First of all I’m unsure whether this is the right place for this so if it needs moving please do.
How did you make your first sale?
I’m trying really hard with my shop. I’ve a new blog, a new pinterest account a new Facebook page I’m getting to grips with Instagram so I’m really working at the social media side to things. But I realise that I need to find followers before any of that becomes effective.
Would anyone be able to take a look at my shop and give me any pointers to try and improve things. I’m fighting the urge to just think that maybe my stuff just doesn’t appeal or isn’t good enough I’m sure you know how that one goes.
My first sale was to a friend who was supporting my new shop so I can’t comment on that bit other than perhaps bribe your friends to do some christmas shopping. I sell far more in person than I do on line so I might not be the best to offer advice but here it is… When I look at your shop the first thing that I notice is that you’ve fallen foul of the folksy cropping gremlins - on our shop fronts and in search results the images are cropped to square so if the original wasn’t you loose bits. When I ran a search for ‘make up bag’ I got over 2000 results and personally I’m much more likely to click on something where I can see the whole thing. I don’t think all your pouches would be found in the above mentioned search as sometimes you use make up whilst other times you use make-up - I’d put both varients in the tags that should get you found in more searches.
Your bags are lovely but not the sort of thing I’d use. Have you considered a craft market/ christmas fair to get a few sales/ hand out business cards/ see what people think of your items?
Good luck
Sasha
I love your things! So very beautiful, I’ve favourited
your shop and will now go find you on Facebook.
Good luck and I hope your first sale comes soon.
Edit: I can’t find your Facebook business page that I can like, only a personal page where I’d have to add you as a friend. What’s your business page called?
It took me a couple of months, maybe even 3. When it came I was pretty happy, because it was someone I didn’t know, which meant either they’d come via Folksy or my marketing had worked
I agree with Sasha, take another look at your photos re cropping. When you’re up against competition in the make-up bag/pouch dept, you need to make yours the best they can absolutely be. If you have any luxury brand cosmetics like Chanel, MAC etc, position some of them in shot too - it shouts out luxury, and shows scale/size at a glance.
Your items look lovely, but I agree with the earlier comments about the photos - you need to crop them a bit less so the whole item is visible in the main photo. It’s a problem I’ve had too, but am more aware of it now when I’m taking photos.
The textile market is almost as crowded as the jewellery one, so you’re up against a lot of shops selling similar items. You need to create a brand, or design feature, that makes your items immediately recognisable amongst all the others on here.
I can’t really answer about my first sale - I sold at craft fairs for several years before selling online, so I had a few followers when I first set up. It takes patience and perseverance now, I think, to get those initial sales. Keep reviewing your listings and shop front, tweaking, improving, trying new things, and I’m sure you’ll get there.
I’d echo the comments of others regarding your photos. For your main photo, always crop it to square before adding it to your listing so that your entire item remains in view. It took me ages to get to grips with this and I’ve been gradually replacing my older photos, although I still have some that are not up to scratch. My other advice would be try not to get too down about that elusive first sale. It took me 7 months before I made my first sale on here and I still sell far more at craft fairs and to friends and acquaintances than I ever do online! It’s not easy to get noticed amongst everyone else. Keep promoting, promoting and more promoting!
Good luck with it all and I hope that first sale comes soon.
I have checked out your Facebook page and the first thing that hits me is that you have your Etsy link is on there not Folksy…if you don’t steer people to Folksy then they won’t know about your Folksy shop…I couldn’t see anything to tell people about your Folksy shop on there…
hi there - perhaps you could fill in the ‘meet the maker’ section so people can find out a little about you and your work.
i think you tags look good and people will be able to find you using a variety of search terms.
I think that are definitely sellable. Fingers crossed you get a sale soon