Solved: Need Expert to Create Facebook/Instagram Ads for Website

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. It sounds like you've done something pretty incredible with your Etsy store, hitting £300k in just over a year is seriously impressive and shows you've definately got a product people want. I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on why it's not translating to your own website and what you can do about it.

Honestly, the problem you're facing is incredibly common. It’s a classic case of what works on a marketplace not working on a standalone site, and it’s almost never just about needing 'better ads'. The real issue is a bit deeper, but the good news is it's fixable. You've already done the hardest part which is creating a product that sells like hotcakes. Now you just need to build the machine around it.

We'll need to look at the real problem first: Etsy isn't your website

Before we even touch Facebook ads, we need to be brutally honest about the situation. The reason you're crushing it on Etsy is because Etsy does all the heavy lifting for you. It provides two things you don't currently have on your own website: trust and traffic.

People go to Etsy *to shop*. They already have their credit card in hand, they trust the platform's payment system, they trust the review system, and they are actively searching for unique, handmade items just like yours. They land on your page with a high intent to buy. Your website, on the other hand, starts with zero trust and zero traffic. A random person landing on your site from a Facebook ad is thinking "Who is this? Is this legit? Can I trust them with my money? Will the product actually show up?".

Pouring money into ads to send traffic to a website that isn't built to convert is like trying to fill a bucket with holes in it. You can pour as much water (money) in as you like, but it's all just going to leak out the bottom. Your first job, before spending a single penny more on advertising, is to plug those holes.

Your website needs to become a destination, not just a catalogue. It needs to scream professionalism and trustworthiness from the moment someone lands on it. Without that foundation, even the best ads in the world will fail. I've seen it time and time again. A client comes to us wondering why their 10/10 ads aren't working, and a 5-minute look at their website tells the whole story. The ads are doing their job – getting people to the site – but the site is failing to do its job – turning those visitors into customers.

I'd say you need to fix your shop before you fix your ads

So, how do we plug the holes? We need to look at your website from the perspective of a skeptical first-time visitor. I can't see your site directly, but 9 times out of 10, the issues are the same for businesses moving from Etsy to their own store.

-> First Impressions Matter: Is the homepage clean and professional, or is it cluttered and slow to load? A slow website is a conversion killer. People are impatient. The page should immediately communicate what you sell and why it's special. A big, bold headline like "Handcrafted Music Memorabilia for True Fans" and a stunning hero image of your best product goes a long way.

-> Photography is Everything: The photos that work on Etsy might not be good enough for your own site. On Etsy, they're in a grid next to competitors. On your site, they have to do all the selling. You need high-resolution, professional-looking photos. Show the products from multiple angles. Even better, show them in context – a piece of memorabilia hanging on a cool, well-decorated wall, or a video of you showing off the detail and craftsmanship. Lifestyle shots are what sell the dream, not just the product.

-> Where are the Words?: A massive mistake I see is a lack of product descriptions. Don't just list the dimensions. Tell a story. What inspired the piece? What materials did you use? What does it feel like to hold it? This is where you build an emotional connection. Music is emotional, so your descriptions should be too. Connect the piece to the feeling of being at a gig or listening to that classic album.

-> Build Unshakeable Trust: This is probably the most important part. Your website needs to be covered in trust signals. Here's a checklist:

• Reviews, Reviews, Reviews: You have a goldmine of them on Etsy. You need to get them onto your website. Use an app to import your Etsy reviews. Seeing hundreds of 5-star reviews immediately tells a new visitor that you're legit.
• About Us Page: Tell your story. Who are you? Why did you start this? People buy from people, especially with handmade items. A picture of you, maybe in your workshop, builds a huge amount of connection and trust.
• Clear Contact Info: A physical address (even a PO Box), a phone number, and a professional email address (not a @gmail.com one) are essential. It shows you're a real business and not some fly-by-night operation.
• Policies: Have clear, easy-to-find pages for your Shipping Policy, Returns Policy, and Privacy Policy. People look for these before they buy.
• Trust Badges: Logos of secure payment options like Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, etc., near your checkout button can increase conversion rates.

Fixing these things is your priority number one. It's not the exciting bit, I know. It's not as sexy as running flashy ads. But it's the foundation for everything else. Get this right, and you turn your leaky bucket into a conversion machine. One of our eCommerce clients, a cleaning products company, saw their revenue jump by 190% partly by overhauling their product pages and trust signals before we even scaled their ad spend. It makes that much of a difference.

You probably should rethink your entire advertising channel strategy

Okay, let's assume you've got the website sorted. Now we can talk about ads. Your instinct to go to Facebook/Instagram is a good one, but it shouldn't be your *only* one. You need to think about a full-funnel approach, hitting customers at different stages of their buying journey.

The biggest myth in advertising is that you just need to make people 'aware' of your brand. For a business like yours, awareness is a worthless vanity metric. You're not Coca-Cola. You need sales, not just views. So, any campaign you run, on any platform, must be optimised for conversions (purchases). When you tell Facebook to optimise for 'Reach' or 'Brand Awareness', you are literally paying it to find the people in your audience who are *least* likely to ever buy anything. They're cheap to show ads to because no other advertiser wants them. You must command the algorithm to find you buyers, and you do that by setting 'Sales' as your campaign objective.

So, where should you advertise?

1. Google Search & Shopping (The Low-Hanging Fruit):
This is where I'd start. Why? Because you're capturing people who are *already looking for what you sell*. This is high-intent traffic. Think about what people would type into Google:

• "handmade pink floyd memorabilia"
• "custom beatles lyric art"
• "unique gift for david bowie fan"

2. Meta: Facebook & Instagram (Creating Demand):
This is for finding people who don't know they need your product yet, but would love it if they saw it. This is where you find your fellow music nerds, the people who would geek out over your stuff. The targeting here is key, and we'll go into that in a minute. But remember, this is colder traffic. They weren't actively searching, so your website and your offer need to be incredibly compelling to get them to stop scrolling and make a purchase. With your kind of product, visual platforms like Instagram and Facebook are perfect for showcasing the craftmanship and cool-factor.

3. Other platforms (Testing Later):
Down the line, you could explore platforms like Pinterest, which is great for visual products and has a user base interested in hobbies and decor. TikTok could also work if you can create engaging video content showing off your products. But for now, master Google and Meta first.

You'll need a proper campaign structure for Meta Ads

Let's get into the weeds of Facebook/Instagram, as that was your original question. Just boosting posts or running a single ad campaign to a broad audience is a recipe for disaster. You need a structured approach that mirrors the customer journey. I split this into three stages: Top of Funnel (ToFu), Middle of Funnel (MoFu), and Bottom of Funnel (BoFu).

Here’s how I would prioritise the audiences you should be testing, from coldest to warmest:

You should have separate, long-running campaigns for each stage of this funnel. ToFu finds new people, MoFu/BoFu bring them back to seal the deal. For a new ad account, 90% of your budget might be on ToFu, with 10% on retargeting. As you gather data, that split will change. Your retargeting audiences (MoFu/BoFu) will almost always have the highest ROAS.

How to Pick the Right ToFu Audiences:
This is where you need to get creative. Don't just target "Music". That's way too broad. Think about your Ideal Customer. What specific bands do they love? What music magazines do they read? What festivals do they go to?

For example, if you sell memorabilia for 70s rock bands, your interest targeting could look like this:

• Bands: Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Queen
• Magazines: Classic Rock magazine, Mojo Magazine
• Related Interests: Vinyl records, Guitar, Rock music

You would test these in different ad sets to see which audience performs best. The most powerful tool you have, however, is your Etsy customer list. If you can export your customer emails from Etsy, you can upload this list to Facebook and create a Lookalike Audience. You are telling Facebook "Go and find me more people in the UK who look exactly like the 1000s of people who have already bought from me." This is, without a doubt, the highest quality cold audience you can possibly build. I remember for one B2B client in environmental controls, we reduced their cost per lead by 84% by systematically testing lookalikes of their existing high-value customers against broad interests.

You need to develop a message they can't ignore

A perfect audience is useless if your ad is boring. Your ad has two jobs: stop the scroll, and create a desire to click. Your product is visual and emotional, so lean into that.

The Creative (Image/Video):
Static images are fine, but video is better. You don't need a Hollywood production. Your iPhone is good enough.

• Show the Making Of: A short, sped-up video of you crafting a piece. This screams 'handmade' and 'authentic'.
• The Unboxing: Film someone (or yourself) unboxing a product. Show the packaging, the reveal. It builds anticipation.
• The Product in Situ: A beautifully shot video of the memorabilia in a cool room, maybe with the band's music playing softly in the background.
• UGC (User-Generated Content): Encourage customers to send you photos of your products in their homes and ask for permission to use them in ads. This is social proof on steroids.

The Copy (The Words):
Don't just describe the product. Sell the feeling. Use the "Before-After-Bridge" framework.

For your retargeting ads (BoFu), you can be more direct. Something like: "Still thinking about it? That [Product Name] you looked at is handmade and stock is limited. Don't miss out. Complete your order now and get 10% off."

Let's talk about the numbers to acheive success

Advertising is a game of numbers. You need to know what's good and what's not, and more importantly, how much you can actually afford to spend to get a new customer.

What should a sale cost?
For eCommerce in a developed country like the UK, here are some very rough ballpark figures to aim for with your ads. This is what we often see, but it can vary wildly.

As you can see, a £10 CPA (£0.50 / 5%) is fantastic. A £75 CPA (£1.50 / 2%) is pretty painful unless you're selling very high-ticket items. Your job is to drive down the CPC with better ads and targeting, and drive up the CVR with a better website. We've had eCommerce clients start in the higher range and through careful optimisation of both ads and landing pages, we've got them much closer to the lower end. For one subscription box client, we hit a 1000% Return On Ad Spend by getting this balance right.

The Most Important Metric: LTV
But CPA doesn't tell the whole story. The real question is: "What is a customer worth to me over their lifetime?" This is your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). Once you know this, you know how much you can afford to spend to acquire them.

Let's make some assumptions for your business.

• Average Order Value (AOV): Let's say £70
• Gross Margin: Let's say it's high at 70% (you make £49 profit per order)
• Repeat Purchase Rate: Your stuff sells like hotcakes, so let's say a customer buys from you on average 2.5 times over two years.

This simple calculation changes everything. Each new customer you acquire is worth £122.50 in profit to you. A common rule of thumb is to aim for a 3:1 LTV to CPA ratio. This means you can afford to spend up to £40.83 (£122.50 / 3) to acquire a single new customer and still have a very healthy, profitable business. Suddenly that £25 CPA doesn't look so bad, does it? It looks like a bargain. This is the maths that allows you to scale aggressively and confidently.

This is the main advice I have for you:

This is a lot to take in, I know. It's a world away from just listing an item on Etsy. So here's a summary of the plan I'd recommend.

Running a successful advertising operation is a full-time job. It requires constant testing, analysis, and strategic thinking. It's not just about creative flair; it's about understanding the data, the platforms, and the psychology of the buyer. You've built an amazing product business, and now you're at a point where bringing in specialist expertise could be the difference between incremental growth and the "insane level" you're aiming for.

We do this all day, every day for businesses just like yours. If you'd like to chat through this in more detail, we offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation where we can take a proper look at your website and talk about a concrete strategy to get things moving. It could be really helpful to get a second pair of expert eyes on it.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh