How do I promote my new online business?

[thepearlgirls]

Hello. I recently opened a new online jewelry business and created a new website for that. I haven't had any sales and am trying to find a good way to promote it. Any suggestions?

[HC_Charlie]

Hello @thepearlgirls thanks for your post, and welcome to the Square Community...we're so glad you're here!

First off, if you drop your website/link here in the Community the other members can check out your site and see what you're working on. As a fellow handmade artist who's been selling handmade full-time for about 6 years now,

here are a few suggestions to help get some online sales...

• Do you sell in person? I would research some local artisan fairs, craft shows, markets and figure out which ones fit your product and start booking those events. If you get your name out in the local community, you can leverage that exposure to start getting more online sales and referrals. Starting with in-person sales can help grow an early online presence.
• Are you posting on social media like Facebook or Instagram? I'd have at least a small social media footprint to also help get people interested in what you make.
• In addition to my Square website, a lot of my orders come through online marketplaces like Etsy. That's a great place to start especially for handmade items.

Whatever you start with, please know that with any new business, growth will take time. Just be patient and work every day towards your goals. Make new inventory, add new items to social media posts or your online store, and also continue to network and contribute in the Square Community. Best of luck to you! Don't be a stranger, keep posting and chatting. We love to offer advice and support.

[maxpete]

@thepearlgirls great question and glad to have you here! I wanted to link you to a few other posts in the Community around this topic too!

https://www.sellercommunity.com/t5/Artists-and-Makers/Six-Months-and-Only-1-Sale-How-do-you-get-more...

https://www.sellercommunity.com/t5/Artists-and-Makers/Looking-for-ways-to-market-my-new-business/m-p...

https://www.sellercommunity.com/t5/Artists-and-Makers/Why-haven-t-I-gotten-any-sales-yet/m-p/708008

[StevenCheech]

Hello @thepearlgirls!

This is my specialty! I have launched over 600 websites in the past 15 years. 

When you have a new website, it's tough to get the initial traffic rolling in, and traffic will generate sales for you. There are many ways to generate traffic, but for your type of business, you will thrive off of social media referrals to start. This means creating unique content on social media and making sure the people who find that content have an easy way to understand what you do and where to find your website. 

A simple suggestion that may help is clarifying your homepage SEO snippet (see screenshot below). You'll want your focus keyword embedded, a call to action, and your business name. Here's a beginner guide to that: https://yoast.com/what-is-a-snippet/#:~:text=The%20snippet%20is%20a%20single,highlighted%20in%20the%....

[CareyJo]

I would have made all of the same comments as @HC_Charlie.  I also have a friend who recently started making jewelry at home as a side gig and she's only doing FB for right now but she started with all of her FB friends first.  We have a very large group of people on FB that we went to high school with and we all still talk, decades later.  Once she got the ball rolling with friends, she had orders coming in.  One other suggestion that I have seen is people passing out their business cards with a photo of one piece on it that they have made.  It's got their website listed instead of just a phone number and they hand them out everywhere.  I hope your orders start rolling in soon!!

[thepearlgirls]

Thank you all so much for great advice. I will take it to heart to help me grow. 

[doc_choc]

Explore ways to build your newsletter subscriber list, this gives you a direct line to interested customers and potential customers who have either purchased from you already or may be interested in your product. SM and marketing cards with a first purchase discount coupon to hand out at fayres, also include marketing coupons when shipping orders to encourage them for a return purchase. 

Once you have a reasonable email subscriber database look to use Square Marketing service for newsletters and the automated email function is excellent too, with lapsed customers automated emails etc