Thank you so much Sarah @thesherbetpatch for your advice.
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Preserve and dedicate some time each week to your website.
One thing Iām really working on is ! learning to be patient, we donāt always sell straight away, what has helped me is taking advice from fellow folksy friends to better my shop in appearance and taking good photos and having taking photos at different angles on your crafts, also write up in your description that buyers need to know about the items we sell, its good to be active and support threads when you can, oh yes, add many crafts to your shop, customers come back when your shop shows new crafts, at some point offer discounts sales etc.
Iām still working on the above advice, especially supporting folksy shops and photographing my crafts
Hope this helps friends
Sue
Believe in yourself and tell everyone you are a ācrafterā. I always have an example of my work on me and photos on my phone. I try to gently bring it into conversations when I meet people and they are interested to see what I make (Which I just happen to have on me). Sales come from unexpected places. My first sales were from my hairdresser and staff at my local school, just because I was brave enough to say āI make thingsā. People rarely have money on them, which is when directing them to folksy is ideal.
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Donāt give up, your shop needs to be seen and known to customers, this takes time, promote your shop, go on forums and support others, post your items on FB,twit,pin etc. Fill your shop with lots of your items, take good photos, write in the description of your product your selling with has much information you can.
Hope this helps
Sue
I find that the more I promote the better my sales. Obviously the wider the choice in my shop the more likely a customer will find something they like.
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Where do you promote ? Iām not even getting views here whereas Iām busy on Etsy
Take a look at my shop. You will see I have my social media links all set up ā¦ Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter.
I just checked yours and you have no links ??? I have no idea how to find you on Facebook or anywhere else.
I do note that you do have lots of things on Pinterest but they are all pinned from your Etsy shop. Maybe thatās why you have views there but not here ?
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Ok thank you for replying, I only have pinterest boards as I donāt have social media for personal reasons - Iāll pin some and see if that helps.
Kind regards
Tina
Tina Aah I see but you did ask where I promoted. I promote on social media. Works for me but understand if you are unable to use it but no idea what your alternative might be.
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Definately a marathon and not a sprintā¦if you do hit it big straight away fantastic. Dont just focus on online sales, get seen and noticed at craft shows, festivals etc and get your products seen meeting fellow artisans and networking is essential for getting info on other events that you may not have heard of.
Invest time for SEO for you online shop, this is very important as it will help drive traffic to your products. Research tags and getting these correct is paramount for maximum exposureā¦it is a massive learning curve and has taken me a good amount of time to both produce tags and title names.
All the best everyone
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Thank you, Kikozo.
I will put these tips into practice.
Hi Sian and everyone,
I have just made my first sale today after being on Folksy for a week. 
Iām feeling so happy.
Iāve been promoting my Folksy shop with a link, image and some hashtag # related words on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
The interesting thing I have learnt today is that my first sale was through social engaging a Facebook group of Crafters and Artisans that appreciate the time that is spent and the creativity involved in making items.
With permission of the group admin, I posted a link on the Facebook group and other groups to encourage people to visit the Folksy shop. I hope this helps some of you who like me are New to the scene and trying to promote your shop.
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I am on lots of facebook groups, ā¦art, crochet and card makingā¦they have selling pages and although I show my work on these groups, I always send them to my folksy shop. To me it is safer as I have seen a lot of people selling privately and then having problems with payments etc. I tell people the price but say to private message me if they are interesting in buyingā¦that works for me and I donāt have the worry of negotiating over price or shipping fees. It is on Folksy in black and white and easy for them to put the item in their basket.
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never give up on your dreams
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Dont get disheartened.
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Like Brenda @teabreaks I mainly use facebook and have learnt from many mistakes along the way. I used to have my own website link in my about section - but this just re routed people away from my site and doesnt look good. Also my photos werenāt very interesting and after getting a few tips - I now take them with beautiful natural back grounds (I work next to a butterfly world & take my jewellery in there to photograph). Add lots of different angled photos and also show how it comes boxed/packaged to the customer. I now work on one social media for 3-6 months and become familiar on that before moving onto the next. All takes time.
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That makes so much sense. Thank you
Do the best photos you can ! not easy but your photos online are all you have to persuade people to stop , visit your shop and buy. Promotion using a poor photo is wasted effort. I am constantly working on mine I know that for sure - they are not by any stretch of the imagination perfect ! Use all your photos to show different aspects of your item . Look at the shops that sell well - they all have great photos !
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Iām still learning the photo side of things. Itās so tricky sometimes getting the right shot. I try and do most of mine outside in natural light.
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