Is what I want to sell good enough? Is what I want to sell marketable? Is what I want to sell even a wanted product? Many questions will flood you as you consider taking your next step with your passion. Don't worry if you do not have any kind of a storefront set up yet. That will come, but make sure to take some notes along the way. Get a few ideas of some things before you get started.
There are ways you will learn that you can kind of test the marketability of your product that you have chosen. Also, there are ways to help with your visibility, and with the search of some of your existing products that you might have now too.
One of the first common things to do when checking out the competition is to use google searches. Type in your craft, your product, or your service to see what comes up. Keep in mind this is something that your customers will also be doing when they search. When you see some of the competition come up as you search take note of some of those first hits you see. See through the customers eyes what is being advertised to them. Sometimes when you search like this you are going to see some direct competition, or maybe some of them might be business role models for you too.
Besides using Google you will want to further your searches with maybe some of the other market places to see what similar ideas are being offered. Check with like Etsy, Ecrater, Big Cartel, Ebay, Store Envy, and etc. With some of your research among the search engines you used, you will also see different market places from them too. Make sure to make some notes to yourself.
Do Not get discouraged when researching, and you find a lot of results for the same product. This is good because it shows you there is a market for such a product, and that it appears to be in demand too. Just remember that your individuality is what makes the difference.
The key to overcoming such a saturated market place is that you must learn to advertise outside of all of that, and get people to see the individual brand that you are offering. See it as all those people not knowing about you yet.
Another good thing is that with a trending product this will give you an opportunity to recruit some new customers for you. If you see something that explains what your product is, how it can be made, if there is some history with it, and etc. Use it to your advantage again. Try to find a way to incorporate that into working for you. Find a way to make it a commercial, or maybe an advertisement for you without violating any copy right laws or infringements.
A few ways that you will see others mention that get used are as follows.
• Cost Per Click Advertising you will often hear about. Many of us use Facebook, and we click to "like" someone, some thing, a page, or maybe some kind of trend too. So as you see followings grown maybe it is a time to consider the pay for click advertising to get some of that attention for you, and to grow customers for you too.
• BLOG on your trend! This is one I myself truly believe in, and will talk about. Social networking is becoming bigger, and bigger. Predictions are for 2014 that it will be an advantage to use Social Networking with the things that Google does, some changes they will do as they normally do in the spring, and etc. You blog to get traffic, and it lets the customers get to know you a little better too. Therefore when someone does a search with Google, or maybe yahoo for certain keywords they can very well find something you blogged about. With blogging work on using some good keywords, and tagging too. This helps people to find you. Don't forget you can share links to your items as well too. If you use pictures from others on the internet make sure to give them credit, mention them, or at least link back to the place you got things from.
• Tweet to people about things. This is where using that hash tag (#) on twitter works. The hash tags, like keywords, will help you draw the right crowd of like-minded people too.
• Tagging your listings by remembering to do this. Make sure to use words like "inspired by" or maybe "styled like" and things like that. You don't want any kind of trouble, or to mislead people about how the product was made. These people are the customers you are hoping to be doing business with. Just be honest. Having pieces that are alike, have a similarity, and etc are common in the handmade world of things. You have your own style that you are trying to get people to see.
Whew! Slow down a little bit, right? LOL:) Sorry, but sometimes I get a little bit passionate about some things when I share them, and I can carry on too. I am trying to share this in more of a break down, and carry it out over the next days, weeks, or however long it will take me.
I appreciate you taking the time to visit with LilacsNDreams. Thanks for dropping in, and hope to see you again soon. Take care till the next time everyone. Toodles . . . .
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