When you submit an article to these sites, you are giving permission for others to post it on their site, for free. As a “thank you,” these site owners will include your author bio and your link. You’d be surprised by how much traffic can come to your site from these articles!

Let’s say that you submit 10 articles and they each get published three times, and that 25 people view each page they’re published on.  That comes out to 750 new people reading your article and possibly clicking on the link to your website. Now, let’s say each of your articles are published 10 times and that 100 people see each page it’s published on…. Well, that’s 10,000 views and possible clicks.

To be effective, keep your articles related to subjects that match your website. Since the person reading the article is already interested in the article’s subject, they’ll be more likely to visit your website if your website’s topic is on key with the article topic.

For example, if you make handmade soap, you could write an article on why organic ingredients are better for your skin or an article on the toxins found in grocery store brand soaps. At the end of the article, your bio will be displayed and the person reading it will see that you make natural soaps and will be so intrigued by your article, they will want to click that link!

Some of my favorites reprint directories include Ezine Articles and Lady Pens.

I have now owned an Etsy shop for just over a month. So here some of my comments on it’s progress so far.

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I’ll start with the positives (as one always should).

• Increase in new customers - By far the best thing about my Etsy shop is the number of new customers have filtered through to my main shop. I was expecting a modest rise in new customers for my main shop as a result of my Etsy shop, but not this many!
• Increased visibility on the web - Etsy always shows up higher in the web searches so if you carefully link all of your websites/blogs/shops together it is a lot easier for visitors to find you. So for instance if someone new clicks on my Etsy shop (which I gave the same name as my main shop and blog) it won’t be long before they discover my main shop…
• Community – The Etsy community is huge and members can participate at so many different levels from just buying stuff on etsy to setting up groups/teams etc. Members can get seriously involved with al sorts of Etsy community stuff and the more you put in the more visibility in the Etsy community you will receive, but to be honest I personally don’t have the time to spare.

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…and the not so postive…

• The copy-cats – Before I set up my Etsy shop I was pretty much aware that copying goes on in the craft world online. Now I have my own Etsy shop I of course have more of a vested interest in the copying that goes on with in Etsy. And IMHO it is worse within Etsy than is is outside of it. I was copied within 2 weeks and I know of sellers who’s top selling items have been copied and then undersold by copyists. I’m personally not bitter about it, after all I sell supplies so it hurts less than when someone copies your design and reproduces it. Also I’m sure my philosophical and calm outlook is partly a result of my not relying on my Etsy shop for my main income. I am dismayed by the lack of soul and morals that copyists have, but I firmly believe in moving on and always striving to be head and shoulders above them. However, I’m aware that I do have the luxury of simply turning the other cheek. I do feel for others who have tried their hardest to offer beautiful and unique items only to have some lazy s**thead come along and swipe their designs.

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Conclusion (this is all sounding like an essay)

I still think that having and Etsy shop is very worthwhile because of the sheer number of new customers you can potentially attract and Etsy is important for search engine searches, but I think (if you can manage it) you need other selling venues besides Etsy (such as your own website, other Etsy style shops and how about your own blog – more about that in a minute). Take the time to link all of your selling venues together. Sprinkle the links of your various sites within each other regularly. You MAY want to consider selling your more sensitive/special items outside of Etsy if you are concerned about copyists.

I am going to be selling my own patterns on my other blog. Do you remember I spoke a while back about E-Junkie? Well I am going to be using them and the juicy discount code for 3 months FREE remains active indefinitely. Check it out for yourselves if you like.

E-Junkie the stunningly simple selling solution for your craft business – Exclusive discount.

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Why I’m liking Etsy so far…

• It’s the one of the most established ‘Craft Mall’ sites – which means that it has more users (sellers and buyers). Of course, the only thing with having lots of other sellers in the same mall is that it can be easy to get lost in a sea of other shops. This means that there is more of an onus on sellers to market themselves, but then, business marketing is important. You gotta do it!
• Ease of use - I was genuinely surprised at how easy it was to set up shop. Yes, I already do run another shop, but my main shop’s admin and payment system is completely different to that of Etsy’s. I tell you what, I wish it was as easy to set up my main shop as it what to set up my Etsy shop! The steps to setting up and listing items on Etsy are pretty intuitive and if you get stuck the help, FAQs and forums are excellent.
• Etsy community - I really like the convo facility on Etsy. This is a messaging system that buyers and sellers can use to message you and say Hi!, ask you for product info, or other comments. It’s nicely laid out, efficient and easy to use. I also really dig the feedback system. I think that customer feedback is a very good thing to have on your site and because it is widely used on Etsy it’s an added motivation for buyers and sellers to be good to each other The forums are an excellent source of news, business advice and support and encouragement.

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This Weeks Top Etsy selling tips;

1. If you can, list around 3 items every day (or as often as poss) – be they brand new items or adding to stock of existing items. Doing this will keep your items and your shop high in the list of searches so buyers can more easily find you. So if for instance you have 6 of the same bracelets to sell consider listing them over 3 days instead of in one go, on one day.
2. Choose tags carefully and be generous with them, (but stay relevant, or Etsy may delete them). When choosing tags think of what a buyer would type into the search box when trying to look for a given item, think of as many relevant word combinations as you can and include them all. It’s worth the effort. Take for example a glue that I sell. This fabric glue happens to be wonderful for purse making so the tags that I have for this glue are as follows: gutermann, glue, fabric, purse, making, frame, sewing, supplies, commercial.
3. Market yourself. I know I keep going on and on about this, but as you have already heard me say (umpteen times) there’s not much point in making something beautiful when no one out there knows it exists. I made a big noise about the opening of my shop by blogging about it, but instead of just letting folks know about the shop opening I offered a tempting freebie to the first 10 customers of the shop to get the ball rolling. It worked pretty quickly! If you can, do periodically offer gifts to customers because everyone likes a gift now and again.

This last week have been busy planning and setting up my new Uhandbag Etsy shop and I’ve had great fun doing it! Most folks who have read CraftBoom! will know that I’m a fan of Etsy for all sorts of reasons, one being that Etsy shops are wonderfully easy to set up and for that reason Etsy is a brilliant training ground for when/if you gravitate towards setting your your own website. I know that lots of folks do just that, they set up an Etsy shop and they learn about running a craft business on the fly, then when their business grows they branch out into other outlets (such as their own website) whilst keeping their etsy shop active. As for me, I’m doing things the other way round. I already have my own established and happy website, but now I have just opened an Etsy shop and in this post I’ll explain my reasons for doing so.

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My Etsy shop banner (it took me flipping ages!)

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Etsy will help me gain new customers (my main reason for opening an Etsy):

I think that U-Handbag has a pretty shiny record when it comes to happy customers and many of our new customers become repeat customers (which is wonderful!). We try our very best to keep all of our customers happy, but in some ways it is harder to find new customers. In the past I used google pay per click to help with marketing and advertising. I’ve since decided it’s way too bl*%dy expensive and in my experience, very hit and miss. I now market U-Handbag by blogging, writing in magazines and now my Etsy shop will hopefully be put in front of thousands of potential customers who haven’t heard of us before.

The best thing about folks who are surfing around on Etsy is that they are either craft buyers or they are crafters themselves this means that the Etsy audience is more targeted to what we have to offer, which is craft supplies. Not only are there thousands of folks surfing on Etsy at any one time, these folks are from all over the world, all looking for some international crafty goodness! This means that hopefully we will also gain more international customers.

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Etsy is wonderful for SEO (that’s Search Engine Optimisation folks):

Most anyone who has their own website or blog will love to have their own site appear in the first 10 searches on google/yahoo,ask etc. etc. etc. (in other words, having your site at the top of the list on the first search page is flipping great!). Search engine searches are ranked by popularity which means the higher your site the more (apparently) popular it is and hopefully the more likely folks will click on your site. Actually, my U-Handbag and blog site is at the top of the list on the first page of Google for all sorts of bag related searches. But let me tell you, for me to appear at the top of the Google search page took MUCHOS time and LOADS of twiddling about. One of the brilliant things about Etsy is that it takes no time at all for your Etsy shop appear high on the list of search engine searches (without all of the usual pfaffing around).

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Etsy is very resourceful when it comes to craft business advice:

We can always learn something new everyday. Etsy does try to support it’s shop owners by providing business advice, and good advice it is too (it has to be otherwise folks would shut their Etsy account down!) I’ll be checking out their Storque regularly to see what business tips and inspiration I can glean for FREE! I’d be mad not to, right?

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The timing for us to expand with an Etsy shop is right:

There are a few major milestones in the life of any business and when they are reached/overcome you can congratulate yourself/heave a sigh of relief. (Don’t quote me, I just read them in various places) in general they are:

• The first 6 months for bricks and mortar – and 1 year for web based businesses is a sensitive time, get past this milestone and things are looking promising.
• Break even in 2 years – of course this will vary from individual to individual and is dependant on the type of business and what the start-up costs were, but on average businesses can expect not to turn a profit for first 2 years.
• Expansion - get this wrong and you can really mess things up! Expansion isn’t always about being bigger and better, often it is also about staying one step ahead of the competition or keeping things fresh and exciting for your customers. Either way business expansion requires careful thought, planning and sometimes a considerable amount of investment.

So I’m am very grateful to say that U-Handbag has safely passed the aforementioned milestones. We’re doing OK and things are steady. So I feel that it is safe and prudent to expand, I have taken on new staff, (one of which has her own Etsy shop) so we can cope efficiently with the extra work load.

I’ll be sure to keep you posted on the progress of the Etsy shop set-up and any tips that I learn on the way

• How to take and edit professional looking photos of your craft products tutorial
• Ways to create buzz about your craft products on the big Craft Websites
• Crafting Heroes interview with Alicia Paulson of Posie gets cozy
• 10 things you’ll need to start selling your crafts online
• Crafting Heroes interview with Amanda Soule of Soule Mama
• Starting up your craft business – Feel the fear and do it anyway
• What to do when people say your handcraft is too expensive
• Ways to market yourself & your craft (on the cheap)
• Hellooo I’m Here!!!! Ways to market yourself and your craft (for free)
• Copyright – ways to protect your content from being stolen
• Crafting Heroes interview with Amy Butler
• Crafting Heroes interview with Amy Karol of Angry Chicken
• Fabulous links and books for your craft business

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I couldn’t think of suitable pic to go with this post so I thought this one would do as a close 2nd . Yummy

Yep, believe your eyes folks; ArtFlock and CraftBoom! have teamed up to bring you a mega draw in which a Craft Business Website is up for grabs!

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For art and craft sellers ArtFlock is a very important alternative to Etsy that is seriously worth considering and here are just a few reasons why:

• FREE to join
• No listing fees
• Upload all of your work, not just what’s for sale (great for building portfolios and for commissions)
• Import your blog to your ArtFlock account for greater exposure
• List real world locations that sell your work like galleries, shops etc.
• Commission rates from just 3.5%
• Create your own flock of followers that love your work

You get all of the above AND you can have YOUR OWN WEBSITE. Have you ever wished you could have your own website AS WELL as your craft shop. Have you ever wished that your craft shop could more truly reflect your own individuality and craft, but you don’t know where to start with the web design, the shopping cart and payment system? Well with ArtFlock you can have all of that flexibility and more with their Website Publisher tool.

The Website Publisher tool from ArtFlock.com gives you:

• Your own website at your own domain name
• Easy to use
• Commission us to design your theme or pick from our free range of themes
• One click publish of everything you have on ArtFlock to your own personal website
• Update and change the look of your site as often as you like
• Sell work from your own site while still being part of a larger community of buyers
• Don’t risk loosing potential buyers by sending them to SomeArtWebsite.com/YourWork when you can send your customers to YourWebsite.com-
• Free to use version (text ad supported or ad free version for $19.99 / €14.99 / £9.99 per month)
• Test drive your own website with the preview tool by signing up for free here
• See an example site (try playing with the different theme options at the top of the page) here, and also here.

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In my opinion ArtFlock looks very well run, professional, and attractive (which is essential as art and craft are so visually driven). Having your own attractive looking website will give you a professional edge and increased exposure. Also being able direct customers to your own website is so important because that way customers will not get lost/confused/distracted in a sea of other vendors.

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Draw Details (please read carefully)

OK, so now you know about some of the amazing features that ArtFlock has to offer; here is what is up for grabs for 1 very very lucky winner in our draw:

• Custom designed theme for their ArtFlock.com website worth $600. Ed will personally work with the winner to design the website to their liking (wowser, that’s worth it’s weight alone!)
• 1 year’s free domain name worth $14.99 (they don’t need to renew in the future if they no longer want the site / domain)

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To enter all you have to do is comment on THIS PARTICULAR POST by:

1. Telling with us what sort of features you would like your own Craft Business website to have.

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Contest Official-ness :

1. I’ll randomly draw the winners in 3 weeks time – 2nd July and announce the winner the following day-ish. Good luck!
2. Winner must have a free ArtFlock.com account in order to upload their work, statement, blog etc. to their free site. Sign up for FREE here.
   
3. Winner will use the free version of the Website Publisher with the option of upgrading to the ad free version.
4. Sorry I can’t notify winners, so please keep an eye for the winner announcement. This is made easier for you if you subscribe to this blog so you don’t have to keep checking back, although it’s always great to have you pop-in for a read :0)
5. Sorry I can’t reply to contest/draw comments, but I do love reading every single one

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Lisa is a seasoned Etsy seller who makes luscious jewelry like the yummy silver bangles below:

Thanks for the telling me about the post Lisa! You get yourself one of these shiny CraftBoom! badges for your good work

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So what do you do when folk says your handcraft is too expensive? For starters don’t go and slash the price of everything you sell, pick a fight, or throw your hands in the air and give everything up. Take heart there are things that we can do…

How to react emotionally:

People will ALWAYS say ‘ohh that’s too expensive, I could make that myself for less… etc etc.” I used to constantly get this on my market stall. Of course they are entitled to their own opinion (it’s just not very nice when they say it loud enough for your to hear…). It used to hurt a bit at first, but after some months trading I came to the conclusion that a majority of these folks were never likely to sew a stitch and as bargain hunters they were more likely to be driven by cheap prices. And that’s fine, but as you and I already know you cannot begin to compare an item which has been made in a sweat shop (by an exploited worker) with an item that has been painstakingly and lovingly made by hand at home.

When I used to catch a passer-by muttering “too expensive” I used to think “well, it’s not my place to educate you about cut-throat capitalism; if you knew what work was involved in hand making my products perhaps you would think my prices were actually quite reasonable….” So in short, it’s not nice when people grumble about our prices being too expensive, but let them do it; we are not going to market our products them anyway otherwise we woud end up under selling ourselves and going out of business. Instead we should aim to market our products to folks who have an appreciation of items which are unique, high quality, handmade, and therefore a bit more special…

It looks like the price is right for this lady…

How to react practically

• Are your prices (reasonably) in line with other traders? – I’ve always believed that it’s very important to keep an eye on what your counterparts (or in other words, your competition) are doing NOT so you can copy them, but so you can do things differently. However, if for instance you discover your competitors are selling similar sized tote bags (as an example) to you and their bags are markedly cheaper than yours it is important to ensure that your tote bags have that extra something to justify the extra cost. If they don’t then it’s worth considering finding ways to bring your prices in line.
• Find ways to lower the cost of producing your items – buy your materials in bulk wherever you can, get more efficient with your time by producing your items in batches e.g have fabric cutting days, inserting zipper days, bracelet days etc., see if you can source materials for free, you’ll be surprised what you can obtain if you just ask for it – I used to get some of my silk offcuts free from a local curtain maker.
• Be selective with your product range - it’s widely believed (see Further Reading below for studies) that too much choice is not a good thing for sales. I know that we all have a natural tendency to want to please everyone so we try to provide lots of choice, but you can’t please everyone and selling lots of different unrelated items will make your shop look untidy and confused. Par your range down and concentrate on becoming expert at making the items you sell. This will result in you making items faster and better and therefore saving you money in the long run. This is exactly what Carrie has done with great success. Her range is not huge; the shapes stay the same, but the fabrics change and they do all of the talking – and it works a treat!
• Get strategic with your pricing formula - when pricing a craft item it is normal to take both the cost of the materials and your time into consideration, but if you price everything this way and do both commission work as well as a stock standard range you’ll find your commission items will cost loads and this will obviously put your commission customers off (unless you are famous and you can charge accordingly!). It’s worth being prepared to take a smaller profit on more intricate or commission items to stimulate sales. Consider slightly increasing the price on items which sell well to make up for the short fall. In this way you attract more custom and you do not loose out financially. This is what supermarkets do; for instance they will take a smaller profit (or even a loss) on some items to entice customers to the store, but the supermarket will make up for loss elsewhere on another product so everything evens itself out profit-wise.
• Get strategic with what you sell - I think that custom work/and or more intricate work is worth selling in your craft business because this kind of work can really show off your talents to your customers and this shows customers that you are capable of making items to a high standard. However, the bummer of more intricate or custom work is that it is more time consuming and therefore (arguably) less profitable. To make up for this I think it’s a wise idea to sell a number of stock standard items that you are expert at making. I know it can be dull making the same/similar things over and over again, but if you can make them well, make them quickly, and they are popular with customers these standard items can form an important part of your craft business (and your earnings!).

Further Reading

• Too many choices?
• Why too much choice is bad for us.
  
• Pricing you bags or other crafts to sell.

Coming Next: A yummy giveaway. Don’t miss it!

In my next post: a book review of Country Living’s Crafting a Business.

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A USP describes features and practices that make your business different and better (or worse!) than your competitors (for examples see below). Identifying your craft business USPs is very important because doing so will give you a strong focus and guide as to how you can run and grow your business in the face of competition. The reasons as to why businesses fail, survive, or thrive in the face of competition are numerous (if I knew and understood them all I expect I could get someone else to write this for me – he he!).

If you can identify your competitor’s USPs you can ensure that your business can provide something different (Unique). Being different to your competition (in a good way) will really help your craft business stand out from your competitors. Here are 5 examples of important USPs:

• Price - you may decide that you want to be cheaper or more expensive than your competition. Either way be consistent in your pricing so customers can clearly understand that in your shop items cost a bit more or cost a bit less… If you are going to be more expensive than your competitors ensure that your products are higher quality.
• Customer Service – I think any good business will rely heavily on this USP. Do you reply quickly to inquiries, are you friendly in your communication, do you dispatch your orders swiftly, do you keep your customers informed during the transaction etc? How do you handle returns, exchanges, and loss in the post etc? Besides leaving everyone with a pleasant taste in their mouth providing top-notch customer service is one of the best ways to build trust.
• Keeping it Fresh – whilst we all have our trusty favourites we also like to try out new things (or least we like to look at them). Keep your crafty shop fresh by adding new items, having different offers, changing the look of your shop, and regularly posting in your shop blog etc. If you regularly ‘freshen up’ your shop folks will come to expect it and they will be more likely to drop in more often.
• Ease of use – is your shop easy to use? Is your website easy to navigate, is it easy to view items, is it easy to pay, is it easy on the eye? Even if you have an etsy, ebay, or dawanda, shop you can still make shopping easier for your customers by providing clear product photos and helpful product descriptions for example. A pleasant no-nonsense shopping experience is attractive to everyone.
• Extras – extras can be little treats or benefits such as freebies (small gifts, products, delivery, vouchers, samples, etc.) hand written notes, well-packed orders etc. Go the extra mile to make your customer smile

This is a USP that I would find really attractive in any Chinese restaurant – yummy!

Pic credit (and further reading) : Versa.

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Now you have an idea of what USPs are, identify USPs which you think will benefit your customers and then communicate them to your customers so they know what goodness you have on offer. For example; in my shop I provide next working day delivery for all domestic orders so I have written this USP on my homepage.

So what are some of your USPs?

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Right, so we are all getting pretty bored of the winter weather (not that it’s that bad in the UK right now) I miss those warm sunny days, dresses, and sandals. Now is the time (if you haven’t made a start already) to start gearing up to the warmer months. If you can, it’s perhaps a good idea to discount your wintery stock or shelve it for next fall/winter to make way for lighter brighter colours and themes.

Start having a look around on the web for what’s going to be hot in summer 08 in the craft and fashion world. I always think whether you are a follower of fashion or not (I’m not personally) it’s a good to keep abreast of what’s going on. Even if you don’t give a ‘monkey’s about the fashion world it doesn’t hurt to have a few easy to make and small in size accessories that reflect current trends. For instance my shoe designer friend (yes that right girls, my friend designs ladies shoes for a living!) tells me that Nautical is going to big this Summer. So we could for instance make nautical flavoured wallets, tote bags, jewelry, prints, t-shirts, stationary etc. All of which don’t require a large outlay and therefore, should be easier to sell.

Quick & Easy Easter /Spring Craft Makes for your Business:

1. Pretty vintage style peg bags for washing lines.
2. Aprons.
3. Tea Towels
4. Table runners, and coasters, and placemats.
5. Pot Holders, and oven mitts
6. Fabric wall tidies – Tidies with pockets.
7. Bags – grocery totes, and bag dispensers, and drawstring laundry bags, and eye glasses cases, and shoe bags, and wallets.
8. Journal covers.
9. Cheque book covers
10. Baby items – bibs, and burp cloths, and t-shirts, and towels, quilts, plushies.

NB: if you are going to use any of these tutorials for commercial use please remember to first ask the authors for their permission

“It’s a beautiful Spring day and here I am Spring cleaning! Harrumphhh!”

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I am willing to accept this as a compromise, but only because I made him feel like a jack ass on the phone. When we first spoke (before he knew what I was calling about) I got him to confirm that he was responsible for writing the copy on his site, then I told him about the copying issue. He denied that he had copied anything and that he had been selling item X for years to which I replied “Look, instead of getting lawyers involved I have paid you the courtesy of calling you to give you an opportunity to modify the copy which you have OBVIOUSLY taken from me. I’d appreciate it if you’d begin to extend a similar courtesy to me by NOT denying what you have done…’ I’m not one for power trips, but my heart was beating like crazy and I could sense that he felt like shamed 10 year old boy being scolded by a scary headmistress heh heh!

Hey! Get your thieving hands off my work!

How can we protect ourselves?

It’s a sad fact that the accessibility of the Internet and our desire to share and show our work makes it easy for unimaginative, lazy, (and lets face it) sleazy copycats to steal our work to pass it off as their own. I’m going to look at some ways that we can protect our work from copycats (or at least try to deter them) . I understand that copyright laws differ country to country so I can’t list hard and fast rules that apply to everyone and copyright is a whole minefield in itself, but I can suggest a few things that we can all do:

• Get yourself the appropriate Creative Commons License – the licence are free and you can obtain a ‘label’ for your licence to put on your site of blog. These licenses come in different flavours dependent on the level at which you are willing to share your work. For instance on my Handbag blog I have an Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license which means (amongst other things) I am happy to share any of my work and photos with anyone in the world as long as they credit me with them. You can see what my licence looks like on the bottom left-hand corner of my blog.
• Make your intentions clear on your site – If you don’t want others to use your copy or your photos say so on the pages of your site or blog. You could say something like “Please do not reproduce my images or written content without my consent, if you like something and you’d like to use it just ask me ”
• Apply water marks to your photos – these things can actually be removed from determined and experienced copyists, but most copyist won’t know how (and they wouldn’t be bothered to learn) so they are a good deterrent. See below for Watermark tutorials.
• Do a search on the web to see if your work is being copied - Carla showed me a post on Startup Princess which had a cool link (in the comments) to Copy Scape. You can type in your page URL into the search box and the engine will look for any copies of your content on the web. You may be surprised at what you find.
• Search and destroy – OK so that’s a little over the top, but if you discover that your work has been copied and you’re unhappy with it don’t take it lying down. Contact the copycat and let them know that you know! If the copycat is a serial copyist this will often be enough to deter them from doing it (at least to you) again.

Further reading

• About UK Copyright
• About USA Copyright
• What is Intellectual Property – UK
• What is Intellectual Property – USA
• What is Intellectual Property – Europe
• What is Intellectual Property – Asia
• How You Can Fight Back Against Online Plagiarism
• Countries covered by Copyright

Creative Commons Licence

• Homepage
• Review conditions – various features of CC licences
• Select and obtan your level of licence

Watermark tutorials

• Watermarking Images
• Paint Shop Pro Watermark
• Photoshop Watermark
• YouTube Photoshop Watermark

I hope some of that helps. Have you had any experience of having your work being copied?

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Of course this shop wasn’t breaking any law, **UPDATE** was breaking the law, see AnaB’s helpful comment (comment no.1)  explaining how this guy was actually breaking the law – thanks for sharing that with us Ana and in copying, the owner sure did have some bad manners.   I contacted the owner directly on the phone and asked him politely, but assertively to write up his own product description for item X.  This might sound like pettiness on my part, but I enjoy writing my product descriptions and I try to personalize them by making them fun for me and for my customers, not for some other shop owner to do a lazy ass cut & paste job!

Tomorrow I am going to look at ways to protect yourself from (and hopefully deter) copy cats from pinching your work.

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Starting from the top of the ‘Food Chain’:

• Manufacturers (the BIG league guys) – I’m not in the league of these suppliers, so I don’t have any experience of them. These are factories that you can commission to produce items for you. Often they will have a catalogue of products that they manufacture or you can commission you own designs for them to produce. They usually do not keep items in stock so you cannot order smaller amounts from such suppliers therefore, we are talking HUGE quantities (in the thousands) of a given product. If you can afford the investment this is by far the cheapest cost per unit option.
• Manufacturers (business to business) - I do work with such suppliers. These are factories (usually somewhat smaller than the aforementioned manufacturers) sometimes keep a limited amount of ready made stock, they will have a catalogue of items they produce, and they will also accept custom work for production. The minimum order amounts are typically large (in my experience) varying from 300 – 500 pieces upwards of a given item depending on what the item is. If you can keep a tight control on quality issues and you can afford the investment using this type of supplier is very cost effective solution.
• Wholesalers/agents to manufacturers – I also work with these folks. These suppliers aren’t quite the same as typical wholesalers as they usually work with a very small number of factories. These suppliers will hold ready made stock to sell to you and they will also act as agents for a small number (or one) factories taking your order and passing it onto the factory when the minimum order amount is sufficiently large enough. They will do all of this for a fee. The benefit of purchasing from an agent to a factory is that the minimum order amount will be somewhat smaller. The downsides are that they cost more than the above, if items are not in stock lead time can be a guessing game, and they are devilishly hard to find!
• Wholesalers (not direct to the public) – I also work with this kind of supplier. These suppliers will typically have a large and varied catalogue of items. To be able to purchase products from this type of supplier you will often be required to open an account (which usually involves proving to them that you own a business). The minimum order amounts are for this type of supplier are usually much smaller than that of manufacturers and they vary wildly from minimum cash amount (e.g. £50 – £250/$100 – $500) to minimum units per product. It really depends on the individual wholesaler. These suppliers cost a fair amount more than manufacturers, but the choice of items is usually very good, and the quality of items is usually more consistent than that of manufacturers. Wholesalers are also devilishly hard to find (goodness knows why!)
• Retail /Wholesalers – I also work these suppliers. Some business run a wholesale operation alongside their retail operation. These suppliers are similar to the guys above except the minimum order amounts are usually yet smaller, and they may not be so formal about opening accounts in order to buy wholesale.
• Retailers – that’s what we are! We hunt around for our supplies (and in my case I sell them on) and we process them by turning them into gorgeous handcraft before selling them to the public

I hope this was useful and it wasn’t stating the obvious to you. I didn’t know too much about suppliers when I first started my business and I know I must’ve sounded pretty naive ditzy when dealing with them for the first time!

Next time: I will talk about to approach suppliers and how to deal with them – like what stuff do you ask them in the first instance and what things to expect when dealing with them.

We know that there are quite a few excellent craft sites out there that cover craft in general, and there are a few sites (like this one) that focus on craft business too, BUT as craft business owners we need (me included) an inclusive site where we can meet, share, and support each other (lots of you are experts in you own right and we can learn lots from you). Such a place (at least like the one that Wendy and I have in mind) doesn’t yet exist. I am beside myself with excitement because judging from the emails I get from you, there is a big need to provide such a site for you, and it’s gonna happen!!!!!

So tell us what are your biggest challenges in running your Craft Business?

This one-stop-shop Craft Business meeting place is being created for you and we want to serve you as best as we can. We need to know what sort of things you would like in such a site. Whether you have a blog, or Esty, eBay, or your own e-comm shop or you are planning one please tell us (in some  detail):

1. What would you like help with: promotion & marketing, driving traffic, starting up, sales advice, setting up e-comm, or anything else, etc etc etc.

2. What kind of features would you like your craft business meeting place/forum to have (i.e) photo sharing, craft businessy tutorials, classifieds or any other features etc etc etc.

Answer the 2 questions above and you could win 2 yummy Amy Butler Home Dec patterns!!

Contest Official-ness

• ONLY open to legal residents of the United States 18 years of age and older. No purchase required. One entry per person. Void where prohibited by law. Important contest rules and details.
• I will send both patterns to 1 lucky winner after the random draw on 1st Feb. I’ll announce the winner on this blog the following day-ish. Good luck!
• Sorry, I can’t notify winners so please keep an eye for the winner announcement. This is made easier for you is you subscribe to this blog (although it’s always great to have you drop in for a read ).
• Sorry I can’t reply to contest comments, but I do love reading every single one.

“Arrghhh!!! I don’t live in the US!” I know that a lot of my readers are from outside the US and I’d love your feedback (and for you to feel not to feel left out) so for folks outside of the US I have set up the same contest just for you on my UK based U-Handblog.

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Article dated: Jan 18th, 08: In the UK internet sales were up (54%) on last December’s figures. Sales figures for bricks & mortar shops were virtually unchanged in the same period. The growth in internet sales is said to be at the expense of bricks & mortar shops… “There is no growth anywhere else. Internet has become the dynamo of retail”. To see a larger version of this cheery article click here. I have stuck this newspaper snippet on my office wall!

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And in other UK & USA articles I found:

• Christmas shoppers choose web over High St (UK)
• 15% of retail spend was online in 2007 (UK)
• Online surge rescues UK retail sales (UK)
  
• More good news for web retailers (UK)
• Online retail growth robust (USA)
• Online holiday sales peak in afternoon, sales up 19% (USA)
• Online retail sales continue to surge (USA)

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So what might be the reasons that internet sales figures are bucking the trend? As an e-comm business owner I can make some informed guesses;

• Lower cost of goods – setting up and running an e-comm business is sooo much cheaper than a bricks and mortar shop, and those savings can be passed onto customers. This makes the price of e-comm goods cheaper and obviously more attractive to the consumer.
• Convenience to the consumer – e-comm shops are (normally) open 24/7, there’s no stressful queuing at packed tills, there is often better choice and more units per product available, it’s quick and easy, and you don’t have to carry the stuff home (even the post & packaging usually costs less than the bus/train fare, petrol & parking).
• The lack of stress – (this is why I did 90% of my Christmas shopping online last year). I could choose unique gifts, get fun suggestions for presents on various blogs, browse loads of different products in loads of different e-comm shops without moving my bum and all the comfort of my pajamas, slippers, and a mug of hot choccie; how civilized!
• The internet LOVES the indie store keeper - Look at your local shopping street, doesn’t the predominance of High St stores get right on your nerves? It’s true they definitely do have a place and most of us do shop in them, but it’s such a pity the small indie shopper just can’t compete. This means that local, friendly and specialist indie shops are fast disappearing and this means lack of TRUE choice for the consumer. Not so on the internet, the beautiful thing about the web is that it makes the gaming ground even so (with consistent marketing efforts) indie folks like you and me can open up and run our specialist shops.

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Do you prefer to shop online? How do you feel about the reported economic down turn (in terms or running /setting up your own craft business?)

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1. Get yourself a separate bank account – it doesn’t have to be a business account, it should just be separate account (with cheque book and debit card) that you use for depositing money from your sales and where you draw money from for your craft business. If you keep this account separate from your personal bank accounts you will be able to clearly keep a track of what you are earning from your business, and it will make doing the accounts sooooooooooooo much easier.
2. Look into what status you will be as a self employed person for accounts and tax purposes - it may not matter so much at the early stages or even if you plan to just run a low-key craft business, but if things are beginning to take off or you are looking for this to be your sole source of income than you need to look into things like tax on earnings etc. Various tax laws obviously differ from country to country. Make yourself aware of what expected of you by asking at your local Inland Revenue, IRS or whatever group of folks deal with that sort of thing. It’s best to do it now rather than get yourself into trouble later down the line! Of course if you’re a bit of an ostrich (like me) you can ask your accountant or accountant friend to sort this out for you.
3. Identify who will do your accounts - and start doing them from the beginning. For my business I have enlisted the services of a friendly accountant because I’m a mathematics MORON.
4. Keep every single one of your receipts for everything that you spend on your craft business – even if that receipt is just for a £0.50 D ring. It all adds up and it all counts because it will save you money in the long run. Keep your receipts in a box or file for your accounts.
5. Packaging & stationary - spend a little time in thinking about how you are going package and present your craft products. Do you want to add in little treats like pins or sweets etc. Are you going to use coloured tissue paper, ribbon, bubble wrap, padded envelopes, what size boxes might you need, what size envelope or boxes might you need for larger or small orders? You’ll also need stationary like packing tape, envelopes, stamps, paper etc.
6. What are you going to call your company? - When you have settled upon a name you might want to consider seeing if the internet domain names are available to purchase (indeed your choice of company name may well be determined by this). Domain names are so much cheaper if they haven’t yet been bought by someone else. If you want to buy a domain name that already exists the owner has be willing to sell that name to you and sometimes they charge crazy amounts of money for the name! If you purchase the domain name now you then have the freedom to set up your own website at a later stage. For my business I knew from the beginning that I was going to trade from my own website so my choice of business name was greatly influenced by what domain names were available. As soon as I came up with the U-Handbag name I purchased both .com and .co.uk domains.
7. Get yourself a digital camera to take shots of your products – you may also want photo editing software (like photoshop) to enhance your shots as well, but if you take clear, well lit shots with your camera I wouldn’t worry too much about photo editing at the very beginning of your business.
8. Branding - are you going to have business cards, labels, headed paper, compliments slips?
9. Separate email – consider getting yourself a separate email address for everything concerned with your craft business – it’s easy enough to get yourself a free email account and having a separate email account will make life easier.
10. Regular access to a computer and printer - I know this may sound really obvious, but last year my printer died and that really messed things up for me because I couldn’t print my order sheets and address labels so I had to hand write everything which was such a pain in the bum (I now have a back-up printer just in case). Also in the past I have had a rubbish internet connection and that gave me sleepness nights, going to an internet cafe to run my business was a nightmare, I have since changed providers.

This is about as good as my math gets.

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A lot of this info will apply to most any business or blog on the web all you’ll need is few hours a week and a digi camera.The main thing to remember is when using these sites for marketing purposes is to play nice; that means it’s not a good idea (and it is frowned upon) when users just plain advertise themselves without making any contribution. For instance on my own blog I don’t make any attempt to hide the fact that I use it for marketing purposes, but I hope that by writing tutorials, personal content, highlighting the work of others, and holding some draws on my blog, the marketing for my shop isn’t offensive to my readers. With sites like Flickr it’s the same; it’s good practice to give your readers a bone and make it worth their while to read your content especially if it contains marketing…

**UPDATE** Carrie has very helpfully reiminded me of this important Flickr guideline:
“Don’t use Flickr for commercial purposes. Flickr is for personal use only. If we find you selling products, services, or yourself through your photostream, we will terminate your account. Any other commercial use of Flickr, Flickr technologies (including APIs, FlickrMail, etc), or Flickr accounts must be approved by Flickr. For more information on leveraging Flickr APIs, please see our Services page…”

Today I will look at my favourite social site – Flickr. It is very powerful, slick and it has so much to offer in terms of communicating and marketing. Flickr is much more than storage site for your photos. Here are some groovy marketing things that you can do with Flickr:

• Upload relevant images - and put your web link in the description box like I have with this image. The link is for a tutorial on my other blog that I have written on how to use purse twist locks in the hope that it will encourage readers to give them a try on their bags. In the blog tutorial there are links to my shop where the twist locks can be purchased if they so wish.  In this way the link on my photo doesn’t lead to a product in my shop, so I am not flouting the rules!

My purse twist lock photo in Flickr.

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• Join and create Groups - If you look at the right hand side of my photo you will see that the photo also belongs to different Pools. Pools are photo groups which have been set up by Flickr users to group photos in a manner of their choosing. I have set up 2 pools of my own; the U-Handbag Handmade Bag Pool (which is a pool for anyone to put their handmade bag pics where we can comment on each other’s handy work), and the Amy Butler Bags Pool (which is a pool that I use for the Amy Butler contest that I run every month, and I use the pool to show my customers what other folks have made using Amy’s patterns). If you can’t find pools that are relevant to you, just set up your own, it’s easy! If you click on any of these pools in my twist lock image you will see that my twist lock photo is included in other Pools (groups of photos). This means that my image is potentially being viewed by thousands of folks all around the world (and it doesn’t’ cost me anything)! If your photo and title is useful, relevant, or just offering something nice it has a greater chance of being clicked on and viewed by more folks.

• Comment on other people’s images – Do you see the ‘Add your comment’ box at the bottom of my image? You can also put your own link in that box too. Of course it’s a good idea to stay relevant and be respectful if you are going to do this. For example someone could comment on my twist lock photo by saying “I’ve made a purse with a twist lock too, I’ve blogged about it here http://…………” – which could link to their blog which could then link to a bag shop etc. Therefore, anyone who views my twist lock photo will also view the comments on the photo too.

• Add your links in your personal Flickr profile - like I have in my profile.

• AND WHEN - When you’ve done some or all of the stuff above take the Flickr links to your photos and your groups and place them on your site/your blog and link back because those search engines like them Flickr Urls – YAY! Spend a few hours each on Flickr each week and see your traffic increase, have fun!

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Do you use Flickr? Have you tried any of the above tools, do you you know of anymore Flickr tricks?

So, why if you are already selling in Etsy or Ebay (check out Megan’s blog for some very sound advice on Ebay selling) would you ALSO want to sell elsewhere? The answer is because it’s fabulous marketing. Most of you will already be aware that making gorgeous craft is only half the story in craft business, the other just as important half is marketing yourself and your craft. Selling your craft in more than one shop means that you, your craft, and your blog (hopefully you do have one), is being seen by more potential customers. Well run shopping mall sites rank high in the search engines which means that your crafty goodness is going to get viewed by more folks. You may in the future decide that you don’t want to run more than one shop at a time, but why not try running more than one shop for now, just to get your name out there?

In each shop that you run, be a smarty pants and include these links in your seller profile:

1. your email address (for custom orders),
2. your other shops,
3. your blog

Check out some of these other craft shopping mall sites (there are quite a few others too; do a google):

• Etsy
• DaWanda
• Ebay
• RedBubble
• ArtFlock
• Handmade Catalog

Other ways to sell your craft products:

• Your own website – I think this is the best option for professionalism and exclusivity (whereas on shopping mall sites you are competing with lots of other sellers). This is the option I decided upon when I first set up my business. I scrimped and saved enough money to pay for professional design and some programming. The only thing is with your own website you REALLY gotta work at marketing yourself.
  
• Party selling – I have few regular readers of my other blog who sell their bags through parties and it really works for them. Party selling is a brilliant option if you have access to lots of work colleagues, you are part of a sports team/institute/group/you attend church/ any sizeable group or network that you or your friends are involved with. Get the guys and gals round, bring some wine, some nice nibbles and host a party where people can see the artist and see and feel your crafty goods.
• Sell from your own blog – tell your readers about the crafting process, share your disasters (for a giggle) and share your successes (with a tutorial perhaps). Then why not sell the craft item that you have been blogging about. Wouldn’t it be helpful to your readers to be able to buy the craft item that you have been blogging about straight from your blog? This way the immediacy and the excitement about your craft item is far less likely to be lost and your craft item will not be competing with others on a shopping mall site (if that’s where you also sell). Try it for FREE for 3 months.
• Craft Markets - this is what I used to do and it’s where my crafting journey began. Christmas was by far my busiest time. I think markets are a great place to meet other crafters, learn about customer behaviour, and learn about craft business in general. If you haven’t done a craft market or fair before it’s pretty hard work, but it can be very rewarding and great fun. How about sharing a table (and the costs) with a friend if you haven’t done it before?

Fairs are a great way to meet other crafters!

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How do you sell your craft items? Do you have more than one shop?

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Well there’s still time to make a little more to sell a little more, and there are always last minute Larry’s and Laura’s who will be looking for a cute Xmas gift way too close to the deadline! So make the most of the opportunity and make some seasonal craft goodness to sell in your shop. I perhaps wouldn’t go all out with the Santas and Xmas trees (do have some, but make less of those rather than more). I think that winter themed products do well becuase they have a longer life. The more use you can get out of an item, the more value it has.

Here’s a list of Christmassey/Winter themed items that won’t take too long to whip up, so they won’t cost as much to make (at least time-wise) and therefore you can sell them for a bit less. Which means they should sell faster YAY! :

1. Garlands – make them from knitting, felt, wire and bead, sewn, or knotted, or padded fabric, buttons, drift wood, glass, leather etc.etc. folks love handmade garlands, they look so much better than the yukky stuff you can buy in shops, and if they are not too Christmassey they can be left to hang up after the holiday season is over.
2. Mobiles – see above
3. Ornaments/decorations – See above
4. Tree ornaments - see above. if they are not Christmassey, why not suggest to your customers that they can double up as key keepers when the holidays are over.
5. Candle holders - make them fun and cute, or classy and elegant. Why not sell the candles too (or even offer a free candle) just to make the customer’s life easier.
6. Bags or purses, or clutches - Well, I have to mention them, because that’s what I’m all about, and the women in my family are all getting handmade bags this Christmas!
7. Napkin rings, place mats, and seating card holders.
8. Scented candles, potpourri, ornaments, mini pillows.
9. Christmas cards/wrapping paper – well that obvious isn’t it!
10. Christmas stockings – see above
11. Baby bibs, soft toys (be careful to use baby friendly ingredients!), booties, and mittens.
12. Doggie Jackets – well my dog is getting a new one! Everyone who sees him in his old jacket just melts
13. Scarves, mittens, socks, hats, slippers – so much nicer than getting a dodgy shop bought one by your aunt!
14. Hair decorations – make something special and sparkley to put in customers hair so they can dazzle at the office party
15. Brooches/Corsages - see above.

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Happy Making! I’d love to hear what Wintery or Christmassy items you are selling/going to sell in your shop

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