How to
standard and quality and show other
customers that you are the best
person for what they want.”
You can also do this by outlining
how much experience you have in
your craft or any other background
information that helps the customer
trust you. Don’t even be afraid to do
a little profile on yourself, but keep it
short and sweet.
...
19
Imagery
Crafting is a very visual business;
how will you sell a bracelet or a
cross-stitch if your customer can’t
see the product? Customers usually
won’t buy any craft product without
seeing it first - they want to know the
colours, the condition and the quality.
So the use of images in craft business
should be unavoidable. Don’t be
put off by this - you don’t need a
professional camera or Photoshop to
take pictures of your crafting.
“Images are very helpful to a
customer when choosing which
knitted scarf or handbag they want.
Be careful though, on a website you
can go overboard (unless they are on
a catalogue-type webpage). Just give
a few examples of your craft - there’s
no shame i n putting only the best and
most attractive ones up.”
Social networking
Joining the social networking
bandwagon is hard for some crafters;
even though Facebook has existed for
10 years, there are still people who
don’t participate.
Don’t be afraid. Social networking
is there to help you advertise your
business. Even though it does offer
some paid options, you can easily
create a page (mini one page website)
on Facebook for free.
“I use Facebook’s page feature for
StartSmarter and my new business
venture Business Creator. Every week
I get an email about the number of
people talking about my business and
visiting it. This is all for free.
Adam Niazi, final year student at the University of Northampton
“You can even get customers to
write testimonials on your business
page; if they are bad - don’t worry.
Reply and sort the problem. Don’t be
afraid to show people that you are not
perfect but can still efficiently deal
with any problems.”
Besides Facebook, there are other
social networking sites, like Twitter,
Google+, LinkedIn or Formspring, to
name a few prominent ones.
Not every social networking site is
for you, though. Facebook is generally
best for crafts. Unlike Twitter, it
allows you to upload pictures of your
products in an album. This is similar
to what Google+ offers, but there are
twice the amount of registered users
on Facebook. LinkedIn is more of
a professional social network that
would appeal to those who offer a
craft service rather than products (a
craft repair service or similar).
‘Checkout’
The most effective time you can
spend on boosting your business is
refining the ‘checkout’ stage.
“A fast, secure and easy checkout is
the most important aspect of buying
your craft. You want to make sure
the customer understands how much
they are paying, where to input their
payment details and confirmation
that the money has been received.
If you can achieve all of these, then
you will find customers coming back
to you for their craft products. This
is because they would be confident
in the service that takes them from
basket to checkout.”
If you are unsure how to do this,
why not take a free online course
in website programming at www.
coursera.org or use Facebook’s
messaging service and Paypal, a
website that allows you to request
money for your goods or services, to
do this. Laura Slade on page 11 uses
this exact method to get payment
on Facebook after she has done a
painting commission for a customer.