Market A Craft Business Online
November 17, 2008
Welcome back!
On Thursday, November 20, there will be a teleseminar on marketing a craft business online. The teleseminar is just $1 so sign up today! Here is more information about the benefits of marketing your online craft business.
The Benefits of Marketing a Craft Business Online
If you have a craft business, you may have taken a traditional route in your marketing efforts, such as selling your items at craft shows. If you haven’t tried marketing your craft business online, you should give it some thought.
The following are just a few of the benefits to marketing your craft business over the internet:
First and foremost, marketing your craft business online will allow you to reach new customers, from all around the globe. If you’ve been marketing your business in a traditional manner, your customers may be limited to our own location.
In order to reach new customers traditionally, a craft business owner would participate in the craft fair circuit, sometimes traveling hundreds or even thousands of miles away.
Marketing your crafts over the internet will allow you to get your business in front of many new people, all from the comfort of your own home. Even if you happen to enjoy traveling to various craft shows, you can still use the internet to market your crafts between events.
When you sell your crafts online through your own website or through an online marketplace such as www.Etsy.com, you can receive orders anytime, day or night. You can literally wake up in the morning to find that you received several new orders while you slept. This creates an almost passive income element to your craft business.
Many people who market their business through craft shows enjoy meeting their customers and the other craft vendors and establishing relationships with them. While nothing may beat that actual face to face interaction, the internet offers the second best thing with social networking sites.
Social networking sites, which include websites such as MySpace.com, Facebook.com, and Twitter.com allow you to meet and interact with others. These sites can help you find new customers but more importantly, it can help you meet other business owners.
Forming relationships with other business owners can lead to advertising swaps, blog swaps, joint venture projects and more.
Marketing a craft business online helps bring many new opportunities. This doesn’t mean you have to give up craft fairs or other traditional routes of selling your crafts. Combining online and offline marketing will help you cover all of your bases and insure you are making the most of your business.
For more tips on marketing a craft business online, join in on a special seminar this Thursday, November 20 at 9pm Eastern. For more info, visit the Craft Business Teleseminar.
Halloween Freebie
October 29, 2008
Here is a free Halloween pack of goodies! It is a zipped file so when you download it, you will need to unzip it to access the files. There are four PDF ebooks including
- Halloween Coloring Pages
- Halloween Recipes
- Halloween Crafts
- Halloween Activities (great for Kids’ Halloween Parties)
Download and open this up now! The ebooks are full of really easy recipes and great coloring pages. I’ve printed two coloring books already, one for each of my kids, and plan on making popcorn hands and colored rice krispies. I wanted to make something special for our friends kids and was leaning toward cupcakes shaped like pumpkins and ghosts - but rice krispies are fun and easy to make, and there is more interaction for kids so mine can help with the entire process. The crafts are easy too and you more then likely have everything you need to make any of them already around your house.
Thanks to Marie at Mommy Community for this great pack of Halloween freebies!
Jane hancock papers sale
October 23, 2008
Until November 15, Jane hancock papers have been marked way down!
The shop is going to be closed up for a bit as she is having a baby! So head on over to her etsy shop and pick up notecards or matchbook notepads. I love the little bird she has! I have purchased cards from her for my son and a matchbook notebook for myself in the past and am heading over to see what she has left.
1000 Ideas Call For Entries
October 16, 2008
I ran across a great call for contributions the other day - 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse at the Extreme Craft blog. The deadline for entries isn’t until January 5, 2009 but as usual, early contributions are welcome! I love recycling items for craft projects and have seen so many ideas out there, I hope some of my readers contribute some of their projects.
From the blog post:
The book will be bristling with amazing contributions from artists and crafters around the world. What do you make out of reused stuff? I want to hear about it! Here are some of the categories I’m looking for:
Paper Craft– Consigning paper to the recycling bin is a shame. Do you make interesting things out of paper?
Housewares and furnishings– We’re looking for repurposed furniture, ceramics, serving dishes, utensils and miscellaneous home goods.
Jewelry and accessories– Our definition here is very broad—we’re looking for all kinds of personal adornment, handbags, belts, hats, etc.
There are more categories so head on over and see what your projects would fit into. See the blog post at 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse at Extreme Craft for the full list of categories and more info.
Holiday Countdown
September 25, 2008
I mentioned the other day on my craft blog that I wasn’t ready for the holidays yet. I haven’t been feeling very holiday-ish, I don’t have any gifts made or bought, we don’t have any plans, nothing. That really isn’t like me because I am usually very prepared, I’m the type to start preparing, gift wise, in the summer! A great solution came when the Holiday Countdown was announced! I signed up and can’t wait to start getting the tips, they are going to start coming on October 1.
This is a free resource so get over there and sign up! Since I posted about my dilemma about the holidays, my husband and I have talked about gift giving for our family and friends and we did start a list. It is going to be very easy this year, which is good considering all that we have going on.I do wish we had plans but I’m not sure what I’d even want those plans to be, so I’m satisfied for now.
Have you started planning for the holidays? Are you the type that starts preparing in the summer or do you run around at the last minute?
Use What You Buy At Etsy
September 11, 2008
I read a post that mentioned various items the author purchased at etsy.com. Etsy is not without its flaws I know but it is an easy place to shop since there is such a wide variety of items available. I used to be an impulse shopper and the internet doesn’t help but online wish lists help to curb that.
Etsy’s version of a wish list is called “your favorites” and it is very easy to add either a favorite item or a favorite seller, these are in two different spots on your etsy page. Adding an item or seller to your list is as simple as a click so it is easy for the list to get really big really fast. I don’t know what a seller sees - do they get a notice that their item is someones favorite? Either the item or their store.
Etsy Mini featuring some of my favorites
As of this writing, I’ve purchased 22 items on Etsy. Fifteen of the items are jewelry - I’ve worn five, two are for my daughter which she has worn, and five are for gifts later down the road. Two I’ve never worn but I will.
Five of the items are stationary items - notebook, journal, notecards etc. and I’ve used all from the day I got them. Oh not one set because it is a set of cards that I plan on framing and hanging. But the rest I have used and almost used up.
I also have a couple of dolls, a change purse, a regular sized purse, a few zines, coasters, fabric and a few kits for my kids to put together. I’ve used them all. I do have one thing that is more like a display item and that sits on the bookcase in the living room, being seen by all who come into the house.
Of everything I’ve purchased, the only things not used or worn are those couple of jewelry items. I think that is a pretty good percentage compared to others I’ve read about. Take caution in what you buy - don’t buy because it’s popular or you like it at this exact second. You do run the risk of a seller running out of something- keep an eye on if their shop is all unique items or if they restock regularly - but don’t impluse buy because you may end up regretting it.
No Show - Hurricane
July 23, 2008
Hey listeners and reader - there will be no Crafter Cast this week as we are in Texas where Hurricane Dolly is making its way. Settling in has been a trying time for us but the hurricane definitely threw for a loop.
We are stocked up on groceries and safe where we are so hopefully the hurricane won’t get worse then it already is.
Exchange Crafty Buttons
July 14, 2008
Have you had a chance to stop by our sponsors? Click on any of the buttons in the right sidebar to visit them. And you will also notice that I have an open spot! This spot is open to the first person who contacts me and wants to exchange buttons.
Your 125 x 125 button ad will remain on the site for the remainder of July and all of August. I ask that you put my button on your page as well. The Crafter Cast has been growing in leaps and bounds! I am excited as we go forward this summer.
I did take a couple of months off since we were traveling for our move, but we are now in Texas and getting settled in. I’m excited! I had a lot of time to think about craft projects while driving across the US, I have quick sketches in a notebook and love that my phone records since I also saved a few ideas that way.
And unpacking! It is discovering your things all over again. I didn’t forget about anything I had but opening the boxes has given me a handful of new ideas. I have baby gifts to make for friends, embroidering projects to finish, a few sewing projects and of course my tshirt quilt. Unpacking our clothes gave me ideas for two more but I know I’m not even starting on that until one is done. I did buy some space bags, you know pack them up then use a vacuum to get all the air out, and plan on putting away what I want to save.
Leave a comment if you want to exchange your craft button. 
Advertise on a Craft Podcast
May 11, 2008
We have added advertising options here at the Crafter Cast! For the month of May, show sponsorship packages are 50% off - our show sponsors will receive an on air ad, mention during the show, banner across all pages and a link in the show notes. Sponsors are accepted for a month at a time and are subject to our approval. This is a great deal at $75.
Stop by the advertising page to see options for a graphic button or a text link. We also have a Craft Directory with a category sure to fit your site needs. If your category is not listed, let us know!
5 Crafts for High 5
May 4, 2008
This year marks the fifth anniversary for Mommy Fest! This is an event Marie Ynami puts on for moms and this year the dates are May 12-16. She is running a High 5 contest for chocolate to celebrate the five years!
Here are my five things - a pair of pants that need fixing, a tie blanket that needs finishing, one side of fingerless gloves that need finishing (both finish the side and make another to make a pair), one sewing box that needs filling (old box broke, still haven’t filled the new one) and another sewing box that I am going to use for card making (but so far it’s just stayed with the other sewing box). I have a few more crafts I could use for this picture and am amazed considering I didn’t bring too many things along!
Head on over to the contest page and enter! Find five crafts you are working on, snap a quick picture and tell us about it. I look forward to seeing your entry.
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