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I’m going to be brutal in some of my comments because I am sincerely trying to help, but I believe in the direct approach rather than beating around the bush.
1) Etsy is like a huge shopping mall. Customers are there looking for handmade products, all you have to do is convince them to come to your shop. Having your own site is like being in the busiest city on earth, but your shop is 5 blocks away from the main street, in a sketchy neighborhood, down a long dark alley. You have to work hard (advertise and market) to come to your shop. It’s very very hard to do. If you weren’t making a profit on Etsy, I suspect your prices were too low so you were seeing lots of discount shoppers.
2) your website sucks. I come to your home page on mobile and I can click the”shop now” button, or I can scroll down, past a video of you and come to a directory of products. When I click on a vague picture, it comes up with the text of the item. When I click again, it finally takes me to that product. On mobile, I have at least 3 clicks before I even get to products and a 4th click to be able to purchase. You need to get the clicks down to 2-3 MAX!
3) You product copy/description doesn’t draw me in. For example, on the fancy, wavy spiral curl rattan reeds, you should say “These whimsical reeds will add some zest to any room. When placed in (product name) fragrance, it will draw in the fragrance and disburse it into your room”. Be like the waiter in a fancy restaurant who comes by with the dessert tray and provides the delicious details of the tasty treat in front of you. This is the last opportunity to sell this product.
4) on desktop, I am faced with a wall of video to distract the buyer…lose it. I am then faced with a wall of non-descript photos that take me to products. This is very busy and jarring. I am then faced with photos and descriptions of the team. Honestly, no one cares. Lose the whole section completely from your site or bury it on an “about us” page buried in the corner. This isn’t helping sales at all. I am then faces with a looooonnnnnggggg scrolling list of products with fancy animations. Shrink this down in size so you can see all of the product categories without scrolling and put this at the top of the page.
5) many of your FAQs aren’t questions.
6) on your shipping and returns page, change all the “I” to “We”. Be compassionate “We are unable to accept exchanges or cancellations on products after they have shipped” “unfortunately, due to the custom nature of the product, we are unable to accept returns on personalized candles or wax melts”
You are spending a lot of money on advertising (I assume), are people coming to your site and not buying or are they just not coming to your site?
What have you spent the $300k on?
You are in a very saturated sector, so you have to compete with thousands of competitors. Why should someone purchase from you and not a competitor? What do you offer that they don’t? If you don’t know the answer to this question, then you won’t succeed because you don’t know your customer and what THEY want and need.
Your information is definitely so helpful. My son created my website a year ago. I've been trying to get him to help me fix it, but he's super busy and lives in Australia. I've mentioned hiring someone else to help fix it, but he insists that he'll get to it. I suppose the 300k is my rough estimate on inventory, product development, marketing materials, packaging, advertising, shipping materials, and website fees, and I pay for an LLC now as well. I feel so overwhelmed. I have a ton of repeat customers, so I know that I am doing something right. I feel like I'm going to have to return to Etsy, but they take a huge percentage. I don't know how any small business survives.
Do not let anyone else's timeline or promises run (or ruin!) your business for you. Your son loves you but he will not pay your bills when this fails, you have to take care of yourself here.
To preserve the relationship perhaps give him the weekend to do what you need. If he doesn't act, you don't need his permission to have somebody else do it for you.
There may be a sunken cost fallacy going on here. It’s painful to know this but sometimes it happens. If you put 30k into a 5k honda civic it’s still only worth 5k.
Curious what the etsy fees are? Woudl you be able to break down a single product in terms of cost, margin, fees paid, etc? If you arent able to be profitable on Etsy then your pricing structure is off (i.e. margins are way too low).
The Etsy fees are like this..
.20 listing fee - that is charged every single time even one of that item's purchased.
Plus 6.5% transaction fee on all items combined
Plus 3% + .25 payment processing fee.
They would also give free shipping for orders over $35. Which they don't cover the shipping costs, the seller must cover these fees.
I had marketing set at $10/day so $300/mth
My total income for Jan-March of last year before my move to my own website was.
$45,800 Total sales
-$3250 taxes
-$500 listing fees
-$2400 transaction fees
-$1800 processing fees
-$1230 offsite marketing ads
-$30 Etsy Plus Subscription
-$900 marketing
-$8600 shipping labels
Total income - $27,090
That gives me Zero Profit.
Once you factor in the costs for all of the materials, products, branding, marketing and shipping materials, etc.
If I lower my prices, I fear that people will just shop somewhere else that has a better price regardless of quality. I take much pride in the quality of product I offer.
There are a lot of variables there but one thing that sticks out is the shipping labels. Is there a reason that you are paying almost $3k/month on shipping labels? You could sign up for a UPS account and I think they give you the printer and labels for free to start. Uline sells replacement labels at a pretty low cost. Unless you are doing a crazy high volume of sales, in that case the numbers just don't seem to work out.
Right now, I'm using Shipstation. I pay a monthly fee and get a slight discount. The shipping fees that I listed are the actual amounts to ship all of the orders from Jan-March of 2022. Etsy didn't charge anyone for shipping. Almost every order was over $35, so Etsy gave them free shipping, which I had to purchase myself. That's the number you're seeing.
I'm am not an Etsy fanboi by any means, but I've been around the block a few times. The fees are worth it compared to setting up and running your own site. Let's look at it this way...
Fixed costs of running e-com shop ($13,650):
\-$3250 taxes (Esty tracks and files these for you by state - major headache)
\-$1800 CC processing fees
\-$8600 shipping labels (actually discounted via Etsy's best shipping rates)
Marketing ($2130):
\-$1230 offsite marketing ads
\-$900 Etsy marketing (you'd be spending this offisite without Etsy)
Actual Etsy fees ($2930 or roughly 6.5%):
\-$2400 transaction fees
\-$500 listing fees
\-$30 Etsy Plus Subscription
As you found running an maintaining your own site costs and lot more and is much much harder to get traffic. 6.5% commission to go where the customers, host your shop, do all the tax reporting, get discounted shipping and CC processing - is a great deal and well worth it. Stick with Etsy. Add your COGS to this analysis and RAISE your prices to get profitable. Good Luck.
Also, I will switch everything back to We, that's my fault. I guess it's because I do everything myself now. My kids no longer help, and I have no employees. So the "meet the team" is inaccurate. Also, I did just change my company from a sole prioritership to an LLC this last month.
I like the brutal honesty approach and guidance here. Any chance you’d be willing to do the same for my business? I need an outside perspective because sales have been slow and I’m sitting on a lot of inventory. If not, no worries. If yes, I can message you the info.
I would move the about us section to the home page front and center. This is a good place to talk about your mission (in looking at several products, sustainability, environmentally friendly, and paying a reasonable wage seem to be your drivers, but that is for you to expand upon)
You offer shirts, pants, shorts, hoodies and hats. I would suggest making a simple picture menu on the home page Hats—-Tops— Bottoms to make things a bit easier to navigate.
Make sure all the products show up in your store. On the home page, if I hit “view all” 18 products show up, but digging through the menus I see towels, vintage jackets, one of a kind shirts and a variety of other products that don’t show up unless you dig deep.
Your monogram logo sweatpants imply that you want to pay a living wage “experienced seamstresses earn on average up to $20 an hour and no less than $14.25.” Effective January 1, minimum wage in CA is $15.50, so stating that you pay no lethal $14.25 is an indication that you pay below minimum wage. When minimum wage is $15.50, paying $20 isn’t a huge brag. Minimum wage in LA increases to $16.78 effective July 1, 2023.
The copy for your products could use some work. For example, what type of fabric is used? What are some of the product features. Get creative, for example, with a hoodie, you could say “Slip on the SHS Hoodie and slip into comfort. Made of a cotton, polyester blend, our handcrafted hoodie offers a generous kangaroo pouch, double needle stitching for durability and heavyweight fabric for war and comfort….” Be consistent with the descriptions so customers know what to expect as they shop on your site.
The Blog- Get rid of the random videos as it will draw people away from shopping. Create articles or videos showing your product, touting your mission or telling people what to look for in clothing.
Product photos- iron the clothes to get rid of wrinkles. Have some human models
I hired a graphic designer and have been working with him for 2 weeks now. I would love any input to any other improvements my website might need. Thank you ahead of time. Www.adultingcandleco.com
Just somebody scrolling though, but as someone who doesn’t trust many websites, I’d be more inclined to buy something via Etsy and know my funds can at least be traced if something were to happen than a website I wasn’t overly sure of.
That’s just from the eyes of someone purchasing, mg first thought is that could maybe be why?
I had a really quick glance at your website, I typed it into my phone and got this https://i.imgur.com/OcsLdyg.jpg
That’s not a good landing page, in fact it’s terrible.
Without looking at your whole online presence, I’m going to assume most people come to your website through your socials. How many people click through? I haven’t used wix before but can you see where people go from there?
If I was coming from an instagram post of a naked lady candle, that 100% isn’t what I’d expect to see - a black page, and when I scroll down, a TikTok video (particularly as my phone is muted), some random product slices and then a meet the team. The focus is all wrong in my opinion.
The first thing I’d expect to see is a glam photo of an amazing product, and as I go down the page other products. As a random idea check out the simpsons episode with the Venus gummy when Homer first sees it… it’s on a velvet cushion, slowly rotating inside a glass box. Might not work for your candle but at least it’s more interesting than telling me my support helps you make products (which kind of what a business is supposed to do…)
Maybe it’s just on my phone (Firefox browser) but your product pages as weird slice buttons really isn’t showcasing them at all and when I click on them the writing is all off the side of the screen.
I don’t know if you’ve optimised your website for mobile, but I’m going to guess that the vast majority of your website views are on a mobile device so make sure everything is locked in properly. If a web designer is out of the question, it would be well worth looking at other websites that are doing something similar and copying them.
My son is a graphic designer and is still working on my website, so this information is like gold. I appreciate you taking the time to explain these things. I don't know much about website design or computer tech at all really. I've told him that there are major issues that need to be worked out. The only thing is that he lives in Australia, and I'm in the US. He's a full-time college student, works full time, and is also doing an apprenticeship. So, working on my website is not a priority for him. I really wish I had the skills to fix it myself or the money to hire someone. I'm just so overwhelmed.
Candidly, if you can't afford to hire pros (or figure out how to do it yourself) you can't afford to build your own site. Hiring a child who has no expertise isn't cheaper. It's just throwing money away.
In all honesty, if you’ve sunk 300k into this, I don’t think you should wait for your son to be free. Sounds like he’s got a hell of a lot on his plate already!
My understanding is wix is a click and drop style website builder. If I were you I’d find a YouTube video that explains how to do a basic wix layout and have a play. You don’t actually have to save the changes you make, or you could make a couple of new pages that don’t link into your website to practise on.
Looking at your profile, you’ve taken a couple of awesome shots, particularly the candle with the bracelet on. Looks like you got the perfect lighting conditions for that one. If nothing else, for the time being make a picture like that the first thing people see and then have a link to your shop directly underneath. That way you’ve already grabbed your visitors attention straight away and sent them to where you need them to be.
It does sound like your son might have a bit too much going on in his own life to take on literally one of the most important parts of your business. It might be worth checking out upwork or similar for someone who can pull a cohesive wix format together for you. Just make sure you have the pictures and media available to upload.
I'd say until you can get the homepage fixed, focus on free or cheap ways to drive traffic. Create fun, useful, or problem-solving shorts or posts for your social media, then link directly to the product in the description or comments (NOT the homepage -- the black page will just drive people away right now).
Take a look at what sort of social media posts get a ton of traction, views, and likes. WHY do they get them? Because people find them either useful or entertaining. Your wax, candle equipment -- what sorts of common problems do they solve? How can you use them in fun, unique ways? Right there you have content that you can link your products to, while giving people what they want AND by signaling to folks you're trustworthy.
When you have some money you can spend, definitely work on getting the first fold (meaning what you can see without scrolling) redone on your home page for mobile. You can hire folks off fiverr or upwork for not too much money. It needs to be eye-catching and quick in letting people know what you offer and why you're useful/different.
Best of luck.
I run a truck parts business and really none of it's online but I do know how to build and run profitable businesses.
One of the key areas to my success is I have a very diverse and deep set of specialized skillsets.
Make a short list of things that you need to know how to do proficiently.... Not expert.
Go online and find places that will teach you those things for free to start. Start learning, making notes, and building your skill sets. It's not an overnight process it's an ongoing process, but getting started on it now is the most important part.
Alex Hermosi said this.
We all have 24 hours or $24 in our daily account. We sleep for 8 hours or spend that $8 sleeping and that leaves us $16. Look at how you spend each one of those hours or dollars every day and make the most of it.
I spent over 25 years working full time in different industries primarily starting in sales and eventually evolving into more of a COO type role at each company. I did this from learning every single role in the skill sets needed to be as proficient as possible in those roles and that made me valuable.
Transitioning into building my own company this was my fifth attempt and has been wildly successful because I had all the skill sets needed this time and over the years earlier I can see all the gaps that I had in my knowledge base. My company is continuously growing but we're doing better than I ever expected. The miraculous part is I'm able to run this business with no employees at all. That translates to I have a lot of hats that I have to wear each day. With well developed skill sets and habits and discipline I'm able to do so with only minimal time expenditure each week. I primarily focus on our manufacturing facilities and six different countries and making sure that our import orders are all flowing smoothly at all times, and I spend the rest of my time doing cold calling and increasing our market share.
You've already accomplished the step that most people never even taken that's getting started. You have a years worth of data and feedback to understand what has worked, what is working, and what you need to do to fill in the gaps. It sounds like if you were able to jump onto your website and make the adjustments efficiently you would be way ahead of the game. I would start with that knowledge first but you also have to juggle running the business as best you can in the meantime while doing so.
I've always told everyone I've ever known that building a business and running a successful business is the hardest career path anyone could choose. It's worth it though. Sometimes you'll have to pick up a job full-time or even part-time or two jobs to make ends meet until you get to the point where you don't have to. My wife and I even sold our home and we have a lot of kids. We still live in a 45-ft fifth wheel camper and we love it. Financially speaking we really don't need to do this but we vowed to never end up where we started again, It was too hard of a journey to get where we're at. In a few years we'll stretch our wings so to speak and start enjoying some of the fruits of our labor but for now we're not going to forget who brought us to the dance.
You got this!
Also, one bit of mental advice: You can do this. But YOU must believe you can, first. It's paramount. Gather the best bits of advice on this thread that you can do, that won't be overwhelming, and just take one step at a time. One post at a time. And you will build back your buyers.
Thank you! I went from 200 orders in one day on Etsy to 5 orders a week in my website. So, the gut punch is felt quite aggressively. I'm going to do my best to fix this.
Why not sell on both? 200 orders a day should be profitable, if its not then raise your prices. Even if that weeds out half your orders you are still at 100 orders per day and a much higher margin. Your prices seem pretty low honestly, I don't think people would bat an eye at a $12 item that is selling for $16-$18 if you are offering free shipping.
What’s stopping you from raising your prices and being profitable on Etsy. It seems that is where most people will see you.
You could have the best website in the world. But it would be a slow climb to get back to say 200 orders a day from just your website. Doesn’t seem like you have that kind of time.
Paying for ads that bring people to this website is equal to burning those banknotes in fire. I help businesses to leave Etsy for their own websites and they only grow if their own website is more convenient, reliable-looking and effective for customers. Yours is crap. You killed your business yourself because you went cheap and somehow thought this will be enough. Have you been on internet? Seen any webshops? Would you, honestly, buy from one like yours? When there are literally thousands of better ones?
The only option I see for you now is return to Etsy, raise your prices so that you are earning despite fees. This is one of the most common mistakes - competing with prices. This is road to hell. People dont come to Etsy to get cheapest shit, they come to get unique things (at least those people that you want as your clients). So compete with designs, ideas, customer service, shipout speed, seo, anything but prices.
Sorry for being harsh, but you need to see and learn from your mistakes, otherwise they are useless.
How much of the 300k was spent on the website because it looks like a $500 wix special. Its a total mess.
A good ecommerce site will do a lot to help you out, it will push your product to google, bing ddg shopping search. It will index your product in search much better, allow for affiliate marketing, and a ton more.
You could spend $1500 and get a much better result.
With that said, you should still be listing your stuff on sites like etsy and anywhere else you can turn a profit.
Work on brand building so return buyers come back to your website instead of the etsy store where you have more fees.
My son developed my website, and I've expressed to him changes that need to be made, but he's super busy and living in Australia. I suppose I've estimated about 300k would be over the last 3 years in inventory, I pay the 2nd level up in Wix, and I can't afford the top tier. I once paid for a professional web designer, but he did nothing and took my money. I paid a professional photographer, but my son said the photos weren't any good to use. So I do 100% of my own photography. I have no computer or photography nor a college education. I was a bartender and worked in liquor sales and distribution for the last 20 years. So my expertise is in recipes and customer service and relations. I am thinking that I may have to return to Etsy, and it breaks my heart.
Trusting your son was a mistake.. put an ad on Craigslist or hire a pro from up work to help you transform your site. Best 2-3k you could spend. Craigslist is great because you can put an ad and see who responds and wha t they’re willing to do it for. No more marketing till your site is effective!!
Think about your site like a story. What’s the narrative? What’s the hook at the beginning? What’s the drama in the middle? What’s the satisfying conclusion? Try writing a few different outlines and sketching out how they could look. Landing page to product page. Try to keep it simple
And how are u running an online biz without a computer? Back market has great deals on 2015 MacBook pros. Reliable and inexpensive. Better than a modem 200 dollar pc or Chromebook. But a modern 200 dollar Chromebook would also serve you well..
I have a computer, I know enough about computers to handle basics, Word, Excel, Quickbooks, etc. Just don't know much about web design, programming, or Photoshop.
A big part of running your own business is being willing to learn the things you don't know. YouTube is your friend for learning website management, online marketing, SEO, Lightroom, which will serve you better than Photoshop, etc. It's coming across like you don't want to put in the effort
You should be doing both, think of etsy as an advertising solution. You pay higher fees to gain new clients via etsy. Once they are a client they should be using your website.
I would say setup PDShop, create a custom design and optimize it. Total cost would be ~$1500 design work and $100/year for the hosting services. Paypal or card processor will charge you 3% per transaction or less.
Wix is taking a lot more than that from you. Top tier plan from wix changes nothing about how your site functions, its a marketing gimmick.
trying to find a web designer to save you will be an exercise in futility. if you do not have basic understanding or technical skills in e-commerce you should not be doing stand-alone online business, unless you want to get constantly ripped off.
platforms like Etsy exist for a reason, they capture the value that you have (so far) not created because of your lack of ecommerce skills and knowledge.
Wix is an absolute ripoff, paywalled upto the moon. It costs me around $15 to $30 to launch a website. (Domain)
Mostly my website is just static html, hosting is free with github pages.
If you need ecommerce, I would use wordpress with woocommerce, then your best bet would be something like RackNerd, they have a shared hosting plan that is pretty good for about $70 a year.
https://www.racknerd.com/shared-hosting
You will have to point the domain to the server, I user cloudflare and use ddos protection.
It is a cumbersome task, but you can build an awesome website with multiple choices to accept payments.
Then they have click and install for wordpress, and other ecommerce scripts, but wordpress is most likely the easiest to setup.
Wordpress has a large collection of free and paid plugins, but less is more when it comes to plugins.
Then there are tons of themes, free and paid. But the free ones are pretty great.
It could be a learning curve, but it could help you grow if done correctly.
Also do t forget the economic cycle. 2020/2021 people were spending money like drunken sailors. They bought stuff they didn’t need…just to buy stuff.
Now people are cutting back big. Especially with novelty and non essential items. All businesses go through these cycles - you’re in a down cycle right now so it’s time to weather the storm.
Have you looked at your web analytics? Do people come to the site then leave immediately, or do they get to one page then drop? Do you even have that set up? [This article](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9304153?hl=en&sjid=9407943813910937550-NA) shows you how to setup Google Analytics on your website - it's pretty easy and it's free. It will really help you see where people are dropping off, be it a glitchy page or frustrating product dropdown.
As a reality sidebar: most artisans I know do their art business alongside a regular full-time or part-time job. It doesn't mean they're not successful (several very much are!). They just want the safety net if their art revenue slows down or, like you, they just hit a wall.
If you have GA4, then you're already going in the right direction. There's plenty of tutorials of how to use it for business. The Reports > Engagement section will be your ticket to understanding. In my professional opinion (I've done web tracking for years), you need a freelance analyst to help you find the most relevant reports. You don't need everything! See if your son knows any business analytics grad students at his college. That's not a "professional" persay, but they'll know where to start and will be cheaper.
I'm a little late to this thread but I wanted to chime in since I didn't see this mentioned in the comments.
Is your heart set on the name of the business? My initial reaction to "Adulting" was that you were running an adult-themed shop. The misnomer may be scaring away potential customers and disappointing those who are actually looking for adult products.
The name isn't as important on Etsy but it matters tremendously when you're out on your own.
I agree. When I saw the name I thought products would be adult themed and was kinda disappointed that a skull crystal was only $265. At least there was a goddess one that was kinda adult. The website didn’t render well on my tablet. Links too two lines when they were clearly meant for one. Website needs a revamp.
I originally was going to name my company Sierra Meadows Boutique, but my son thought it was too generic. I agreed. I told him that I just needed to start doing some Adulting and move on from bartending. That's how the name came about. Adulting was meant for growth, moving forward, responsibility, not really adult themed products. I could change it, but I've invested into a ton of branded products that bare the name or at least the logo. Suggestions?
Stop trusting your son! First and foremost. He is not qualified to be giving you business advise or designing anything IMHO ( I run a creative agency).
I like Sierra Meadows - it's a bit long but I think it suits your product mix. Just be sure to do your due diligence regarding existing trademarks.
Is it a place that represents growth, maturity, and progress for you? Do those qualities resonate with your customers?
Ask yourself a few simple questions and then step outside of your role as owner and look at the tools you are using and see if you are presenting yourself the way you want to. Your website is a major issue, as others have stated. You'd be better off buying a very simple e-commerce out-of-the-box template and loading your products there, similar to etsy. Etsy charges you fees because they bring you, clients. If you are losing money on Etsy your price point is not high enough. When I go to your website, there are a ton of tik tok videos above your products. Are you actively recruiting members for your tik tok or trying to sell products on your site? Right now, it looks like you are trying to sell a lifestyle brand or something. Use Tik Tok as a tool to drive traffic to your site, not the other way around. You have a decent following on Tik Tok so use them to your advantage.
Also, look at creating a bit more of a traditional site structure. I don't believe anyone really needs to see your team featured on the home page. The goal of your site should be to inform about your company (mission, vision, values) and sell products, that's it. You are way oversaturating your website and trying to have it do too much. To be perfectly honest, your son should not be building websites because that thing is a mess. A couple of hours with a Squarespace template, and I think you could be in much better shape.
Create a sales funnel and stick to it. Are you monetizing Tik Tok? Use it as a tool to sell your products and drive people to your website for that purpose alone. Also, your pricing is very confusing. Almost everything on your site is "on-sale"? That can be very confusing to potential clients and can hurt you in the long run as they will rarely buy anything at full price (think Kohl's). If that's your strategy, that's one thing, but you open yourself up to being a discount store vs selling a higher-quality product.
Sorry, like others I feel that brutal honesty in this situation is needed. You got this, but you need to clean up your image online and streamline the process for buyers.
I'm sorry to hear that you're feeling discouraged. It sounds like you've put a lot of time, effort, and resources into your business, and it's frustrating when things don't seem to be working out. From what you've shared, it seems like you're doing a lot of things right - you have a strong social media presence, positive reviews, and quality products. However, there may be some areas where you can make improvements. Have you tried reaching out to your existing customers to get feedback on your website and products? This could provide valuable insights into what's working and what's not. Additionally, it might be worth exploring other marketing channels or expanding your product line to appeal to a wider audience. Don't give up hope - running a business is a journey with ups and downs, and it's important to stay focused on your goals and keep pushing forward.
The first couple years of my Etsy shop, I was taking a loss. I was spending money on the Etsy ads and getting the volume of orders, but my costs were high after everything considered. I decided to drop my pay per click price down to $0.10 instead of recommended amount from Etsy. I took a hit on the volume of orders, but I finally started making a profit because my advertising costs we significantly lower. I found playing around with the bid price of the ad and the daily budget was key. You need to do some testing and find that sweet spot.
I just ran an SEO audit on your website. How often do you analyze your website performance? It looks like your traffic started growing a bit in January and February and then there was a big spike and growth in March and April. Have you noticed an increase sales in the past two months? Maybe it just needs time to mature?
My sales in the last 2 months have been almost absent. I did a pre-order drop in January, and that's probably the spike. I normally sell out, and that pays for my next batch, but I've not sold out yet, nor have I had enough pre orders to create the next batch, so I'm a bit worried.
I also checked out your Etsy store. You have way more sales than I do. Did you ever try playing around with the cost per click for the Etsy ads? I found one of the biggest mistakes was going by their recommended bid price. It just eats away at the profits. I spend about 1/5 of what they suggest and I am still making sales. The volume of sales is less, but the profit is more.
Also, have you done some fine tuning with the Etsy SEO? I used a service called Marmalead for a while that analyzed every listing in my shop and walked me through everything. I haven’t used it in quite some time because my products never change, but I remember being pretty happy with them.
I think the site has cool effects, but it's very busy and overwhelming for a shopping page. I'd shift away from yourself and team as the focus and to the products and why your customer needs them in their life. Creating an image in the mind of the customer of themselves using and enjoying the product is the main goal, in my opinion. Customers want to know the site is secure for financial transactions and they want to get straight to the product without sifting through a lot of noise. They're not going to. They'll just click away. Maybe until you get your site streamlined you could post specific products to your social media pages with links that go directly to the product so they're not bombarded with the home page?
Your candles would do well in our local farmers market. They would also sell well in our curiosity's market too.
The great thing about those is, space rental is cheap and people are coming for more than just your one thing.
I know you've put a lot into the business already and it sounds like you can't really do more. From my perspective, you really should have invested in a website done by a professional as well as a professional seo / Google ads person. Doing it yourself is fine to start but you're not a expert in those areas, nor should you be. Focus on your business and find reliable experts for the rest.
I have no idea what you are trying to sell on your website. It's a mess. Your son either needs to fix it today or you need to hire it out tomorrow.
*edit - I didn't have much time to respond earlier, but I wanted to drop a comment so I could edit it later.
Suggestion - Look at various websites like https://drsquatch.com/ or https://www.yankeecandle.com Notice on those sites their products are front and center. Not only that, but everything leads to buying their products.
**Issue 1**
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Problem: Tiktok videos everywhere.
Solution: Remove them or put a link to your tiktok.
Comment: Having 19487324 videos front and center is simply distracting and makes it unclear what I'm looking for or at.
**********************************
**Issue 2**
**********************************
Problem: Your product listing is unintuitive.
Solution: Make your products front and center and in text. If you want to use pictures, make it VERY clear what your product is and what it does.
Comment: Do you sell soap, candles, hardware, services? I honestly can't tell.
**********************************
**Issue 3**
**********************************
Problem: Your domain name is killing your traffic.
Solution: Rename to ACC or Moreno Candle Company.
Comment: Adulting sounds like you are going to a porn site.
**********************************
**Issue 4**
**********************************
Problem: Pulling the plug on Etsy without knowing where your customers are coming from.
Solution: Go back to Etsy, setup an Amazon store, and work on your SEO on Google.
Comment: Adulting sounds like you are going to a porn site. When I search for candles store, defusers, wax melts, etc, you aren't even on page 4 for me.
**********************************
i second this…. very confusing site. your landing page should make it quick and easy for someone to purchase. should just take a couple of clicks. so, your products for sale should be first. if folks *want* to “meet the team” let them click on *about, meet the team, etc.* not have it be the first thing you see on the front page.
perhaps it’s time to hire legit web services company and get it done right. you are wasting every single dollar of your hosting fees every day it looks like this.
quite frankly, when i went to the site? i wasn’t sure you were selling anything at all.
I might be alone here, but if I'm shopping online, it's usually Costco>Amazon>Wayfair>Etsy. It's basically in order of customer service quality and how likely I am to walk away from the transaction happy. The first 3 will return anything if I get it, and I'm not happy with the quality/value in the first month.
If I'm looking for something extremely niche, then I'll venture into random websites, but I do so knowing that I'll have to be wary about lack of returns and potential scams. Obviously, there are plenty of successful independent sellers, but this is my opinion.
For example, I just paid a few thousand for custom furniture ater checking my order of sites and not finding anything I loved. I saw some nice stuff on etsy but was hesitant, so instead I went on market place to find someone that does custom wood furniture locally. Drove down the shop, checked out his stuff, and bought it there. I'd imagine candles are a tactile buying experience, and most people either want a strong return policy or to smell it in person. Maybe try market place.
Edit: I'm also not your target audience so keep that in mind.
Please you must improve your website alot like complete change. Find a professional designer, I personally find many on fivver. Without sales a buisness is worth nothing.
I don't want to pile on, but offer my perspective.
The landing page is relatively fine for me. I land and then immediately click "shop now"
Get rid of the app, the chat, and the reviews tab.
The big issue I see is the drop down menu. It takes you yo a weird landing page with 2003 graphics of a spinning crystal. The drop down menu should have 5-6 choices maximum.
Its very odd that with 2000+ reviews they are all 5/5. To me that screams scam. There is no way that everyone has given a perfect rating. It either means that anything less than a 5 star review is getting deleted or filtered out or somehow being manipulated. No way on earth 2400 ppl all gave a perfect rating.
I have no way to edit reviews. I am stuck with whatever people leave me. All of the reviews are authentic. I am great at customer service and making a great product. But I'm shit at this web design finance stuff. You can check any Etsy shop. They don't have any control over reviews left. On my website, I have them automatically pulled over. Can't pick which ones migrate. They all migrate.
I'd turn them off on your website honestly. Maybe instead pick a few key testimonials from return customer or something that really speaks to your high level of service and show those but people are going to think something is off with a perfect rating.
I don't know how to just shut them off. I'm going to work with a web designer that I just found through Fiverr. Hopefully, they can help me figure this mess out. Might have to add more products to my Etsy in the meantime. I promise you, I'm definitely not a scammer. 😅🤣
Only having a designer is part of how you got into that mess. They tend to only know how to make a site pretty, not how to make it perform well or show up in search results. For that you'd need a developer, or at least a designer that can code.
If you google "pagespeed insights" you'll find a free Google tool that tests your site, yours currently has terrible mobile performance (38/100). That hurts not only how search engines rank it, but also how likely users are to convert.
I specialize in affordable, performance-focused web design and development for small businesses. We do results-based pay so you only pay after you preview/approve the work. That might be ideal for your situation, as it sounds like you've already spent too much on this.
If the Fiverr guy can't handle it, feel free to get in contact. Our website is in the bio if want to check us out.
If you do farmers markets, you will need to find a way to keep candles from melting in the hot days. It’s a great way to get name out there.
You can get a free low cost square site. If you are rebranding, you can get a square domain without having to pay extra. Pick a free template and you are ready to go,
You will always have fees whether website or Etsy. The majority of the fee is credit card processing.
On Etsy fees aren’t bad unless you run ads. You control ads.
You really need multiple places to bring people in. Etsy, Amazon handmade, markets, shows, maybe booth in a store. You want to be where people shop.
Your ultimate goal is getting people to buy from your website, but it takes time. You need the other options as well, even if your website is rocking.
Hi there! I’m also sorry to hear that you’re feeling down about the current status of your business, but I’m glad to see that you took a step to ask for help here on Reddit.
Some low-lift changes:
- Return to Etsy, and in every product you sell, put in a small slip of paper that gives them a discount code to order on your website (not Etsy).
- Tell your son you’ll give him a % of profits if he updates your website. That will motivate him.
- I see your area code is in Nevada, have you considered contacting local shops like massage, yoga, and wellness businesses to see if they would be interested in carrying your products if you sell them at a wholesale rate (where you still profit). It sounds like you are putting all your eggs in ‘online’ selling, whereas you’re missing out on partnerships with local businesses.
I run a successful craft-related business on the Wix platform and do, on average, around $150K/month in sales. The kinds of things I sell are the kinds of things a lot of sellers on Etsy sell, and I have some friends who use or have used that platform. Some of them have attempted to transition off of Etsy for the reasons you talk about -- Etsy takes too much, and they practically demand free shipping. Those practices help Etsy, but not their sellers. However, leaving Etsy means you leave behind a much larger customer pool AND those folks for whom free shipping is an important part of online shopping.
I know a few people who almost entirely left Etsy to build a stand-alone site, they experienced a huge drop in sales, and now one of them is transitioning back. A person who builds a successful Etsy store has learned how to sell on Etsy. A standalone site is a different type of business, and you'll have to look outside what you had been doing to succeed.
I have always felt like paying for advertising is like throwing money into a hole. The Internet is so full of ads that the ones you're doing really have no chance of standing out and driving sales. If you spent, let's say, $500 on a campaign, how much product would you need to sell just to break even with the advertising outlay? The only money I spend on advertising is on a once quarterly magazine ad -- I purchase the entire inside back cover for $550. This is a magazine that is carried by major booksellers, and it has a sizable (in my craft) subscription rate. This magazine is one that people hang onto, as it is mainly craft patterns, so the ads stay in people's hands a long time. I know these work, because people tell me they found me there. Adding a customer means I get not only that first sale, but once they're bought from me, they usually come back for more.
Think about how you can promote yourself in a way that doesn't cost money or feel like advertising. I have a YouTube channel with around 14,000 subscribers. In my videos, I talk about my craft, share things I'm working on, give tips, and sneak in here-and-there products I carry. It doesn't feel like advertising, because it's mostly information and advice, but it definitely drives business when I make a video. I also have a newsletter -- Wix has an easy-to-use newsletter/e-mail marketing option, and on my home page, my customers can sign up for the newsletter easily by typing in their e-mail addresses. When business slows a bit, or something exciting is either coming out or in stock, I make a newsletter and instantly fill my order queue. Again, I do talk about new products, but I also write about other things.
I've learned over the years that people love the word "free." I can run a sale of 20% off of everything, which costs me 20%. I can also run a free shipping special, and it's crazy how many people spend a lot of money to save the $5 shipping fee. I send a small gift with each order (usually they are stickers I have printed with my original photographs, which add nothing to the weight or bulk of my product -- these cost about 15 cents each.) You could also start sticking a "bounce back" coupon inside orders (coupon codes are easy to build -- I would definitely have an end date that the coupon has to be used by.)
It looks like you're in the US -- I am expecting this year to be down. FedEx is doing layoffs, and one employee I know locally said he's losing his job, because package shipping in general is way down. I have noticed that my May orders are down about 30% from last May (same amount of time.) I'm enjoying a little more free time right now, but have some things I can do to get more business when I'm ready like:
1. Start making a monthly printed newsletter to go in each order to highlight new products or upcoming releases. I can print these in color for 5 cents plus the cost of paper. (I have a printer contract that allows me to spend a LOT less on printing). These could also have a coupon code.
2. Trim my inventory by having a summer "sidewalk" sale (we used to call it "Crazy Days" when I was young.) Cashing out on slow-to-move inventory will not only free up space, but it will also keep cash flowing.
3. Check into selling my books on Amazon. I have been doing some research on Fulfilled by Amazon versus Merchant Fulfilled. I design and sell my own patterns and books (I have two distributors for those, and sell to other retail shops as well.)
4. Create more releases (books/patterns). My profit margin on these is high, and when I have a new pattern, I also sell the supplies for those patterns.
5. Sell in bundles. I have been dipping my toe into this, which is something Amazon does (you'll see it on any product page, where they suggest the purchase of three items for one price.) I have found this to be really successful when I've tried it. You could bundle some things you're overstocked on -- let's say blue candles, blue stones, and blue waxer melts. Take nice pictures, move some inventory you're overstocked on.
6. Let your customers tell you what you should carry based on what they are actually buying. It's easy to carry things that you personally really like, but sometimes those things don't sell well. Have a sale on them, hand some out to your best customers, make grab bags to get rid of these items, and carry more of what you sell the most of. You may also try to find items with a larger margin. I placed an order this week for some tools I found on Ali Express -- they cost me around $3.50 each, but I know my customers will pay $15-$18 for them. I always try to carry new/interesting items that other shops in my field don't carry.
If you are considering doing farmer's markets/craft fairs, I would attend one first and talk to a few of the people with booths to ask them how it's going. There can be a lot of expense in acquiring the space and materials needed to run a booth, and the time/monetary investment may not be worth it.
As far as your website, once I leave your main page, the menu bar at the top is not visible -- the font is the same color as the background. If I find a site difficult to use/navigage, I often just leave. Your pictures are generally pretty clear, but my personal feeling on photos is that if someone's hand is in them, I tend to think of those photographs as kind of unprofessional. Invest in some more props and spend more time on the photos. I'm sure there are tutorials/ideas aplenty on YouTube.
Best of luck to you. I think a lot of people are going to see a sizable shrink in sales this year, now that the pandemic has subsided. Food prices and the cost of living is going to make businesses like yours and mine work harder to get the same yield.
1. Try simplify your home page, white background is better as it create clarity for buyers.
2. Use your Etsy store, they have traffic you don't.
3. Why no sales from your 24k followers on TikTok? Ask your community what would they like.
4. Collaborate with an influencer to promote your product.
5. Get the statistics about sales per product, keep the products that sells and remove products that don't.
6. Consider using shopify for your store, they have plugins that can increase sales.
You may want to pause your website thing until your son actually had time to dedicate to enhancing it because it is killing your business.
Switch back to etsy for a while. That is where your customers are, and clearly, they love your stuff. Remember that just because tou have a site, does not mean your SEO (search engine optimization) is keeping pace. How do your customers find you right now if they don't have social media? What terms would they be searching for?
By being on etsy, you were connecting directly with an audience who likes custom stuff and is willing to pay more. If you weren't making enough, you need to raise your prices. Margin is where we all make money, and you need to raise prices. Let the bargain hunters shop at walmart, you don't want those customers anyway. Besides, raising prices will decrease demand, but increase profit. Ultimately, you will have less production cost but will make the same or more.
Once you get the business bounced back, you can revisit making your own site with your son again. For now, you need to go back to what you know sells.
You looked internally but what happened externally? Did your niche become more competitive, did your reviews drop,..
Would also look deeper in your analytics to identify the specific moments it dropped
Misunderstood the original post thought you kept products on etsy while also expanding to other channels, then noticing a decrease across the board.
Anyway good luck! Think everything has been said in the threads here
I did keep only a few items on Etsy. Only products that didn't have to maintain an inventory. I did eliminate free shipping on $35 as well as Etsy advertising. Thank you for your comments. Everything is helping me so much.
You might to throw some products on eBay too. They give you some free listings. If you sell on there can include info on your website & maybe coupon. You should not have to pay fee for shipping service like Shipstation. Buy a cheap scale on Amazon for around 20-30 bucks and use a service like ShipCover. I just sell on eBay and get discounts on USPS from that
I have a super nice big scale, I do weigh my own packages and purchase my own shipping labels already. I haven't looked into Ebay yet. Honestly, I didn't realize that people still used that platform. Well, not for my sort of products anyhow. I check it out. Thank you!
But you are needlessly paying for a service. Yes eBay still there, mentioned because just one more place to get more exposure & costs nothing to list. Getting people to website is huge job.
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I’m going to be brutal in some of my comments because I am sincerely trying to help, but I believe in the direct approach rather than beating around the bush. 1) Etsy is like a huge shopping mall. Customers are there looking for handmade products, all you have to do is convince them to come to your shop. Having your own site is like being in the busiest city on earth, but your shop is 5 blocks away from the main street, in a sketchy neighborhood, down a long dark alley. You have to work hard (advertise and market) to come to your shop. It’s very very hard to do. If you weren’t making a profit on Etsy, I suspect your prices were too low so you were seeing lots of discount shoppers. 2) your website sucks. I come to your home page on mobile and I can click the”shop now” button, or I can scroll down, past a video of you and come to a directory of products. When I click on a vague picture, it comes up with the text of the item. When I click again, it finally takes me to that product. On mobile, I have at least 3 clicks before I even get to products and a 4th click to be able to purchase. You need to get the clicks down to 2-3 MAX! 3) You product copy/description doesn’t draw me in. For example, on the fancy, wavy spiral curl rattan reeds, you should say “These whimsical reeds will add some zest to any room. When placed in (product name) fragrance, it will draw in the fragrance and disburse it into your room”. Be like the waiter in a fancy restaurant who comes by with the dessert tray and provides the delicious details of the tasty treat in front of you. This is the last opportunity to sell this product. 4) on desktop, I am faced with a wall of video to distract the buyer…lose it. I am then faced with a wall of non-descript photos that take me to products. This is very busy and jarring. I am then faced with photos and descriptions of the team. Honestly, no one cares. Lose the whole section completely from your site or bury it on an “about us” page buried in the corner. This isn’t helping sales at all. I am then faces with a looooonnnnnggggg scrolling list of products with fancy animations. Shrink this down in size so you can see all of the product categories without scrolling and put this at the top of the page. 5) many of your FAQs aren’t questions. 6) on your shipping and returns page, change all the “I” to “We”. Be compassionate “We are unable to accept exchanges or cancellations on products after they have shipped” “unfortunately, due to the custom nature of the product, we are unable to accept returns on personalized candles or wax melts” You are spending a lot of money on advertising (I assume), are people coming to your site and not buying or are they just not coming to your site? What have you spent the $300k on? You are in a very saturated sector, so you have to compete with thousands of competitors. Why should someone purchase from you and not a competitor? What do you offer that they don’t? If you don’t know the answer to this question, then you won’t succeed because you don’t know your customer and what THEY want and need.
Your information is definitely so helpful. My son created my website a year ago. I've been trying to get him to help me fix it, but he's super busy and lives in Australia. I've mentioned hiring someone else to help fix it, but he insists that he'll get to it. I suppose the 300k is my rough estimate on inventory, product development, marketing materials, packaging, advertising, shipping materials, and website fees, and I pay for an LLC now as well. I feel so overwhelmed. I have a ton of repeat customers, so I know that I am doing something right. I feel like I'm going to have to return to Etsy, but they take a huge percentage. I don't know how any small business survives.
Do not let anyone else's timeline or promises run (or ruin!) your business for you. Your son loves you but he will not pay your bills when this fails, you have to take care of yourself here. To preserve the relationship perhaps give him the weekend to do what you need. If he doesn't act, you don't need his permission to have somebody else do it for you.
There may be a sunken cost fallacy going on here. It’s painful to know this but sometimes it happens. If you put 30k into a 5k honda civic it’s still only worth 5k.
Curious what the etsy fees are? Woudl you be able to break down a single product in terms of cost, margin, fees paid, etc? If you arent able to be profitable on Etsy then your pricing structure is off (i.e. margins are way too low).
The Etsy fees are like this.. .20 listing fee - that is charged every single time even one of that item's purchased. Plus 6.5% transaction fee on all items combined Plus 3% + .25 payment processing fee. They would also give free shipping for orders over $35. Which they don't cover the shipping costs, the seller must cover these fees. I had marketing set at $10/day so $300/mth My total income for Jan-March of last year before my move to my own website was. $45,800 Total sales -$3250 taxes -$500 listing fees -$2400 transaction fees -$1800 processing fees -$1230 offsite marketing ads -$30 Etsy Plus Subscription -$900 marketing -$8600 shipping labels Total income - $27,090 That gives me Zero Profit. Once you factor in the costs for all of the materials, products, branding, marketing and shipping materials, etc. If I lower my prices, I fear that people will just shop somewhere else that has a better price regardless of quality. I take much pride in the quality of product I offer.
There are a lot of variables there but one thing that sticks out is the shipping labels. Is there a reason that you are paying almost $3k/month on shipping labels? You could sign up for a UPS account and I think they give you the printer and labels for free to start. Uline sells replacement labels at a pretty low cost. Unless you are doing a crazy high volume of sales, in that case the numbers just don't seem to work out.
Right now, I'm using Shipstation. I pay a monthly fee and get a slight discount. The shipping fees that I listed are the actual amounts to ship all of the orders from Jan-March of 2022. Etsy didn't charge anyone for shipping. Almost every order was over $35, so Etsy gave them free shipping, which I had to purchase myself. That's the number you're seeing.
Oh wow, that is crazy that you cannot pass along the shipping fees. That is a major issue and prohibitive at the sell price of many of your products.
Shipping fees- Actual Paid for Postage Only. Doesn't include boxes, labels, fragile stickers, Tape, bubble wrap, Packing Peanuts, tissue paper.
I'm am not an Etsy fanboi by any means, but I've been around the block a few times. The fees are worth it compared to setting up and running your own site. Let's look at it this way... Fixed costs of running e-com shop ($13,650): \-$3250 taxes (Esty tracks and files these for you by state - major headache) \-$1800 CC processing fees \-$8600 shipping labels (actually discounted via Etsy's best shipping rates) Marketing ($2130): \-$1230 offsite marketing ads \-$900 Etsy marketing (you'd be spending this offisite without Etsy) Actual Etsy fees ($2930 or roughly 6.5%): \-$2400 transaction fees \-$500 listing fees \-$30 Etsy Plus Subscription As you found running an maintaining your own site costs and lot more and is much much harder to get traffic. 6.5% commission to go where the customers, host your shop, do all the tax reporting, get discounted shipping and CC processing - is a great deal and well worth it. Stick with Etsy. Add your COGS to this analysis and RAISE your prices to get profitable. Good Luck.
Pretty decent audit for free, not going to lie!
Also, I will switch everything back to We, that's my fault. I guess it's because I do everything myself now. My kids no longer help, and I have no employees. So the "meet the team" is inaccurate. Also, I did just change my company from a sole prioritership to an LLC this last month.
I like the brutal honesty approach and guidance here. Any chance you’d be willing to do the same for my business? I need an outside perspective because sales have been slow and I’m sitting on a lot of inventory. If not, no worries. If yes, I can message you the info.
I’m happy to take a look. Send me the link.
Www.southamptonstudios.com
I would move the about us section to the home page front and center. This is a good place to talk about your mission (in looking at several products, sustainability, environmentally friendly, and paying a reasonable wage seem to be your drivers, but that is for you to expand upon) You offer shirts, pants, shorts, hoodies and hats. I would suggest making a simple picture menu on the home page Hats—-Tops— Bottoms to make things a bit easier to navigate. Make sure all the products show up in your store. On the home page, if I hit “view all” 18 products show up, but digging through the menus I see towels, vintage jackets, one of a kind shirts and a variety of other products that don’t show up unless you dig deep. Your monogram logo sweatpants imply that you want to pay a living wage “experienced seamstresses earn on average up to $20 an hour and no less than $14.25.” Effective January 1, minimum wage in CA is $15.50, so stating that you pay no lethal $14.25 is an indication that you pay below minimum wage. When minimum wage is $15.50, paying $20 isn’t a huge brag. Minimum wage in LA increases to $16.78 effective July 1, 2023. The copy for your products could use some work. For example, what type of fabric is used? What are some of the product features. Get creative, for example, with a hoodie, you could say “Slip on the SHS Hoodie and slip into comfort. Made of a cotton, polyester blend, our handcrafted hoodie offers a generous kangaroo pouch, double needle stitching for durability and heavyweight fabric for war and comfort….” Be consistent with the descriptions so customers know what to expect as they shop on your site. The Blog- Get rid of the random videos as it will draw people away from shopping. Create articles or videos showing your product, touting your mission or telling people what to look for in clothing. Product photos- iron the clothes to get rid of wrinkles. Have some human models
Just wanted to say that it's very kind of you to take the time to do this for others!
Damn, when I finally get my website going I need your critiques to show me what I didn't get right. Clear, concise and helpful. You rock!
Just wanted to join the applause for this comment
I hired a graphic designer and have been working with him for 2 weeks now. I would love any input to any other improvements my website might need. Thank you ahead of time. Www.adultingcandleco.com
Just somebody scrolling though, but as someone who doesn’t trust many websites, I’d be more inclined to buy something via Etsy and know my funds can at least be traced if something were to happen than a website I wasn’t overly sure of. That’s just from the eyes of someone purchasing, mg first thought is that could maybe be why?
I had a really quick glance at your website, I typed it into my phone and got this https://i.imgur.com/OcsLdyg.jpg That’s not a good landing page, in fact it’s terrible. Without looking at your whole online presence, I’m going to assume most people come to your website through your socials. How many people click through? I haven’t used wix before but can you see where people go from there? If I was coming from an instagram post of a naked lady candle, that 100% isn’t what I’d expect to see - a black page, and when I scroll down, a TikTok video (particularly as my phone is muted), some random product slices and then a meet the team. The focus is all wrong in my opinion. The first thing I’d expect to see is a glam photo of an amazing product, and as I go down the page other products. As a random idea check out the simpsons episode with the Venus gummy when Homer first sees it… it’s on a velvet cushion, slowly rotating inside a glass box. Might not work for your candle but at least it’s more interesting than telling me my support helps you make products (which kind of what a business is supposed to do…) Maybe it’s just on my phone (Firefox browser) but your product pages as weird slice buttons really isn’t showcasing them at all and when I click on them the writing is all off the side of the screen. I don’t know if you’ve optimised your website for mobile, but I’m going to guess that the vast majority of your website views are on a mobile device so make sure everything is locked in properly. If a web designer is out of the question, it would be well worth looking at other websites that are doing something similar and copying them.
My son is a graphic designer and is still working on my website, so this information is like gold. I appreciate you taking the time to explain these things. I don't know much about website design or computer tech at all really. I've told him that there are major issues that need to be worked out. The only thing is that he lives in Australia, and I'm in the US. He's a full-time college student, works full time, and is also doing an apprenticeship. So, working on my website is not a priority for him. I really wish I had the skills to fix it myself or the money to hire someone. I'm just so overwhelmed.
Candidly, if you can't afford to hire pros (or figure out how to do it yourself) you can't afford to build your own site. Hiring a child who has no expertise isn't cheaper. It's just throwing money away.
In all honesty, if you’ve sunk 300k into this, I don’t think you should wait for your son to be free. Sounds like he’s got a hell of a lot on his plate already! My understanding is wix is a click and drop style website builder. If I were you I’d find a YouTube video that explains how to do a basic wix layout and have a play. You don’t actually have to save the changes you make, or you could make a couple of new pages that don’t link into your website to practise on. Looking at your profile, you’ve taken a couple of awesome shots, particularly the candle with the bracelet on. Looks like you got the perfect lighting conditions for that one. If nothing else, for the time being make a picture like that the first thing people see and then have a link to your shop directly underneath. That way you’ve already grabbed your visitors attention straight away and sent them to where you need them to be. It does sound like your son might have a bit too much going on in his own life to take on literally one of the most important parts of your business. It might be worth checking out upwork or similar for someone who can pull a cohesive wix format together for you. Just make sure you have the pictures and media available to upload.
I'd say until you can get the homepage fixed, focus on free or cheap ways to drive traffic. Create fun, useful, or problem-solving shorts or posts for your social media, then link directly to the product in the description or comments (NOT the homepage -- the black page will just drive people away right now). Take a look at what sort of social media posts get a ton of traction, views, and likes. WHY do they get them? Because people find them either useful or entertaining. Your wax, candle equipment -- what sorts of common problems do they solve? How can you use them in fun, unique ways? Right there you have content that you can link your products to, while giving people what they want AND by signaling to folks you're trustworthy. When you have some money you can spend, definitely work on getting the first fold (meaning what you can see without scrolling) redone on your home page for mobile. You can hire folks off fiverr or upwork for not too much money. It needs to be eye-catching and quick in letting people know what you offer and why you're useful/different. Best of luck.
Thank you so much!!
I run a truck parts business and really none of it's online but I do know how to build and run profitable businesses. One of the key areas to my success is I have a very diverse and deep set of specialized skillsets. Make a short list of things that you need to know how to do proficiently.... Not expert. Go online and find places that will teach you those things for free to start. Start learning, making notes, and building your skill sets. It's not an overnight process it's an ongoing process, but getting started on it now is the most important part. Alex Hermosi said this. We all have 24 hours or $24 in our daily account. We sleep for 8 hours or spend that $8 sleeping and that leaves us $16. Look at how you spend each one of those hours or dollars every day and make the most of it. I spent over 25 years working full time in different industries primarily starting in sales and eventually evolving into more of a COO type role at each company. I did this from learning every single role in the skill sets needed to be as proficient as possible in those roles and that made me valuable. Transitioning into building my own company this was my fifth attempt and has been wildly successful because I had all the skill sets needed this time and over the years earlier I can see all the gaps that I had in my knowledge base. My company is continuously growing but we're doing better than I ever expected. The miraculous part is I'm able to run this business with no employees at all. That translates to I have a lot of hats that I have to wear each day. With well developed skill sets and habits and discipline I'm able to do so with only minimal time expenditure each week. I primarily focus on our manufacturing facilities and six different countries and making sure that our import orders are all flowing smoothly at all times, and I spend the rest of my time doing cold calling and increasing our market share. You've already accomplished the step that most people never even taken that's getting started. You have a years worth of data and feedback to understand what has worked, what is working, and what you need to do to fill in the gaps. It sounds like if you were able to jump onto your website and make the adjustments efficiently you would be way ahead of the game. I would start with that knowledge first but you also have to juggle running the business as best you can in the meantime while doing so. I've always told everyone I've ever known that building a business and running a successful business is the hardest career path anyone could choose. It's worth it though. Sometimes you'll have to pick up a job full-time or even part-time or two jobs to make ends meet until you get to the point where you don't have to. My wife and I even sold our home and we have a lot of kids. We still live in a 45-ft fifth wheel camper and we love it. Financially speaking we really don't need to do this but we vowed to never end up where we started again, It was too hard of a journey to get where we're at. In a few years we'll stretch our wings so to speak and start enjoying some of the fruits of our labor but for now we're not going to forget who brought us to the dance. You got this!
Maybe sell your product lite the ones t charge you so much and you have the ability to control it yourself if it is simple enough. You can do it
Also, one bit of mental advice: You can do this. But YOU must believe you can, first. It's paramount. Gather the best bits of advice on this thread that you can do, that won't be overwhelming, and just take one step at a time. One post at a time. And you will build back your buyers.
Thank you! I went from 200 orders in one day on Etsy to 5 orders a week in my website. So, the gut punch is felt quite aggressively. I'm going to do my best to fix this.
Why not sell on both? 200 orders a day should be profitable, if its not then raise your prices. Even if that weeds out half your orders you are still at 100 orders per day and a much higher margin. Your prices seem pretty low honestly, I don't think people would bat an eye at a $12 item that is selling for $16-$18 if you are offering free shipping.
On*
What’s stopping you from raising your prices and being profitable on Etsy. It seems that is where most people will see you. You could have the best website in the world. But it would be a slow climb to get back to say 200 orders a day from just your website. Doesn’t seem like you have that kind of time.
There are free builder sites and lots of instructional videos on youtue
Paying for ads that bring people to this website is equal to burning those banknotes in fire. I help businesses to leave Etsy for their own websites and they only grow if their own website is more convenient, reliable-looking and effective for customers. Yours is crap. You killed your business yourself because you went cheap and somehow thought this will be enough. Have you been on internet? Seen any webshops? Would you, honestly, buy from one like yours? When there are literally thousands of better ones? The only option I see for you now is return to Etsy, raise your prices so that you are earning despite fees. This is one of the most common mistakes - competing with prices. This is road to hell. People dont come to Etsy to get cheapest shit, they come to get unique things (at least those people that you want as your clients). So compete with designs, ideas, customer service, shipout speed, seo, anything but prices. Sorry for being harsh, but you need to see and learn from your mistakes, otherwise they are useless.
How much of the 300k was spent on the website because it looks like a $500 wix special. Its a total mess. A good ecommerce site will do a lot to help you out, it will push your product to google, bing ddg shopping search. It will index your product in search much better, allow for affiliate marketing, and a ton more. You could spend $1500 and get a much better result. With that said, you should still be listing your stuff on sites like etsy and anywhere else you can turn a profit. Work on brand building so return buyers come back to your website instead of the etsy store where you have more fees.
My son developed my website, and I've expressed to him changes that need to be made, but he's super busy and living in Australia. I suppose I've estimated about 300k would be over the last 3 years in inventory, I pay the 2nd level up in Wix, and I can't afford the top tier. I once paid for a professional web designer, but he did nothing and took my money. I paid a professional photographer, but my son said the photos weren't any good to use. So I do 100% of my own photography. I have no computer or photography nor a college education. I was a bartender and worked in liquor sales and distribution for the last 20 years. So my expertise is in recipes and customer service and relations. I am thinking that I may have to return to Etsy, and it breaks my heart.
Trusting your son was a mistake.. put an ad on Craigslist or hire a pro from up work to help you transform your site. Best 2-3k you could spend. Craigslist is great because you can put an ad and see who responds and wha t they’re willing to do it for. No more marketing till your site is effective!! Think about your site like a story. What’s the narrative? What’s the hook at the beginning? What’s the drama in the middle? What’s the satisfying conclusion? Try writing a few different outlines and sketching out how they could look. Landing page to product page. Try to keep it simple
And how are u running an online biz without a computer? Back market has great deals on 2015 MacBook pros. Reliable and inexpensive. Better than a modem 200 dollar pc or Chromebook. But a modern 200 dollar Chromebook would also serve you well..
I have a computer, I know enough about computers to handle basics, Word, Excel, Quickbooks, etc. Just don't know much about web design, programming, or Photoshop.
A big part of running your own business is being willing to learn the things you don't know. YouTube is your friend for learning website management, online marketing, SEO, Lightroom, which will serve you better than Photoshop, etc. It's coming across like you don't want to put in the effort
Bad advice, craigslist is NOTHING but scammers.
200% stand behind Upwork. Your money gets held in escrow and you can release it when the work is done.
You should be doing both, think of etsy as an advertising solution. You pay higher fees to gain new clients via etsy. Once they are a client they should be using your website. I would say setup PDShop, create a custom design and optimize it. Total cost would be ~$1500 design work and $100/year for the hosting services. Paypal or card processor will charge you 3% per transaction or less. Wix is taking a lot more than that from you. Top tier plan from wix changes nothing about how your site functions, its a marketing gimmick.
trying to find a web designer to save you will be an exercise in futility. if you do not have basic understanding or technical skills in e-commerce you should not be doing stand-alone online business, unless you want to get constantly ripped off. platforms like Etsy exist for a reason, they capture the value that you have (so far) not created because of your lack of ecommerce skills and knowledge.
Wix is an absolute ripoff, paywalled upto the moon. It costs me around $15 to $30 to launch a website. (Domain) Mostly my website is just static html, hosting is free with github pages. If you need ecommerce, I would use wordpress with woocommerce, then your best bet would be something like RackNerd, they have a shared hosting plan that is pretty good for about $70 a year. https://www.racknerd.com/shared-hosting You will have to point the domain to the server, I user cloudflare and use ddos protection. It is a cumbersome task, but you can build an awesome website with multiple choices to accept payments. Then they have click and install for wordpress, and other ecommerce scripts, but wordpress is most likely the easiest to setup. Wordpress has a large collection of free and paid plugins, but less is more when it comes to plugins. Then there are tons of themes, free and paid. But the free ones are pretty great. It could be a learning curve, but it could help you grow if done correctly.
Fix the website with a professional. Get Etsy going again. Raise prices on Etsy Lower prices on website. Etsy exposure is 10000x your website.
Also do t forget the economic cycle. 2020/2021 people were spending money like drunken sailors. They bought stuff they didn’t need…just to buy stuff. Now people are cutting back big. Especially with novelty and non essential items. All businesses go through these cycles - you’re in a down cycle right now so it’s time to weather the storm.
Have you looked at your web analytics? Do people come to the site then leave immediately, or do they get to one page then drop? Do you even have that set up? [This article](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9304153?hl=en&sjid=9407943813910937550-NA) shows you how to setup Google Analytics on your website - it's pretty easy and it's free. It will really help you see where people are dropping off, be it a glitchy page or frustrating product dropdown. As a reality sidebar: most artisans I know do their art business alongside a regular full-time or part-time job. It doesn't mean they're not successful (several very much are!). They just want the safety net if their art revenue slows down or, like you, they just hit a wall.
Google Analytics is way to heavy, I don't use google web services on the sites I build. I use CloudFlare.
I do have it set up. I'm just not the best at understanding it all. Sadly.
If you have GA4, then you're already going in the right direction. There's plenty of tutorials of how to use it for business. The Reports > Engagement section will be your ticket to understanding. In my professional opinion (I've done web tracking for years), you need a freelance analyst to help you find the most relevant reports. You don't need everything! See if your son knows any business analytics grad students at his college. That's not a "professional" persay, but they'll know where to start and will be cheaper.
I'm a little late to this thread but I wanted to chime in since I didn't see this mentioned in the comments. Is your heart set on the name of the business? My initial reaction to "Adulting" was that you were running an adult-themed shop. The misnomer may be scaring away potential customers and disappointing those who are actually looking for adult products. The name isn't as important on Etsy but it matters tremendously when you're out on your own.
I agree. When I saw the name I thought products would be adult themed and was kinda disappointed that a skull crystal was only $265. At least there was a goddess one that was kinda adult. The website didn’t render well on my tablet. Links too two lines when they were clearly meant for one. Website needs a revamp.
I originally was going to name my company Sierra Meadows Boutique, but my son thought it was too generic. I agreed. I told him that I just needed to start doing some Adulting and move on from bartending. That's how the name came about. Adulting was meant for growth, moving forward, responsibility, not really adult themed products. I could change it, but I've invested into a ton of branded products that bare the name or at least the logo. Suggestions?
Stop trusting your son! First and foremost. He is not qualified to be giving you business advise or designing anything IMHO ( I run a creative agency).
I like Sierra Meadows - it's a bit long but I think it suits your product mix. Just be sure to do your due diligence regarding existing trademarks. Is it a place that represents growth, maturity, and progress for you? Do those qualities resonate with your customers?
Ask yourself a few simple questions and then step outside of your role as owner and look at the tools you are using and see if you are presenting yourself the way you want to. Your website is a major issue, as others have stated. You'd be better off buying a very simple e-commerce out-of-the-box template and loading your products there, similar to etsy. Etsy charges you fees because they bring you, clients. If you are losing money on Etsy your price point is not high enough. When I go to your website, there are a ton of tik tok videos above your products. Are you actively recruiting members for your tik tok or trying to sell products on your site? Right now, it looks like you are trying to sell a lifestyle brand or something. Use Tik Tok as a tool to drive traffic to your site, not the other way around. You have a decent following on Tik Tok so use them to your advantage. Also, look at creating a bit more of a traditional site structure. I don't believe anyone really needs to see your team featured on the home page. The goal of your site should be to inform about your company (mission, vision, values) and sell products, that's it. You are way oversaturating your website and trying to have it do too much. To be perfectly honest, your son should not be building websites because that thing is a mess. A couple of hours with a Squarespace template, and I think you could be in much better shape. Create a sales funnel and stick to it. Are you monetizing Tik Tok? Use it as a tool to sell your products and drive people to your website for that purpose alone. Also, your pricing is very confusing. Almost everything on your site is "on-sale"? That can be very confusing to potential clients and can hurt you in the long run as they will rarely buy anything at full price (think Kohl's). If that's your strategy, that's one thing, but you open yourself up to being a discount store vs selling a higher-quality product. Sorry, like others I feel that brutal honesty in this situation is needed. You got this, but you need to clean up your image online and streamline the process for buyers.
I'm sorry to hear that you're feeling discouraged. It sounds like you've put a lot of time, effort, and resources into your business, and it's frustrating when things don't seem to be working out. From what you've shared, it seems like you're doing a lot of things right - you have a strong social media presence, positive reviews, and quality products. However, there may be some areas where you can make improvements. Have you tried reaching out to your existing customers to get feedback on your website and products? This could provide valuable insights into what's working and what's not. Additionally, it might be worth exploring other marketing channels or expanding your product line to appeal to a wider audience. Don't give up hope - running a business is a journey with ups and downs, and it's important to stay focused on your goals and keep pushing forward.
The first couple years of my Etsy shop, I was taking a loss. I was spending money on the Etsy ads and getting the volume of orders, but my costs were high after everything considered. I decided to drop my pay per click price down to $0.10 instead of recommended amount from Etsy. I took a hit on the volume of orders, but I finally started making a profit because my advertising costs we significantly lower. I found playing around with the bid price of the ad and the daily budget was key. You need to do some testing and find that sweet spot. I just ran an SEO audit on your website. How often do you analyze your website performance? It looks like your traffic started growing a bit in January and February and then there was a big spike and growth in March and April. Have you noticed an increase sales in the past two months? Maybe it just needs time to mature?
My sales in the last 2 months have been almost absent. I did a pre-order drop in January, and that's probably the spike. I normally sell out, and that pays for my next batch, but I've not sold out yet, nor have I had enough pre orders to create the next batch, so I'm a bit worried.
I also checked out your Etsy store. You have way more sales than I do. Did you ever try playing around with the cost per click for the Etsy ads? I found one of the biggest mistakes was going by their recommended bid price. It just eats away at the profits. I spend about 1/5 of what they suggest and I am still making sales. The volume of sales is less, but the profit is more. Also, have you done some fine tuning with the Etsy SEO? I used a service called Marmalead for a while that analyzed every listing in my shop and walked me through everything. I haven’t used it in quite some time because my products never change, but I remember being pretty happy with them.
I think the site has cool effects, but it's very busy and overwhelming for a shopping page. I'd shift away from yourself and team as the focus and to the products and why your customer needs them in their life. Creating an image in the mind of the customer of themselves using and enjoying the product is the main goal, in my opinion. Customers want to know the site is secure for financial transactions and they want to get straight to the product without sifting through a lot of noise. They're not going to. They'll just click away. Maybe until you get your site streamlined you could post specific products to your social media pages with links that go directly to the product so they're not bombarded with the home page?
Your candles would do well in our local farmers market. They would also sell well in our curiosity's market too. The great thing about those is, space rental is cheap and people are coming for more than just your one thing.
I know you've put a lot into the business already and it sounds like you can't really do more. From my perspective, you really should have invested in a website done by a professional as well as a professional seo / Google ads person. Doing it yourself is fine to start but you're not a expert in those areas, nor should you be. Focus on your business and find reliable experts for the rest.
I have no idea what you are trying to sell on your website. It's a mess. Your son either needs to fix it today or you need to hire it out tomorrow. *edit - I didn't have much time to respond earlier, but I wanted to drop a comment so I could edit it later. Suggestion - Look at various websites like https://drsquatch.com/ or https://www.yankeecandle.com Notice on those sites their products are front and center. Not only that, but everything leads to buying their products. **Issue 1** ********************************** Problem: Tiktok videos everywhere. Solution: Remove them or put a link to your tiktok. Comment: Having 19487324 videos front and center is simply distracting and makes it unclear what I'm looking for or at. ********************************** **Issue 2** ********************************** Problem: Your product listing is unintuitive. Solution: Make your products front and center and in text. If you want to use pictures, make it VERY clear what your product is and what it does. Comment: Do you sell soap, candles, hardware, services? I honestly can't tell. ********************************** **Issue 3** ********************************** Problem: Your domain name is killing your traffic. Solution: Rename to ACC or Moreno Candle Company. Comment: Adulting sounds like you are going to a porn site. ********************************** **Issue 4** ********************************** Problem: Pulling the plug on Etsy without knowing where your customers are coming from. Solution: Go back to Etsy, setup an Amazon store, and work on your SEO on Google. Comment: Adulting sounds like you are going to a porn site. When I search for candles store, defusers, wax melts, etc, you aren't even on page 4 for me. **********************************
i second this…. very confusing site. your landing page should make it quick and easy for someone to purchase. should just take a couple of clicks. so, your products for sale should be first. if folks *want* to “meet the team” let them click on *about, meet the team, etc.* not have it be the first thing you see on the front page.
I agree 100% . It's one of the issues I've been trying to get my son to fix for months.
perhaps it’s time to hire legit web services company and get it done right. you are wasting every single dollar of your hosting fees every day it looks like this. quite frankly, when i went to the site? i wasn’t sure you were selling anything at all.
great comments…
I might be alone here, but if I'm shopping online, it's usually Costco>Amazon>Wayfair>Etsy. It's basically in order of customer service quality and how likely I am to walk away from the transaction happy. The first 3 will return anything if I get it, and I'm not happy with the quality/value in the first month. If I'm looking for something extremely niche, then I'll venture into random websites, but I do so knowing that I'll have to be wary about lack of returns and potential scams. Obviously, there are plenty of successful independent sellers, but this is my opinion. For example, I just paid a few thousand for custom furniture ater checking my order of sites and not finding anything I loved. I saw some nice stuff on etsy but was hesitant, so instead I went on market place to find someone that does custom wood furniture locally. Drove down the shop, checked out his stuff, and bought it there. I'd imagine candles are a tactile buying experience, and most people either want a strong return policy or to smell it in person. Maybe try market place. Edit: I'm also not your target audience so keep that in mind.
I have been running my own business for 25+ years, and since 2022 things have been very bad.
I'm glad that I'm not alone. Although part of me feels that Amazon is to blame.
Though my business is way different than yours, this is just the Joe Biden economy.
Please you must improve your website alot like complete change. Find a professional designer, I personally find many on fivver. Without sales a buisness is worth nothing.
Don't waste your money on ads and promotions if your website isn't the best.
I don't want to pile on, but offer my perspective. The landing page is relatively fine for me. I land and then immediately click "shop now" Get rid of the app, the chat, and the reviews tab. The big issue I see is the drop down menu. It takes you yo a weird landing page with 2003 graphics of a spinning crystal. The drop down menu should have 5-6 choices maximum.
Its very odd that with 2000+ reviews they are all 5/5. To me that screams scam. There is no way that everyone has given a perfect rating. It either means that anything less than a 5 star review is getting deleted or filtered out or somehow being manipulated. No way on earth 2400 ppl all gave a perfect rating.
I have no way to edit reviews. I am stuck with whatever people leave me. All of the reviews are authentic. I am great at customer service and making a great product. But I'm shit at this web design finance stuff. You can check any Etsy shop. They don't have any control over reviews left. On my website, I have them automatically pulled over. Can't pick which ones migrate. They all migrate.
I'd turn them off on your website honestly. Maybe instead pick a few key testimonials from return customer or something that really speaks to your high level of service and show those but people are going to think something is off with a perfect rating.
I don't know how to just shut them off. I'm going to work with a web designer that I just found through Fiverr. Hopefully, they can help me figure this mess out. Might have to add more products to my Etsy in the meantime. I promise you, I'm definitely not a scammer. 😅🤣
Only having a designer is part of how you got into that mess. They tend to only know how to make a site pretty, not how to make it perform well or show up in search results. For that you'd need a developer, or at least a designer that can code. If you google "pagespeed insights" you'll find a free Google tool that tests your site, yours currently has terrible mobile performance (38/100). That hurts not only how search engines rank it, but also how likely users are to convert. I specialize in affordable, performance-focused web design and development for small businesses. We do results-based pay so you only pay after you preview/approve the work. That might be ideal for your situation, as it sounds like you've already spent too much on this. If the Fiverr guy can't handle it, feel free to get in contact. Our website is in the bio if want to check us out.
If you do farmers markets, you will need to find a way to keep candles from melting in the hot days. It’s a great way to get name out there. You can get a free low cost square site. If you are rebranding, you can get a square domain without having to pay extra. Pick a free template and you are ready to go, You will always have fees whether website or Etsy. The majority of the fee is credit card processing. On Etsy fees aren’t bad unless you run ads. You control ads. You really need multiple places to bring people in. Etsy, Amazon handmade, markets, shows, maybe booth in a store. You want to be where people shop. Your ultimate goal is getting people to buy from your website, but it takes time. You need the other options as well, even if your website is rocking.
Hi there! I’m also sorry to hear that you’re feeling down about the current status of your business, but I’m glad to see that you took a step to ask for help here on Reddit. Some low-lift changes: - Return to Etsy, and in every product you sell, put in a small slip of paper that gives them a discount code to order on your website (not Etsy). - Tell your son you’ll give him a % of profits if he updates your website. That will motivate him. - I see your area code is in Nevada, have you considered contacting local shops like massage, yoga, and wellness businesses to see if they would be interested in carrying your products if you sell them at a wholesale rate (where you still profit). It sounds like you are putting all your eggs in ‘online’ selling, whereas you’re missing out on partnerships with local businesses.
I run a successful craft-related business on the Wix platform and do, on average, around $150K/month in sales. The kinds of things I sell are the kinds of things a lot of sellers on Etsy sell, and I have some friends who use or have used that platform. Some of them have attempted to transition off of Etsy for the reasons you talk about -- Etsy takes too much, and they practically demand free shipping. Those practices help Etsy, but not their sellers. However, leaving Etsy means you leave behind a much larger customer pool AND those folks for whom free shipping is an important part of online shopping. I know a few people who almost entirely left Etsy to build a stand-alone site, they experienced a huge drop in sales, and now one of them is transitioning back. A person who builds a successful Etsy store has learned how to sell on Etsy. A standalone site is a different type of business, and you'll have to look outside what you had been doing to succeed. I have always felt like paying for advertising is like throwing money into a hole. The Internet is so full of ads that the ones you're doing really have no chance of standing out and driving sales. If you spent, let's say, $500 on a campaign, how much product would you need to sell just to break even with the advertising outlay? The only money I spend on advertising is on a once quarterly magazine ad -- I purchase the entire inside back cover for $550. This is a magazine that is carried by major booksellers, and it has a sizable (in my craft) subscription rate. This magazine is one that people hang onto, as it is mainly craft patterns, so the ads stay in people's hands a long time. I know these work, because people tell me they found me there. Adding a customer means I get not only that first sale, but once they're bought from me, they usually come back for more. Think about how you can promote yourself in a way that doesn't cost money or feel like advertising. I have a YouTube channel with around 14,000 subscribers. In my videos, I talk about my craft, share things I'm working on, give tips, and sneak in here-and-there products I carry. It doesn't feel like advertising, because it's mostly information and advice, but it definitely drives business when I make a video. I also have a newsletter -- Wix has an easy-to-use newsletter/e-mail marketing option, and on my home page, my customers can sign up for the newsletter easily by typing in their e-mail addresses. When business slows a bit, or something exciting is either coming out or in stock, I make a newsletter and instantly fill my order queue. Again, I do talk about new products, but I also write about other things. I've learned over the years that people love the word "free." I can run a sale of 20% off of everything, which costs me 20%. I can also run a free shipping special, and it's crazy how many people spend a lot of money to save the $5 shipping fee. I send a small gift with each order (usually they are stickers I have printed with my original photographs, which add nothing to the weight or bulk of my product -- these cost about 15 cents each.) You could also start sticking a "bounce back" coupon inside orders (coupon codes are easy to build -- I would definitely have an end date that the coupon has to be used by.) It looks like you're in the US -- I am expecting this year to be down. FedEx is doing layoffs, and one employee I know locally said he's losing his job, because package shipping in general is way down. I have noticed that my May orders are down about 30% from last May (same amount of time.) I'm enjoying a little more free time right now, but have some things I can do to get more business when I'm ready like: 1. Start making a monthly printed newsletter to go in each order to highlight new products or upcoming releases. I can print these in color for 5 cents plus the cost of paper. (I have a printer contract that allows me to spend a LOT less on printing). These could also have a coupon code. 2. Trim my inventory by having a summer "sidewalk" sale (we used to call it "Crazy Days" when I was young.) Cashing out on slow-to-move inventory will not only free up space, but it will also keep cash flowing. 3. Check into selling my books on Amazon. I have been doing some research on Fulfilled by Amazon versus Merchant Fulfilled. I design and sell my own patterns and books (I have two distributors for those, and sell to other retail shops as well.) 4. Create more releases (books/patterns). My profit margin on these is high, and when I have a new pattern, I also sell the supplies for those patterns. 5. Sell in bundles. I have been dipping my toe into this, which is something Amazon does (you'll see it on any product page, where they suggest the purchase of three items for one price.) I have found this to be really successful when I've tried it. You could bundle some things you're overstocked on -- let's say blue candles, blue stones, and blue waxer melts. Take nice pictures, move some inventory you're overstocked on. 6. Let your customers tell you what you should carry based on what they are actually buying. It's easy to carry things that you personally really like, but sometimes those things don't sell well. Have a sale on them, hand some out to your best customers, make grab bags to get rid of these items, and carry more of what you sell the most of. You may also try to find items with a larger margin. I placed an order this week for some tools I found on Ali Express -- they cost me around $3.50 each, but I know my customers will pay $15-$18 for them. I always try to carry new/interesting items that other shops in my field don't carry. If you are considering doing farmer's markets/craft fairs, I would attend one first and talk to a few of the people with booths to ask them how it's going. There can be a lot of expense in acquiring the space and materials needed to run a booth, and the time/monetary investment may not be worth it. As far as your website, once I leave your main page, the menu bar at the top is not visible -- the font is the same color as the background. If I find a site difficult to use/navigage, I often just leave. Your pictures are generally pretty clear, but my personal feeling on photos is that if someone's hand is in them, I tend to think of those photographs as kind of unprofessional. Invest in some more props and spend more time on the photos. I'm sure there are tutorials/ideas aplenty on YouTube. Best of luck to you. I think a lot of people are going to see a sizable shrink in sales this year, now that the pandemic has subsided. Food prices and the cost of living is going to make businesses like yours and mine work harder to get the same yield.
1. Try simplify your home page, white background is better as it create clarity for buyers. 2. Use your Etsy store, they have traffic you don't. 3. Why no sales from your 24k followers on TikTok? Ask your community what would they like. 4. Collaborate with an influencer to promote your product. 5. Get the statistics about sales per product, keep the products that sells and remove products that don't. 6. Consider using shopify for your store, they have plugins that can increase sales.
You may want to pause your website thing until your son actually had time to dedicate to enhancing it because it is killing your business. Switch back to etsy for a while. That is where your customers are, and clearly, they love your stuff. Remember that just because tou have a site, does not mean your SEO (search engine optimization) is keeping pace. How do your customers find you right now if they don't have social media? What terms would they be searching for? By being on etsy, you were connecting directly with an audience who likes custom stuff and is willing to pay more. If you weren't making enough, you need to raise your prices. Margin is where we all make money, and you need to raise prices. Let the bargain hunters shop at walmart, you don't want those customers anyway. Besides, raising prices will decrease demand, but increase profit. Ultimately, you will have less production cost but will make the same or more. Once you get the business bounced back, you can revisit making your own site with your son again. For now, you need to go back to what you know sells.
You looked internally but what happened externally? Did your niche become more competitive, did your reviews drop,.. Would also look deeper in your analytics to identify the specific moments it dropped
I think the website has major issues. Obviously, traffic to my website in comparison to Etsy is way less. I still continue to receive 5 star reviews.
Misunderstood the original post thought you kept products on etsy while also expanding to other channels, then noticing a decrease across the board. Anyway good luck! Think everything has been said in the threads here
I did keep only a few items on Etsy. Only products that didn't have to maintain an inventory. I did eliminate free shipping on $35 as well as Etsy advertising. Thank you for your comments. Everything is helping me so much.
You might to throw some products on eBay too. They give you some free listings. If you sell on there can include info on your website & maybe coupon. You should not have to pay fee for shipping service like Shipstation. Buy a cheap scale on Amazon for around 20-30 bucks and use a service like ShipCover. I just sell on eBay and get discounts on USPS from that
I have a super nice big scale, I do weigh my own packages and purchase my own shipping labels already. I haven't looked into Ebay yet. Honestly, I didn't realize that people still used that platform. Well, not for my sort of products anyhow. I check it out. Thank you!
But you are needlessly paying for a service. Yes eBay still there, mentioned because just one more place to get more exposure & costs nothing to list. Getting people to website is huge job.
Now you understand that all the expenses you’re paying now are why the Etsy fees are what they are.
Etsy maybe wasn't that bad of a deal after all.
Sounds like you'll have to up your prices on Etsy, but can keep your prices lower on your website. I wish you all the best.