Hobby & Craft Forums

judivenn wrote:

Good Post Sparkysdad....

I think a good indication of whether you are succeeding (online anyway) is how many people add you to their favourites...partly because, from a Psychology of Human Behaviour point of view, it takes more effort and motivation to actually click the link or go to the favourites folder than to just close the page...

My favourites are up to 97% (from about 67%) since I uploaded my revamped website...I think the fact that 97% of visitors are actually adding me, means they like what they see, and, even if they didn't buy, it probably means they have the intention to do so in the future...

I think that figure is way more important than how many people actually visit the site - although, to be fair, 97% of nothing is nothing

Indeed, traffic is pointless if it doesn't stop at your window, be that high street or internet!

I think you are right about winning loyalty over volume, there is plenty of information out there about how to make a customer buy regularly, but again it is something many of us shy away from - don't want to be seen as pushy etc..

beckyboo wrote:for us the majority of our sales come from events , we have over the 18 months we've been doing fairs we learnt to work hard at getting people interested ( alot of people can and do walk past jewellery with just a cursory glance ) .We have listened to and taken onboard advice from alot of people especially jane ( thank you jane ) about attracting people and getting them to buy.
our work is better looked at, held ,felt and tried on and many who have gone away happy have recommended us to friends and relatives . Our website gets the hits but sales have been slow , but then it's still early(ish) days for it and i know i need to put alot more work into it ( most of my stuff is made for events as we do one most weekends )

..........plus i love doing craft shows

It has taken us 18 months to get our website sales where they are today, I too think some are very unrealistic about web sale expectations.

One cannot just build a website - hand out business cards and sit back - pulling people through is hard work.

My husband was at a craft fair yesterday - which was good for us - but today we have had 5 orders from people who saw him there but for whatever reason didn't buy yesterday.

I have spent 13 yrs selling only by word of mouthand recomendation, it's suprising on how it escalates and repeat orders too. I only did my website (for the first time !) in October . I needed an online presence because I moved to my new workshop and started teaching and instead of 100% sales it's now 50% sales and 50% teaching. I think in the new year that may even be a 25% ,75% split on the side of teaching.

I think especially with jewellery and I mean sterling silver and gold pieces people want to see it & feel it , they also have to have some sort of rapport with the designer/maker before they commit to buy.

An awful lot build the site and sit back then the "shock horror" hits when they have invested in a lot of money and time and to be honest some of the designs are terrific but get no sales.

I think people also fail to understand that in addition to designing and making is only part of what a full time craftsperson undertakes when they work for themselves. Sales and promotion is as important as the product itself.

Just as a useless bit of information in 2007 what was the biggest single sale item in a leading hardware/DIY chain.... any guesses ???
Great thread by the way

Um, I have no idea? I bet it's something really obvious lol!

You're definitely right about knowing the designer- I know from my graphic design and print brokering that if it's someone local and I meet them face to face they come back time after time- as I said, people buy from people and not obscure websites. I think you also get to get across to them how the product has been made and the time and effort it has taken to create.

Don't get me onto the website things majiggy- 18 months ago I was as naive as the next person. It was only when I became a member of A1 that the lads coached me in SEO techniques and I spent hours and hours trawling the net then going back to the forum and quizzing them- how they kept their patience God only knows lol! I still don't claim to be any expert in it even now and nobody knows Google's secrets in how they rank sites but I do now know what appears to work. One of my ex's (during the 2 year split from my fella) bought a business with a turnover of 250k and transformed it to 3k in just 18 months purely through online sales and a lot of hardwork SEO wise. He was competeing for really competitive keywords and phrases too so it can definitely work but it depends how much effort you're prepared to put in and how much competition you have.