Discover my easy tried and true ways to market your small business.
When I first started my small business online I thought where was my traffic? Why wasn’t anyone finding me? How am I going to promote this business with little or no money? Then I contacted a local web designer and asked his thoughts on my new site. He was so kind and generous with his knowledge. He asked me, where are your meta tags? That’s when it all began.
Now let’s dive in! I must warn you, I do not sugar coat so this may come off as a bit salty. Just know it is coming from a place of good and I only want to help you grow. Following are my favorite tips and misconceptions about running a small online business.
- Meta who?
Meta tags are the tags search engines read to see what your site is all about. So I plugged some in and went to town on keyword stuffing my site. Now-a-days you should not do this. The search engines will know and you will not get where you want to be. Here are my actual meta tags from 2000:
<title>Personalized birthday invitations, personalized stationary, birthday invitations, birth announcements, party invitations, wedding invitations and programs, Christmas Cards!</title>
<meta name=”description” content=”Unique birth announcements, wedding programs, wedding invitations, unique Christmas cards, birthday invitations, 40th birthday invitations”>
<meta name=”keywords” content=”unique birth announcements, ‘hand made greeting cards’, ‘unique christmas cards’, party invitations, personalized, ‘unique wedding programs’, logos”>
Now that looks like a lot. I know. But it worked. Yes, I know “stationary” was spelled wrong, this was how most people searched for paper products so I went with it. The next thing I knew, I had an order from California. I was in a little town in Ohio and this couple found me online and wanted me to illustrate their kids portrait for their Custom Christmas Cards. All because of meta tags. This wasn’t a relative or a neighbor or friend. It was a complete stranger who found me and wanted hire me as an artist. Next an order from Texas for a hand-painted beach landscape complete with a tropical sunset and palm trees for their wedding stationery. Then someone from Ellen then NBC contacted me for wedding stationery. Then next thing I know a large wedding magazine found me online and asked to feature me in a 4 page spread. What? How does this happen? All because of being found online.
Meta tags are still popular today and a must for your website. If you run a wordpress site, there is a wonderful plugin called Yoast that you can add to your site. It is free, and perfect for adding your Title, Description, and Keyword Phrase. You have to come up with what is your best keyword phrase. Then expand from there. Don’t get too broad though. You want to have a niche.
2. My niche are pillows.
That is not a niche. When I go to a search engine and type in “pillows” you guessed it. 1,050,000,000+ results pop up. How on earth are you going to promote and stand out in that huge and fluffy crowd? Let’s narrow this down. At the bottom of the results what options are shown that may describe your pillows?
pillows decorative
cheap pillows
bamboo pillows
pillows near me
Bingo! “Decorative pillows” is a much better description.
Looking at “decorative pillows” there are 262,000,000+ results. That is still a lot.
What are the suggested searches for that?
“blue throw pillows” jumps out at me. I click on that and see “textured throw pillows” are proving to be popular in searches.
Then a little more research brings me to “bohemian textured pillows” and “moroccan throw pillows” with 9,640,000 results. So much better! Now that is a great niche.
Narrow down the type, style, color of product you sell. Then your chances of being discovered are so much better.
3. We don’t care how you feel about your product.
That’s right. I said it. Oh you loved creating this? You love the color purple so much your sharing your art with all purple? You love how this lotion makes your own skin feel? This spice is so yummy, I baked with it today… now buy it. No. And no. People you are selling to want to see what you are creating for others. How others feel using your product. Show results. How did your client feel? How did you help that client? What project/challenge did they bring to you to solve for them? How did you solve it? How did your client feel? So stop and think before you post… Is this post about me or my client? Then you will get results.
4. Go to your competitor’s IG and Facebook and spam them.
Oh no. Just no. Do you know how many times I have had to block other artists from promoting themselves on my pages. I find it very hard to believe that someone taught them to do this. It is just wrong. And let’s look at it this way… While you were following your competitors social media and commenting just to be seen, you could have been creating a new product, blogging about your new product then posting on your own social media about what… your new product.
5. Oh you don’t need a blog to build your business.
Stop right there. You absolutely need a blog. I get it. You may think less work is best. No it isn’t. The more work you put in to your business and site the better. I have blog posts from over a decade ago that still bring traffic to our site.
6. Pinning isn’t winning.
It sure is. Once you have a new product, blog about it on your site, then share to Pinterest. You win! More and more people will see your product than ever. And the search engines will love your links on that platform. People that pin products similar to yours, will then be gifted by pinterest with new products to pin. Don’t you want to be part of that group being shared by Pinterest for being that next recommending pin? Of course you do. It is free and totally worth every minute of you planning your strategy.
7. I don’t have to be on X / Twitter. Okay, this may be true. But I had followers over there from 2009 who still followed me*. If I told you there names you wouldn’t believe me. What matters is they are still there, sitting, reading and seeing my tweets. Maybe not all of them, however if you tweet once a day chances are they will see your tweets. And they are following you for a reason. So my goodness get tweeting! *until my twitter account was literally hacked and stolen right from under me. My fault, my password was super lame and I didn’t have two-factor authorization in place. So I had to start over.
8. Just google it and learn.
Sorry, I have to say, I learn more now-a-days by doing. I have discovered so much regarding advertising and marketing through taking action. If it failed, move on to the next idea. If you succeed do more of that! Easy peasy.
9. Sit in online groups all day and read what everyone posts to learn.
No my friend. Sitting online in one spot all day isn’t going to benefit you. If you want friends join a country club or your local Y. Seriously. I get it. Being part of a community may seem like fun. Frankly it feels like a real time suck for me. I see so many super smart, witty, amazing designers sitting in these groups helping others non stop for what? If you really want to help others that much write an e-book, host a podcast, write a blog post. Taking time to sit in a group day in and day out is not building your next best product. It is not promoting your products for you. Trust me I’ve been there and tried it out. I grew my business
10. Copy other people who look like they are succeeding.
I just spit my coffee out of my mouth. This never works. Period. For one thing, that person may seem like they are succeeding. But the reality of it is they only sell 8 items a year. Don’t be fooled by people who are showers. They show and peacock around and come to find out they are a dud. I use to work with 80 wedding couples at one time. Not a year, not a month. At one time. Thank the good lord the market is completely flooded now and I have less clients per day. But I have the right clients… more on that next. Less is indeed more! Don’t take on the world and get out of your niche. Only target the people who are your ideal clients.
11. Those are my clients they stole.
Ahhh no. They weren’t your clients to begin with. If they were, they would be buying your products. Just because Suzi is over there selling $2 pieces of digital clip art and you sell $18 art prints. Her clients are not your clients. Your client loves your art, and quality. They are planners and don’t need the quick download. They appreciate your craft and style. Suzi does not have your style. Do I lose clients to Suzi? Sure do. Do I care? No. I don’t want Suzi’s clients or customers. I want my own clients and customers. Mind your own clients. Don’t pay attention to your competitors sales, social media and blasts of how well they are doing. That is not your map to follow. Create your own following and product for them to love.
12. Sell your clients one product then be done with them.
Oh heck no. You must create new products for your current clients. If they buy your pillows create fiber wall art to match. Maybe a throw blanket. Whatever your creative heart desires. You want that client/customer to return and come back for more that you have to offer.
13. My product is not good enough. I just want to quit.
Oh good heavens. That just isn’t true at all. Keep on keeping on! Don’t give up just because you have a slow go at it. Change. Make a change. Offer a new style, build your brand on that style. Again you must have a niche. Let’s say you want to paint art of fruit. Be the best darn painter of fruit you can be. Paint every fruit you know. Don’t know any more, look up and learn about new fruits. Create calendars with fruits, cards with fruits, shirts with fruits. Use fun fruit puns. Promote your fruit products. Don’t stop until all the fruit lovers find you. This is starting to turn into a section on niche again. It is true! You must have a niche. No matter your style. If you aren’t niching down to a particular product you are going to lay stagnant. Well, Kara over there sells dog portraits so I guess I can’t do that. Are you kidding me? Heck yes you can! Kara is not the only person on the land that draws dog portraits. Draw dogs in your own style. Draw from your heart. Not what you think Kara feels like when she draws. When you draw / paint or create from your own heart your personal style will always shine through! One day a client who was a follower of mine on social media for over a year said to me, I just love your style! Your art is a bit impressionist and a bit realistic. I about fell over. I didn’t feel like I had a style. For years and years I searched for my style. Was it curly and fun, straight and neat? Bright colors or soft? Here I had style of my very own and didn’t even realize it. After that I just pushed full steam ahead and created from my heart in my very own style. One thing that helped me through the 21+ years in creating and selling my art is be sure to look at what you sold each month then build on that. Let’s say you sold cat portraits on mugs. They were selling like hot cakes but you only had 2 to choose from. Create 12 more! Post them. Blog about them. Pin them. Promote them on social media. Did they sell? Are they a winner? If not, move on to the next product. You did not fail. You learned. You experimented and took time to branch out and build your line. Do it again. And again. Until you find 1-3 products that your ideal clients love! Keep on keeping on.
14. You have to get 100s of likes on a social media post for it to sell.
Nope. And nope. I posted a painting and after 15 minutes and only 25 likes I SOLD that original painting. My ideal client saw the post and bought the painting for her home. Another woman saw my post while sitting on the beach and bought 9 paintings. Put your product out there. Be seen. Promote and share. Then do it again. And again.
15. Oh no Instagram / FB / Twitter is down… I have no business!
Oh geeshz. Come on now. This is so not true. One of my favorite sayings is don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Sitting on FB all day and night is not going to help you sell your product. I said it once I’ll say it again. Create, post, blog about it, pin, promote, share, repeat. There are so many things you can do to promote your products. Not just in a group or on a platform you do not own. Period.
16. I put my products in a shop online and now crickets.
One of my favorite examples is this… you open a small shop on down a dirt road in the country. You sit there in front of your sign and wait. Nothing. You got nothing. How on earth are your clients and customers going to find you? They’re not. Not unless you reach out to them. But how? Where are your clients? Where do they hang out. Post a poster, a business card, buy ad space, promote an ad for your town only. It is affordable and you would be surprised the ROI for a local google ad! Try it out. Spend just $25 where did it get you? Watch your stats did anyone click on it? Where did they go on your site once there? Don’t have a stats for your site? Read on…
17. I don’t need to know who comes to my site.
You absolutely do. You will learn a wealth of knowledge just by watching the navigation of your site and when they leave, on what page and if they contacted you or not. Did that pin work? Is that blog post working? With a statcounter you will gain so much valuable information about your clients. You can then tailor your site to repeat a sale for the next client.
18. Awww your craft is cute. Making cards looks fun.
It is! Do you get all ruffled and upset if someone looks down at your craft? Calls it a hobby? No way. Don’t give someone that much control over you. Without getting into numbers, I’ll just say I make 4 times more than I did as a graphic designer working in corporate America. So yes those cards are cute. And I love that I get to do my hobby every single day.
19. My top sellers are that Harry P. kid’s products. You know. Mr. Potter.
Ahh no. And no. Let me stop you right there. Selling and or offering products of licensed characters or large corporations is a huge no no. But my top sellers are licensed characters. Remove them now. Number one, that is not your personal niche. It is the large corporation’s niche. If Etsy and or the large corporation catches wind of you selling their licensed characters on your products they can and will shut down your shop. That means that the IP address associated with the shop will no longer be able to have or make another Etsy shop. So not worth it right?
20. My shop is not doing well with my 3 products.
First things first, you need at least 20 products to start getting traction. Three is not going to cut it. Curate each product with intention and great attention. Think about your past customers, your top sellers, who your ideal customer is, and what problem you are solving for them.
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