Craft Blog

Successfully selling your crafts takes some savvy marketing, some intelligent pricing, and some great display approaches. Here are some tips to help you sell your crafts at expos in a way that will make selling your home made crafts a financially viable business.

Selling your crafts at expos is a fantastic way to make money by selling your crafts. And what is better than making money by doing what you really love? However, expos can be a difficult way to actually make money. Why? Because in order to sell your products successfully, you have to set yourself apart from the crowd. And the number one characteristic of an expo is a large crowd. So many of these tips will help you set yourself apart from the crowd at any expo.

1. Find an expo that has room for your particular niche of products.

Most craft expo organizers try to have a good mix of vendors at their expos. This helps ensure that people will have a chance to actually sell their products in a relatively open market rather than struggling to sell any products in a totally glutted market.

However, many expo organizers do not take this balanced approach to organizing their expos. Sometimes-a lot of the time-you will end up at an expo in order to find out that more than 20% of the booths have sellers who sell in the exact same niche as you are.

The way that you can avoid this particular situation is by calling the organizer before you sign up and pay fees to have a booth at the expo. Ask the organizer how many different vendors in your niche will be at the expo. Ask the organizer what types of items and products will be marketed at the show.

You might have to ask a lot of questions, and the organizer might not be willing to share the information, but if there are too many other people there selling the same products as you are, then it won’t be profitable for you to go to that expo.

Don’t go to expos where you won’t have a chance to actually make a profit. Research that is done beforehand can keep you out of places where you will only make a minimum of profit, if you make any profit at all.

2. Think local.

You might be tempted initially to attend really huge expos that are regional or even national. However, these are the kinds of expos where there will be a glut of people in your niche. This means that it will be much harder for you to stand out in the crowd at these expos.
Local expos can be a much better avenue for you to follow if you want to market your crafts. Local expos are usually very well organized. They are also usually very well promoted combined with very good attendance. Local expos tend to have less vendors, which means that there will be fewer people who are selling products in your particular niche.
3. Other tips to help you market your crafts at expos.
– Make sure that your prices are clearly marked.
–Ensure that you have it marked if your products are priced wholesale or retail.
– Have a sign up list available for consumers to sign up for your email and your snail mail mailing list.
– Have brochures available with your website clearly marked, along with your contact information.
– Don’t clutter your display so much that people aren’t interested in stopping at your booth.

Knowing how to sell crafts online is one of the key components of a successful approach to marketing and selling your homemade crafts. Here are some tips to help you learn how you can sell crafts online and make a profit doing so.

Thousands of crafters have discovered the Internet as a great way to sell their crafts and to supplement their crafting business. Using the Internet to sell crafts can be a great tool and a great opportunity. However, a number of people who make and sell crafts are missing out on a great business opportunity with the Internet, either because they aren’t using the Internet at all, or because they aren’t using the Internet at all.

Let’s start with people who aren’t using the Internet at all. Here are some ways that you can use the Internet successfully to sell your crafts online.

1. Set up your own website.

A website is a fantastic place where people can learn all about your different products that you have to offer. A website is a place where new customers can find out about you. A website is also a fantastic place for old customers to find out about your new products. Old customers can also reorder products through your website.

Make sure that your website is designed well. If you don’t know anything about website design, then you should think about hiring a professional. The upfront cost will be recouped through the profits that you will win.

When you set up a website, buy a domain name that will be easy for people to think of. Don’t find some freeware site that assigns you a random web address that’s full of numbers. Instead, purchase a domain name that has your company’s name in it, or your name in it.

2. Use email to your advantage.

Email lists are a fantastic way to contact people who are interested in your products. Whenever you are selling at a trade show or at a craft store, have a mailing list available for people to sign up on. Ask for their name, their address, their city, their state, their zip code, and an email address. Even if you only sign out a hard copy snail mail newsletter once a year, having states and cities can help you send out regional emails.

Send out your emails about every couple months. Send people updates on your products. Let them know about any special deals or discounts that are going on. When you are visiting a trade show in a particular area, then you can send out emails to people in that region.

3. Use other people’s websites.

Ask other crafters to add links to your website on their own website. Also advertise on other people’s sites and on the sites of major magazines and forums.

Common mistakes that people make with the Internet
Even when people have websites and use the Internet, a lot of the time they make mistakes with what they do. Here are some common mistakes that people make when they try to sell crafts online.

1. Badly designed websites.

Many times, people design poor websites. Their websites are too bloated with too many graphics and sensory overload. This takes the website a long time to load and is confusing for people to navigate. They’re going to leave before it happens.

2. Lack of contact information.
Do you have your phone number, your fax number, your toll free number, your email address, and your mailing address on your website? Otherwise people won’t be able to contact you. Have the information on every page of your website, easy to find and easy to see.

3. Inability to order online.
If people are looking at crafts online, they are going to want to be able to purchase your crafts online. If they can’t buy online, then they’re going to go somewhere else where they can.

If you are into crafts and have decided you want to make some money off of your hobby. There are a lot of different ways that you can sell them. If you are thinking about selling your crafts but don’t want to spend the time going around to different boutiques try selling your crafts online. Selling your crafts online can be one of the easiest ways to sell them. Here are some tips for selling your crafts online.

The first tip for selling your crafts online is to find out where people look for the crafts you are selling the most. One big place that people look for crafts is on ebay. Ebay is a great place to sell your crafts because you can set a reserve of what you want the bidding to start at and go from there. This way if you have a limited amount you can only post as many as you have available. Then after you sell your different crafts you will be able to see what hot items are and what are not quite so hot.

The second tip for selling your crafts online is to sell your crafts on local online websites. If your community has a website that is attached to the newspaper or a local tv station you wont have to do a lot of advertising you can just post it and people can go through and see what is available. This is a great way to sell your crafts because people come to these websites with different things in mind that they want to buy or just to browse. This is a great way to get people to see what you have to offer with out having to spend a lot of money advertising to get your name out in the public.

The third tip for selling your crafts online is to set up your own website. This can be pricy depending on what type of website you set up and how involved it is. If you have to hire a web developer you will have to pay them by the hour. If your website is really involved you will end up paying them more because of the time they will have to put into it.

The fourth tip for selling your crafts online is to build your own website. There are a lot of e-commerce tools out there that can help you design your own website. The only hard thing with this is you won’t have advertising tools that you will have posting your crafts on local sites.
There are so many different resources out there that you can use for selling your crafts online. You just have to find out which ones will work best for selling your crafts. For example if you are selling wood crafts you will probably want to put it online where people will be looking into crafts that are wood. If you put your woods crafts on a website where there are glass crafts being sold you are probably not going to get as much publicity because people that are looking on that website are wanting glass crafts. The best tip for selling your crafts online is to get your name out there. Advertise your crafts and make people get excited about your crafts. If you are not excited about your crafts other are not going to be excited either. Also you will want to make sure that you post pictures. People like to see what they are buying. If you just have a description of the crafts you are selling people are going to be more hesitant to buy your things because they won’t know what to expect. Find what tips for selling your crafts online will help you to sell your crafts and get going.

There are so many different places where you can sell your crafts. You can sell your crafts at yard sales, or online, or even in a boutique. If you want to sell your crafts in a boutique but don’t know where to start, here are some tips for selling your crafts in a boutique.

The first tip for selling your crafts in a boutique is to call around and find out the cost. Different boutiques have different ways of charging fees. Some boutiques will charge you by the space you are using; others will take a certain percentage off of everything you sell. For example if you have an item for sale for $20.00 the boutique might take 10% which would end up making you $18.00 and them $2.00. You need to make sure that if you are putting your crafts in this kind of boutique that you price your items right. You don’t want to have items that are way outrageously priced because then you will not make any money. You also want to make sure that you are making money. You don’t want to break even after you pay the boutique their portion because then you are pretty much making your crafts for free.

The second tip for selling your crafts in a boutique is to pick the right kind of boutique.  You will want to do a little research when picking a boutique. You will want to make sure that you find out what items are being sold at different boutiques. For example some boutiques might specialize in home décor while other boutiques might specialize in crafts for babies and children.

The third tip for selling your crafts in a boutique is to actually go check out each boutique. Once you have narrowed your choices down it is a good idea if you go take a look at each one. You will want to make sure that they are in a location that you wouldn’t mid going to. To will also want to see how their booths are laid out and how they present different displays. You will want to make sure that your crafts are going to be noticed. For example some boutiques just lay different displays out of a lot of different peoples crafts all mixed together, while other boutiques display your crafts all together. This is something you will want to make sure that you take into consideration.

The fourth tip for selling your crafts in a boutique is to make sure that you make your display desirable. You will want to make sure that you lay out your crafts in a manner that people are going to want to but yours over some one else’s. This can be done by adding greenery, or putting your up above some one else’s. Depending on the type of craft you do will depend on how you will wan to go about displaying it.

There are so many tips for selling your crafts at a boutique. Every boutique is going to be a little different. They can be different from the way they display your crafts to how much they charge you for selling your crafts in their boutique. You will want to make sure that you get as much information as you can so you know exactly what to compare when you are deciding which boutique you want to display your crafts in. If you want more tips for selling your crafts in a boutique the best people to ask are people that have experience in selling crafts in a boutique. This way you will get the most accurate tips for selling your crafts in a boutique.

There are so many different hobbies that you can get into. One hobby that is becoming more and more popular is doing crafts. Crafts are a great activity to do, but you can also make money by doing something that you enjoy. If you have been making crafts and enjoy doing it and are thinking about wanting to sell them to make some extra money, there are a couple of ways you can go about doing it. You can sell your crafts online, you can sell them at a boutique, and you can even see your crafts at a craft show. If you are interested in selling your crafts at a craft show but need some help, here are some tips for selling your crafts at a craft show.

The first tip for selling your crafts at craft show is to pick what craft show fits your style. You want to make sure that you are going to feel comfortable about selling your crafts to the types of people that are going to be at the craft show. It is hard enough for some people to talk to strangers at all. You at least need to make sure that you are in an environment that you are comfortable in. Check around, and see what craft shows are available in your areas.

The second tip for selling your crafts at a craft show is to make sure that you bring enough inventories. You are going to sell out of things that is a given. The goal is to make sure that you sell as much as possible. You want to make sure though that you have the inventory that is in demand. If you have sold your crafts online or in a boutique you know which crafts you have sell and which ones don’t. If you have never sold your crafts anywhere and don’t know which things you should make more of, do some research. If you have a product that is similar to something some one else is selling see how it is doing. If it is something that is original you will have to make a guess.

The third tip for selling your crafts at a craft show is to make your crafts presentable. The best way to make your crafts presentable is to make them look like they would if they were on display at your house. You can do this by adding greenery, or staggering then. Depending on what crafts you want to sell will depend on how you want them displayed. You also want to make sure that people will not be overwhelmed when they are looking at your crafts. Make sure that your area is not too cluttered and that things look like they were meant to be in that particular place.

The fourth tip for selling your crafts at a craft show is to see if you can get a booth in the middle. Some people will not buy from booths if they are at the beginning because they want to see what crafts are out there before they spend all of their money. You also do not want to be at the end because people have already spent their money and are pretty much done and want to go home by the time they get to the end booths.

These are just a couple of tips. There are a lot more tips for selling your crafts at a craft show. Depending on what crafts you want to sell will depend on what tips you will want to use for selling your crafts at a craft show.

There are so many different things that you need to know when you are deciding to sell your crafts. You need to decide how you want to sell your crafts, you need to decide which crafts you want to sell, and then you have to decide where you want to sell your crafts. After you have decided all of these things you need to make sure that you don’t make mistakes that will end making it harder for you to sell your crafts. Here are some tips on mistakes you should not make when selling crafts.

The first tip on mistakes you should not make when selling crafts is where to sell your crafts. You don’t want to make the mistake of having your craft in a place where it is not desirable. For example you don’t want to sell wood crafts in a craft store where they sell glass crafts. People that go to crafts stores that have glass crafts are looking to buy glass crafts not wood crafts so you will end up loosing money because you will have to pay for a booth rental or other fees to sell your crafts and then you will not make as much money as you would if you put your crafts in a place where they are desirable.

The second tip on mistakes you should not make when selling crafts is to not sell only expensive crafts. You should make sure that you have a variety of different crafts that people can choose from. If some one walks into a boutique or a craft show and only sees high priced items they might not take as much time to look around as they would if they saw crafts of all prices.

The third tip on mistakes you should not make when selling crafts is to make your display look too cluttered. You want to make sure that you have everything in an organized manner. Make sure that your display has a look that shows you know how to decorate. Usually crafts are used for decoration and when some one is buying something they are usually more drawn to buy it if they see it in a setting that they could picture in their own house. So make sure that you display it in a way that people can relate with. Depending on what type of crafts you make will depend on how you want to display them. Some people like to use greenery around their crafts while others like to use other things that will help accent their crafts. You just want to make sure that you don’t put to much in the display where people can’t even figure out what they are wanting to find in all of the mess.

The fourth tip on mistakes you should not make when selling crafts is to make things bold colors. Most people when putting a craft in their house want it to match. If it is a holiday craft there are exceptions. But if you are making an every day craft that some one can leave up all year long you will want to make sure that you make them in colors that people will want in their house. For example if you make a sign that will hang in some ones house you might not want to paint it orange unless some one has requested it because a lot of people don’t have orange in their house all year long. You will want to make them more neutral colors like black, white, beige. These colors are colors that a lot of different people can use in their homes.

There are so many different types of things you can do when selling crafts. You just need to make sure to take into consideration the mistakes you should not make when selling crafts so you can get the most out of selling your crafts.

There are so many different things that you have to think about when you are deciding to sell your crafts. You have to decide what crafts you are going to sell, where you are going to sell them, and how you are going to sell them. It all comes down to how to find buyers or your crafts. If you want to sell your craft but don’t know how to find buyers, here are some tips on how to find buyers for your crafts.

The first tip on how to find buyers for your crafts is to decide what crafts you are going to sell. For example if you are going to sell crafts that have to do with baby’s or little children you are not going to want to sell to the public where the majority of the people are middle aged with teenagers, or newly weds. You will want to find places where the buyers are women who are just having children or places where grandmas might be.

The second tip on how to find buyers for your crafts is to do a little research. If you are going to sell your crafts in a boutique you will want to find a boutique where most of the buyers are looking for the type of crafts that you are selling. For example if you are selling crafts that are glass you will not want to sell them in a boutique where most of the crafts are wood. The reason why you will not want to do this is because people that are going into that boutique probably know that the boutique sells wood crafts and that is what they are looking for.

The third tip on how to find buyers for your crafts is if you are going to sell your crafts online. You will want to make sure that you put your crafts in the right category. If you are trying to sell your knitted crafts where most people are selling glass crafts. Or if your crafts are rustic you will not want to sell it on a site where most things are modern. You won’t get the advertising you want and the buyers won’t be looking for rustic crafts on a modern craft website.

The fourth tip on how to find buyers for your crafts is if you are going to sell your crafts at a craft show. You will want to make sure that you find out all of the details on what the craft show involves. You don’t want to get involved with a craft show that isn’t targeted towards the same buyers that are going to be targeted towards your crafts. The best way to find this kind of information out is to do research and find out what things have been sold at these craft shows in the past. You can also ask around to people that have gone to the craft shows in the past, this will give you an idea of what they thought about it and will give you an idea of a buyers view.

These are just a couple of tips on how to find buyers for your crafts. There are a lot of tips and tricks on how to find buyers for your crafts. You just have to figure out which ones will work the best for your crafts. Depending on what your crafts are will depend on how to find buyers for your crafts. Make sure that if you are going to do research on how to find buyers you’re crafts that you find crafts that compare to your crafts. If you don’t compare apples to apples you are not going to find the best route on how to find buyers for your crafts.

Craft sales are a fantastic way to make money off of doing what you really, truly love.  Advertising a craft sale well is the key to a successful craft sale, however.  Here are some tips that should help you successfully advertise your craft sale.

Marketing crafts is a different kind of ballgame than many other different business ventures.  For one, very few crafters actually own an entire business all by themselves.  Generally, people who make crafts tend to place their products in other people’s boutiques, or sell their crafts at craft fairs or expos, or perhaps have their own craft fair.

Craft fairs are a fantastic way for you to get your crafts out there in the public eye.  Craft fairs are also a good business move, because you get together with a number of different crafters so that all of you can band together to market your crafts.

However, no matter how fantastic, how original, how well made, and how beautiful your crafts are, it doesn’t matter if nobody comes to your craft fair.  It’s important that you spend a fair amount of effort and creativity on actually advertising your craft fair, along with creating your crafts for sale.  Here are some good publicity tips to help you advertise your craft fair.

1.  Make use of the Internet
There are a number of different places online where you can advertise your craft fair.  Make use of them!
 Online craft websites are a great place to start by advertising to fellow crafters.  Try www.churchofcraft.org, www.crafster.org, www.getcrafty.com, and www.knithappens.com.
 Create your own craft fair website.  It isn’t too difficult to design a website.  There are a number of different website templates that you can purchase.  It would even be great to get a professional to design your website.  Contact your other crafter friends and ask them to post a link to your craft fair website.
Try out online communities.  There are a number of online sites that are great for publicity, such as Craigslist and MySpace.  Both of these will allow you to reach a much larger number of people than you ever could imagine.
 Email.  When you are selling your crafts at other locations, provide a place for people to sign up for an email mailing list.  Then send them emails!  You can also try evites.

2.  Spruce up your show with a standard graphic.
You are going to have a number of different vendors participating in your show.  Standardize your publicity and improve it by coming up with your own craft sale logo.  Save it as a JPEG file.  Then participants can use it in their own publicity and also in emails that they send out.

3.  Publicize within the community.
There are a number of different ways that you can publicize your craft show and craft sale within your community.  Here are just a few of those great ways to advertise.
 Take out ads in your local newspapers.  Ask that the ad be published in the section that discusses arts, cooking, interior design, etc.
 Post flyers.  You can post flyers in other stores, other craft stores, on lightpoles, and more.  Go to your local library and ask them to post your advertising poster.
 Contact your local radio stations.  Ask them to announce your craft show and your craft sale.
 Make sure that you advertise at other, earlier craft shows.  
 Make sure that you have ads in any home improvement store, any home furnishing store, any fabric store, any craft store.  Then you are really reaching the people who are going to come and shop at your craft sales and craft shows.

If you are interested in selling your home made crafts at craft fairs and art shows, then there are some things that you need to know.  These tips can help you make your craft business financially successful.  By following these common sense guidelines, you can be successful in your craft marketing, craft pricing, and your approach to attracting and catching long term customers.

Craft fairs and art shows can be a fantastic place for you to make great business selling your homemade crafts.  Craft fairs attract a large number of people who are only there to purchase your products.  Selling your crafts at craft fairs allows you to do what you really love and to make a living doing it.  It also allows you to reach the best customer pool so that you can find long term consumers and clients.

Selling your crafts at craft fairs is a great option for you if you are outgoing and if you are willing to drive around a lot, visit a number of different places, and have a good retail personality, then craft fairs can be a good option for you.  Otherwise, you might want to look at other ways to market your crafts, such as at boutiques.

If you think that selling crafts at fairs is for you, then here are some great tips that can help you be successful on the craft fair circuit!

1.  Check out different craft fairs.

First, you need to do your research to make sure that your products are actually right for craft shows.  How good are your products, really?  Do you think that you can sell them to people other than your family?  If so, then keep going! 

2.  Do your homework about different shows that you can go to.

In order to successfully sell your crafts at fairs, then you need to find the craft fairs that are right for you.  Find out everything that you can about the different fairs that you are considering attending.  Call up the craft fair organizer and ask the following questions:

 – What types of products are going to be sold at this fair?
 – What niches are going to be demonstrated at this fair?
– How many vendors are gong to be represented for each niche?  You want to avoid a glut of people in your particular niche.
– What types of fees are involved?  What are the upfront costs, what are the application fees, and what else will you have to end up playing?
– What about the booths?  How big of a booth can you have?  What is the setup going to be like?
–Putting it all together, can you afford this particular show, combined with all of your other costs for travel, lodging, and materials?

3.  Start small when it comes to going to craft fairs.

Instead of going to the multi-state fairs initially or the regional fairs, you should start small with craft fairs.  Local fairs can help you keep your costs down so that you can have a higher profit margin.  Also consider borrowing a booth from another crafter so that you can save even more costs.  Or you can go in on a booth with a crafting friend.  Attending a number of local fairs, combined with larger fairs, can help you build a loyal customer base in different regions and in different areas.

4.  Price your crafts correctly.

A problem that many people have when trying to sell their crafts is that they don’t price their products correctly.  You need to determine what your actual production costs are.  Then you need to double that price (the labor costs combined with the material costs) in order to come up with your retail price (the original price is the wholesale price). 

Make sure that you check with other people who are selling similar products in your niche.  Are your prices much lower than their prices are?  Then you need to start charging more.  Are your prices much higher?  Then you need to change the amount that you are calculating for labor costs, or you need to cut down on your material costs.

Successfully selling your crafts at craft expos takes some savvy marketing, some intelligent pricing, and some great display approaches.  Here are some tips to help you sell your crafts at expos in a way that will make selling your home made crafts a financially viable business.

Selling your crafts at expos is a fantastic way to make money by selling your crafts.  And what is better than making money by doing what you really love?  However, expos can be a difficult way to actually make money.  Why?  Because in order to sell your products successfully, you have to set yourself apart from the crowd.  And the number one characteristic of an expo is a large crowd.  So many of these tips will help you set yourself apart from the crowd at any expo.

1.  Find an expo that has room for your particular niche of products.

 Most craft expo organizers try to have a good mix of vendors at their expos.  This helps ensure that people will have a chance to actually sell their products in a relatively open market rather than struggling to sell any products in a totally glutted market.

However, many expo organizers do not take this balanced approach to organizing their expos.  Sometimes—a lot of the time—you will end up at an expo in order to find out that more than 20% of the booths have sellers who sell in the exact same niche as you are.

The way that you can avoid this particular situation is by calling the organizer before you sign up and pay fees to have a booth at the expo.  Ask the organizer how many different vendors in your niche will be at the expo.  Ask the organizer what types of items and products will be marketed at the show.  You might have to ask a lot of questions, and the organizer might not be willing to share the information, but if there are too many other people there selling the same products as you are, then it won’t be profitable for you to go to that expo.

 Don’t go to expos where you won’t have a chance to actually make a profit.  Research that is done beforehand can keep you out of places where you will only make a minimum of profit, if you make any profit at all.

2.  Think local.

You might be tempted initially to attend really huge expos that are regional or even national.  However, these are the kinds of expos where there will be a glut of people in your niche.  This means that it will be much harder for you to stand out in the crowd at these expos.

Local expos can be a much better avenue for you to follow if you want to market your crafts.  Local expos are usually very well organized.  They are also usually very well promoted combined with very good attendance.  Local expos tend to have less vendors, which means that there will be fewer people who are selling products in your particular niche.

3.  Other tips to help you market your crafts at expos.
– Make sure that your prices are clearly marked.
–Ensure that you have it marked if your products are priced wholesale or retail.
– Have a sign up list available for consumers to sign up for your email and your snail mail mailing list.
– Have brochures available with your website clearly marked, along with your contact information.
– Don’t clutter your display so much that people aren’t interested in stopping at your booth.