That was a bit harsh! Advice to craftspeople

I like responding to comments  but sometimes I get a bit carried away

Here is a round-up of this year’s crop

” Your website is so eerie, everyone seems to have left, just one or two overlooked products have stayed behind. It’s partly the design, which is über clinical, but there is no trace of warmth, or a human being anywhere. Most new makers are over chatty but you are totally absent.”

 “I would like you to rethink your About the Artist. Without meaning to it is carries a sad little parade: cancer, stroke, death, caring for elderly parents. This is not the place for that, I want to believe in you as a craftswoman, passionate and knowledgable about your work”

“I looked at your website and it needs to be sharpened. At the moment it is a bit like holding a slippery fish. It is hard to be quite sure what you are offering.”

“O Blank, I think you might have defeated me. You are so muddled! You have even driven me to use an exclamation mark .”

 “Don’t sell wholesale at all. You can’t afford to. If you don’t make a sensible profit DO NOT SELL. All you are doing is enabling that business to take your profit. I thought slavery was dead but clearly not, its ideals are alive and kicking in your bit of London.”

“I think you are suffering from Potter’s Syndrome, something I’ve come across before. The patient is so deeply in love with the creative process and that moment when the kiln door is opened and his children emerge, that everything else is relegated. Potters pot to pot, not to make money and that is disastrous.”

“You seem to have spawned the most gigantic tarantula which has sprawled all over the web, links to you seem to mean links to another of your websites, it’s all so hopeless and baffling.” (arachnophobes thank me, no picture of a tarantula as I am merciful)

Also never waste your viewer’s time. I clicked through on New book project to be greeted by
 This is my book project and I will be updating this space soon… Priority this evening is to work on some of the other parts of the website so please check back later for more on this space and this project!
 Blessings abound! 
Blessings don’t abound, you have just treated my time as less important than yours. Don’t make a link live, until there is something there.”

“You are selling Cards and Candles but there is so much superfluous material here I have to concentrate really hard. What is the colour chakras stuff doing there? Frankly what on earth are you talking about? Then the essential oils section, (which you don’t sell) why is that there? I came to buy a card, or perhaps a candle and you seem intent on telling me what illness it is associated with WHY?”

“A couple of comments on your descriptions. Don’t address negatives such as doesn’t stand alone, just make it evident from the pictures. Also get rid of that awful “Thank you for stopping by” Be very, very English, not mid Atlantic and that is so redolent of the expectation of their not buying”.

“I feel you are pouring all this family stuff, wit, and new projects at me and I would just like to see what you want to sell me. You need to justify every single word of text not pour it merrily over everything as if it’s a jug of cream. Cream is great but please make very clear whats underneath.”

“Don’t tell me its machine embroidered or that it’s not pure cotton and certainly not that its smoke free and pet free. They are all negatives. You think the last, smoke free and pet free are positive, but the idea of smoking and cat hairs are negative. If people have extreme allergies they can check with you.

Its equivalent of a baker having a notice up saying I made this with clean hands.”

All too negative? Not always, read this bit

 Perfect. Completely and utterly perfect.

On message all the way through. Friendly, enthusiastic, completely confident, visually interesting.

I wanted to stay and explore, I wanted to wander off anywhere you chose to send me. Good pricing, Loved the gentle messages saying how much work you have “Your personalised goodies are taking 4 weeks” Completely unified product, if I see one of your pieces I would know its yours.

What can I say? Apart from “I resign, you take over.”

So for 2012’s bits of advice that helped… You are welcome

For any comments that upset… I am really sorry,

 For all the smiles you cracked I  grinned too 

For the future… here goes

Its going to be tricky…