Many DIY craft artists out there have a burning desire to turn their craft blog into a money making business, but are not sure where to start. Yes, it is possible to monetize your craft blog and make some serious income.
There are some highly effective ways to do so, and although they may take some time and effort, you CAN do it on your own.
I have left the boring 9-5 corporate world to work on my passion for DIY crafting and I couldn’t be happier with my decision. I mean, what can be better than doing what you love and getting paid for it! It’s been a dream come true and it can be for you too.
Here are 15 proven strategies that you can use to start making money with your DIY craft blog that gets results:
Advertising Networks
Have you ever Googled something and noticed the very first few listings are always an advertisement?
These listings are created using Google Ads and they are a great way to quickly get in front of people searching on Google for a particular search term.
You can use Google Ads to reach people searching for the types of crafts you are creating on your website.
Affiliate Marketing
Have you ever used a product and fallen in love with it? You wanted to tell everyone about it but you just didn’t know how?
Businesses are always looking for free publicity and will likely share your review on their website or social channels.
This will bring more traffic to your website where they will either click the link and maybe buy the product and then you would make a commission.
Being a source for informative and helpful product reviews will also ensure that your website is viewed as reputable and a place to go to for more product reviews which will bring new and additional traffic to your site.
Social Media
Are you looking for a place to reach the most amount of people possible at a low cost?
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest are all amazing places to showcase your best craft work and allow you to post your blog articles to your social media profiles easily. Look for social media groups that are centered around the same topic and accept posts from group members.
Direct Sales on your Website
If you’re going to pay for a domain and go through the trouble of creating a blog you deserve to use this space to sell your merchandise. Many website creators like WordPress of Squarespace offer built in options to accept orders and to open your own online store.
The most direct way to interact with your customers is to provide people a place to learn about your crafts as well as purchase them. Don’t send them to a third party site where they take a cut of your profits, do it on your own site.
Sponsored Posts
Put some space on your website up for sale with some sponsored posts. If your blog is doing well and rapidly becoming one of the go-to spots for the craft community, you will start to see businesses reaching out to you for you to review their products to drive people to their website to buy their product.
This can be a very lucrative business to get into, and will only continue to grow your credibility as a craft blogger.
This is a lot like affiliate marketing listed above, but in this instance you are not paid by the purchase. You are compensated for your blog by providing them a place for product reviews rather than actual purchases being made. This income is much more stable than affiliate marketing and you also get to score some free merchandise which is always a nice added perk.
Sponsored Ads
Google AdSense is an Ad program where you can place ads on your website and get paid for the amount of people who see your ad. Some Ad networks pay a much higher commission, but they require a certain amount of traffic going to your website in order to be accepted into the program.
You can also sell ad space directly to advertisers. To find interested buyers, reach out to similar businesses as yours, or hop on over to Pinterest or Etsy to start looking for possible partnerships.
Freelance Writing
Freelance writing is no longer just for people wanting to make a couple extra bucks on the side.
You can also sell writing gigs on your website. If your blog is garnering real attention, people will begin to seek out your website to sell their goods alongside your own. This affords you the opportunity to begin to cash in on your new fame.
If you don’t think you’re much of a writer, you can always have people write on your behalf and use their expertise to help sell your product. On many reputable websites you can find several writers with hundreds of reviews who can sell your product for you.
Sell on Amazon
Amazon is the world’s largest marketplace. Everyone knows about it and it is the very first place that every single person heads following the slightest inclination that they may purchase a product.
People know that what they are trying to purchase is on Amazon somewhere. You can use this name brand recognition to help sell your products and crafts.
Using Amazon is a great way to turn people on to your blog as well. In the item’s descriptions you can list your website for satisfied customers to come check out everything you have for sale on your own site.
For those craft bloggers who are unable to open a store on their own website, Amazon can help you sell your products wholesale.
Sell on Facebook
Facebook is rapidly becoming an online town marketplace. Facebook has established itself as an incredible place to do business simply because so many people are using it. It is the most popular social media channel on the planet. Every person you know likely checks Facebook on a regular basis.
Facebook predominantly displays the Marketplace on their platform, so your products have the potential to reach a really large audience.
Sell on Etsy
When people think of cool handmade items, people think of Etsy. Etsy is home for the artsy sellers among us. It’s like an international craft fair. People sell shirts, mugs, notebooks, and crafts from all over the world on Etsy.
Your blog and your crafts should be displayed in a place where people are shopping for that niche item. People are most likely to be using the exact craft terms that you may be using on your blog to describe these items. This is the closest you can get to your ideal clientele, other than your own website.
Sell on Shopify
More and more people are becoming aware of the critical role small businesses and local providers have in our economy both locally and nationally. That is why websites like Etsy and Shopify have grown rapidly in popularity.
Shopify is another way to sell your items to a community that is looking to buy from a small business or a local provider. Shopify is responsible for billions of dollars of sales each year and your store should be up and available in every area in which this product is being sold.
Sell on Pinterest
Pinterest was built for crafts blogs and craft sellers in mind. It is a niche community which people will likely be the most interested in your products. This is definitely the place to be to reach your target audience.
Create an E-book
You have a lot to say and a lot of expertise that other folks don’t have! That’s one of the reasons you started your blog, because you have a skill and something to add to the crafting community that you couldn’t find anywhere else. You have a unique voice and people need to hear it!
This lends itself to crafting an ebook. An E-book is much easier to write than your typical physical book. People don’t expect E-books to be particularly long and they expect them to be focused on one singular topic.
If you find a particular post to be doing exceptionally well, or a product is selling unusually well, this may be a prime topic for your E-book. A How-To guide to creating a specific craft or product or maybe even a series of articles on a topic that would be of interest to your audience. You can then sell this premium content for a profit.
Create a Course
People want to learn how to do the things that interest them, and they think paying to do so may even be cheaper than buying the product themselves.
People are on your site and buying your products because they are uniquely into the art of crafting and would like to learn more about it. You should take the time to craft an entire course to teach your audience how to do a portion of what you do. These can be based on particular articles or products that are purchased.
You may even hear from your audience directly that they want to learn what you do. Use your expertise to teach people and not just create things they love.
Sell Printables or Patterns
Finally, you have the ability to sell patterns and printables to the public through your blog or online store.
Here you can sell your idea to other craft-makers and bloggers in an effort for them to improve upon them or sell them as their own. This is like licensing out your ideas.
You may not believe this, but crafting websites and crafting social media takes plagiarism very seriously and new ideas are at a premium. You can use this to your advantage as long as you don’t mind other people getting credit for your ideas!
But don’t worry, you can still request credit somewhere on the blog or on the product itself on a tag or somewhere on the box or packaging. If you have more ideas than you have products for it may be worth it to start selling those ideas.
If you are looking for websites where you can sell your crafts, check out our post on 48 Websites Where You Can Sell Your Crafts Online.
I hope you find these tips for making money with your craft blog useful. Please share your comments or tips!
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