For the creative craftsperson who needs or wants to work from home, there are numerous ways to make her creations pay without participating in craft shows or lugging the work to consign in gift shops. Online craft businesses are becoming a popular venue for the craftsperson. It's a great moms' work at home business and a great way to make money online fast, unlike online businesses that offer passive or residual income. All that is needed is a computer and a good work ethic.
Finding a Niche
The first thing to consider when beginning an online craft business is in finding a niche in the market – creating something unique. It isn't advisable to copy other people's work, but the craftperson can be, and usually is, inspired by that work. The research is meant to inspire as well as give the craftsperson a sense of the current trends in crafts, and the prices and saleability of those items.
Selling Crafts Through eBay and Etsy
When the artist feels she has large enough body of work to offer buyers selection and begin selling, she could sign up for online craft venues and diversify using one venue or many.
Among the best online venues for selling crafts are Etsy and eBay. eBay has been in business since the early days of the World Wide Web and most people know how to use it. Craftspeople have been selling on eBay for just as long and many have been successful. A good perusal of both the art and craft sections of eBay will give the crafter some sense of what's selling, what's popular and what isn't.
Etsy is the number one site devoted primarily to craft, although there are other categories listed. Many craft sellers who have profiles on Etsy are doing well selling on the site. Both eBay and Etsy are good online sites to build a business with. They rank high in the search results and people do go to those sites looking for specific items.
Create a Website for Selling Crafts
A craftsperson could also sell her wares via her own website. If she takes this route, she'll need to learn as much about website management as she can. To be noticed, her ultimate goal should be to get her website showing up on page one in the Google search results. Only a small percentage of searchers go to page two and even less to the next several pages. Getting to page one involves so many things like search engine optimization (SEO), links and the value of those links, originality and more.
It can take a year to build the site with the information and data that the search engines regard highly. It's difficult, tricky and time-consuming – time probably better spent creating the goods to sell. To learn more, please read How to Make Money Online with Websites.
A strong work ethic, good planning, and a unique quality craft or art will prove itself, offering a good part-time or full-time annual income.
Stay at home moms might also be interested in reading Home Based Business for the Cook and Baker.
Lorraine Syratt - Lorraine Syratt is a freelance writer, gardener and part-time antique dealer. Please see her full profile for more information.
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