Help in starting a small craft business - pleeease!

[CraftsbyDiane]

Hello

I'm looking for some advice as I have recently decided to start selling my paintings and glass/ceramic bead jewellery and have been given some excellent advice from a fellow craft forum member to start a blog.

First of all, does anyone have any advice for starting a blog - where I should go, any links etc?

Also, I am looking to start at some local craft fairs. If anyone knows of any in the Hampshire/Berkshire area, I would love to hear about them as I would certainly be very interested in taking part. I recently did a car boot to try to sell some of my jewellery but I think this was the wrong audience.

Any advice from anyone would be really appreciated!

Thanks so much

D

[TYP]

I use blogger.com - I like it, no complaints! Look at other peoples blogs, be nosy, decide what you like and don't like about them and that will give you a good starting point as to what you want yours to be like. Obviously you can't sell through your blog but you could use it as a way of linking to an etsy shop or wherever else you are selling your stuff.

Good luck :D

[Focus on Life]

Hi Diane

I can share a few bits that I've learned so far but bear in mind I'm a new Blogger myself so if someone wants to put me right on anything iffy, theyre very welcome!

I used Blogger as well https://www.blogger.com/start and to be honest, I stumbled across it and it was so easy to set a very basic Blog up, I couldnt believe it!

I dont have a nice fancy banner like many do, couldnt figure that bit out yet so living without it for now :)

I dont have a website either and, as my things are custom made to order, I guess it is easier for me to try using a Blog as a potential "selling" tool - certainly worth giving it a try if you dont have the funds for a website yet - at the very, very least, mine lets me post pictures of my samples and tell people what I do and give them details of how to find me - so thats more than I had on www before I found the forum and learnt all about Blogs! I thought it was a fungus before I joined this group!....

Anyhoo, my advice would be to set your basic blog up and when you want to start posting pictures to it, you'll need to load them onto the web first - I picked Flickr cos it looked as though many forum members use that so I just followed their lead :)

And if you want a slideshow on there, gimme a shout cos that took a lot of figuring out but I got there in the end!

....and like Typ said, until you have a website, you could use the Blog to link to an online shop like Etsy.....I havent got that far yet but trying to soon

hth, good luck!
shaz x

[TYP]

Diane - Shaz's blog (link in her signature) is a good place to start when looking at other peoples blogs, particularly if you are in the same current boat and don't have your own website to sell on... it is personal, detailed, interesting and she blogs regularly so that you keep going back to look at it - thats something that I am very guilty of at the moment, its been about 2 weeks since my last entry..! In fact I rewrote my 'about me' after I read Shaz's because it was obvious to me that that was appealing - you're more likely to revisit if you know who you're dealing with!! (Sorry, Shaz, have I totally ripped off your idea there, cheque in the mail!!)

It might be worth starting a new thread about your craft fair enquiry in the 'craft fairs' bit, in case this is missed here?

[Focus on Life]

Diane - Shaz's blog (link in her signature) is a good place to start when looking at other peoples blogs, particularly if you are in the same current boat and don't have your own website to sell on... it is personal, detailed, interesting and she blogs regularly so that you keep going back to look at it - thats something that I am very guilty of at the moment, its been about 2 weeks since my last entry..! In fact I rewrote my 'about me' after I read Shaz's because it was obvious to me that that was appealing - you're more likely to revisit if you know who you're dealing with!! (Sorry, Shaz, have I totally ripped off your idea there, cheque in the mail!!)


Wow, such compliments, I'm very very flattered - thanks Typ! :)

(PS I'm about to redo that whole side section actually, after Beadsbydesign asked me how people go about getting their photographs to me, I thought I should explain that in there somewhere - so I'm gonna try & make it a bit simpler with defined sections - so keep watching and let me know what you think - wont be done before bedtime though so dont wait up love!!!!)

Shaz x

[Focus on Life]

Hey, I didnt realise I was on your Stuff I Like bit Typ, now I'm really REALLY chuffed! :mf::mf::mf:

That's my next thing to get a-grips with - getting some linking done!

Thanks!
shaz x

[TYP]

Oh in that case Shaz I will have to look again once you've changed it and then copy all those ideas too, suggest you do the same Diane (JUST KIDDING!):sm:



:sleep:

[dinkins]

i also say blogger is a very good starting point to show off your work etc

i get tons of hits through both my blogs, i have 2 , soon to be 3! as they are such a huge hit if you can get people coming back regular checking it out etc.

let us know what you decided and if you need any help setting it up

[CraftsbyDiane]

Hi guys,

I just wanted to say thanks very much!

Within 24 hours - after a very long night, I have set up my own blog page and here it is: craftsbydiane.blogspot.com

How exciting!

Thanks so much again for all of your advice

D x

[dinkins]

well done diana. see wasnt so painfull?

i love your canvas im hoping to get some myself done when mine arrive.

[Focus on Life]

Aw congratulations Diane! I'm really pleased for you and it looks like a great start, I didnt even have any photos to paste on my first day so well done!

Onward & upward!
Shaz x

[ilovecrafts]

well done!

think I ight hve to get a bog too!
they seem to be all the rage these days!
never really loked at any before joining this site, well 1 or 2 only and they weren't at all inspiring, but now i've looked at loads from here, it seems more interesting.

[Redmaxi]

I just set up my own blog (last night) and yes I was pretty damn excited too. However I havent done much noseying at other peoples or any kind of research yet. As a consequence mine is a little .... shall we say..... rough round the edges!!Loads of great tips on here though so thanks everyone.

Congrats on your new blog Diane. I'll check yours and everyone elses out later tonight :D

[Anne]

I love your blog... very nice. I started a blog earlier this month using Blogger.com. It was quite straight forward to set up and you can easily add some extras like linking to youtube vids.

I like the idea of adding links... I've only got a couple so far. Anyone fancy swapping links with me? My blog address is http://chloesdesigns.blogspot.com/ (not quite sure if it's any good!!! :confused:)

[Focus on Life]

Anyone fancy swapping links with me? My blog address is http://chloesdesigns.blogspot.com/ (not quite sure if it's any good!!! :confused:)

I'm hoping to start adding/swapping more links now I'm getting into this Blogging malarky a bit more Anne so, if you like, I'll add your name to the little list I've started of people's Blogs I'd like to feature as I go along :)

Redmaxi - get your Blog on your signature so we can have a looksee!

Shaz x

[Anne]

Hiya,
Coool.... I've just added your link to my blog :mf:

lol.... I so love your cat pics. I named my business after my cat. She's such a rascal!! I love her to pieces :D You can guarantee if there's an empty bag or box lying around, she'll be in it!!!

Anyone else wanna swap blog links?....

[CraftsbyDiane]

Hiya

I am loving all of your blogs! Not that I would dream of copying anyone but it's great to have a look at other blogs to get some ideas.

Anne, I really like your blog and your countdown to the craft fair. My countdown is quite long as I am not doing my first fair until 11 May. I don't mind though as I am going to spend the time getting lots of new items made so I have a really impressive display (any ideas to make it spectacular very welcome)!!

You should be able to view mine now as I have added it to my signature. It's very basic at the moment as I only set it up this week. I added to it last night as I had a very successful meeting at my local library which I am really excited about. Where does everyone else sell their work?

Thanks
D

[Anne]

Hi Dianne,
Just been looking at your blog.. I really love your paintings. They are brill.
I picked up quite a few things from doing my first craft fair. I was suprised that some people didn't realise how much I actually made myself. Some people thought I had bought in the pendants and attached them to a necklace, where as I actually make the pendants from sheets of glass and fuse them together in a kiln. So I would recommend emphasising how much you make yourself.

I also saw another lady with a jewellery table that had one of those digital picture frames. She put her jewellery pics on there to advertise her wedding tiaras. I thought that was an ace idea. I think you can even play video clips on them... (I was thinking of setting one up to show a demo of me making something...)

This was only my first fair and I'm definately no pro.. but here are a few other ideas I picked up...
1. It helps to add some height to your table with some boxes or display stands, so that everything is not all at table level.
2. Necklace Display busts worked very well on my table.
3. Have some leaflets/business cards on your table so people can take one.

Hope this helps. Good luck with your fair. I'll keep checking your blog, cos I'd love to see some of your jewellery too.

[Redmaxi]

Redmaxi - get your Blog on your signature so we can have a looksee!



Oh I thought I had ...I'll have to try that again! Anyway heres the addy/link thingy!!!!:confused:

http://redshandcraftshobby.blogspot.com/

Thanks for looking

[Redmaxi]

Oooh, it did work, it's there now :D

[CraftsbyDiane]

Thank you so much for that advice Anne - and thank you for the compliments on my paintings. I have loads of bits and pieces but didn't have a lot of time to put much on the other evening.

I will be putting some pictures of my jewellery on my blog this Sunday as this is when I do most of my work. So, if you have a look on Monday, I will have more stuff on there.

I really appreciate your advice re craft fair displays. The digital photo frame idea is excellent and I would like to consider doing something like that too as I also make bridal tiaras.

Anyway, really hope to speak to you again soon.

Take care
Diane

[Focus on Life]

[quote=Anne;68260]I also saw another lady with a jewellery table that had one of those digital picture frames. She put her jewellery pics on there to advertise her wedding tiaras. I thought that was an ace idea. I think you can even play video clips on them... (I was thinking of setting one up to show a demo of me making something...)
quote]

Now thats an idea? We've just been talking on another thread about the benefits of having a portfolio, specially for my stuff thats been commissioned and sold so I cant display it at the fair, thanks for that. Might consider a digital picture frame... :)

Ta!
Shaz x

[Anne]

:) someone bought us one of the digital cameras last xmas. It just sits on our shelf and we hardly ever switch it on.... (I'm definately bagging it for my next fair)