Why you need to scale your digital product business beyond Etsy

Jul 12

In today’s world, everyone uses digital products. Think about it: when was the last time you downloaded an app or an eBook or a stock photo or listened to a podcast?

All of these are examples of digital products and the great news is that you don’t have to just be a consumer of them, you can make your own, too.

Don’t think you can? Anyone can make a digital product. What is your talent or niche? There is surely a digital product that you can make and be successful at. Digital products are a great area to get into.

They give you passive income which means you put in the initial work to create your product, and then you can sit back and cash in on it. Or spend your time creating your next product, and then the one after that. Seriously, it’s addicting.

If you’re dying to quit your day job or looking to work remotely to be able to travel or spend more time at home with your family or any other reason, making digital products has real possibilities for you!

There are lots of platforms for marketing your digital products.

The one I prefer is Etsy* [ Free 40 listings for new shops ], it’s a great platform for people who are just starting out. Etsy’s large network helps expose you to clients who wouldn’t have seen your products before. People will go to Etsy in search of the things you’re selling. So, if you’re just starting out, it’s the perfect platform to get some sales and experience.

But while Etsy is good for starting out, you should look beyond Etsy and other platforms and consider creating your own website in order to establish yourself in the market and create your own client base.

Here’s why:

Reason #1: You can’t nurture your lead

When someone reaches out to you through your website, you have a chance to build a relationship with that person. They are looking at your site which contains only your products. It’s a much more personalized experience than when they look at your work on a third party platform like Etsy.

With Etsy, the experience is much more impersonal- your products are listed next to hundreds of other people’s products and when someone buys your product, it’s a one-off transaction, with no chance for you to reach out and continue the communication through email or messaging.

That’s a lost lead from someone who liked your work so much they bought it. With your own website, you would have the ability to control communication and nurture those hard-won leads.

Reason #2 It’s hard to build your email list

Email lists are essential for successful businesses. If you aren’t growing your list and adding contacts, you’re missing a key step in scaling your business. It’s through those lists that you get to communicate with your clients about all the cool new products you created that they need to check out!

When you use Etsy, you don’t get to build that oh-so-important email list. Only people who make the extra effort to research about you and track you down from your listing on Etsy will be on your email list and that’s a one in a million chance.

I personally use Etsy as a gateway, but do not consider it an option as my main business. One great thing about Etsy is that I can learn about other people who are creating similar products to mine and how my pricing fits in on the spectrum. Etsy really helps me know how to price my products. However useful of a sales tool it is, true success lies beyond Etsy.

Reason #3 Limits your personal branding

Etsy is its own site with its own personality, and it showcases thousands of others. Everyone on Etsy has an Etsy look and feel. Someone could even click on someone else’s products believing they’re yours because the branding is so similar throughout.

Through Etsy, you don’t really get a chance to shine as an individual and your brand’s look, feel and message get lost in the Etsy sea of products.

Having a branded website is what helps you stand out from other businesses. Your brand’s message needs to be heard in order to position yourself solidly in the digital product market. You can’t get that with Etsy, only with your own website.

Reason #4 You bring in traffic, but your competitors get the purchase!

This may be the hardest pill to swallow on Etsy: you put in the hard work to get clients by creating an amazing product and someone starts their search with your shop but then ends up going to someone else’s shop and they get the client instead! Happens all the time and it’s a difficult thing to accept on Etsy that you’ll be driving traffic to your competitors.

With your own website, that doesn’t happen. People visit your site to shop with you. Only your products are featured, and the clients’ attention will be 100% on your work, not divided between your work and 100 other people’s work. And that’s exactly how you like it :)

Final thoughts!

If you’re new to the digital product sales world, Etsy really is the perfect platform for anyone starting out and can help drive traffic to your main website. However, Etsy shouldn’t be your end goal. There’s so much more to be gained from having your own website and focusing your sales there. The perk of having a digital product business is you’re not going to worry about inventory, shipping, or stock at all, so there’s no need to maintain this 3rd party relationship with Etsy for long. They’re great for getting your feet wet, but as your business grows, you’ll want to be focusing your clients on your own branded website.

Ready to sell your digital product? Need some inspiration? Learn about my Digital Planner Academy, perfect for those looking to start an Etsy shop and scale beyond Etsy.