There's no doubt that it's easier to find lots of customers on Etsy than it is to drive customers to your own website.
But if your only presence on the web is your Etsy store, then you are entirely at the mercy of Etsy for your business. Plus, let's say you find a customer on your own at a trunk sale or a local gallery -- if all you have is an Etsy storefront, you're basically a digital sharecropper, giving Etsy your customer and inadvertently putting that customer in touch with all of your competitors. If you're hoping to build a relationship with your customers, and build a brand around what you do, you need a website of your own.
Having your own website can be inexpensive and easy, and it's well worth it for anyone serious about their business and their online reputation. I work at a company called IndieMade, at www.indiemade.com, that I hope you check out -- we offer inexpensive websites that can be linked to your Etsy store, and we have lots of customers like you who sell on Etsy because that's where the customers are but who also have their own website.
But even if you don't go with IndieMade you really should have your own web presence. There are lots of options out there; find one that's right for you and stop being an unpaid marketer for Etsy, surviving completely at their whim. That is no way to build a business. :-)
