Selling Craft Online – Simple Checklist

How to get more shop views when selling crafts on the internet

In this post we’re looking at ways you can increase organic search traffic to your online shop – aka get more views. If your shop isn’t getting many hits and your products aren’t getting many views, then a quick scan through the 5 main points in this checklist will help eliminate anything that could be holding you back.

(Psssstttt! If you’re a blogger, find out at the end of this post how you can get your blog shared on our busy social media channels and in our weekly newsletters that go out to 100,000 subscribers collectively.)

Checklist for Craft Sellers

1.  Great product
2.  Great photographs
3.  Research ‘keywords’ in the title
4.  Research ‘keywords’ in the description
5.  Links from relevant sites to your shop and products

Close up showing the texture of this fun Cat Design Notebook from ‘My Pip Squeak’

1 & 2. Have you taken time over your images? Are they good enough?

So your product is great. Check! But we can’t stress enough how important it is to have good photographs in order to get your handmade work or craft supplies noticed, featured and shared. Read all our tips and advice for creating really clickable and shareable images here > Tips for Photographing Craft

3. Have you included ‘keywords’ in your product titles?

If someone is searching for a specific item on a standard Google search, they will only have a chance of finding your product in the search results pages if you include that phrase or something very similar to it within the title and the text on the page.

NB. Keywords are not tags!  ‘Keywords’ and ‘Keyword Phrases’ are the actual words that people write into a search when they are looking for websites.

4. Have you included ‘keywords’ in your product description?

You need to be very clear and descriptive about the item you are selling. However, you need to think about what a customer may be searching for. Will your customer know exactly what they are looking for? Use your keywords within the text but also use phrases that a customer may be searching for – eg ‘Longtailed Tits’ are also ‘common garden birds’ and ‘British garden birds’. Someone searching for a ‘Longtailed Tit’ may purely be looking for identification, however a screen print of a Longtailed Tit could be perfect for someone searching for ‘gifts for a bird lover’.

Longtailed Tit screen print by Coo & Co

Have you used ‘Long Tail Keywords’?

We wrote this advice below in a post on the Folksy blog five years ago, but the rules have not changed – it’s still important to look at ‘longtail keywords’ to help get ‘quality’ traffic – the kind that is looking for a specific item.

Someone looking to buy a purse may first search for ‘red purse’ and get millions of results. After a bit of online research and seeing the sort of thing they like, their next search may be for ‘appliqued red leather clutch’ so by using that phrase in your listings and images you may be more likely to receive traffic that will result in a sale – aka quality traffic. (In seo terms this is known as using long tail keywords for increased conversion – sounds complex put like that!)

A good way of helping you write the description is to imagine that there is no accompanying image. Humans can see images and interpret them immediately but search engines need more help.

Garden Birds print by Beetroot Press

Have you done some research?

With every product you list you need to give the title text and description very careful consideration. It’s important for both internal and external searches and you need to carry out some research. Look at competitors’ items and also use the Google Keyword Tool to look at how often people use certain keyword phrases.

You can then measure the results using Google Analytics and if necessary tweak your product descriptions.

5. How many relevant ‘links in’ do you have to your items?

Links from other websites and blogs to your shop items are important as they add a vote of confidence from that website to yours. For example, if the RSPB linked to the beautiful Long-tailed Tit Print in an online Bird Lover’s Gift Guide it would greatly increase the chance of it appearing higher up in the search ranking for queries because the RSPB site is a respected website that is a known expert on British garden birds.

This is why great photographs and online networking are so important! Great product photography and time spent networking on social media can help you get discovered by the press and also bloggers who will share and feature your work.

The more relevant links that lead to your products, the more chance you will receive direct traffic – not only that but your placement in the search results pages will be boosted, which will increase your organic traffic.

We’ll be bringing you more tips on how to get more links into your site soon – including tips on how to set up a successful craft blog. We’ll be sharing lots more specific tips on networking here on the Folksy Blog and you can take a look through our Seller Tips posts for all of our existing great advice to get your work noticed.

#FolksyFriday – Craft Bloggers!

If you’re a blogger you may be interested in creating a Folksy Friday post where on a Friday you share a selection of items from folksy.com – we’ll be retweeting and pinning pics from your blogs and we’re also planning to feature our favourite Folksy Friday post each week in our newsletters, which go direct to the inboxes of 100,000 Folksy fans and Folksy Sellers collectively!

Use #FolksyFriday and tag us when you share your blog posts.