Etsy Seller Interview with Jamie of StorySeasonWebDesign

How StorySeasonWebDesign got started

Introduce your Etsy shop and tell us your story. How did you begin and decide on what to sell on Etsy, and how do you create your products?

Although the Etsy shop I currently have isn’t very old, I first dabbled with Etsy back in 2007. I signed up on a whim and didn’t do much with that shop, but it allowed me to start understanding the Etsy platform, meet other sellers, and experiment with having an online shop. In late 2009, I launched an Etsy shop that would later evolve into an online business that operated on and off the Etsy platform. Within a couple of years, that business became my full-time career for nearly 15 years. 

The Etsy shop I have now, StorySeasonWebDesign, is a passion project that I work on when inspiration strikes. I’ve always been drawn to the visual language of branding and websites. Learning how to creatively communicate both in words and visuals is a subject I’ll never tire of, so the decision to offer website and social media templates was a natural extension of what I was already studying and applying as a freelance designer.

While I create in a variety of mediums outside of the products I offer on Etsy, Showit and Canva are the programs with which I can get into a creative flow, so they are the tools I use to create the templates I sell.

Favorite items

What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?

My favourite items listed in my shop are my “Molly Grimm” series of templates.

And the matching social media templates.

This series is my favourite because I created the original design purely out of inspiration. I love a hauntingly elegant aesthetic—the kind that pulls you into a Victorian-era ghost story and doesn’t let go! I read a fair amount of supernatural fiction with this theme, and I was inspired to design something for authors who conjure up entire worlds full of suspense, elegance, and that unsettling yet familiar nostalgic feeling.

The social media templates in the Molly Grimm series are my best seller in terms of volume, and the dark theme is a close second in terms of revenue. They sell well because they cater to a very specific customer with a specific need. Not everyone looking for a website template or social media design pack is seeking this aesthetic or pages or posts specifically built for authors. When it comes to websites specifically, there are even fewer who are looking for that combination for the Showit platform - those who are looking for that combination will be overwhelmed with a sea of modern, trendy aesthetics for coaches and photographers. In contrast, I offer nostalgic, timeless aesthetics for authors, writers, bloggers, and other wordy-creatives. 

Getting sales on Etsy

How long did it take for you to earn your first sale and how do you currently attract customers to your Etsy shop?

I created my listing in my StorySeasonWebDesign shop on March 31, 2024. That was for the original Molly Grimm website design (the light version).  I listed the matching social media template on May 20, 2024. I had my first sale on June 25, 2024. So, it was almost 3 months from the first listing to the first sale. 

As this shop is a side project, the marketing efforts were minimal and mostly completed within a week (when I was in the flow). They consisted of taking the time to get the SEO zeroed in and listing set up to be found in as many ways as possible within the Etsy platform, so that people already on Etsy can find the listings if they are searching for my type of offering. Etsy ranks well in search engines, so this strategy also helps me capitalize on the marketing efforts that Etsy is making to bring people to the platform. After I did all I could do within Etsy, I scheduled pins to be posted on Pinterest. Once again, I focused on keywords and doing my best to offer up my designs to people who may already be looking for this solution in this aesthetic. I scheduled pins to post well into the future so I could “set and forget” any marketing for a while. 

Managing StorySeasonWebDesign

How do you manage your shop? Are you running solo or do you have any team members? What tools or services do you use to run your shop, and how do you handle fulfillment?

I have to be honest, my shop doesn’t get much attention from most weeks (that’s the beauty of setting things up well with SEO and offering a product that doesn’t require shipping and fulfilment). If I were to go “all in” again on Etsy (and an e-commerce business), I would ensure I was in the Etsy ecosystem every weekday and creating a new “breadcrumb trail” back to my shop several times a week. For now, I’m enjoying this being a passion project (so yes, it’s just me managing the shop), and dipping in to manage my shop and listings as needed. 

As far as tools go, I use Alura, Marmalead, and E-rank to determine how potential customers might describe my products using words and phrases that I wouldn’t have thought of. This helps increase the reach of my listings through SEO. 

I use Tailwind for Pinterest pin scheduling and the Chrome app “GoFullPage” to take full-page screenshots of my designs. 

The future of StorySeasonWebDesign

What goals do you have for your shop in the future?

I’d love to continue to add more templates and designs within the same historical meets haunting aesthetic, and see my portfolio of publicly offered designs grow. I would also love to hone my skills at being a visual storyteller by blending modern tech with aesthetics that communicate timeless tales effectively. It really is a puzzle I love piecing together as my professional background has afforded me expertise in evergreen marketing techniques, customer psychology, and conversion marketing. Applying that to the canvas of a blank website design, and the home base that an indie author or solopreneur can build their conversion and content marketing strategy around, is exciting for me! Between the tech, the strategy, the visuals, and the feeling it all evokes when done well, is the ROI I’m chasing! 

I realize that’s probably not the usual answer for where an Etsy shop owner would like to see their shop in the future, but right now I’m in a creative phase, and I’m not trying to force anything or grow exponentially. After a decade and a half of focusing on growth, goals, and revenue, it’s refreshing to have more abstract, subjective, and intuitive milestones in mind. 

Advice for new sellers

What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?

If they are brand new to Etsy, I would get familiar with the platform first. Think of Etsy like a tool and a marketplace. It’s not your business, but it’s a revenue stream. Treat it as such by learning how to display your products in their best light and have them be found within Etsy’s search with good SEO. 

Also, get familiar with who would want to buy your products. Once you know that, you’ll be able to figure out how they search for them, where they start their search (it might be on pinterest, Instagram, or some obscure social platform or directory), and from there, meet and mingle! By that I mean, be an active member of the community you’re serving. For me, it’s easy for me to follow, interact with, and get to know the community where my potential customers are hanging out because I’m reading their books, chatting in groups with them, and hanging out in the same places online. 

Knowing the marketplace platform (Etsy) and your customers is easier said than done, but both have allowed me to be mostly hands-off with this shop while still generating sales. For those who want to make a full-time go at Etsy, these areas of focus will be the same and will help inform new products (or tweaks to current offerings), keep you top of mind with the people you’re creating for, and will open up doors for greater visibility off of Etsy within the community you’re already having fun hanging out with. 

Some sellers really get inspired by hearing numbers. Feel free to share these if you like.

Question: What is your average profit margin?
Answer: 85%

Question: What is your shop’s conversion rate?
Answer: 1.9%