Moving Art Sales Off of Etsy?

[ItsYoBuddy]

My girlfriend has been selling handcrafted art and it's been doing well from word of mouth but she wants to go bigger. Was curious if anyone is in this field and had any advice. Etsy is nice because a lot of people are already there looking for similar products, but the downside is not having total control and they take a percentage. I was thinking about building her a website and have her write articles and do YouTube videos on the art she makes. She already does a bunch of networking in person. Would WooCommerce be the best way to tackle this?

 

[secretagentdad]

I’m feeling gurutarded today so here’s my opinion based text wall. Only sorta responds to your question srry.

My girlfriend has been selling handcrafted art and it's been doing well from word of mouth but she wants to go bigger. Was curious if anyone is in this field and had any advice. Etsy is nice because a lot of people are already there looking for similar products, but the downside is not having total control and they take a percentage. I was thinking about building her a website and have her write articles and do YouTube videos on the art she makes. She already does a bunch of networking in person. Would WooCommerce be the best way to tackle this?

Snap chat - best cuz they don’t network pillage and really can’t with out major changes to their platform.
Also has the most locked in real user base of people who social signal as part of their identity. This is very important if you ever want to get your pricing past the hobbiest tier. A big part of the intangible value of art is tied to this.

Pinterest - 2nd best cuz they currently water creators but their format almost certainly will evolve to pick winners due to their lay out being perfect for that.

Youtube is a bad idea cuz you are gonna struggle to build a real following with them advertising substitutes next to your content.

Facebook owned properties are a straight up nope. Zuck Shamelessly and efficiently sells your best audience members to the highest bidder so you won’t ever build much brand value in the long run.
Interesting note: it is also the fastest easiest way to get quick money if you in a hurry and just want to find a way to make 50k a year.

Fuck Etsy
Fuck eBay
Those are just fancy liquidation platforms taking way to big a cut for what they do.
Arts weird, you build momentum by being expensive cuz you’re expensive. Only thing I would use those platforms for is price anchoring and brand footprint by listing stuff for really high prices.

Art specific platforms all suffer from bad ratios of artists to appreciators. Hard nope in my opinion.

Make the site a first name last name store with a lot of white space a clean design and a email submit for notifications about showings and new listings.

Building the email list is key in maker niches. Focus on that.

 

[ItsYoBuddy]

I’m feeling gurutarded today so here’s my opinion based text wall. Only sorta responds to your question srry.


Snap chat - best cuz they don’t network pillage and really can’t with out major changes to their platform.
Also has the most locked in real user base of people who social signal as part of their identity. This is very important if you ever want to get your pricing past the hobbiest tier. A big part of the intangible value of art is tied to this.

Pinterest - 2nd best cuz they currently water creators but their format almost certainly will evolve to pick winners due to their lay out being perfect for that.

Youtube is a bad idea cuz you are gonna struggle to build a real following with them advertising substitutes next to your content.

Facebook owned properties are a straight up nope. Zuck Shamelessly and efficiently sells your best audience members to the highest bidder so you won’t ever build much brand value in the long run.
Interesting note: it is also the fastest easiest way to get quick money if you in a hurry and just want to find a way to make 50k a year.

Fuck Etsy
Fuck eBay
Those are just fancy liquidation platforms taking way to big a cut for what they do.
Arts weird, you build momentum by being expensive cuz you’re expensive. Only thing I would use those platforms for is price anchoring and brand footprint by listing stuff for really high prices.

Art specific platforms all suffer from bad ratios of artists to appreciators. Hard nope in my opinion.

Make the site a first name last name store with a lot of white space a clean design and a email submit for notifications about showings and new listings.

Building the email list is key in maker niches. Focus on that.

Thank you for the insight, this response has been great. I didn't even think about snapchat, that's a good idea. Funny enough my girlfriend said there is a girl on tik tok who does the same thing and she makes videos and gets sponsorships from her art. I don't know if that is something we will look into but snapchat is definitely something I'll be jumping into, same with pinterest.

I thought maybe youtube would be good for how to videos and the process of making the art. I did mention she should look into making molds instead of just buying molds that every single person buys. If she gets into making molds thats another angle.

Facebook might be good just for social interaction because she does well with word of mouth and people interact with her page, same with IG.

I was thinking of Etsy so she can build up more for the reviews and authority but I think you're right, fuck etsy.

I can't believe I looked over building an email list, that will be gold. I have a lot to work with now, probably going to start off on WooCommerce. Thank you for the input, very helpful.

 

[secretagentdad]

I really don't like facebook.

I think it debases your pricing and brand power cuz of the way zuck structures his systems to leverage your content to promote other shit on his agenda.
You end up in a hustle trap cuz of the equalization over time.
I guess that can be fine for some people but I'm assuming you're doing this for freedom so you need a little more scale than that set of benefits and downsides offers.

Google at least typically gives as good or better than it gets. (with a few really obnoxious exceptions)

 

[ItsYoBuddy]

I really don't like facebook.

I think it debases your pricing and brand power cuz of the way zuck structures his systems to leverage your content to promote other shit on his agenda.
You end up in a hustle trap cuz of the equalization over time.
I guess that can be fine for some people but I'm assuming you're doing this for freedom so you need a little more scale than that set of benefits and downsides offers.

Google at least typically gives as good or better than it gets. (with a few really obnoxious exceptions)

I missed this reply, thats my fault. Thank you for the advice. I put up a site for her as a store/blog with a white background, something simple and gets straight to the point. We still have an etsy store for more awareness and I want to have other streams of revenue incase Google wants to penalize the site for whatever reason.

We had an idea of contacting shops to place the items in stores. Another source instead of relying on only Google and etsy. She contacted 4 shops by email and 1 shop wants to test out 25 items and they paid up front. I dont have a lot of experience in sales over the phone but I decided to call the 3 other shops instead. I got 2 other shops willing to do a small test run. I told her this is what we need to focus on, no more emailing bullshit. I want to get a list of similar stores within a 30min radius and get a game plan. Then work farther away once we got down a routine.

I do have a question and its probably a dumb question. There are multiple keywords we can go after that doesn't have much competition and the volume is pretty decent. I was going to have posts written (and videos made) on how to make these items and break it down since a lot of people look for this. But am I wrong for thinking that's just going to create more competition and less money? I feel like I'm asking a dumb question and ill just skip the how to posts.

Still have a ton of work to do but your advice has been very helpful!

 

[Ryuzaki]

I was going to have posts written (and videos made) on how to make these items and break it down since a lot of people look for this. But am I wrong for thinking that's just going to create more competition and less money? I feel like I'm asking a dumb question and ill just skip the how to post

I don't think it's a dumb question. But it may not be the right move.

Yes, you'll create competition by teaching people how to do what you're doing. However, those people already want to be your competition or they wouldn't be searching with that query.

Another thing to consider is 95% of the people searching that probably won't do anything in the physical world beyond reading your "how to" post. But 4% might try it and go all the way through and 1% might become competitors. But that 1% was going to become your competitor regardless.

So that begs the question of why NOT publish the post then since 99% will be exposed to your brand and the made up figure of 1% was going to compete anyways? Because they're not looking to buy art. They're looking to be artists. While producers are all producers and consumers simultaneously, when producers are in the producer state of mind, you're not going to get them to consume anything but maybe the art supplies needed to follow your tutorial.

So despite any worries about competition, the real question is whether or not you're going to get any art sales out of ranking #1 for that keyword. The answer is probably "no". There's no buyer intent. There's pretty much the opposite.

For every big business company with a blog... like "Easy SEO Analysis, Incorporated"... for every one of them I see publishing crap like "how to do something in Excel" and "how to write the perfect email"... a bunch of crap that has nothing to do with their business and just has search volume... for each of them doing that, I see at least one more saying "we just pruned all that trash from our blog and our traffic is booming".

Don't fall into the trap of vanity metrics. The only metric that matters is cash flow and the only activities that matter are ones that support cash flow.