Zibbet has made this possible. It astounds me (in a good way!) that the Zibbet philosophy is to give artists, crafters, artisans, vintage sellers, and craft supply sellers a place to gather all of their Internet presence and paste it onto one page to promote. They encourage that!
No more worrying about how/if you can link to your web site that sells the same items. No more worrying about promoting your bead shop from your jewelry shop. There is nothing to hide here. And, I love the openness and helpfulness of Zibbet admin when it comes to online selling and it is a welcomed breath of fresh air.
I have had GalleriaLindaLoft's Vintage Jewelry shop on Zibbet for a little over three months now and have opened another GalleriaLinda Bead Shop on Zibbet that will soon go "premium." The "Loft" shop is a premium shop and I am delighted in what I can do to help promote my tiny business.
I cannot fully express how much I love the look - very white, very clean, and very uncluttered, as an artisan community should be. And I can manage how large my product photos are, and the color of the Zibbet logo, and categories, and, and, and..... There are just too many features to describe right now and new features come on board weekly. Oh, and I just used the sale/discount/free shipping feature. Oh my goodness...no more editing EACH listing. One click and I am done!! There is a gift certificate feature too. Well, go check it out or I will talk your ear off. Zibbet is fairly new on the scene and traffic is building quickly and there is a certain excitement within the community.
You can check out my post on the GalleriaLindaShowcase handmade jewelry blog here. It has screen shots to give you a taste of how you can promote your other shops (with photo widgets), your Facebook, your Twitter accounts, and anything else with widgets!
Right now, until July 20 - you can get a FREE month when you become a premium member! After that you pay only $9 a month until the 119 (at this writing) shops are gone (then the price goes up). Click here to get started on Zibbet. Hope to see you there!
Sounds interesting. Will have to check it out. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteKayzKreations - your glass is beautiful. Thanks for your comment.
ReplyDeleteThis has been Artfire's philosophy from the get go...
ReplyDeleteIf you didn't know, do have a look at this page for all the information:
http://www.artfire.com/sell-crafts
Also, before opening shops all over the place, it is important to check the site traffic, page loading speed, etc. on the Alexa.com website.
To compare, here's the stats for Zibbet:
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/zibbet.com#
And here's the stats for Artfire:
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/artfire.com#
So, as you can see, Artfire a MUCH BETTER ranking and way more traffic, etc.
So, if you are going to invest money every month to have a site, Artfire has FREE unlimited basic accounts, and if you want to upgrade to a "Pro" membership with a monthly fee to have access to even more tools, then to me, the money is better spent on Artfire than on Zibbet.
The numbers talk. The service on Artfire is top-notch btw, and they teach sellers a lot of things...
Just food for thought. It's good to be able to make informed decisions when more data is available.
Hi Nathalie, I appreciate your comments.
ReplyDeleteIn the spirit of open discussion, I wanted to respond to a couple of things. You are right that the numbers speak - but take into consideration the age of the site.
I have had both an Artfire pro account (now downgraded) and now I Have an unlimted basic account on Artfire.
While I appreciate the free shop setup I find the free shop to be trashy looking because of all the ads moving and popping all around my items. It is unbelievable. I realize that AF must pay for that free shop somehow, so it is my own decision as to whether to put up with it or not. I seek an environment that is artful in its look and there are several - 1000 markets is a good clean look, iCraft.ca, and Etsy has indeed cleaned up their look. As sellers, we will select those venues where our products look best and as you say, where "the numbers" fit. I sell my handmade on iCraft.ca because of this very reason. Also demographics are very important to know for each venue that one is considering.
I agree that in the press "This has been Artfire's philosophy from the get go..." However, I have not appreciated the war of words and ways of dissing other venues in the process. That is just not necessary and has turned off a lot of sellers that I have heard from over the last couple of years.
Frankly, I was VERY excited when AF came on board. I know now that AF is not the best place for me or my products.
At any rate, yes, AF is definitely somewhere to look if you are considering another shop. I personally do not like the design as it is cluttered and never did - even when they redesigned it. I believe in clean and uncluttered and this is of course, every seller's decision.
I still say that Zibbet is an excellent place to look into. I am enthused about the opportunities there. I find the atmosphere to be refreshing.
Any online seller who is looking for a venue will come across all of them. It is a research effort to find the best spot for their products and there are articles on this blog that help to guide sellers in that decision.
Not every venue is the best choice for everyone or every product. We must research. I am glad you have found a venue that works well for you.