Etsy Seller Interview with Tania of LeonaPrintables

How LeonaPrintables got started

Introduce your Etsy shop and tell us your story. How did you begin and decide on what to sell on Etsy, and how do you create your products?

My Etsy shop is called Leona Printables, named after my son, Leo, and my daughter, Dina. I create and sell unique, printable wall art for nurseries, kids’ bedrooms, and general home decor. I'm Tania, a mama of three and a high school teacher in Niagara Falls. I started on Etsy back in 2014, when I opened my first shop for personalized party invitations and more. Check it out at www.etsy.com/shop/stripesandchevron. Shortly after that, we found out that we were expecting our first child. I was beyond excited to decorate the baby's nursery. But as I searched in vain for the perfect nursery decor, I realized, hey, I can do this myself. All my kids are unique little people with big personalities. Our family loves music, travel, and holidays, which are the themes that always come up in my work. I use Adobe Illustrator to create unique designs inspired by my family and friends. I hope that customers can find something perfect in my shop for their little one's nursery. bedroom, or playroom, but if not, I do custom designs as well!

Favorite items

What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?

One of my favorite items is the floral world map I created. I’ve done a couple different versions of this piece, but this is the one currently in my daughter’s bedroom. I love the travel theme and the simple, feminine floral pattern.

The Big and Little Sibling signs are among the best-selling items in my shop.I created these for shared bedrooms or nurseries. These prints took off on Pinterest; I can see that most of my traffic for these listings came from there.

Getting sales on Etsy

How long did it take for you to earn your first sale and how do you currently attract customers to your Etsy shop?

I earned my first sale fairly quickly. In my experience, Etsy seems to promote new shops to get the ball rolling for new sellers. Maintaining that position in Etsy search and keeping traffic flowing to your shop after that initial boost is the challenge. A lot of my traffic comes from Pinterest. It has been important to have high-quality "pinning" photos of my artwork in nurseries or bedrooms to give customers an idea of what the wall art would look like in their space.

Managing LeonaPrintables

How do you manage your shop? Are you running solo or do you have any team members? What tools or services do you use to run your shop and how do you handle fulfillment?

I manage my shop on my own. I used to use the Pinterest app Tailwind to create and schedule content for Pinterest, but the service has become pricey. I have an Instagram account where I feature beautiful nursery and bedroom decor in addition to my own content. I haven’t explored using other social media like TikTok because creating fresh content and engagement on multiple platforms can be time-consuming, but it may be something I explore in the future. I try to use Etsy keyword searches like eRank to help with SEO. My listings are all instant downloads, which is great because it means I don’t have to worry about shipping and fulfillment. I create my prints, and then customers get access to them immediately after purchase.

The future of LeonaPrintables

What goals do you have for your shop in the future?

I’ve hit a point where I need to change things up to bring new traffic to my shop. I work full-time and I’m a mother of three, so running my Etsy shop sometimes gets put on the back burner. I have summers off, so that’s usually when I take some time to dig into my stats, review what’s been working and what hasn’t, create new listings, and create content for social media.

Advice for new sellers

What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?

There are a lot of paid apps, services, and courses that new sellers will jump into paying for, hoping it will give them the boost in sales that they need. My advice is to prepare and do your research. Look at shops in your niche that are succeeding. Make notes on which apps or services they use, which keywords they use, what their photos and listing descriptions look like, and what strategies seem to have been successful for them. Take time to do keyword searches and find popular searches or unique long-tail keywords that will bring customers to your special product.