Comments on: Top Reasons I Have My Own Website

By: Jenny

Jenny — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 18:39:35 +0000

After failing at trying to integrate my Etsy/ArtFire shops with my WordPress blog, I just bit the bullet and paid for a subscription with BigCartel. I like it so far, and my only gripe with it is as you say, it only allows PayPal. I’ve had 2 sales in a month with minimal advertising, so at least it paid for itself!

By: Smaller Box :: Blog :: Cool Tools: Ecwid

Smaller Box :: Blog :: Cool Tools: Ecwid — Fri, 21 May 2010 10:50:58 +0000

[...] said it before, I’ll say it again. YOU NEED YOUR OWN WEBSITE. Getting one can be challenging for small online retailers because of the technical skills often [...]

By: Smaller Box :: Blog :: What the Heck is an Affiliate Program?

Smaller Box :: Blog :: What the Heck is an Affiliate Program? — Thu, 13 May 2010 13:43:22 +0000

[...] the millionth time on this blog, I’m prefacing this article by saying YOU NEED YOUR OWN WEBSITE. You cannot take advantage of an affiliate program if you only sell on sites like Etsy or Ebay. Now [...]

By: Meredith

Meredith — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:16:45 +0000

@Dorothyann Strange Just buy the domain name from any domain name registrar.

By: Dorothyann Strange

Dorothyann Strange — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:03:18 +0000

Don’t have a website yet but would like to protect a domain name. How do I go about doing that??

Thanks for the good info here!!

By: Smaller Box :: Blog :: Email Marketing Part 1: How to Get Subscribers

Smaller Box :: Blog :: Email Marketing Part 1: How to Get Subscribers — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:54:39 +0000

[...] sign up box on your pages. You can read more about why I recommend you get your own website here. In the meantime, one thing you can do is provide a link to sign up for your list in your order [...]

By: Smaller Box :: Blog :: 10 Habits of Highly Annoying Websites

Smaller Box :: Blog :: 10 Habits of Highly Annoying Websites — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:29:32 +0000

[...] Shopping carts that require registration This is one of my biggest gripes about Etsy. If you have your own website, make sure you aren’t making this mistake. Don’t make [...]

By: Meredith

Meredith — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:31:33 +0000

@Michele, true, that is a good 2nd best option. If going that route the crafter can still give out the link to their URL instead of Etsy (often your own URL is easier to remember too). They can then use their own site to link up their social media accounts, newsletter, do some SEO, etc and still use a site like Etsy or Artfire or whatever to actually do their ecommerce.

By: Michele

Michele — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:28:03 +0000

Good article. I always suggest crafters build their own website. It doesn’t have to be an all or nothing situation either. Many crafters have very effectively embedded or linked to their Etsy shop from the website. Even if a crafter isn’t “ready” to run their own site, they should invest the $10 a year on the domain name that matches their shop name. That way they can protect their brand going into the future and avoid having to compete with another artisan using the same name.