Etsy, Artfire, 1000 Markets, SilkFair, IndiePublic....I'm getting dizzy. Twitter, Facebook, Flickr...all the places (plus SO many more) we can sell or promote our craft. Do we help ourselves by using as many of them as we can or does this hurt, taking away from time best utilized elsewhere?
I'd love to hear of your most efficient combinations of promotional sites, social networking sites, and sales venues. So far I think I am doing too much promoting in too many places, having to maintain pages on so many sites that I forget to update some of them! What's your winning combo? Where do you best spend your precious time promoting? I'd love to know!
Hi there! I was reading some chat comments on Etsy about a new site called Crafter's Corner, where I just found your adorable boots featured on the front page. It was love at first sight! So, after I found your Etsy shop, I found your blog link...and here I am...and very amazed to see this post, with the same questions I've had on my mind!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I believe you have to pick and choose and limit yourself so that you still have time to complete your projects. I recently spent a lot of time looking at Etsy team possibilites and decided to limit myself to just 2--the Quiltsy Team and the INCrowdteam. I can see myself involved with those teams on a long term basis, so that's how I made my decision--even if I wasn't selling anything, I know I would enjoy the contact with both the quilters and people in my own state--in case I find a good friend, I would be close enough to visit...ha, ha!
Also, I just started a blog in June and can see from my web host tracking that I've had quite a bit of traffic from my blog to my web site. I just passed on that info to one of my friends and encouraged her to sign up for a blog tonight, which she did, because it's quick and easy and now everyone else can enjoy the beautiful quilt pictures she had just emailed me. (That is a great time-saver, versus emailing everyone who likes to see what you're working on-which is what I was doing before I started the blog.)
I love being able to use the Etsy gallery on the blog and on separate web sites. Once I started blogging, I started learning about some of the places you mentioned, which I had never heard of before. Actually, I had never heard of Etsy before last year, either (too busy sewing and computing!) I have a long term customer/friend who became a regular shopper on Etsy and she's the one who suggested I try it. I had previously been a long term ebay seller, but I was very discouraged when they removed their handmade category from the bags and purses and I was looking at other options. So, I decided to give Etsy a try, but I also made a decision to invest my best efforts into my own web sites, so that's where I have spent most of my time this year. I just recently decided to relist my items on Etsy (again, because of the encouragement of my customer/friend). Also, another friend/Etsy seller started joining teams and encouraged me to do so, but I decided to wait until I got my shop reopened and then I researched which teams I would want to join. Again, part of that decision was for my own benefit, but it's also based on how a customer would search: 1) buying local to get their purchases quickly--something I like to do myself, when ordering supplies, and 2) buying in a favorite category (quilt-related). Basically, I have learned a lot from my best customer/friend and how she thinks as a regular online shopper, so I keep her input in mind.
My web host tracking helps me to see that visitors to my site consistently look through all my pages and I know which types of items attract the most interest. My site traffic has been steady and growing this year, so I feel that the time I invested was worth it and I will continue to invest the majority of my time continuing to improve my sites.
Overall, I think it's important to research before you commit. Know what your priorities and goals are (and your limits!)...and then try to find the best match for your needs, while providing reliable customer service.
Anyway, thanks for listening...I'm glad I found you. I really love your Etsy shop name and I will be thinking about those cute little baby booties for the first grandbaby due in January!
Pam
Wow, thanks Pam, it's good to hear your perspective, and see how your thinking evolved. I hope that our choices make for the most effective use of our precious time!
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