How can you make passive income on Etsy?
As a serial entrepreneur and mother, I have tried many many ways to make money from home so that I can be there for my kids while also bringing in an income (hence this blog!). And one thing that caught my eye right from the start was starting an Etsy shop. I always loved the idea of being an Etsy store owner but never thought it was possible for me. After all, I had no start-up income and no space to hold any inventory…
However, I learned that you don’t need either of those things! It’s actually entirely possible to make money on Etsy passively. Or at least as close to passive as you can get.
How, you ask? The answer is actually pretty simple. You need to sell digital products on Etsy.
After I learned this, I started brainstorming what type of shop I would like to have. I purchased a busy book digital download from Etsy for my kids and realized that I could totally make something like that myself. Thus, my Etsy shop was born!
I began creating kids’ activities that parents could download and print themselves. I created games, birthday party games, holiday activities, puzzles, worksheets, and busy books and listed them on my Etsy shop.
Eventually, the sales started rolling in and I became a Star Seller. I love Etsy and the money I have made through it feels effortless after the products are created. I just had to make them in Canva once, create a listing for it on Etsy, and then sell it over and over again on autopilot.
Sound like a dream come true? Well, then you’re in the right place! Here’s how you can start making passive income on Etsy yourself.
Understanding Passive Income
Let’s start by discussing what passive income is. Passive income is when you make money without having to actually put in hours. You can make money while you sleep because you set up a system that brings in income without you actually having to trade your time for it.
Some people argue that passive income isn’t possible, but regardless of how you see it, you have to admit this is a pretty simple process that requires only a little bit of time upfront.
In this case, you create a digital product once, you list it on Etsy, and you sell it. Then you sell it again, and again, and again all without doing any extra work other than the time you spent making the product. Pretty amazing right?
Why Etsy?
While it’s not the only way to sell digital products, it is one of my favorites. Etsy’s platform is easy to use and has a lot of features for sellers to reach their ideal customers. Etsy is a well-known and trusted platform so I have found that people trust it and aren’t so hesitant to make a purchase when it is backed by Etsy.
They also bring customers to you. If you understand Etsy SEO and use it well in your listings, you can bring your customers to you rather than having to go out and find them. It has around 462 million users every single month!
So let’s dive into how to make passive income on Etsy selling digital products.
Step 1. Create your digital product
If you don’t already know what to sell, here are some ideas:
- Digital planners
- Kids activities
- Busy books
- Homeschool products
- Printable wall art
- Pregnancy Journals
- Memory book templates
- Birth plan templates
- Website templates
- Party or wedding invitations
- Business card templates
- Social media templates
- Workbook templates
- Mockups
- Print-on-demand products
There are many more options! You can go to Etsy and browse for inspiration for things you can give your own spin on and create.
Once you choose your product, head over to Canva to make it! If you haven’t used Canva before, here’s their beginner’s guide.
Step 2. Create Listing images for your product
These are the images you’ll upload to Etsy to show to shoppers considering buying your product. You can browse Etsy for inspiration on creating listing images that sell.
Go into Canva, create a design that’s 800 x 1000 px. Create your listing images with important information that the customer needs to know. Include the title, what it is, the size, if it’s a template make sure it says what the template is for (Canva, Wix, etc.), and the fact that it is a digital product and no physical product will be shipped.
Step 3. Create your Etsy shop
You can use this link to get your first 40 listings for free. Follow the setup instructions on Etsy and get your shop created. You can create a simple logo and cover image.
Step 4. Create your first listing.
On the left toolbar, select “Listings” and then click “Add a Listing” in the top right corner. Answer the quick questions about your listing (making sure to select “digital files”) to get started and then click continue.
Fill out the title and description, upload your images, select your tags and other information about what type of product it is, and upload your actual digital product at the end. This is so Etsy can automatically send them the link to your product to download when they purchase. If it’s a template, you can create a simple PDF that includes the template link for them to click and open in whatever program the template is for.
After that, choose your price and quantity (always 999 if it’s a digital product), and publish it!
Step 5. Helpful tips to succeed
Etsy SEO: If you don’t know what SEO is, it stands for search engine optimization and it is essentially strategically using relevant keywords to help your listing get found by your ideal customers.
For Etsy, you can start by researching the product on Etsy and seeing what keywords the most popular listings are using. You can also look at the search bar as you type and see what words pop up as suggested. These are words you can use in your listing if they make sense!
You can also use Etsy keyword tools like Marmalead, EverBee, and eRank. These tools will help you understand which keywords to use in your listings to achieve the most success. You can visit these sites before you create another product and see what keywords are trending or low competition, high search volume so that you can create a product around that.
When it comes to tags for your listing, make sure to use good keywords as well! This will help tell Etsy who your listing is for.
In your description, include a description of your product and try to use as many keywords as you naturally can. Make sure to include that it’s a digital product and any other important information they need to know. It’s always helpful to have step-by-step instructions on how they will get access to their digital products and how they can use it. Look at other listings for similar products and use that as inspiration for your listings!
Step 6. Marketing your products
While good SEO is great on Etsy, you can really amplify your efforts by marketing your products. You can do this by posting them on social media and creating a brand presence where you share your products and what’s new. You can also utilize Pinterest to publish pins for each listing. Pinterest is a great place to grow your Etsy shop! If you’re interested in learning more about how you can use Pinterest in your Etsy business, check out my post here.
If you want to go the paid ads route, you can use Etsy ads to easily start a campaign advertising your products. You choose your budget and which ads to promote and boom! All done. You can find advertising setups by clicking on the marketing tab in your shop.
You can also create sales to drive more customers to hit purchase. Your sales can be whatever length you want or you can create a 24-hour sale to create some urgency.
You can also create a sale for previous customers or send out coupon codes to people who put your product in their shopping cart but never hit buy. This will encourage them to come back and complete their purchase.
All in all, Etsy is a great platform for beginning sellers looking to learn the ropes of selling their own products. It is so user-friendly that it is hard to mess up! Get on Etsy, create some listings, and have fun learning the platform. Creating and selling your own products is such an amazing way to get creative, have fun, and make some money.
Don’t forget to use this link to get your first 40 listings free! This means you can start your Etsy shop for FREE today.
Any other Etsy questions? Drop them in the comments below!
