As of the end of 2014, there were a reported 54 million users registered on the shopping site Etsy. Providing a unique shopping experience that highlights the individual skills and expertise of small-scale businesses and sellers, Etsy offers the rare opportunity to sample from among the best local producers of goods the world over. With more than 29 million items listed and 19.8 active buyers, Etsy is only growing in popularity. Running a successful Etsy business requires a commitment of time, as well as some trial and error. Etsy has a range of features that when properly utilized provide the shop owner with a lot of opportunity to bring in new customers. The challenge is that most shop owners are underutilizing these services.

So, you have the daintiest collection of handmade bracelets on your Etsy storefront that should be selling like hot cakes. Only, they aren’t. You are left wondering what you did wrong.

Well, the answer may lie in your etsy shop announcement. A lot of Etsy users are mistaken into believing that the announcement section is only to post news like ‘Huge Sale’ or ‘Fresh Collection’.

You couldn’t be more wrong.

When used correctly, the shop announcement is one of the best places to promote your store and increase navigation. It can help you reduce bounce rate and make the customer stay longer on your store. The longer a customer stays, the more likely he is to shop.

Also, Etsy says that the first 160 characters of your shop announcement are the Meta description of the store that will be shown whenever the store pops up in a search result. You certainly don’t want it to say that you are having a sale.

If the announcement lacks brevity, then here are a few Etsy shop announcement ideas to help you revamp it within minutes and increase conversion rates.

Below we hope to rectify this by showing you Etsy announcement shop ideas you can use to help your Etsy shop stand out.

We will also take a brief moment to cover the basics of Etsy shop announcements. Let’s begin!

What Are Etsy Shop Announcements?

The Etsy shop announcement is the best place to increase navigation through your shop. Like the name might suggest, the announcement tab can be the perfect place to add information for your site. While Etsy recommends you keep your announcement page short and sweet, you can none-the-less fill it out to provide links and information that your customers can use. You can access the Announcement section by clicking on ‘your shop’ and going to ‘edit shop.’ Note that announcements can only be added when your site goes live.

1. Focus On SEO

SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of tweaking your site so that it comes up as the #1 search when people do searches. It can either be optimized for search engines like Google or for searches done within Etsy. The best ways to improve your SEO is to type in the name of your shop and see what ends up coming up. If your site is not #1 already, then look at the sites that beat you out and see how it organizes its information. If they are an Etsy shop, then look at their announcement page and consider copying some of their style.

2. Understand Meta-Descriptions

Did you know that your announcement section is where Etsy takes your meta-description for your site? When someone uses a search engine to find something and your name comes up, the meta-description is the line of text that is below your title. It is typically around 160 characters in length and will be the first thing in your announcement section. Make sure you put special emphasis on the first few sentences in your announcement and leave links and highly specific information further down.

3. Linking

Want to make the most out of your Announcement section? Consider adding links! With Etsy, you have few places where you can add links to things like special items, categories within your shop, or even things like Facebook or Pinterest sites. When you add links, you will want them to be short and sweet. Consider using a website to generate truncated links that can easily fit into your Announcements section. Query Url is a popular tool for reducing the length of your links. Links can either tie in your other social media profiles or link directly to categories within your own shop.

4. Utilize it

We have seen hundreds of Etsy storefronts that have an empty shop announcement space. Start off by filling it up with a clear and concise description of your store. If you are using keyword research, then this is also the right time to keyword optimize your meta description. This can be edited in the ‘Info & Appearance’ section that is available under the ‘My Shop’ link. Once you have made the changes, Etsy allows you to preview how it will look. Once you are satisfied with it, click on the save button.

5. Add links to it

One of the best Etsy shop announcement ideas that leverages the potential of the space is to add pretty links to it. You can search for the most common search queries that link to your etsy store and use any pretty links software or service to create the links. Adding this to the announcement section gives users easy access to the most popular items on your Etsy storefront.

6. Let it be about the store

After you are done optimizing the 160 characters for search engines, make it readable and interesting for the readers. Let it be about the store, the mission and vision statements, the focus of the company and a brief history. Don’t rant an entire page about how you ended up on Etsy and how you barely made it through college. The readers are more interested to know about your store than you.

7. Use a banner

This section is also one of the best places to use a professionally designed banner. Not something that you made on Paint. If you are bootstrapping, then you can use free online design tools like Canva to create a reasonably good banner. Other than this, you may also want to add links to your social profiles and add a sign-up form in this section.

One of the best ways to know how to utilize Etsy shop announcement ideas is to visit your competitor’s stores. If they are doing something right, then it is in your best interests to emulate it to see if you can replicate the results too.

An Example

Looking For Inspiration? You are in luck! Consider the Etsy shop Metalicious for a prime example of how you can maximize the use of your Announcements section. Metalicious is straight to the point with their arrangement of information, leaving no space wasted. First, they begin with a basic welcome and site introduction, maximizing the fact that the first sentence or so will show up as the meta-description. After the introductory paragraph, there is a little bit about the process as well as what the owner is striving to create. This is followed by links to different categories with truncated URL’s. All of this is followed by a link to the site itself.

Putting It All Together

Simply put, an Etsy shop is only as good as the creativity of the owner and the items being sold within. Once you establish a line of things you want to sell, the next step is in improving how you present your information. At this point focusing on your Announcements section can do your shop a lot of good.

Treat your Announcements section as the ultimate short advertisement for your shop. Instead of following the recommendations of Etsy, maximize the functionality of your Announcements section through SEO optimization, link usage, and a focus on meta descriptions. Along with the example we provided, search for highly successful sites and take a look at how they approach organizing their shop. Chances are you will learn even more through the examples they provide.