On Getting Small Online Businesses Noticed
Last night was unbearably hot. The heat was so intense I was wide awake at 3 AM, after having taken a cold shower at midnight in the hopes of cooling down, only to find myself even more awake than before. Since I was clearly not going to bed any time soon, I decided to do something useful with the time and went to read a couple of blogs and forums. The facebook fan page for Etsy had an interesting question on their discussion board. The question was the following: “How can I get my Etsy noticed?” This is something I wonder a lot myself. I’ve only had 4 sales since December, all by the same person. I’m assuming they were satisfied with the items as they left no feedback, and I find that no feedback is better than negative feedback. Still I find myself spending everyday trying to think of ways to promote my shop and increase sales. Economy is though on everyone though so at the same time I feel like a bit of a hypocrite for wanting people to buy my things but not being able to buy anything from fellow artists myself. I guess they’re in the same boat as well.
People around me continue to suggest that I find out how I can set up shop as an artisan, so that I can set up a booth somewhere and sell my things. I did find out, more or less, and the steps are more complicated than people think. It’s easier to register as a business than to register as an artisan, the former of which I already did. Well, I submitted an application in any case, don’t know how long it will take for them to get back to me. I should probably check my mail more often… Regardless! I have to admit I am toying with the idea of just taking a table and chairs and placing it in the middle of some road somewhere or street and just hoping for the best. It’s probably illegal unless you have a permit, and like usual I have no idea where to get such permits or where to even ask. There are street vendors all town and I do wonder if they all have permits or are just winging it.
The question asked on facebook brought me to this page: http://handmademarketer.com/category/resources/ by Justine Smith. I have to say her story is inspirational, but at the same time I can’t help but feel a bit jealous. However she does have some excellent tips. Some of the things she made me dwell on include not always blogging/facebooking/tweeting about yourself, but also showcasing other talent that you found/liked/saw, even if you didn’t buy it, if you liked it you should tell others about it. Chances are they’ll like it too and maybe even want to buy, and even though you didn’t get sales you did just help a fellow artist get sales and that is just as important. Other excellent tips are her advertising and promoting info. While there are a lot of free resources to advertise and promote, sometimes we have to realize that we DO have to spend a little money in order to earn a profit. We can’t expect everything to be free and then be upset when the results are also cheap. There are many free resources to promote your shops, but we should also take the ones that require some money as odds are they will help us more in the long run.
That said, if you’re like me and you have a small shop and just aren’t ready to advertise with bigger fish, Justine has an excellent article on 50 FREE Places to Promote Your Etsy Shop. I suggest that anyone with an online shop read this, as it’s a great resource!
I have to say actually, read all of Justine’s website, the entire thing is simply shock full of helpful information! I’m not one to usually advertise for other people, but I am really glad I found this site and I feel strongly that others can benefit from it too.
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