Thanks for the info. It's great to hear from other people on this forum who are using Etsy etc as well. And also interesting to hear your thoughts on selling supplies - I also have a shop online selling jewellery materials which is proving more successful than the jewellery.
I've not been using social media to promote my shops but I'll try to incorporate that as well, so it's great to hear what is and what isn't working for other people! Anyway, I shall stick at it and hope the sales continue for you :-)
That's great, at least you are getting views straight away, which is a good start - do you have a link to your Little Market shop? I can add you to my shop favourites :-) I saw your web link and love your pictures and also the photos!
This is such an interesting discussion and exchange of ideas and information. I have had an etsy shop selling French vintage goodies for 6 months and it is going really well. I have been quite staggered at how many sales I have made, and although most of my sales are to the US I have now sold worldwide. I do believe that it is considerably easier to sell vintage and supplies on etsy than art and crafts. I have a friend who had an art shop on etsy and she has recently closed her shop because of very low sales. She is focussing on exhibiting and selling in the real world.
Regarding social media - I have a facebook page and am perserving with it although I have a very low following. It's quick, easy and fun but not really effective. Twitter is useless for me. Pinterest and Stumbleupon a total waste of time and effect. Flickr has been the single most effective site. I periodically post photos of stock to flickr taking care to tag and this is connected to my blog. I blog for my own pleasure and for friends. I don't think my blog has generated any interest in my shop but I like doing it.
Hi Jillian, well I've just signed up to ALM. Phew, all this promotion does take time. I guess as time goes on I'll get more streamlined and will have everything already worked out in English and french (I use the french etsy too). Anyhow fingers X'ed.
I'll check out A little market. I dont think eBay is much good for selling art and craft. People like a personal touch and I have often sold work to guests who stay in our Gite. I also take part in an annual exhibition in the summer. Some years are good and some not. C'est la vie!
Hello, I'm new to this group but spotted Helen's post and have been reading with interest :-)
Just wondering if anyone sells on A Little Market? It's France's version of Etsy. It's still extremely competitive but at least you don't have to pay to list items, only when you sell something! I tried Ebay and Etsy but ending up paying way more in fees than I made :-)
Thanks Elaine, it's always good to get suggestions and ideas. Normally I add new items to etsy on a Saturday before 12 noon as then it's hopefully fresh on a front page by the time the US wakes up and goes online looking for interesting art and craft. I have also tried to promote the fact that the items come from France, exotic or what?
you are quite right Helen, I have found SFN a very handy resource for information, plus it’s got a real community feel. Was it you who suggested an SFN Virtual Sop? or Catharine?
Etsy has a huge audience and at $0.20 per time it's cheaper than eBay, as its aimed at people who are looking for hand crafted items. I don't think one can sell through Facebook, nor through Twitter. Hopefully these sites can point customers to our shops. It's disheartening to make items that one is passionate about, only to have them sitting on the shelf waiting for a buyer. I personally never got into Blogs until last week when I decided to use it to promote my etsy shop. In the US there seems to be lots of craft fairs whereas there are few here apart from some before Christmas.
Don't be discouraged though, keep at it. Bon courage!
Well from reading all your replies, it seems to me that SFN is probably one of the more active of the social networks. I have a Facebook page for ages but it's more to follow what my children are up to. I dont have enough "friends" on Facebook to promote my artistic oeuvres.
However apparently to promote Etsy listings one has to have a Blog and to Twitter. With both I decided not to contact friends and family to see if anyone out there in cyberspace would just click on anyway and "follow' me. Much to my surprise I now have followers. I dont know who they are but maybe it works. However so far it hasn't improved my sales on Etsy. As for the type of items to sell, apparently jewellery is very popular but there are thousands of seller. They advise you to sell something unusual but I am not sure there will be a market. Etsy is a big showroom. Main disadvantage is the $ v € exchange rate. Prices always looks too expensive in $.
The other problem for us artists, is rural French are not big into art for their homes even if it a low price. Galleries have their own lists and many wont take on unknown outsiders. An uphill struggle!
TBH - if you want to know about social media, I would talk to James H. He doesn't 'bang on' about being an expert but he is. (Don't tell him I said that or he will never finish the kitchen...!!)
Haha thanks for reminding me...I was beginning to think it was for real. My 'Branding' test is turning up some healthy figures, and I am keeping tabs on the page views, and website hits. A little strange as, as you say there isn't a 'product' and I do believe that 'claims' should not be spurious, lest the spiders find out. So I am being careful how I word any claims or proposals. ( I think )
I have not read Carolyn's reply here yet but I am interested in 'sales-leads' results generated by the efforts of others. Whilst my own thread seems to be turning into an online portfolio of my hobby of 'Graphics' and Google-baiting' I am formulating a picture of how a framework of SFN/Site/Blog/FaceBook/Twitter can work in series.
I certainly do not have the depth of knowledge that Jorgen portrays in the manipulation of Social Media..but I may do a 'schematic' for critique, debate and possible use for SFN ers. As I think much can be done by the individual if you apply your thinking, laterally. What is patently clear to me is that re-naming your Photos works, as does Posting on SFN ( echoing some of those words ) and the SFN 'catapult' is virtually instantaneous!
I'd suggest you turn your SFN page into a personalised sales site. Given the amount of traffic SFN gets and given that the members are a very supportive bunch and like to support / buy from each other, and it is FOC, it has got to be worth a try. You can link everything you post to your FB page and save doubling up on posting too and use SFN as a medium to promote your brand / products.
Ron is doing this very successfully with something that doesn't even exist (!) so I am sure it would work for actual, tangible works of art / crafts.