Your things are lovely. Just had a browse. .
You Must promote yourself it is the only way and Social media is pretty well the best way to do that.
I see you have IG but you need to add a link from there to your shop. Don’t promote Folksy, they never reciprocate. Promote yourself.
And I strongly recommend using the other social media out there as well and make sure everything links to your shop from them.
I’m sorry you are feeling invisible.
Promote yourself, you and your shopname … they are what is important.
Don’t let it knock your confidence, I had a quick peek and I love your beautifully made bucket hats and the dog bandanas, it’s not an easy platform, you have to self promote and get your stuff out there on social media, I use Instagram, Pinterest, but whatever works for you and never give up! ![]()
It’s generally quite for a lot of people this year. Don’t give up, keep plugging away.
I know how you feel @madeinhemsby , I opened at the start of June and have had two sales (one to my cousin!). To be fair I was slow to get on social media - I have now, but engagement is very low (mostly other Folksy sellers!). I’m setting my sights on craft fairs, while keeping the shop and social media ticking over in the background, keep promoting them and just accept that growth is likely to be slow. At the moment I’m trying to get my head around international postage to try and widen the audience a bit. Good luck with yours - don’t give up, everything in your shop looks beautifully made!
Don’t please be put off promoting yourself by those who say that sales everywhere are dire at the moment. They are not.
My own Sales this July are astonishingly good. I’ve sold more things this month than in any of the last 15 years except for 2020 “Covid lockdown send a gift to everyone year” … (and my figures for July this year are only just behind that bumper year)
If you are sellling the right thing… and your hats are lovely so you are.
… then promotion is the answer and really the only answer. I post daily on social media. I promote promote promote …but try to add in a few non commercial posts too to keep my followers interested.
You Cannot rely on any promotion from Folksy. Forget that. it won’t happen.
There is a big wide internet world out there… get out there with your lovely hat on and grab it
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For what it’s worth, what I’ve found with Social Media is that you need to approach it as a person rather than a business. What I mean is that you should find your tribe there (who are the people who will most likely be interested in your work) and engage with them, commenting on their posts and building up a rapport, just as you would in person.
If you follow the people who like the things you like, share your culture, mindset etc., in whole or in part, not only will you see real engagement as they recognise the same in you and your creations, but you should also actually enjoy it rather than seeing it as some business chore.
Personally, I’ve discovered some lovely and talented people who I feel a real connection with on my favourite platform (Instagram) and really enjoy interacting with others on there. I’m not saying it’s easy to find the people you’re looking for but using hashtag searches is a great way to start, as well as engaging with other Folksy sellers who you’ve already met there. This is also one time when we can be thankful to algorithms, which will quickly pick up on who you’re looking for and start giving you suggestions that will, in some degree, be good!
Hope you can enjoy the process - it does take time, but I think doing it this way does give back in the long run, in all sorts of ways - that’s certainly been my experience ![]()
By the way, love your Cockerel applique! ![]()
@madeinhemsby Please don’t let your confidence be knocked, you’ve only just opened your shop, and if you’ve only just started selling online after doing physical events, it can take a little getting used to the differences.
When you’re selling at physical events it’s often only a day or two event, there’s immediacy which mean people have to buy there and then. Buyers make impulse purchases because who knows when/if they’ll see your stall again. There usually isn’t that immediacy online, if someone sees your shop and likes an item, your shop will still be there a week later or a month later, so people can take their time and consider things more before buying (or wait for the right time, such as pay day or before someone’s birthday).
In person, you don’t usually have to explain things much either, it’s usually a case of putting your item on display, showing the price and any potential buyers can just pick up the item to check what they want to know, or ask you questions.
Online, you need to make sure your items are described well just so people have the opportunity to see them. Even if you have the most amazing photos that explain everything, without the matching descriptive text, the search engines won’t find it to show people.
From your items that I’ve looked at, it looks like your descriptions answer the main questions buyers might have, but there is still more you can do to help them get found in search. For example on Folksy the search gives the highest priority to titles, so you want the words you think buyers are most likely to search if they were looking for an item like yours in the title.
With your bucket hats, it’s not immediately obvious that the small ones are for children. There are no words like ‘child’ or ‘children’ in the title, and they’re listed in the general hats category rather than the children’s section, so they’re not likely to show high in search for someone specifically looking for a child’s hat. You could also add more descriptive words about the pattern or colour to the title.
There’s a blog post that describes more about writing listings for Folksy’s search - How to write a listing that gets found in search results
but there was also a webinar on the same subject recently, so if you have a look at your Plus page, you’ll be able to watch that if you want some more tips.
Also, please don’t believe the suggestion that Folksy only promote new shops, it’s not true.
There are occasional gift guides/social media posts that focus on sellers that are new to Folksy, because for those that are regular users of Folksy it can be interesting to see something they won’t have seen before, and can prompt them to have a look on the site because they know there are different things to usual. That’s only a small portion of the gift guides and social media posts though, there are many others that have a mix of all sellers, whether they’re new, have been here from the start or somewhere in between.
For the majority of social media posts (such as those based on a theme) the age of the shop isn’t considered or even looked at, the focus is if the item is a good match for whatever the post is about, and the quality of the photo.
If there are new sellers included, or particular sellers that get featured in multiple posts, it’ll be because they have really great photos (because a good eye catching photo is more likely to get the attention of someone browsing social media, so they stop, read and are more likely to click through to Folksy to see everyone’s work, than a photo that’s dim, blurry, messy or badly cropped).
There’s a blog post about the sort of photos Folksy look for when picking items to feature here - How to be featured on Folksy
It is true that there’s no guarantee that having a shop on Folksy means you’ll be promoted on Folksy’s social media though. What you pay for with Folksy is your shop - a place to list and sell your items, not additional promotion. There are thousands of shops on Folksy and it would take a lot of time and work to individually promote all of these, which would mean fees for sellers would need to be much higher to allow for this. Folksy focus on keeping fees low and affordable for everyone, so this kind of promotion isn’t included as part of what sellers pay for. Every shop on Folksy is treated equally in the core functions of the site such as search. There are additional areas of Folksy, such as the gift guides and Folksy Favourites, as well as what’s shared on social media, which are curated. These are highlights, just a small selection of what’s available on Folksy - items and shops which have particularly eye-catching photos so work best for advertising the site and bringing more people in.
There are buyers on Folksy, but it’s nowhere near the size of massive international companies like Etsy, so it does help to promote your shop to help people find you and your items. There’s also a wonderful supportive community here, so sharing that you’re a Folksy seller on social media, tagging Folksy and using Folksy related hashtags can help others find you to give your posts likes and comments, which will hopefully help increase the reach. Some sellers also like to shout about Folksy in general and share work from other Folksy sellers, which can help the sellers’ work be seen by a different audience, and gets people more familiar with what Folksy is and that there’s a large variety of work here. Every bit helps people become more aware and familiar with the Folksy name.
WOW - Folksy sellers are amazing! Thank you for all of your replies and your hints and tips. I will take them all onboard.
Thank you so much for the support - it’s lovely to feel part of a community.
Louise xx
Honestly, most of us have felt similar or had times when we have wondered whether there is any point, I know I did and came very close to closing my business a few years back and the more I thought about all the negative bits the worse it seemed to get. I just seemed to take a downward spiral for a while BUT…I have just had one of my busiest months on Folksy since I joined (might be the best not sure), last year was my best year so far on here, I have revenue over 21k on Folksy (and there are sellers who make a lot more) and I have customers that keep returning. You do need to be active on social media to find new customers especially now as there are so many people out there doing what we do so the chances of being found are pretty low without it but keep at it, I was into my third month before I made my first sale but I’m pleased I stuck around. You have some lovely items in your shop, good luck with it and pop back when you get your first sale.
I’ve also had a really good July which is great as it is summer holidays. Only exceeded total value once before and that was in 2020 when Covid post direct sales were out of the window.
@madeinhemsby / Louise It’s not all doom and gloom out there despite lots of people trying to talk the economy down. If you sell things which make good gifts then people will buy them because there will always be births marriages deaths birthdays anniversaries christenings etc etc
All you have to do
is make sure that people can find your things and when they do that you give them good enough photos and descriptions, dimensions etc that they will have confidence to buy from you. They can’t pick your online photos up in their hands as they woud at a market so you have to help paint a picture for them instead.
A word of extra advice. When you get your sale/s do send an email acknowledgment. I know that the Folksy system sends one but it is so much better to also send a little personal thank you for the order and let them know when and now you wil be posting it.
Don’t leave them wondering when it is likely to arrive when you can at least tell them when you will be sending it out.
I get so many lovely replies to my email acknowledgements. I feel that lots of my customers are now my friends too as we have really friendly convesations back and forth sometimes. Repeat customers are Super . I have several customers where I also sell to other members of their family.
AND I Always Always put a business card with full contact details and shop details in with every order. I get a teeny bit cross when i receive a handmade order which I want to gift only to find no business card, not even a hand printed one enclosed. That means I am unable to tell the recipient where I found it so they can be sure it is indeed beautifully handmade and not from Shein or Temu.
A personal bugbear of mine I admit but if I have it some customers will surely feel the same way.
Yes completely agree, all of it is what makes buying handmade far more special than mass produced.
I also have had a look at your delightful work…don’t give up, sales seem to come in fits and starts. I have been with Folksy for many years but the number of sales are quite low compared to other shops but am quite happy with the sales I have had. Am sure you will do well coming up to Christmas as your prices are very reasonable.
I love hares. Its one of not many things I search for on sites like this. i searched for one last week and i bought one.
I’m going to put the link below in a minute as i was so deighted with it and Bob will be when he opens his birthday gift on Sunday just before we take off to Krakow for a few days (the rest of his birthday present ![]()
But when i search Hare your beauty doesnt appear or if it does it is so far down i didn’t get to it.
Hares are popular, fashionable. Can I suggest you switch your title to have HARE first ,perhaps Hare Picture Appliqued Framed handmade … something like that and more tags are needed. You have a combined one but also need individual ones. Hare Picture Applique Handmade etc etc all as separate tags.
PS Here is Bob’s Hare
I made my first sale here. Only some supplies but glad to have made my first. I’m a new shop, this is my second month.
Congrats on your 1st sale, may be the first of many more to follow!
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Yay congratulations… good feeling isn’t it
Well done
hope it’s the start of many more for you. ![]()