Why designing your crafty website is cheap and easy

Posted by Kira on February 20, 2009

And Why I want you to design your site in Wordpress- check out this link, which explains better than I could, why designing your website doesn’t have to cost a lot. I keep several free wordpress.com blogs active, and I have several hosted wordpress sites- some that don’t even function as blogs in the traditional sense, just a few pages of information- such as the South East Florida Polymer Clay Guild – www.sefpcg.com.  Just because it’s a blogging platform doesn’t mean it has to be a blog. Wordpress is the website design platform that I learned on (after leaving my free blogger account due to lack of features at the time- now I’m back at blogger for my personal stuff because of the google features) and I stand by it. I’ve been through lots and lots of wordpress upgrades, and it keeps getting better!

Website users (viewers, customers, etc) have come to expect that a website will have a consistent feel, consistent navigation, and ease of use. Wordpress offers all of that, free and easy. So does Blogger- but I find blogger has a slightly higher learning curve, especially if you don’t know any html or css. Wordpress has thousands of free easy-to-install themes available, so that’s why I suggest it for first-time bloggers.

 Why do you need a craft show customer mailing list?

Posted by Kira on February 18, 2009

You need a way to contact your customers and potential customers prior to arriving at a show, after they make a purchase, and after the show at various times during the year.

I met a wonderful man at a craft fair in Weston, Florida last weekend. He sells the most beautiful trivets. 

He and his wife make them from various dried seeds, flowers, nuts, beans, spices, and other things you might find in a garden or kitchen. They are put into a vial-like contraption which they can’t escape from, and they are bordered by two pieces of wood which serve as handles and a way to hold the whole thing together. The dried thingies inside are grouped- according to type, color, size, texture, and other appealing visual combinations. He doesn’t have a website. The next time I have a friend who buys or rents a new home, refinishes a kitchen, or has a birthday, I’d love to buy one. It was priced very nicely and would make a lovely gift.

If he had asked me to sign up for his mailing list, I would have. I have come to expect things like notices, coupons, and other ways of keeping in touch from people who I sign up to receive things from. I do it online, and I would do it in person. Especially from someone who’s work I like, and who I would consider buying from in the future. It is not pushy to ask someone to sign up, it is a courtesy. If he had asked me, I would have felt relief- that I could expect to receive some kind of regular updates from him, and won’t have to go searching for his card in my purse (and his phone number, which frankly, I won’t call because I don’t have time to discuss options with him since I can’t remember his product and there are no online pictures for me to pick from) the next time I have a need he can fill. 

Think about it.

 Why do you need a website, when you primarily sell at craft shows?

Posted by Kira on February 4, 2009

After all, you are selling your crafts consistently at shows. You don’t use the web, and can’t see why you need to.

Well, let me encourage you to change your mind. Right now, we are in what industry experts are calling “The information age.” Almost anything you could want to learn or know about is on the internet in some form or another.I just went to a big Conference on E-Learning, where I learned that Wikipedia is MORE accurate than any written encylopedia that exists right now. That is because real people are seriously invested in making sure that the information out there is accurate.

What does that mean for you? Let me tell you what recently happened to me at a show in Boca Raton. 

I wandered the show, alone, as I often do, looking for something unique to catch my eye. I talked to a crafter I see a lot, but was unimpressed with her attitude (tip- watch how “high and mighty” you sound to your customers. They are people too, and you may actually be talking to a professional artist who doesn’t need to peel back your ego to talk to you about your art.) So I didn’t buy from her that day. Then I happened upon a mosaic artist who was selling really pretty hearts covered with funky bright shapes of ceramic and glass pieces embedded in black grout. They had the “baby bracelet” letters embedded too, spelling out words. I was drawn to one with a large red flower and the word “Create” so I purchased it for my studio wall. The receipt I got was the kind you buy at Office Max, and there was no business card or flyer, and the bag it was put in was from a local restaurant. I can never order from that artist again- I have no idea how to contact her. I strongly encouraged her to start an etsy shop, if only to have some web presence where she could be found again. I don’t even know the name of her business. 

Lesson learned? Don’t be invisible. I liked her work enough to buy it- although I could have pretty easily “made it myself” (don’t you hate it when people say that to you?) I would buy from her again- for a friend, perhaps- but unless she’s planning on coming back to my area and I happen to go to whatever show she is at (there are LOTS of shows in South Florida, and I certainly don’t go to them all) the chances of us meeting again are the classic needle in a haystack. Is that how you want to relate to people who have already bought something from you, proving that they are, indeed, supporters of your livelihood? 

Please think about it, and open your mind. Just because you aren’t linked in to the web, doesn’t mean you don’t need some way for people to find you after the fact. OR- to anticipate your presence in their area so they can plan to meet you again.