Prepare Your Handmade Shop for the Holidays

 

Preparing Your Handmade Shop for the HolidaysEven though it’s only September, it’s time to start thinking about preparing your handmade shop for the holidays (where did this summer go?).  But don’t get overwhelmed – take a deep breath (okay, maybe two) and get out a pen and paper. Whether it’s your first holiday season, or you’re a seasoned vet, we’ve pulled together tips from different handmade experts and enthusiasts to help get your handmade shop ready for the holidays.

If you have advice of your own please share with us in the comments below!

 

 

1. Refresh Your Handmade Product Photos: One of the biggest keys to selling your handmade product is photography. If your handmade shop’s product photography is dark, pixelated, or unappealing then buyers won’t look at your product. Taking great pictures is such an important part of your product’s attractiveness, and your business’s brand, that it should be a priority. Below are some articles that will help you craft your product’s photos for your handmade shop for the holidays:

5 Product Photography Tips to Make Your Products Stand Out 

7 Simple Smartphone Photography Tips

Feature Perfect: Shop Product Photography 

Take Better Product Photos With Your Point and Shoot!

 

2. Review and Revise Your Handmade Product’s Description and Name: I’ve seen it time and time again where sellers speed through the description leaving behind a lone sentence or listing of product dimensions. Your product’s description is as important as your product’s photography – crucial. Not only is your product’s description where a shopper finds information about your handmade product, it’s the only way a search engine can find you. If your handmade product only offers a listing of dimensions, or a sentence description, that’s what Google, Bing and Yahoo are using to find you and the highest selling products are the ones with the best product name and description. So to help get your product found by search engines during the holidays, we found the following articles:

5-Step Formula for Writing Handmade Product Descriptions that Sell 

Writing Expert Product Descriptions for Your Shop

 

3. Tips from a Veteran Handmade Seller: Hearing from a handmade seller who has multiple years of holiday experience is helpful insight for both holiday rookies and experts. Jenelle Montilone of trashN2tees provides some tips for preparing your handmade shop for the holidays with Oh My! Handmade Goodness. After selling her awesome and eco-friendly t-shirt line for the past five holiday seasons, Jenelle shares lessons learned on how to manage custom orders, be realistic with your business, prepare inventory for your handmade shop for the holidays, and how to do it all while keeping your sanity.

Preparing Your Shop for the Holidays (not the holidaze)

 

4. How to Plan for the Holidays Over Lunch: Take advantage of the one hour you get for lunch, or the 15 minutes you spend scarfing down your sandwich, to get more done. Handmadeology provides a list of 25 different ways to be more efficient, like creating a list of keywords, reviewing and getting inspiration for your product photos, and updating your product descriptions to make them as crawl-friendly as possible. Print out this list and keep it on your desk so you have it readily available when you have a bit of free-time. This list could truly be used at anytime with your handmade shop, but take advantage of this time before the holidays to get prepared.

25 Things to Do On Your Lunch Break to Further Your Handmade Business

 

5. Manage Your Inventory: To make sure that you have the right handmade pieces in the right places, this guide will help you prepare your handmade shop for the holidays.

4 Inventory Management Tips