# Business news



## RussellAP (Feb 21, 2012)

You all know how hard it is to make a buck doing woodworking. Last summer I tried to sell Adirondack Chairs with no luck. 
In November I added a lathe to my tool inventory and it seems to be my little money maker. It's sold more than anything else I've made. Which is good because I can hold on to the larger stuff like blanket chests till I have an opportunity to perhaps market that to someone in person.

Last night I decided to take the plunge with Facebook. I've had a business page there since May of last year. I decided to advertise my page. 
I set a limit of 10$ per day. They only take money for driving traffic, so if you end up actually paying 10$ day you got some awesome traffic out of it. To give you an idea, I set a limit of 10$ per day and have only been charged about 6$ today and have been visited 2200 times already. I'm planing to lift the limit a little if this keeps up.

My total possible reach with this ad is about 10 million people. 
This morning my page had 154 likes, and now its on 179 likes. Thats a months growth in half a day guys.

I don't know how it will pan out for sales yet, but one thing is for sure, you cant sell if no one sees you.

Comments?


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## whitebeast88 (May 27, 2012)

great idea russell,sounds like your getting alot of lookers and that should make you some good returns soon.
hope everything works out for the best for you.


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## richardwootton (Jan 17, 2013)

That is a great idea Russell. When I get to a point when I am able to start selling on a more regular basis then I will give this idea a shot!


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## Bob817 (Nov 17, 2011)

Wow! That's great Russell, Thanks for the heads up!


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

Well? What is it so we can like it too?


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## RussellAP (Feb 21, 2012)

Sorry Dallas I thought you already knew. https://www.facebook.com/OutdoorFurnitureDesignByRussell


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## woodbutcherbynight (Oct 21, 2011)

It will be interesting to see how this turns into sales, keep posting on your success. Myself I make pens and sell word of mouth and take no orders. My run of production is 2 1/2 months during the winter and when those are gone, they are gone. Rarely have more than 5-8 pens left after any season but manage to make enough profit to pay for other items I want to expand the shop. While I can make lots of things rarely has anyone been willing to pay a fair price and I am not into that charity thing when it comes out of my mad money. The salesman gene passed me by I am guessing. (laughing)


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## RussellAP (Feb 21, 2012)

@woodbutcherbynight. I have sold a couple bowls, one went for 125$. Most are from 50-80$ and I give 20% discounts to returning customers. I just have to stay up on the inventory, because this page is taking off, it's at 211 likes now. When I hit about 300 likes, I should start to see some sales. When I get to 1000 I will be hard pressed to keep up. All in all, I've sold more clocks that anything so far, but that will change this week I have a feeling.


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

There, I helped! I liked it too, that gives you 222! Good Luck!


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## GT350 (Dec 22, 2012)

I'm #224


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## tncraftsman (Oct 21, 2009)

Interesting comment about the lathe work.

I've seen a couple of jobs posted online requiring lathe work. I'm guessing it's a specialized skill.


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## BinghamtonEd (Nov 30, 2011)

Russell, I think that it sounds like a great idea. I'm #240. One thing I've seen some other FB businesses do is post something like "Once we hit 1,000 likes" (or some other amount), one person will be selected at random to receive a free X" where X is an item you determine. Doesn't have to be anything pricey, but it may generate some traffic and get some word of mouth going, especially if the lucky person talk about their free X on FaceBook.


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## RussellAP (Feb 21, 2012)

Ed, that sounds like a great idea, its just so hard to do that in the chaos that is FB. I do have an offer out for 10% off the price for new friends to the page. 
The main thing I'm targeting these ads for is to get Likes on the page. 
Once you get to the 300 friends mark I believe you'll start seeing sales generated from the page.

I had an old friend from HS invite me to lunch next week, he owns and ad agency here in town. I'm hoping he isn't trying to just make some money off me, and perhaps even help an old classmate up the ladder. I know the main thing I'd love to do if I ever became successful at this, is to help others achieve their dreams.

As a true American with true liberal and somewhat progressive tendencies, I think it's incumbent upon us to help those less fortunate or that are struggling to make it. If we all helped another person reach their goals and dreams, we have improved the world.


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## TheDane (May 15, 2008)

Russell … Where are your customers coming from? Are they local, regional, etc.?

Do you set up at craft fairs, swap meets, etc.?


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## RussellAP (Feb 21, 2012)

Gerry, I haven't had enough sales to make a determination, but I can tell you that sales come from some strange places. I was on a blogging site for years and I revived the blog after a couple years of doing nothing and started posting my work there. I sold a bowl for 125$ to an old friend there and she has driven business to me via her blog. This is one of the main reasons I quit trying to do outdoor furniture, even though I'll make some for locals, it can't be shipped. So with the addition of the lathe, I have a product that can be easily shipped and I've opened up a market that is much larger than just the locals.

I fear that if I do not sell well, I may have to do the craft fair stuff even though I'd prefer not to. It's a lot of work and expense. Some guys love it though. But you have to do something when you have 50 bowls made.


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

*But you have to do something when you have 50 bowls made.*

Start having "Tupperware" style parties! Oo}


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## YanktonSD (Jun 21, 2011)

Hey Russell,
I am by trade a guru on marketing. I have used Facebook advertising a lot for both getting a message out and for selling an item. It is really tough to convert "likes" into sales. What will work better is once you have those likes create an event like "march Madness" and tell all of your friends and likes about something you have done for a client or have a client do a video of what they think of your quality and work. You will be amazed how well that will add up to sales. (normally I make big $$$ for that advice. LOL)


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## RussellAP (Feb 21, 2012)

@YanktonSD, Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. The ad is to drive likes to the page and the ad is targeted to people who like that sort of thing and women. I need a following for anything to work and this ad seems to be doing the trick. I know it wont generate many sales, but you do need a spot on the internet and Facebook is an excellent place to be because it shows customers that things are happening. If I just make a web page it will die in the sea of all the other web pages. Sure you have to have one, but I only drive people there who need more than what I give them on FB. So first I think I'll build an audience with capabilities to share with even more and then I can do events and reach more people. 
Did FB just start charging to do an offer/event, I saw a video where they said very plainly it was free.


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## RussellAP (Feb 21, 2012)

Dallas, I can accumulate many more bowls than Adirondack chairs. lol.


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## Tim457 (Jan 11, 2013)

"I had an old friend from HS invite me to lunch next week, he owns an ad agency here in town. I'm hoping he isn't trying to just make some money off me, and perhaps even help an old classmate up the ladder."

He probably is trying to make money off you, but he's probably also looking to see if he can help you. They don't have to be separate. You just have to decide if it's what you're looking for.


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## RussellAP (Feb 21, 2012)

@Tim, seeing all the offers come out of the woodwork kind of makes me think I'm on the right track without any of them. They wouldn't be banging on my door if they thought I wasn't marketable. So first I'm going to do it my way and see how that works out.


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## OnlyJustME (Nov 22, 2011)

I tried to like your FB page too but then it yelled at me to sign up and what not so i ran screaming. lol

Good luck with your future business. You have some really nice looking bowls.


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## Tim457 (Jan 11, 2013)

Russel that's not a bad observation. But if your classmate is any good he can come up with a better marketing plan than you can and make you much more money than his service costs. I've never been in marketing exactly but I was in sales for ten years. I left deals on the table when it wasn't good for the client. Not all sales/business people will do that, but the good ones will. That's what you have to judge of course. Worth the lunch even if you don't hire him. Maybe he needs some of your stuff.


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## yrob (May 26, 2008)

I have read before (cant find the source to quote it right now) that typically, email campaigns produce a conversion rate of less than a percent.

If we assume that reaching customers via Facebook is like emailing them, then you need a lot of "likes" or mass mailings to turn out customers. 1000 likes perhaps will net you a few customers. Sounds about right.


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## moke (Oct 19, 2010)

Russell, 
After being a businessman for a very long time, I have been scammed by some of the best in the advertising business. They all seem to have some sort of hook….this one appears to be the amount of hits that are generated. 2200 per day seems like a lot, but will that translate to business? Is'nt Facebook worldwide, how many of the hits will translate to actual sales. It sounds like you could feaseably pay 3500.00 per year for this advertising….( they always try to break it down to the lowest possible amount..like 10.00 per day)and a possible 310.00 per month. The bottom line is what do you have as a porfit margin per month. If this advertising is 10 - 15% of your gross maybe it is worth it. I hate to be negative, but I doubt it. Phone books make you sign a year contract, I certainly wouldn't even consider that.
Phone books hook is usually something free, like color in your ad or another listing somewhere that the next year they just automatically ad in the following year, and have a new freebe for this year, that they will try and hook you with the following and so on….they also have an "independant" study why they are the best….of course they all have a study like that. In my years of owning this business I have found good advertising that actually generated sales to be few and far between. Most of the time, I felt that I would have done just as well by walking to the street with some cash and throwing it…at least some one might benefit from finding it!!!!
The last down side is the ad sales people look at ads here and there and then put you down in their "possible sales" book. So once you begin to run ads, your phone will begin to ring…but it will be other ad people with the next greatest idea…..
I am not saying not to advertise, because that is a bad idea too. We have just found specific ways of targeting our audiences and stuck to that course. And just to put this expenditure in perspective, I paid 3600.00 for my sawstop….isn't that just one year of this payment if it doesn't generate sales?
Good luck,
Mike


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## darinS (Jul 20, 2010)

420 here dude


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## TheDane (May 15, 2008)

Mike … Your point about 'likes' translating to bankable sales is spot on … that's why I asked where his customers/results were coming from.

I have always had some serious questions about the value of a local business using FaceBook as an advertising medium. I'm sure there is some data somewhere that supports it, but I'm still a skeptic. I think stuff like FaceBook should, at best, be supplemental to whatever advertising or promotional campaign the business owner settles on.


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## huff (May 28, 2009)

I'm inclined to agree with Moke and TheDane.

Isn't paying for hits on facebook about the same as paying for hits on google? Google and Facebook are only interested in making money off you and could care less who they direct to your site.

I was hoping YanktonSD was going to follow up with his advice (he said he was by trade a guru in marketing) and help us all understand marketing on facebook. I'm sure Russell isn't the only one interested in that type marketing.

I'm more old school; I like to target my marketing to a customer base that may be interested in my type woodworking, but I'm always willing to learn new and (better?) ways to market.


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## RussellAP (Feb 21, 2012)

Sometimes the topic will stray and take on a life of it's own. That's normal. 
So let me lasso it back in to what I'm actually saying here.

I'm paying a maximum of 10$ per day, for a week to run ads on Facebook targeted to people in interior design, art, wood, and small businesses or have these interests. 
The purpose is not to sell with the ad, it's to drive traffic with the ads.

Selling wood turnings is not easy and in fact is in many ways quite impossible. You have to get people in a mood to buy frivoless stuff for high $$. This only happens in atmospheres geared to displaying frivoless stuff en-mass.

Facebook is about the most frivoless place I know, so it's perfect to sell items of this nature. It's a question of volume. You want to get on as many peoples list as you can. It's name recognition. They'll remember when they want what you have, and they'll tell others when they are looking for gifts and just want to look at pretty things.

I'm not financed so I'm not going to do any large campaigns. Any advertising must pay for itself, so until that can happen, I have to work to get my name out wherever I can. Facebook is the easiest way to do that. If you get into the right circles and make the right friends that's the key to the whole thing. You may think it's turning great items, but it's just like everything else in life, Who.You.Know.

In otherwords, you do what you can to get before the kings. Else you might as well quit and make bandsaw boxes the rest of your life.


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

Russell, have you looked into Linkedin or one of the Google apps?

I use to do a lot of Detroit diesel repair on the old 2 cycle Detroit engines. Linkedin was a networking source that brought me together with buyers, parts suppliers and other mechanics. 
Now that I don't do that anymore due to physical injuries, I still get quite a bit of interest and networking because of it.


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## Ply (Mar 21, 2013)

You are paying for "impression's" as they call it.

If you got 20 for $10.00 that's .50 each. Not a bad rate, not really good either. Now add in the multiplier of around 2, meaning for each person that likes you 2 of their friends will see it, and that number drops.
Now add in that you have folks on a mailing list and you have something companies will pay whole dollars for. Sometimes several dollars each.

You are working to create "Top of mind presence" meaning when they do want a "widget" it's your widgets they remember.

Dollar for dollar return on advertizing is a myth and return can take years to realize.

Good for you getting your name out there. Up your prices a few dollars to absorb the expenses.

The world will not beat a path to the door of the man building a better mousetrap if nobody knows he built it.


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

Good luck with it. Seems like advertising seems to attract more people wanting to sell advertising than anything else. Stay away from AT&T and their new name YP.com. They were formerly AT&T Advertising Solutions.


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## MarkDavisson (Apr 26, 2009)

Russell, everyone has advice for you. I'm going to add mine.

Test, test, test. And measure, measure, measure. Facebook allows you to alter your target audience(s), so do it. The same is true of Google Ad Words (except what you specify are search terms). The same is true of Linkedin and Twitter.

I've learned in the marketing business that your big success often comes from unexpected places.


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## moonie (Jun 18, 2010)

sweet page Russel


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## mojapitt (Dec 31, 2011)

I definitely want to know how it goes for you. I personally hope you are overwhelmed with sales.


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## Shaker (Mar 22, 2013)

Russell, 
Very nice work! Unless I missed it you might want to consider an Etsy shop or your own website. When those Likes come to your FB page you can direct them by a Link to a place where they can Buy them while it's fresh in their mind. With as many Likes as you are getting I think you will do well converting to Sales.


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## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

That sounds great, Russell. You can also use your facebook page to draw traffic to your web site. Best of luck on your venture and may you always be happy in your work.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

Russell, open some kind of online store front where people can view and purchase your items online. If you already have one, there are many apps that integrate your store with your FB page. you fans can simply shop from your facebook.

My wife runs our facebook and etsy store. We just kind of make what we feel like making and throw it out there. We don't really do active marketing at all. So far since mid January we have sold about 1,500.00 in cutting boards and probably about 360.00 in pens/razors/small turned items.

The vast majority of sales are from repeat customers, and those customers came from Facebook and buy direct. Etsy is pretty slow and we really don't pay much attention to our store.

Edit - I forgot one of her coworkers bought a sizable amount of pens, so the pen revenue is closer to 600.00. You already have a lathe, I would suggest turning a few. The profit margin is quite good as materials are inexpensive and you can turn most pens in about half an hour from raw materials to finished product.


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## RussellAP (Feb 21, 2012)

Joe, we should talk more about this. I really feel the need to either partner with someone capable of doing marketing and sales or I need to hire it out. I need to make not sell. Sometimes I'm up till 3AM marketing, or training with videos. I can't go on this way, getting to that age you know.

I need the framework set up, etsy, Ebay, I have a CustomMade account but they charge 10% which cuts into my sales discounts terribly so I'm not directing anyone there. I know I should have a website, but with all the stuff out there I think a webpage would just die. Integrating Etsy with FB sounds interesting. Maybe your wife could write me up a step by step.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

Also one more thing about Facebook that Mike (Moke) alluded to - keep an eye on your Insights. Likes really don't mean much. Engaged users is your real metric. There are millions of people (literally) that like EVERYTHING on facebook. If you look through your user base, you can probably just disregard a "like" from generating any revenue if the person has more than 50 likes.

Also you don't really want to reach that many people with ads. It's a waste of ad money if you get a like that will 100% never turn into revenue. You can really pair down you ads to narrow the audience. Some tips that worked well for me:

Milestones:
Got engaged
Got Married
Bought a house
Moved recently

Interests
Shopping/retail
Crafts
Cooking
Housewares

Things to exclude
Anywhere you wouldn't ship anything
Anyone who doesn't speak english (Not being racist, but if they can't read your page, they aren't going to buy anything. If you are going for "fans" and not sales, that is a different story)
Woodworkers, people in the construction trade, mechanical/automotive interests. Again, they make good fans, but they want to "like" you stuff so they can make it themselves. You aren't going to sell to these people.

Ages under 25. They are not going to buy anything made from wood as a general rule. I know there are exceptions, but you are going to have to look at this based on the pareto principle. It's not worth marketing to the 100% of that age group when statistically only 20% may buy something

Don't exclude men! A lot of advice out there says to target mostly women (for the kitschy stuff anyway, like bowls, pens, cutting boards, etc). Our sales are about 50/50

Get your message out there!! If you are a fan of the Woodcraft site, you have probably seen a lot of my pens and cutting boards. I post them there a lot, and Woodcraft shares them. For the week of Valentines day, they used my wife's heart shaped boards as their cover photo. Obviously there has to be something in it for them, so mention a product they sell that you used to craft your piece. The key here is DO NOT TRY AN SELL on their page. Simply put it out there. Upload a photo directly. Don't link an etsy/online store. If you do, you look like a troll/spammer.

Also find "liked" pages your fans also like and are active on. We got a few sales because we posted some cutting boards to Martha Stewart's facebook. Again, don't just spam. Find something topical and relevant to the current content (valentines day = heart cutting boards. Easter = turned easter eggs).

I am not a marketing expert, and as I said I don't really even have the time or motivation to actively market because I am not super interested in making tons of sales, I just want other people to pay for the wood and supplies I use to make things. The fun for me is in the process. Once I finish with something, I lose all interest in it.


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## huff (May 28, 2009)

Lumberjoe;

Thanks for some really good advice and thanks for taking the time to explain not only how, but why you do it the way you do. Maybe that's what everyone else that talks about on line sales is trying to explain, but for some reason you make more sense of it for me.

Simply getting "likes" and "fans" was hard for me to understand how that would generate sales, but you helped me understand their more to it then that. I'm sure I'm the thick one here, but your information has been a big help. Thanks!

Russell, Keep up the good work, but don't work yourself to dealth! lol I really enjoy following your progress and wish you all the success.


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## RussellAP (Feb 21, 2012)

John and Joe, I do get some flack for paying to drive traffic to my site. I've spent 37$ so far and I've reached 18,500 people and so far 520 of them have liked the page. I'm seeing my posts getting to more people now, not the whole 520, but a larger % then with 154 likes. 
You have to do several of these types of campaigns to get an audience or no matter what you do, no one will see it. And suppose you do something stellar that your small flock of 154 go nuts over and it goes viral, how much more so would it be with 500 or 1000 likes. So it's like fishing, you bring in the net and throw away the old tires and toilet seats and work with what your got.

After I get a fair amount engaged in my page, I can start having offers and events and I'm pretty sure I can get sales out of that.

I will keep you posted though.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

John, you reminded me of another good point. Don't compete with other people on facebook/etsy/etc. Make friends with them, share their stuff, be a good citizen. Even if it something very similar to what you make. If you genuinely like it, "like" or share it. They will do the same for your stuff. Let the customers decide what they want to buy. You will generate a lot of additional traffic that way.

Others may feel differently, however I think the crafts my wife and I make stand well on their own merits. I will gladly showcase other stuff I haven't made but I think is awesome.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

We've spent like 15$ ever on promoting a few posts. We have 168 "likes", but our average reach is about 55,000. When a large facebook page shares something of ours, it's more than triples temporarily. I'm curious to see what your reach is with more than double the amount of likes.


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## Dakkar (Feb 14, 2013)

I'd be interested in knowing how your Facebook experiment comes along, Russell. I've been involved in web marketing for some time, but I haven't ever done any Facebook advertising. I can give you some valuable tips right now, though. First off, I'd suggest setting up a regular website, even if though a publicly visible free service like WordPress.com or Blogger. When I just clicked the Facebook link on your home page I got a blank page. Most of the Internet world may be on Facebook, but not everybody.

Take full advantage of all the free social media reach you can. Right now YouTube is one of the best ways on the web to rank in Google search. Learn a bit about "keyword research". If your titles and copy include the same words people are searching for, they'll find you. Check out newer social media sites like Google+ and Pinterest. G+ has a pretty small woodworking community right now, but that means you can stand out there easily. Pinterest, being very visual with a high female demographic is ideal for showcasing woodworking.

Basically, if you get in the habit of posting social media focused toward your target market, your dependence on paid advertising will lesson considerably. I'm not quite with you about avoiding eBay, Etsy and others, though. In order to sell on the web you have to have a processing system of some sort, and those offer that, as well as a degree of traffic and customer trust. Those things are well worth 10% in my book. Try to put a piece in a local gallery and see what they charge you.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

Exactly the reason we have an Etsy. I don't care if I ever get an "organic" Etsy sale (although there have been quite a few), it a very cheap web sale processing engine. .20 to list something and 2% commission. They will process any major credit card and PayPal. I'm sure there are cheaper ways to do this yourself, but Etsy is REALLY easy. Even when we custom make something, a placeholder goes on Etsy for the customer to purchase it. The recordkeeping is valuable as well. You have a history of all of your customers.

If you were so inclined, you can use a GOOD (not spammy) email marketing campaign like Constant Contact to engage people that have purchased from you.


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## RussellAP (Feb 21, 2012)

Joe, of course FB stats are behind the actual ad stats. Before the ad I was averaging a reach of about 750 a day. After the ad came out it showed a jump to 9,000. But like I said, it's a day or so behind the ad stats which is saying that as of now, its reached 18,500.


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## huff (May 28, 2009)

Russell,

You have a good thread going here and hope everyone will continue to contribute their ideas.

Joe; another good one!

I mentioned earlier I was old school and did more face to face selling and my marketing was more geared to that, but didn't mean that in a negative way, but simply how we go about marketing our woodworking.

My main income was from selling large items,(my average sale was $5,000 to $ 8,000 per item) so face to face selling worked best for that type sales. I also sold a lot of small items, like clocks, cutting boards, boxes, etc. but that was not what I relied on for making my living.

Selling large items or small pieces, I never worried about the compitetion. I was always willing to put my work up to others and let the customer decide, so you make a good point Joe.

This is why I'm so interested in Russell's thread and I'm sure there are a lot of other woodworkers that would like to have good information on selling their woodworking on-line.

Thanks again


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

Like I said about being a "good citizen", it's easier to increase your reach when a largeer company shares your stuff a lot. There are a few business sites that share our stuff often. We instantly acquire a good percentage of their reach.

Which is another good marketing tactic talked about on the Etsy forums a lot. I don't use twitter at all (personally or professionally), but apparently it's a goldmine for driving business. There are already companies slightly aligned to yours that have spent tons of money building the right audience. All you need to do is go in and "steal" them, since Twitter follower information is public


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## Dakkar (Feb 14, 2013)

It'll take you a whole 5 minutes to set up a Twitter account, Joe. And there are plenty of articles around on how it best utilize it for marketing. It's much simpler than dealing with Facebook.

I've got a jewelry making pal (known all over the web as "Noadi", BTW) who's had a fair bit of marketing success by setting up pages (known as "lenses") at Squidoo.com. This site lets anyone set up useful pages on any subject. She's done over 150 or so. You can link to pretty much anything on these and even earn income from Amazon commission on the side.


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## clieb91 (Aug 17, 2007)

Russell, Glad to hear you got the page up. It looks pretty good and it kind of looks like you have the right idea by posting a little something each day to stay in the minds of your "Likes" My wife and I subscribed to that marketing deal when we first posted our page up on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/PortablePastimes
What we found were some really off the wall likes from a lot of foreign countries. Now not saying that is a completely bad thing but in going into look at the folks that liked us, let's just say their personal pages did not fit into the demographic we are reaching out towards nor did the pages fit with any type of image that we were interested in being associated with. That being said we were able to narrow down the arrow that the ads would run in and came up with a number of more localized people. Since we primarily sell at Craft Fairs that is what we were looking for. 
I think used properly Facebook is a very good marketing tool. Main thing seems to be keep it busy and up to date. Certainly going to check this thread off as a Watch and interested in how things sort out for you.

CtL


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## fge (Sep 8, 2008)

I pay a flat rate fee of 150.00 per month for SEO. My SEO manager is awesome and has me ranked #1 or #2 on all local relevant Google searches. We are very easily found online when someone in San Antonio searches for custom cabinets or kitchen cabinets. And as far as the monthly cost, it actually ends up being free to me. We have sold several thousands via SEO marketing. As a recent example, last month we sold 2 separate 10,000.00 projects as a result of our Google presence. This week we completed a 24,000.00 job that resulted from our web presence. In this job, the customer lives in Wisconsin and he forced his high end builder to use us. The guy found me on Google, called me and held a 1 hour thorough interview grilling me with detailed questions. Now that the job is finished, we were complimented continually by both the builder and his wife. I have little doubt that more jobs will result from this job. And 2 weeks ago we sold a 4,200.00 job from our web presence.

And did I mention since we are booked through June currently, I have been turning work away every week, which I hate to do.

So in the end, nothing gets the phone ringing better than being at the top of Google. Yes we have a FB page, but I am just way too busy to do much with it.


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## fge (Sep 8, 2008)

And I cannot say what has worked for us will work for everyone else. But if anyone wants to try I am willing to provide info on my SEO.

We also get jobs from other tradesman referrals, such as granite companies. And also from some minimal walk in traffic. We will loose walk in traffic soon when we move to our shop on our private land.


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## Dakkar (Feb 14, 2013)

And as far as the monthly cost, it actually ends up being free to me.

Marketing is always free if it's done right. It sounds like that's what you're doing, Jerry.


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## fge (Sep 8, 2008)

I consider myself lucky in some ways. But I researched a ton in areas relevant to our situation which helped a lot, staying up late at night many nights reading about SEO. We actually work 30 minutes south of San Antonio in the country so without an online presence no one in San Antonio or surrounding areas would know about us. And most who live near us do not have a budget for our product.


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