Using Pinterest For Your Business

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Have you considered using Pinterest for your business?

Pinterest specifically asks that you not use Pinterest only for promoting your business and to follow etiquette, you probably shouldn’t post a majority of pins from your own things. But I believe it’s acceptable to post a few things from your shop–perhaps on a board devoted to your business. That way people aren’t stuck following your business pins if they are not interested in them.

I have an account on Pinterest that I use so I can find all my bookmarks and remember why I actually bookmarked them in the 1st place. I also “pin” things that I think are pretty or funny just because I feel like it. I doubt that I’ll ever do a majority of the things I pin, but I like looking for ideas now and then.

I created a board for my Etsy shop which you can see here. A great tip is to type the price in the description. If you do so, a banner appears across the photo advertising the price.

So, have you considered using Pinterest as a way to share your business?

Do you have Pinterest boards? Share a link in the comments.

Should You Blog?~Repost

The short answer is yes of course you should.

The more lengthy answer is it depends.

Blogs are another tool in promoting your business and can be a great way to share your story.

The best blogs I’ve read from online sellers are a nice mix of personal life and business. I don’t care to read a blog that only posts items for sale.

I also don’t care for blogs that only post photos of their children. I know we all think our babies are the best and the cutest and the smartest (and they are!) but everyone else doesn’t want to see every thing your child does every day. Please don’t post photos of dirty food faces and tantrum throwing children all the time!

A well placed personal story or photo is appropriate although you may want to establish boundaries for what you will share online with your business contacts.

Feel free to share a tutorial, a recipe, a link to something you enjoyed, or your thoughts for the day. Mix in the items you are selling and information about your business and you’ve got an easy way to put a more personal spin on your business.

To Start a Blog:

1. Think of a name that represents you or your business well.

2. Sign up for a free account at Wordpress or Blogger. Both of my blogs happen to be domains that I paid for. I didn’t start out paying for a blog and it’s not necessary to buy a domain unless you have a specific need to do so.

3. Start posting and sharing your link.

4. Realize that building a blog takes time and promotion. Share your links, leave comments on other blogs, put a link in your email signature…

5. Choose how many times a week you will post and establish a routine.

6. Remember copyright rules. Don’t copy a post from someone else–instead post a link and send people to the author’s blog or article.

Stealing photos is a big no no too.

7. Find blogging help online. Blogging Basics 101 is one of my favorites.

If you already blog, please share your blog in a comment. If you decide to start one someday, please come back and leave a comment then.

Business Blogs I Read

Smaller Box

Everything Etsy

Meylah

Blogging with Amy

Blog Guidebook

Of course The Selling Sisters (goes without mentioning…)
What about you? What blogs do you read about/for business?

Update on Other Online Selling Venues

In addition to posting my listings on eBay, and putting my handmade items on Etsy, I’ve also imported my eBay listings to Addoway, Bonanza and eCrater.

While all of them are good sites, personally, I think I’ve done the best on Bonanza.

My eBay sales are by far the highest of any of the venues, but every little bit helps. I’ve noticed that 95% of my sales have been plush animals……I’m not exactly sure why, but I’m thankful for every sale that comes my way.

Keep in mind that when you sell an item on one of these venues, you want to end the item on eBay ASAP (or change your inventory quantity, whichever applies to your situation) so that you don’t end up selling an item on eBay that you’ve already shipped out to another buyer.

I’m thinking of closing my eCrater account.

The problem that I’m having is when I import to eCrater from my eBay store, it doesn’t always cancel the eCrater listings that are no longer listed on eBay (for instance, the item has already sold, or I deleted it from eBay)  so, I end up selling items on eCrater that have already sold on eBay and  have to refund their transaction and email them to explain.

Someone also told me about yardsellr.com.

I signed up for an account, but I haven’t listed anything on the site yet because they don’t have an eBay importer (at least not yet) so, I would have to copy and paste the listings that I want to post on their site.  With over 1,000 items listed, this would be a MAJOR project for me, and I’m not sure if it’s something I’m willing to invest time and effort into.

Let me know how your sales on other venues are going, or if you have another site you highly recommend selling on.

5 Ways to Increase Your Online Sales in June

#1 Promote your items with social networking

The more, the merrier is what I always say . In this case, it’s the more exposure your items or your store have, the merrier!  Use social networking to increase traffic to your store.  Twitter, Facebook fan pages, post the link to your store on your Facebook account, post links to items listed in your store to your facebook newsfeed, blog about your items, put the link to your store in your email signature……anything to get more people attracted to your items.

#2 Maximize your description

One thing I notice right away when I look at descriptions is that a lot of sellers put very basic information in their descriptions. Many times I see descriptions that read “great condition, thanks for looking.”

Sorry, but that’s not a description.  Descriptions are FREE, it’s not like you pay per word or per letter, so use your descriptions liberally.  State details about the item, even if you feel like it’s obvious, state it anyway.  State measurements, color, describe the design, help the person fall in love with your item and make them feel like they just have to buy it!

#3 Increase your feedback score

The system of selling on eBay is kind of like a cycle. One part of the cycle affects the next part.  For some reason, the more sales you get, the more feedback you get. The more feedback you get, the more sales you make.  The higher your feedback score is, the higher prices your items will sell for, and the more customers will be willing to buy from you.

#4 State the shipping cost in your listing

I am just going to come out and say it: I am not a fan of calculated shipping. Most of the time when I look at a listing that has calculated shipping, it’s SKY HIGH.  To ship a women’s knit top, it will come up with something crazy like $10.85, when I know it can ship for less than $2.99 to anywhere in the USA.

I determine my shipping cost and sometimes I lose money on it, but most of the time I don’t.  The other great thing about flat rate shipping is that I can state the cost that item’s shipping right in the description.  I know the eBay populates the shipping price in the listing under the selling price, but for some reason since I added this line to my lisings:

Shipping is only 2.99!

My sales have gone way up.  It’s right in front of their face and encourages them to make the purchase.

#5 Upgrade to a premium store

I cannot say enough about what a huge time saver my premium store is.  Yes, it does cost more per month than the basic store, but the price per listing is much less (.05 per listing VS .20 per listing.)

The benefits of a premium store are fantastic and I’m learning more about them every day.  One of the things I like the most is the ability to automate feedback.  Once positive feedback is left for a transaction, I have it set to automatically leave one of five positive feedback phrases that I typed in for it to choose from. I love it that I haven’t had to leave feedback in months. I don’t even think about it any more

The more time I can save in doing little tasks like leaving feedback, the more time I have to list new items and stay on top of my shipping.  Time is money, and I’d rather use my time doing things that make me money!

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