After you create wonderful products into which you pour our heart, skill, capital and time...
After you take fabulous photographs because you know that great PHOTOS are THE most, if not most important element to online success...
After you work on SEO (search engine optimization), descriptions, eye catching titles...
After you work further on branding, banners, avatars, shop policies, artist's bio's, etc...
Do you just sit there and wait?
Ha, if only it were that easy!
The single biggest surprise I had in starting an online jewelry business Beadin By The Sea was the startling realization that the "If you build it, they will come" mentality is simply not true! You can have the most awesome products, great photos, slick website but if no one sees it, you are doomed!
After a year and a half of selling online I am still (and always will be I suspect) trying to figure out how to draw customers to my shop. Of course there are the traditional ways to promote a business that work, like advertising (web based or traditional), passing out business cards, promotions, give aways and networking with other artists and business owners. And then there is the whole mysterious social realm of marketing of which I'm still exploring. Yes, I am twittering, facebooking, blogging, and, participating in forums.
Whew! This all reinforces the fact that, after we build it, we need to promote it, maintain it, tweak it, add to it and promote it some more!
Disclaimer: This post is not meant to be a "how to" market your online business, because I'm no expert! I would, however, appreciate your thoughts how you attract customers to your shop, or how you get noticed in the World Wide Web and maybe we can help each other.
Credits: I must give thanks to this spider which I found yesterday morning spinning his web along our front driveway. I was mesmerized by the way he worked, so deftly spinning his silk, determined to finish the task at hand, totally oblivious of my camera flashes. Of course, I would be this focused too, if I depended on my web for my food supply. Oh, maybe there's a lesson in there too!
