Every crochet business is different. You will have a different niche, different product line, offer in store shopping, have no products at all and so many more other differences from everyone else. But no matter what your crochet business specifically offers, there are 6 things that every crochet business needs to have in place in order to make those all important profits.

To have the success and bring in the profits you need from your crochet, you really do need to have these 6 things setup and in place. Without them all you are really going to struggle to make those sales and see those profits realised.

Let’s go through each of the 6 things every crochet business needs to have and why they’re so important and vital to have in your business too.

1. A Way To Communicate With Your Audience

You need to be able to talk to your audience. So that you can show them what you do, tell them about your brand and what you’re working on.

There are many ways you can do this

• Social media channels
• Newsletters
• YouTube
• Podcasts

Just don’t overstretch yourself by trying to be everywhere. There’s only so much time that you have each day, and if you stretch yourself too thin your efforts to reach your audience just won’t work. Choose the 1 communication platform that works best for you. I guarantee that you can get any of them to work, as long as you put the effort into learning how it works, give it the time to build up your audience so that you are reaching new people. It takes time to learn what your audience want to see and hear and how to catch their attention, and it takes time to build up your audience who use that channel.

Most importantly, you need to USE that channel of communication. It sounds obvious, but all too often a crochet business fails because it simply doesn’t speak to it’s audience often enough to keep in their memory and become a go to brand.

2. A Way To Show Off Your Crochet

Whether you’re selling what you make, selling patterns, blogging or something else, you need to be able to show what you have to offer. This could be your social media platform, but also 3rd party selling platforms like Etsy or Shopify.

Yes, you can do this with your choice of communication platform too, but you need to match it with a way to give them ALL the details:

• How much it costs
• All the photos from different angles
• What is so great about it
• Why your audience need it
• How to buy it
• The link to buy
• Any personalisation or sizing options available

It’s more about showing some pretty pictures and a buy now link. It’s about giving potential customers all the information they could possibly need to make a decision to buy, about making them feel comfortable about buying from you. This is why I recommend using a third party platform like Etsy.

Etsy is a trusted platform for customers. They feel they have more consumer protections than if they buy from you over Facebook or Instagram. They feel that they are less likely to get scammed, and if they do stumble across a bad business they know that Etsy support can help them. No matter your own personal opinion on these platforms, the trust factor they give to your customers is well worth you considering using them as they can increase your sales significantly versus using social media or messaging platforms.

3. Great Photography

I would happily argue that having great photographs of your crochet is the most important element. After all you can have the most well crafted descriptions, a fabulous name for your crochet creation, but those are not going to catch anyone’s attention without some attention stealing pics.

Think about how you buy something if you go to a shop in the high street. You pick up that item, you turn it around, bring it up close so you can see the detail. You might try it on, you might run your hands over it to see how it feels. But you can’t do any of that when buying online. This is why your photos are so important – they have to replace the physical experience of going into a shop. So you need sharp, bright, detailed photos that show all the details from different angles and that give an indication of size and the context your crochet will be used or set in.

You don’t need to spend a fortune on a professional photographer either, you can take some great looking photos for yourself with just your smartphone, free editing aps and a simple budget friendly setup – I can show you how and all the steps you need to take in this ebook.

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Pinterest

4. A Way To Get Found

You’ve got to get yourself and your crochet found, a way for new people to discover you and your crochet so you can build up your audience and keep those sales and profits growing. You need a way to do that and I would highly recommend choosing a way that’s going to get you found on Google – although you can also use social media to do this too, it just takes far more work.

Ways that will get you found on search engines like Google are:

• Listing your crochet on a selling platform like Etsy, Shopify, Ravelry etc.
• A blog
• YouTube Channel
• Pinterest

The choice is yours, but the more of your people you can introduce yourself and your crochet too, the better. So make sure you choose the method (and you only need to choose 1 that you use to it’s maximum effect) that suits you the best. Then put all of your effort into learning how to use that method to it’s maximum effect so that you can reach as many new people as possible and grow your following.

5. A Way To Take Payments

Sounds simple I know, but you need a way for your customers to hand that cash over. But sometimes what is put in place can make it so complicated that potential customers give up and find someone who can give them what they want in a simpler way.

Remember that every time someone needs to make another click or send another message to pay you, it’s another chance that they will simply walk away because it feels like hard work. No one wants to feel that they’re clicking through endless pages and options to get what they want quickly.

If you are using a third party platform like Shopify or Etsy, then this is taken care of for you. But if you are using social media, you need to make the route from the decision to buy to handing over their credit card details as quick and painless as possible. You could do that by setting up PayPal or Stripe products so you get a checkout page built. You can also set up Payhip to do the same and give you more credibility as a trusted seller.

Simple is always best when it comes to getting through the checkout process.

6. A Way To Get Reviews

Your reviews can be used to bring you even more sales, so make sure you use them! You can showcase your reviews on your social media, add them to your website, have them on your listings or even show them off in your newsletters.

The recommendations of your previous customers can give future customers the confidence to buy from you for the first time, or give them that last little bit of encouragement they need to come off the fence and make that purchase they’ve been oohing and aahing over for a while.

So don’t leave those wonderful reviews to languish, make use of them and show them off!

There you have it. 6 things that every crochet business needs in order to become a success. Make sure all 6 of these things are in place, and you will will have the solid foundations that your crochet business needs to bring in those all important profits.

If you are ready to turn your crochet business into a recurring profit machine, there are 3 ways I can help you :

1. Listen to my podcast for more crochet tips and advice
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3. Check out my free Facebook group for daily tips, resources and support