Tips for Making Money by Selling Handicrafts

If you have a knack for making cool thing using your hands, you may be able to turn your side hobby into a fully-fledged business. There’s a specific marketplace for handcrafted items. It’s easy enough to tap into as long as you have the right savvy, commitment and the technological tools. If you want to make serious money using your ability to make handicrafts, read ahead to find out how.






Launch an e-Commerce Website



You should start by designing an e-commerce website to sell your handicrafts online. Creating a website nowadays is easy. You can do it for free using a CMS like WordPress or Joomla. You will only need to spend a little amount to buy a good template and to host the domain. If you feel like you can’t handle this, you can hire outside help. You need a fast loading and secure site where it’s very easy to check out items.






Build a Home Office/Store



In addition to the website, you should sell your handicrafts from home as well. You can dedicate a room in the house to redo it as a home office plus showroom or a store. Plan to sell items from here. If you have the funds, you might be able to rent a small office space in a commercial area. In any case, install point of sale systems to make transactions more efficient. You can easily keep in-store purchase records with modern POS software and eliminate silly errors.






Create a Mobile App for Your Business



Your store and e-commerce website should be accompanies by a mobile app. Modern consumers like to shop using their smartphones. Conversion rates are high on mobile than on desktops. So, tap into the lucrative mobile market with a really good app. Mobile apps can only be designed by experts. You will need to hire a third-party app developer for the task.






Market on Social Media



Since you are running a small handicraft business, social media will be your best marketing channel. Launch social network profile pages to post pictures of your handicrafts. Write interesting posts and make sure your followers are sharing. You should buy Facebook ads to increase exposure. You can shoot short home videos showing off your skills to post on your social media channels as well.






Get Attention of Handicraft Enthusiasts



You can greatly boost the reputation, and sales, of your business with an endorsement. Typically, companies go for celebrity endorsements. You won’t be able to afford that, yet. Instead, seek the attention of handicrafts enthusiasts, bloggers and columnists. If they write about your business, you can certainly lift it up from obscurity.






Blog about Your Skills or Write a Column



You can also make yourself a celebrity by blogging about your handicraft skills. Such blogs are in high demand. Your readership, with the right tactics, can be converted into paying customers easily.






Reward Customers for Spreading the Word about Your Company



Word-of-mouth is still the best way to increase brand awareness, reputation and sales numbers. So, get your existing customers to do the hard work by rewarding them (with store credit, new product, etc) for recommending your business to another.



Follow the above tips and you might be able to become a very successful home-based handicraft business owner.