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Plum River Marketing Newsletter - December 13, 2004

Establishing an Online Presence (part 1) - by Brian Appell, artsEfest.com

With the tremendous growth of home Internet usage over the past several years, many artists and crafters are looking to utilize the Internet as an additional outlet to sell their work. On top of the weekend craft shows and art festivals there are several alternatives to selling your work online. The questions that many craftspeople have are as follows: Why? How? And Where?

Over the next few issues of our newsletter we will try to help you answer the three questions above.  In this newsletter, we will mainly focus on the question of Why.

Why do I want to bring my business online?

Computers and the Internet can be very intimidating to even the most experienced users. If you have ever done a search for your favorite craft in one of the major search engines, you will quickly see that there are thousands upon thousands of results for your simple search. So, asking why you should add another result to this overwhelming search result is quite a valid question.

Although there are several reasons why, below are three of the top reasons.

Marketing

Your web site can be used as an excellent source of marketing to showcase your work and talent.  In fact, many artists and crafters use their web site solely for that purpose.  It gives your customer base as well as new customers a chance to view your work.

When you create new pieces of work or a new line of products that you would love to market to your already existing customer base. Put pictures of them online and send out a postcard or an e-mail notifying all of your customers. You have put a lot of time and energy into creating these new pieces, why wait until the next show to showcase them.

Your web site can also be a great place for you to advertise the upcoming shows you will be attending. This will give your customers a chance to preview your work before they attend the show.

Sell to a larger audience!

You may also decide to take your web site one step further, building an e-commerce web site. This opens the door to many opportunities, including selling to a larger audience. No longer is your target audience the surrounding towns of the show you will be attending, it is now a national or international audience. This is not to say that you should stop attending the local shows that you have in the past. Your weekend shows will still be an integral part of your business.

Being open for business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and opening your doors to a larger audience can help increase your sales throughout the year. It also provides you the opportunity to sell your work during the week when you might only be currently selling on the weekends.

Professionalism

How many times have you heard a customer or potential customer ask you if you have a web site or an e-mail address?  Not having one is a possible sale lost. In today’s age, having a business and having a web site go hand in hand. So, put your web address and e-mail address on all of your print material as well as on all of your electronic material. Having this will provide a more professional appearance to your business.

In conclusion, the Internet provides you with a wealth of opportunity to expand your art or craft business. In the next issue we will be discussing some of the research that should be done before bringing your business onto the Internet.

Copyright © 2004 by Brian Appell, artsEfest.com, a unique festival style atmosphere, where you may purchase or sell your favorite arts and crafts from the comfort of your home.