• Setting Up Business

    Selling on Etsy tips

    I’ve only been on Etsy for a couple of weeks but here’s a few things that I have discovered so far. I paid for the advertising for a week as an experiment. Although I did not keep accurate data I did discover from the charts of hits and favorites that I got more favorites and visits when I put up new products. That seems to be the best way to get your shop on the front pages… better than the advertising. The week of advertising did not get as many visits as putting up a few new products did. Somehow, listing the items puts you back at the top of…

  • Setting Up Business

    More Updating

    I’ve been working on putting up some “Share” buttons on the web site and updating some of the Social Sites. I am trying to remember to Tweet about new products as they go up as well as add them to my Facebook page. I now have about 16 Original handknit and handspun projects on Craftsy, Etsy and for sale on the Nancy Elizabeth Designs website. I will be adding these as projects on my Ravelry as soon as I have the patterns written up and ready for sale as I would like to like the project to the pattern if I can.

  • handknit handspun lace merino wool blanket
    Setting Up Business

    Selling Handmade Stuff, working out some answers

    Ok, I just may be a little too “wide” in my product selection. Right now I am planning to offer hand knit articles of clothing and accessories for all ages, socks, blankets, shawls etc. (wide range, right?) PLUS hand spun yarn of any luxury natural fiber and size and my original design knitting patterns for anything I dream up. So, I will probably have to narrow my focus quite a bit. Do I do that now or do I try to put up a selection bit of everything and see how it goes? There really will be several things to consider but mainly it will be what sells and what…

  • Setting Up Business

    Selling Handmade, The Questions

    I have some concerns which I have decided to share here. This should help me think it through and hopefully I can help someone else along the way. How much should I charge for my handknitting and handspinning? Will anyone buy my handspun and handknit designs? How will they know how wonderfully soft they are? How will they be able to really appreciate the details, the expert workmanship with just a few photos? or …. Perhaps what I should be asking is….. Why do I want to do this? Pricing Handknitting, The Questions They have pretty big price tags because I choose the highest quality, softest and most luxurious fibres…

  • double wedding ring quilt
    Setting Up Business

    What Fun

    Now this is fun! And time consuming, WHEW. I put up a quilt and a few of the things I made for the Jewelry Class at Craftsy and it was easy so I put some of my handknits up there too, as projects. Within 24 hours I have “hearts” and even some comments. This inspires me to go ahead and put some of the sweaters and things on Etsy and see what comes of it. It costs 20 cents per listing so it won’t be expensive to find out and I will only have to pay the final fees if they sell.

  • Setting Up Business

    Online Venues and Promotions

    It looks like the best way to get seen and then to get known is to have your products displayed and talked about in as many places as possible and to rank well with the search engines. Next we’ll talk about getting them clicked on and various ways to increase traffic to your pages. These ways include paid promotions but there are many more free ways to attract attention to your products and it’s going to take some studying to find them all. Here are a few I’ve found so far. My Craftsy create a profile page with lots of keywords upload projects with keywords comment on, save or “favorite”…

  • spinning angora yarn
    Setting Up Business

    Selling Online

    It’s been a long time coming but I’m ready to give this a shot. I’m going to try to sell my handknits, handspun yarns and maybe my pattern designs online. Of course, I’ve got lots of concerns and questions but I have to start somewhere so today I am putting up some of the things I’ve been spinning and knitting over the last few years up as “projects” on Craftsy. Once I put myself out there I’ll probably post some of them on Etsy too. I opened an account at Etsy several years ago and never did put anything up yet. I’ve got a web site set up also. Nancy…