Advice on Taking the Leap into Selling Your Crafts

To many of us, crafting is a hobby. A very interesting one, but still a hobby. We like making cute little things and sometimes we gift them to our friends. The most talented of us even may sell our work and it is very nice to get some money for it.

I am not going to give you a magical equation for getting richer, if I knew it – I would use it, but there are things we can do more efficiently and still have good time. So, it depends on how much time you are willing to invest in this.

Sell on Etsy
Etsy is a nice idea to get those first customers. Make sure you write as much as you can about the product, promote it as a gift for Halloween/Christmas/Thanksgiving/etc. and take nice photographs that will appeal to your customers. Encourage your customers to leave feedback and put the feedback in your store, website, and blog.
Etsy is also a great place to find out what other people are creating and how they are selling their work. Take time to search and you will find valuable tips.

Create a website/blog
It looks like an easy thing to do, just write something and millions of people all over the world will go there and buy your things. Well, think again. To make people even just read what you are writing is quite a hassle so expecting them to dig into their pocket, even if it is not expensive, definitely takes time. It is not impossible; people do it. But it is not a simple formula.
So, for those of you who just started their business I would absolutely recommend to create a simple website. It does look professional to give your website address to customers that are interested through other marketing strategies.

Offline selling
This is actually very good for people who’s crafts are not that expensive because most of us will not buy things that cost under $5 because it’s a hassle and there are shipment costs. On the other hand when you are selling at a craft fair, people could like your creation and buy it on the spot without planning and searching for crafts online.

Business Cards
It is not that expensive to print a couple of thousands of business cards where you give info about your crafts and where do you sell them. This is a great place to promote your website. The people who will enter your site through your business cards will go there to look and even buy your crafts. Make sure your business cards are simple and understandable, do not load them with text.

Don’t give up
Most of all, don’t give up. It takes time, a lot of time, but if you like crafting you won’t mind. Make sure you spend more time on crafting then on promoting.
Good luck!

Written by Jessica Whittenberg. You can find Jessica at her blog, kitchentandt.blogspot.com.