10 Ways to Gain New Pinterest Followers

Why Having Pinterest Followers Is Important

Having large numbers of followers is important on social marketing sites because on most social marketing sites posts your followers repin, like, comment, or follow are shown on their friends feeds.

When to hold A Giveaway
On Your Facebook Page

When you own a small business the best way to attract customers and keep them involved is to keep them entertained. This should not be done on your shop website as that is for the sole purpose of displaying your items. Most of us (online vendors) have turned to Facebook, Twitter or Google+.

I prefer to use Facebook to engage with my customers since it is very user friendly. You can share new items, link back to your shop (most important), share sales, coupon codes, etc.

Are Photographs Keeping People from Buying Your Handmade Crafts

People buying art in a brick and mortar store can pick up and inspect an item for quality of construction, details, etc. They can pick it up, try it on and see how it looks on them etc.

When buying crafts online your pictures are all they have to see the pieces and imagine themselves in or using it.

David Salerno of one of my LinkedIn Groups shared the tip below.

Putting Links on Ebay, Etsy and Handmade Selling Sites

"... your idea of putting an Etsy link in your eBay listings is a great idea and certainly something I would not consider "unethical" but unfortunatley eBay will not allow it.

How to Sell More Jewelry Directly from Your Blog

copyright by Rena Klingenberg

Your blog is an excellent tool for selling your jewelry online. In fact, many jewelry artists sell their work exclusively from their blogs.

You can stir up your readers' interest in your work by blogging about how your jewelry is created, what's unique about a particular piece or component, what the piece signifies to you, what happened while you were creating it, etc.

Is Facebook and Social Media Selling Art?

Social media is working for my art business but...

I have gone to where my customers (artists and crafters) are on Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. and that is where I post.

Search keywords related to your product in the Facebook search box.

Want to know how many people like fine art? Type in fine art in the Facebook search box and go to fine arts-interests.

Check out your competitions pages from the search above.

Are You Pricing
Your Original Art Too Low?

Price your original art too low-You are doing yourself and others a huge disservice.

Pricing handmade crafts too low implies low quality decreasing sales. Don't wrongly assume if you sell crafts for what they are worth you wouldn't sell any.

How to Add Art and Craft Buyers
To Mailing Lists

First read Why Add Art and Craft Buyers to Mailing Lists.

Collect Art Buyers Contact Information

Decide what information you need to mail and email your customers useful information that will encourage them to buy your one of kind handcrafted art work. Information that is generally collected includes:

First Name Last Name Address City State Zip Code Phone Number Email Address Birth Date

" I do 90% custom knitting. I don't think many people read shop policies.

Crafts that Sell-Selling Customized Crafts Online

Karen Hornsten of my LinkedIn group The Extavaganza Craft Productions shared this tip for listing customized crafts for sale in your Etsy shop.

"If you go to your Etsy shop settings you can Go to the left side and look for Options.

Holly Sennott creator of  Kooky Critters had this great idea.

"I have a large FB fan following and it brings loads of traffic to my Etsy shop and my website. I have not tried Payvment yet, but will certainly check that out.

Art and Craft Group
"Facebook Like"
Exchanges on LinkedIn

Leslie shared this tip on LinkedIn for "Facebook Like Exchanges" that are common in Art and Craft Groups. It's funny I had done this all over the internet and hadn't used it on Facebook.

How to Sell Art Online
Take Better Pictures

When selling art online little is more important than quality of your pictures.

You won't get many sales if the quality of the pictures make it hard for the buyer to see the quality of your art or craft. Worse yet bad pictures can make the buyer imagine your art is poor quality because you didn't care if the photos were low quality.

Taking pictures of handcrafted art is something that overwhelms many artists and crafters.

Well today I was checking the polls and there have been a lot of you respond to them. So I will let you know what the results are as they currently stand.

What is the average price of your product?

• 1 person answered $20.01-$30
• 1 person said $100.01-$125

What are the 3 biggest obstacles your business faces?

• 1 person answered How to Market/Advertise My Business
• 1 answered Displays
• 2 said it was How to Make my Website Make More Money
• 1 said Cutting Costs
• 1 said How to Make More Sales at Shows

What seasons do you do shows?

• 1 said they do Fall Shows
• 2 said they do Winter Shows
• 2 of you do Spring Shows
• 2 do Summer Shows
• 1 only does Holiday Shows
• 2 or you do Shows All Year Long

When do you start selling Christmas and holiday merchandise?

• 1 said I sell holiday merchandise all year round
• 1 starts selling holiday merchandise right after Halloween
• 2 start selling holiday merchandise right after Thanksgiving

Do you change the look of your booth to coordinate with seasons, holidays, and other special occasions?

• 2 of you said Yes, I decorate my booth for the holidays and seasons
• 3 said No, my booth stays the same through out the year

What is your average income at craft shows per year?

• 4 answered Between $0 and $10,000
• 1 answered Between $30,000 and $40,000
• 1 answered Above $50,000

What do you sell at shows?

Note: I changed some of the answers to this poll so some of the answers are skewed just a bit.

Reasons Art Festival Customer Won’t Buy

Customers won’t buy art from you if:

• They don’t know where to find your handmade craft.
• They aren’t prepared to buy now. For instance they weren’t expecting to see a handcrafted product they wanted so they don’t have money right now.
• They don’t know what you are selling.
• You aren’t selling what they want.
• Your handcrafted art is hard to get, the wrong price or poor quality.

How to Sell Crafts Online

Artists and crafters are learning to succeed at your hobby as a business you need to market your crafts well.

Marketing involves engaging your customers in a relationship building trust. The most cost efficient way is to use the resources the internet provides us. For instance online craft stores, web sites, e-mail marketing, and more. Click here to read Reasons to Stay In Touch With Art Fair Customers.