Some of the links provided are paid links. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. We are members of similar affiliate programs with other companies as well. This means, at no additional cost to you, we will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
hey y'all my name is Ashley Falco and
I'm here and the maker going to learn
studio and I have something really
serious to talk to you about this is a
conversation that I have had over and
over with other creators and I've also
seen them pop up all over social media
and is whether or not you should have an
Etsy shop or your own Standalone website
now if you know nothing about me I have
owned my own Etsy Shop since 2012 and I
also run my own card stock website that
it's its own Standalone website so I do
have knowledge on both these platforms
and I want to talk to you about which
one's better and which one's worse so
let me give you a little bit of
backstory about me in 2012 I opened up
my own Etsy shop where I was selling
high-end party decorations I did not
have a social media I only had a
Facebook account and zero social media
experience I had no idea what I was
doing fast forward to 2020 we all know
what happened during that time but at
that time my wholesale supplier of card
stock went out of business business so
as being the business lady that I am I
decided to create my own card stock
Warehouse selling card stock at
wholesale pricing now we all know about
Etsy fees my main goal with my card
stock Warehouse is to sell my card stock
as cheap as possible to every single
consumer and because I wanted to do that
I personally could not do an Etsy shop I
would definitely have to sell my card
stock at a higher rate to cover the fees
that they charge so me I decided I was
going to open up my own Shopify website
separate from my Etsy store now let me
give you a kind of a close look at to
what it was to open up my Shopify
website I at that point in time signed
up for Shopify which was $100 a month
then I had to watch a boatload of
YouTube tutorials on how in the world to
even make make my website you have to
learn how to code you have to add in
your apps you have to figure out the
taxes I'm telling you y all it took me
at least two months to even have my shop
up and ready for people to buy now I
have been in business since 2012 we're
talking a long time and although I do
know my way around the computer it took
me a long time and at some points it was
frustrating I knew no one that knew how
to build their own Shopify website now
because my business platform was selling
my card stock for as cheap as possible
at that point in time I did have 12200
Instagram followers most of them were
Crafters just like myself so they all
knew me and I said you know what if I
were to sell them to you as cheap as
possible would you buy it and 1,200
girls decided heck yes they would so of
course I took my Instagram following and
dragged it over to my Shopify shop now
we are in the year 2024 and all of those
1,200 followers of customers that I had
and more still shop on my Shopify
website that being said even in 2024 I
myself am paying for Google ads or the
Shopify shops or different random apps
that help generate more income for me
now let's talk about the process of
opening up your own Etsy shop so when
you go over onto Etsy the very first
thing you're going to notice is that
they suggest only five list listings
personally to me you really only need
one listing to get started you open it
up you need to choose a name which by
the way you can change it later and then
you just need one listing it's 20 cents
to add that one listing to your Etsy
shop it's very non-committal one listing
for 20 cents is a lot better than $100 a
month now obviously you're not going to
get a sale right away in either platform
that you choose so however on Etsy they
have 95 million active buyers I when I
first started mine I technically only
had 1,200 there's a huge difference in
numbers right so when you put that one
listing on your Etsy Shop you have the
potential of being seen by 95 million
people with not even having to pay for
one social media ad marketing ad or even
knowing how to code now I would
definitely not just stop at one listing
I always suggest when you have that one
you keep adding listings to your Etsy
Shop yes it costs you 20 cents per
listing however you're going to have to
put a lot of listings in your shop to
reach that $90 a month mind you the 20
cents last you for three months so over
time as you fill up your Etsy shop I
definitely suggest eventually getting
your own website because there's truly
no point you're going to start growing
your shop you're going to start growing
your email marketing you're going to
start growing your social media what you
want to do is take those emails that you
have already captured and then drive
them over to your new leg of your table
where you are going to be able to have
more control over what you're selling
and how you sell it I do suggest that
you run your Etsy shop for a little
while you want to make sure that what
you're selling is a sellable item you
also want to make sure that your tags
titles your photograph everything is
like a well oil machine over on Etsy
before you decide to take the big Bera
job of creating your own website I do
have to say that I love owning my own
website but I just don't have 95 million
active buyers on my website and I've
been open since
2020 and let's go back to about email
marketing here and a little bit about
marketing the Super Bowl happened in
20124 did you know how much it cost for
one Super Bowl ad it was $7 million for
one Super Bowl commercial and I'm pretty
sure Etsy had three this past Super Bowl
do you have seven million time three to
Market your website I know I sure don't
so the fact is is that Etsy yes the fees
are a little bit higher over there but
they spent a lot of money to drive new
customers to their website so you can
sell more items on their website so yeah
the fees are a little bit higher over
there but you know we got a lot more
buyers over there than over on my
website where I don't have $7 million to
spend on one Super Bowl ad and I did
look up a little statistic and year
over-year Essie has increased their
buyers
55% so if you are asking me and you
don't know me from anything but honestly
if you were asking me what I would
suggest doing is start your Etsy shop
now build it and just get all of that
figured out how you're going to sell how
you're going to ship what does that look
like for you before you take the monster
task on of trying to code and figure out
how to build your own website once you
have social media following and you have
a really good email database then start
going over to your own website and
figuring out how to make that and how to
make that run so I need to know what
your original opinions were about the
two different websites and what you want
to do now make sure to leave your
opinions in the comments of this video
and hit that subscribe button and I'll
see you on the next
one
sh
