Top Ten – Ten Ways to Sell More Handmade

Jackie, from the Etsy blog called Etsy Item of the Day, featured handmade seller Rebecca D. Dillon, famous for her soaps listed at SoapDeli on Etsy.com.  In this feature on Etsy Item of the Day, Rebecca shared ten tips she has for handmade sellers.

Rebecca is 35 years old and has a Bachelor in Fine Arts from Roanoke College, where she studied a bit of everything from photography and screen printing to art history and poetry.

“I enjoy reading, shopping and making soap. I have a 13 year old son who enjoys playing soccer and running track. He currently wants to be a psychiatrist when he grows up though his career path seems to change from year to year. I am bipolar and my business is the one thing that I have been able to do to help keep my life on track and allow me to support myself,” Rebecca told Jackie from Etsy Item of the Day.

Rebecca shared an impressive list of tips for sellers who are selling their handmade items on Etsy.com. “Be sure to read these over and a big thanks to Rebecca for sharing all this info!” Jackie said in the Etsy feature blog post.

1. Branding. Rebecca told Jackie that she thinks branding for Etsy shops is very important. “It shows you are serious about your business and helps to promote familiarity. It also adds cohesiveness to your business and your shop and makes you appear professional,” she said.

2.  The Basics.  Rebecca tells handmade sellers they should have  the following for your Etsy shop:

• An Etsy shop banner
• Etsy shop avatar
• A logo for your handmade shop
• Business cards
• Related or matching labels and tags for items
• A description of what you are offering that tells consumers why your products are top notch.
• Clear policies on shipping and refunds for those buying your goods.

3.  Great Photographs of Items. Rebecca tells handmade sellers to be sure to have clear pictures of items sold in your Etsy shop, in order to give consumers the best perception of your products as you possibly can.

Rebecca says a focus on the item’s thumbnail is crucial.

“Always carefully consider which photo will be displayed in thumbnails for online venues. I’ve seen lots of photos that I often simply skim over because it’s hard to tell what is being sold in the photo due to the size of the thumbnail and a busy background,” she told Jackie in the feature.  “I’ve found that photos that highlight the item in detail or the most interesting feature of their item as the first thumbnail draw the most attention and encourage click throughs.”

If selling clothing on Etsy.com, Rebecca suggests including a shot of the product on a person or mannequin if possible so the shopper can see how the clothing is going to fit.

“I’ve seen clothing online and in stores that I thought looked horrid in the photo or on the rack, but when seen on a model looked fabulous. Consider how you shop and how others shop,” Rebecca said.

4. Purchase a Domain.  Rebecca tells handmade sellers that it may be a good idea to create a central location for your Etsy shop by purchasing your own domain.  If you are worried about the cost, Rebecca reminds sellers that there is no need to pay for hosting.

“You can have your domain point to a free blog such as blogger,” she said.  “This .com can then be placed on all of your business cards and on product labeling. On your .com be sure to list all venues that you sell on along with dates and locations where you will be selling in person. This makes it easy for your customers to find you even if you change venues and sell at different markets and fairs. They can’t buy from you if they don’t know where to go.”

5. Sell at Craft Fairs.  Rebecca encourages sellers to establish themselves locally or at craft fairs if at all possible.

“It really is in your best interest to sell in person if you can. Consumers enjoy touching products and looking them over in person despite how clear your photos are,” she says.  “It gives them a better sense of the quality.“

“Bath and body is especially important to sell in person because people not only like to see and touch, but they really want to smell as well,” Rebecca said on Etsy Item of the Day.  “Buying scented products online is difficult as everyone has different ideas of what things should smell like and describing scents is difficult and subjective.”

In addition, selling locally or at craft fairs gives handmade sellers an opportunity to tell potential buyers more about the work.

“Put your best foot forward when selling in person,” Rebecca advises sellers.  “Consider your display and make it as attractive as possible. Use a business sign if possible as well. We have bars above the tables at my city market for hanging signs so I had one painted to match my branding. A local artist was willing to do it for $100 and I thought that was a deal. It was a great investment. It makes finding my booth easier in addition to attracting attention.”

When selling crafts in person, be sure to remember those business cards!

6.  All Business (Cards).  “Always have business cards with you,” Rebecca reminds Etsy sellers.  “If someone walks away without buying, ask if they’d like a business card for future reference and let them know you are available online as well.”

Rebecca says she also includes business cards in the bag with every purchase at a local craft fair.  Although she knows not everyone keeps business cards, Rebecca thinks it’s still a great idea.

“You’re doing this for the few that will keep that card for later when they are looking for a specific gift or want an additional product from you. And if some of your customers are not local to your area – I know we get a lot of out of town visitors to my market – if they love your product, that business card makes it simple and easy to order from you again online,” she says.

7. Promo Items.  Rebecca says a goal of handmade sellers should be to get product into the hands of buyers on the Internet.  She says one of the best ways is to create “promo” items.

What is a promo item?

“Generally promotional items are samples of your product or a useful item that represents you shop – such as a magnet – and reminds a consumer that you are there and where to find you,” she says in her feature on Etsy Item of the Day.

If you’re lucky, these promo items will be saved or used, whereas business cards are often lost or thrown out.  Referring back to her fourth tip above, Rebecca reminds handmade sellers to always include your established .com on any promotional material.  That way, the potential buyer has an easy path to purchasing your items.

If you’re looking for tips on distributing your promo items, check out the ideas Rebecca shared in this article “In Buyer’s Hands – Distributing Etsy Promo Material“.

8. Engage the Handmade Community.  “The amazing thing about the handmade community is that there are many talented people who love other talented people and are happy to help by offering them a little free exposure,” Rebecca said.

She recommends sellers look for opportunities to get their business published online.  Many sellers, crafters, and artists have blogs where they feature interviews of Etsy sellers.

“Request an interview and be sure to follow up in a timely manner if possible,” she says.  “You may also be able to “swap” interviews or shop write ups as a form of cross promotion with other sellers. Many artists are very happy to cross promote especially if they like your work. But you don’t know what additional opportunites are out there unless you ask. The worst they can do is say, “no.” And if that happens, it happens. Don’t take it personally.”

9. Connect with High-Traffic Sites.  “There are a number of high traffic handmade targeted shopping blogs happy to take suggestions about the products they feature on their blogs,” Rebecca said in her feature.  “Review the guidelines for submission and then send a brief email highlighting your best work. It’s easy to find blogs more specific to your market with a simple Google search.”

10. Get Social! Rebecca, along with many Etsy sellers, recommend social networking to get your products out there for potential buyers to see.

“Social networking or marketing seems to be something a lot of people don’t understand or give up on too quickly,” Rebecca explains. “I’ve seen time and again where people have said they don’t “get” Facebook or Twitter.”

However, when Rebecca hears this from sellers, she brings up a great point.

“The thing is, it doesn’t matter if you don’t understand it right away because millions of others do,” she advises sellers.  “The key is to build your network. The larger it is the more effective it becomes.  The bigger it gets the better the chance your posts and tweets and updates will make rounds not just within your network, but within your follower and fan networks as well. That is where you start to see the effectiveness of social marketing.”

Rebecca advises sellers to take the time to get to understand social networks and pick at least two to get started on, whether it be Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, or a host of other social networking sites.

“It takes some time to build a good network, but your hard work will be worth it in the end,” she says.

Rebecca said there are lot of communities specifically built for artists and crafters on the Internet that are worth checking out because they are effective.

“There are many general and specific communities with a number of tools to help you market your product and get seen,” she says.

In fact, Rebecca says one such growing community is Ning.

“Ning offers users the ability to create communities around specific topics and offer resources such as blogs, picture uploads, forums, etc. to discuss similar interests with others. Ning recently reached 1M communities created through their software. One of the Ning communities you may be familiar with is Indie Public,” she said in her feature on Etsy Item of the Day.

However, keep in mind that not all communities are for everyone.  In the same way, not all communities work for marketing.

“My advice is to pick the ones you are interested in. Participate as much as possible. Then go back after a month’s time and look at your site statistics to see where your traffic is coming from. You can then start to weed out communities that aren’t working and put more focus into those that are,” she said.

You can connect with Rebecca by visiting her shop’s Facebook page, Twitter feed, or the seller’s website.  You can also visit SoapDeliNews to see the newest things happening at her Etsy shop.

Visit Etsy Item of the Day to see her full feature, including Jackie’s favorite item from SoapDeli.  You can submit your shop for a feature on this Etsy blog here.

Share your tips for optimizing your efforts on Etsy, ArtFire, or other handmade selling site!

Why share? Our team publishes ideas from handmade sellers, artisans, and crafters.  Don’t forget to include links to your social media sites or handmade shop site in your article.  Sellers receive free press for lending their knowledge, and both new and experienced sellers alike get new ideas.  Share with HandmadeMarketing.org here.