5 Things All Crafters Need On Their Website Home Page

Having your own website is a great way to tell your brand story in as much or as little detail as you like. It gives you the opportunity to showcase your products however you like and is also a great place for you to connect with buyers and direct them to whatever information they need. 

It’s also is a great place to sell, free from listing charges and competition. But what if you have your products for sale on your website but they’re not selling as well as you’d like? Here are 5 simple things to include on your home page to make sure you really are being found by customers and directing them to where they need to go to make a purchase.

1. A link to your shop 

Sounds obvious but is sometimes forgotten. Make sure the link is easy to see and completely obvious. If it’s not in your header then make sure you put it there asap. Also add another link somewhere else on the page such as a clickable image or in any text.

And if you have any images or text of a product make sure that links to the product in the shop so a customer can easily find it and buy it.

If you offer wholesale and sell to retail outlets don’t forget to include really easy-to-find links to both those sections on your homepage. Don’t make wholesale customers search for your wholesale page or expect shoppers to know you have products in shops if it’s not obvious to them.

Make it super obvious. 

2. At least one paragraph of text on your page that includes several keywords.

This should be in text, not within an image or in Flash/PDF. The text is there for the benefit of Google so it can place you in search queries so make sure there are plenty of references to your keywords. Keywords are words customers use when searching for your products. They are sometimes very obvious (your name, what you sell) and sometimes a little less easy to think of (a description or feeling of your brand). Below is the text you can find on my website homepage. All keywords I used have been bolded to make them easy for you to see. 

Delight Society is an artisan soap company which stays very close to the simply natural while being a long walk and two bus trips from the frankly artificial. Using only natural ingredients Delight Society produces bath and body products which are free from Sodium Lauryl Sulphate, Synthetics, Parabens and Palm Oil. Hand crafted in Western Australia each product is carefully prepared to be gentle and nourishing on your skin such as handmade soaps, decadent body scrubs, skin loving body oils and kid friendly bubble baths. Delight Society also sells to wholesale clients; providing handmade products of high quality to companies who are looking for unique and luxurious items.

Buy Delight Society products straight from the source or from these retailers. 

These aren’t my only keywords throughout the website but they the major ones for what I sell. The first step is to make a list of keywords that shoppers will use when searching for products that you sell. Then build a paragraph around those keywords and add it to your home page. Include inbound links when necessary.

3. Social media links 

This encourages customer interaction and by making it easy for customers to “Like” your Facebook page they will be more likely to do so. Put them in an easy-to-see spot, such as the header, footer, a side bar or wherever they will be easily seen.

4. Constant new content 

By constantly changing some information on your homepage you become increasingly attractive to search engines. Content is king when it comes to being found on the internet so make sure your changes are positive and contain your keywords. The easiest way to do this is to have a blog/Facebook/Twitter feed directly on your home page. Then every time you update your social media it immediately updates on your homepage. Wordpress and other open source platforms have widgets for this but if your website was made by a professional developer then it will not be difficult for them to add this feature in.

5. Amazing photography 

This can’t be emphasised enough. My photography skills are really not as good as I’d like them to be so I stick to simple product shots and am slowly building up a collection of “behind the scenes/lifestyle” shots that I can add in as I go.

If you don’t have a lot of great photographs, start with your very best images and put only them on your home page. Keep updating them as you go, this is also great for SEO. Don’t put any poor quality photos on your home page...ever.

Also name and tag your images correctly. This increases you being found in searches.

These five additions to your home page will help increase traffic and get sellers exactly where you want them...at your website. 

Jacquie Hughes is on the Made on the Left committee and is the founder of  delightsociety.com

This e-book sounds like interesting reading for market stallholders. It's by Jodie Maloni of The Habby Goddess and Cintia Gonzalez-Pell of My Poppet.

"The Craft of Markets - How to achieve market stall success, An Australian perspective" is aimed at those who are just starting out in markets or even just considering running a market stall and covers topics such as Picking the right market for you, Market applications, Products, Pricing, Merchandising, Logistics, contains a handy printable Essentials checklist and a Resources guide with links to packaging and display item stockists and more. There are also extra handy hints from some market organisers.
Comes in a PDF format that you can load on your iPad or mobile device, read on your computer or even print out. Available here or here.

Design Competition! Yay!

Hello all you lovely people who are designers, creative types and appreciators, welcome to our first blog competition!

The Made On The Left Marketing Gurus (SarahG, SarahD, Felicity, and Lauren) are currently expanding our Merch range from art posters and badges to include such lovelies as tote bags for your shopping ease, and... Bumper Stickers, so you can wear your MOTL loyalty on your sleeve (or car, or school file, or design folio... or anywhere really!).

The design for the totes wasn’t much trouble (I (osier) had a go at illustration at it was really fun!), but we decided to let you guys at it for the bumper sticker, and reward you for your efforts with a tote bag and a few other super-duper knick-knacks... what a fab prize!

The guidelines are:
1. Must include the words "Made On The Left"
2. Must be 3 inches by 10 inches @ 300dpi
3. We'd love it to have a super cute slogan like "honk if you're made on the left" or other such nonsense!
4. You may use our text logos for the design, but not our posters.
5. Visibility from a distance will be judged favourably.
6. Must be submitted to Lauren@madeontheleft.com by 5pm Sunday the 8th of November.

Yup, that does mean you have less than a week to come up with a design!
Better get cracking! (We hope to have them for sale at the November Hyde Park Hotel event)

Any questions can be posted in the comments, and please link to this competition on your blog, we want as many entries as possible!

Faces behind Made on the Left - Part 4 - Odd Girl Out

I've introduced you to Dara, Jacquie, Ali and now, it's my pleasure to introduce you to the talented Sarah Gazia - the face behind Odd Girl Out.




Tell us a bit about yourself & your craft.

• I am a marketer by ‘real’ job and usually have a good way with words...except maybe when it comes to talking about myself.
• I returned to Perth at the beginning of the year after a couple of years living within the shadow of Tower Bridge in London.
• I’m a polymer clay queen at present...but I love to learn how to work in different media.
• In my previous crafting life I did a lot of silk painting...examples of which may still crop up in my etsy store in the future...you just never know.
• My partner and I started our own marketing and design business this year as well as getting Odd Girl Out off the ground – there’s no doing things by halves!

What is Made on the Left?Made on the Left is a celebration of Western Australian ingenuity and craftiness and a central source for information on local creative opportunties.

What made you want to get involved with organising a craft fair?I don’t really think of myself as an organiser (leaving that up to the more naturally organised members of the group!) but I do know a bit about marketing and promotion and thought I could lend a hand. I have a background in arts and tourism promotion so I guess I had a head start on promoting the arty attributes of WA and this plan seemed to fall naturally into place.

What can we expect to see there?A wonderful array of handmade goodies with a particular emphasis on fresh talent – we have a great proportion of stallholders for whom this is their first market, and I think that’s really exciting. It definitely won’t be same old, same old...About two thirds of the sellers are from Etsy, so although they may have had an online presence for a while, this is the first time you’ll see them all in a ‘brick and mortar’ room together.

What are your plans for the future?
Just looking ahead for the next year, I hope to really establish our marketing and design business and get more accustomed to the ins and outs of being a small business owner. With Odd Girl Out, I would like to raise the brand profile, achieve some exposure in fashion media and distribute/sell more widely through wholesaling or direct selling (like more markets!). I’m going to be seeking some advice from people who have a lot more experience than I do in jewellery retailing and setting some realistic goals.

What do you cherish most in your life?My partner Moz, who I am hoping to convince to have his own stall (as an illustrator) at the next market. At the moment his can be seen as my lovely assistant on the Odd Girl Out stalls.

What could you not live without?Gelato. Well, actually many foods. Mmmmmm. And travel.


What was the first thing you ever created?
With an art teacher for a mum, I think my creating dates back to before I could stand and probably involved poster paints and my fingers.

What inspires you?
I love visiting museums of modern art, galleries and funky shops (preferably in far off cities to get the travel angle in too!) and seeing what’s happening out there in the world. When I was travelling through Europe for three months last year I carried a small sketch book with me all the time and I have lots of inspiration to draw from now.




What do you think of Australian design?I think Australian design is definitely well regarded, but these days no one is going to get a gold star just for being Australian – there is a whole world of creative people out there and the bar is continually being raised, so there’s no room for complacency.
Do you think being in Perth affects your craft in a negative way?
I would say being based in Perth has both positives and negatives. Truly, with travel, the internet etc as developed as they are now, the ‘isolation’ issue is really not as significant as it once might have been and there is a strong, although not massive, pool of creative people to take inspiration form. The most frustrating thing is the cost of supplies and not being able to get things quickly

What is the most important thing to you when you create your work?
I’m pretty critical of my work so when I can look at something I made and think – I really like that – I’m pretty happy!

Where do you see yourself in a year’s time?Hopefully more well known, established and regarded in both of my businesses!