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I’m sure you all know how much I love making handcrafted items. I’m also incredibly proud of all the work we’ve done in building our own handcrafted jewelry and metaphysical supplies web store. We have over 250 products in the shop right now, so it’s pretty great in that respect. Unfortunately, we have a problem.
The problem is that we’re not getting enough traffic. The whole site gets 150-200 hits a day, and most of that is on the blog. Not too many people know about the shop yet. We’ve been doing what we can to get the word out, but social networks like FaceBook hide a lot of posts unless you pay to promote them, and we just can’t do that. What we can do for ourselves just isn’t cutting it.
What we really need to have success is for all you folks out there in internet land to share links to the shop and the products in it and get the word out. Every one of you has your own circle of friends and connections, and every one of you who shares is exposing our work to another audience. The great thing about social sharing is that it’s free and only takes a few seconds of your time.
The best thing you folks could do to help is to go through the shop, pick out products you like, and share them on your social networks. (You can tag me if you want me to know you’ve done it, or just share some anonymous awesome.) It’s super simple, but it helps get the word out. Sharing on sites like StumbleUpon or other social bookmarking sites is especially helpful, because those links stay longer than on other social sites.
Small businesses have it rough, that’s just a simple truth. Having your own web store and getting people to it is a lot of work, and without the help of folks on social media, it can be crazy hard to get anywhere. I know a lot of people think you’re better off selling on a third party site that already has traffic, but then you’re subject to their rules, fees, annoyances, limitations, did I mention fees? Almost every creator dreams of the day when they can strike out and have their own shop and be independent. It’s hard work but it’s what most of us aim for. Being your own person with your own brand is really important.
We can’t do it without you though. Especially folks like us who can’t afford to pay to have our links seen. However, in just a few seconds, without spending a dime, you can help an artisan get seen and help bring them the notice and sales they deserve. I know we’d be super grateful if all you folks would start sharing our products to the world. If you buy something from us, that’s fantastic, of course, but sharing helps spread the word and get more people browsing our shop and talking about what we do.
I’m going to say thank you in advance to anyone and everyone who shares. Those of you who do can smile and know that you’re helping a small business grow, and that you’re helping bring prosperity to people who really need it. Thank you!
