New Website Sort Of Coming Along

[kmmcrafts]

I've been working on a new site for the past couple weeks, actually been working on several different sites and comparing what options are best for me. I sort of launched one of the sites I made, I say sort of because I need to finish up the policies for the site, ie store policies, privacy policy etc etc. so still working on writing those up. I'm not sure the extra work is really worth it with all the legalities involved with a stand alone site but I'm going to give it a wirral. Yeah lot of folks talk about the cost of selling on Etsy and the competition etc. but it's very time consuming to run your own site too. But, nobody ever said having a successful business was easy . 

Link is in my profile to take you to my site if you want to check it out.. interested in thoughts if you have any. I'm not to hip on the huge banner.. but it is what was recommended on a FB group I'm on.. I showed them the site a couple days ago and many loved the design. Asked me who made the bannor, LOL.. I did it in inkscape.. now I got a bunch asking me how much it'd cost to make them a banner, LOL.. I think there is probably a good market for that if anyone likes doing graphic design work.  Not me.. much rather be in the shop than doing this stupid website work. 

I've got to work out a couple issues with my email notifications.. as the site is set up to notify customers if they sign up for email new etc.. That is not working yet, at least not for me it hasn't sent me an email saying I opened shop etc. 

Also updated the link in my signature for clock inserts that takes you directly to the new site for the clocks I currently offer.. the item pages do not have the huge banner.. just the home page. 

https://kevskrafts.com/

Edited April 4, 2023 by kmmcrafts

[BadBob]

Any website site is a lot of work. I don't care what Etsy and the talking heads on youtube tell you.

 

 

[BadBob]

I have been working on an aftcra store. I figure if it doesn't work out, at least it doesn't cost me anything. I'm adding all my Etsy listings one at a time, priced with shipping included, since they don't have a shipping calculator as Etsy does. The work is mostly copied and pasted and tweaked. Then upload the photos.

[kmmcrafts]

27 minutes ago, BadBob said:

I have been working on an aftcra store. I figure if it doesn't work out, at least it doesn't cost me anything. I'm adding all my Etsy listings one at a time, priced with shipping included, since they don't have a shipping calculator as Etsy does. The work is mostly copied and pasted and tweaked. Then upload the photos.

Do they have a CSV file importer? Many sites you can download the CSV file from your settings on etsy and upload your file to the other site and everything is transfered. You just have to set up particular settings that pertain to the new site that might be different from etsy.. All of my listings from etsy transferred to the new site but most are in draft mode until I change them up some. Title and description needs to be about 30% different for SEO is my understanding. I changed up the titles some but not descriptions ( yet anyway ) as I'm more busy just getting the policies and more important things done so shoppers can be confident I'm not some scammer, LOL

[kmmcrafts]

I looked at aftcra for a minute, one thing that turned me away from that site is I don't think they're too updated and i worried about any customer service I might need. It's a lot of work to put into something that might close up soon. 

First thing that caught my eye is they have google+ icons on the site to promote the site.. IF they was a professional and caring site they'd remove that.. google+ social site has been shut down since 2019 and they announced the shut down in 2018.. To bad because I liked promoting on that social site. Anyhow they've had 4 years to remove that from their site. 

Years ago I used to sell on Artfire.. I put all my work into that site and built a following.. small site and it was really growing but unfortunately they change management and the site got neglected and shut down.. I had to jump onto etsy which I had a few things on from 2010 until I left Artfire in 2014. Etsy sales took off so I kinda made it my main selling site while I built back up another site with followers etc. on zibbet.. same thing.. they shut down, LOL . Somewhere in all of this time frame I also ran a site on indiemade.. The one thing I've learned from all of this is to not put all my effort into 1 site.. I'm not too fond of Amazon handmade.. but with a small amount of effort that could be my main selling site should something happen to etsy. I'm wanting this stand alone site to slowly build up because then I have total control of the site. While I may not make any profit ( likely be losses for at least a couple years ).. my etsy and amazon stores will absorb those losses.. not like starting out on a website with nothing built up.  

I have also toyed with eBay too some years ago with little to no luck, it wasn't a great site for selling crafts back then anyway, I see folks doing okay on there now days and I may put a few things on there and give it another try. Two of my brothers do very well on ebay.. but they aren't selling crafts either, LOL

[BadBob]

I probably didn't notice the Google+ icons because I block all trackers. I really liked Google+ and had a lot of things posted there. It is still around but is no longer free or publicly viewable.

You make some excellent points, and I agree with all of them. However, aftcra doesn't cost me anything; it only takes a few minutes to add a listing.

 

 

[BadBob]

7 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

Do they have a CSV file importer?

Yes, but it isn't an exact match. I did it once and then went back ad deleted everything because it was easier to do them manually than fix them. I have lost of Etsy specific stuff in my descriptions.

Here are the fields for creating a listing.
Photos ( the number seems to be unlimited )
Product Name
Short Description
Long Description
Hidden
Category ( Not many to choose from, but I don't like Etsy choices either)
Keywords ( No length limit or number that I have found. )
Meta Data ( for the search engines )
Page Title
Meta Description
Product Options ( I don't know how this works; I don't use it )
Add Note from Buyer Field
Price
Units In Stock
Flat Shipping Fee ( I set this to zero and added the shipping to the price )
Usually Ships Within
Can Ship Internationally

Import your Etsy shop, and if you like what you see, keep it. If you don't get any sales from there, let the listing all time out and forget it.

[kmmcrafts]

My thought are this on that website: 

After researching the site's visitor stats showing only just shy of 15,000 page visits a month on that site as a whole, meaning how many of those are just the sellers working on the listings and or checking in on their store? I have almost 13000 followers on just one of my social sites.. Those page visits on that site are less likely to "buy" than my following on any given social site. So.. in order to do successful selling on that site I'd likely have to bring in my own customer ( ie social site promoting which takes time and effort, or paid advertising ) and so it's virtually a waste of time to put in the few minutes worth of my items to that page. I don't want to promote a site that is possibly not going to be around in 10 more years.. IF I'm putting in the work it should be on my own site where in 5-10-15 years it'll still be there.. I've already mentioned how I worked hard for a following on Artfire and some of those other venues. I was doing great on Artfire, and there is still thousands of back links that I built up going to that artfire store that's no longer there.. Sure when I left some loyal customers followed me but you lose the ability to get all of them back.  

There are sites you can sell on that are totally free like this.. however as the old saying goes.. nothing is really free... and you "could bring traffic to them without building a actual site) you may be the only successful one selling on there and they decide to shut the site down.. Then how successful are you after that? I've been there 3 times like this.. Cheap or Free sites are NOT cheap or free..

Etsy and Amazon are not free sites but they have built in traffic.. I do not promote anything I have on either site and get decent sales. I do run the etsy ads during the holidays only with a $1-2 limit, that is the only promoting I do on there.. once in a great while I'll put a item to pinterest.. The website is where I put in my efforts or any site that goes to the web address of KevsKrafts.com where ever I may have my site hosted at. Back links I have built up over the years since getting the domain name will take you to my page where ever I am but will say item not found but at least it takes you to my site. IF you do that on etsy without a domain then etsy just shows your customer similar shops, LOL Promoting items on etsy can and does often just bring a customer to etsy and likely take them to another shop by showing similar items from other sellers. 

I've heard in the news that Bonanza is gaining traffic for sellers and are also restructuring their platform. I haven't checked what the site traffic is like on there but they're putting effort into the site it sounds like. 

I keep my prices the same for the most part on all the websites even though it cost less to sell on Etsy than Amazon, and it also cost less "money" on my own site but I should get compensated for the time put in promoting and advertising I do for my own site.. so again as I said cheap or free still is not cheap or free.. 

So in a nutshell yes I could easily put items on that site and possibly get a sale.. but my efforts are better spent working on my own shop where ever I decide to host it. 

[BadBob]

How do you manage your inventory when selling on multiple platforms?

[kmmcrafts]

One platform shipping / handling time is 2-3 days and the other sites are 2 weeks, I do my best when something sells out to make sure the inventory is marked on the other sites. There is software to do this for you but it's not cheap. When I sold on Zibbet, and indiemade they have so you can link your site to etsy so it automatically does this for you. I think the same thing with Shopify but it is a app that is probably a paid app. I know they have that but I haven't got into that part of it yet. I should look into it as sales are already coming in on there and not even 100% set up yet. 

I so far haven't been in any situation to where I sell the same item on 2+ sites at the same time. As for ornaments I just try to keep my slots inventoried as I go since they are typically quick to make and are stack cut, so when I see the stock getting low I print a sheet of patterns and cut some more. Before the busy season I prepare blank stacks already to cut with the shelf liner already on them so all I need to do is slap the printed shipping label ( pattern ) on and drill pilot holes and cut. 

Edited April 11, 2023 by kmmcrafts

[BadBob]

7 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

One platform shipping / handling time is 2-3 days and the other sites are 2 weeks

That is very similar to what I am doing. Etsy is 2 business days, and everywhere else is 10 and marked as made to order.