The most successful marketers seem to do a combination, using multiple channels and with different purposes and audiences. Timothy Adams seems to have this stuff down cold in terms of using them all together effectively. In order to know what to do and how much etc., you need to have a business plan. That's going to help you decide how to spend your resources (time and money) most effectively in order to meet your goals.


Until just recently I think that managing their own web site was too technical for a lot people, including myself. But in the last couple years it seems like it has become much easier, particularly with the advent of blogging. I'm sure someone here will have some specifics for you on that. I've heard horror stories about web hosts going out of business and people having to start over to build their sites - no idea if that's still a problem or not.

I think a personal page is good for new customers..Etsy and other market places are good to sell different items. I have differemt items on different pages

Just answering this as until last year I had a premium webstore front..but unfortunately the cost of running it was too costly not only due to the economy slump hitting but other personal situations that abounded. So I erred to caution and down graded the site to a standard store - meaning that I know longer had monthly costs of hosting or the premium amount to pay each month. The beauty of this particular store front is that the company who runs it offers the basic store for free - with all the gadgets & tools you could possibly think of to make it work.

As with any business - the more you get yourself noticed the more people will want to seek you out. As Jkay said - having several options open to you is far better than remaining exclusive to one particular option as you have already limited the market you will attract.

Bottom line is - if you wish to run several online site ie Etsy, Artfire or even include a specific premium store front site - the big question you need to ask yourself is how much can you afford to pay for the costs of hosting or premium rates that will be required each & every month? If money is not a problem for you - then go with as much as your budget allows, and if it is - then still go with as many basic sites as you can. One thing I will say - keeping up with all the things you need to update and do even if you have only basic sites can still be time consuming...as I'm sure some of us know..lol

Btw...the store front I was referring to is run byhttp://www.vstore.ca - but it is a lot of work!! I can only say that being a bit of a computer nerd helped me tremendously lol

I'd say all. Etsy is a huge, pro market place for handmades products, ArtFire is still a baby but it will eventually get there. Participate in all the sites, at the same time work for your very own website - cause eventually, everyone needs a home of their own.

Regards,
Corra

I second Corra. I have an Etsy and Artfire (free package) where I currently list only my tutorials, I also have my own website where I also list jewellery. It is a lot of work to maintain them all, but well worth the effort :)

Abby

Hi girls,

Tq so much for the answers. I will consider a building up a website in the future. I do agree that everybody need a place for their own collections.

I have a shop on Etsy which has all of my jewelry and my daughter's jewelry. I also list on some other sites from time to time, but the majority of my time is spent on Etsy. Also, I just set up a new website recently for my most current wire work only, and I found a great/easy place to set up the site - best of all, it's free. It's called Weebly.com.

Hope this helps.

--Jai

I have both an etsy and artfire shop which were started this summer. I have made sales in my etsy account and none in my artfire account. I do promote my etsy account more than artfire. It depends who you speak to as to which is best. I find the community on etsy is more helpful. This is my site:
http://bstrung.etsy.com

Good Luck!