Today I’m reviewing the Etsy affiliate programme, which I recently joined this month. The payout is 5% which is decent, and it beats Amazon.com as they decreased their USA payouts this year causing quite a stir amongst bloggers.
What Blogs work Well with Etsy?
Getting the right kind of blog will ensure your success as an Etsy affiliate. Sites that work well are sites on jewellery, alternative fashion and interior design, because you can pick out and recommend very unique and specific items. If you have a blog in any of these areas you should definitely sign up as an Etsy affiliate.
When I first became an Etsy affiliate, I was working on a travel blog and didn’t really make the effort to find good Etsy products or make the effort to promote them. However, when I applied again with my new steampunk blog and got accepted. Now I have found some AMAZING items to market, such as these gorgeous steampunk jewellery items….
Are you Eligible?
If you want to know if you will be accepted on the Etsy affiliate programme you can check the eligibility criteria here. You need a website with your domain hosted with paid hosting which is ideally a .co.uk or .com domain with a decent amount of relevant content on it. Each URL will need to be approved separately by the Etsy team. Free hosted blogs such as xxxxxxxx.blogspot.com or xxxxxxxxxx.wordpress.com won’t be accepted.
Benefits of Etsy Affiliates
- 5% commission structure
- Can promote unique and hand made items so works well on quirky niche blogs
- Decent conversion rates
- Banners and links provided
- Sign up through AWIN and get the chance to join other affiliate programs
Drawbacks for Etsy Affiliates
- Not so easy to use
- Because products are hand made and unique they sometimes sell out and then you need to update your links!
- Not available in all countries – you need to sign up to the programme in the country where you are based. I am in the UK one. Etsy supports affiliates in English, French and German but no other languages.
How to Become an Etsy Affiliate
If you have a good niche blog and will benefit from being an Etsy Affiliate you can sign up through AWIN. AWIN is an excellent affiliate marketing platform that allows you to sign up to Etsy’s affiliate marketing program along with may others such as Viator, Udemy and Hotels.com. And so once you are signed up with AWIN to become an Etsy affiliate, you can then apply to join many other affiliate programs through the same platform.
When you have signed up with AWIN you will then need to select advertisers, type in Etsy into the search bar and click ‘join advertiser’. You can also send an email direct to the Etsy team so that they can make sure that the program co-ordinator is expecting you.
Once you are ready to start your affiliate marketing, you can use the ‘Link Builder Tool’ to build affiliate links to use on your site. You can also ‘My Creative’ to copy HTML code that will embed banners in your site.
Remember that as an Etsy Affiliate you CANNOT do pay per click ads (Google Ads or alternatives) with Etsy in the title. You will lose your partnership with Etsy doing this. Also, remember to declare when you are earning affiliate income or commission on your blogs and social media profiles for transparency and to abide by the advertising laws.
Ideas on Promoting Etsy on your Website
As an Etsy affiliate, there are two main ways you will be promoting. Firstly you can add banner code to your site to encourage people to click through to Etsy in general – I use these in the sidebar.
The second way and the way that earns the most commission for me is to write blogs that recommend particular products. Here are some ideas that work well…
- Top 10 Handmade Christmas Gifts
- Beautiful hand made gothic Jewellery
- 5 Amazing Valentines heart necklaces
Your blogs can be product review blogs based on your 5 or 10 favourite X items and then introduce each product and say what you like about them. You can comment on material, design and quality. Mainly uniqueness will be a key selling point as people like to have something that not everyone else has got!
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