Sunday, October 26, 2014

Up your Etsy Game



Over the course of starting a crafty business, I have made some mistakes.

Selling my work online has been one.

I focused my efforts on local stores and I threw up (good analogy!) an Etsy page because I wanted to have an online shop, but then I left it to wilt and didn't do anything to even tell people it was there.

To be honest, I didn't want to take the time to take photos, write the descriptions and post them.  I just wanted to get my jewelry into people's hands and doing all of those extra steps, took time away from making the actual jewelry.

A few things have happened that have changed my mind and decide to put real effort into an online shop:

When I post my photos online, people ask where they can buy them.  Now, as a person building a thriving business, you never want your potential customers to wonder and have to ask where they can buy from you.  You want to make it blatantly obvious and as easy as possible for them to buy from you. 

Your local community is finite.  There are only a limited number of people who live where you live and shop in the stores that feature your work locally.  If you want to reach more people (and you may not, which is perfectly fine too) putting your work online can help you get in front of the most people.

When you sell online, you have direct interaction with your customers.  You get to hear their questions and feedback, which helps you improve your product and your descriptions.  You can also do more custom work based on their specific interests and requests.

When you sell direct to your customers, you cut out the expense of the middle man.  Yes, you will have Etsy and Paypal fees, but they will be significantly less than the percentage that a store may charge.  You can charge the retail price for your work, rather than the wholesale price that you will get from stores (of course you are paying for the stores to do the selling for you, so they justifiably should be paid for their efforts.)  If you do the work of selling, you get the profit.

I truly believe you get out what you put in.  There is no "build it and they will come."  You have to build it and keep on telling people about it.  Then, you need to keep building it better.  Posting better photos, writing better descriptions based on what your customers are telling you.


So, this week I freshened up  my Etsy page, by taking new photos and really spending some love there.  Of course, my camera batteries died and I had to venture forth to the drug store and leave the comfort of my pajamas...I so love working in my pajamas.  They're paint smeared and have reindeer on them and I threaten my daughter that I'm going to start walking the dog in them...but I digress.

Part of building a business is you get to decide where you are going to focus your limited time, energy and resources. 

Where will you spend your energy today to build your business?  

p.s. 
I would love if you stopped by to visit my updated online shop and let me know what you think.





3 comments:

Unknown said...

HI Kelly! It's Cynthia ... and i have been selling from my wordpress site but I have been considering if I should have an etsy shop instead or as well.

Do you have any thoughts about that?

Kelly D said...

Hi Cynthia, I do have thoughts...one of the things I struggle with is where to devote my limited time and energy and Etsy takes a LOT of both to make it a success. I think you have to really embrace the social media aspect of it, join groups on Etsy and get your work in front of people who might not otherwise see it. I myself have not done this, even though I know it's the way to grow my shop. I just looked at your shop and I really appreciate your deeper connection to your community and to those who purchase your work. You may get different exposure to people who might not find you otherwise if you advertise and do the group building thing on Etsy, but you have to weigh where to spend your time to build. My husband just came in and saw your work when I was looking at it and was blown away.

Unknown said...

sigh. it all takes work of some kind, doesn't it. LOL!

I am glad I asked you. I didn't know anything about groups on etsy. I think I am going to put it on the table of things to consider for 2015. For the first time, I am going to submit to be in a show ... in October of next year. It's a lot of local people and no one there has art work like mine. I am working now on building up a supply of smaller items because not everyone is coming to spend several hundred dollars on one painting. But it will get me out there.

Thanks for the input. now I am off to order a ring ... I've been looking for a ring, something that will symbolize my commitment to to myself and my art. I love what you create.