(photo cred: imbok2000) I have been asking myself this question since I read this humorous, albeit, true article on Etsy Bitch the other night. While the motivation of this site is to call out Etsy for all its faults in a snarky, smart-alecky way, there is some truth and useful information hidden in all the muck. The gist of this article was to refute the "Quit Your Day Job" series that Etsy regularly features. While I read Etsy Bitch solely for laughs and entertainment, this particular article has really made me think: Am I spending my ad dollars wisely? The article hit a nerve when it asked:
"Which is a good ad? An insular 10 cent spot on a craft blog with 6 readers running Project Wonderful ads because you like the chick with the blog ? Or A 10 cent Project Wonderful spot on a NON-craft blog?"
OMG: That's me! I've been spending money on ads that I know won't necessarily garner any views or clicks because I've been patronizing my friends and not being a smart business woman. Let me say that this is nothing personal against those I've advertised with in the past, and this is not an attack on anyone I've advertised with in the past. I've been running my business with my heart and not my head, and it shows! So what steps have I taken to rectify this?
For one, I'm carefully researching every site I choose to advertise on before I just jump into it. Secondly, I'm no longer keeping all of my eggs in one basket. I vowed that I wouldn't sell on any other venue other than Art Fire. I've decided to keep my Etsy shop open. As lost as I feel there, I do have some fans there, and there's such a huge audience there, that I'm not willing to let go just yet. I also have my 1000 Markets shop. I have yet to make a sale there since joining in November 2008 (I did blow the one sale I could've made, but I saved it by directing the buyer to my Art Fire shop), but I love the look of that venue. Lastly, I just opened my shop on Funky Finds. I discovered them about two years ago as an advertising venue, and they've just started a selling market about a year or so ago. I am also in the process of re-starting my own website using a dot com and re-directing it to one of my venue shops. Why should I give all the glory to these venues when I'm trying to make a presence for myself? These are just a few baby steps as I have looooong way to go. I'm tired of wasting money, and I'm getting my act together. Any other tips or words of wisdom you'd like to share?
4 comments:
I kind of went the other direction myself. I started with the website and when I saw etsy long ago I was like why would I pay to list things when I can sell them on my site for free.
Now I am kind of kicking myself for not starting etsy sooner. That is a place where I can find buyers who may have never seen my website or products otherwise. Live and learn right? :)
I still think the number 1 advertising is word of mouth. Just need to do what you can to get people talking about your stuff to others. Posting on forums is also a good way to find buyers.
I think starting your own website would be good then you always have a place people can go to and with me I am able to put up way more product since there are no listing fess and such for every item.
gotta take baby steps first before you can run....now run girl run....
Thanks for all the advice! I've actually transferred my domain to godaddy and will set up my own site again!
I'm running cat!
Wow thank you for this, I really enjoyed the read (and it isn't often that i read the whole of anything enjoyably lol) But I'm definitely going to take this to heart on my journey :)
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