#1 Picking a Niche
A lot of people know exactly what they want to sell on Etsy, and that’s great. Even if you know what you want to sell you should read this entire section because we’ll still cover some important things to take into account when getting started.
Entry Cost
Some niches are very expensive to get started in, and they may also require lots of training before you’re able to sell anything. For example, if you want to create industrial end tables, you will need tools for cutting, sanding, and staining wood. You’ll likely need to tools for working with metal as well.
On top of that the materials are very expensive to get started, as well as the time it will take to learn the trade if you are unfamiliar with it.
I know it’s tempting to tackle a huge new exciting craft, but if the costs are too high you’ll likely fail before you start.
Competition
It’s very important to research a niche and make sure it isn’t overrun with competition.
You want to get into a category that is ran on creativity and unique creations. If it’s something that can easily be mass produced and mainly sold based on price, than you’ll have a much harder time creating a unique advantage.
For example, the jewelry supply category is huge on Etsy, but it’s 100% based off of price and not in any way creativity.
Actual jewelry ranges in price based off of creativity, brand name, etc. Creating a unique and beautiful line of jewelry will attract a unique type of customer to you.
Volume
If a category is too unique than it may not even have an audience. Or that audience may not be on Etsy or wherever you may be trying to reach them.
Make sure to read #2: Keyword Research to learn more about using the Google keyword tool to find out how many searches a keyword gets.
If the biggest keyword for your item gets less than 1,000 searches per month, the niche may be too small. For example, “handmade jewelry” get’s over 14,800 searches per month, whereas “mommy and me scarves” only get’s 70.
That keyword is likely too small to build a shop around, and you’ll be limited to how large you can grow.
4 Great Niches to get started in
- Jewelry – There is a lot of competition, but there are many styles to appeal to. You can create something unique and cool and carve out your own special niche in the market. If your item is unique then you can also price it very lucratively. Also the entry cost is very low.
- Custom Pillows – You can create a lot of cool styles, and do luxury monogram pillows as well. Pillows have a fantastic profit margin, and the entry cost is low.
- T – Shirts – This one is tricky, successful t-shirts can be pushed by a trend or recent news story, but often require lots of innovation to keep up. It’s easy to get started small and scale up production as you need it.
- Temporary Tattoos – Tattly.com will allow you to create your own designs and they will create them for you. You can come up with anything you want and provide it to unique niches that you may be familiar with. You can even do custom tattoos for events or parties
