Why It's Important to Have Your Own Website

I've been selling on Etsy for over 4 years and have been very happy with the traffic and sales I receive on their site. People are always asking me if I have my own website and until recently, I never gave it much thought. I did sign up for my domain name - TheresaRoseDesigns a few years ago, just in case. I tried to create my own website but was overwhelmed with the task, so it went years wasted.

I have finally gotten my act together and launched my website and it only took me 1 week from start to finish! I'm so glad I finally completed this task and wonder why I didn't tackle this sooner. The reasons are so numerous why it's so important and I spell out the main ones here. Hopefully, this will get you motivated to do the same.

Here are the main reasons to have your own site, even if you are selling successfully on Etsy:

1. You own your brand name. TheresaRoseDesigns is my name, forever. As long as I pay my $10 or so every year, no one can take that name.
2. Your entire online presence can be accessed from one location. From my main site, you can link to:
• Etsy Shop
• Blog
• Facebook Fan Page
• Twitter
• Pinterest  
3. Increase your web exposure.  The more places you have your name, the more you will be found.
4. Complete control over content. While I love the way Etsy looks, I do not control the picture sizes, color, or logo. I want the first look a customer has of Theresa Rose Designs to be the image that I want to project.
5. SEO, SEO, SEO! I can drive customers to my site via SEO (which I'm still learning). I can't really do that on Etsy. 
6. Credibility. Having my own site shows that I'm serious about my business. If I'm invested in my business, then that builds trust with potential customers. It shows professionalism and legitimacy.
7. What is the future of Etsy? I'm pretty sure that Etsy will be around for a long time, but if anything happens, I'm positioned to link to a new store. If Etsy disappears and that's my only on-line presence, I disappear.

Your website doesn't have to be a massive undertaking. I have a couple of pages. I use it mostly to link to my other sites at this time. Once I realized that this was the way to start, the task didn't seem so daunting and I was able to get to work on it. In a later blog post, I'll explain how I was able to design and complete my website in only one week - for free (that was the best part).

Theresa Rose Designs