How to Make Money Crafting {Guest Post}

Are you a crafter who would love to expand beyond your current sales… or would like to get started selling things {I mean who wouldn’t love to make money crafting, right?!}?  Today’s guest post is from Aly McDaniel, the wizard behind the Crafty McDaniel shop.  I love Aly’s openness in sharing… as she put it, “In the spirit of ‘I am not in competition with any one, I hope we all succeed!’, here you go!”

Every item I make goes on: Etsy, my business FB page, Pinterest (6 boards including some virtual malls), Instagram and Twitter. So many people are “Plugged in”, I want to get my stuff out there to as many as possible.

ETSY:
*If you have a Business Facebook page and/or Instagram be sure to have your Etsy shop link on them! I have mine in 3 spots on my FB Page. People take in info differently so I want to make sure everyone sees it. I also have it on my Instagram profile page and Pinterest.
*Make sure you have a great looking Etsy shop banner, it needs to look professional.

ETSY LISTINGS
*If you have the Etsy sellers app it’s much quicker to “copy” an item, go to its “draft” and then just tweak the details and change out the pics hit “publish”.
*Once a potential buyer has clicked on your item picture from the feed, it takes them to the listing. Now is your time to shine and grab them! The online shopping experience is different than a brick and mortar shop, they can’t touch the item! Studies have shown this is an important step in the decision making/buying process. So it’s up to you to sell it. Tell them how it will enhance their lives (I know, I hate this part too). Explain how the product would or should be used. Be sure to have detailed descriptions. Tell them as much as you can about the product. What it’s made with, dimensions etc. Personally when I go to an item that has little to no description I feel the seller is not invested in their product so why should I invest my money in it?

TAGS
*Be sure to use every tag possible on your listings descriptions and materials. “Search Engine Optimization” Basically you want the words in your Title, description and tags to be repetitive so it will take more people to your shop and listings.
*Look at your “Stats”, figure out what keywords are most commonly bringing people to your shop. Example- For me it is the words “Jewelry Box” so my jewelry box title listings read, “Jewelry Box (color) (style) Eco Friendly Up Cycled READY TO SHIP” I then copy and paste the exact words into the beginning of my product description. Then I use these exact same words in my tags.
*USE ALL 13 TAGS! Use as many of the Material tags as you can (as long as they make sense) Example- Wood paper chalk paint wax mirror felt. You do not have to use commas in titles and tags.

PHOTOS:
*You need to look at it like you are creating a brand. Think about it, when you see a Target commercial you know who it is without seeing the name, same as when you walk in their store.
*Pics need to be consistent, lighting, background etc. I would look at some shops on Etsy that sell similar product to get some ideas.
*Natural light is best for pics. Take pics close to a window but not in direct sunlight.
*Find a background you like and use it in every photo. Lighter colors will make your product “pop” and stand out.
*Stay away from busy print backgrounds as it distracts from the product.

PAID ADS/PROMOTED LISTINGS
*I currently spend $1.00 per day. This feature shows your items more often and they only charge you when someone clicks on your listing pic to go into the listing. I only have this option turned on closer to the holidays.

ETSY POLICIES/SHIPPING:
*I feel it is very important to have clear and concise policies. It covers your butt and shows that you are professional and have thought out your business. One pitfall I have seen is when people have stated in their policy, “I won’t do blah blah blah because I have been burned before.” I think this is very unprofessional and puts buyers on the defense.
*Under promise and over deliver. I have on my listings and in my shipping that I deliver in 1-3 days, but I usually ship it out the day of the order or the next. This way they are pleasantly surprised to get it so soon and it gives me a little bit of wiggle room if I can’t send it out right away. Keeps my stress levels down
*I highly recommend creating a “calculated shipping” profile. This way you can ship internationally! All you need is the items weight and the package dimensions after it is in its box/envelope. It seems intimidating but it’s actually really easy and I feel it offers more accurate shipping costs to the customer as it’s based on their zip code. No more guessing!

AMOUNT OF ITEMS IN YOUR SHOP
*I have read that 100 items is the magic number to get more traffic to your shop. I have no stats to validate this. I think it has to do with many factors, photos, titles, tags actual product, etc. I like to have a variety of items so I feel my various tags bring people in.
*I do recommend that you use your “shop sections” to keep your shop organized for ease of shopping.

NETWORKING/SOCIAL MEDIA:
FACEBOOK BUSINESS PAGE
*Once I set up my FB business page I went through and emailed every one of my friends and family on my list and asked for their support in my new adventure. I asked them all to like my page and to share it on their timeline. I have no shame in my game lol. I only post business stuff to my personal account about once per month. I don’t want my friends to unfollow my personal page because they are getting too much business stuff from me. I send out reminders once in awhile to remind them,”If you want to know everything I post from my business page select “Get Notifications” if you want to see some, select “following”.
*On your personal FB page, under employment be sure to link back to your business so potential customers can find your shop.

INTERACTIVE POSTS
*I try to post interactive posts along with my product to engage people. I just do things like once I posted a before and after picture of a door hanger I up cycled and it said,”which do you like more? A) Old Country B) New Country C) No Country”. Sometimes I just post things like,”What was your first car?” The mission is to get more comments and likes so it will pop up in more people’s news feeds. The more you reply to and like comments and the more people like and comment on your business page the more it is “Fed” to people.
*I wouldn’t spend too much time worrying about getting your “Likes” up since FB doesn’t share them much anyway.

FACEBOOK GROUPS
*I follow some great groups here on FB with some very supportive people. The best one is Craft Living. A great one for selling is the Craft Living Marketplace.

DAILY ETSY POSTS
*Craft Living has “Daily Etsy” posts where you leave a link to one of your Etsy listings and people favorite your item. CL you have to fave 5 other items. The more your items and shop are favorited the more they show up in people’s Etsy Newsfeeds.
*CL also has a “Daily Facebook Interaction” post where you leave a link to your interactive post.
*It can be time consuming to network this way. I usually spend my first hour waking up drinking my coffee time every morning doing this stuff.

ETSY GROUPS ON FACEBOOK
*There are a ton of Etsy groups but I have found most people there are selling not buying. I like the Etsy Treasury groups because they ask for a certain type of item, you give them your link and they feature your item in a treasury. Everyone else featured usually “favorites” your item and shop. The more your items and shop are favorited the more they show up in people’s Etsy newsfeeds.

LOCAL & YARD SALE PAGES
*Think about who your target customer is and where they would be on social media- Join those groups! I also join craft groups in my town so I can be “in the loop” they are a great resource for local craft fairs and friends!
*I would join some mom groups inside and outside of your town. Moms will spend the money on things for their kids!
*I don’t post too much on local yard sale groups. Lots of people that want something for nothing and it can get discouraging. I only post in these groups when I am having a sale, an up coming craft fair or close to the holidays.

FACEBOOK PAID ADS
*I have run paid ads when I have a sale. There are two different kinds.
1)”Boost Post” this shows your post to more people, you can choose who it goes to, I recommend selecting, “People that like your page and their friends” that way it is shown to people you know are already interested in your products.
2)”Promote Page” is to get more likes. Here I recommend dialing in your audience, gender, age group, location etc. location is very important because you don’t necessarily need people in India liking your page.
*I do a lot of “organic” promoting example: It took me about an hour to share my 30% off sale in 135 groups. I spent $5.00 for the boost post/paid reach. Results: organic reach was 2,948, paid reach was 1,200. So all total 4,150 people saw it. More than twice as many people saw my shares vs. what I paid for.

PINTEREST
*Pinterest is basically some virtual bulletin boards and when people like something they put it on their bulletin board which in turn anyone that is following them could see your product. I have a bulletin board for each section of my shop so when I list something new on Etsy I place it on the corresponding board, along with the 6 virtual mall boards.
*My Pinterest is here the first 6 boards on my Pinterest are the Virtual Malls, please feel free to join!
*One of the great things about Etsy is you can pin your items straight from the listing page, I love efficiency! You can send to Twitter from there too but I do it from Instagram because when I am posting on Instagram I am doing the hashtag thing.

INSTAGRAM/TWITTER
Every time I post a new listing I post it on Instagram, this is when and where I send it to the Twittersphere too. You want to use relevant hash tags but not too many. My insta account is here. I have read that you should get a bit more personal on Instagram so I post pictures of my craft space, work in progress, when I get new supplies etc.
I never go to my Twitter and interact there, I just send out stuff.

I hope this was helpful and not too overwhelming! Take it one step at a time. Please don’t hesitate to ask anything else.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge on how to make money crafting with us, Aly!  Check out Aly’s “Crafty McDaniel” shops on Amazon and Etsy!  You can share this post with the buttons below or find Borrowed Blessings on social media {at the top of the page}.  Happy crafting!