6 Reasons you need a Website for your Handmade Business

I could easily write about 1600+ words on all the important reasons for a business to have a website. Today, however, I’ve distilled down my thoughts to a quick list of my top 6 reasons!

If you wanna watch a video about this, it’s below!

6. You want to be taken seriously

A website is a great way to legitimize your business and prove that you are taking your business seriously. There is just something so official about having your very own website. It is definitely a step up in professionalism from just having an Etsy shop. By having your own website you are telling your customers that you are in this for the long haul and that you are committed to your business.

5. Website is your Home Base

You want to have a place to call home. This is where you will send traffic from press coverage or advertising. When you get featured on a blog, shopping guide, or a podcast, you’ll want to give your web address! If you get press coverage or run advertisements you certainly don’t want to send this valuable traffic straight to Etsy! Etsy shop visitors they are so much more likely to get distracted and wind up in someone else’s shop. We all know what a rabbit hole Etsy can be! With your own website you can tailor your content and even set up special landing pages for those new audiences in order to make a great first impression.

4. Branding & Control

Let’s face it, there are a lot of design aspects in your shop that you have no control over. Yeah sure you get a logo and a banner, but not much control beyond that. In order to have complete control of your online presence you have to own it. Having your own website will allow you to control the customer experience from home page to check out and every step in between. You can create a unique experience that fits your brand and servers your customers in the best way possible. Speaking of control, with your website you get to make the rules. You don’t have to worry about accidentally breaking Etsy’s ever-changing Terms of Service rules and risk having your listing deleted or your shop shut down.

3. Blog & Shop under 1 Roof

Writing articles or posts in a blog is a great way to get valuable traffic to your website from the search engines. This SEO (search engine optimization) strategy is known as content marketing. Google loves content! “Content is King” The benefit of having your own website is that your blog and your shop are under one roof, so when you attract visitors to your blog, they will discover your products for sale. It is a great way to leverage and capitalize on your blog traffic.

2. Fixed Expenses, Less Fees, More Profit

Etsy Fees. Need I say more? Etsy’s fees are structured in a way that the more sales you make the more fees you pay. The fees are based on your listings and sales, instead of fixed expenses. This is great when you’re first starting out and you have no budget – you only pay when you sell an item. However, your website is much better for profitability in the long run as you grow because you have less fees per sale. Instead you will pay a low monthly cost to keep the site running and you will have no listing or transaction fees. Check out my YouTube video comparing Etsy Fees vs Website Expenses to compare. That means as you grow you will keep more profits in your business. After all you did create this business to contribute to your family financially or create freedom in your life, right? I doubt you started your business to pay more fees!

1. Back Up Plan

How many stories have you heard about a an Etsy Shop being shut down for seemingly no reason? Or have you ever experienced a time that the entire Etsy platform was down? How about a time or two when Etsy’s credit card processing was not working? If your business relies on making sales online – you need to have multiple sales channels available. It’s a great way to be proactive and mitigate risk in your business. Remember, you don’t want to have all your eggs in 1 basket.

No website or network can guarantee 100% up-time so it’s imperative to have a backup option. When Etsy is down you can send traffic to your own website. If your website ever goes down you can send traffic to your Etsy shop.