Craft hobbies are back to stay.

More and more adults – from enthusiastic pensioners to talented Millennials – have embraced hobbies as diverse as crochet, furniture painting, baking, sewing, and even handmade drawing. The beauty of craft activities has always been that they can be relaxing and help you to improve your mental clarity. But what numerous talented crafters are starting to realise is that hobbies can be transformed into a profitable business. With the rise of DIY talent, there is plenty of opportunities for creative entrepreneurs to launch their craft business and sell their creations online. However, this asks an important question for newcomer hobbyists, namely: how do you sell your craft creations online. The answer can be confusing. You let successful retailers inspire you. Here’s a little guideline to help crafters establish a viable online business and help their side-hustle grow into a profitable income-making activity.

Produce high-quality visuals

If you’ve bought items online in the past, you’ve probably notice that your favourite websites use engaging visuals to introduce their articles. As a rule of the thumb, each item is presented from a variety of angles – three or more – so that potential buyers can see what the object looks like from the front, the side and the back. Some websites also offer a 360° degree visual, while others have a small video instead. But ultimately, if you want to sell online, the lesson to learn is that you need to produce high-quality web photos. You can hone your skills by experimenting with perspective. You can start taking pictures from different angles to pinpoint how to take the best pictures for each shape.

Establish a retail structure

Selling online means that you should be able to fulfil the orders you receive and ship the items safely and quickly. Even if you have kept your workshop at home, you need a storage facility to keep all creations. You can start by looking for a warehouse to rent, which will enable you to make all items available to a shipping courier rapidly. The choice of your shipping partner is essential as this sets the foundation for your business. Your customers get to experience the quality of your products through the quality of your shipping solution. In other words, you need not only to pick the most cost-effective method but also to ensure that you select the best packaging for the protection of your creations.

Pick the right channels to shine

Finally, as a crafter, you can make the most of your social media presence to showcase your skills and promote your shop. Instagram is a good place to start. But there are plenty of other social media platforms for creatives, such as Are.na. This platform started by artists and for artists is easy to navigate – nothing like the never-ending Instagram vortex – and lets users curate images they appreciate. The absence of like or content linked to people’s insecurity makes Are.na a friendly creative environment.

From hobbyist to side-hustle entrepreneur, the path to selling your craft online requires a business mindset. You need to show your clients what they get. You need to ensure that you can ship safely. But more importantly, you need to cultivate an engaging social media presence to attract your audience.