When I used to raise puppies and sell them, I had my own webpage that I created from one of the places that you can make a website for free. I took pictures of the adult dogs, and then had pictures of the puppies from past litters. The way I advertised was from the free online classifieds, such as Kijiji, which is the eBay Classifieds website. They are similar to Craigslist in that they can be local; but you can also have your ads run nationwide and added to many of the free classifieds in other places. These classified websites have the small free ads that you can run, or you can pay a small amount (seems like $15 for 6 months) for an ad that gets circulated into other areas, and you can add more pictures than just the main picture. Since I just sold the puppies locally, I did not need the nationwide ads, but for selling craft items, then this would be a definite advantage. I also put a link in the ads that went back to my own webpage; so people would read the online ad, and then go to my webpage for more information. After I stopped raising puppies; I did not keep my list of the websites for free ads; but I found most of them in the first place by just doing a google search for "free classifieds", and then used the ones that looked like they would work best for me. I just did a search and actually found one of the (really old) ads that I had posted for pet portraits. You can see how there is room for pictures, information, and a link back to the webpage that I used to have (which no longer exists). There are actually a lot of these kinds of free ad sites, so some of them should work for about anything a person wants to make and sell. Here is the link to my old ad: http://www.adpost.com/us/pets/208567/
I just opened an Etsy store, but I am still trying to learn to use it. There is so much to try and learn about. SEO, keywords and how to market and get your item on the first page of a search seems to be the key.
I had an Etsy store for a few years when I had time to craft and market my crafts. It's not hard to navigate and the site doesn't draw the type of customer who doesn't understand that handmade is not cheaply made. I sold Barbie clothes which are very easy and cheap to make and market. Sometimes I wouldn't have a cent in the supplies because I would use any old clothes or linens I had lying around and yet I could sell a dress for $10.00 to $15.00 fairly easily. SEO and the proper use of keywords is very important though because you will not be the only one selling what you craft. I wish more people of my son's, mine and my Mom's generation would use it for their crafts because we are starting to loose the ability to buy handmade let alone learn about and cherish it.
Be careful about putting your heart and soul into Etsy. They've had a lot of bad press recently concerning people who buy junk from China and re-sell it as personally hand-crafted. Supposedly Etsy is also becoming very dictatorial, banning any member that dares to complain. As always, check it out thoroughly first.
My niece has an artistic hand with visual art and designs. She always wins in the project contest of their art subject. She can make cute stuff toys although she is not the one doing the sewing. My husband who is connected in the movie industry is thinking of inviting my niece to be an apprentice for production design. But that's another matter. An etsy store is one good venue for an outlet to artistic inclinations. I had already mentioned that to my niece but the issue is not about the artistry because an online store is a business. What my niece has in mind is being commissioned to do designs. She has no aptitude in business and she wants to focus in creative works only.
Yes, I agree. Etsy used to be strictly handmade (real handmade) and vintage, but now that China has gotten into the game, it seems there are sweatshop goods on there, just as there are all over eBay. If the shop looks too slick, it either means the person is selling something very unique and making a killing and can afford to pay for professional materials, or it could be a sign that it's not actually handcrafted by those selling it. There's a section when you list an item where you have to specify if it's make by you or someone in your shop, but of course they would say the items were made in their shop whether or not they were, since people like that have no problem bending the truth, let alone outright lying. It's become more and more difficult to sell on Etsy, let alone make a profit, between the third world goods and Google messing with the algorithms and goods not being seen in searches.
I tried to open an Etsy store when the concept was just released, but I had tons of domain names by that time, and I was unable to find any spare moment to make some crafts I had in mind, same as I could never get caught up those domains with matching websites. It was then an insane time trying to buy as many "virtual properties" as possible to supposedly make money from them, which was another myth. Probably if I would focus on Etsy, I would made more money than I made from domain names or monetizing websites.
I wanted to open an Etsy shop when I first learned of the site, but I just had too much going on, and didn't have the time or attention to devote to it at that point. Now that I have more time, it seems the opportunity has passed, since the site is saturated with products from China. I'm not sure the other sites are much better. I had a shop on another site that was started by people who had gotten disgusted with Etsy and left, but no one I know on that site ever made a sale, despite quite a bit of advertising, so I guess Etsy is still the place to be, despite lackluster sales and less emphasis on actual handcrafted goods.