All I can say to that is ‘This is a shame’. lol 
Anything that would bring more buyers and visitors to Folksy would get my support, especially those hard-to-find high-end buyers looking for something totally different.
At the moment many people come here because they’re interested in making/selling/crafts, not just because they want to buy handmade, and they typically don’t buy high-end. Great if you’re selling supplies, patterns or anything else of interest to crafters, but not if you don’t - everyone else has to bring their customers here themselves, by promoting wherever they can. Folksy promotion is often aimed at the same people - crafters, makers, sellers - in craft magazines, blogs etc.
A website that made finding and buying handmade easy, that directed new buyers straight to your Folksy shop, with money to spend - what’s not to like?
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Hi there -
Rather than have more craft websites, sellers could improve their own various websites (facebook, twitter, blogs, instagram, individual folksy listings and so on) as regards SEO (something which folksy helps with & encourages) so people doing searches on google for example will ultimately be pointed back to folksy.
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I think we all as sellers are capable enough of bringing people over to Folksy. Myself for instance, I’m advertising Folksy just via my product packaging alone as will many other sellers who have shops here. Not to mention social media and people advertising their shops in craft magazines, all of which theoretically are advertising Folksy too.
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This could indeed be the case for some sellers. Seeing as quality backlinks are a vital part of optimising SEO, the more relevant websites linking back to Folksy stores, the better.
@tagpress Good to know Kelly. So, just to clarify, a site like I’m suggesting wouldn’t be useful because most people already have enough sales, is this right?
Do you recall me saying that? If so, you need to scroll to the very top of this topic and re-read, therefore, there’s nothing to clarify.
You asked and I quote ‘In fact, the key question is somewhat different: Would it be beneficial for more outside websites to be pointing back towards Folksy stores so as to increase the number of people visiting?’
I simply said that we ‘sellers’ are capable of bringing people over to Folksy. And who mentioned the word ‘sales’? You’ve added your own two cents on that one.
@tagpress Sincere apologies Kelly – I truly didn’t mean any offence. I just wanted to clarify whether or not a site like this would be useful. Thanks again taking the time to participate in this discussion. 
Of course your site could be useful, it could even become the next best thing if thought about carefully but I don’t appreciate you twisting my comments. You said ‘a site like I’m suggesting wouldn’t be useful because most people already have enough sales, is this right?’
I’ve never once stated that we don’t need a website like yours because most people have enough sales. That’s just ridiculous.
Once again, I do apologise if it felt like your comments were twisted – this was never my intention.
Instead, my premise has always been to figure out the potential role of a new external site in bringing people to existing stores.
I’m really grateful that you’re taking time out of your busy day to share your thoughts and truly appreciate your honesty.
Hi @NataliaBraga - this sounds very interesting - after all, who wouldn’t want more traffic and more online sales lol.
Given this is your day job in Brisbane, I’m sure you are very experienced in providing ‘consultancy services and turnkey solutions’ to help we crafters extend our reach through digital media (as your LinkedIn profile ‘Natalia Laczko’ !!). I bet your friend thought she was very lucky in having a seasoned expert like you advising her business! I hope she does well!! (It might be worth promoting her shop here too on the forums, as there are plenty of people reading.)
As far as I’m concerned, having someone such as yourself who already does this type of promotion (or at least earns their daily crust by providing paid for consultancy services for exactly this type of service in other industries), would be a very interesting prospect and it would be great if you could flesh out a bit more detail?
Are you based in Australia yourself? Or are you in England? And is this something you are doing off your own back or is it linked to your day job (that might make people feel more confident if you can explain you are part of a bigger company that earns its money taking fees from people to get digital services, although of course if this is truly an independent venture then I appreciate you probably wouldn’t want to mention your day job employer).
So sounds interesting and I very much look forward to hearing more.
Hi Natalia - I think your idea sounds amazing - no disrespect to Folksy but I do quite a lot of craft markets and I must say I have come across a lot of people who have not heard of Folksy, but then that goes for some of the other website as well. I do promote Folksy as their name appears on my business cards and through Facebook etc.
I can only speak for myself, and I personally would welcome a site like yours, but agree with one of the sellers comments above, I would prefer it to be “Handmade British” only.
Good luck with this idea - would love to hear more info if possible.
Kind regards
Emily
Hi @HeidiMeier ,
Thanks so much for taking part in the discussion.
I’d love to explain more about who I am, where I am and what I do. For anyone who’s curious, I’m currently in a weird phase between my maiden and married names, so you can find me under both “Natalia Laczko” and “Natalia Braga” (this is a complete tangent, but has anyone else found it really hard to decide how – and even whether or not – to change names? My husband couldn’t care less and so I’m just in this weird limbo trying to figure it out myself!).
I’m Australian and used to live in Brisbane, but have always been a bit of a nomad, having lived in over 20 different countries. My husband’s Brazilian and right now I live in São Paulo, Brazil. While I work with clients all over the world, the vast majority are in the UK and Europe, with a smaller number in the US. In the past I worked a lot with clients in Africa, but not so much at the moment. I’m location independent, so the Internet is a great place for me!
I’ve been an independent consultant for the past few years, mainly working with digital publishing, specifically eBooks. I’ve also done social media work for a number of clients, including a US-based candle business. While I definitely have a lot of experience in the online world, I have very little experience with craft, which is why I’ve asked for feedback from this community, because craft is exactly what you guys know and love.
The idea for this site is completely unrelated to anything else I’m doing at the moment. I’m pretty lucky because working for myself online means I have flexibility and time for any other projects I’m interested in.
PS My friend is still getting her shop off the ground and dealing with logistics (like how do you handle postage when you make concrete sculptures?!?) but I’ll definitely post it once it’s up and running.
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Your friend if selling heavy or extra large packages will want to look at couriers rather than the Royal Mail. As most couriers are cheaper for larger and heavier objects and will collect from your home.
Hi @Emily02,
Thanks so much for your feedback.
Quite a few people have mentioned that it’s important to focus on British craft, so I’m definitely taking this very seriously. The dilemma, though, is that the number of people specifically searching for handmade British items is relatively low (based on research from the Google AdWords Keyword Planner). For example, “British craft” had only 70 average monthly searches – even totalling up the most obvious keywords yielded a few thousand at best. It’s also worth considering that these aren’t searches specifically looking to buy items handmade in the UK and could just be people wanting to get involved in the UK craft scene or similar.
So, I’m wondering how the site could be viable in terms of having a significant number of interested viewers and still respect British provenance. What about if viewers had the option to choose provenance? What you think of this idea?
I must admit. I don’t know anybody (outside of the craft industry) who would search for ‘British Craft’ when looking to purchase something, but I do know plenty of people who would search for ‘Made in the UK’ for example.
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yep Made in the UK is very used term
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Even if the site had only British handmade items for sale (if you search for ‘craft’ you’ll get mostly ‘how to’ results, not items to buy) it wouldn’t only get seen by people searching specifically for British - those looking for ‘handmade’ without specifying country would also presumably find it. If I was looking for quality handmade, I wouldn’t necessarily include the words British or UK, so people from all countries would be able to buy, but the goods would be British - a bit like Folksy, but targeted more to international buyers.
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Umm, maybe I’m being dim, but what benefit is there to just having this new site as an extra layer between our potential customers and Folksy? Why not put the extra effort into promoting our Folksy shops (and Folksy generally) directly, rather than promoting links on another site which link to here?
I know I’m professionally sceptical (that’s almost what I’m paid for in my ‘other life’!) but I don’t see any benefit to our Folksy shops in this, just benefit to whoever is running it, (however that’s paid for…). I’d far rather someone searching Google found links direct to Folksy, than that they found links to somewhere else that looked a bit like it, even if they are then directed here. How many clicks do you do before you give up? Individuals setting up Pinterest boards and the like are very different, that is a good way to add backlinks here which isn’t making anyone other than the seller any money in the process!
This would muddy the waters to me and I’m a bit surprised Admin (@folksycontent) aren’t intervening in this conversation.
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