Sorry I have not been posting on this blog. I have been sooo busy with my shop and what not, but the main reason for my absence is I am short on ideas of what post about. Urghh! I’ve racked my brain (cell) and even the hamster on the wheel is having a break. If Craftboom! was a ‘ramble about your personal goings on’ kind of blog, I wouldn’t mind so much, but this is more an infoblog so I feel like I am kind of letting the side down and this won’t do.

So seeming as this blog is more for you lovely readers I’m asking you what you would like to see in it. I would love it if you could please comment on this post and tell me what I can try to help you with. Perhaps you’d like:

• to know more about marketing,
• to know more about how I run my shop,
• to know more about other people’s craft shops
• more interviews
• you may have specific craft business issues you’d like looked at
• to know my favourite Krispy Kreme Donut flavour
• to have more guest posts
• more anecdotal stuff
• to know more about blogging
• more tecchie stuff

So please suggest away; the more the merrier. I’ll read each one of your suggestions carefully.  You’d be doing me a big favour which I hope to repay by writing the kind of posts that you want to read

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In my head there’s nothing much going on except for this hamster (and even he’s fast asleep!)

Getting the right name for your business is very important and it’s a decision that will accordingly require a good amount of thinking through.

Why is the Business Name so important?

Well, it’s one of the first things that the public will notice about your company, that and your logo, and then your strap-line (if you have one - and you should). Those three things combine together to make up your brand identity. Thus making your company easy to identify and to understand (both of which are very important in any business).

Take a minute to think of Martha Stewart, and Amy Butler, and Purl Soho. As well as knowing what products they sell we also know what their logos, and their fonts, and their company colours look like (and this didn’t happen by magic!)

I don’t have background in web or graphic design so I can’t help you with that knock-out logo. It’s definitely worth getting a professional in to do that job if you can’t do it yourself, but I can help with getting choosing a craft business name.

Things to consider when choosing a company name:

• Check for the website domain- whatever you choose check to see if the website domain name is available for you to buy. Even if you are not ready for your own website now you may well be in the near future.
• Be descriptive - I think my own business name ‘U-Handbag’ is somewhat descriptive of what I do. I sell things to make handbags - hence the word ‘Handbag’ , and it is you making the handbag, and the bag is yours, and the bag is unique - hence the letter ‘U’.
• Keep it simple - a good name will be short, catchy, and trip off the tongue. A long name is a pain in the butt to write, looks bad on business stationary, and it makes for a hard to remember website name.
• How does it look - this might sound funny, but try writing down your business name choices and collaborate with your logo designer to see how your name looks on paper and importantly how it looks when incorporated with your logo.
• How does it sound - as well as looking good on paper your name should be pleasant to say and appealing to hear. This one is hard to define, but you know how some babies names just sound a bit off and some babies names sound lovely? Well it’s kind of the same for business names…
• How memorable is it - ask yourself and ask others how memorable is your business name. Does it strike a chord with people? Ask people what they feel/what images are conjured up/what judgments are they making when presented with your chosen business name choices. The more folks you can ask the better. This all might sound like a bit of a pain or it even might sound like overkill, but really if you are willing to make your beautiful craft into the early hours then a bit of time spent on doing this research isn’t going to hurt and it’s worth it.
• Careful with the comedy - when used appropriately comedy is great for sales and giving a positive image of a company, but used inappropriately it can make your company look unprofessional. Also things spelt like ‘bagz’ jelwz, etc. etc. etc. can look a bit tacky (IMHO).
• Using your own name - Some folks such as Amy Butler & Martha Stewart use their own names to name their company to great effect, but us mere mortals can’t do that because we don’t (yet) possess the strong brand identity that these 2 women names have. So if you name your business ‘Cathy’s Pottery’ (for example) the business name won’t necessarily be very memorable…
• Look around you - what town do yo work in, do you work on a converted factory, workshop, etc., what famous landmarks are nearby, is there a loved on in your family history that has a nice sounding name, is there a name of a craft technique or craft material that you use that you like the sound of? These are just a few things that might inspire a business name; just remember to keep things relevant.

See also: How to name your craft items in your craft business.

Phew! I was just in time to collect my washing off the line before a downpour, and the moment I’ve taken the last item down the sun breaks through the clouds. Good ol’ summer eh?

Righty, so there were 32 entrants to this very exciting draw to win your very own custom designed website showcase and sell your craft gorgeousness. The Random Number generator stopped on the number 29.

Up for grabs was a custom designed website worth over £300 ($600)!!

So will Sue who said:

“I’d love to be able to be able to look after people buying for their own shops (wholesale queries) and people who’ve found me direct.

Also i take things to craft fairs, so to have an option of having the site on hold for the few hours i am at a fair would be good, it means people online and people in person get to see and enjoy everything i’ve crafted

but most of all i want it to be easy, i want to spend my time being creative making things to sell, and have a lovely beautiful place online to sell them. So my feature request would be that’s it’s lovely, is loveliness a feature i hope so?”

Please contact me either by comment or message and I’ll hook you up with Ed who will weave his magic web designer stuff! Congratulations!

Thanks to everyone who has popped in for a read/subscribed/linked to/commented on CraftBoom! Your response to this blog has been wonderful I’ve been rooting around in the CraftBoom! stats and I thought it would be useful to put the most popular CraftBoom! posts all together in one place. So here you go:

• How to take and edit professional looking photos of your craft products tutorial
• Ways to create buzz about your craft products on the big Craft Websites
• Crafting Heroes interview with Alicia Paulson of Posie gets cozy
• 10 things you’ll need to start selling your crafts online
• Crafting Heroes interview with Amanda Soule of Soule Mama
• Starting up your craft business - Feel the fear and do it anyway
• What to do when people say your handcraft is too expensive
• Ways to market yourself & your craft (on the cheap)
• Hellooo I’m Here!!!! Ways to market yourself and your craft (for free)
• Copyright - ways to protect your content from being stolen
• Crafting Heroes interview with Amy Butler
• Crafting Heroes interview with Amy Karol of Angry Chicken
• Fabulous links and books for your craft business

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I couldn’t think of suitable pic to go with this post so I thought this one would do as a close 2nd . Yummy

One of the most effective ways to get exposure for your craft business/book/brand etc. is to submit articles to magazines. The number of folks who will get to read your article could be potentially HUGE depending on the circulation numbers of the magazine.

When you consider how much it costs to get ad in the magazine for a lineage/a credit card sized, a quarter/half/whole page (a whole page runs into 100s upon 100s) getting yourself a half page/two page/even three pages in a magazine for nothing or even a payment is absolutely amazing!

This all might sound like really daunting stuff, but believe me there’s nothing to be scared off. Craft magazines are always on the hunt for interesting craft tid-bits to fill their pages. I know for a fact that loads of craft magazines would LOVE to hear from the likes of you crafty people (many of which are far more talented in their field than I am). When people like you and me approach magazines with well written articles we are actually making their lives easier. I should know; I’ve been writing every month for a UK craft magazine for almost 2 years. It honestly isn’t that difficult and if the editor says “no”, it’s not the end of the world is it? Just try somewhere else, refine your article/s and try again or perhaps cut your teeth on a more local level magazine.

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I write for Sewing World Magazine - see the bag on the bottom right-hand corner? That’s my bag!

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Tips on how to submit articles

1. Be well versed with the magazine that you want to submit to. Read a good few issues so you understand the flavour of the magazine. What sort of articles do they already feature? What appears to be the target age range of the magazine? Could you submit an article that is in keeping with their other articles or can you provide something fitting, but different?
2. Find out what the submission guidelines are for articles. These are often found within the magazine itself or on the magazine website.
3. Bear in mind magazines typically work months in advance. My deadline for article submission for Sep 08 was 2nd June 08 for example. In line with this, magazines typically like to be seasonal i.e Valentines issues, Easter, Xmas etc. etc. So it’s important to find out what the deadline dates are for submitting your articles.
4. Write a friendly, polite, and to-the-point email to the magazine submissions editor with your article suggestion/proposal. Be succinct, but give enough information about your article idea to give the subs editor a clear picture (they are busy folks!)

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Suggestions for articles

1. Tutorials - this is my specialty. I offered to write one bag making tutorial for a UK sewing magazine for free. I was able to show them past examples of bag tutorials on my blog. The tutorial was popular, my mum was really proud, and now I am the resident bag lady of the magazine How about making a tutorial (of any kind) for something pretty and simple (magazines tend to prefer simple) and posting it on your blog? That way you can show the subs editor the link.
2. Product reviews - do you have an item that sells well? How about offering one or two of those items to the magazine to give away as freebies to their readers in return for a a little magazine piece about your shop?
3. Craft events - do you run craft fairs, charity events, community projects? If so let the magazines/local newspapers know about it!
4. Tips, advice, stories, - if you think about it we are are all walking wells of knowledge and experience. Are you expert in something that would fit in a craft magazine? Could your experience and skill be useful to others? You bet it could!

See also: How to appear in the big Craft Websites.

Oh Boy! This is one heck of a juicy prize. When Ed (the owner of Art Flock) generously offered this prize I had to pick my jaw up off the ground and read his email 3 times over!

Yep, believe your eyes folks; ArtFlock and CraftBoom! have teamed up to bring you a mega draw in which a Craft Business Website is up for grabs!

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For art and craft sellers ArtFlock is a very important alternative to Etsy that is seriously worth considering and here are just a few reasons why:

• FREE to join
• No listing fees
• Upload all of your work, not just what’s for sale (great for building portfolios and for commissions)
• Import your blog to your ArtFlock account for greater exposure
• List real world locations that sell your work like galleries, shops etc.
• Commission rates from just 3.5%
• Create your own flock of followers that love your work

You get all of the above AND you can have YOUR OWN WEBSITE. Have you ever wished you could have your own website AS WELL as your craft shop. Have you ever wished that your craft shop could more truly reflect your own individuality and craft, but you don’t know where to start with the web design, the shopping cart and payment system? Well with ArtFlock you can have all of that flexibility and more with their Website Publisher tool.

The Website Publisher tool from ArtFlock.com gives you:

• Your own website at your own domain name
• Easy to use
• Commission us to design your theme or pick from our free range of themes
• One click publish of everything you have on ArtFlock to your own personal website
• Update and change the look of your site as often as you like
• Sell work from your own site while still being part of a larger community of buyers
• Don’t risk loosing potential buyers by sending them to SomeArtWebsite.com/YourWork when you can send your customers to YourWebsite.com-
• Free to use version (text ad supported or ad free version for $19.99 / €14.99 / £9.99 per month)
• Test drive your own website with the preview tool by signing up for free here
• See an example site (try playing with the different theme options at the top of the page) here, and also here.

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In my opinion ArtFlock looks very well run, professional, and attractive (which is essential as art and craft are so visually driven). Having your own attractive looking website will give you a professional edge and increased exposure. Also being able direct customers to your own website is so important because that way customers will not get lost/confused/distracted in a sea of other vendors.

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Draw Details (please read carefully)

OK, so now you know about some of the amazing features that ArtFlock has to offer; here is what is up for grabs for 1 very very lucky winner in our draw:

• Custom designed theme for their ArtFlock.com website worth $600. Ed will personally work with the winner to design the website to their liking (wowser, that’s worth it’s weight alone!)
• 1 year’s free domain name worth $14.99 (they don’t need to renew in the future if they no longer want the site / domain)

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To enter all you have to do is comment on THIS PARTICULAR POST by:

1. Telling with us what sort of features you would like your own Craft Business website to have.

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Contest Official-ness :

1. I’ll randomly draw the winners in 3 weeks time - 2nd July and announce the winner the following day-ish. Good luck!
2. Winner must have a free ArtFlock.com account in order to upload their work, statement, blog etc. to their free site. Sign up for FREE here.
   
3. Winner will use the free version of the Website Publisher with the option of upgrading to the ad free version.
4. Sorry I can’t notify winners, so please keep an eye for the winner announcement. This is made easier for you if you subscribe to this blog so you don’t have to keep checking back, although it’s always great to have you pop-in for a read :0)
5. Sorry I can’t reply to contest/draw comments, but I do love reading every single one