What Do You Think of this Idea for Promotion?

Shop Talk
82

@millyandpip Great question – there are three main options: curated, user-generated or a mix.

The first option – curated – would mean each item would be vetted by a real person before being included on the site. The clear benefit would be making sure only quality work was featured on the site. Also, technical details like photo dimensions, descriptions and links could be checked, as well as making sure items fit into the site’s values and ethos.

The downside is that curating takes a lot of time.

The second option would be to let users upload their own work. In this case, there would be the risk of technical problems, in addition to inappropriate items being posted.

The third option would be a mix between the two: letting users post their own work, but all posts being approved by a real person before going live on the site.

Despite the work, my preference at this point would be the first option – curated. But what do you think? What would make the most sense for you as a seller?

1 Like
83

I think some sort of curation would be good in order ensure the quality. I would have thought that a mix would be the easiest though. I sell on a site that has mixed curation, I load my products and then they are approved by the site, it seems to work really well and it only takes about 24 hours for approval. The site provides a guide for photo dimensions, resolution size etc, so as long as you follow the guidelines, approval is very straight forward.

1 Like
84

Definitely curated or vetted in some way, either the seller or individual items. I wouldn’t be interested unless there was some kind of vetting to keep the quality at the right level for your targeted buyers and to ensure the items were genuinely handmade. If the quality is allowed to drop, the right buyers will just stop coming.

2 Likes
85

Thanks @millyandpip and @ciesse – sounds like curating/vetting will be the best way to go.

86

If we are posting straight from our shops we have to go with the photo size on folksy.

1 Like
87

@EileensCraftStudio Great point!

88

That is a very good point. All my photo’s are uploaded square, but folksy crops them into a square if you upload them rectangular.

1 Like
89

This is always a tricky one for me. I thought I had a good idea as to who my ideal customer was, but this changes I think depending on what I do and it’s affordability! Generally they are customers with reasonable disposable income, that are happy to buy items online they haven’t seen before, probably a little bit “fun and quirky” in their decor tastes. Oh and values handmade and the price that comes with it. They like unique items, that pretty much no-one else has (as mine are mostly OOAK).

I get a good response to my items when I have been at fairs, but not many want to pay the price asked as they are too used to items being touted as handmade (but are mass produced) and for sale on the High Street at High Street prices. I usually find that people who value handmade and the price it commands are other crafters or designer/makers who appreciate the time/effort that goes into individual pieces. Promoting handmade in the UK as something hugely desirable I think would be key.

2 Likes
90

I love the idea of new potential customers seeing my products, and free to advertise is always good. It will be interesting to see how this develops @NataliaBraga .

2 Likes
91

Thanks for tagging me in Helen @HelenCliffordArt. Just to confirm, Natalia did contact me before she posted this topic on the forum to check it was ok.

As I understood it from Natalia’s first message to me, the idea she is proposing is a site supports Folksy sellers by acting as a gallery that directs potential buyers to their Folksy shops, rather than be a competitor to Folksy or a marketplace. It would also be totally free for Folksy sellers. Is that right, @NataliaBraga?

It could potentially have a positive effect on SEO for your Folksy shop by creating more links in to your products. However, I do have a concern about duplicate content. If the site had exactly the same titles and descriptions as your Folksy shop, it could lead to them being marked down by Google. Is this something you’ve considered, Natalia?

I’m also not sure exactly how it differs from http://www.craftjuice.com/ or craftori.com? It would be great if you could explain, Natalia?

4 Likes
92

@BigBirdLittleBird This seems to be absolutely key – an audience which truly values the skills and work which go into producing unique handcrafted items.

The site would need to have a very clear stance on what constitutes handmade to make sure only suitable craft was featured. What parameters or criteria would you like to see in place?

93

@folksycontent Hi Camilla,

Yes, the idea is to have a gallery-style site which would attract new visitors back to Folksy stores. The site would be free to use for both visitors and sellers and would support Folksy, rather than compete with it. Just like how blogs support the community by building awareness, attracting new visitors and providing valuable links, the site I’m proposing would have the same benefits.

On the technical side, in terms of titles and descriptions, these could be altered to avoid duplicate content. However, the way I understand it is that duplicate/thin content becomes an issue when Google doesn’t know which page is the original. This can happen, for example, when content is published at exactly the same time. So, in the first instance, the fact that the Folksy content already exists indicates to Google that it should be given higher priority. Furthermore, linking back to the original Folksy store also makes it clear to search engines.

It is also worth remembering that avoiding duplicate/thin content is something which developers deal with every day, even within individual websites. For example, when a blog shows a web version and a print-friendly version of a blog post, they risk being flagged as having duplicate content. Thankfully, there are many technical ways of coding to avoid these issues. I’m not a developer myself, so I’d make sure I hired an experienced professional to code the site accordingly to prevent any issues.

Thanks so much for asking how the site would fit into the greater craft context. Obviously there are other sites which also offer opportunities to get the word out and I see it as a community working together to promote the value of craft. In fact, I think the more the merrier as each site has a different focus, different personality and so ultimately attracts a different audience.

If we extend the same thinking to blogs, would it make sense to say that there should only be one blog about crochet? Obviously not, because each blogger offers a unique stance which resonates with a different audience. In the same way, each site promoting handcrafted items will have a different approach and so attract different visitors.

The same is even true for stores. Yesterday I was chatting with a seller who has a Folksy store, a store on the other side and her own independent store. She said it was worth having 3 different stores because each one attracted different customers.

In a nutshell, I think the more people working to promote quality craft, the better!

2 Likes
94

An interesting read :smile: I still don’t understand the affiliate side of things!! You give an example of a bookstore… I’ve popped the quote in below…

If I’m reading this right then the bookstore will pay the commission? Does that mean that if someone clicks from your site, goes to my shop, buys something you will get a commission from who??? Folksy???
Apologies if I’m not reading it right :slight_smile:

2 Likes
96

@HandcraftedbyPicto Hi Jan,

Great questions! In the example you gave, yes, theoretically Folksy would pay the commission. Having said that, I don’t actually think Folksy has an affiliate program, which is rather unusual these days. Still, for the point of understanding how affiliates work, yes, you’re spot on.

@SallyandtheFreckles , yes, minimal and relevant advertising is another option to keep the site afloat.

To understand affiliate marketing at its essence, it is being rewarded for making a recommendation. It’s actually not so different from what happens in the real offline world as well. For example, I have a friend who is a yoga teacher. Naturally, many of her new students want to know where to buy a good yoga mat. Because she’s been in the industry for years, she’s tried lots of different mats and knows which one is the best. It follows that she is going to recommend her favourite yoga mat to her students. Now the yoga supply company recognises that the yoga teacher is sending them her students, so they have started paying her a small commission. In summary, the yoga teacher receives a small affiliate commission from the yoga mat company because she recommends her favourite yoga mat to her students.

If we stop and think about it, affiliate relationships even happen in more informal ways as well. For example, there is an Indonesian restaurant which I absolutely love and so end up recommending to all my friends. The last time I was in there, the owner came up to me and said a group of my friends had been in. He was thrilled to have new customers and insisted on giving me a dessert on the house. This might seem like a trivial example, but it shows how the essence of affiliate marketing is already a natural part of our day-to-day lives.

Affiliate relationships and advertising were the first two options to spring to mind when I was thinking of ways to keep the site free, but nothing has been set in stone at all at this stage.

Bearing in mind that the core premise is to keep the site free to use – that is, not charge either users or sellers – I’d love to hear your thoughts around finances.

  1. As a seller who might potentially use such a site, what would make you feel the most comfortable?
  2. Which aspects – if any – of affiliate relationships and/or advertising make you feel uncomfortable?
  3. If you think about sites you currently use – either sites for promotion or even just blogs you like to read – how do these sites support themselves financially? Are you happy with what they currently do? What would you change?

Thanks again for a great discussion :slight_smile:

98

@SallyandtheFreckles Oops – my mistake!

The simple answer is that I’m not sure yet, but that it’s a possibility I could explore.

How do you feel about sites using affiliate links? Is this something which would put you off using a site?

99

So if the affiliate (ie Folksy) pays for the referral, presumably you should be asking them how they would feel about it rather than us. Though maybe they would have to pass on those costs to us anyway?

100

Hi Helen,

Many companies already have established affiliate programs and have all of the infastructure clearly laid out, so it would just be a matter of figuring out if they were a good fit. In terms of costs, it’s really important to point out that companies pay affiliate commissions out of their marketing budgets – they don’t pass these costs down to users or customers.

I was really interested to ask the community how they feel about finances because it’s an area that’s been raised a lot so far in the discussion, so it seems to be important. If craft sellers were to use a site like I’m proposing, it would be essential that they felt comfortable with how it was run.

When you’re deciding whether to use a blog or website, how important is it to you to understand how they are financially supporting the site? What practices do you feel comfortable with and what puts you off?

101

There are some sites which are obviously financed by having adverts down the side ( and sometimes the top, bottom, and in between paragraphs! ). This makes the whole appearance very tacky, and I for one click away pretty quickly. Also they may have so many videos and flashing widgets that the page takes forever to load - again I’m out of there as soon as I can. An invisible financing method would make for a much nicer appearance.

But we all know “there’s no such thing as a free lunch”. Of course companies pass affiliate commissions on, either directly or indirectly - where do you think their marketing budget comes from? Yes it is important to know where the financing comes from and how it will affect our costs.

I admit to being totally biased in favour of UK sellers, because we have some wonderfully talented people here that should be cherished.

102

@rosesworkshop I totally agree with you about those types of ads – sites like that drive me crazy as well!

The overwhelming feedback I’ve been getting so far is that most people have very little time or money for promotion, which is why it would be great to get something up and running which was free for sellers to use.

I’m actually about to do a bit more research, this time into how much traffic I think I could get to the site. To make sure I’d be targeting the right types of customers, it’d be really helpful to know who your ideal customer is. What types of people do you – and everyone else reading this – aspire to attract?

103

Generally female, aged 40+, likes buying well-made, exclusive accessories and gifts, likes to support artists/artisans and feels good about buying handmade/British made items, has a nice home, individual style, lots of friends, attends lunches and good social events, has plenty of disposable income and likes to spend it!