What Theo builds for an Etsy shop
Theo builds the part a shop page on etsy.com cannot give you: a home for your brand at an address you own.
- Product pages and buy buttons that open your Etsy listings, grouped by collection, material or occasion.
- A home page and an about page that tell the story behind the shop.
- A blog with posts about what you make and how you make it.
- A contact form for custom-order and wholesale inquiries; it asks only for a name, contact details and a short message.
- On Starter and Pro, the ongoing search work: new pages and posts, technical fixes, page speed, pages submitted to Google through Search Console, and work toward citations in AI search tools such as ChatGPT, reported weekly and in the Growth tab.
What stays on Etsy
Nothing inside your Etsy shop changes:
- Your listings, photos and prices.
- Checkout and payments.
- Orders, shipping and customer messages.
- Reviews and your shop stats.
- Etsy's fees.
How the site keeps up with your listings
Your listings live on Etsy. Theo's product pages carry each listing's name, price and photos and link to it; when you add, retire or reprice a product, ask Theo in the website editor to refresh your products, or name the product and the change.
Shopify and Wix are different: those stores connect directly, with a cart on the site and a Refresh my products button that uses no credits. An Etsy shop links out instead: the buy button opens the listing, and Theo does not process payments or run a member database. Everything Theo connects to is on the integrations page.
Buyers check out on Etsy
The link runs one way, from your website to your Etsy listings. A shopper reads about a piece on your site, taps the buy button and lands on the listing, where the cart, payment, shipping and reviews work exactly as they do today. Theo reads only what any shopper can see, and nothing on the site reaches into your shop, so there is no account to connect: you give Theo your shop's address and the listings you want featured, and it builds the pages around them.
Etsy vs your own website
Both, with your own website in front. Etsy brings shoppers who are already on Etsy looking for what you make. Your own website brings the people who search Google for it and keeps working if you ever move checkout: if you outgrow Etsy's checkout, Shopify connects directly to the same site with a cart.
In Theo's audit of 5,974 small business websites, 48 percent of the 4,027 sites with search data got an estimated zero visitors a month from Google search (the full report). The ongoing work on Starter and Pro exists to close that gap.
| Your Etsy shop | Your Theo site | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Lists products and takes the order | Tells your story and sends shoppers to the listings |
| Address | A page on etsy.com | Your own domain |
| Checkout, orders, reviews | On Etsy | Stay on Etsy; the site links to them |
| Search work | You manage your listings | Theo's ongoing work on Starter and Pro |
| Monthly cost | Etsy's fees, unchanged | $29.99 on Basic; $69.99 on Starter with the search work; $129.99 on Pro |
If you use Etsy Pattern
Pattern is Etsy's own website tool. Theo builds a different kind of site: one on your own domain that it designs, hosts and keeps working on, with the search work included on Starter and Pro. Give Theo your Pattern site's address and it matches the look.
How to start
The first build is free and happens before any trial. Already have a website for your shop? The free audit shows how it does in search today, with no login.
- Start a free build at app.theo.site/start with your shop's name and what you sell.
- Review the preview, usually ready in minutes, and refine it in chat: which listings to feature, which photos to use, what the about page should say.
- Publish, then connect your domain or buy one inside Theo. Analytics and Search Console connect once the domain is active, and the Growth Engine switches on after that.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a website for an Etsy shop cost?
Basic is $29.99 a month for the site and hosting, and it is enough to put an Etsy shop on its own domain with buy buttons on every product page. Starter is $69.99 a month, free for the first 30 days, and adds the ongoing search work; Pro is $129.99 with more credits and more weekly pages. Etsy's fees are separate and stay exactly as they are.
How long until the site is live?
The first preview is usually ready in minutes, and choosing which listings to feature takes a few messages in chat. Publishing is a click; after that the site waits on a temporary address until you connect your domain, and any site you had before stays up until the domain points at the new one.
Do I own the website?
Yes. Everything Theo builds for the shop, from the product pages to the blog posts and the photos you upload, belongs to you, and so does the domain. Your Etsy shop was always yours and stays with Etsy. On Pro you can also open the site's code on GitHub, read-only, and take a copy.
Can I cancel?
Yes. Nothing ties you in: canceling stops the next charge, the confirmation shows the day the subscription ends, and the pages and images are yours to copy before then. Your Etsy shop keeps selling the whole time, because it was never connected to anything.
Will a separate website hurt my Etsy shop's search ranking?
Adding a website changes nothing inside your Etsy shop, so your listings, reviews and shop stats stay as they are. The site is a second doorway that can appear in Google for what you make and send visitors to Etsy. Where a page lands on Google is Google's call; the weekly work on Starter and Pro gives the site its best chance.
How do I update the site when I change my listings?
Ask Theo in the website editor to refresh your products, or tell it which product to add, retire or reprice. The site refreshes from your shop when you ask, so tell Theo whenever your listings change.
I sell print-on-demand through Etsy. Does this work the same way?
Yes. The site links to your Etsy listings; orders, payment and fulfillment stay exactly as they are today, and Theo never touches an order.