Etsy Advertising- Is it worth the money? If not, are there other cheap advertising options that are?

[Former_Member]

I'm looking to get more web traffic for my shop, and my search for free advertising has run dry- Facebook doesn't do much (and the links posted get buried VERY quickly by a million "I WANT ATTENTION" posts) Pininterest wouldn't let me have an account, and My Deviantart account doesn't get many views either. I don't have much of a budget, so I don't want to waste money if the etsy ads aren't going to be worth it.
If anyone knows any cheap or free ways to advertise my shop, I would appreciate the help!

[Former_Member]

Hmm, well I am in the same boat as you really. Just tried search ads, put in 10 dollars and got about 35 extra views from it. Even after messing with the tags loads. So I wouldn't personally recommend it.

You can submit items to EtsyLush for free. I get views from there, may be worth a try.

[AnneLondezGlass]

Etsy's Search Ads are known as "Newbies tax" in some circles...

[Former_Member]

I have tried the search ads...such a joke. When you search for something specific, check out how many items are shown in the search ad bar that are no where close to what you look for, say signs, and several pieces of jewelry come up. So I think they are more of a distraction than any help.

Try a facebook 'ad'. I post on facebook, twitter, pinterest, kaboodle & stumbleupon, but have had the best luck with an ad on Facebook. I increased my likes by 100 in one week, and these are people that are interested in my work, not friends,neighbors or relatives. I will continue to work with Facebook, to see what else I can get accomplished.

[Former_Member]

I won't be using Etsy Ads again. First time I used it, I immediately got a sale. But every other time after that, nothing. And yesterday I had it running, and raised it to 10,000 impressions to see if that would help...and I ended up paying over $1 for only 600 impressions, in only half a day! The math just wasn't adding up, it seemed like a rip off. I may try it again someday, but right now it's not working for me.

I get more views from consistently posting & running my blog - http://littlefever.tumblr.com - and from posting on Facebook (I post a lot of pictures and progress shots during the week, which seems to get more peoples' attention than just links). I also tweet and have Facebook linked to my Twitter so my Facebook posts automatically get tweeted which saves time.

And for fun I started a Polyvore account, which posts my sets to my blog - http://littlefever.polyvore.com/ - I kind of try to keep everything interconnected, if that makes sense?

Those are all free, but as far as spending any kind of money advertising, the ONLY paid advertising I've ever had success with was through BUST magazine (I actually plan on investing in another ad with them soon). Much more expensive, but DOES yield results.

[FenderGemsNCrystals]

Contrary to popular opinion I do well with a $5.00 a week search ad. I pick my search terms carefully. I don't want to waste my impressions on things like color. It took me a while to fine tune them but I get at least one new customer a week. You notice I said customer not sale. If the ad can deliver a sale to me I can usually convert that sale into a customer. ( you have got to do your part too). One big caveat - I sell supplies and collectibles.

[Former_Member]

And in case you're interested for the future, the BUST info is here!
http://bust.com/advertise-in-bust.html

[birdmom9726]

Glad to see you've already learned your lesson about the so-called "Search Ads" - I had to learn the hard way. About $40 later I realized it wasn't doing anything but relieving me of my hard earned money. They sound like such a bargain, and as a newbie you think "wow, what a deal", so you buy in. Well, you get what you pay for, or even less when it comes to Etsy search ads. I'd rather keep my money and work a little harder promoting myself.

[Former_Member]

I'm on again off again lol.
Every few weeks I run a $5 campaign for a about 20 listings. I run the campaign for a couple of weeks, then take a break. Start the cycle over again.
I use this mostly for items that are over-saturated on Esty, just to "bump up" my listings a bit.

Although I haven't directly received sales according to the campaigns I run; I do have to say my sales are up.
However I also went syndicated at the same time I began running ads, so it's hard to say if it's the syndication or ads that have improved sales.

I'd start small with a few selected items then gauge your sales over the course of the campaign.
If sales are up then it's worth it. If not then I think you can discard the ads.

Good luck with whatever you choose!

[LucyTootCreations]

i've done search ads twice now...and currently on my 3rd round...i had gotten two sales each with the first two search ads...

i guess i need to head over to etsylush i get a view from there once in a blue moon..not often...

[Former_Member]

I get a lot of views from Search Ads, but so far, no sales. Etsy is all about that - getting the right views. You want buyers looking, not just looky lous. For me search ads was just that, appealing to people who were just window shopping anyways.

[Former_Member]

I was literally about to say no, that they are not effective, but I happened to check my sales and I got one from my search ads! It's amazing. I haven't had a sale in months! :D So, I guess sometimes you get lucky and get a sale from it, but it's not something to rely on.

[Former_Member]

I tried search ads again with some more targeted keywords and limiting what items I was promoting... but it wasn't working for me that way either. Improving my SEO has brought in more views. Also looking into starting a facebook ad campaign & getting featured on more blogs :)

[KaraBaruch]

I've used the search ads and it's worked pretty well so far. I'm fairly new and I'm averaging about 2 sales a day. I decided to do the Showcase for $7, which was suppose to be showcased today, but I had less traffic to my shop today than the past month.....hmmmm spending more money and getting less. How do I know that my items were even showcased?