Many Etsy shops are opened up with little to no start-up money, and being resourceful when it comes to advertising is one of the best ways to land some sales without investing too much of your precious capital.

I know how difficult it can be to come up with new unconventional ideas to boost your sales, but I also know how pressed for time a new shop owner can be.

I was in the SAME shoes once.

On this list are some of the most efficient, creative ways you can kickstart your sales on Etsy and attract new customers to your shop while keeping your costs low.

1. Use Flickr or Tumblr to post photos of your creative process

Having an Internet presence is the pillar of creating and maintaining an online shop.

Documenting your creative and making process with photographs, and creating photo journals or collections on these websites will not only increase your Internet presence but will do it in an engaging and interesting way.

To many people, making what you make seems like alchemy, and a peek behind the scenes into your studio will certainly increase their interest and potentially land you some sales.

Finally, there may be many potential customers who are active users of Tumblr and/or Flickr, and they will see you there before they see you anywhere else.

2. Post tutorials on YouTube

Tutorials can have a very similar effect to posting photos on Flickr and Tumblr.

If your items need setting up, having video tutorials for it is a great way to ensure your customers are familiar with how to do it.

Inevitably, they will appreciate your effort greatly, and will certainly be attracted to continuing to “do business” with you.  

On the other hand, you can use these tutorials to teach your customers some of the simpler crafts they can purchase in your shop.

Not only will they learn to make a few things on their own, but they will also be able to see and hear about the wonders of your craft.

3. Use MailChimp to send periodical newsletters

Newsletters are a great, non-invasive method of keeping your customers engaged and informed about what is going on in your shop.

Instead of overloading them with offers every other day and tempting them to mark your e-mail as Junk, take time to assemble weekly or bi-weekly newsletters with quality content and stories that you know they will appreciate.

On top of that, you can use the newsletter to announce any upcoming events, sales, workshops, and the like, as well as inform your customers about new arrivals that they would otherwise have to see at your shop.

4. Integrate links to other items and shop sections in your listing description 

Once you have managed to get potential customers to visit your shop, you want them to stay there for as long as possible.

What better way to do that than showing them links to other items and shop sections that you believe they may be interested in?

If they are browsing a particular listing, make sure to include a link to a similar item in the description.

Using this method is one of the best ways to ensure that they will not end up leaving your shop after seeing only one product, but will continue to browse and check out the rest of your listings.

5. Make use of Etsy tags and make sure to use all fourteen of them

Tag away!

Since customers search for items they want by using keywords, you do not want to miss out on a potential sale just because your items were not labeled correctly.

The more tags you include, the greater the chances of your item being found, so be as creative and resourceful as possible.

Etsy’s official blog has published a very helpful list of tags you can use, but make sure to include a few of your own that are unique.

This is a very powerful selling tool already available to you, so make it a practice to use all the tag spaces before you publish your listing.

6. Learn a bit about SEO and optimize your listings

If your customers cannot find you using appropriate keywords, then they will not visit your shop!

Therefore, it is more than necessary to word your descriptions and listings accordingly and figure out the best keywords to use in order to stay on top of Google Searches.

This may require some time to get to learn, but there are plenty of online resources you can use.

The best tool is probably the Google Keyword Tool.

By using it, you will be able to get precise information about how keywords rank in terms of competition and global monthly searches.

Once you have figured out how strong your competition is, you should see where it lies.

The easiest technique for doing this is to simply search for the specified keyword in parenthesis on Google.

Afterwards, you should see if the keyword you had in mind is popular on Etsy, by searching the whole website.

In short, if there are plenty of searches but not too many results on both Etsy and Google, then this is a good keyword to use.

7. Utilize Google Analytics for an overview of current traffic

Just like SEO, Google Analytics are an extremely powerful traffic tool.

By using it, you can see how many visits you receive, evaluate your bounce rate (the number of people who come to your page but stay only for a short time) and compare how you are doing week to week.

It can give you incredible insight: whether the people visiting your page have found what they were looking for, whether the new collection of items has attracted your customers, whether your advertising strategies are working, and many more.

Once you have learned about your statistics, you are ready to investigate what you are doing wrong and what you can change.

8. Make an appearance at a Craft Show and give out promotional material

Yes, online presence is great for marketing, but we should also never forget the power of making an appearance and reaching out to an already interested audience at a specialized show or fair.

Most of these shows will allow you to participate for a small fee or even for free, and when you are there, you should make use of some well known, age-old sales tactics.

Bring your business cards, promotional flyers, even give a few things away as tokens of appreciation.

Engage your customers online, but do it offline as well: the word of mouth will travel far.

9. Make items that fall into different price categories

If you feel that your niche is far too specific, and would like to broaden your audience a bit, sometimes the best way to do it is to make items that fit into different price ranges.

Maybe your items tend to lean on the high-end side – why not making something more affordable?

Alternatively, if your items are generally very cheap – why not try making an exclusive line of products?

Branching out in this way is bound to attract an entirely new set of customers – and you may end up realizing that this audience is in fact the one you want to dedicate yourself to completely.