Do You Need an Online Store to Sell What You Make?

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Do you need an online store to sell what you make? That is the question I’ve been asking myself. I already have an Etsy Shop, but do I need something connected to my own site? Before we delve into that subject, let’s go back in time.

Past Attempts to Make Money Through My Blog

First of all, if you have a blog, you may have considered finding a way to make money from all of the hours you spend taking pictures, writing posts, and promoting them. I’ve taken the following steps on my journey so far:

Selling ads on my blog- You will probably make enough money through Google Adsense and Amazon ads to pay your blog fees, but not much else if you are just beginning to blog.

Adding Auction Nudge to my home page– When I sold vintage dishware in my eBay store, I added Auction Nudge to my home page. It included a link and a picture of everything in my eBay store. I made money selling dishware, but the money was hard-won and not worth the piles of plates and bowls that took up residence in my home. However, I still find and sell thrifted items in the fall and winter. Those sales have saved the budget more than once.

Writing guest posts in an attempt to drive more traffic resulting in more ad money- In my experience, creating guest posts for a fellow blogger robbed me of my intellectual property and only drove traffic to her blog.

Opening an Etsy Store- For a long time, I painted or made something, then wrote a tutorial to go with it. I didn’t begin selling my work on Etsy until covid happened in 2020. Having an Etsy store has been fabulous!

Advertising my blog and products on social media- Social media is very important. It drives people to my blog (which has a link to my online and Etsy stores) and directly to my Etsy store. I’ve also had a few people who messaged me with a request to buy something locally.

Advertising Classes- During covid I belonged to the Skilpe.com teaching platform. I taught six classes. All I had to do was paint in front of my web cam, so the supply cost was much lower than a live class, and I enjoyed it immensely. I also made around $25 per student. However, Skilpe.com has not been able to gather enough students for one of my classes since the covid shutdown ended. Maybe I will consider a different platform in the future.

What I learned from the Past

I learned something from each endeavor. For example: From Ebay, I learned how to ship things without breaking them. That skill has helped me in my Etsy Shop. From Skilpe.com I learned how to operate my web camera and microphone for online classes, which I hope to teach more of in the future.

Diversifying is huge! It’s so important to be diverse. Never put all your eggs into one basket. I just started blogging when my Facebook was shut down because someone hacked my account. At that time I didn’t know about blog parties and had no other way to share my posts. After that, I opened an Instagram account. Now I also have Snapchat and Tiktok accounts- just in case. I recently joined a local art gallery. Although I think it’s a good idea to try, I’ll have to see if volunteering in the gallery once a month and paying the yearly fees is worth it.

I like to get my wisdom from the Bible. Ecclesiastes 11:2 (NASB) advises diversity as well.

² Divide your portion to seven, or even to eight, for you do not know what misfortune may occur on the earth

Should I Open My Own Online Store, or Not?

I did tried to open a store with Square.com and post a link to that online store on my blog. I enjoy ringing up my products with the “square reader” connected to my phone, but found the Square.com online store set up very un-user friendly! I deleted my store and stopped paying for the subscription. Also, there wasn’t a number where I could call and get help from a real person. better luck next time, I guess? Email me at [email protected] if you’ve had a great experience with your own online store. I’d love to know which platform you chose and why.

Blessings, and Make On,

Kristie

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