Hi, I’m 20 year old Serena Ozgowicz from the blog lovesprettywildthings and I run my own online shop BasementBoutique.co.uk
I set Basement Boutique up in March 2010 when I couldn’t find any part
time work and decided to find a job I would enjoy while in school
without having to get up at 7am on a weekend. I know, lazy! Running a
business alongside a blog is a really fun way of making a little extra
money or becoming your main source of income. I’m going to share with
you my top tips for setting up your own online store and then share a
little discount with you!
Sell products that you enjoy making, or sourcing. It’s all about doing what you love.
I
picked jewellery and shabby chic home ware because that was my passion.
For example, if you make hair bows, then setting up a shop selling lots
of patterned bows would be a great start for you to expand from. If you
like customizing vintage clothing, there’s a great market for that!
Buy a domain name, and have an inviting layout.
You
want your store to look as professional as possible, and having a
domain name and a great design is very important to match what you’re
selling. I use big cartel which is very easy to customise, but there are
other hosts such as storenvy that are great! You could even use Etsy. I
would definitely recommend big cartel as it takes care of everything
for you.
Don’t be put off if it doesn’t go worldwide in a day- advertise.
You’re
not going to sell out overnight and advertising is key to your success,
which is why running a store alongside your blog or youtube is great
advertisement for yourself. Setting up social networking sites for your
store is great for finding new customers and holding competitions.
Think about your postage costs.
You
want to make sure that your postage is a reasonable price and is easily
found by anyone visiting your site to avoid copious emails regarding
where you ship to and how much it will be. (Trust me, it gets annoying)
So if you only want to ship within the UK, make sure the information is
accessible.
Do your research.
Make
sure you plan everything before you set your site live to avoid any
mishaps or angry customers. Find out who’s selling what, is there is a
gap for a store like yours, and most of all have fun with it. I love
having my own little space online to sell what I love and connecting
with people who have similar tastes.
If you have any more questions, you can email me at basementboutique@hotmail.co.uk
Now a little discount code to share with you guys: If you spend £8 or more from now until the 21st March you will get 10% with code ‘etail’ simply enter the code at the checkout for your discount.
Hop over to my blog to see more from me. J Big thank you to etail for letting me guest post!
Loved this post and all the tips! Nice to read stuff like this from an insider :)
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