Why your own craft website?
There are many good selling ventures, both on the internet and locally, so why should you own a website? Or you already own an Etsy shop, and wonder why you would need something else with less traffic?
First, a dot-com looks a lot more professional on a tag or on a business card. It shows that you are serious about your business and brings instant credibility. It’s hard to say the same about an Etsy store or a free blog or MySpace.
You have also added credibility when you send someone to your web site. Prospective buyers will be a lot more interested and like to buy from a good website that from a place like Etsy with hundreds of other options. The focus is on your product and nothing else.
With your own website, you control what’s on it. Want to reorganize everything, add more products for sale or your own forum? Want to send out a newsletter to your customers? With a website, you can do that and more.
Furthermore, you don’t depend on another business’ goodwill. They could close tomorrow, or ban you, and the address you gave to everyone suddenly stops working. But if you have your own website, you’re safe as long as you renew you domain every year.
I’m not saying to stop listing on Etsy or eBay. You can always do both, but I believe that the website option should be considered by any serious craft business.
To run your own website, you need a few things:
- A domain name, preferably a .COM (such as yourowncraftbusiness.com). You can register one for less than $10 at GoDaddy.
- Web hosting. This is space for your website files on a web server, usually provided by a webhost. GoDaddy also provides cheap web hosting, and so does Hostgator. Or your ISP that provides your internet connection may grant you some space for free.
- A website. If you are a little computer savvy, you can easily create your own website with one of the free or paid programs out there (have a look at the software listed at Snapfiles), or get a web designer to do it for you. Both GoDaddy and Hostgator also provide free site design tools that you can use.
- A little bit of HTML (hypertext) knowledge to edit your website files and look after your website. Or you can ask your webdesigner to do it or find a webmaster. Good places to look for cheap web design and webmaster services are Digitalpoint and dnForum.
Happy craft selling,
Cindy
Related Reading:
Handmade for Profit!: Hundreds of Secrets to Success in Selling Arts and CraftsThrough her books, articles, and periodicals, Barbara Brabec has been showing people how to profit from their creative talents and know-how for over twenty-five years.
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