Saturday, July 26, 2014

Free to Promote Your Shop, Social Sites, or Blog; on Networking Saturday 19

International Marketplace - How eBay is Working to Expand to Overseas MarketsGood morning my networking friends.  Today's post is a little different and I must admit self serving; I need a little advise.  I have been selling on line (almost steadily) for over 12 years; I started out on Ebay which has become far too much like a giant garage sale and far too expensive.


I was so excited when I heard about Etsy 4 years ago and started dreaming about quitting my day job and becoming a full time Postcard Lady. Unfortunately I don't live there but actual live in reality where my Etsy bills are far greater than my Etsy income.

So I moved my shop to Artfire thinking that the answer is a monthly flat fee to find that my sales are almost nothing and 12.95 adds up very quickly when you earn $0. Along with the minuscule sales from Artfire I find it's platform to be very time consuming.

I have come to the conclusion that what I need is a platform that is essentially free.  While most often those platforms invest little for their clients (naturally because it is free) so to show up on a search will be unheard of.  But I am thinking that if I can somehow created a shop front that is linked to this blog I may increase my chances (in the lines of traffic and visibility) because I have already invested 6 years in the blog and have a following.

With all of this being said, not many people use blogger as a store front so apps and information is minimal.  I have found some shopping carts but so far none of the downloads actually work (I can't even open them) and they are quite time consuming with HTML coding.

I have actually figured out a way to create a store on blogger that is relatively simple and should work very well but there is no shopping cart.  The buyer would have to purchase each item separately or convo me for a bulk listing.  Also another draw back is that shipping will need to be figured into the cost of the item;  But for the most part I often offer free shipping on my tags etc.  Foreign buyers would have to convo me for shipping costs.


So my question for my networking friends is should I just build my blogger store without a shopping cart with the mentality of simple is better and I could always change it if it looks like I need too.  Or should I invest the hours and days into finding a free shopping cart that works, set  up all the coding etc?  The problem is that there is no guarantee that I will sell anything to make it worth the set up.

Also if there is anyone out there that has set up their own stand alone shop that has some advise I would love it.  Especially if you have a inexpensive platform that has worked for you.  I tried WIX but there was absolutely no sales after 8 months, just bills, so I gave it up. Better yet if you have experience with setting up a shop on blogger I definitely would love information.


Thank you in advance
Colleen

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4 comments:

Judy said...

Thanks for hosting. I shared this post on g+. Have lovely day.

Butterfly In The Attic said...

Thank you Judy, Happy to have you join in:)
Blessings
CC

Linda B said...

Thanks. I joined in - better late than never. And posted on G+

I suggest you get a free site on wordpress.com or if you have a URL, add your own.

I'm on Meylah and Etsy, not getting anything on Meylah although 100 listings are free. I suggest you get your own URL. That way there are no fees to pay.

Butterfly In The Attic said...

Thank you Linday I am glad you joined!
Blessings
Colleen