Sign up to receive a fortnightly email from say it with news and fresh designs

Monday 30 April 2012

Advertising my handmade shop

How do people know I'm here? How do they find my shop? I know that people will only purchase my handmade items if they somehow find their way into my little tiny section on Folksy. A few people may stumble across it by accident or come through the Folksy search function, but on the whole people won't know about my shop unless I tell them.

So I've spent the last month researching advertising. I've emailed people, joined up to new sites and been uploading pictures. And I thought you may be interested in the types of advertising I've found. Warning: I discovered lots of interesting sites, so this is quite a long post!

Social Networking
Everyone talks about Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Stumbleupon etc etc. so I'll not say much, but it's definitely worth using at least one of these - just make sure you include good links to your shop. Facebook is one of my biggest sources of traffic.

Blogging
Blogs are a great way of being able to say more about what you do. I like the freedom of being able to write about whatever I want. Make sure you add a followers button and/or an option to sign up to follow by email, so that people are notified when you write a new post. And include a big fat visible link to your shop.
Also, commenting on other people's blogs is a great way of networking. I've found they often come over and take a peek at my blog just to see who it is who's left a comment. I have a new rule that I'm not allowed to read three blog posts without commenting on at least one of them. And as a blogger, it's so encouraging to know that someone stopped by to read what you write.

Forums
I'm not a forum person. I don't think I ever commented on a Forum in my life before I set up say it. I don't mind reading them, but I never really thought about contributing. Now I post in Forums almost every day. The first obvious one is the forum for the site you sell through (Folksy forums are great, so friendly). Then have a look out for other handmade / craft websites that have a community of sellers - UK Handmade and Creative Connections are good places to start.

Craftjuice
Add a link to an item in your shop then get others to vote for you. If you get to five votes, they post your item on their facebook page. But don't stop voting - the top voted items in the month get featured in a monthly email. It's really easy to use and is a simple bit of extra free advertising. Can I encourage you to sign up to Craftjuice and get started. Then visit the 'craft talk' thread in the Folksy forums and add your item to the Craftjuice topic - we all vote for each other :-)

Craft Directories
There are several sites / blogs that include a directory of makers, designers, handmade shops and crafty blogs. Many of these will add you for free. So far I have discovered The Crafty Network, Handmade Crafts Directory, Crafty Bitz, and UK Craft Blog, but there are probably many more. If it's free you may as well get yourself listed, it only takes a few minutes.

Non-craft advertising sites
It's good sometimes to venture outside our safe craft bubble, because most of our customers will probably be out there in the world and may not know to look on specific sites for handmade goodies. This is a little bit trial and error, but I have found that Freeads is quite good and brings a little bit of traffic to my shop. It also gives you quite good google search ratings. It takes a while to upload photos, but you get a free advert so can't really complain!

Virtual shop fronts / interactive advertising
The latest additions to my advertising are sites that offer you a shop front, but that link through to your existing shop (on Folksy or wherever) if someone wants to buy something. See my sale is a new site that's only just opened, but looks promising. It's not just for handmade crafts, so again helps to branch out and reach different people. Stallholder looks like another valuable site. I've only just signed up and I'm still figuring out how it works, but essentially it looks like a shop front that links to your own site when someone clicks 'buy now'. And if you have a spare fiver, Craftfest is an online craft fair event (the next one runs for a week in June) - sign up and get your own virtual table which you can add your products to.

Get yourself featured
There are lots of bloggers out there who regularly do interviews with designer-makers. Sometimes they have a form to register your interest in being featured, sometimes they do a shout out on facebook asking for volunteers, and sometimes you just have to be brave and get in touch (the worst that can happen is that they say no!). It takes a little while to write thought through answers to the questions, but it may be time well spent. Check out the interviews on Handmade Harbour, The Crafty Network and Heart Handmade (and look out for say it featuring soon on at least one of these!).

Join a blog ring / link party
I had no idea what a blog ring was until a few weeks ago. Apparently they used to be popular 'back in the day'. The lovely Sarah from Merry Berry and the Little Panda has just set one up - find out more here.
You can also join in with link parties, where you leave a link to your blog and check out the other blogs that have been linked. It's a good way to both find new blogs to read yourself and get a few new visitors to your blog. I like Handmade Monday, but there are many to choose from.

And if you have a little money to spend...
I'm just beginning to think about spending some money on advertising. I had a trial with google adwords and whilst it brought lots of visitors I didn't get one sale from it, so have put that on hold. It's very expensive too - I had £55 to try out and it lasted about six weeks with two different ads running. For cheaper options try a Made it Flaunt it showcase (£5 per item per monthly showcase), UK Handmade showcase (£10 per showcase) or The Handmade Gift Guide (£2.95 per item for six weeks).
And if you have a local magazine or village newsletter it's worth contacting them to see how expensive their advertising is. My local one is pretty expensive, but my mum's one does small ads for 20p per word so I might give that a go.

Phew, I think that's everything! I can't guarantee that any of these will bring you visitors or sales. I'm monitoring google analytics closely to see which ones work for me - and maybe I'll write another post in a couple of months letting you know which ones brought the most traffic. EDIT - follow up post is here.

I'm sure this is only the tip of the iceberg and there are probably loads of great ways of advertising that I've not discovered yet. Feel free to comment if there are any you know of.

I'm linking this post to Handmade Monday. Hello to any readers who have popped in from there - I hope this was a useful post for you. If, having finished this post, you're in search of more interesting crafty blogs to read, why not pop over to Handmade Monday and see what else is linked.

44 comments:

  1. What a great blog post - lots of interesting and very relevant points. Marketing and promotion is vital for any business, perhaps more so for ours as it is not so high profile as we would like it to be. Many thanks for all the great links too. Hope you have a good week.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Brilliant post - really must get of my backside & start advertising. Thanks for the tips

    ReplyDelete
  3. Interesting post, I do a few of these but not all, time for a bit of action me thinks.

    Thank you from a new follower

    Jan @ Handcrafted by Picto

    ReplyDelete
  4. A brilliant post with loads of great tips. I love your blog reading/commenting rule!

    Can I add one more about blogging - this one has worked *so* well for me and it brings in search engine visitors who then go on to buy *and* it lasts for years. This is what I do: blog about a specific product, with optimised key words and images titled with key words and - this is the important bit - add a link to the page where they can buy it. I'm still getting sales from blog posts that are over 2 years old using this method (and you can see how it would add up, over the years if you blogged about every product!). It's much easier to be found in search engines for very specific terms than for generic terms.

    Oh, and thanks for the links to my blogs - much appreciated! x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a great idea Wendy, thanks for sharing. I shall have to start doing that as I usually post about groups of items.

      Delete
  5. Thank you very much for such an interesting and useful post! I definitely need to think more about it!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks so much for popping over to take a look and for such lovely comments. I think we can all do more to advertise, but the great thing is that some of the ideas I've found are so quick and simple to do.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great summary, thanks - going to check out a couple of places I hadn't heard of.

    Getting to non-crafty folk is the real challenge, so selling on a site with good SEO is critical. It's worth shopping around to see what sites will get you higher google rankings, particularly if you're selling in a popular area like jewellery.

    Alison x

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi, this is great info Alison. I am definitely in the same position you were in a while back and I am busy working out the best options to try out for my product, having started with forums, twitter, FB etc, I am now looking for targeted marketing and advertising. Thanks for giving me this link to your blog.I've no doubt I shall pop back for more! Fiona

    ReplyDelete
  9. Alison,

    Great blog post - really useful and lots of ideas to mull over!

    Fiona

    ReplyDelete
  10. Lots of tips. Some sites I've not heard of before! Thank you

    ReplyDelete
  11. Great post! Thanks for all the information! I've just joined the Make and Sell Blog Ring, looking forward to seeing what comes of that!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I have not yet made that jump into selling - too scared but I will one day (hopefully soon) and your info was really useful, thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You should definitely try selling your items. It's not that scary. Why not try it out, put a few items up on a site and get some feedback from the forums? People are always happy to take a look on Folksy. Give it a go :-)

      Delete
  13. really informative post with some great ideas - thank you for sharing! :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. God information for anyone starting out

    ReplyDelete
  15. Great blog, with lots of useful information and explanations - thank you.

    Has nudged me into registering with Craftjuice, plus so many other ideas to follow up.

    Keep writing please!

    Sue

    ReplyDelete
  16. That was so useful and really well written. Have you put a link to it from Folksy? I bet loads of people would find it useful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sarah. Glad you found it useful. I've put a couple of links on the folksy forums, so hopefully people will see it.

      Delete
  17. Great blog post, thanks for sharing! xx

    ReplyDelete
  18. Jolly interesting read... always good to check on other avenues to improve your profile :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. This is really interesting, thank you for posting your finds! I will bare in mind and research some of these for when I reopen my shop :) xx

    ReplyDelete
  20. You post was so interesting! I don't sell anything on my blog, I just make things for fun (and to give to unsuspecting friends and family) but all of your research is still interesting to me, and I think this would be so helpful to all of the others out there who have craft businesses. Thank you for sharing your hard work!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Some really great tips there. I will certainly revisit this post when I open my online shop.
    LH
    x

    ReplyDelete
  22. Looks like a great post, am gonna grab a cuppa and have a read! Hx

    ReplyDelete
  23. Thank you all so much for your lovely comments. I'm really pleased that my research into advertising has been useful to others too.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Fabulous blog - I was directed from MerryBerry through Folksy when asking for advise. Now encouraged me to blog - only ever done 2 before and was a bit scared. Nor ready to blog my life away! LOL

    Thanks so much x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for leaving a comment. It's great to know that this post has been read by, and helpful to, so many. Definitely start blogging - it's a great way to share tips and ideas, tutorials etc. or just to 'chat' about what you've been making. Go for it!

      Delete
  25. I just saw the link to this blog on Folksy forum. Congratulations on such a good, helpful blog and I've just put an ad on free ads, so fingers crossed it generates some traffic and sales!

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for leaving a comment. Glad you found it helpful :) I hope the free ads advert brings in some extra visitors for you. I'll be reporting back next month on what has been successful after monitoring my traffic for a while.

      Delete
  26. Hi

    Its great too see CreatiV bloggers looking at other forms of promotion other than depending on marketplace passing trade.

    There are so many advertising opportunities to be had online when you know where to look. I would like to add that don't forget the world offline. I always carry a good amount of biz cards and pass them out while i do my daily life tasks.

    Popping a biz card on a few cars as you walk back to your car in the car-park. Asking your local library if you can leave a few, especially if they have a exhibition section. My local petrol station usually lets people leave a few biz cards or flyers by the till.

    Just sharing a few ideas i have and still use. I share more from my place in cyberspace too.

    have a blessed day
    Janet

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Janet. That's so true about offline promotion - thanks for sharing your ideas.

      Delete
  27. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Hi I found this link on Foksy forums.

    Great blog. Thank you for the tips!

    ( I had to remove my first post because the l didn't come out as I typed and it read great bog!)

    ReplyDelete
  29. Hi, thank you for sharing the efforts of your research,I'm bookmarking this page for reference when I have a bit more time

    Bindu

    ReplyDelete
  30. Thank you so much for sharing this information it's really useful, and definitely something to get working with.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Brilliant post - really useful information. I'm off to join a Blogring!

    ReplyDelete
  32. Thanks..this was a really helpful post, I'll have to point my daughter this way too

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for popping by and leaving a comment. It's great to know this post is helpful for people :-)

      Delete
  33. As a dyslexic, this font is impossible for me to read :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh no, I'm sorry. Thanks for pointing this out. I'll have to look at making it clearer to read. I'll send you a copy of the text so that you're able to read it.

      Delete
  34. This is really helpful - thank you.I got the link through Folksy.I have bookmarked some of the sites that you mentioned and will try them out.

    Nora Hessayon ( http://folksy.com/shops/leahrose )

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your lovely comment. So glad it's been helpful for you. I hope it helps to bring some extra customers to your shop - which is lovely btw, just had a browse :-)

      Delete

Thanks for your comments, I always love reading them.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...