Ads

Write ads that are clear and concise. When people look up keywords for your website, you'll need to put a description for what it is your selling.
I won't be using adwords for my site, however. Or I won't be implementing a ad campaign for my 'business.' I don't necessarily see art commissions as something that is marketable. Besides, even if I were to get really popular, it's likely I wouldn't be able to handle very many orders at a time. Maybe five at maximum, but right now I'd be luck if I could work on three, or even get three commissions. Making myself more known with a 'business' like this is a bit more unique since it's based around a following that's more familiar than an actual business, it's nice since I don't have to be quite as formal. But I have a clear goal of how to build my popularity, and that is going to take learning and work, since it's art, not a fad or a viral product.

Keywords

Keywords are of course super important for your website. They're basically the equivalent of tags on social sites. Or tags are the equivalent of keywords for websites. Basically keywords are what ques to your website in web searches. So being specific as well as broad is essential. For instance if your selling cowboy boots you would use the words, 'cowboy' 'boots' and 'shop.' You should also put 'shoes' 'online' other things like that, something you would put in a search engine to find what you're looking for.

Google Adwords

I'm going to go ahead and say that this is a widget that will more likely be detrimental than helpful for my site. Mainly for the fact that I wouldn't be able to afford it. Google Adwords is that pane on the right hand side when you google search that no one really pays attention to. Although that's not entirely true, I'm sure it has some major merit otherwise it wouldn't be such a popular tool. My dad uses it actually, I don't know if he does anymore though. When you search google for a specific criteria or service, Adwords will put your business near the top of the list of searches so to help your business made known to the right customers as well as helping customers find exactly what they're looking for in a localized search.

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Credit Card Payments

Paypal. Lot of people have paypal. And it's pretty fast and easy. Really all you need is your email address.

• In the US there's a 2.9% +30¢ for each transaction
• Internationally it's 4%
• For the card swiper it's 27% each swipe

Google checkout- apparently changing to google wallet in november- looks kind of complicated.

• I believe it is an actual store, not just a payment method. Maybe it does both?

Amazon Checkout seems pretty cool. Looks like a papal though. With more payment options, like grouping transactions and micropayments.

• 2.9% +30¢ for each transaction
• for micropayments (payments under $10) it's 5% per transactions
• and then there's discounted payments for when you order more than a certain amount.

PS my main concern right now is online payments since that's where the entirety of my business will be held. If I can get popular enough then I'll attend conventions and stuff.

Pinterest

For some reason, Pinterest has some seriously high quality photos. All my pins are landscape photos I can use as reference for art and recipes where most that I've tried turned out to be duds, but I like pinning because it's really well organized. By the way, the ipad app is significantly superior compared to the website. I've seen some good sites where pinning has been beneficial to them, but I think I have enough social sites, maybe I can post some crafts.

• Pinterest is a good place for crafting and food. If you're in that business you could really garner a big following.
• It's really organized.
• Outside of other social site advantages listed below, that's all i have.

Text and LinkedIn

I hate texting. I don't think you understand how trivial I find it to be. When I first got my phone it was pretty nifty and finding directions to a friends house was made so much easier, but now we have google maps and if anyone texts me just a smiley face they are banned from my life and reported for spam. Can't stand texting. Can't stand phones. I will be having none of it.
I'm just going to say it. LinkedIn is pretty stupid. Literally the only reason I have one is because my facebook is set to private and apparently there is a not so subtle link between mass murderers and people who don't have a facebook account. So I have that there in case any future employers need to see me on google.

• I guess you can link yourself with other businesses to promote yourself.
• I think they have an update feed too.
• Everyone has a phone so if you're into that kind of stuff it'd be really beneficial.

Youtube and Google+

Google+ is really nifty. I haven't played with it really, but it feels like facebook before they went all spam on us. However, I still prefer facebook as a business stratagem because there are so many people on it. If my friends hopped on Google+ I would too.
Youtube is an outlet I've been really itching to get to use. I really love speedpaints, livestreams have gotten to be more popular recently since you'll be able to interact with the artist in real time, but I don't nearly have that following yet. I've finally got a recorder for my screen, now all I need is the time to finally sit down and draw.

• G+ is very nifty. I just checked it out and I have no idea what to do. Very facebook-esque. But cooler. Layout is so much more well done.
• Youtube is a good way to keep people interested. Everyone likes to watch videos as opposed to reading text.
• Plus if you get enough following you can make money from advertisements on your videos. Two birds with one stone.