Handmade Success

If you are looking for craft business accounting, that is good news.

It implies that your business has scaled to attract profits worth taxing.

As a small business owner, scaling remains the ultimate target.

But with scaling comes issues like taxes. Taxes end up eating most of your bottom line.

Thus, a small business owner ends up in the vicious rut of working more to save more.

But you need not worry about losing your hard-earned money. There is craft business accounting to take care of that.

To know more about it, read further.

How To Do Craft Business Accounting

Before stumbling upon how to do it, let’s dabble into —–>

What Is Craft Business Accounting?

Accounting is a generic term common with all sorts of businesses. 

In reference to a craft business, it is about maintaining the bills and income of a handmade business.

In simple terms, craft business accounting is about knowing your earnings and expenditures.

Craft business bookkeeping is another synonym for craft business accounting.

Why Do Craft Business Accounting?

It is not enough to know the sources of earnings and spending. Earnings as well as expenditures have further bifurcations. 

Those divisions help to know under what header to place every entry. This further helps with the following:

1. Knowing the best and worst sources of income.

2. Knowing what expenses drain the most.

3. Putting expenses in appropriate headers to save taxes.

How To Do Craft Business Accounting?

You should know what to account for to start bookkeeping for the craft business.

To start, you can have a broad classification of income and expenses. It is as simple as Credit and Debit.

Credit(Income) comes in and Debit(Expenses) goes out.

Within Income, you can further classify as per sources below:

1. Website Revenue 

This refers to all sales made through the website in a specific period. It would include physical and digital products as well as services.

Moreover, commission projects and one-on-one consulting are also included. As long as the sales could track back to the website, it would fall under website revenue.

2. Revenue From Physical Stores And Fairs

Whatever you earn through your brick-and-mortar store(s) comes under this. You can include your kiosks in craft fairs and farmers markets also under this one.

3. Revenue From Collaborations

As a small business owner, you can tie up with other businesses to trade in customers. These could be through physical setups or online modes as well.

The business generated from this sync goes under collaboration revenue.

4. Revenue From Various Third-Party Digital Platforms

It is obvious that as a handmade business owner, you would have an Etsy store.

Since you cannot risk keeping all eggs in the same basket. Therefore, you could have other platforms to sell as well. 

Gumroad and Instagram are popular platforms for creative makers.

5. Affiliate Income

This income comes through selling products of other businesses.

As a small business owner, you cannot cater to a large group of audience. Hence, you can sell products of other businesses to offer complementary products.

For instance, I recommend my competitors’ products in domains where I lack knowledge.

Likewise, you can bifurcate Expenses. The major divisions for debit are Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) and Operating Expenses.

COGS refers to the direct expenses involved in making a product. In contrast, the Operating expenses are the indirect costs. 

Thus, COGS includes the cost of materials as well as costs of shipping and packaging.

Hence, every other expense comes under Operating expenses. Some of those costs include:

1. Utilities
2. Office space rent
3. Website Hosting
4. Employee salaries
5. Vendor expenses
6. Marketing costs

Top Rated Craft Business Accounting Software

1. IntuitQuickbooks

This one is the most popular accounts receivable and payable management software.

It has all the possible features needed for a small crafting business.

The software can do all the important tasks like accounting, payroll, and budgeting.

It costs less than 100$ a year with basic features. It only works for some of the geographies. Hence, check for your country before zeroing in on this one.

2. Craftybase

This software costs 240$ a year for its basic features. However, you also get to try risk-free for 14 days.

This ERP-based software is popular for COGS and inventory management. 

Under its Bill of Materials, you can further divide the costs of the base. For instance, if you are into the handmade hair products business. Then, you can pre-calculate and fix pricing for each base. That way you can have effective pricing and production cycles.

So, each niche will have pricing based on the base of oils, waxes, and labor involved. 

Craftybase also provides live pricing suggestions for increasing profit margins.

That is why it is popular with makers as a go-to choice for craft business accounting. 

3. TopNotepad

This one is the simplest of all the software available in the market.

Its clean user experience tracks invoices and expenses with ease.

You can also send quotations through its inbuilt templates.  

It is one of the best craft business accounting software for the newbies. You can experience its free trial period to determine if it suits your needs.

Their long-term plans offer huge savings.

You can start with this craft inventory app till you graduate to more feature-rich ones.

Conclusion

The earnings of a small handmade business are meager. That is why whoever starts a small business, never thinks about taxes.

But with an upsurge in sales, the business grows. That is when the growing business attracts taxes.

Taxes seem like a hole in the bucket as they drain all your hard work. But it does not have to be that way.

You can reduce the impact of taxes by being mindful of your expenses.

Of course, hiring a tax consultant is the best way to go forward. Otherwise, you can familiarize yourself with the basics of craft business accounting.

It is daunting to maintain records of every expense and invoice. But there are a few software to help in the process.

This article gives a simple overview of the entire craft business bookkeeping. You can take it as a stepping stone to form the economic structure of your business. 

Do share it with someone you know who is struggling with taxes in their small business.

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Do you ever think about how to scale a handmade business?

You must have whenever you felt frustrated with low sales and high expenses.

Or, when you had whooping sales but could not fulfill the orders.

Such thoughts might make you feel like giving up on your handmade business.

For times like those, you need to read further.

How To Scale A Handmade Business In 9 Steps

1. Outsource 

Suppose you are a beginner solopreneur in your handmade journey. Then, the thought of giving away a part of your job would scare you.

A change in mindset from doing it all alone to not doing it all is the deal breaker.

Of course, you cannot let anyone else do what comes unique to you.

Rather, you let others do what is not inherent to your skills. Such tasks could be packaging and shipping.

Or, you could even let your competitors handle the skills that are not your competency.

For instance, there could be some embroidered art that you do not know about. But there would be one handmade artist excelling in the same. 

In that scenario, you can pass on the opportunities to those competitors. Thereafter, it will be easier to ask them for a sales commission.

Do not underestimate the power of holding hands together.

Another workaround is listing products on Amazon fulfillment service. That way a big chunk of your delivery gets outsourced. This is a great way to eliminate repetitive no-brainer product sales from your chores.

2. Repurpose Waste

Turning the leftovers from your products into use makes good business sense.

It may seem trivial or petty to do it. But it can increase your bottom line.

You can push your creativity to bring a purpose to the remnant scraps.

Suppose, you collect heaps of paper strips from a stationery business. Then, you can use them to decorate a new project. You could also create papier-mache projects with them. 

That way you will find a new purpose for the waste collected. 

In case, you do not find an alternative use, you can sell the waste. For example, you can use wood dust from woodworking to compost in a gardening business.

3. Collaborate 

Every product has a complementary product to bring out its efficacy. 

A crochet business does well with yarn bowls. Or, a soap business can collaborate with those creating soap cases.

By collaborating with complementing businesses, sales increase. You can place their products along with yours to bring sales of both.

The resulting sales of the other business will get you commissions. Thus, to scale a handmade business, collaborate with related businesses in your category.

4. Affiliate

It may not be feasible to collaborate with some businesses.

In that scenario, affiliation works. Consider it promoting another business without keeping its inventory.

You can recommend products that go well with your offerings. For instance, the printables business would pair well with Frixion markers. 

You can look for affiliation opportunities through Amazon or a respective brand’s website. Thus, one more way to increase your earnings.

5. Take The Digital Move

You cannot survive without going online. That means your shop has to be present on all social media handles.

You must know how to sell handmade items on Instagram and Facebook. But that is the bare minimum. In the current times, you have to create and sell digital products.

It is possible to make a shift to the digital art business. It is simple.

The best part about selling digital products is that it has no shipping and inventory. Also, it takes away the forecasting decisions involving raw materials. 

Print-on-demand and art prints are good to begin with.

6. Offer An Entry-level Product At The Entrance

I wish I had known this one earlier. Since the time I have applied this approach, my income has soared. 

The logic is simple. You create a basic product in your category that is a must-buy. Also, it should be at a price low enough so that it sells more.

For this strategy to work, you should be able to create this product in bulk. The best part about this approach is that you know your average order value.

In the digital context, you offer this product as a trip wire. Thus, as soon as someone subscribes to the lead magnet, they receive this product offer.

7. Offer A Bundle 

Tie and Buy offers have evolved over the years. Bundling a few products together and offering at a low price is a good selling technique. 

The USP of such bundles is that they are too good to resist. That is why successful bundles take at most a heartbeat to respond.

Customers get to purchase a lot of products at a lower price. Also, you can chip in the products with poor sales in the bundle. That way you get to clear your inventory as well.

Bundles could also be Upsells since they are over and above lone purchases.

8. Preferential Low-Priced Products Offer

Another way to get more sales is to offer discriminatory pricing. One way of executing that strategy is to sell a few products at economical rates on a condition. The condition could be that the price goes super low for a selected few when someone buys a bundle.

You can put many products at low prices to induce sales. But it should be evident that there is a condition for purchase.

9. Invest In Emails

Suppose you have been regular in following my content. Then, you would know about my obsession with email marketing.

Collecting new subscribers with lead magnets is a major part of email marketing.

It brings in new avenues for business because you can send them updates. That means you can talk about new launches, discounts, and even good wishes.

If there is one best tip to know about how to scale a handmade business. Then, it is to add as many new emails as you can to your database.

I have done enough ranting on how to scale a handmade business with emails. Without email marketing, you lose out on connecting with the audience.

Emails let you initiate personalized communication thereby initiating the sales. 

What If You Do Not Know How To Scale A Handmade Business?

1. More Work, Less Time, Less Money

The merits of scaling include more revenue, profits, and more time in hand.

Suppose you do not upsell or cross-sell. Then, you might work overtime, but end up earning less and having less free time.

2. No Innovation

If growing a business does not cross your mind. Then, it is probable that your business is stagnant.

Scaling a business requires innovations. Thus, if your business is not growing. Then, it is probable that you need to expand both your customer base and products. 

3. Competitors Would Outpace

The need for a product/service innovation always exists. Without your business not providing it, the competitor would fulfill the need.

That is why knowing how to scale a handmade business is important.

Otherwise, your business would become obsolete.

4. Inflation Would Eat Up

Costs have an upward graph. Utilities like electricity and water; rental fares, and employee costs keep growing.

If the handmade business income keeps the expenses the same. Then, the inflation would eat up earnings. Hence, it is mandatory to know how to scale a handmade business to outpace costs.

5. Personal Life And Health

One of the advantages of scaling is that the business processes get streamlined. 

That means the business runs on an auto-pilot.

This has a direct impact on the quality of life that you live.

When the business lacks healthy growth, it hurts its surroundings. 

That could mean poor health and a stressful personal life.

Conclusion 

Most artists do not know how to scale a handmade business. They assume that whatever they are selling will sell more and bring in more revenue.

But the reality is far from the wishful thinking. Adding variations of the main product; complementary products and digital versions is necessary. 

Else the business would not survive by selling one type of product. 

This article highlights the ways to bring in more sales and profits from a handmade business.

Plus, it also digs into the What-If scenario of not scaling a small business.

Do add pointers from your own experiences as well.  

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Have you ever tried creating content for handmade products?

If yes, then it must have been a difficult experience.

Creating short-form content for social media seems doable. But the content for blog posts is long form. That means a lot goes into getting a minimum of 1000 words.

If thoughts like these prevent you from maintaining a successful craft blog. Then, read further to know how to write the best content for handmade products. 

How To Write Content For Handmade Products

Before understanding the wording for handmade items, it is important to understand —–>

What Is The Need To Create Content For Handmade Products?

1. Content Is Akin To Marketing

Marketing involves writing, videos, audio, etc. These all are different forms of content.

To market and promote handmade products, content is a must. So, consider Content as the unit of marketing. You need to create content to have marketing materials.

2. Content Is The Voice Of Your Product/Brand

Do you recognize the #INTENSITYDRIVEN hashtag? If you are into luxury handbuilt cars. Then, you can identify with Aston Martin.

Or can you identify Tito’s Handmade Vodka with their Instagram content? The sepia-toned images are akin to their brand’s content strategy.

Likewise, content is the DNA of a handmade brand. A handmade brand has little to no chance of success without a content strategy.

3. Content Helps To Establish The Connection In Niche

As a result of the previous point, content helps create connections. The kind and style of content generation helps to establish a niche.

Creating consistent content connects customers and vendors in the niche.

Then, the next progression comes to —–>

Write About Handmade Products

This is the obvious one. But it is a pity to realize that many handmade business blogs do not mention much about their products. Or they would mention it either once or twice.

The fact is that you have to keep creating content again and again about your products. This is where it gets overwhelming as most businesses are clueless about what to write. 

The task of creating content for handmade products takes a lot of work. But it can become a lot easier by following the below-mentioned tricks.

Tips To Create Content For Handmade Products

1. Write About The Value Of Handmade Products

Value refers to what it would mean to create a particular handmade item. It may not refer to its price alone.

There are many ways to define its value. You can write about its base materials, unique craftsmanship, and a lot in between. The value identifiers are indefinite.

The unique details of the product create a correlation with its monetary value. Thus, content on value description creates an organic flow for selling handmade products. 

2. Write About The Target Market For Handicrafts

This one is my favorite. People bring handmade products the value they deserve. That is why it makes sense to write about the audience for the respective handmade products.

Much like the unique hand-crafted products, their audience is unique as well.

For example, people who like embroidery like scarves and gloves with intricate needlework.

So, content for people who like dainty artwork would connect with the respective art.

3. Include The Keywords As Suggested By Search Engines

This one defines how search engines a.k.a. Google works.

Metadata is the common term that puts keywords and SERPS together.

SERPS refers to the Search Engine Results Pages that return when you feed in Google.

So, the data in the Google search bar would be the metadata for the pages that show as a result. So, if you know what keywords could pull your website content in SERPS. Then, your job is to create content around those keywords.

A lot goes into identifying and creating content on those selected keywords.  

Once you get the hang of it. Then,  all your website content will sync with respective keywords as a part of the Metadata.

4. Write About The Future/Perceived Benefits 

You must have heard that people do not buy products. Rather they buy improved versions of themselves.

That means there is a scope to talk about benefits in content.

Every handmade item serves a purpose. Hence, the content could include how it benefits the end user.

It may seem daunting to describe the benefits of an art piece. But if you think deeper, you can associate the pleasure of owning a uniqueness with every art piece.

5. Write About What Complements Your Handmade Products

This is one interesting strategy for writing creative content for handmade products. 

Every handmade product would have one or more ideas to team up with. So, you can write about how to pair both of them together.

It is akin to saying what goes with what. Or what ends up looking better in whose presence. That way you will have numerous examples to share with your audience.

Adding pictures to serve as visual hints would elevate the quality of content.

An African artifact would complement any tribal artwork.

Or a vintage art piece would go well with a wine barrel craft.

You will never be at a loss for words for writing about complementary products.

Handmade Product Description Examples

Everything in this article is theory. It will be difficult for a newbie in the handmade business to put the theory into action.

That is why I am including a few examples to help. They are as follows:

1. This ornamental box with the image of the mountain can hold all tiny titbits. Plus, it will bring a smile to a mountain lover’s face whenever they use it.

As you can notice, the above content shows the value of owning a particular box.

2. This colorful bracelet is bound to bring joy to a free-spirited girl. These are boho bracelets in free size to fit everyone.

The above example showcases how to create content keeping the target audience as a focus.

These product description writing examples are great for writing content about handmade products.

Conclusion

Creating content for handmade products is a difficult task. It takes time and experience to come up with a story, theme, and ideas for writing.

This article serves as a quick hack to deal with the problem of writing.

It will help you write. That will further help you with how to promote handmade products. 

Do share this article with someone who is struggling in their handmade business.

You can also contribute to this article with your handmade business marketing experience.

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Have you ever wondered how to make money with a craft blog?

Or, are you baffled to know that you can even make money with crafts?

Yes, it is possible to make money as an art/crafts professional. It is also possible to make money blogging. 

Moreover, you can combine crafts and blogging for a thriving earning opportunity.

Read further to know how to go about doing the same.

How To Make Money With A Craft Blog

Before broaching the topic of making money with art and craft blogs. Let us first deal with —–>

What Are Art And Craft Blogs?

They are weblogs of information related to arts/crafts and other creative mediums.

Consider art and craft blogs as the go-to source for all creative work. They could be a source of tips and tutorials for DIY. The experienced craft blogs offer advice for marketing craft businesses as well.

Such blogs belong to the niche of making and creating artifacts with bare hands.

It is a popular and sought-after niche. There are endless sub-topics under the arts and crafts category. Hence, creating a blog under a creative topic leads to a lucrative blogging career. 

That brings us to the question —–>

Can You Make Money From Crafting?

The shortest possible answer to this question is – Of course, YES.

The successful names in craft blogs have proven that the crafting niche brings in the moolah.

Some popular and successful craft blogs are as follows:

1. Jennifer Maker 

She is nothing short of a fairy goddess in the craft blogging industry. She has several tutorials on her blog. Most of her content is in long-form deep dive style coupled with videos.

If you observe her journey, then it makes a great case study on craft blogging success.

She started with nil and now is a self-made millionaire. The proof is in the details. Therefore, you should check how much she earns as a craft blogger. 

Her earnings got so huge that she stopped posting them online. You can check a few resources that have interviewed her to gauge her income.

I am sure that her figures will startle you.

2. Crochetpreneur

As the name suggests, it is a website for budding crochet entrepreneurs.

It is a brainchild of Pam, erstwhile a Psychotherapist. She started this crafty website in the year 2013.

It has been a decade-long journey since then. In these years, the income growth was exponential.

Her creations include a lot of crocheted goodness. But apart from physical products, she also sells numerous digital products.

I could not find her latest earnings, but this particular resource will be helpful. Though it is old, it is good enough to guess her latest earnings.

3. Honestly WTF

Your creative + entrepreneurial streaks cannot miss Erica Chan Coffman’s brainchild – HonestlyWTF.

I have been a regular reader of the blog for more than a decade. That is why I can vouch for the endless possibilities that a craft blog business brings in.

It started as a blog on DIY fashion and art. Though with time it transformed into a content-driven influencer business. Along came an e-commerce arm that sells their branded creations.

I have no idea about the actual figures they earn. But you can ogle at the long list of A-listed brands collaborating with them. Moreover, all their products have premium pricing as well.

Thus, what started as a craft blog is a multi-dollar business today.

The above examples of successful craft blogs bring us to the important question —–>

How To Make Money With A Craft Blog 

There are various ways to monetize a craft blog. Following are some of them in random order.

1. Selling Crafts

This one is an obvious for how to make money with a craft blog.

A craft blog opens up so many avenues. Selling crafts is the most prominent one.

A blog with a sizable amount of traffic leads to sales. Much like the above examples, you can treat the blog as a platform to sell.

Moreover, since you can access analytics through your blog. So, you can create products as per what trends on the craft blog.

That increases the probability of sales. That is because you do not waste time and effort in uploading random products and hoping that they sell.

2. Affiliates

This post may contain affiliate links. That means if you purchase any of the products mentioned in this article through routing via the links in this post. Then, I may end up receiving a certain monetary percentage from the sale. Though the one who purchases through the link does not end up paying anything extra apart from the mentioned MRP on the product. Full disclosures on the Affiliate Page.

This is one of my favorite ways to make money with a craft blog. 

I love it because it works even when you have not yet created a handmade product.

Affiliate sales involve selling products/services of others and earning commissions. 

If you are wondering how to make money with a craft blog and do not know how to. Then, starting with affiliate marketing is the best foot forward.

You can start with products that you already use. That way it will be easy to create content for affiliate marketing.

Wood crafting projects and handmade selling laws are my best-performing affiliates.

3. Tutorials

You can find artists offering tutorials on their social media. A craft blog can serve the same purpose.

You can also upload pre-recorded tutorials on the blog. They could be behind a paywall that can open when someone pays up.

4. Workshops

Live engagement with your audience comes under workshop categories.

You can host them on Zoom or Google Meet for the audience gathered through the blog.

5. Consignment 

A craft blog puts the word out about what products you make. Therefore, it facilitates getting bulk orders. 

These orders could be from your competitors or from retail businesses.

During the initial phase of my craft blogging business, I got a huge bulk order for crochet crafts. I could not fulfill it due to its huge size. But it gave a strong boost to my confidence. 

6. Ad Income

If you want to know how to make money with a craft blog in easy steps. Then, it has to be the ad monetization strategy for your blog content.

There are several ad companies that pay well when you surpass substantial pageviews.

Mediavine, Adthrive, and Monumetric are a few of the prominent ones.

If you lack sales acumen, then, ads can bring in recurring income.

7. Digital Downloads

These are my favorite ways of making money through a craft blog business.

You must have used/seen my planners for handmade business. They have increased my blog income by leaps and bounds.

Almost every planner that I create goes out of stock within days of publishing.

Planners, workbooks, checklists, etc. constitute digital downloads as a category.

You can create digital downloads for your craft blog business in any niche.

8. Courses

Much like digital downloads, courses shoot up the craft blog income. I am yet to create a course. But I know that a course as a successful product can bring in recurring 6 figure income.

You must be proficient in a particular skill set in your crafting genre. That way you can get the data for your next course topic. 

9. Memberships

This is a much more stable source of income compared to others on the list. Consider memberships as closed-knit circles where you provide insider information to patrons.

The paying members receive a regular dose of data related to their respective craft. 

You can start a membership service on any craft niche.

10. Consulting

Consulting is one of the best ways to figure out how to make money with a craft blog.

You can offer one-on-one consulting or in small groups. 

The best part about consulting is that you get to know about the challenges that crafters face. That way you get the seed idea to create a product to tackle their issues.

It is through consulting that I ended up creating my product portfolio.

You can integrate the craft blog with schedule booking plugins for consulting. 

Free plugins for WordPress like Amelia and Bookly can schedule consulting appointments.

11. Brand Sponsorships

This one becomes the default earning opportunity when your craft blog becomes popular.

Brands would themselves want to connect with you for endorsement deals.

Though in the initial stages, you can send cold emails to the brands that you believe in. Some of them might believe in your vision through your blog content.

This brings us to the topic —–>

How To Go About Writing Craft Blogs

When you start a blog on craft, documenting craft projects makes sense. 

But to grow a craft blog you must write with SEO in mind.

If you never heard about SEO, then it stands for Search Engine Optimization.

Do not let the technical terminology overwhelm you. It is about creating content that search engine loves. Since Google is the biggest search engine, thus, SEO is for pleasing Google.

By that, it means your blog content must cater to the content that people are already searching for.

You must understand a little bit of keyword research to write SEO content. 

Going by the phrases/questions related to your craft niche is another option for SEO.

Conclusion

This article deals with the topic of how to make money with a craft blog.

It enlists all the possible ways that you can take advantage of.

It may seem like a dream to earn by crafting. Thanks to all the successful crafters who have made this dream a reality.

All you have to do this keep on documenting your crafting journey.

With consistent efforts towards SEO, you will see the results.

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Have you ever googled how to start a printables business? Then, you must have come across Sarah Titus.

Hers is a single mom’s story of reaching super riches from being homeless with two kids.

Printables are the biggest hero of her journey. It is because of her I gave the printables business a try.

It has been a few years for me to create and sell planner printables. 

The experience has been rewarding since I enjoy the process and the money that comes along.

Suppose you wish to start a digital business that brings in passive income. Then, a printables business is the answer.

Read more to know more about it.

How To Start A Printables Business In 11 Steps

1. Excel In Creating Printables  

It would be best if you had printables to start selling them. Thus, you should know how to create a printable to start a business of printables.

There is no set rule in black and white to create Printables. If it were that way, then I would have never made more than 500 sales.

Most handmade artists feel discouraged by designing Printables because of the learning curve. 

Trust me, a course/degree in design is not mandatory.

Instead, the single-most element to excel in printables business is empathy for users.

If you have that, then you can design the printables in the best way possible.

Adobe Suite has a range of software to create printables. They are Photoshop, Illustrator, and Elements. These are the top-notch ones.

Other popular ones are Affinity Designer and Canva.

My design skills are zilch. Thus, I do not use any of the above. 

Google Slides is my go-to tool for creating Printables.

If you cannot create Printables on your own. Then, do not think of quitting yet.

This post may contain affiliate links. That means if you purchase any of the products mentioned in this article through routing via the links in this post. Then, I may end up receiving a certain monetary percentage from the sale. Though the one who purchases through the link does not end up paying anything extra apart from the mentioned MRP on the product. Full disclosures on the Affiliate Page.

There are tons of options for buying PLR printables and templates. Consider them as buying no copyright-owned generic printables. You then have the choice to modify them with your branding and preferences.

Moreover, you can commission an artist to create Printables for you. You can source creatives on sites like Fiverr and Upwork.

No matter how you source the Printables to sell. The significant points for the Printables must be:

High On Utility – 

If the Printable does not solve the purpose. Then, it is of not much use. The design should be such that the end user keeps printing it again and again.

Attractive – 

It may not seem like a necessary function. But it differentiates a printable from its competition.

Legible – 

The elements of a printable should be clutter-free. There should not be a lot of data crammed on a single page. The fonts and sizes must be clear to read.

2. Identify Who Buys Printables

I have been consuming Printables for a few years. Now I am addicted to them. 

My handmade business involves using them all the time. Apart from that, I use them for various purposes:

• Managing Household Chores
• Organizing My Airbnb Business
• Planning My Travel Itineraries
• Consolidating My Diet
• Tracking My Gym Schedule
• Tracking Body Weight And Statistics
• Managing Finances And Investments

Since Printables are part of almost every aspect of my life. Thus, it is safe to assume that everyone needs them.

But that does not confirm that everyone will use/buy them.

Thus, to make a printables business a hit, you must know who buys printables online.

For the same, you must niche down your user base. The narrower it is, the better it is for your Printables business.

For instance, my niche is “beginner creative solopreneur”. Thus, my printables revolve around starting/managing/optimizing various handmade businesses.

Thus, identifying the niche is crucial in making the printables business successful.

3. Good Name For Printables Business

The name carries the identity. It is crucial for branding.

Also, it is not feasible to change the name of an enterprise once it gets popular. 

Thus, you put thoughts and planning before naming your Printables business.

My Printables business is Lipai. It is a Hindi word that means “Script” in English.

Likewise, you can pick up yours. 

If the naming process overwhelms you. Then, the best solution is to name it after you. That way, your persona rubs off on your printables business. Hence, you and your business become synonyms. 

4. Track Down Ideas For Printables

This one is a complete must to run a thriving Printables business.

The truth is that you cannot build a thriving business on a single product. To keep your printables business running requires an offering of printables. Thus, you offer a bouquet of printable products to your customers.

For the same, you must have a lot of ideas to create Printables. 

My handmade business started with a single printable of 2 pages. Now my online shop retails more than ten printables.

Having a lot of printables to sell may seem overwhelming for a newbie. But it does get a lot easier with time and effort.

Most of my products are manifestations of the email newsletters that I send. Subscribers respond to my emails with concerns, doubts, and general chit-chat. Those conversations give me ideas for creating new printables.

Likewise, you can also build from your first product. Most of the first printable products come from successful lead magnets.

Hence, if you align your basics. Then, the growth is organic and built on a stable foundation.

The key areas to look for ideas are –

• Needs And Wants
• Challenges
• Problem Areas And Bottle Necks
• Areas Of Struggle
• Hacks For Improvement

5. Price Them Right

At times the correct price makes all the difference. With printables, pricing seems complicated because the product is not tactile.

That is why it could be as good as giving away for free. 

I got stuck in this dilemma for a long time. That is why I did not charge a single penny for my products earlier.

It might surprise you that one of my best-selling products was once a free lead magnet for artists.

I would doubt why anyone would pay to use it. I was fortunate after a year of giving it away for free, someone left a tip for it. They also left a comment letting me know how helpful the printable was.

That was my day of epiphany. Since then, I have been putting a monetary value on each printable. You cannot waste your time and energy waiting for someone to leave you a tip. Instead, you start charging from Day 1.

If you are not confident, you can start from $1 since there is no harm in charging less. But other than a freebie, every product must require an upfront payment.

You can increase the prices once you cross certain thresholds of sales. Also, the more pages your offer has, the more you can charge.

As a rule of thumb, 100+ pages sell in the range of $25. While 500+ pages can even cost $57. 

6. Dress Them Well 

The first impression makes a massive difference in making money with printables.

That is why you need a beautiful design and cover. 

I lack professional design skills. That shows in my printables. But that does not make my printables non-functional. I hear from my customers that I create simple, no-nonsense products.

That works for me since my business involves an effective inbound marketing strategy. But if your business runs in storefront format, a good design is a must.

Loyal customers can do repeat purchases based on the quality you provide. But to lure window shoppers, design is the best hook.

You can learn design software or outsource the printables designing job.

Your design principles must stick to a branding guideline to maintain consistency.

7. Identify The Best Places To Sell Printables

The platform is a crucial aspect of selling printables. A quick search on Etsy will give you thousands of printables. That indicates the stiff competition in this sector.

This data must not discourage you from starting a printables business. Instead, it should make you ask is selling printables on Etsy profitable.

The answer to that question is complicated. That is because your approach towards business will decide the course.

Printables lack physical products or an inventory or recurring making and shipping costs. Thus, you are bound to make profits on any platform provided you market well.

But if you want to have control over prices, margins, and running the show on your terms. Then, you can move out of marketplaces like Etsy and Amazon.

Starting a self-hosted online store seems like the obvious option. But it can get daunting if technology is not your forte.

In that case, you can start with Gumroad. It is an online selling app that will prepare you to run an online store bypassing Etsy. You can compare Gumroad with Etsy before taking the plunge.

8. Comply With Regulations  

You would not require any legal formalities for selling printables. But if you end up incorporating your business. Then, you would need to comply with laws regarding running a business.

Moreover, you should not copy anyone else’s designs/work. Also, to deter others from copying your work, you should apply for copyrights.

9. Keep Marketing

I am sure you must have heard this umpteen times. It is true that is why it keeps repeating all the time.

No matter how good your printables are, they will never sell without marketing.

That is why marketing is necessary to keep the business operational. But it has to be effective and customized for your business. 

SEO and emails helped me sell hundreds of printables.

Though you can start with whatever social media you are comfortable with. The point is to begin and keep doing it with consistency.

If you have a business plan set up for your handmade Printables business. Then, the marketing plan will be easier to devise.

10. Stick To A Business Plan 

A plan is necessary to go from 0 to success in a handmade business.

A business plan keeps a note of every element needed for growth. It also tracks the challenges, shortcomings, and bottlenecks that prevent success.

Therefore, it also keeps a column for steps to overcome the issues. 

A business plan is essential because it lets you know how you are faring in your printables business. Without it, you will never know how and when to scale the business. 

Depending upon what kind of business plan you use. It should also maintain a customer database. That way you will know what bucket your customers fall into. It will help design ads and content to target more customers pertaining to that bucket.

11. Keep Moving

I am still learning after selling hundreds of printables for thousands of dollars.

Every day I learn more about how to start a printables business.

Before selling my first printable, I did not know how to create one. Many years before that, I had no idea that printables existed.

The point I am making is that you have to keep moving. If you get stuck with satisfaction, then you will never grow.

Always think about what more you can do to make someone’s life a little better. Or, what can you do so that customers can save at least 1 step in their struggles?

If you keep pushing the approach of expanding avenues, you will never fall short of new ideas.

There are options in various stages of business, such as:

• Market Expansions
• Different Product Categories
• Various Channels To Propagate

That is how I started with one printable and expanded to about ten as of today.

Conclusion

A printables business is on the rage these days. They are like apps in a printed format.

Much like apps, they help to track, organize, and achieve goals.

If you empathize with your audience, you can serve them printables. 

This article lists all my learnings in creating and selling printables.

Do share your learnings as well. Also, send this article to anyone wanting to know how to start a printables business.

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Lead magnets for artists is not an unheard-of term. You must have downloaded free digital art after visiting some artists’ pages.

In that case, the product received after submitting the email address is the lead magnet.

The other terms for lead magnets are Opt-ins and Freebies. Their use case is extending the engagement so that you get access to potential customers.

Suppose you wish to move beyond dilemmas like – how to send an art portfolio by email. Then, you must read further to know more about lead magnets.

What Is The Need For Lead Magnets For Artists

As discussed before, lead magnets help get subscribers. So, if you want more subscribers, you need a lead magnet. 

That is a simple reason to work on creating a lead magnet. But digging deeper into the reasons will lead to more data.

As opt-ins let you get email addresses with consent. So, that gives the privilege of establishing direct contact with the subscriber. 

Else, you would have to purchase a database and then send cold emails. Both are troublesome to conduct and could lead to legal problems.

Moreover, you would not know the interests and engagement patterns of that data. Thus, buying an email database would not give the best results. 

Instead, gaining subscribers with lead magnets confirms their curiosity about your artwork. Thus, it leads to a higher probability of engagement with your work. Also, that establishes chances of pushing them into a lead magnet funnel. 

Established artists associated with galleries may not seek sales. Thus, they may not want to work on lead magnet strategies. 

But they should still use lead magnets to create buzz whenever needed.

Consider lead magnets as the tool to build an army of loyal fans. Thus, it is pertinent to use them for marketing a handmade business.

9 Best Lead Magnets For Artists

1. Cheat Sheet

Who does not love a well-designed cheat sheet? The one that could give you all the tips to go from point A to B.

Thus, with your experience, you can gather up the hacks and offer them as a cheat sheet. 

Some of the examples could be – 

2. Checklist

This is one of the best forms of lead magnets for artists. You must have noticed that I offer them as a freebie on almost all my content.

My checklist for starting an artisan soap business is my best-performing opt-in.

3. PDFs

PDFs can include any kind of information in a downloadable PDF format. An easy way is to offer a text version of the respective blog content in PDF.

This works well for pillar content that has a lot of golden nuggets. Consider the PDF version of the article as a takeaway of evergreen useful content.

4. Roadmap

I have tried roadmap as one of the lead magnets. It has worked great as a lead magnet for artists.

Consider it as a life cycle or a guideline for a certain process.

You can make a roadmap for various milestones in an artist’s lifestyle. Examples can be a roadmap of email marketing strategy for an artist. Another one could be a flowchart of categories a handmade entrepreneur can work in.

5. Spreadsheet

Spreadsheets or Excel sheets are excellent lead magnets for artists. They facilitate calculations and help figure out ‘what-if’ scenarios.

I use spreadsheets as opt-ins for taking decisions on Pricing handmade products.

They are easy to create and are of immense help. 

For a handmade creative, there are plenty of ways to use spreadsheets to improve business.

You can use them for any process that involves mathematical equations.

6. Quiz

Who does not love some brain stimulation with gaming activities? That is why quizzes work as great engagement techniques for capturing emails.

I design quizzes with Typeform. The platform is intuitive, thus helping increase subscription rates. You can use any app that you are comfortable with.

Quiz lead magnets help in scenarios when you are not sure of your audience preferences. Thus, they help in generic scenarios and are great for gathering data. 

7. Templates

As the name suggests, they are a structure to achieve a certain task. The most common ones are templates for creating content in Canva.

The other ideas could be label templates for creating handmade candles. I have a template for selecting a sub-niche for a handmade artisan soap business.

8. Playbooks

Playbooks are much like templates with a little twist. Consider them pre-written content that you can edit as per your requirement.

The content in the playbook has predefined processes and strategies. You can change the part that is relevant to you. You can change the part that is relevant to you.

For instance, I have a playbook for creating a healthy hair care routine. It has columns and spaces for days and activities. Whoever downloads it can fill it up as per their concerns and life schedules. 

9. Discounts and Giveaways

When nothing works, discounts do. They work for beginners in handmade businesses as well as veterans.

Discounts are great to turn fence-sitters into loyal fans. You can create coupon codes to redeem price deductions on your products/services.

Much like discounts, giveaways also work. You can use a service like Rafflecopter for structuring the giveaways. 

Amazon vouchers are the best giveaways when you are not sure of your niche. Else, you can offer your best-selling product or a complementary tool of your craft.

5 Tips For Optimizing Lead Magnets For Artists

The next course of action may seem to put a lead magnet everywhere on the website. But it is not that easy.

Not every lead magnet is created equal. Thus, you will have to go through a few iterations to come up with a performing one.

To optimize lead magnets for performance, you can look for the following:

1. Start With Best Performing Content

For an opt-in to perform, you need performing content. That means high-traffic content will bring in the maximum number of subscribers.

Again, it does not imply that any lead magnet will be a success on busy content. Rather, the intent of the content will decide the success of a lead magnet.

If the content is for someone in the beginner stages, then, an advanced freebie will fall flat. For example, a keyword research strategy opt-in will not work for an artist who does not sell online. 

Instead, for them, a freebie listing a roadmap of a successful handmade artist would be a better fit. That respective roadmap would highlight an artist’s journey from point A to B. 

The start could be selling to friends and then, ending with a self-hosted website. Selling at craft fairs, Etsy, and sites like Gumroad would be milestones in between.

2. Action Oriented

A good lead magnet shows how to achieve a certain task. Consider it the bare minimum needed to finish a goal.

That means it cannot be boring pages of text. That could be one of the reasons why an e-book is not a great lead magnet idea.

That is why templates, workbooks, and cheat sheets make great lead magnets. Such lead magnets provide a guideline to finish a job.

3. KISS

The attention span is low for a new visitor arriving on a website. Hence, the need to provide bite-sized information.

That means long-form lead magnet will not cut to the chase. Rather it should be bite-sized that is easy to consume. 

Hence, lead magnets for artists must come straight to the point and not beat around the bush.

4. Lead To Tripwire

The most fun part with lead magnets is watching them bring in moolah. This happens when your email marketing is in place. 

An effective email marketing strategy turns lead magnets into selling products. The thank you page that shows after someone subscribes to a lead magnet hosts the product.

Suppose you capture a lot of emails through a freebie. Then, it should convert better to sell a small product. The highest converting lead magnets lead to best-earning tripwires.

5. Funnel For Email Marketing

An array of a few tripwires leading to an upsell creates a successful email marketing plan. Thus, the entire lead magnet cycle should push subscribers deeper into the funnel. 

Conclusion

Marketing for an artist is not an easy task.

Promoting a creative business has so many moving parts. Thus, an artist can get confused between social media and ads. 

In the social media world, the rules of the game keep changing. Most of the artists may lack the budget to get started with paid ads. Thus, learning email marketing to thrive provides the necessary buffer. 

A successful email marketing campaign begins with a lead magnet.

The best part is that it is not mandatory to have a website for hosting lead magnets. You can even use social media for the same.

So, today is the best time to get started with lead magnets for your handmade business.

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