10 FREE ways to promote your handmaking online

Craft shows - are they worth your time? What's your experience? Handmakers tell me they have to drop their prices and stand around all day to sell a couple of pieces. Mostly they don't make back the cost of the stall and petrol getting there.

Say you don't go to that next craft fair. That's going to free up 8 hours or so of productive time? What could you do instead, that might actually be more worthwhile? Well, here's 10 ideas from me for starters...

1) Set up a blog. If you aren't blogging, you should be. A blog should come BEFORE a website. Why? Because you can keep your blog up to date, it is more link worthy, the search engines love 'em and you can strike a more personal and compelling tone. So long as most handmakers' websites are no more than an online brochure, a blog wins hands-down. In 8 hours you could set it up and write your first half dozen posts! Google's Blogger is a free service with free hosting too.
Discover why every hand-maker should blog and what to do with it.

2) Write a press release. You can find free advice about what to write. Then use a free news distribution service to promote it. There's loads, just google "PR distribution". Don't leave it at that though, contacting you local rag doesn't cost anything and nor does promoting your story to relevant online communities and blogs. The key thing with PR is coming up with a newsworthy angle. Spend twice as much time on the angle as on writing. A killer angle will pay off.

3) Publish a Squidoo lens. www.Squidoo.com is where you can build a free single page 'lens' about your passion. It's free and easy, with push-button publishing. Your lens will be wired into Squidoo's community and network and the search engines. The key is not to be too self-serving. It's all about the angle again. Don't go for the direct "This is me I make jewellery" approach. You need to be prepared to broaden it out and give some love to other folks too. Why not band together with some other handmakers and make one?

4) Re-shoot your photography, then open a flickr account. Lousy images won't sell your work - no matter how good it is. Take lots of time to perfect your shots and take lots of shots. Experimentation is the key. Once you've got some great images, open an account at a photo sharing community like Flickr. Get your images on your website too; images show up in the google image search, which is another way to solicit traffic.

5) Advertise your website in your emails. Add your website's URL to your email signature. That way everytime you send an email you are promoting your website. Also, start using "me@mywebsite.co.uk" as your primary email for everything but your day job (if you have one).

6) Set-up an email newsletter or notifications service on your website. There are web services that make managing the subscribers and sending the email easier. LiveWire Campaign offers a free service to low volume users.

7) Write some useful content. You can transform your website from simple brochure to useful resource, in part at least. Search engines love words. They want content, good content. Don't forget, google wasn't really designed to search product catalogues. It was designed by pointy-headed PhDs with research in mind. What's useful content? Nothing self-promoting. As an example, this page at pressies4princesses.co.uk brings in thousands of visitors a month Common Mistakes When Buying Gifts For Her.

8) Get social. Social networking is the new phenomenon on the web. And, this doesn't just mean hanging out on MySpace or Facebook. Getting into the blogosphere could be far more worthwhile. Find blogs, read them, comment, contribute. Who knows, they might just pop over, check you out and send some traffic your way!

9) Set up a competition or giveaway. Be prepared give something with real value - like a piece of your most expensive jewellery. The juicier your prize, the more coverage you'll get. Promote your competition through a press release and/ or competition websites. They're are hundred's of websites that will list your competition for free.

10) Build your portfolio on portfolio hosting communities like www.deviantArt.com. This one supports artisan crafts too. Their authority in the search engines may mean your profile appears higher up relevant search terms than your own website. Either way, more people will get to see your work - for free!

The best thing about all ten of these ideas is they are free. They'll cost nothing more than your time. That's got to be better than standing behind a trestle tablle for 8 hours?

If you have some other (better?!) ideas, please add with a comment.

Cheers,

Steve

Promote Your Handmade Jewellery For Free

We're introducing a new free advertising opportunity for jewellery hand-makers over at www.pressies4princesses.co.uk (pressies) - the UK gift retailer I manage.

Your banner advert could appear on high traffic, relevant pages, such as this...

Handmade British jewellery

... for FREE!

It's part of pressies programme to provide quid pro quo support for handmakers.

Over 25% of pressies' gift range is handmade, including many best-sellers. And, their passion for hand-making is demonstrated by their current Hunt for Hand-making Heroes New Gift Competition.

To qualify, you need to be a UK designer hand-making your jewellery, with your own well-presented website and good quality products.

Only a very limited number of spots will be available. Please contact me directly with your website address if you want to take part.

Cheers,

Steve

Hand-making Competition Shortlist

The shortlist of Hand-making Heroes Competition Finalists was finally agreed last week and the voting is live over at gift retailer pressies4princesses.co.uk.

Each finalist has their own page, with (largely) their own words pitching their product on it. Also, in the sidebar, there's a brief explanation of why the judges shortlisted this particular handmaker.


Frustratingly, badly thought through pricing was one of the biggest reasons entries did not make the cut. The basic test had to be that it made sense for a retailer to sell this - after all that's part of the prize - and, in so many cases, it just did not (economically at least).

I am antipicating that some entrants will want to know why they haven't been shortlisted. And, I am more than happy to provide the judges' rationale, plus some one-to-one feedback, if desired.

Thank you to every entrant for taking part.


Steve

Hand-making Heroes Handmade Gift Competition Shortlist

British Craft Trade Fair 2008

Whether you are new to hand-making or an old hand, you can learn and awful lot by visiting a major trade show like the British Craft Trade Fair, at Harrogate. Obviously, I am not condoning copying fellow hand-makers designs. That's just plain wrong. But, seeing how others present themselves and what they are presenting can be inspiring and highly informative.

One thing that strikes me when I go to any of the gift-related trade shows, is what sets exhibitors apart from non-exhibitors. And, that is often simply that they are there and you are not. They are going for it, promoting their business to the (in this case) 4000 or so trade buyers visiting. You're beavering away at home on something that must be equally important, I suppose.

Of course, I am being a little harsh to emphasize my point. And, I appreciate that doing a show is a big commitment and major investment for a young upstart hand-making business. But, look at the opportunity. You could work tirelessly on self-promotion for years without a hope of reaching those 4000 buyers!

What I'm also saying is don't fear the competition. Don't feel like the exhibitors must have better products or more established businesses. Some of them might just have a steadier nerve and more impatient nature.

Apart for the opportunity to kick start your sales, trade shows also offer the chance to get (almost) priceless feedback from potential stockists. Enabling you to get on to a faster track to ultimate success. Feedback is the live blood of a successful business.

Feedback and even financial ruin from a poor show can also save you time. I once ran an unsuccessful business. But, I was very careful to run out of money slowly. Of course, all this did was delay failure. The business still bombed - I just wasted more of my time on it. Had I committed more money in the early days, I would have learnt sooner that the business model just wasn't right and had a rethink.

The British Craft Trade Fair is from April 6th - 8th, at Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate. I suggest you try to steal your way in this year. You'll learn loads. And, as soon as you get home, book your place for next year's show - as an exhibitor. Because, whether it's the making or ruin of your business, ultimately you will benefit.

Hand-making Heroes Competition Update

I just received a question about what was going on with Hand-making Heroes. Well, we have all the entries. The competition is now closed for new entries and the judges have to draw up a shortlist to put the the public vote. We'll be doing that over the next two weeks and arranging the IT for the vote. As soon as our decisions our made and the IT is live we'll notify shortlisted candidates, so you can tell all your friends to come and vote for you!

Sorry for the lack of communication recently. Work at pressies4princesses - the day job - has been keeping me very busy.

More soon.

Steve