Struggling To Drive Traffic To Your Website As A Handmade Seller? - COFFEE & CRAFT PODCAST ☕🧶

Do you struggle to drive traffic to your website as a handmade business owner? If so, I made this video just for you.
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[@EritsStudio]

I swear everything I feel is always validated by you. I’ve been asking myself recently like “wow is this how slow it usually is” and you come with my answer 😂 and the whole bit about your husband liking your posts that is so me right now 😅 thank you hubby for the support ❤

[@KimBliss]

Summertime is notoriously a slow time for many anyway. Add the other issues we have to contend with, and we'll, you know how it is. But if you're selling anything now, you really are doing better than you think. 😁💚💚

[@AnggiSahamCantik]

Thank you so much for being so honest telling that it takes 11 years until your store take off 😊 I hope it doesn't take that long for my blog to take off, everythings take time for sure 🎉

[@KimBliss]

You're so welcome! And I'm sure you're blog will grow faster than I mentioned in the video. Best of luck with it!

[@reconcilecraftco]

The timing of this is so perfect. I'm literally only one week past launch and was feeling so down today because I don't feel like I'm getting results. But its been ONLY one week how dare I in comparison to your 11 years.

[@KimBliss]

And time is irrelevant too because I still launch things that flop! Especially the last year or so. Don't underestimate the impact the economy is having. 💚💚💚

[@paperpliers]

I love the chaos, I love the tough love, I love the validation and honest talk about hard work and slow years ❤

[@KimBliss]

Thank you. 💚 It feels sometimes like the world is just trying to go viral which apart from being a bad way to grow for many, is also not great for mental health. Slow and organic growth wins every time for me. 😊

[@xoKayefox]

My biggest struggle for real! Honestly, going viral is my nightmare. I've seen so many go viral, not have enough for the demand-----people don't want to wait------demand fizzles out and move on to the next thing--------crickets + so many immediately scale up to meet the demand and it not holding out in the long run

[@KimBliss]

Agreed. There were a lot of people who overstretched themselves and scaled too much during the pandemic only to have to make huge cutbacks in the following years. Give me slow and Steady growth any day. It's more sustainable longterm. 😊💚

[@reconcilecraftco]

Yes I hadn't even considered that. T_T I was all for "going viral" until this was brought up.

[@CreativeStitchingwithAnn]

Me too! I'm semi-retired and I want to keep busy but not frantic, those days are gone. Just community and some side hustle to keep me busy and my mind sharp. A little extra cash would also be nice.

[@SeamsPerfectbyChristine]

Oh my gosh, I love your video. I just found you. I am a baby in this e-commerce business. My handmade business is turning one tomorrow. Starting to get few more sales in my Etsy shop. It’s tough, I kept persevering, made different products. Expand my collection. Thank you for your advice. And you’re hilarious. I am definitely going to watch more of your videos 😊

[@KimBliss]

Aw thank you so much, and congratulations on one year of your handmade business! Here's to many more and I look forward to being able to keep you company while you build it up. 💚😊

[@erdegora]

Oh, with a small child is very hard. Slowly building it ❤. Love the vids! 🎉

[@KimBliss]

Oh my days, THIS! I look back at my early days building this thing with my then baby, and honestly I want to go back and give past me a big hug. It was crazy how hard it was sometimes. Things are still hard now, but it's very different and honestly, it's not nearly as hard as it was back then. If you're in the trenches with it now then I have huge respect for you. Keep going, it gets easier (and weirder). 😉💚

[@CerexFlikex]

Such a nice room.... when it's not creaking and the flies aren't flying and the dog isn't snoring. XD

[@KimBliss]

Other than that, it's perfect! 😄

[@LMPeas]

Creaks, will deal with, brightness, will deal with....The fly at the end, instilling 100% confidence in Kim that she should not film in that room.... sometimes all we need is a fly to realise we were on the right track to begin with🦋 (or a butterfly) - loved the sun flowers though, mine all fell over or got slugged this year!

[@KimBliss]

I tried so hard to make it through too. That fly though. 🪰

[@TheWoodWitch]

Weather - raining cats and dog perth australia. Always enjoy and look forward to what you have to say each week. I hope your grumpiness blows away with the wind you are having. Sending a hug your way. ❤❤

[@KimBliss]

Aw cheers love! I filmed this just before the summer holiday started. It's here now and my grumpiness has well and truly buggered off. 💚💚💚

[@carozet66]

Crickets yes, definitely, but slowly getting there, thank you helps to know I'm not the only one.

[@KimBliss]

You're very welcome. 😊

[@gillianmcmurray]

Thanks Kim. Glad it's not just me being pestered by flies 😆

[@KimBliss]

Definitely not. The fungus gnats have been crazy this year too. It's all the humidity I think.

[@jenniferkrawczyk4796]

Weather... it's a great topic over hear in Canada as well :) Today happens to be sunny and lovely (verging on humid/muggy but we'll let that go...). Always enjoy your tough love talks. Keeps me going... moving forward!

[@KimBliss]

I'll be honest, I'm often aiming the tough love at myself too. 😉💚

[@jenniferkrawczyk4796]

@@KimBliss I feel that... and it's probably what makes it easier for me to swallow too 🙂🙃🙂

[@delisaoutside]

All of my starts have been false starts. I’ve been doing this for almost 20 yrs in one form or another. 😂

[@KimBliss]

You need a batch of false starts under your belt. Keeps you grounded and you learn a tonne! 😉

[@runaroundsueaccessibletrav6357]

so glad you mentioned the SEO. I thought I had sorted SEO and now it doesnt work. You have explained why. xx

[@KimBliss]

It's ironic that I only found out due to KZbin suggesting videos about it to me for a while. KZbin being owned by Google. 😄

[@slimplynth]

I've got some hand painted Halloween decorations that I was thinking about leaving in a local woods 😂 I thought if dog walkers find them laying on a tree trunk.. and I put a note asking them to put a photo on my FB.. QR code.. asking for a photo of it in a new place.. is my current idea 😁

[@KimBliss]

I love that! I'd be convinced it was a gift from the fairies. 🧚‍♂️🧚‍♀️ Because you know, they're well known for their social media use. 😄 Seriously though that is such a lovely idea. Let us know how it goes if you do!

[@slimplynth]

@@KimBliss I mean these are 3D printed/severed hands that have no copyright associated 🙈 it's tentative at best.. in any case.. I thought they would be a good way of generating engagement with my actual products.. or launch at least one serious crime investigation 😁

[@KimBliss]

Oh wait, severed hands? Maybe not a gift from the fairies then! 😂

[@slimplynth]

@@KimBliss they're hand/airbrush painted Things.. they look pretty gory 😁

[@KimBliss]

You definitely need to do this through. It sounds amazing. 😁

[@scalebuildings]

Hi Kim, Another terrific video! aww, snory dog :-) Value your thoughts please: So, we have a new piece of “private land” -> website. But, when starting out an emailing list - how do you kind of go about asking if it's alright to send mail to them? I’ve got a lot of contact emails from buyers but have never made a mailing list before and keep putting off sending anything because I’m kind of afraid to… sort of…. how to put it….lol insult their inbox with unexpected mail. Any thoughts please for how to approach someone in the right way to get things rolling?

[@KimBliss]

You need you gather consent to email folks. If they purchase from your website then you can email them about the open order, but you can't add them to your list. They have to opt in and you have to be able to show that you've received that consent. Best way to do that (without breaking the privacy laws of many countries) is through a sign up form. Which good news, is perfect to host on your website! 😁 That way you just need to promote your sign up form and allow your customers to choose if they want emails from you. This leads to a smaller but much warmer and higher converting mailing list too. Good luck with both the mailing list and the site! 👍💚

[@scalebuildings]

@@KimBliss Thank you so much Kim for this advice, this sounds like a good course of action :-) Many thanks - Best of luck to you too!! :-) :-) 😀👌

[@CreativeStitchingwithAnn]

I absolutely love your background. I want to know about your sunflowers. Are they dwarf or standard 6-7 foot tall? My husband and I got into a debate about them. 😆

[@KimBliss]

OK so I'm not sure if this is going to help the debate or not, but I think they're some form of dwarf sunflower. Definitely not the taller varieties. My daughter bought them for herself from the garden centre, planted them all and then promptly got bored so I've inherited them. I'm not complaining. 😄

[@belindaroadley]

Weather here has been the pits- absolutely no sun for 3 weeks. I live in Australia gahdang it, I don't care if it's winter I WANT SUN 😅 Also jealous of your lovely sun room (conservatory?). My house has been designed to have lovely big north-facing windows (which is equivalent to south-facing for you northern hemisphere folk). But they don't do their job when there's NO SUN. Your comment about virality is spot on. I remember yonks ago, the self-published writer scene blew up because of Hugh Howey's "sudden" success. Coz you probably don't know, he self-published his novel "Wool" on Amazon and it BLEW UP. It got so big that the BIG publishing houses came knocking on his door and were fighting over scoring the rights to publish his book. Yeah, he made a lot of cash. What many folk didn't realise is that he'd been self-publishing novels for years with jack-all success. He kept at it. Then he wrote Wool.

[@KimBliss]

This no sun thing is no fun eh? This conservatory of ours is on its last legs and is pretty much unusable for most of the year. It's the one time of year that we get to use it and a lot of the time I'm sat in there with blankets. 😄 I haven't heard of Wool before, but I do remember there being a big discussion some years ago about how people who 'take off' have years of working to smaller or no audiences under their belts. I wonder if this discussion was triggered by that book?

[@hannahmitchell87]

Ahh, so the Google changes might explain why I'm getting nonsense search results! I double checked a gauge conversion & the top result was wrong! Will be proceeding with caution 😅

[@KimBliss]

Yeah I don't understand it at all, Google search isn't really my forte, but it's definitely not great right now.

[@CricketsBay]

I recently searched for "November 2017 Yucatan Earthquake" and only the top result was about that earthquake. The rest were very odd, just random unrelated stuff. Google search is very weird right now.

[@JohnLee-mk1tj]

Local networking is the back bone of most businesses. So important. For me it's split with the local art groups and the 3d printing. But yes its slow going. Cheers to a flyless summer!!!🤞😁

[@KimBliss]

Local networking is so important, especially for artists. I also think its importance is going to increase as AI and oversaturation impact online selling too. It's a shame I hate doing it because I just know it would help with sales! 😄

[@JohnLee-mk1tj]

​@@KimBliss Great point with AI. It's impact on the visual arts can't be overstated. The struggle to be fresh and original is real. 🤔🥴

[@JLJCoastersPlus]

30 in Santa ponsa at the moment ♨️♨️🥴😊

[@KimBliss]

Oof! Stay safe!

[@CoventinaSoapery]

Thanks Kim, but yep still struggling to build a community 😔

[@KimBliss]

Yup, that is the uncomfortable start and it's *horrible*. 💚💚💚 Which platform are you using to build yours?

[@CoventinaSoapery]

@@KimBliss I tried Pinterest a good while ago & really worked it for a couple of years I think ,but nothing happened. Instagram's algorithm just wasn't showing me to many people, so I lost the will. Now my focus is KZbin. I was using the community tab, but got hardly anything out of it. Creating content for contents sake, rather than valuable content is something I do not want to fall into, so if I don't have something to offer at any given time, there will be gaps in my output. It's not easy &I feel the pressure...

[@versatileduplicity9313]

For me, it was getting salea

[@KimBliss]

But you were getting plenty of visitors to your website? That could be a sign of the wrong people finding you. Or the wrong products for the audience. I'd prefer to have conversion issues over traffic issues to be honest because the fixes are more within your control.

[@versatileduplicity9313]

@@KimBliss I mean yeah. But everything is a fight, every step of the way. When I would pay for ads, like from google and facebook, I'd get plenty of views but no buyers. What I think it is, is people's trust levels. I don't know why. When I would send people my website link, they'd think it's some sorta scam. Not gonna lie, it left a bitter taste in my mouth. Paying over $30 a month to be my own brand, just for people to basically tell me I'm a scammer.