Reason #1 to have a website

[#1]

There have been lots of posts in the forums and teams lately about having your own website in addition to your Etsy shop.

Soooo many people complain about well...everything about paying for one, starting one and keeping up with one.

BUT. Etsy was down for over an hour.

I made THREE sales through my website during this time [my site was just launched a month ago and all prior purchases there were personal friends].

Perhaps they'd have forgotten all about me by the time Etsy finally decided to start working again.

Bwahahaha!

[Former_Member]

Kelly - my etsy views have not gone down, yay! I have a blog on my website, so that's the area I typically promote. Usually I direct people to etsy, because I have all of my listings there. I only have a Baker's Dozen on my own website. I'd like to have a couple website-only products, but I need to do some recipe testing!

[Former_Member]

Thanks for the input, Gena! I've been thinking about this all day. I've found a couple sites that have what I want, but they cost 30-ish dollars a month. Time for me to go do some digging, there's got to be less expensive alternatives!

Your site is still super, by the way (and it still makes me want to buy everything on it!)

[Former_Member]

Thanks for reminding me to get my own domain. I have a free one through storenvy.com but I really should get my own domain.

[RebeccasSoapDeli]

I use bigcartel to host my shop and do the bulk of my business through it. Really love the options - especially the coupon code options and inventory control. As well as the ability to list in multiple categories.

[Former_Member]

I'm a bit confused as I thought etsy sellers were not allowed to link to or display the name of their own websites if any of the same items were for sale on it as shops would be encouraged to redirect traffic and avoid etsy fees. I come across 5-10 shops per day that do this. So- what is the policy?

[Former_Member]

Nikki, you're correct. According to Etsy TOU you are not allowed to mention your website if you sell any of the same items. You can report the shop and they'll get an email from Etsy almost immediately telling them to remove the website mention or their account will be suspended.

[darkcycleclothing]

We had quite a few sales at our .com during the Etsy's little downtime. I definitely like having our .com as it makes me feel a little (a lot) more in control of my business.

[Former_Member]

I have one through supa dupa, and while I'm more than pleased with it I am thinking of starting one up through Big Cartel instead. i hear good things about it, i just kinda wish they had more in the way of themes.

[Former_Member]

@Ashley, I was referring to your own stand-alone site.WAYYYY better for SEO!

[Former_Member]

Gena - good to know about not mentioning the site if you sell the same items! So... if I have a couple different items that are not in my shop but are listed on my site, it's ok to mention my url (in my About page, for example)? Thanks for that tidbit!

[Former_Member]

Kelly, I'm pretty sure the rule is that if you sell even one thing on your site that you also sell in your Etsy shop, you cannot list your site anywhere in your Etsy shop public information.

[Former_Member]

Ok, I think I get it. So in theory I could still have a couple cat toys on my hypothetical non-Etsy website, but in order for me to write my url anywhere on my Etsy page, they would have to be different toys that are not sold in my shop (so it's ok that they would all be cat toys, but the key would be that they are completely different designs, and that the same toy design/style cannot be sold on both). Time to go read up on my TOU! Thanks for your patience, this is new to me!

[Former_Member]

Erin, after reading your post, I went to Weebly and started me a website. It was so easy. I had it up and running in one evening. There is still a lot I need to add to it, but it is started. And yes, it does link to Paypal and the best part is that it is FREE. You can upgrade to $5 a month (I think that is the amount) but I am not sure what the upgrade does for you.

[Former_Member]

To those that are wanting to have their own website and are concerned that no one will find them, a bit of encouragement here. It takes time to build a client base as well as being found by Google, etc.

In most cases it takes years for an independent site to find success, but... if you promote, add products, and really stick with it, I think you will succeed. I have an independent site, well, actually 2 and it took months to get a sale on one of them and a couple weeks on the other. Now, when one is slow, the other picks up the slack and keeps me busy.

Good luck everyone!