You must consider selling your things online even if you have never before. The barrage of benefits of selling online are simply overwhelming.
To begin, selling online has become easier than ever before. You don’t need your own website & you don’t have to spend any money up front (think Etsy.com…). You have some amazing free tools that allow you to get the word out about your product far & wide (think Pinterest…).
A few years back you would have to spend a good sum of money to do all this. Today other multimillion dollar businesses make it simple for you to do business.
We wrote a post sometime back on “Why This Is the Right Time to Start a Handcrafting Business.” Read it.
It has a lot to do with how things have changed with online shopping for handicrafts. You can reach customers far & wide & literally sell all over the world from your home. Doesn’t that sound super appealing? Don’t just take our word for it. Head over to Etsy & see the thousands of crafters like you selling an amazing array of stuff.
Once again, we will repeat a warning. As tempted as you are to jump in & start your own store on Etsy, don’t do it. The lure is irresistible since it literally takes 5 minutes to get started. However, it is just as easy to get lost in the sea of crafters. To make your Etsy shop success, read our section on Etsy Selling Success. Better still, download Craft Income Secrets as a point source, one point reference to success with online selling.
Here are a few things you need to do before you start selling online.
- Choose a business name.
You know this. We have already written about it here.
- Work in a niche.
We have also written about this. Do everything you can’t make a craft different. Play around with colors, fabric, design, prints etc. till you have something that stands out from other items, and has your own personal signature stamp on it.
- Make it a point to great product pictures to upload online.
This is the only way your potential customers are going to appreciate your craft. So show them as much as you can in as beautiful manner as you can.
- Get social media ready.
Be ready to promote your online listing on popular social platforms like Facebook & Pinterest.
- Get computer savvy.
Many crafters cringe from the thought of selling online because of the amount of computer prowess involved. There’s no denying it. Selling online is going to involve spending a lot of time on the computer. You have the option of letting someone else to this part of the work. But that usually only happens if you have another person like your spells helping you.
Therefore, you will have to get used to the following computer usage:
- Editing pictures
- Uploading pictures
- Listing items on various e-commerce sites
- Writing product descriptions
- Handling queries & sales
- Blogging (optional)
- Posting on Facebook, Pinterest, etc. (optional)
All this can seem like a lot of work. And it is. To be honest, you may even find it less interesting than doing your sewing work. However, your excitement with the entire process is bound to pick up once the sales start coming in.
my name is srujana and iam interested to do sewing job at home, but how to get a order for stitching a cloths…….please tell or give me information regarding this work.
I can make stuff dolling pillows and center pieces for end tables or center tables I would like to see how many sales I can get out there to sell.Just tell me what you like
send me your email if you would like to see one of the models.