If you have an Etsy shop, you know better than everyone how long the process can take to go from product idea to a complete and finished listing. As someone who works on their digital download shop at night, I’m always looking for ways to shave time off the process so I can fully maximize my impact. In this post I’m going to share 5 ways I’ve sped up the process of creating new listings without compromising quality.

Create a single access template for digital downloads

Single access template? Let me explain.

If you sell digital downloads for templates you’ll need to provide a link for the buyer to access the template. Of course, you can go the easy route of just sharing a Word document or Google doc, but I look to this as a brand opportunity area.

I created a PDF file with my logo, brand colors, and a few lines of text explaining how to access the template and a CTA (call to action) button where I can link to my template. The important thing to note is that you want to inject your branding and logo but want to make sure the copy and CTA is generic enough to be used for every single template link on your site. I just use the words “Access Template” for my button.

Once you have that designed you can simply add a link to the template in Acrobat by drawing a box around the button you designed.

Reusable FAQ and Instructional Listing Imagery

If you’re selling digital downloads on Etsy, it can be difficult to use up all 10 image spaces Etsy provides. Now this isn’t to say that you have to use all the spots, since Etsy doesn’t penalize your SEO for not having 10 images. However, from a buyer conversion point of view, I think that it’s better to over-explain and over-show than vice versa.

To anticipate a buyers questions and add extra value for my digital download listings, I’ve created 3 FAQ images that I upload to nearly every digital download listing. Let’s walk through what they are:

1. FAQs: I answer common questions about how to use my templates, how to access them, and what the process is.

2. Item Specifications: This is where I make it clear that it’s a digital product (lots of people can get hung up on this!) and what platform editing can be done in.

3. Editing Example: The last one is simply highlighting how simple the editing interface is so I can quell any fears for those who aren’t tech savvy. To make sure this didn’t confuse with the actual listing, my example photo is just a colored shape with sample text inside that says “Edit text with ease”

Spend an afternoon organizing your files

This seems obvious but organized files save so much time. I dedicated an afternoon to organizing my files to make it even speedier for me to navigate to my mockup files, FYI images, and product folders. Here are some examples of how you can specifically save time here:

• I created a hub for all my mockups and labeled them with the mockup type and size at the front for easy selection

• For my Pinterest pin templates, I created a few copies and labeled them with the main brand color or style used (I do this so my Pinterest feed has variety). For example, I have “Blue - Pin Templates” and “Green - Pin Templates.” This saves me the time of opening the files and deciding if it will work for the article or product I want to feature.

• I created a folder to contain all the “FYI Images” I mentioned above.

• I added a copy of the PDF access template to my “Products” folder so every time I create a new product folder I can copy and drag that PDF in.

Learn how to use your software and tools

You might be thinking, “of course I know how to use the software or I wouldn’t be using it,” but take a moment to consider how to uplevel your skills with that program. This requires more time at the front end but will pay off a ton later. For example, I’ve been memorizing more keyboard shortcuts to save myself time and learning how to properly set up template files and relink images in a few clicks in Illustrator.

I like to think of this as becoming a “super user.” You’re the type of person who has the tool working for you and not the other way around. The other day I was able to completely change all the color and icons for an 80 page Instagram story templates in Canva in just FOUR clicks. Talk about a time saver.

Use the “copy” feature in Etsy listings

If you’re making a listing in a similar category to another, it can save a ton of time to use the “copy” feature in Etsy’s listing page. Something important to clarify about this method is the impact on SEO. I want to be clear that copying your listing has no impact on the item you’re copying or the new item.

I’ve seen Etsy write about recommending this feature in both seller guideline articles and emails. At the bottom of this article they mention that copying a listing creates a brand new listing for you to tweak and polish.

The important distinction to make is that when you’re copying an item, you intend to change the title, tags, description, and attributes. You can’t just copy a listing word for word otherwise you’re essentially competing with yourself. The time saving comes in from the instructional card images already being uploaded, categories selected, and other utility things like having “digital download” preselected.

To find this feature, go to your shop dashboard and choose “Listings.” From here all you need to do is click the gear (or settings) icon on the listing you want to copy and choose “Copy” from the dropdown. This will prompt a new page to open with the item copied. You’ll know if you did it right because the title of the listing will now have '“copy of” in it.