Promotional Opportunities

If you want to promote your small handcrafted business, the first place to start is Etsy. This website is devoted to selling your handmade goods. Their shop fees are very fair, and you meet a lot of great people within that website. It's like an ebay for handcrafted goods.

Locally - Every small town or large city (and everything in between) should have bulletin boards and local newspapers. I have started to put flyers around the town I live by. My first one was about my Valentine's Day items, and at the bottom of the flyer I had my business name, email address, and Etsy shop url in strips. That way when my flyer caught someone's attention, they could rip off one of those strips of paper with my contact info.

We have a very small and growing monthly newspaper where I live. I recently started putting in classified ads. The rates are very cheap, and I can put anything I want into it. An example of what I put in is something like this:

Handmade jewelry, bookmarks, and more!
Special requests accepted.
Support your local artist: CM Designs
http://1337art.etsy.com

We Love Etsy - This is a growing website that is a huge directory for Etsy shops. It is very easy to navigate, which means it is easy for customers to find what they're looking to purchase.

Metawebpages - A recently launched website made exclusively for sellers to promote their goods, and for buyers to find what they're looking for. There are already 242 registered members in the forums.

Deviant Art - I have been with this website for years. I currently have one account for my jewelry, and one account for my personal art. Artists around the world share their artwork in many forms, ranging from culinary to collage to woodwork and so much more! The website even offers you the opportunity to sell your artwork as prints, calendars, coffee mugs, and more.

Myspace - Yikes. The social networking website that everyone has heard about. It really is a great place to meet people and to network your business with other people of similar interest. It is a great way for people to stay in touch with you to find out what your business is up to.

Blogging - There are many blogging websites out there. Why have a blog? Not only is it accessible via search engine, it lets people get to know the person behind the business while at the same time keeping updated on the progress of your business. I use mine to promote my business, but I also use it to feature Etsy artists. If you are interested in starting a blog, but you're not sure I suggest looking at other people's blogs to see what they write about. I have some listed blogs under the "Things to read with your morning coffee."

I hope the above content and advice is helpful to you. I thank you so much for reading. Good luck with your business!

Christina
CM Designs
http://1337art.etsy.com
Elite Art for the elite at heart.