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I love making things. There is just something really satisfying about finishing a little project. I always make cards for friends and family instead of buying them in shops, I have a badge-making machine that I’ve owned since I was a teenager that I would probably describe as my most prized possession… And now I’ve started my own online craft business.

If the idea of an online craft business fills you with dread, wait!

… I’ll let you in on a little secret…

I am just about the worst artist in the whole entire world.

I can’t paint. I can’t sketch. When I was at school my mum refused to put my artwork up on the fridge because she found it both disturbing and lacking in artistic merit.

So, if this hasn’t stopped me trying this out, and really, truly, enjoying it too, then it may well just be the biz opp for you!

Let’s get one thing straight:

Making things to make money doesn’t have to mean complicated and difficult craft making… or even a unique idea. Often it can be just simple assembly. Find the right parts (cheap), slot them together. Then sell for a profit.

Approaching making like this leads to a simple business that you can do whilst watching Coronation Street. OK, you may all not watch Corrie like me, but what I mean is, it’s something you can enjoy doing in your evening without masses of complex equipment, skill, or even concentration.

Of course, I know you’ve probably heard and thought about making hand-made products to sell before. But today I want to tell you about a brand new marketplace to sell such goods in… and one that will tell you, for free, how to make the products too. It’s called Folksy.

Folksy.com

Many of you will be very familiar with a site called Etsy. Etsy is an American website that’s been around since 2005 – and offers anyone with something homemade to sell, a free shop and established audience to sell to. Amazing! Since its launch Etsy has grown significantly to have tens of thousands of sellers and five times that in buyer accounts.

So, although you’ve been able to sell as a UK seller on Etsy for sometime, it probably isn’t surprising that a UK version would eventually spring up. Not least because homemade, quirky things have a huge appeal in these straitened times.

And so folksy.com, described by its creators as an online collective of designers and craft makers was born. Launching just last year in a ‘beta’ form (it’s due to lose this status and go ‘officially’ live this month) and already everything from knitted egg cosies to felt covered journals — all oozing hand-made charm are on offer. With thousands upon thousands of visitors already there to buy (it is in the top most-visited 5,000 sites in the country and growing month on month).

So, it’s the perfect time to get in as a seller.

What I want to look at today, in the first of two parts, is how you can utilize this great free site to not only give you a ready-made shop and marketplace for your goods, if you make them, but also how it will show you how to make those goods… step-by-step and, yes, totally for free.

Let’s go back to my little business again.

I’ve had a fair amount of ‘mysterious’ packages arrive in the office over the past few weeks. My supplies!

Having followed Folksy.com since its launch, when I decided to turn my hobby of making nice things for my friends and family in to a little extra income stream, I wanted to try that first!

I know what I like to make, and what I would buy, and so I took it from that point and went about researching wholesale (super cheap) sources of the things I needed to make quirky little necklaces, earrings, rings and hair accessories. Everything from gift boxes to silver-plated chains to glue guns.  I managed to buy enough stock to make well over 200 items for £120. So I don’t have to sell each item for much to make a decent profit.

I found this stock by using the Secret Source Finder website and some basic Googling… and in doing so I managed to get hold of some truly unique bits and pieces that I knew I could turn in to some unique products to turn around quickly for a profit.  If you’d like more detail of how and where I got my stock, download my special guide to getting stock and setting up a shop on Folksy by going now to www.canonburypublishing.com/folksy But, going back to my point about the true beauty of Folksy, even if you’ve never made anything before, if you’re short on ideas but have some free time in the evening, it even tells you how to make things yourself.  Go now to http://folksy.com/making and take a look!

In simple terms, Folksy have set up an area on the site where sellers can submit step-by-step guides to creating simple products – and hundreds have. From hand-made engagement cards to handbags via crazy fascinators made out of discarded kettle lids, generous (OK, they get a benefit of getting a link back to their shop) sellers have shown you exactly how to create something amazing to sell.

And, having looked through over 50 of these ‘makes’, as they call them, I can tell you… anyone could do it!

Folksy say they have a mission to support creative people through showcasing work and also providing a cost-effective platform to sell ‘stuff’. And early indications from my efforts is that they truly succeed in this.

At the moment I’m in the process of starting to market my listed products and so will be continuing my investigation into Folksy next month… but I’ve already made some great discoveries of free ways to get people visiting your free shop.

So, free site gives you free shop, you find cheap stock, and step-by-step guides for what to make and how… Great, huh?

How simple is it to set up?

I set up my shop on Folksy.com in an hour. OK, that doesn’t sound super quick, but that included writing text to describe my shop, uploading photos and creating a simple banner… If you feel this is something you’d be interested in pursuing, download my simple guide that will walk you through every step of getting a shop online via Folksy.com by downloading a practical guide to Folksy at www.canonburypublishing.com/folksy now.

First steps to getting going on Folksy.com

The first thing you need to do is go to www.folksy.com and register as a user.

Then…

Set up your shop:

Your shop name can be different from your username (but your username is fixed and cannot be changed).

Folksy suggest creating a nice, clean, simple banner (and will do that for you) as this is the key visual element to your shop and on item pages.  Have a look at other shops to see what works. You can create your own banner or use Folksy’s tools to create a background colour and text.  If you want to create your own banner you need to make it the following size — 100px high, and 920px wide (maybe you have a friend good at this stuff who can help!)

The file should be saved as a gif or a jpeg file. If you are using your own banner make sure that you leave blank the field “banner text colour” otherwise your shop name will also appear over your banner image.

Listing items:

Price. You need to make sure you know who your market is and what price people are willing to pay for the item. If you’re not sure ask a few people (friends, colleagues, etc.) for an impartial opinion and then try selling at the average of those prices.  Your time is likely to be the principal cost in making the items and you need to make sure this is reflected in the price. If the price is too high when you calculate the true cost including your time, or you’re not paying yourself enough (there’s no such thing as a free lunch!), then you need to figure out if there are more efficient ways to produce the item (batch production?) or if you should make something else. A bit of market research on Folksy and other craft / design sites would help here.

Images. Good images are crucial in selling things.  It really is worth taking time to do this right. You don’t need expensive equipment but you do need to know how to take good pictures.

Photography tips: Abstract images usually work best, don’t use an image of the item in use as your principal image; use a plain background; don’t put any words on the image such as your name or logo as it doesn’t scale well and consumers really don’t care about this — they want the product; get good natural light and don’t rely on the flash; and if your camera has a ‘macro’ setting, use it for detailed photos.  Titles and

Descriptions. The title and description of the item should be as descriptive as possible. You are given 1,500 words to describe the item. You can use a limited set of HTML. HTML is mark up for the web —it allows you to make things bold or italicise, etc. See this reliable guide for a beginners overview of HTML.

PayPal. You need to make sure that your shipping fees on Folksy match those on PayPal. You should have a Business or Premier account on PayPal if you’re selling on Folksy (to enable you to receive payment) and one of the options Paypal gives you is to set a shipping fee or accept a shipping fee from the host site. You should select the latter and not override the shipping fees / postage costs on Folksy.

Promote Your Work

You need to do all the work here (and that’s what we’re going to look at in more detail next month!).  Folksy is a cost-effective service. But you need to help to promote your work and you can do this by using the Folksy badges on your own blog or website and through making things that are distinctive and that you can talk about!

All in all, I think this new service is well worth investigating and as my listings and testing continues I’ll keep you all up to date on how it goes and how you can profit!”

If you are interested in hearing and reading more about this go now and download a thorough start-up guide to getting going with Folksy (including product ideas, finding stock and setting up your shop) go now to www.canonburypublishing.com/folksy

by Sara Baugh Online Opportunities Expert Sara has several years experience at the cutting edge of Internet Marketing and is a regular contributor to Internet Income Detective. You can sign up for her free weekly eletter here: Recent Articles by Sara Name Email