How to Sell Your Arts and Crafts Online

If you are at all like me, you dedicate much of your free time to your art or craft. Personally, I am addicted to making glass beads and jewelry, and as a stay-at-home Mom, my housework is often neglected. So much so that a couple of loads of laundry have remained on the couch for the past week, unsorted and unfolded.

The other problem people often have with their art or crafts - unless they are already making a full time career of it - is that they start accumulating what they create. For instance, my sunroom not only stores my supplies, but the beads I have made have completely taken over the wrought iron ice cream table in there.

The only solution to this problem of accumulation is to get rid of what you make so you can make room for new projects. You may love giving your work away to your friends and loved ones, but did you know that depending on what you make, there are a lot of people who will buy your work over the internet?

Customers who purchase art and other handcrafted items often like to feel a connection with the artist/designer. When you have your own website, you can easily express your thoughts, feelings and personality that allow your readers to get to know you better. Even the appearance of your website tells your customers a little bit about you.

Personally, I have always used GoDaddy to purchase my domain names - it is really easy. The most difficult part of registering a domain name with GoDaddy is finding a good name that isn't already taken!

Then, you have to have your website hosted somewhere. I currently use BlueHost, but HostGator is very popular with online marketers. You can pay for your hosting on a monthly basis, and both of these services are very inexpensive. They can also get your e-mail account set up.

Click the banners below for more information about the service providers mentioned in this section:

I used to create and update my websites using Microsoft FrontPage. In fact, because I was so familiar with MS Word (having been a secretary at one time), it wasn't difficult for me to learn FrontPage on my own. However, these websites were pretty basic-looking until I added graphics.

I now use a free blog template from Wordpress.org, which only required a couple of clicks of the mouse to get it installed on my website (using Fantastico in my website host's Cpanel). Not only is my Wordpress blog easy and effortless to maintain, but it looks professional, it keeps an archive of all of my posts, and it allows my customers to interact with me via comments!

NOTE: You *can* use a free blog without having to purchase a domain or hosting by going to Wordpress.com or other blog services such as Blogger or Typepad, but there are a lot of rules about customizing and selling things from these blogs, which is why I have my own domain name.