With this 3rd part of wholesalecrafts.com review saga, we enter ze piece de resistance… ze site…
Once accepted, you have an “artist page” that you must manage yourself. Let me tell you right away that the site is rather rustic as per today’s standards. Not only it is difficult to manage, but each product page is limited to 2 photos and 500 characters description, which is rather small to sell a product on line.
I have heard that they are working at improving the site, and I am anxiously awaiting to see all the improvements!
Wholesalecrafts.com Artist Page
At the top of your artist page is your baneer. It is said that the baneer is really important because this is what grabs the buyer’s attention.
The right sidebar is for your general information. Name, address, logo.
This is also where you find the very important “hits”. I call them very important because this is the only statistic tool that we have so far.
They represent the number of times where buyers visited your page.
It can help measuring the impact of new advertising, for example. But you won’t have any further statistic tools to help you grow your business.
Each item has its own counter as well.
By a simple addition, you can see if your visitors have left your main page, or have been further by clicking on a thumbnail to see the item’s detailed description.
Your counters are only visible by you, not by other artists, not by buyers.
The middle of the page is for your products. A thumbnail photo per item.
The page has a limited size, and you can have several pages.
I think there is a limited amount of items, but it is huge.
You can assign a category (category list shows on the top of your page) to each item to facilitate product search. But only one!! No cross reference.
For example, if you make plates and bowls with animals and garden theme, you can create 4 categories: plates, bowls, animal theme, garden theme. But you can assign only one. Your bowl with a horse will have to go in the plate category OR in the animal theme category.
The bottom of the page is for other information like artist statement, terms, shipping…
Wholesalecrafts.com Artist Item page
Each item has its own page where you have 2 photos and 500 characters of text to sell it.
Then, when all your information is online, comes the big question… how the buyers are going to find you?
- general categories and themes.
When you upload a new item, you must choose a category from a drop down list. For example, barware, kitchen, new age, garden…
One, not two.
- keywords.
You have 9 keywords per items. But if you have 10 celtic work, and use 10 times the keyword “celtic”, only one will show in the search results.
Also, if several artists are making work on a celtic theme, the results are displayed by seniority. Meaning that if 50 artists do celtic stuff, and are on the site longer than you do, yours will show at the bottom.
Good luck to be noticed!!!
All new work shows in a special page for about 3 months. I have heard that buyers like visiting this page. Therefore, it is a belief among artists that all new work should not be uploaded together so that we always have a presence on this page. Yes, but… somehow I miss the logic on that.
With a search engine based on technology designed by Methuselah himself, you have only one viable option left to show your work to buyers: paid avertising.
Which will be the theme of my next post!
A bientôt,
Patricia
PS: As I read-proof my post, it comes to me that my comments sound a little negative toward the site. Well, it’s the truth and I tell it like it is.
But I would like to remind you about what I said in the introduction: the concept to connect artists/retailers this way is unique (as far as I know). This site is established since 10 years and is an “institution” among retailers. This is a very important factor to consider and which, OMHO, outweighs the designs flaws.
© 2009 – Unleash the Spirit of Glass!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Patricia,
I have enjoyed reading your blogs. You are prolific and I salute you for sharing so much valuable information.
Your Chihuly youtube video just blew me away. Thank you for it!
I am opening a new gallery in about a month in Gilbert, AZ. WC has been invaluable to me. I placed about 20-30 orders at the ACRE show. The interesting thing to me is how differently the artists approach their end of the deal. Some contacted me when the delivery date was coming up. Some sent bio cards, hi rez images, and other promo literature. Some came as incredibly professional branded packages. By that I mean that everything tied together as a marketing tool.
On the other hand, some artists sent nothing but the product. Guess which will be easier for me to sell? I’ve done some follow-up with those who sent no promotional information, but I only have so much time. Many tell me to grab the info from their websites. I will, but only as time permits.
So much to learn–so little time!
Even though I have placed some orders from the site, I much prefer seeing the artists’ work in person. I’m sure I will do both in the course of my business.
I learn so much from the site and the forums on the site. I spend at least an hour there each day. This might be because I’m just in the preliminary stages of my business but, in spite of that, I love WC. My life is easier because of it.
Just a few thoughts from a gallery owner.
Hi Mary Ellen!
Thank you very much for taking time to comment and to share your point of view as a retailer.
I am glad that you like my blog and I also would like to welcome you at wholesalecrafts.com. This is a great place for artists and retailers to get connected!
Congratulations on the opening of a new gallery in Gilbert. I think that we have too few hand made arts and crafts galleries in the Valley. I am living in North Phoenix since 10 years, so I had plenty of time to look around.
I wish you the best for this new adventure. Please, keep us posted!
Patricia