my own or I'd go out and watch a quick YouTube video to see how it was done.
- 8:38SPEAKER_00: And the learning happened so quickly by doing that.
- 8:43SPEAKER_00: And that's something that I love about it.
- 8:45SPEAKER_00: You don't need any experience in graphic design to get started.
- 8:49SPEAKER_00: And there are tons of features that make it possible to create professional-looking designs without having to learn any complicated design softwares.
- 8:58SPEAKER_00: So I use Canva for creating my product designs, of course, but then I also use it when I want to play around with text and graphics and experiment with different layouts and ideas.
- 9:08SPEAKER_00: I use it to create all of the informational listing images that I use in my listings.
- 9:13SPEAKER_00: I use it for my mock-ups when I want to create those, and then for any other graphics that are for my business.
- 9:19SPEAKER_00: I do all of it in Canva.
- 9:21SPEAKER_00: Another thing I like is that Canva is constantly improving and they're constantly adding new features to make things easier and to make your designs look even better.
- 9:32SPEAKER_00: Now, Canva has a free version, and depending on what you sell, you may be able to get away with using the free tools.
- 9:41SPEAKER_00: There are plenty of fonts, design elements, and features available without paying for a subscription.
- 9:48SPEAKER_00: But I do think that many of us who sell print-on-demand products are better off with Canva Pro.
- 9:55SPEAKER_00: And that's because of the additional download options that we need for our designs that you only get with Pro.
- 10:02SPEAKER_00: So with Pro, you can adjust the dimensions of your download, export your designs with a transparent background.
- 10:09SPEAKER_00: And this one is huge for me.
- 10:11SPEAKER_00: I need to do that for so many of my designs.
- 10:13SPEAKER_00: And you can also adjust the quality of your downloaded files.
- 10:18SPEAKER_00: Outside of those download options, there are several other pro features that I use regularly when creating designs and mock-ups.
- 10:27SPEAKER_00: So some of my favorites are the Bolt Create ability, the background remover, the magic grab, and then the ability to resize an existing design without having to start over.
- 10:38SPEAKER_00: I use all of those features all of the time.
- 10:41SPEAKER_00: They help me work more efficiently.
- 10:44SPEAKER_00: And when you're creating a lot of products, those little time savings can really add up.
- 10:49SPEAKER_00: So Canva Pro costs$18 a month or$144 for the year, which works out to be about$12 a month.
- 10:57SPEAKER_00: They also offer a 30-day free trial so you can try out the Pro features before deciding whether you want to pay for them.
- 11:04SPEAKER_00: So while you can certainly get started with Canva free, I think Pro is one of the subscriptions that's worth considering fairly early on in your Etsy journey.
- 11:14SPEAKER_00: Alright, the fourth tool that I want to talk about is Everby.
- 11:18SPEAKER_00: This is one of my favorite tools for doing product research on Etsy.
- 11:22SPEAKER_00: Everby is a research platform that helps Etsy sellers learn more about what other shops are selling, how individual listings are performing, and where there might be opportunities in the market.
- 11:34SPEAKER_00: And while Everby has a lot of different research features, the main reason that I use it is for its Chrome extension.
- 11:42SPEAKER_00: I absolutely love this extension.
- 11:44SPEAKER_00: Once you install it, you can browse Etsy like you normally would, but Everby adds additional information about the listings that you're looking at.
- 11:53SPEAKER_00: So for example, when I'm searching Etsy for a particular type of product, I can see estimated monthly sales, total sales, views, conversion rates, and how long a listing has been active right there underneath the listing in the search results.
- 12:10SPEAKER_00: And then I can dig a little deeper into that individual listing to see things like the estimated monthly revenue, favorites, sales trends, tags, and other performance information that might be there.
- 12:22SPEAKER_00: And then one of my favorite things to do is to analyze an entire shop.
- 12:25SPEAKER_00: You can pull up a shop and see which of its products appear to be selling the most, how much revenue those listings are estimated to be generating, and whether certain products seem to be gaining momentum.
- 12:35SPEAKER_00: That can be really helpful when you're trying to figure out what types of products are in demand or looking for ideas about what you might want to create next.
- 12:42SPEAKER_00: Now, one thing I always want sellers to remember when it comes to these research tools is that these numbers are estimates.
- 12:48SPEAKER_00: Everby doesn't have access to another seller's actual sales records.
- 12:53SPEAKER_00: So I wouldn't make a business decision based solely on one number alone, but I do think it's incredibly useful for spotting patterns, comparing products, and getting a better understanding of what's happening in a particular market.
- 13:06SPEAKER_00: Everby also has keyword research tools, but I personally prefer e-rank for that, which is the next tool we're gonna talk about.
- 13:14SPEAKER_00: As far as pricing goes, Everby does have a free plan.
- 13:18SPEAKER_00: It's pretty limited, but it's a good place to start.
- 13:20SPEAKER_00: You can see things like listing, views, reviews, and favorites, and then you can get access to some basic keyword research.
- 13:28SPEAKER_00: To get the sales estimates, the revenue data, and the conversion rates, though, that I was talking about with the Chrome extension, you will need a paid subscription.
- 13:36SPEAKER_00: The growth plan, which is what they call their basic, you know, their first paid tier, costs$39 a month or$24.99 a month when billed annually.
- 13:48SPEAKER_00: And while this is one of those tools that I love, I wouldn't necessarily recommend paying for it when you're first starting out.
- 13:55SPEAKER_00: It's a pretty significant monthly expense, I think, especially when you're still trying to get your shop up and running.
- 14:01SPEAKER_00: So I would start by using Etsy itself for research, take advantage of the free version of Everby, and then consider upgrading once you're further along and feel like the additional information would help you make better decisions about your products.
- 14:14SPEAKER_00: And actually, one last cool thing to mention one of my coaching clients, Sam, recently told me that Everby can now connect with Claude through an integration.
- 14:24SPEAKER_00: And there's also an Everbee integration available for Chat GPT.
- 14:28SPEAKER_00: So I haven't had a chance to really explore this yet, but I'm really interested in seeing how it works and whether it can make the research process more efficient.
- 14:37SPEAKER_00: So a quick shout out to Sam for putting that on my radar.
- 14:40SPEAKER_00: I'll be playing around with it and I will report back in the future to let you know what I think.
- 14:45SPEAKER_00: Okay, the next tool, tool number five, is e-Rank.
- 14:48SPEAKER_00: It's another Etsy research tool, but I use this one a little differently than EverB.
- 14:52SPEAKER_00: While I primarily use EverBe to research products and see how individual listings and shops are performing, e-Rank is my go-to tool for keyword research.
- 15:02SPEAKER_00: And keyword research is such an important part of selling on Etsy because you want to make sure that you are using words and phrases that shoppers are searching for when they're looking for products like yours.
- 15:14SPEAKER_00: One of the things I use most often in e-Rank is its keyword tool.
- 15:18SPEAKER_00: You can enter a keyword or phrase and then get information about estimated search volume, competition, and related keywords.
- 15:27SPEAKER_00: But keyword research isn't just about figuring out what words to use in your titles and tags.
- 15:32SPEAKER_00: It's also something you should be doing before you even create a product.
- 15:36SPEAKER_00: We don't want to spend time creating something without having some indication that people are looking for it.
- 15:42SPEAKER_00: And there are two ways that you can approach this, right?
- 15:44SPEAKER_00: So you can start with a product or design idea that you might have in your head and then use the keyword research to see whether people are searching for it, maybe what way they're ordering their words, and then how much competition there is you need to look at and whether it looks like it's something worth pursuing.
- 16:01SPEAKER_00: Or you can start with keyword research itself.
- 16:04SPEAKER_00: Just put in keywords and start searching.
- 16:06SPEAKER_00: What you're looking for are keywords that have relatively high search volume and low competition.
- 16:12SPEAKER_00: Once you find something, think about what kind of product or design you could create to target those searches.
- 16:19SPEAKER_00: Either way, you're using the research to help you decide what to create instead of spending time making products and then just hoping that someone wants to buy them.
- 16:28SPEAKER_00: I also like to use e-rank to look at trends and seasonal searches.
- 16:32SPEAKER_00: This is especially helpful when planning your products for the upcoming holidays.
- 16:36SPEAKER_00: But just try to remember, like Everby, e-Rank's numbers are estimates.
- 16:41SPEAKER_00: They're helpful for research, but you want to look at more than one thing.
- 16:45SPEAKER_00: You don't want to just rely really heavily on one tool and have that be the end of it.
- 16:50SPEAKER_00: So always head back into Etsy and see what you can find there too.
- 16:53SPEAKER_00: ERank has a free plan that includes five keyword searches per day, so it's a great place to start.
- 16:58SPEAKER_00: The paid plans are pretty affordable too.
- 17:01SPEAKER_00: Basic is$5.99 a month.
- 17:03SPEAKER_00: And honestly, that is really all you need.
- 17:06SPEAKER_00: That gives you 100 searches a day.
- 17:09SPEAKER_00: And that is a lot of searching.
- 17:11SPEAKER_00: But if you don't think it's enough, you can go to their pro plan.
- 17:14SPEAKER_00: That's$9.99 a month.
- 17:15SPEAKER_00: And for all their plans, you can save just a smidge more by paying annually.
- 17:19SPEAKER_00: If I had to recommend just one paid research tool for someone starting on Etsy, it would 100% be eRank.
- 17:27SPEAKER_00: I really just think it's the most affordable and it gives you so much.
- 17:30SPEAKER_00: I love Everby, but when you're just starting out and trying to decide where to spend your money, I think e-rank gives you a lot of value for a pretty small monthly investment.
- 17:40SPEAKER_00: All right, the next tool is Anywhere POD.
- 17:42SPEAKER_00: And this is one that I really wish I discovered sooner.
- 17:46SPEAKER_00: You guys probably already know how much I love this one, but I didn't find Anywhere POD until I started selling a product that gets fulfilled by Shine On.
- 17:56SPEAKER_00: They're another print-on-demand company.
- 17:58SPEAKER_00: And Shine On doesn't integrate directly with Etsy.
- 18:01SPEAKER_00: And so when I found that out, I needed something that could then connect those two platforms.
- 18:07SPEAKER_00: And that's how I discovered Anywhere POD.
- 18:10SPEAKER_00: And by that point, I already had more than 300 listings in my Etsy shop, most of which offered personalization.
- 18:17SPEAKER_00: And that is why I wish I had found Anywhere POD sooner.
- 18:22SPEAKER_00: It would have saved me a ton of time because they are an amazing tool if you offer personalized products.
- 18:29SPEAKER_00: If you do sell personalized print-on-demand products, you know it involves extra time to manually customize every order.
- 18:37SPEAKER_00: You have to take the customer's information, update the design, and make sure everything is ready for production.
- 18:42SPEAKER_00: While each one only takes a minute or two, when you have 20, 30, 50 orders, that time adds up.
- 18:50SPEAKER_00: And anywhere POD takes that process and automates it.
- 18:54SPEAKER_00: You set up your design with the personalization options.
- 18:58SPEAKER_00: And then when a customer places an order, anywhere POD uses the information and generates the personalized design for you so you don't have to do that manual piece.
- 19:09SPEAKER_00: And then from there, you can decide how you want those orders handled.
- 19:14SPEAKER_00: You can have them automatically send to your print provider, or you can put them on hold so you can review the personalized design before it goes into production.
- 19:23SPEAKER_00: That's what I do.
- 19:24SPEAKER_00: I personally just prefer to review my orders first.
- 19:26SPEAKER_00: I like to take a quick look to make sure everything looks right, and then I release the hold so the order can move into production.
- 19:32SPEAKER_00: So I'm still checking my orders, but I'm not having to open Canva and manually personalize every single design.
- 19:38SPEAKER_00: And like I said, it saves me a tremendous amount of time.
- 19:42SPEAKER_00: And they actually just made it even faster a few days ago by adding a new feature called Quick View, and it just saves you a couple clicks.
- 19:50SPEAKER_00: But personalization actually isn't the only reason that I use POD now.
- 19:55SPEAKER_00: I also use it to set up most of my Etsy listings.
- 19:58SPEAKER_00: I can add my own mock-ups, include all of my informational listing images, and get everything organized before publishing the listing to Etsy.
- 20:08SPEAKER_00: And then another feature I really like is that anywhere pod can automatically generate a listing video from my images.
- 20:15SPEAKER_00: So that's just one listing I have to create separately.
- 20:18SPEAKER_00: So between automating personalization, setting up my listings, organizing my listing images, and generating videos, anywhere POD has become a really important part of my workflow.
- 20:29SPEAKER_00: As far as pricing goes, Anywhere Pod doesn't have a free plan.
- 20:33SPEAKER_00: The basic plan is$9.99 a month and it includes text personalization and one print on demand provider.
- 20:40SPEAKER_00: Again, that is more than enough to start your journey with personalized print on demand on Etsy.
- 20:47SPEAKER_00: Then they have the Pro Plan, and that's$24.99 a month and adds images and clip art personalization, along with the ability to connect additional providers and additional Etsy shops.
- 21:00SPEAKER_00: So as you grow, that might be something to grow into.
- 21:03SPEAKER_00: And then there's Pro Plus at$39.99 a month.
- 21:06SPEAKER_00: Now that's the plan that I use.
- 21:08SPEAKER_00: It includes additional features like bulk uploading, custom mock-up templates, Canva integration, and automatic listing video generation.
- 21:18SPEAKER_00: I mentioned that before, but that's only included in that Pro Plus plan.
- 21:21SPEAKER_00: And I use every single one of those features.
- 21:24SPEAKER_00: So I am willing to pay this.
- 21:26SPEAKER_00: I just think that it is worth it for me at this point in time.
- 21:30SPEAKER_00: You can save by paying annually, and they offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- 21:35SPEAKER_00: So is anywhere POD something that you need when you're first starting out?
- 21:39SPEAKER_00: Not necessarily.
- 21:40SPEAKER_00: If you're not offering personalized products, you can certainly get started without it.
- 21:44SPEAKER_00: But if personalization is going to be a part of your business, I think it's worth looking into the basic plan early on.
- 21:51SPEAKER_00: And even beyond personalization, I really like having one place where I can set up my listings and get everything ready to publish.
- 21:57SPEAKER_00: For me, it's one of those tools that saves time.
- 22:00SPEAKER_00: In several different parts of my business, and that's what makes it worth paying for.
- 22:04SPEAKER_00: Now, those are the six tools that I wanted to spend a little more time talking about because they play such a big role in how I run my Etsy business.
- 22:13SPEAKER_00: And don't worry, like I said, I'm going to link all the resources that I've talked about today in the show notes, or maybe I didn't say it, but I'm saying it now.
- 22:21SPEAKER_00: But there are four more that I use regularly and I think are worth mentioning.
- 22:26SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to go into quite as much detail with these.
- 22:29SPEAKER_00: I'm going to do it a little bit more rapid-fire, but I do want to share what I use them for and why you might want to consider them for your own business.
- 22:37SPEAKER_00: So, number seven is Creative Fabrica.
- 22:40SPEAKER_00: This is a website where you can find fonts, graphics, illustrations, and actually quite a few other design resources.
- 22:47SPEAKER_00: It's a great place to look when you need something specific for a design that you can't find in Canva.
- 22:52SPEAKER_00: They offer free resources as well as paid subscriptions.
- 22:56SPEAKER_00: Just make sure you pay attention to their licensing requirements when using graphics for print-on-demand products.
- 23:03SPEAKER_00: They have those laid out pretty clearly on their website, but do take a look at them.
- 23:08SPEAKER_00: Right now they're offering a 30-day free trial with 10 downloads.
- 23:13SPEAKER_00: And either once the 30 days pass or once you've downloaded 10 things, the cost becomes$3.99 a month.
- 23:21SPEAKER_00: And I do believe they bill it annually.
- 23:23SPEAKER_00: All right, number eight, the next tool is Pinterest.
- 23:26SPEAKER_00: And while Pinterest can definitely be used as a research tool, I like to use it as a marketing tool.
- 23:32SPEAKER_00: Pinterest is a visual search engine where people go to discover ideas and products and things they want to buy.
- 23:38SPEAKER_00: By creating pins that link directly to your Etsy listings, you have another way for potential customers to discover your products without relying entirely on Etsy search.
- 23:49SPEAKER_00: What I love about Pinterest is that a pin can continue bringing traffic to a listing long after it's been published.
- 23:55SPEAKER_00: Pinterest is free to use and it's really easy to share your listings to Pinterest.
- 24:00SPEAKER_00: So I always recommend making that process part of your listing system so that it becomes second nature and you're always getting at least one pin out into the universe for every single product that you have.
- 24:13SPEAKER_00: All right, number nine are AI tools.
- 24:16SPEAKER_00: I use both ChatGPT and Claude.
- 24:18SPEAKER_00: I talked about this in another episode.
- 24:20SPEAKER_00: I know it's not necessary to have both, but I like them both for different reasons, and so I do.
- 24:26SPEAKER_00: I use AI for all kinds of things in my business from brainstorming product ideas and researching certain niches to working through different problems I might have or just trying to organize my thoughts and develop my plans.
- 24:39SPEAKER_00: If you are anti-AI, that's completely fine.
- 24:42SPEAKER_00: They certainly aren't a necessity.
- 24:44SPEAKER_00: But if you're interested in seeing how they can help you in your business, I'd recommend picking one, learning how to use it well, and figuring out ways that it can make some of your everyday tasks easier.
- 24:55SPEAKER_00: Both have free versions that have more than enough, um, I don't know, credits maybe that will get you through a day.
- 25:03SPEAKER_00: So you can experiment with them without adding another monthly expense.
- 25:08SPEAKER_00: Okay, the last tool I want to mention is Google Drive, particularly Google Sheets.
- 25:12SPEAKER_00: I love a spreadsheet and I use spreadsheets to track my Etsy income and expenses so I know how much profit my businesses are making, not just how much revenue they're bringing in.
- 25:24SPEAKER_00: I also keep track of what I'm spending on subscriptions and other business expenses, and that makes it a lot easier for me when tax time rolls around.
- 25:32SPEAKER_00: And then beyond the financial piece, I like to use Google Docs and Google Sheets to keep track of all of the new ideas that pop into my head throughout the week and keep all of my important business information in one place.
- 25:45SPEAKER_00: Google offers free versions of Drive and Sheets, so this is something you can start using right away without spending any money.
- 25:52SPEAKER_00: Okay, so those are 10 tools and platforms that I use to help me run my Etsy business.
- 25:57SPEAKER_00: Remember, you do not need all of these tools, especially in the beginning.
- 26:02SPEAKER_00: At the start, I'd focus on tools that you need to create and sell your products first.
- 26:06SPEAKER_00: Take advantage of the free research tools and then add paid subscriptions when you have a specific reason to use them.
- 26:15SPEAKER_00: Some tools are going to be worth investing in earlier than others.
- 26:19SPEAKER_00: Others are gonna become more valuable as your business grows.
- 26:22SPEAKER_00: The important thing is to choose tools that help you accomplish something, whether that's finding better product ideas, creating design, saving time, or just keeping your business organized.
- 26:31SPEAKER_00: Don't forget, I've linked all of the tools that I've talked about today in the show notes.
- 26:36SPEAKER_00: So if there's something I mentioned and you'd like to check it out, you can find it there.
- 26:40SPEAKER_00: Okay, thank you so much for listening today, and I'll see you next time.