If you don’t already read Mashable, I highly recommend it. It’s definitely more focused on the technical end of business, but they sometimes have great ideas for promoting your business on social media and for improving your sales online that you can teak to make work for your small craft business!
I especially liked this article on 10 Ways to Boost Sales on Your eCommerce Site. The pointers are very obviously for bigger eCommerce sites, but if you think outside of the box a little bit you can pull out ideas that apply to anyone that sells online. Here are some a few ways:
1. Keep Easy Navigation – This is great advice if you have your own website, but it can also work well if you just have an Etsy shop like me. Etsy allows that you add categories to your store to put items in. If you have a large number of items, be sure to use these categories and use them well. It’ll help customers easily find what they’re looking for without any frustration.
2. Get a Great Search Bar – Definitely! Hard to find or difficult searches can frustrate your customers and make it easy to move on from your site. Once again, you can still use this tip if you sell in an online community like Etsy, Artfire, etc. When you are tagging your items do a quick search for items that are similar and see what tags other people are using. Also make sure to tag your products in a way that you would search.
3. Keep it Simple – Do you see a theme here? Simple, easy, and quick are key. If there is a way to offer multiple payment options to your customers, do so.
4. Extra Features – You want your customers to feel special. Be sure to include a little thank you note or coupon card in your shipments. You’ll be surprised the effect that little extra step has.
5. Looks Are Everything – Especially in retail, this is important. Even if you don’t design your own website, make sure your store banner is pretty and simple. Be sure your photos are crisp and clearly show off the product. Investing in a better camera could translate to more sales because the photography is important.
6. Give Details – The description of your product is the only other information your customers will have besides the photos. Make sure they are full of details and enticing!
7. Shipping – It can be really tricky to keep shipping prices low. A tip a friend once gave me is to include the shipping cost in the total cost of the product and list the item as free shipping! It seems like a simple trick, but it really works.
8. Be Honest – No one likes to feel tricked after they just gave you their hard earned money. Be sure your store policies clearly reflect any returns, damaged product, etc.
9. Be Human – It’s easy to loose track of who’s really making the products behind the screen of a computer. Be sure to include a little of your personality into your promotions!
10. Be Browser-Friendly – This is more for those of you tech savvy enough to run your own sites, but it’s true. If you can you definitely want your site to look good in multiple browsers. I know most of the population uses one or two, but most is not all.
So there you have it! Some tips for making your online presence even better and translating that into some sales.
Have any tips of your own?
- How to Make Money Blogging - November 30, 2017
- Real Life Sales: Getting Your Crafts Into a Shop - November 11, 2017
- Facebook: Friend or Foe? - February 17, 2014
Thanks for all this excellent advice. I’ve just started my own crafts business, and now have a blog and have sold a few things on ebay. I’d like to open my own Etsy shop, but am not sure of all the do’s and don’ts and ins and outs of opening an Etsy shop. Also, I wonder if Etsy is similar to ebay, in that ebay asks for a fee for every listing and every sale you make. Is Etsy similar to that?
Looking forward to more tips and advice! Thanks again!
Hi June,
Etsy is exactly like that. You pay a listing fee and they take 3% off of every sale. I believe that most online selling sites like that work similarly.
I just came across your blog and find your posts very informative and enlightening! I am also trying to start an online store and have started a blog as well. My concern with my blog is that I find myself showing how I create the items that I sell, I an concerned that this is going to hurt my sales! I will definitely continue following your blog and would hope you could offer some advice in this area? Thanks again for the great information! http://www.customcreativeexpressions.com
Hi Christine,
Great idea! I think a lot of people have that concern when starting a blog, so don’t feel alone. I’ll try to see if I can get some bloggers to answer that question. Personally, I was worried about the same for a little while but then I realized that the people reading my personal blog were not going to be exclusively crafters. They might like to see the tutorials and know that they could make something if they wanted to, but in reality buying it would be faster and easier. You just have to get out of the mindset that everyone is as crafty as you! 😉
This list doesn’t contain Social Media… I like that! probably just an omission though 🙁
My experience on Etsy is that it is less heavy on fees. I prefer etsy anyway. I also ran into a free etsy-like site called driftwoodmall.com. May be worth giving a try.
@ Christine
Unless you are selling something extremely simple to make, you should not fear losing customers. That is because those who are in business making your craft did not come to your blog to buy. They were looking for tutorials, advice and what the competition is doing.
Against your competitors, continuously improve your skills and put all your mastery into your craft. The reason: they can’t become karate black belts just by watching one. It still takes years of practice.
Hi Glaudius! The absence of social media wasn’t an oversight, it is absolutely and incredibly important to the growth of your business. However, this article was focusing on the ways that you could improve online sales by tweeking the navigation and look of your physical website.
Thanks for your comment!
Maggie
Webstore.com charges no fees sbd is full service sales!
Hi there. I live in South Africa and we make some crafts but
have no clue where to start introducing my small craft shop online.
I do have internet, camera but am not on facebook and twitter and all these fancy
networks. How do I sell my crafts. Please give me like a check list as to where to start
Thanks
I sell on ebay and find that it is good for me. I live in the United States and only sell to people here, but there is an international for ebay and you can pick the countries you want to sell to. I like ebay because I tend to start at a low price and before I know it the final bid is much higher than I expected. I am always fair to myself with the low price, so I include my expenses and some time spent on making the item, so even the low price is adequate for my needs. Ebay takes nothing out for the first 50 items a month, until the item is bid on. Then it is 10% of the total of the bid and postage amounts,
Has anyone tried to sell at Tophatter.com? It’s an auction site with a handmade category. Most of what is sold is jewelry, but there are a few others. Just wondering about fees and success rate. Any info would be appreciated.
Thanks