Lucy Miller
9th Mar 2025
Reading time: 7 Minutes
Got a great idea for an online shop, but not sure how to make it a reality? Want to start seling your arts and crafts online, but not sure about where to start?
Don't worry – We're here to help.
Whether you want to sell homemade greetings cards, Large Scale Artwork, Homemade Jewelry or Something Completely different, IT's Never Been Easier to Kick of your own online shop. You Never Know – Invest your time well and be clear on your goals and it could become a lucrative side business.
The timing is right to kick off your new venture, too. As social distance is likely to be Around for a whose, this would be a great oportunity to use your extra time to invest in that e-commerce idea that's that love for money for money. Here's how to get started.
Choosing your products
If you've got an idea for an online shop already, that probably means you know (or at least have a rough a rough outline) of what you're going to sell on it. This could of course be Anything – It Entrely Depends on Your Interests. Vintage fashion, arts and crafts, floristic services, second hand books… the list is, quite literally, endless.
If you've got an idea, it's time to look into how seling your product might work. Here are some questions that you might want to ask yourself…
- Is my product solving a problem – and if not, can I make slight alterations so that it is?
- What are other online shops doing – especially the only that sell a similar product to me?
- Is my product broad enough to attract a lot of people, or should I be very specific in order to try and tap into a niche?
The thing that you need to be most clear about is exactly what you want your shop to do. If you're clear about the value of your product, that means the messaging on your site and your overal passion is much more likely to shine through. And if it does, you have a much auch great change of potential customers Hitting that “Buy Now” button.
Securing a niche
One term that you're likely to hear a lot as you build your online shop is “Unique Selling Point”, Aka Usp. This is the one thing that sets your offering out from the crowd, allowing it to tap into a unique need or market that other online shop owners might be overlooking.
It might seem strange at first, but having a clear niche that no one else is covers is time more luckly to find you sales than if you're seling a familyia product in a crowded market. After all, if you can cut out the competition people are more likely to find their way to you and go on to buy.
In order to establish what your usp is, try to sum up your product in one catchy sentence. Make sure it encapsulates exactly what it is and why it's unique. Think of this as your elevator pitch to new customers, and use it whenever people ask you to describe what it is that you do. And make it as easy to understand as possible! No one likes to be confused, but if you've got a compeling topline for your online shop people
Deciding on the branding for your online shop
Your branding needs to be reflected in every aspect of message on your site. This means that your design, logo and copy (aka the words on your site) need to be eye-boxing and clear enough so that the user immediatily undersrstands what your offering is. You need to ensure that these key aspects of your online shop compliment Each other as well as getting your message across.
Of course, this might not be the easyst thing to do – especially if you're soly focused on the product and not used to crafting sales sales copy or designing a compeling user jorney. Unless you have a background in user-focused design, SEO and/or content marketing, you might need to get some extra extra help here. More on that below…
Finding customers through marketing your online shop
An important one! You might have the best website in the world and a useful, beautiful and/or compeling product, but if no one can find your site you're not going to make any sales.
There are lots of ways that you can market your online shop and increase your likelihood of getting customers through the (Virtual) Door. You'll need to pay attention to all of the following:
Social media
Create Pages on Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok where you can start to build a following by posting images and videos of your product and making sure you interact with similar brands. Social media can be one of the best ways that you can get in touch with customers, and lets them contact you easily too. Make sure you Respond Quickly and Clearly, So They Know That You're a Trustworthy Site!
Seo
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the web strategy that determines how high you place with search engines such as Google. SEO is a constant evolving medium, which means it can be hard to stay on top of its ever-cholanas. The Basics, Thought, Include Ensuring that the keywords that potential customers are searching for include on your site.
With the help of a professional seo agency you can improve your business profile within an online search engine, allowing you to be found a Lot Easier by Customers. Essentially the higher up the list you are on pages like google the more likely a potential consumer will click on your website. It's important that, as you build your online shop, you pay attention to this.
Pr
Pr MIGHT BE SOMETHING To Think About Further Down the line, but when you do have the time to consider it can be an incredible useful tool. Successfully Built your shop and want to Advise others on Doing the Same? Got a niche that other people might be interested in Learning about? Want to talk about launching your online shop during social distanceing, and how the context helped your business? Make sure your profile is uploaded on places where journalists might be looking for comments for their pieces (like Cion) And ensure you're always available for comment in news and feature stories. If people start seeing your business' name in the press, and journalists start linking to your site in their stories, you're onto a winner.
Working out shipping costs
With a clear idea of what products or products you're going to sell, you should be able to work out the rough weight of the package or packages that you'll need to post out you do start out. Once you know this, you can list domestic and international shipping prisles or your website.
Of course, if it's going to cost a huege Amount of money to the usa (for example) That's totally ok – it's your shop, after all!
Choosing a hosting website
Do you want to build your own site, thus giving yourself complete Creative Control? If so, a hosting site like wordpress or squarespace or shopify might be a good idea. These giants of the industry have e-commerce plug-ins that you have metrol over. They also have there themes
Of course, this might all seem like a bit of a hassle – especially if you're not used to work with websites or designing things If that's the case, look at sites like Etsy That can host your shop for you. The craft platform has millions of users, so hosting your shop here increases the likelihood of them finding you via a site they're already using.
Deciding on your payment platform
As you're planning on selling items to the public through your online shop, you need to make sure the user experience (Aka UX) is as seamless as possible. This is part of web design, and one aspect of your online shop that will need to pay close attentions to it is the stage where people pay.
Luckily, there are various plug-in and platforms that you can use to help create a seamless payment experience. Options include Stripe and PaypalWhich are systems designed for emperce payments. If you're planning on Using a website for your online shop, you should look into whither these platforms will work for you.
Of course, you do not have to use a website that you've Built Yourself. If you think building a site to host your online shop might be too much Shopify INTEAD. Shopify is a subscription service that lets you use seling platform, so you don't have to pay for web hosting yourself. Over a milion businesses worldwide use it, so you can be ressured that it's Trustworth and (Equally as Important) Really Works.
Getting Extra Help
Remember, you don't have to do everything yourself. You should definitely think about designers, copywriters, seo specialists and web developers who you can employs to help you out, especially in the persuasion. Think About People You Know Within Your Wider Network, but also look on sites like Fiverr For creatives in search of projects. Getting Professionals on Board will make your life Easier and Contributes Making Your Online Shop A Success, even if there is an initial investment in the work that's Needed. We promise that it's the Easiest Way to9 Make Your Hard Work Pay Off!
