This year has been great! Considering I started this as a hobby with no client basis whatsoever, I'd say I've done pretty well. I currently have 205 sales from my site. A lot of them were multiple items and a few were bulk orders of 25 or more.
I've learned a lot in the past year and I'm still learning more. I've learned a lot about soapmaking as well as business.
Here are a few things I've learned along the way:
~Take good pics that show off your product well.
~Don't put the date on your pics. Some of mine still need to be retaken because of this. I use the same pic over and over so I have some pics that still say 2007 even though the soap is freshly made.
~Use good titles that state what your product is. Some customers get annoyed when they have to click on the item to find out exactly what it is.
~Use the tags. They are there for a reason. Come up with as many words as you can to describe your product so it comes up in as many searches as possible. Don't use words that have nothing to do with it though. I hate searching for something and a completely different product comes up because someone tagged it wrong just to give it more exposure.
~Have a good variety of items and learn what customers like.
~Add new items and/or relist often.
~Spend time in the forums and chat rooms. Promote yourself, answer a few questions, make some new friends, but NEVER be negative.
~Use free online ads. It doesn't always help, but it certainly doesn't hurt either.
~Advertise offline too. I'm always looking for new ways to do this. If you have any tips, leave me a comment. A few ideas I've heard are:
- Hand out/hang up business cards.
- When taking your items to the post office carry a bag with your biz name on it.
- Put stickers with your biz name on your packages.
- Use your product in public. If you make clothing or jewelry, wear it. If you make handbags, carry one. I use my soap-to-go in public restrooms.
- Give your products as gifts.
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