Arts and crafts are defined as activities or hobbies related to making things with one’s hands, simple tools and skills. For instance, some examples include jewelry making, beading, painting, sewing, woodworking, and many more. Artisans and crafters sell their handmade creations at tradeshows, craft fairs, retail shops, galleries, consignment shops, and also online.
Selling online is an ideal venture for artists and crafters. This venue opens an opportunity to reach a wide range of prospective customers from all around the world. However, online presence is often limited to marketplaces such as eBay, Etsy, Art Fire or on free websites. Understandably, artisans and crafters are often not comfortable being involved in high tech applications. Additionally, these people are mostly hobbyists and they do not have a large quantity of products to sell.
Those artisans and crafters who are serious about their crafts are professional and they actively sell their creations. If you are in this group, and you have a large quantity of products, having your own website brings many advantages including:
- Owning your own domain name, which is your business name;
- Growing your crafting business to any size and be profitable doing so;
- Creating your business image and reputation;
- Creating brand awareness;
- Increasing sales more than just brick and mortar selling.
With all the advantages to grow and help your business achieve success, having your own website is a must. The first major step is to find the web host provider to host your website. Depending on your budget, there are many web hosting providers that offer unlimited space for artisans and crafters to showcase their handmade creations. Here are the steps to find a web host for your arts and crafts business:
- Ask other artisans and crafters about their web hosting company;
- Narrow down your selection of web host providers to five, and select the one that fits your needs, and gives the best value and service for your money;
- Choose a web host provider who offers a free shopping cart template;
- If you prefer to have a blog theme website, a web host provider that offers the WordPress application as an option to build your website is a good choice.
You can save time searching for a web host provider for your arts and crafts business by looking at these five web hosting companies. Each has detailed reviews about pricing, features and reliability: