Sheen Watkins

Are you ready to start your Etsy shop or website? Creating your own shop or website is as easy as one, two, three or as complicated as a science project. For some of us, it’s easy to overthink steps, making it more difficult and not take action.

Or, we tackle each step quickly, push out our site before going back and refining.

There’s not a right or wrong way, as long as you make your site happen!

Today my website portfolio includes 2 Etsy shops (SheenWatkinsStudio, AzureandJadeArt) and 2 Wordpress sites (Sheen Watkins.art and my Aperture and Light blog). This is after using three popular website builders for my business and customers. I offer one question for consideration based on lessons learned.

That question is: Why?

Why Start Your Etsy Shop or Website?

What is your “why?” Many of us start a website to sell our work, our services or both. Build it, then customers find us and buy. Right. Or not. Maybe.

If we know the answer to our why, we’re ready to get started.

If not, take time to understand your objective. Brainstorm with others. Your ‘why’ makes a difference in choosing which option is right for you short and long term.

Selling your work: If your goal is to sell your art, create an Etsy shop. Period. In today’s world, unless we have thousands of followers across social, your art visibility resides in your close network versus the masses. People go to Etsy to shop, to buy, to find and save ideas and then buy.

Etsy’s customer’s in 2022 surpassed 93 million looking for products including art, not specifically artists by name. That’s right! Over 93 million!

Unlike the U2 song, their search engine makes it easy for customers who think about something to buy to actually find what they’re looking for. Many customers also find their Etsy items directly from Google search. Etsy is a powerful marketing machine too.

Selling your services: If your objective is to sell photography services such as consulting, workshops, wedding photography services, a strong website adds street credibility to you and your business. Additionally, if blogging, affiliate marketing is part of your plan, then a website is viable platform. Down the road, including galleries or linking to an Etsy shop are ways to sell your work in addition to your services.

Website builders such as Squarespace, SmugMug, Zenfolio, Wix offer quick setup templates to get started. Wordpress, while more time consuming up front, brings more control over all elements to your website including performance and speed.

Note: In 2020 my article on Selling on Etsy, Websites, It’s Easy I dive deeper into the features of these providers and Etsy.

How to Start Your Etsy Shop or Website

Objective? To get started, begin with the end in mind. What products and services are you offering today? Make a list. If it’s art and only art, that’s aok. If it’s a list of services that’s fine too. Where do you see you and your business a year from now.

Time availability? How much time are you dedicating to marketing, promotion, presentation, and other tactics to make your work visible? Is this a full time endeavor or part time? How will you deliver your products to your customers?

Technical Skills? Each method has a learning curve. My experience is that Etsy is the easiest followed by website builders. The Wordpress learning curve is a bit steep upfront, but with time brings huge flexibility in managing and changing our sites quickly and effectively.

The basics of how to get started in each of these is provided below:

Etsy out of all of the options is the easiest to start selling your work. Before setting up your shop, identify a printing partner to print and ship your work (find a partner that offers white label/no invoice shipping) and establish your customer pricing. Then, it’s 1) Selecting your shop name, 2) Following Etsy’s setup instructions for your account, shop, shop listings 3) Selecting your images for listing. Understanding Etsy’s overall policies IS critical to creating and maintaining a successful shop. In reality, a shop requires a 4 – 6 hours of startup time.

Website builders, while easy, require setup time. As in Etsy, the overall account needs to be established with your specific information. Next is a domain name. While many of the website builders offer their own, it usually includes their brand somewhere in the URL. I prefer a unique domain name that reflects the artist. Then it’s time for building menus, selecting from their list of printing fulfillment providers, determining pricing and further tailoring the template to you. Websites require setup time, usually 20 hours of work.

Wordpress sites. When working with Wordpress, there’s more upfront work depending on your site and complexity. A basic blog site requires a few hours while a full blown services, blog and portfolio site requires 20 – 40 hours minimum up front. Getting started requires a host provider, domain name, domain privacy, wordpress + template, plug-ins and set up/customization time.

My Services for Starting an Etsy Shop or Website

Interested in your own Website, Etsy shop or Wordpress site but just not sure how to get started?  Or, do you need a site but don’t have the time to do the detail work behind the scenes to get it up and running? 

I also offer Etsy and website consulting and/or startup services for those with limited time. They include:

What’s the best option and how to get started discussion:  She will set up a Zoom meeting to listen to where you are, your plans and what you want to accomplish.  From there, it’s an interactive session where you’ll leave with ideas, examples and next steps for you to get started with your approach.  This session requires about 60 – 90 minutes of time.  The cost for the consult is $100.  Options for invoicing include Paypal and Venmo.

Website/Etsy Creation: I offer turnkey support in creating a) your website using a turnkey provider (ex. includes printing and shipping services, multiple products, blogging, and custom pages) or wordpress b) an Etsy shop (includes all the pieces needed to sell your work).  I also train you on how to manage your site. Costs vary by complexity and time.

Note:  the annual cost for your website provider, domain names, hosting provider (if applicable) will be paid by you directly to your website provider based on the plan you choose.

If you’d like more information in selling your work, building a shop or website, please complete the form below. Or, email me at sheensnaturephotography@gmail.com.

Happy Shooting, Creating & Selling!