How a Vintage Bathroom Sign Became The Path to Conversion + 3 Etsy Tips

Who would have thought that a Vintage Bathroom Sign would make a difference in my passive stream of income?

What? Seriously?!

This sign that I recently created is a replica of a vintage bathroom sign and it is a digital download.

That means that you can purchase it for $5 and what you get is a zip file that contains various formats which you can then print (up to any size from a regular home printer to the size of a billboard…if you upload the file to a commercial printer such as Staples, OfficeMax, or the UPS Store).

The file is a premium digital file [obviously folks] “premium” means that it will print crystal clear and not pixelated.

Once you purchase the file, you can print it as many times as you want and/or give it as a gift. (Well, up to 500 times for a personal license, or you have the option to buy a commercial license for $25 which enables you to use the file to sell your own products.)

You can also use it as a cut file if you own a Cricut, Cameo Silhouette, Brother Scan and Cut, or any other vinyl cutting machine.

So here’s what I learned about this minor “pivot” in my business:

Starting an Etsy Shop is no joke! However, if you’re a blogger, you can appreciate the amount of work it takes to produce a $5 affiliate referral fee on a ConvertKit subscription for example, versus creating a piece of artwork and adding it to your Etsy Store as a digital download.

It’s almost unbelievable.

In fact, I didn’t actually believe it until I did it.

Affiliate income does not come quickly, no matter how many people lie to you to trick you into buying their digital products that promise the world, working for hours upon hours to earn $5 in commission is just not worth the effort.

Affiliate marketing only works well if you have a large audience. Let me repeat that because it’s super important:

Affiliate marketing ONLY WORKS well if you already have a LARGE audience.

If you don’t believe that, then you might as well click off this blog post right now because I refuse to lie for profit. I believe in full transparency.

I’ve been blogging since 2008. That’s a long time. In the beginning, I wasn’t making any money with my blog except for the services that I provided. I did not consider that passive blog income because I was performing a service for a set fee.

I blogged and worked full time for a digital agency until 2018, and then I decided that it was time for me to focus on my own business instead of creating websites and digital marketing plans for large corporations.

I was stuck in the corporate grind, and it just wasn’t working for my family.

Was it risky? Sure it was, but the good news is that it paid off tenfold and I remain encouraged about sharing the journey to help others who are in the same situation.

The 2019 Pivot: An Online Boutique

Back in November, I decided to make a pivot with my blog and as it turns out, the timing could not have been worse.

I opened an online Fashion Boutique, stocked it with adorable, affordable blouses and hand-selected clothing, bags, and shoes.

I was sick and tired of paying upwards of $100 for a cute blouse from Nordstrom, and I thought, why the hell can’t people have a high-quality option for $25 bucks instead?

Obviously I didn’t know that the novel Coronavirus was about to take over the world and all shipments from China would very soon be null and void.

Needless to say, I did gain a fair amount of understanding by setting up a Shopify store, but in mid-March, I decided to close the boutique because it was just costing me time and money.

The 2020 Pivot: Etsy Store

Just like any other type of online business, Etsy is a science and it takes some time to really understand what needs to happen in order to make it profitable.

But what I’ve noticed is that an Etsy store is a great option for a passive income stream if you are an artisan.

It doesn’t matter if you create physical products or digital products, the platform allows you to sell anything you make quickly and with a minimal upfront commitment. It costs just 20 cents to publish a product.

In full transparency, I do have a slight advantage because of my background in digital marketing and I also teach a course on how to use Pinterest to grow your online business.

But the reality is, it doesn’t really matter whether your passion is to grow your blog, grow your Etsy Store, or grow an online Fashion Boutique, the principles are all the same in using Pinterest to amplify both views and traffic to your website…on whatever platform that is.

Whether you use WordPress for your Blog, Etsy or Shopify for your online shop, or another tool such as Thinkific for your online course, you’ll want to make sure you check out my course because it’s the absolute best way to gain more eyeballs on whatever product or service you have to offer.

In the meantime, here are 3 tips to get more views on Etsy.

3 Tips for More Views on your Etsy Shop

Tip 1: Photos

This may seem obvious, but a picture is worth a thousand words, so if you don’t have great photos, no one will click on your item. Make sure you post beautiful, clear photos of whatever item you are selling on Etsy.

If it’s not clear what you’re selling, people just won’t click!

Also, remember…your item will appear right next to your competitor’s item, so do your research by looking at what your competition is selling…and be sure that your photo looks better!

Tip 2: Sale

Etsy has an “on sale” filter and it’s a great way to get your item to show up in more searches. Create a coupon and choose the option where there is a minimum order amount to qualify for the sale.

For example, if the items I sell in my shop range between $3.00 and $10.00, I might choose to say that in order to get the sale price, the order total must exceed $5.

Tip 3: Analytics

This absolutely cannot be overlooked, and for so many online businesses it is.

Looking at data and analytics is not easy, and that’s why most people ignore it. But the reality is, in order to know where to go in the future with your online business, you have to be specific about evaluating where you are today.

As an example, take a look at each item in your shop and compare the number of visits to the number of purchases (conversions). That will tell you how the item is performing overall, and then you can determine what to make more of.

Here’s a quick look at my Vintage Bathroom Sign over the past 2 days. A 12% conversion rate is not too bad for not even trying!

Since I know this is picking up some traction, I’m armed with ability to make a decision as to how I’m going to move forward with other similar signs.

If you would have asked me 6 months ago whether I’d be spending my time designing signs for people to hang in their bathroom I would have thought it was a crazy idea.

Just like Dr. Birx and Fauci…lets all let the data inform our decision making!

Want to gain access to some FREE SVG files (ie: the digital downloads of signs that you can print or cut yourself?)

If you haven’t already, I encourage you to join my FREE Resource Library today! You’ll get a close up view of some of my free video tutorials for growing an online business, PLUS access to free SVG files.

See you on the inside!