Need to get your website ducks in a row?
Play Website Policy Mad Libs and quickly get policies on your website
Get your Mad Libs terms of service and privacy policy templates today so that you can have them up on your website tomorrow.
Best of all these templates were updated in May 2018 so they cover all the GDPR required language!
Your privacy is important to us. Learn how we protect it here.
I’d love a copy of the secret press release for Handmade at Amazon. It has to be out there because too many outlets are calling Handmade at Amazon the “Etsy killer” for it to be a coincidence. While it may be the death of Etsy, it also could be great them. Etsy gave handmade business owners a platform to increase their reach. Etsy was founded in 2005. And since then, both the platform and the handmade business community have changed.
And for the most part, this has been a symbolic relationship. Yes, Etsy always has had to answer to its investors.
But Etsy’s goals were mostly in alignment with the needs of the handmade community.
It’s no secret that Etsy has struggled since it went IPO in early 2015. And Etsy is going to have to figure out a way to stabilize their stock prices before they drop even more. And this is going to require changes.
The downside of building an “Etsy business”
Some of these changes are already evident.
I know shop owners whose sales are half of what they used to be. And they claim this is because of the way Etsy altered the search algorithm.
And some of the changes Etsy might make to their business may conflict with the values of your business. So, if you build an “Etsy business” you have to ride all the whims and changes that Etsy puts forth. And if Etsy fails, so does your business.
Etsy and Handmade at Amazon can be great tools for your business.
Etsy and Handmade at Amazon can be great tools for your business. But they shouldn’t be the sole platform that your business uses. When you look around you can see lots of examples of business owners who put too many eggs in one basket.
- Many blogs capitalized on the old Google search algorithm. And created content stuffed with keywords. So when Google changed how they ranked content these blogs suffered.
- Facebook pages for a long time were free advertising. So, when the Pages algorithm changed, businesses built on free Facebook traffic suffered.
Building your own platform for your business
This is why it’s paramount that you have your own platform. Even if all you do is redirect your URL to another platform.
When you decide to build your own platform, you’ll need to include specific things. These things will not only help you follow the laws but will build trust with your customers.
You’ll need to invest in making sure your website includes:
- SSL security
- privacy policy
- terms of service
- product descriptions that explain exactly what you are buying
- disclaimers
When deciding to place an order, you might not realize that you are looking for these things. But you are when you judge a website as trustworthy or untrustworthy.
We are judging websites based on our previous experiences. And consciously and unconsciously evaluating a website against our positive or negative experiences.
And we order from sites that evoke positive memories and seem trustworthy.
You’ll need these tools as you work to gain independence from Etsy (or other platforms).
You might be dreading creating your legal website policies (AKA terms of services and privacy policies). Because you assume that they have to be long documents stuffed with legalese.
But the good news is they don’t!
In fact, you can play Mad Libs to create these legal policies. And creating them helps establish trust and transparency with your customers.
Need to get your website ducks in a row?
Play Website Policy Mad Libs and quickly get policies on your website
Get your Mad Libs terms of service and privacy policy templates today so that you can have them up on your website tomorrow.
Best of all these templates were updated in May 2018 so they cover all the GDPR required language!
Your privacy is important to us. Learn how we protect it here.