If you're an artist or crafter selling online, the actual being online side of things can be a little overwhelming at times. Once you list your items on Etsy, you need to promote your work on your blog, Facebook, and Twitter. On top of that, people need to be able to find all of these outlets. The best way to make that happen is to consolidate your online presences into one comprehensive website.
The only problem with that? A large chunk of the Etsy population doesn't know how to go about building a website of their own. And if your Etsy shop is a side project to your day job, spending a large chunk of cash having someone build a site for you may not be an option.
Enter
SoopSee – the mostly free way to get your own website up and running in no time at all!
After the jump, learn about what SoopSee can do for your Etsy shop. ]
SoopSee is a great way to develop your own professional-looking website quickly, pulling all of your web presences into one place where people can see it. Sign up for a free account, pick out a template, enter all of your web links (Etsy, Facebook, Twitter, blog, etc.) and you're good to go! SoopSee will import your Etsy listings into your shop area, give you a nice blog page that imports your new posts, creates a contact page so people can get in touch with you, and more.
There is a reason I say SoopSee is mostly free, and not all free. If you'd like your own personalized domain name, you'll have to pay for that. It's not expensive – $14.95 a year will pay for your domain name registration through SoopSee. If you've already got a domain name registered somewhere else, SoopSee will host your site using that domain name for $14.95 a year as well. (A word to the wise – if you're sticking with a free account, it sounds like paying SoopSee for the domain name works out to be a better deal. That way you're not paying one company to register your domain and another company for the hosting.)
One other thing you may want to consider paying for with SoopSee is their
Sooper account. It's currently available for $4.99 a month, and includes some great extras that the free account doesn't offer. If you've got your domain name registered through another website, your hosting on SoopSee is free with the Sooper account. You can also manage multiple Etsy shops and blogs on one SoopSee website. And best of all, there are designer website templates that aren't as widely used as the themes given to free users. That gives you more of a chance (if you want it) to create a website that looks truly unique to your business. You'll start to notice as you're clicking through the SoopSee website that there are definitely some themes that are more popular than others, and it's nice that there's an option to really make your own SoopSee site stand out from the rest.
Are you already using SoopSee? Show us a link to your shop in the comments!
*****
