HOW TO SCALE YOUR ETSY PRINT ON DEMAND SHOP (FASTER) IN 2024

In my last post, we talked about the importance of niches and the Top 5 niches that I recommend for 2024.

Now let's talk about how to strategically grow your shop by choosing a niche type (professions, hobbies, passions, etc.) and scaling it.

1. Choose a niche type

Let’s say I was going to create a shop based around different life milestones. I know that bachelorettes are really popular and are great for group themes, so let's say I start there for my sub-niche.

2. Research

Then I would look at search volume in eRank for popular bachelorette searches - for example, "disco bachelorette" and "camp bachelorette" get good searches. And then I might also look at Google to see what kind of bachelorette themes are popular on wedding sites for the upcoming 2024 wedding season. Once I have my list I would take a peak at Etsy to see what kind of styles are trending and in demand so that I can potentially incorporate some different design elements.

3. Batch designs within a single micro-niche

Then I would work on batching 15-20 designs in that sub-niche (bachelorettes), with at least 4-5 designs for EACH of the different micro-niche themes (camp bachelorette, disco bachelorette, etc) that I researched so that I have more than one listing going up and so that my designing, SEO, and listings can be super efficient, and then move on to the next micro-niche from there. If you haven’t seen my series on time-blocking, make sure you check it out so that you can see a slower over the should view of how I batch like this to list and scale with multiple designs in a single sub-niche. I would make sure I’m incorporating personalization, whether it’s a name or a specific destination, and I would create separate listings that are intended for both individuals as well as groups whenever possible. 

4. Scale to another "branch" of a similar niche type

Once you've got those listed, and then move onto another branch of life milestones - perhaps anniversaries. Anniversaries are fun because you can then create scalable designs for every single initial year (1 year anniversary, 2 year anniversary, etc.) and also bigger milestones like 10 years or 20 years. You can also leverage different themes - perhaps for couples that like the outdoors, or travel, or gaming. Remember how camping bachelorettes were popular? Carry that theme into anniversaries!

By cross-niching your designs - for example a 5 year anniversary his/her shirts that have a camping theme - you can now leverage keywords in your SEO strategy that include not only your core niche (like 5 year anniversary), but also different themes (like camping). This means you can reach even MORE customers with similar interests.

If I were creating a shop like this I would continue in this manner of researching sub-niches, batching a variety of designs and listings, and then moving into the next related sub-niche.

6. Create cohesion and easy scalability

Whenever possible I would utilize similar themes and design elements like fonts or color palettes so that I can create some cohesion within the shop overall. I would focus on no more than 1 or 2 product types at a time so that I can batch my listings faster and validate my niches and designs with data. 

7. Build volume, then assess and adapt

As I start getting some volume I would begin looking at the listing data. If you’ve watched my videos you know that I am a big believer in volume - but not just volume for the sake of volume, but volume because of math and data - you need to have a strategy to go along with your volume. When you batch listings with multiple going up at the same time in niches, you’re basically infiltrating these niches with new listings all at once, and the law of probability means that you’re going to start getting data on which listings start getting more traction than others. This then helps guide you as you create more listings. If you see certain niches and design styles doing well, you can scale with more like them. And if you see listings not getting any traction at all over time, you’ll know that you need to go in a different direction. If you’re only creating 1 or 2 listings before moving on to the next niche, it’s going to be so much harder to actually get any data to understand if it’s going to perform well for you or not, and before you know it you have 100 different listings in 100 different niches with no real sense of direction. 

8. Only scale to new products when it makes sense to

As designs start selling - you can also start scaling your products. If you have something selling on a sweatshirts, make a tshirt option, or vice versa. Think about complementary products that make sense for your customers. 

For example, I mentioned an example earlier of his and her 5 year anniversary couples shirts with a camping theme. And let’s say we customized it with the couples’ honeymoon destination and that listing started selling really well. My next thought would be to do a his/her mugs listing with the same design but as a new listing. I can then leverage similar keywords in the title and tags from the first listing. I would then also backlink the listings in the listing descriptions of both so that customers looking at it will see that there’s a matching version. 

Over time with this strategy you can have an expansive shop serving a variety of customers across a variety of sub-niches that are different yet cohesive as it relates to different customer identities. And this layer of cohesion in similarity will also help Etsy over time understand your shop and help get your listings in front of the right buyers.

Join the Community

Speaking of 2024 strategies, if you’re looking for a little extra encouragement and support going into the new year and want to be surrounded by fellow print on demand entrepreneurs on the same journey, I would love to have you be a part of our growing membership community in the SimplyThrive Club. In addition to resources, templates, community chats, monthly challenges, and more - starting in 2024 each month there will be an additional new live group masterclasses on the important topics related to growing a successful Etsy print on demand shop. I have a whole year of topics planned out, from Niches and SEO to Etsy Ads and External Traffic strategies and scaling efficiently.

Cheering you on and wishing you a prosperous 2024 in the world of Etsy print on demand!