The inspiration for todays post came from a discussion I had with a group of crafters recently. I was appalled at the seemingly large mark up some shops are putting onto the pieces, which meant little or no profit for the crafters who had spent all their time and energy creating these beautiful pieces. Being a start up craft business means you have to be bootstrap, cut costs without cutting quality and get the maximum price possible for your work. We’ve been doing some research on your behalf crafters and this blog is all about promoting and selling your crafts online.
Apart from having your own website and Facebook business page (as opposed to a personal profile page acting as a business page), there are other places to sell your craft products online. There are many established online shops and directories. These directories and shops will already have an established traffic stream coming to their website so why re-invent the wheel? Using these avenues to sell your craft products will help to increase your profile and get more sales.
Tip 1 – Craft Directories
Directories give short listings and direct the viewer to your own website. Examples in the UK include The Crafts Council Directory. Ireland has The Crafts Council of Ireland, make sure you are registered with one or both as appropriate. These craft organisations have established admin practices and do most of the marketing for you allowing you to focus on being creative. They will also have combined trade stalls at trade shows and may have a “selected” section at the trade shows such as Showcase. It’s well worth entering the competition for “selected” as you will get lots of free PR if you win. (It’s a no brainer darlings).
Tip 2 – Craft Shops/Portals
Other online locations to sell your craft products include Etsy, Folksy, Not on the High Street and Seek & Adore. They do charge various rates of commission so check the small print but they’re not extortionate.
Tip 3 – Craft Product Pricing Currency
One thing to be wary of is the currency the site uses. One or two crafters have got caught when they priced their products in Euro or Sterling only to post the item up and discover it was displayed in Dollars. Spend those extra 5 minutes ensuring all your pricing is correct before loading up the information. Also be sure to check out the competitor price points for similar products like yours.
Tip 4 – Craft Product versus Volume Orders
Whilst we all dream of making truck loads of money from our craft, the reality of getting large volume orders can be a nightmare logistically. If the site you choose is very popular, how would you handle large orders? You need to know, before you sign up, how many international consumers or trade buyers are attracted to the site, for example would you be able to ship your work confidently tomorrow to the United States, Canada or Australia?
Tip 5 – Craft Product Image Tagging
It’s very important that you’re found (obviously) so you need to stand out. This is an ongoing work in progress as the internet and social media grows ever more labyrinthine. Start with the following. You need to ensure that you tag (name) your work well. The words that you add to your images can be used as keywords. Try to pick the words that potential craft buyers will put in to search for your products. Just tweaking these words a little bit, can really help potential buyers find your work. Your keyword tags should include materials, colours, size, type of product, etc. More information can be found on this blog about key words.
Tip 6 – Craft Product Images
As people can’t see, touch or try your products you need to give them as much information as possible. Thankfully nowadays we have access to fabulous contraptions called cameras and a picture paints a thousand words. If you are not great at taking photos, barter with another crafter friend who is. A great example of a craft site selling hand made furniture pieces for the commercial (and some private commissions) trade is Teamwoodcraft.
We will have more tips at a later stage but that should be enough to get you started on your first million!
