Monday, August 5, 2013

The CraftStar - Making Selling Easy!



Did you know, that as an e:commerce seller, the basic formula for your time spent on your shops should be 70/30?

That’s 70% being creative, sourcing great vintage finds, and crafting supplies - and 30% of your time should be PROMOTION!

As we all know, selling online isn’t easy.  It’s not just a matter of listing some items and hoping they will sell.  It’s making sure your photos are the best they can be, your descriptions paint a picture making it hard for a buyer NOT to buy (!), that your tags, titles, and text are all in tip top shape.  (for some great guidance on this, please read:  https://www.thecraftstar.com/howtos/) and PROMOTION!  (and that doesn’t mean listing your items on The CraftStar then promoting other sites!)

We have recently added a very handy way to easily promote your items.  You should be Tweeting, FB posting, Pinning, Tumbling, etc every item that you list!  You can also use this feature at any time … just go to your item, click EDIT, click UPDATE and this screen will pop up:




Bingo.

One of the great features of The CraftStar is our CHAT ROOMS.  Participating in the chat rooms is considered part of that 30% promotion.  You’re networking, you’re showing off your items (you can post listings and images in our chat), and you’re letting people (buyers and sellers) know who you are and how fabulous your items are.



We have seen it over and over again … the people promoting their items on The CraftStar, and participating in the community aspects are the ones getting sales.  And for this time of year, which is notoriously slow, we are doing really well with sales.

Another unique feature of The CraftStar is our LIVE broadcasting.  We will be using this ability for “live sales” and “crafting parties” leading up to the holidays … and at the moment we go live 2 to 3 times a week.

We have a pre-BNR LIVE broadcast on Mondays and Thursdays at 7:30pm EDT / 4:30pm PDT and Wednesdays we HANGOUT and talk about subjects that will help you and your business.  If you haven’t had the opportunity to catch any of our LIVE broadcasts, you can find them on our You Tube channel: http://www.youtube.com/CraftStarTV

Another reason why The CraftStar is building so quickly is the PR team we’ve hired.  They are amazing and are doing a great job at getting the name out there.  I have done interviews with small business publications (and more coming up) and the PR company is working closely with us in placing features in magazines and major blogs for holiday shopping.  This is going to be quite a strategic endeavor and we would love your help with this.  I will be sending another email in the next few days outlining the campaign and how you and your shops can participate.

We have a couple exciting announcements to make soon … so please keep your eyes on our emails, blog, and Facebook page.

Please continue to be creative … and remember, as for anything, you only get out what you put in!

All the best and hope to see you in the CHAT ROOMS TONIGHT!

Bethan and The CraftStar Team

The CraftStar Blog:  http://thecraftstar.blogspot.com/
The CraftStar Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/thecraftstar
The CraftStar Twitter:  https://twitter.com/TheCraftStar
  

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