Exploring AI Generated Art on Etsy

Right at the beginning comes the first funny fact: I did not plan to open an Etsy store, actually I didn’t even know Etsy when I started. It all unfolded somehow mysteriously – something I am observing frequently in my life – you can also call it: follow the white rabbit.

At the beginning of 2022 I started on a new project, which was very close to my heart. I wanted to provide a platform that shares experience and knowledge of the changing times we are in right now. This was the beginning of the Metawende Institut in Freiburg Germany. After the website was finished, I wasn’t satisfied with the hero images on top of each page. What I was looking for was a feeling of motivational, also visionary, as well as calming. All the images should also have similarities in style. Finally, I settled with a few original Japanese Zen images, but after a few days I realized that I was still not satisfied.

A week had passed, and I was reading an article on Artificial Intelligence, in particular how a prompt could generate an image. I was fascinated by this idea, and played around with some online tools. The first few images I tried on various platforms looked awful, but after I found the MidJourney platform, everything changed. A few days of experimenting passed by. I don’t recall what prompt I used, but I suddenly an extraordinary and wonderful image appeared. As an artist you know exactly when you hit the spot - it’s a feeling in your body that tells you. Only seconds later, it hit me – why not use this tool to generate my website hero images. After a week, I had all my images, and they looked stunning on my website.

At one point, my partner glanced over these images and was as fascinated as I was, and suggested making these images available to others. It took not long to understand that Etsy was the marketplace I was looking for to sell my artwork.

Getting Insights from Customer Demographics

The US market is the largest and most active on the platform, with a significant difference in terms of customer demographics, competition, and trends. According to data from Etsy, the US market is the largest on the platform, with over 60 million active buyers and 2.7 million active sellers. In contrast, the German market is way smaller, with around 0.5 million active buyers and around 20,000 active sellers.

The US market is more diverse and has a wider range of age groups and income levels compared to the German market, which skews towards a younger and more affluent demographic. The US market is also significantly more competitive than the German market, with a higher number of active sellers and a wider range of products available.

In terms of trends, the US market is more diverse and changes more frequently, reflecting the country's diverse population and cultural influences. In contrast, the German market is more consistent, with a focus on traditional crafts and handmade goods.

After finding out this important data, I knew why after 2 weeks not one sale occurred. I looked into the Etsy Help section and understood how Etsy handle different countries. I learned that my listings, including title and tags are translated to the language where the customer is located.

These translations are looking good, however frequently some words and phrases ended up different from expected. This is significant when it comes to SEO. Your main keyword phrase should be at the beginning of your title. Etsy knows about this, and gives you the option to add another languages to your setup. Once you have added a second language, you are now able to create your own translation text. I have done this for the title and the tags. The translation of the description works for me, and is a much less significant factor as the title and the tags. Learning Markets, Tags, Titles, and SEO

I started my first listings not using all 13 possible tags. Besides that, for most tags I used a single keyword like: print, poster, downloadable and so on. For my listing title I used a description of the image and added some single keywords. Not very efficient, and also not very successful, as I found out after learning how it's really done.

Going through all of my 30 listings took me a lot of time, but it should pay out. Foremost, I learned to use all 13 tags, and also using long tail keywords with at least two words—better three words to target the right market. This is actually where I hit a major roadblock. Where would I get the proper keywords?

There are a few third-party services that have gathered data on Etsy’s keyword statistics. This is possible, because Etsy offers an API (Application Programming Interface) for everybody which allows access to listings and user database. Most of the third-party companies I tried offer a decent amount of data, however some of them are very restricted and also pricey when you just start your business.

I did some more research about keyword data on Google and I discovered ProductFlint. This is currently a free service, and I was excited to get exact keyword statistics I needed. You simply check for a keyword phrase, and you get all sorts of data – the most valuable piece of data is the recommendation score. This shows you in percentage if your keyword will work. The higher the percentage, the more likely you have success. I love this feature!

WordPress Automation to the Rescue

Now, with all these new facts I gathered, I needed to update the 72 listings I meanwhile created. I get easily bored by repeating tasks, and on the other hand I am also good at automating things. This brings me to share some of my experience of creating my own WordPress plugin.

What I wanted, was a way to retrieve my listing data every day, check the stats, see what works and what not. I also wanted to automate the task of updating title, description, and tags. Diving deep into the Etsy API, I was able to understand how this is done. A week later, this tool was accomplished, and it’s a real-time saver for me. I am currently working on it to include artificial intelligence using OpenAI, as well as exploring a tool to find good keywords, that are related to my unique shop.

Back to Creating new AI Print Art

The whole technical part kept me busy for at least 6 weeks. It’s now time to get back into the art flow, and continue to create some fine art. I now create all my unique images with MidJourney. It’s an AI program capable of creating an image with a single text prompt. It sounds a bit like magic, and it actually is. However, getting something that is really outstanding, and is up to my quality preference takes also time and practice. Not to mention the task to get it listed on Etsy, which requires patience.

Please have a look at my artwork at the Metawende Etsy shop, located here.

You can also purchase my Cherry Blossom Poster and Wheel of Time Print.