I was wondering what people on Folksy thought they had improved the most since opening their shop? Only because I found some old stock photographs on an old computer and realised how much my photographed had changed over the many years of being on here. When I first started my items were tiny in the middle of the photograph, customers probably needed to zoom in to see them . My photographs are much lighter now too thanks to a light box and I also have a much better camera.
Anyway what has improved most for you? selling is a big learning curve and I never stop learning or trying to improve my shop.
Yes, me too. I’m just starting year three on Folksy and I’m rubbish at social media, but I do feel like I’m muddling through better than I was. Definitely a big learning curve and a bit scary at times. I think whatever the equivalent term for dyslexia would be in the context of pressing buttons generally, then that is what I have. Very frustrating but probably good for the old grey matter.
I’m rubbish at social media too but I have improved on Instagram, it is hard to keep up to date with all of them so I find it easier to pick one and go with that :).
Brenda, I completely get where you are coming from! I’ve lost count of how many years I’ve been on here with one shop or another but I am always getting better
I have improved with my photography by investing in a good notebook with a good camera and editing facilities attached. I have also only concentrated with one social media site and now my work is all over the net as well as pinterest. I hate doing social media.
Just splashed out on my own website, but I have chosen the wrong website builder because you have to pay for their most expensive package with them to get linked to social media. This wasn’t made clear! It’s only when you try to connect to Pinterest they turn round and say you have to upgrade costing another £200.00! I am absolutely furious and just outside the 14 day cooling off period by one day to get a full refund!
The ecommerce platform I use to build websites, which I mentioned in our private emails, does not make you pay for having your social media on your website. I am interested to know who you chose.
Thanks for your reply. Yes, I know you offered to build my website but money is tight and my husband, bless his heart wanted to try and help me. I was very depressed after my heart attack and now in heart failure we thought it would improve my sales as Folksy is so quiet. Now I have a lovely website which another Folksy member helped with advice has said we have done a good job. Problem now is we can’t promote it. Finding another £200.00 is a joke! The web builder name starts with C if that helps. I certainly don’t begrudge paying Folksy for my Folksy plus account fees now i know what is involved! It is good value for money, just wish it could get better known by the general public. The household name leader is now nothing more than a mass produced con still marketing themselves as handmade. Their advertising campaigns are very misleading.
I am one of the few people that use Folksy as my main online shop as I don’t want the hassle or costs of running my own website. I have a landing page with my own domain that is on Google Sites with the shop and product links linking through to my Folksy shop.
I can add my Pinterest icon. But I can not use my new website to pin directly to Pinterest as I list items without paying the extra money like i do with Folksy. When I did link my Pinterest icon it came up showing my Folksy shop and boards. My new website is for the knitwear only and under a different name.
I have to say, I’m quite concerned by what you’ve been told. If the web provider is saying that you need to upgrade to their most expensive package simply to allow Pinterest sharing from your product pages, that is highly irregular.
For someone who is not familiar with the technical side of websites, it can be very difficult to know whether an upgrade is genuinely necessary or whether you are being manipulated into paying for something you don’t need. Unfortunately, some web providers like to make things sound more complicated than they are, and customers end up paying extra for features that are already available or could be achieved another way.
All ecommerce platforms include basic social sharing functionality within their standard packages, so I would like to understand exactly what feature they are saying you need to upgrade for.
Email me privately the name of the website builder/platform you are using and your website URL, and I’ll have a look to see whether I can help you work out what is going on.
Thanks for reaching out. Firstly, we have very little social media skills. We don’t understand the I.T jargon or have the knowledge to understand how Pinterest works full stop!
The website builder is Create.net. I have their ‘professional’ package. My URL is www.demelzadesignerknitwear.com.
My husband was following Create.net instructions on how to open a business Pinterest account ( he thinks). When it came to him trying to connect it to my website package it would not bring up the final stage instructions to complete. Unfortunately, I can’t help you with the technology terms. I emailed create.net support and they said I needed to upgrade to the ‘business’ package to enable the Pinterest business account connection to my website. Maddie (Voilet Flame Art) has been a good Folksy friend over the years and she has been helping us as much as she can. Without her help we would have been totally lost. Maddie is trying to explain what we need to do, but we are totally confused. However, she thinks we have done a very good website with littles, skills between us so far. We don’t entirely understand what you are also saying!
I currently pin my new products via using the Folksy Pinterest button and then add it to the appropriate board i want. This Pinterest account is in my name ‘Gail Pingree’. Under the ‘edit profile’ I have listed my Folksy shop email address. Can I just add my new Create.net website (www.demelzadesignerknitwear.com) to this as well alongside with my Folksy shop email. Alternatively, do I use the new Pinterest business account ‘edit profile’ entering www.demelzadesignerknitwear.com as the email address. If so how do I pin items i have listed in my Create.net website if I don’t have the Pinterest connection button like we have with Folksy.
I hope this is all making sense to you. I have tried to explain as best I can too you. It’s the pinning on Pinterest to my new website we just can’t understand. I just wish I had left well alone and just settled with using Folksy only.
Regards Gail
Unfortunately that web provider is an old, entry-level basic website builder with very limited ecommerce capability added on, rather than a proper ecommerce platform. Its design quality and functionality is not on the same level as platforms built specifically for ecommerce.
For an online craft business, your website is your shop window. If customers arrive and the design, layout, images, navigation, and overall buying experience do not feel professional and trustworthy, they will simply leave without purchasing, even though your products themselves are excellent.
Regarding your issues with pinning to your Pinterest boards, if you simply want to pin your own product pages to your Pinterest account in the same way you do through Folksy then that is a basic sharing function and you should be able to do that. It is NOT the same thing as connecting a Pinterest Business account or setting up Pinterest Shopping.
It sounds to me that they are trying to manipulate you into buying their business package when you don’t need it. Go back to them and make it very clear with a question like this:
“I do not want Pinterest Shopping, a product catalogue feed, or merchant integration. I only want to save/pin my product pages to Pinterest in the same way a customer would. Does this require the business package?”
If they still say you need the business package, ask them to explain in full detail exactly why basic sharing functionality for Pinterest is not available on your current package.
This is the same website builder I am going with, I looked at other people websites and chose this one after also seeing Maddies. The middle priced option and top one has a shopping cart so products can be bought direct from the website, are you saying this is not adequate @PoppyKayDesigns ? Websites I have seen built with this look really professional, a cart is allowed so it must be usuable but they do offer a package without a cart is this the one you mean ?
Just thought I should check beforehand. It does also say that social media can be linked.
I’m very happy with my Wix website. It was surprisingly easy to build and edit and I’m discovering new and easier ways of managing it all the time. I’ve had no problems linking other stuff to it. https://www.chrisstoneartist.co.uk/
Thanks Chris will look into it, thought I knew which to go with but will now need to do more homework and before long a year will have passed since I said I was making one.
. My photographs are much lighter now too thanks to a light box and I also have a much better camera.
Brenda, I completely get where you are coming from! I’ve lost count of how many years I’ve been on here with one shop or another but I am always getting better