Today we are looking at places where you can advertise your craft business online. There are so many places where you can advertise your craft business - from small blogs to large corporate websites. 

Advertise to Potential Customers

The main objective of advertising is to reach out to potential customers. Therefore the best websites for you to advertise on are the ones where you potential customers hang-out. Remember, these are not necessarily the same as the ones that you personally may read! While some craft businesses report that they do well by advertising on fellow crafter's blogs and websites, many others find that this isn't the best route to finding new customers and that they are simply competing with a lot of other handmade businesses.

Researching places to advertise may take a little time, however hopefully this will be time well invested. Take a look at forums that cover the subject areas that you target customers are likely to browse. These can be a great source of ideas - and may also be a good place to advertise.

Micro Advertising

Advertising need not cost a lot of money. Advertising companies such as Project Wonderful now offer small businesses the opportunity to buy advertising space on a wide variety of websites for limited time and on small budgets. This can be a great way to dip your toe in the water and work out what works well and what doesn't work so well, before moving on to committing to larger and more costly advertising campaigns.

More Information

For more information plus lots of ideas and tips see our Advertising category.

Displaying handmade jewelry effectively is a balance between creating an attractive jewelry display and allowing the jewelry to be easily seen. It is a fine balance between a jewelry display that is so attractive in its own right that it over shadows the jewelry that it is supposed to be displaying and a display that is so boring it creates a dull impression that impacts on your handmade treasures.

The website Jewelry Display Ideas has lots of  innovative ideas, many of which have been submitted by readers. These include some free and low cost ideas for stunning jewelry displays that will be perfect for arts and craft shows, fairs and markets.

For more tips for craft shows and markets don't forget to check out our Craft Shows category!

Picking color schemes is an important part in any craft. The good use of color is what helps to make a great hand-crafted item.  One of the benefits of making and selling handmade items is that we don't need to conform to fashions or trends - but we can if we want to!

Color is inextricably linked ­with fashion and this season's colors are what helps to make a product stand out as being fresh and new.

Pantone have published their color trends for Autumn and fall 2010. These make interesting viewer whether you're a follower of fashion or not!

If you regularly find that you type the same or similar text when you list items on Etsy, Artfire or other handmade marketplaces, then a free clipboard extension tool could be just the thing to help save you time. ­ ­

What is a Clipboard Tool?

A clipboard tool or application is basically an extension of the normal cut and paste function. However, instead of only remembering one item at a time, clipboard tools allow you to copy several items which are held on the clipboard for you to use later. They also allow you to save permanently pieces of text that you can enter into a form by using a hot key. Therefore you can set the clipping tool to enter, for example, your postage information when you press a certain key. This saves you having to type it out each time.

Finding Free Clipboard Tools

­There are free and paid-for clipboard tools available. If you are new to this then trying a free one is a good way to assess whether you get value from the service before parting with hard-earned cash. We use Arsclip here, which is free, and find this perfect for our needs. Free clipboard tools include:

• Arsclip
• Clipx
• Clipomatic
• Ditto Clipboard Manager

Being British, I naturally spell the word Jewellery and not Jewelry, however I long ago realized that if I wanted to reach an international customer base then I needed to make sure that reached out to them - and that my products are easy to find.

The importance of using both spellings when listing products to sell cannot be over-stated if you want to reach international customers. The best places to put alternative spellings is in the heading, main text body of the listing and in the tags. 

Useful International Spellings for Crafts Business

Here's a list of some relevant words that are spelled differently depending on what country you live in. I am sure you can think of others - you are welcome to add more using the comment box below!

• Jewelry / Jewellery
• Fiber / Fibre
• Color / Colour
• Miter / Mitre
• Liter / Litre
• Centre / Center
  
• Mold / Mold
• Aluminum / Aluminium
• Check / Cheque

Tip: Spellcheckers often come with a choice of English versions.  Change your spell checker to a different English version to check spellings if you are writing using spellings that are different to what you are used to.

More useful tips for selling online can be found in the Selling Crafts Online category.

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If you make clothes, jewelry or accessories, don't forget to be your own advert and show off your work by wearing it when you attend craft shows or events. This is a great opportunity for people to see your handmade items being worn and how they look 'in the flesh'.  It is often surprising how many stall-holders at craft markets don't proudly wear their own handmade items.

If you wear your own handmade items at a craft event then don't forget to get someone to take some good quality photographs. If you have other people wearing your items then ask permission to take photos of them too. These will be useful for marketing purposes.

For more marketing ideas see the Marketing and PR category.

Picking a website and domain name isn't quite as simple as it once was. With so many websites registered, it can be problematic finding a name that represents you and your handmade crafts. If you are just starting out it may seem impossible to find the perfect name.

Tips for Finding a Domain Name for Your Craft Business

Here are some tips to help:

• Easy to remember -  above all, the website address must be easy to remember. Try to avoid gimmicky spellings. You want people to be to easily remember the name without having to work through different options.
• .com or alternatives? - a .com extension can be important if you are marketing your handmade craft items within or to the US. While it may be tempting to take an alternative extension, most people when searching assume a .com or country specific extension (ie .co.uk, .es, in. If your products are more localised, for instance if you are a UK crafter and only planning to sell in the UK, then a .co.uk web address will be perfect. 
• Hyphens - hyphens can be a good way to find a domain name as this is less popular than un-hyphenated versions of a name. However, this can be difficult as not everyone remembers to put them in - and this could end up with your potential customers visiting competitors!

One of the best ways to find a new website name and domain name is to sit down comfortably, grab a coffee or glass of wine and spend an hour or two working through ideas using a domain name checker. When you've come up with a short list, canvas the opinion of family and friends - if you want to take it one step further, after a couple of days ask them which names they can remember. This is a good way to check whether there are any problems with the spelling or memorability of the name.

For more information about setting up your website see - the Build a Website­ category.

If you make products that you sell to an international customer base, then listing the products with both imperial and metric measurements is useful.  Whether you have your own website or sell via a marketplace such as Etsy, Artfire or Dawanda, being able to list both sets of measurements will help international customers understand your products.

Super Quick Measurement Conversion

While there are lots of sites that offer online conversions, one of the easiest and quickest ways is at your finger tips! Did you know that if you simply type the conversion you require into Google, it will return your answer without you having to go to another site? 

For instance, try typing in 'what is 36g in ounces' and the answer will come back almost immediately.

This works with weights and measures and to and from metric.

This makes converting weights and measure for international sales a breeze!

Business cards are a great way to tell people a little more about your work. While the main purpose of a business card is to share important information, such as your store address, website, email, phone number etc, don't forget that the back of the card can also be used.

Many business card printers will print double-sided cards therefore this is a great opportunity to publish a picture of your work, or perhaps add a bit of text outlining your offering.

Although business cards are relatively small, a surprising amount of information can be provided through the good use of the space available on the card.

Here are some tips for making business cards work for your craft business:

• 'A picture tells 1000 words', however as there is a small space available on a business card, make sure that the photograph is clear and highlights the best features of your work.
• High quality business cards can work out expensive - however they are also a good investment.  Before you invest in new business cars, ask to see examples from the printer so you can be sure of the quality before you start.
• If the budget won't stretch to full-color printing, consider simply adding text to the back of the card outlining your services.

The FTC has recently published guidelines regarding the labeling of bamboo fiber. This will be particularly interesting to people selling fiber and yarn products. Bamboo fiber must be labeled as rayon, or rayon from bamboo.

The 'green' claims regarding bamboo fibers have also been challenged. The FTC notes that the process in making bamboo fibers includes the use of harsh chemical.

The FTC says "Bamboo-based textiles, actually made of rayon, are not antimicrobial, made in an environmentally friendly manner, or biodegradable"

The FTC document can be found here -  FTC Bamboo.