The Work From Home Blog » Business helpers

Becoming a successful Etsy seller

admin — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:48:35 +0000

Etsy is a popular site for creative individuals to sell their products. The site is growing exponentially, and buyers and sellers are both flocking to it in droves. Number of sales on the popular website continue to soar. Last year the company sold over 180 million dollars worth of products and hundreds of sellers regularly use it as a place to make a full-time or supplemental income.

The site has become an ideal place for artists and creative-types to sell their hand-made goods. However, selling on Etsy isn’t always as easy as it looks. Many sellers never sell more than a handful of products and don’t have much success. Fortunately, there are certain things that potential Etsy sellers can do to increase their chances of success and ensure a profitable endeavor.

Quality
To become a successful seller on Etsy, entrepreneurs need to ensure that their products are high quality and one of a kind. Etsy is famous for offering products that can’t be found anywhere else in the world. The most successful sellers make a special effort to ensure that what they create and sell is unique. Buyers are simply more likely to purchase unique products.

Photographing your product
Another factor that needs to be considered for success on Etsy is to ensure that photographs and descriptions of the product are extremely high quality. Unlike a brick-and-mortar store where individuals have the opportunity to see, feel, and closely examine products, Etsy buyers are purchasing products that they’ve never seen in person. It’s crucial that sellers are as descriptive as possible about what they are selling. Buyers should feel confident they are getting exactly what they want before it actually arrives.

Marketing
Of course, one key to being successful in any business is to market effectively. Etsy sellers need to treat their store seriously and invest the effort needed to market and promote their products. There are a variety of marketing tools that Etsy sellers can use including blogging platforms and social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.

A final tip to becoming a success is to get involved in the Etsy community. There are forums and blogs where sellers can meet and discuss techniques and methods for bringing in more customers. The Etsy community is a terrific place to get advice and even gain exposure. Building relationships with other sellers is a great way to understand what it takes to actually flourish on the site. Selling on Etsy isn’t easy but sellers can prosper by creating unique products, giving customers clear descriptions and promoting their store to the best of their ability.

Twee Bay – Buy and sell using Twitter

admin — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 08:04:27 +0000

As Twitter gets more and more popular there are many new services popping up for the Twitter community. One of the latest is Twee Bay – a free service you can use to buy and sell items using Twitter. There is the option of listing as an auction or as a classified and payment is handled by Google Checkout. Although the service is new it looks like something with a lot of potential.

Designing effective business cards

admin — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 02:59:17 +0000

Your business card can have a powerful effect on your small business. Being such a common thing, it can sometimes be taken for granted and even somewhat neglected at times. However it can be your visual brand, the thing that people will make decisions about you by before they even meet you. The more likely it is to portray the right image and be remembered the more likely it is that you will be getting some new (and possibly even more importantly repeat) business.

There are many places on the internet you can go to for inspiration when it comes time to design your card. Design blogs as well as the Flickr business card images set being some of them.
There are some amazing examples of what a little bit of creativity can achieve.

Whether you choose to hire a professional designer or design the card yourself, the procedure is a whole lot more affordable then it used to be. Printing a business card (or even poster printing for that matter) can be done online these days for a few cents per card (no more expensive print shops!) so there are no more excuses not to go out and get the best cards your small business deserves.

BuildYourSite.com – Web Design made easy

BuildYourSite.com – Web Design made easy

admin — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 05:03:51 +0000

Many people who are trying to get a home business off the ground feel that creating a web site is confusing and possibly quiet expensive. As well as the prohibitive cost it can also be a fairly lengthy process. Whether you choose to have your site professionally designed or take on the learning curve required to learn how to build a web site, it can take longer then you are willing to have to wait.

It doesn’t have to be this way however and even if you have limited web site design knowledge to build your own web site and can not afford a web designer there are still options available. One service that is quiet good value for money is the “Build It Yourself” service offered at buildyoursite.com (take their service for a free test drive here ). Create your own web site with the site builder that comes with over 4,000 industry specific templates. You can use them “as is” or customize them to your needs without having to be an expert. Also included is a domain name and hosting for just $9.99/month which is a pretty good deal.

With the design and hosting out of the way it leaves you (and your money) free to concentrate on marketing your business and new web site.

10 free ways to promote your business online

Selling your craft online

admin — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:13:20 +0000

I was planning to make a post about online marketplaces to sell your handmade art and craft items but I came across these two posts from At Home Mom Blog which I think do a fantastic job of summing up just about every place on the web. If you like to create crafty things and are wondering how to go about selling them then check out the following two posts, you won’t be disappointed.
Where to sell your crafts online part I

Where to sell your Crafts online part II

10 free ways to promote your business online

CraigsList alternatives

admin — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 04:43:05 +0000

This is just a very quick post today, it is school holidays here so I don’t have a lot of time to post until next Monday.
Below are a few alternate sites to Craigslist (free classifieds) which you may not have heard of.

Kijiji – called Gumtree in some countries, run by Ebay
ClickaPost
Zikbay.com
iList – This one is still in private Beta but is one to put in your bookmarks.

There are many more good ones out there no doubt. Do you have any favorites?

No related posts.

Direct Sales: Some ideas to help you sell more

admin — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 06:31:32 +0000

These are just some ideas on how to sell more with your direct sales business. If you have more ideas I would love to hear them so please leave them in the comments.

1) Set up a stall at craft shows and fairs
2) Hold more parties where people can buy your products
3) Always carry a product sample with you and work it into conversations with everyone you talk to
4) Fundraisers
5) Always follow up with your past customers. It is easier then finding new customers every time.
6) Give your products as presents on birthdays, xmas etc. If they love it they will order more.
7) If your products are suitable, pitch them to business owners to give to their employees and clients as Christmas or thank you presents.
8) Network with others, especially on social shopping and business sites.
9) Hand out catalogs at any opportunity including while lining up, at bus stops, dropping kids off etc.
10) Write some “how to” articles or videos and include your products. For example a makeover video with Avon products or a “how to decorate the bathroom” featuring your candles and soaps.

Related from Amazon:

Contest machine – run contests and giveaways from your blog easier

admin — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 05:00:36 +0000

If you run a web site or blog, you might be familiar with the work and effort involved in running a competition where there are prizes to award. ContestMachine is a new widget that hopes to solve this problem by automating much of the process. You can read what exactly it can do here. It is free to use for up to two contests per month. If you need to run more promotions then you will need to pay a fee.
Found via TechCrunch

No related posts.

Working at home with a baby

admin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:29:41 +0000

At Home Mom blog has a great post today on how to still get work done when you have a baby with you at home. There is some pretty handy advice there (I know I’ve been there) and it’s even broken down into age groups ie. working with a 0-3 months old etc. If you are expecting a baby and are wondering whether you will still be able to work from home, it is a good read.

Profit by keeping an eye on Ebay trends

admin — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:20:41 +0000

Last week I was reminded how easily money can be made on Ebay by simply keeping an eye on what is selling in your favourite categories.
Around the time the Olympics began, McDonalds started offering BeiBei, the blue Olympic mascot as their promotional toy for the week (followed by all the other mascots in the following weeks). The toys cost $2 each or free with a Happy Meal.

This is how much BeiBei was selling for on Ebay within two weeks of McDonalds selling out.

Sometimes finding an in-demand item is as easy as going to your local second hand store (thrift store) or you may even discover you have it laying around in your home (like in this case). So it is very much worth doing the occasional research. Here is how to go about it.

1) Go to ebay.com or your local country’s Ebay and log in with your username and password.
2) Choose a category you are interested in.
3) Scroll down to “Search Options” on the left hand side of the screen
4) Tick “Completed Listings” and press “show items”

5) Organize completed listings by price from highest to lowest. Ignore red prices as these did not sell. Prices marked in green did sell.

And there you have it. Once you know what is demand you are better prepared and can look out for anything that may be worth money at the moment.

Related DVD from Amazon: