Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Artfire 45 Day Guide to Success - Weeks 3 and 4

Yesterday I started reviewing Artfire's 45 Day guide to Success week by week.
 Click here for weeks 1 & 2 if you want to go over it
Even still there is a lot to take in. Today I will go over Weeks 3 and 4.
Each week has a at least one day just for your craft- like a day of rest and includes a to-do list for each day.

In week 3 you are introduced to promo tools, like using Rapid Cart- a widget that displays your items and allows people to buy off-site as well as the Artfire Kiosk for Facebook. This is like having a store set up on Facebook as well and you can place it on your business page and your profile. The link to the Kiosk guide is there, among several others. 

This week you should also be reviewing your SEO, learning more, and even testing it to which description gets better views. All pro sellers have a gallery available to list older work or sold items, this week you should list older work or sold pieces(even off Artfire) in your gallery. 

Lastly, start getting to know the staff, if you have been in the forums you probably have already gotten know a few, especially Tony, Sara posts in the Help Guides and Caleb does SEO Support. There are also weekly podcast by Tony and John (founders of Artfire) and the Artfire blog  always has new material.

Rounding off the week, is to get involved in a guild and/or becoming an Artfire maven. This week includes a lot- SEO, promo/selling tools and getting to know the team.
By week four, you should be getting very comfortable with Artfire. You should be keeping up with the forums and the community.The forums are a great tool for finding out about new tools and new promotions. 

A big part of this week is to start doing some market research about what you sell. Check out other Artfire or other handmade stores to see what others are selling. One way to get feedback is ask in the forums what others think of your items and would they buy them. Even check non-handmade stores. Use this info see what sells and what you might want to add to your store or ideas about pricing.

Assuming by now you have have over 60 items, this is a good week for a sale or coupon promo- not slashing prices but a little something. Be sure to add promo labels to get buyer's attention.This week check if your items are indexed on Google(not just Google base).

Also try making a how-to blog post. It's not a hard sell but it lets people see your blog and you can show your knowledge about your craft. Be sure to Tweet it and post it on Facebook after and anywhere else you can think of. 

This rounds out weeks 3 and 4. By now you should have a full shop and gaining some knowledge about selling. Don't worry though, no one knows it all, by keeping up with the forums, you can learn from other's too.

Click here for weeks 1 & 2
Click here for weeks 5-7

2 comments:

Bindu said...

How to check the item is indexed on Google?

Anonymous said...

You can search for item on google, with the exact name, maybe with your shop name as well.

For Google Base, Artfire will say say if it as been submitted but searching GB is the best way.

After you search exact terms, try searching more like you would for search to see where you come up. Google does remember previous searches, so you might want to try an someone else computer for a really good idea.