Hi, Folks,
Let me tell you one thing right away- if you are an artist or an artisan and if you have not yet tried you should learn how to sell your handmade crafts and arts online in 2022!
Why should you try to sell online at all?
Because I encourage you to sell your goodies online. There are millions of people like me and you that are looking for like minded artists and artisans to communicate with them and to support handmade and arts as well as eco-friendly lifestyle and initiatives.
Due to handmade and arts are super eco-friendly ( most of the time, no always, of course) and as we are in 21st century and everyone is thinking more about the environment nowadays- this is a reason to share your creations with the world right now- more than ever!
More than ever!!
See? We need you on the stage! We need you to see what you can create, now!
Let me first share with you my Top 3 Reasons to encourage you to start selling your arts and crafts online now:
When you start showing your goodies online- either in Etsy, Craiglist, Bonanza, Ebay ( or ion any other selling platform ) or in your personal website, you will first discover a secret- when you have your first sale you will understand that you are not just having a sale! You are met by a person online, who has given you her or his trust, who likes super much your goodies and who would like to talk to you and share their stories in short and for what they need your product or for what they like it. They will most of the cases like to know a little about you and what inspires you to craft or make arts.
You will have unique conversations in your messaging with these people. They will become friends to you shortly after and you will create a bond between each other. A bond that strengthens your creativity and encourages you to express yourself even more out into the world.
When you sell your creations online you will earn a living in time from your fans!
If you are constant in your efforts to create products and arts and to consistently follow a routine of showing your products online and have a place from where people can order them you will one day be able to work this as a day job and you will work for yourself and for your family.
You can build your brand, share your mission, message and cause with your audience and people will start to recognise you more and more in the handmade and artist world online. You will always find your fans and supporters!
Below you can see one of my handmade mini journals with hand-drawn covers by me- Hristo Hvoynev. I earn my living with handmade crafts and arts since 2013. I started selling online on Etsy back then and since 2021 I have my own website.
You will create your own legacy if you create and share with the world. This is a fantastic opportunity to expand your life and your experiences and also your imagination, your inspiration and your prosperity.
Your creations will one day be left after you, many of them would withstand hundreds of years may be more! Your story and your words and actions will be left for many people to be remembered long after you will have left our world.
This will be your legacy...
In order to sell successfully online whatever arts or handmade crafts you think, it is first well to know that it is best if you create and sell things that you like yourself to use and that you like also to make yourself.
You need to sell things that are looked after by people- like paintings, illustrations, art files or file prints or giclee prints, or in handmade- pottery for kitchen, for tea ceremony, handmade journals or home wall decor or candles.
Your things should be more practical or to solve a problem or to cover a given need.
For example your paintings might not solve a problem but are unique decorations for people but it would also be good if you make them more usable in daily life- you can pot hangers at the back of the paintings or install a rope that can hang the painting on a nail on a wall at peoples homes. See? This will help people start using their art right away at their homes and they can easily move the art on another wall.
Or if you sell pottery plates for dinner it should be great if you learn the standard sizes for dinner plates so you can offer better crafts to your customers- they should be neither too small or too big. Or if you craft jewelry you should learn the different sizes for women and men.
Of if you craft sketchbooks it would be great to find what do people need in a sketchbook to be the one they need- to have a bookmark, to be with lined or blank pages. to be personalized or what else?
See, you can think for days on what crafts exactly you want to create or how to present your arts in a way they will be liked by people for their uniqueness, easy usability, practical features or for filling some specific needs like a planner journal for example. A planner journal fills the need of a group of people who like planning their actions or tasks and these folks often use planner sketchbooks or journals because the planners have pages that have templates with bullet numbering, dates and other features printed on the pages of the very planners.
So you have to make a list of what you can sell and brainstorm on it and choose which to be your starters. You can later on make more types of products and differentiate them. Or if you are an artist you can offer your arts also like giclee prints on a matte paper or on some card stocks as variations for the prints and also offer them in 5 different sizes. This way you will offer a variety of your creations to people who otherwise would not use your product- like there are people who can not afford an original painting but would love to put a print of your art on their wall to inspire themselves or to joy at the art in their daily lives.
This way you can make more sales but also more friends!
You should also make additional lists for every product or product line you chose to sell and write down in these lists what people would usually buy these creations.
For example:
Journals- people like writers, artists, people who travel and write diaries, students, people who will have a marriage- they need guestbooks, and more...
Paintings- collectors, art fans, Computer and Play Station gamers who like arts, other artists, and more.
Brainstorm for some days, think well and plan carefully your products and product lines as it is important to try to sell products that are more likely to be used by other people and that would help them, inspire them or fill their specific needs. This way you will save tons of time ( potentially in the future if you are not prepared before starting selling online at all ) for figuring out why people do not buy your creations and you will also become more confident when you release your products online.
In order to win trust and to inspire and assure people online that your product is the best for them or that your product is quality enough for them, you need to prepare the best pictures of your products that you can possibly make.
Try to find a better photo camera - if you don't have one you might ask a friend to give you one for some days.
There are two main types of product photography that are used for selling online- no matter if you sell arts, handmade or something manufactured. These types are:
A) Products are pictured on a plain background- most of the time it is white.
This is one of the most used ways to picture your products for selling online. When speaking for clear background photos I advise you to use a white background as this has been researched is the most preferred way by most of the buyers online in recent years.
If you make pictures on a white background it is best not to add anything else on the background- just picture your product on the clear background. If you want to have something else on the background- never put too much things- you should put only one thing or 2-3 things as an accent. Be sure that your product is the main object in the pictures.
Below you can see a Wooden box pictured on a white background.
Of course if your brand is for example about men cosmetics, you can use black background ( as black is used for many men brands ) but you will have to have your products in a contrasting lighting against the black background- remember it is always better to have a contrast between your very products and the backgrounds that you use to photograph them on.
B) Products are pictured in a situation that shows how they are used or they are pictured how they are being hold by s person so that potential buyers can feel the emotion of the person holding or using the products on the picture
This is a type of product photography that is desired these days in order for you to win more trust by the shoppers online. With such photos you will capture the buyers emotions in much better way, they will see your product in a situation of how the product is helping that person, how the emotion of using the product is making the person on the photo happy. This way your potential buyers will better imagine how if they buy your product it will help them or it will bring them emotions and inspiration or how it will solve their problem.
It has been researched that products that have at least one such photography on the product page have been more purchased and the conversion of the product is better.
It is best if your situational photography shows also the face of the user ( the model that you photograph with the very product ) at the moment of making the photography. You can ask some friends of yours to help you and be your models for making the situational product photos for your web store or web site.
Below you can see an instance of a picture where the products ( miniature lumber beams ) are being used to create something that they are intended to be used for- a wooden mini structure.
On the picture below I show you an instance of a product photography that combines some background accents like some nature rocks and greenery and also how a person is using the inside pocket of the handmade journal- this way you can stimulate the emotion of the potential buyers so they can imagine what it would be to use the product if they order it from you.
Final TIPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHING YOUR PRODUCTS:
* Photograph your products from all the possible angles, also from the inside if they have insides. Also picture all the different additional features of the products.
* Make at least 10 pictures for your product page where you have photographed the product from all the different angles. You can make additional pictures of the different features of your craft.
* Make at least one situational picture- for example how a person is using the product or how a person is holding it showing an emotion of holding or using the very product.
You have to think about where you would like to make an online store and to list your products online for buyers to find and purchase.
There are plenty of platforms like Etsy, Bonanza, Amazon Handmade, Ebay, Cratejoy, and others where you can open a web store.
The other option is to create your own website via platforms like Shopify, Wix or Word Press. It is a long process and if you do not know how to set up a website you can find someone to do this for you.
My advice is to start selling first in platforms like Etsy or Bonanza or similar ones.
3.1 You need to have a PayPal account and also a bank card- either Visa or Mastercard.
3.2 You need to prepare a profile picture- best would be to choose a picture of one of your products or your Logo.
3.3 Make a banner picture to present your brand to the public.
3.4 You need to think of your shop Policies- find online blogs that offer to you free templates for Shop Policies. Rewrite one such Policy Template with your own rules for Shipping, Service, Returns and Refund Policies.
3.5
To be continued...
