HandmadeMarketing.org is excited to hear Twitter tips from Hilary, a blogger dedicated to helping handmade sellers sell more online on her site Haptree and Me. Hilary also sells handmade online at Etsy.com.

In an article published on her blog called “Twitter Lists and Listorious – Craft Link HQ“, she outlines all things Twitter.

In the article, Hilary shares her thoughts on why she likes Twitter lists.

“You can have your main home page with all those voices and then go STOP! I just want to hear from my select buddies and click on your list, enabling more free flowing chat,” she explains. “Or maybe I just need to see what the crafty folk are up to today, so I’ll click on that Twitter list.”

Hilary says she is going to begin searching for bloggers like herself to add to her Twitter list called Craft Links HQ. She will be looking for bloggers who review sites and offer tips to the crafting community.

Hilary also tells readers about a tool she came across called Listorious, a website dedicated to helping users find the best lists on Twitter.

“Yes it sounds a bit like a disease but Listorious is actually more fun and could be a powerful tool in the over used words of any one of the pro bloggers out there,” Hilary writes. “I especially appreciate that it is not called twitliscious or twittylisty, and has a really classic branding, some might say dull, I say classic.”

“Listorious, launched November of 2009, has been promoted by Twitter although is not their own. It’s similar to Twibes but it automatically imports your Twitter lists allowing people to search lists across Twitter, including yours,” Hilary explains.

“There’s none of the hash tagging etc which is a bit of a faff. It is very easy to submit your lists and also great fun to search other peoples,” she continues.

Be sure to also check out our team’s favorite part of this blog post from Hilary. She posts a useful list of her favorite Twitter resources.

You can follow Hilary on Twitter @haptree and can check out her Facebook Fan Page for her latest tips.

What do you think of Twitter Lists?  Do you have a suggestion for Hilary’s  Twitter list Craft Links HQ?  How do you utilize Twitter to sell more handmade crafts?

Share your thoughts on how to promote handmade effectively on Twitter! Comment on this article or write your own article about selling handmade. If HandmadeMarketing.org publishes your article, we’ll be sure to link to your handmade shop, blog, and social media as a thank you!

HandmadeMarketing.org is excited to share Twitter tips from Hilary, a blogger dedicated to helping handmade sellers sell more online on her site Haptree and Me.

An article published on the blog called “Twitter Lists and Listorious – Craft Link HQ” outlines all things Twitter.

Our team’s favorite part of this wide-ranging blog post was Hilary’s list of the only 6 links you need to understand Twitter!

“Twitter is great for promoting your blog and business, it is instant gratification when you see your items views or Google Analytics stats shoot up with every Tweet. But it can be difficult to fight through all the noise once you are following a lot of people,” Hilary writes in her blog post. “If you are new to Twitter read through the 6 links below to get you started and you’ll be the Bill Gates of the craft world by next week, with 100 billion followers.”

Overwhelmed with where to begin to promote your craft on Twitter? Take a look at Hilary’s six recommended links for Twitter users:

1. Twitip

2. Twitter Links

3. Twitter SEO tips from Mashable

4. Twittinsecrets – 100 tips

5. Twitter Tools List

6. Online College Twitter Tips

You can follow Hilary on Twitter @haptree and view Facebook Fan Page for her latest tips.  You can also shop Haptree on Etsy.com!

There are many more awesome Twitter tips from Hilary in this article.  Be sure to read the entire article here: “Twitter Lists and Listorious – Craft Link HQ”.

Hilary has shared other useful tips with handmade sellers on HandmadeMarketing.org.  Here are her past article that other handmade sellers found helpful:

Macro Photography Tips – Increase Buyer Confidence

Craft Blogs – Blogs To Set Your Shop Scene

Photography Backgrounds – Choosing a Background for Crafts

What do you think of Hilary’s recommended Twitter links? Which is your favorite? Do you have a link or two to add to this list?

Share your thoughts on how to promote handmade effectively on Twitter! Comment on this article or write your own article about selling handmade. If HandmadeMarketing.org publishes your article, we’ll be sure to link to your handmade shop, blog, and social media as a thank you!

Is the prospect of constant spam keeping you away from taking your handmade business to the social media world?  Already using social media to connect with buyers and finding out much of your time is spent filtering out unwanted spam messages?HandmadeMarketing.org reader Chrys Bonnay-Lewis recently shared her experience with social media with our team.

“I have been using networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to promote my Etsy shop for only a couple of weeks,” Chrys, from Etsy’s chrysbonnaylewis, told HandmadeMarketing.org.  “The experience has been fun, informative as well as productive. In fact, according to my Google Analytics 50% of the traffic entering my Etsy pages have come from these sites. I am just beginning to see the rewards of my Tweets and status updates.”

However, Chrys says she has also noticed a trend.  “The trend feels much like email spam,” she said.  “I have seen some handmade sellers – presumably using some sort of automatic status update aid that continually posts uninteresting, boring and impersonal status updates to their social networking sites. Posts that read: “ruby red collection” or “ck out my new item” will quickly be glossed over by sellers – especially if seen on a continual basis. Posts like these tell potential buyers that the artist is lacking imagination.”

The problem may lie in how handmade sellers approach social media, and what it can add to a craft business.  Blogger JD Rucker, from Social News Watch, may have put it best.  “Businesses are looking at social media as “how can I get more business from it” instead of approaching it as “how can I help contribute to my industry and my customer base by offering a genuine resource, and thereby potentially increasing business as a result?”“

Chrys says that social media messages that are being broadcast to the shopper repeatably make matters worse for handmade sellers.  “Who wants to purchase an handmade item from someone who’s lacking creativity?” she says.

“Having spent years in sales, I have learned that revealing a glimmer of personality and wit is a great selling tool,” she explains. “I make a point to show off my artistic talents by posting fun, enticing, and creative status updates.”

Chrys shared a few examples of her social media updates to potential buyers.  “For example: “Genie in a Teapot – Don’t let the Genie ESCAPE”, “Belly Button on SALE”, here I’m selling a serving tray with a gestural marks resembling a belly button, or perhaps, “NUBIES can’t be rubbed off!”, showcasing my now famous Nubby Cups. Who couldn’t resist seeing what a belly button sale is about or what nubbies are?“

“Posting updates that tantalize potential buyers provides that personal touch that is often hard to create with an online buyer,” Chrys explains.

Social media spam can often have the opposite effect for handmade sellers.  “Currently, I’m trying to figure out (testament to my less than stellar tech skills) how to un-follow one of my contacts because of the lackluster posts,” she told HandmadeMarketing.org.  “I have never once looked at her Etsy page, she’s never given me a reason! Quite honestly I am assuming that her handmade items are as boring as her relenting status updates and posts. I’m willing to bet that I’m not the only follower bored or irritated by the continual stream of imagination impaired updates.”

You can connect via social media with Chrys by visiting her Facebook page or reading what’s new on her blog.

Do you have social media suggestions for handmade sellers?  What social media sites have you found help grow your business?  What is your shop’s social media marketing goals, and how do you plan to achieve them?

Share your social media tips with HandmadeMarketing.org!  Submit a link to a recent social media-focused blog post, or write your thoughts like Chrys did.  If HandmadeMarketing.org publishes your ideas, we’ll link to your social media pages and handmade selling platform as the source of the great information!

If you’ve been Tweeting for awhile, chances are you’ve come across “#followfriday” included in some tweet posts on Fridays.   To learn more about #FollowFriday, our HandmadeMarketing.org team looked to Mashable.com, a great social media guide for newbies and experts alike.

“Every Friday, you’ll see thousands of people on Twitter using this phrase,” Mashable explains.  “#followfriday is a game in which people suggest who to follow on Twitter. It helps everyone find interesting Twitter users.

A user on Mahalo.com also explains the game.  “#followfriday is a tag used on Twitter. It is a sort of networking meme that encourages users to refer their followers to interesting ‘Tweeters’ the first user is interested in or admires or thinks is particularly knowledgeable on a topic,” the user explains.

So how can handmade Tweeters play the game?  Simply tweet the names of Twitter users you’d like others to follow and tag it with “#followfriday”.

Mashablee explains that users can add the “#followfriday” hash tag anywhere in the Tweet, just be sure others can find it.  Also, Mashable recommends that users add the “#”, or the “hash mark”, as this is important in tracking the game. 

“The hash mark, or pound sign “#” is the symbol used to help tag posts for a particular term appear in search results,” explains the Mahalo.com user.

Some Twitter users also include a reason why they are mentioning the other Twitter user in their #FollowFriday post. Anything from “my favorite bloggers” to “the best handmade sellers” will work as a reason you are telling others there are great Twitter users to follow!

Interested in learning where “#FollowFriday” originated?  Have a look at a blog post by Micha Baldwin and his claim to the game.

Do you participate in the “#followfriday” game?  How do you use Twitter to market your handmade crafts?  What other social media sites do you use for extra exposure?

Comment on this post or share more details under our “Join” tab!

HandmadeMarketing.org reader Amy Vander Vorste, from Etsy’s Avlor’s Imprints, has shared a number of great posts from her blog with our team, including how to create a Facebook user name and how to manage your time on marketing on Etsy.com.

Recently, Amy posted a useful article about “Creating a Tweetable Link” and how Twitter can help boost your sales online.

“Asking people to help Tweet something?” Amy writes.  “Make it super simple for your tweeters with a clickable link and a Tweet all ready to go!”

Amy shares an an example of the code for a link she created for one of the Etsy Teams she is a member of.

<a href=”http://twitter.com/home?status=EtsyPaper%20Featured%20Member:%20Aletha%20Williams%2Designs%20http://tr.im/AJsDesign %23etsypaper” target=”_blank”>EtsyPaper Team Weekly Featured Member – Aletha Williams</a>

“Don’t worry if you’re not familiar with HTML code,” Amy writes in her post.  “We’ll dissect it.”

If you’re already familiar with HTML, you can go to “Section Two” to jump ahead in Amy’s Twitter link tutorial.

- Section One -

Amy begins by disecting the code.  “The tag for a link is “a” like this: <a></a>,” she writes.  “The href attribute is the web address where you want the link to go. Like this: href=”http://somewebaddress.com/blahblah…etc You need the = after href and the quotes around the web address.”

“The target=”_blank” attribute tells your browser program to open an new window or tab,” Amy explains. “There are more options than _blank. But I’m not going to focus on them.”   For more information, Amy suggests readers read about these options on the W3 Schools’ target attribute page.

Next, Amy explains that between the <a> and the </a>, you should put what you want your link to say (a.k.a. what will be clickable).  For her example code above, this is “EtsyPaper Team Weekly Featured Member – Aletha Williams”.

“If you look at my example above there are quite a few little %20 bits in the link,” Amy writes.  “That just means a space. No need to worry about it in your link. Here’s a reference for URL character codes, if you’re curious.”

- Section Two -

After we know the basics of what goes into HTML code, we can move on to creating a Tweetable link.  “Now to the super cool part!” Amy writes.  “How to tell Twitter what to put in the Tweet.”

In your link, you’ll use an href attribute like this:

href=”http://twitter.com/home?status=What ever you want to Tweet.”

“Twitter hashtags (one word tags in a tweet that begin with #) need to use the %23 character instead of the # for the hashtag will work,” Amy writes.  “Ta-da! That’s it!“

She suggests checking out the Ultimate Guide to Twitter Hashtags for more information about hashtags.

Amy also shares one extra quickie Twitter tip.  “Sign up for a URL shortening service like tr.im or bit.ly and use it to shorten URLs/web addressed for Tweets. You can track stats like how many people click on your link in Tweets!”

“So, tying it all together,” Amy writes, “to make a clickable link for people to easily tweet this:  “Etsy Twitter Team Shop of the Week: Sumiko Shop – Lovely Jewelry and Accessories http://tinyurl.com/9amvdr #etsytwitter”, see the code below:”

<a href=”http://twitter.com/home?status=Etsy Twitter Team Shop of the Week: Sumiko Shop – Lovely Jewelry and Accessories http://tinyurl.com/9amvdr %23etsytwitter” target=”_blank”>Click to tweet: Etsy Twitter Team Shop of the Week: Sumiko Shop</a>

Now you have an easy to use code that reads “Click to tweet: Etsy Twitter Team Shop of the Week: Sumiko Shop”, which allows your supporter to simply “click to Tweet!”

Thank you for the great research and very useful tip Amy!

What do you do to use Twitter to it’s full potential?  Do you see a lot of Etsy, ArtFire, or 1000 Markets sales from Twitter?  Why do you think Twitter is a good, or not so good, marketing tool?

Tell us what you think!  Amy submitted a link to her recent blog post under our “Join” tab.  When we republish articles from handmade sellers, we link to your shop and blog in return for your hard work!

HandmadeMarketing.org reader Renaissance M. Austin, from Etsy’s Raghouse International and also on MySpace, recently created a valuable forum on Etsy.com aimed to critique item photos within Etsy shops.  In the forum, Renaissance shared a link to her YouTube channel, RenaissanceEra Television.

Our HandmadeMarketing.org team wanted to learn more about why Renaissance created the YouTube channel and what role YouTube has played in her handmade sales marketing plan.

“What’s interesting about my YoutTbe channel, RenaissanceEra Television, is that I had the account for a year before I even did anything with it! I believe I just opened an account to add favorite videos. I wasn’t really thinking along the lines of uploading my own video,” she told us.  “I just liked watching content.”

“My biggest secret is that I am really a home body, traditional and so set in my ways, even though I am still young! I know that it is the determination to succeed and the love for business that forces me to stay updated with modern technology and what’s happening across the world wide web,” she said.

“I say all of this because growing up I always had a problem jumping on some really great bandwagons,” Renaissance explained.  “I always wanted to start my own trend, dress my own way, go left instead of right with everyone else and after a while, in some cases, I realized that that was not always good.”

Renaissance says that YouTube is definitely one of those wagons handmade sellers should hop on now rather than later.

“I must confess, I am a little slow and always deal in “realizations”. So for me I just realized that I needed to get some videos up! I knew that at the top of this year I wanted to finally film the long awaited reality show I had been planning for years and in the past few months, I’ve been able to make that happen.”

But how can YouTube be used for marketing purposes for sellers on Etsy, ArtFire, or other selling platforms?

“Ultimately,” Renaissance explains, “YouTube is the best marketing tool because people are very visual! Not only can I market my Etsy shop, I allow people to come into my life and really see who I am personality-wise, instead of just talking through convos and emails to team members, or fellow sellers. People that know me as a fiber artist, are finding out that I am actually a professional singer too. That brings them even more inside my world of knitting music and fashion together.”

Renaissance thinks YouTube is great for marketing handmade shops because of the instant access to press which would otherwise be hard to maintain.

“My most understood and clear reason for having my YouTube channel now, is because of it’s tagline, “broadcast yourself”. Amazing! I don’t have to wait for NBC or ABC to be the director that I desire to be, to write and have the programs that I’ve always wanted to see on television. It’s not only about who I know anymore that will get me in this or that door. I have the control I need to upload content that I feel the people need to know about, one, that is my Etsy shop, my music, and all that I do. I feel my life and my story is inspirational, one that others should know about and through my channel I can finally exhibit that,” she told HandmadeMarketing.org.

When asked what made her want to create the videos to help other handmade sellers, Renaissance explained that she is “naturally a helpful person.”

“I know what it’s like to not have any help, so I understand when people really need it,” she told HandmadeMarketing.org.  “When I started the photo critiques, I saw that many of the photography issues were the same for a lot of sellers, busy backgrounds and lighting issues and the frustration that comes along with trying to take photos when someone is not even an “amateur” photographer at that. I thought it would be great to turn what I was doing manually into something visual where I would be able to save time and also resolve a lot of common issues sellers were having.”

Another reason Renaissance helps other Etsy sellers with their photography is the enormous role item photos play in actual handmade sales.  “Photos and a branded look to your shop are very important on Etsy.com. This is how people shop online, through vibes and atmosphere, when they can’t physically be there to touch it. Sellers are really struggling and desire to be in Etsy Treasuries and can’t ever seem to get featured because a photo didn’t stand out enough.”

Renaissance said she actually created a Treasury of listings from the shops that she has critiqued just to show them how worthy their photos were.  “For some, it was their first Treasury ever!” she told us.

“There were Etsy sellers who were ready to remove photos from their shop until I came in and told them it was the best photo they had. I was able to bring surety to those who questioned if what they are doing is right. They were so relieved! To always wonder and not be sure is terrible. For some, the things that I told them confirmed what they needed to know in their hearts, and were encouraged. That is priceless!!“

“Also, a lot of photo inquiry threads in the “critique” section of the Etsy Forums don’t really break down specifics,” Renaissance said.  “A lot of questions are not being answered for many sellers. Through my videos, I wanted to let everyone know that all the extra work being put into backgrounds and setup and what not does not have to take place. Beautiful natural light, a simple setup, and focus on the product is what matters the most and that is what the videos are all about.”

When asked how she thinks her YouTube channel has impacted sales, Renaissance said she has not seen an increase in sales per se, but she has noticed an increase in response to what she does.  “That’s very important as well,” she told us.  “Besides my YouTube channel is still very young. It all has to be built one brick at a time and by the effort and time I put into it.”

Renaissance’s work helping other Etsians has paid off.  “I received a sale from an Etsy shop who’s photos I critiqued. That was great. Not only that, I was featured in an Etsy Treausry with other “helpful” sellers on etsy. I was very happy because that meant a lot to me and was very unexpected. I’ve also built up repoire and relationships with the shops that I’ve critiqued.”

We wondered what Renaissance thought about other handmade sellers who seem to be nervous to start their own YouTube channel.  Was it lack of knowledge? Do they think it won’t be effective for their marketing plan?

“I will say this,” Renaissance said, “Youtube is really the defining factor to all the social networking. There are handmade sellers who are on Ning.com, MySpace, Facebook, and the next new social networking site.  I feel YouTube brings it all together. Your face becomes connected to your product, your shop, your brand.”

She agrees that the problem may be a lack of knowledge in many ways.  “Some handmade sellers just are private people and do not want to be exposed worldwide. Some, like me, are just old school, traditional, and have to get caught up and may not know what it all entails. Some are unsure and really don’t know what to do and feel it is a huge undertaking. But you learn as you go.”

“YouTube helps to develop, what I like to call, “personal virtual relationship”. I may not be right in your presence, but you can still see me visually and experience my personality and brand without me being there,” Renaissance explains.

“To know if YouTube is effective mainly just takes research and development. That’s a large part that us creative types miss. That is the key to all of our businesses. I am learning that if I just upload a video and let it sit, it may not get views, but if I “outsource it” to my MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, and email, I will get a lot more views. You can upload, but you still have to spread it around. Promote, promote, promote. That’s all it is. Etsy sellers can easily use there channel in a DIY kind of way.”

Renaissance tells us big dreams are now within reach for many handmade sellers.  “Have you ever thought about having your own show like Knitty Gritty? Well, you can on YouTube,” she explains.  “There are lot of film students that would be happy to professionally film a show for you. Student photographers that would love to take images for a slide show. You have to collaborate and make it a group effort to make a successful YouTube channel.”

Need more ideas for how to break into YouTube?  “A seller can create slide shows of what they do. People are really into tutorials. Those can be created for viewing pleasure.”

“If some are worried that their original designs will be stolen, patent it, but also know that psychology is really huge in business and marketing as well and the truth is many people, and really many, will not even attempt to sell handmade crafts. I’ve been told by others how much they love to crochet or knit, but they would never do what I do. They just don’t have the patience or motivation to do it. It really is a special sense for all of us who sell on etsy and take our craft seriously. Not everyone can do it. Not every will do it. Not everyone will sell it. Not everyone has the wherewithall to live handmade. So I would encourage desingers not to worry about stolen patterns or artistic works.”

Renaissance’s RenaissanceEra YouTube channel is a great example of how YouTube can be used to broadcast your brand, and connect with potential buyers while doing it!

“Overall, YouTube is great to put the name, face, brand, and product together in one place,” she said.

Another big thank you to Renaissance for sharing her thoughts with HandmadeMarketing.org.  You can read about her recent press in Venus Diva Magazine or hear her awesmoe tips for how to get involved in local craft fairs.

Have you utilized YouTube in your marketing mix?  What challenges do you think face handmade sellers selling online?  How have you found you can reach potential buyers online?

Like Renaissance, you can share your ideas with HandmadeMarketing.org.  If our editors like your tips for how to sell online, we’ll publish you in an article and link to you shop, blog, or other site as the source.  Please share your ideas under our “Join” tab!

Etsy seller Deirdre, from Etsy shop Blackbird72 and shop blog,  told HandmadeMarketing.org about a website that makes updating social network sites a piece of cake.

“I just discovered Ping.fm you can add your updates to all your social networks at once.  And it’s free!” she told HandmadeMarketing.org.

The Ping.fm website tells more about the new service.  “Ping.fm is a simple and free service that makes updating your social networks a snap!” it reads.  “We post your messages wherever you want!”

The site says it supports over 40 social networking sites and says they are adding more.  “Between our straight forward posting methods and advanced custom triggers, we make it easy for you to post your messages exactly where you want them to go,” the site reads.

So what does the Etsy community think about this site?  “I was jumping for joy when I found this site!” writes one Etsy seller in the Etsy.com forums.  “[Ping.fm] updates over 50 sites with your information without logging into each site seperately! You can even update your statuses with a text or an instant message – no need to log into a computer!”

“So you can post updates thru Ping and they are automatically visible on all the other sites? Sweet! Thanks!” writes another Etsy seller in the same thread.

Have you used Ping.fm to keep on top of social networking?  What do you think about social networking in general?  What web services have you found to help manage mutliple social networking accounts?

We want to hear your ideas about how to manage social networking acounts!  Share you thoughts via comment on this post, or go into more detail under our “Join” tab.  If our editors publish your ideas, we will link to you shop, website, or blog!

HandmadeMarketing.org reader Amy Vander Vorste, from Etsy’s Avlor, shared an article she posted on her blog about recent changes to Facebook.

“Yay for Facebook giving user profiles shorter URLs and web addresses (aka usernames)!” writes Amy.  “If you haven’t done this yet for your user profile go to http://www.facebook.com/username/ to read more about Facebook usernames. I love this!”

So what does this mean for Facebook users?  “You can personalize your Facebook URL (web address) by selecting a unique username,” the Facebook website reads.  ”It will appear in the location bar of your browser after “http://www.facebook.com/” when you view your profile.”

This feature makes it easier for handmade sellers to share their Facebook page with interested buyers in an “easy to digest” manner.  From linking to your page on your selling platform profile to printing your Facebook URL on business cards, the Facebook username can help you market your page.

However, Amy points out that Facebook has made it difficult for small businesses to get official usernames for Facebook Fan Pages.  “Don’t loose hope though! There’s an easy way to get a short web address for your fan pages and groups,” Amy writes.

“I discovered the Memorable Web Address application this week. It’s quite easy to make a short web address for your pages,” Amy shares.  “My Facebook fan page is now http://artist.to/avlorsimprints/“

The Memorable Web Address app creates a short, easy to remember personal web address to take people directly to your Facebook profile, page or group.  This makes it simple to share the link with other people, post it on forums, show it on your MySpace page or print it on your business cards.

Amy shares with HandmadeMarketing.org the steps to implementing this application:

Go to the Memorable Web Address application.

“If you get this page just go ahead and choose skip (in the highlighted pink box below),” writes Amy.

“Choose “Click here to add this application to your page (as opposed to your personal profile),” says Amy.  This is shown in the pink highlighted area in the image below.

Then you should be taken to a window that looks like this. Click the blue box.

“Finally you can pick your page address by clicking a on domain name option and typing in your Etsy shop or page name,” Amy shares.  “I picked the artist.to option like the other Etsy shops I’ve seen.”

“The application also adds a box to your boxes tab on your Facebook Fan Page – so you can remember what your address is if you forget!” Amy writes.

Amy also shares how to edit your address or remove the application.  “Just go to your Facebook page,” she says.  “Click “edit page”.  Then, click the pencil icon on the Memorable Web Address for Profile, Page or Group.  Finally, choose “edit or remove”.”

“You can do the same thing for a group,” Amy points out.  “Just choose the option I highlighted in green.”

“To edit a group address,” Amy says, “go back to the application page and you can edit it there.”

“I often find fellow Etsy shop owners on Facebook and would like to become a fan of their pages. It’s not always easy to find shop fan pages,” she writes.  “So I created a group on Facebook just for this – Indie Handmade Sellers Fan Pages Directory.  Just join and post a link to your page (the long version not the artist.to version) and your name will be right along side the link as “posted by”. A nice easy way to see who is “favoriting” your shop and you can return the favor,” Amy writes.

“If you’re wondering what the “.to” is – it’s the URL country code for the country of Tonga. Thanks Tonga!  I hope you can take advantage of this and redirect of the long fan page and group URLs,” Amy said.

Thank you for sharing this valuable information Amy!

Not sure whether or not Facebok could work for your business?  Check out our HandmadeMarketing.org article written by Tara Gentile, from HandmadeInPA.net, about why Facebook helps increase craft sales. Need more convincing?  Read why one Etsy seller loves Facebook!

Do you use Facebook to market your handmade crafts?  Have you found that Facebook drives traffic to your handmade shop?  Do you have tips like Amy for navigating Facebook to fit a small business?

Tell us your ideas for how to use Facebook to sell online!

Mary Bence, from Etsy’s purbliss and at the website www.purbliss.com shared an idea for using Twitter and other social networking sites to promote your handmade shop.

“Offer crazy deals every once in a while,” Mary suggests.  “Something off-the-cuff seems to really prompt people to buy.”

Mary recommends using Twitter and other social networking sites to host a “private” sale to those in your networks.  “A private sale is something I “semi-privately” offer on Twitter for example,” Mary tells us.  “I don’t post it anywhere in my store but I offer it in chat or some other social medium.”

One example of a great promotion Mary help was posting a Tweet after midnight to make her 20^th sale.  “I posted that I would send out two candle tins with any purchase from my Etsy store,” Mary told HandmadeMarketing.org.

“The promotion worked!” Mary shared.  “I got a sale almost immediately and after midnight! You never know!“

Mary suggests online handmade sellers be flexible and offer freebies with purchases of a certain dollar amount in order to help promote their shops.

“I offer freebies whenever I can,” she says.  ”If I invest time and product into someone customers appreciate it.  If they don’t want to feel obligated, they won’t partake in that freebie. Simple as that. You give a little and take a little.”

Mary says the same principle applies in business across the board. “People love that you can show them you have confidence in your product enough to give a little bit out for free!”

“I give out 2 tealights and a postcard with a discount they can use on my main website if they wish to buy online. Yes, some may throw out the postcard but at least my brand has made it into their hands. They may even pass it along to friends and family,” she said.

“If you have a great product,” Mary says, “don’t be stingy with it. Share it without short-selling yourself!“

How do you promote your Etsy, ArtFire, 1000 Markets, or other online handmade store?  Have you ever tried hosting a “private” sale like Mary?  What were the results?

Tell us what works for you!  If our editors publish your information, we link to your shop.  Sellers receive free press for their knowledge – it’s a win-win for everyone!  Share with HandmadeMarketing.org.

With all the websites out there for Etsians to take advantage of, many wonder if it’s really making an impact in the long-run on their Etsy shop sales.  For those of you questioning if a tweet later this afternoon will really cause a spike in sales, read a tip sent to us by April Monds (CreativeJewelHaven):

“I have more than one sales venue,” April writes.  “I have only been blogging for a couple of weeks and am finally getting the hang of it. I love to feature my artisan peers and their items in my postings.  My views in at least one venue have doubled in a week. Sales may not have, however we must all take into account the shape our economy is in.”

“I am currently working on stocking four shops. Not to mention the various social networking sights I have joined.  “Why so many?” some may ask, yet the answer is simple to me,” April writes.  “I do not believe in having all of my proverbial ‘eggs’ in one basket. The reason being that I feel one should disperse those eggs into several baskets, hand those baskets out to others to help distribute them and you can distribute those eggs more efficiently.”

“Now I am no mathematician,” April continues, “yet I am smart enough to know that if we all do our share of the work (i.e.; promote yourself, your business, your name, your items, and others’) we will all have a better chance of bringing back the age of handmade. Not to mention increase our sales, and make some profit doing what all of us artisans love to do! I also feel that we should all support the new and upcoming online venues, instead of considering them “competition”. In the end it is all up to the buyer, so we should join hands and make “handmade” an all inclusive community rather than a war of site stats and sales.”

Thanks April!

Need another reason to blog and join social networking sites?  We were excited to receive this sweet tip from Etsy newbie Rachel:

“Link your Etsy.com shop to places like your blog, Flickr account, and MySpace,” suggest Rachel.  “I have a blog and on it I have my Flickr link and Etsy link. I think having all of those extra places with you can feature your art on your own is very beneficial for sellers.  It just gives you more ways of seeing what people really enjoy of yours. And when you do get that new person to find your art and love it it just makes your day.”

Rachel is new to Etsy – have a look at her shop set up in January 2009 and her blog!

Although joining the sites, attending all the craft fairs, and participating in the Etsy.com forums may take time, remember that this is what Etsy sellers love to do!  Sellers are very fortunate to have a passion that can produce some cash – many are not so lucky.

Utilize the Internet to get the work out about your Etsy shop.  Shop promotion can be easy when done on a blog or social networking site – these sites are made for you to talk about yourself!  Like Andrea Salmon (Etsy shop SamAndrea) says, “Toot your own horn!  Because if you don’t do it, no one else will either!”