Monday, August 26, 2013

One Great Advantage of Craftinest.com



Update June 2, 2014-  Unfortunately Craftinest is now no longer online.  No one knows what happened.  Though Craftinest did post on their facebook page that a fire had destroyed much of their sites equipment and they held out a promise to us that they would repair the damage and get the site back up and running . . . that promise is yet to materialize.   As I update this post is has been about 9 months since anyone has heard from Craftinest. Craftinest has not bothered to update their facebook page nor notify any of their many shop owners as to what is going on. All our emails are returned as undeliverable. We have pretty much given up hope that Craftinest will repair the fire damage and reestablish their website. 
Personally I believe that they grew too quickly and the inundation of so many artists and crafters overwhelmed them and their sites capacity to handle such an influx of shops and traffic.  The loss of Craftinest is sad as it held forth so much potential . . .  but sometimes things are simply not meant to be.
 
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When I first sent off my application to apply for an online Craftinest Storefront, I figured they'd be a marketplace much like Etsy or Artfire, only without the supplies vendors and vintage shops. However Craftinest is more like a hybrid between these standard marketplaces and having to construct one's own website. . . minus all the HTML hoopla. With a Craftinest store the search engines call up your shop and not the marketplace. This was explained to me by Samantha in the correspondence that I've copied and pasted below:



Hi Anna,

Our format is definitely different from Etsy (and it’s many clones) with more of an ecommerce website format. Each store is basically its own mini-ecommerce website... with the mall being the central hub to bring all stores together.

As for your store domain, it is only available in the following two formats:
Sub-domains never use the www in front of it. However, if someone types in http://www.almostprecious.craftinest.com , the browser will automatically forward to the proper http://almostprecious.craftinest.com  format. So you can use either.
One thing that I did want to add to the whole store domain issue is that Etsy only forwards the request for your store domain to their own etsy.com address. At Craftinest, the store domain is an actual sub-domain that persists throughout the buyers experience.
On Etsy:
And the item listing URL’s don’t include the store domain at all. . .
Whereas at Craftinest:
And the store domain is included throughout your entire store. . . including item listings, categories, info pages. I’ll use another store as an example with an item listing URL of http://twolittlewitches.craftinest.com/find/1399-Bunny-Rabbit-Kids-Wall-Art-Print-for-Kids-Room-Girls-Children-Decor-by-Two-Little-Witches
So as you can see, your store domain is more present with Craftinest. In fact it’s more useful when you look at the results in search engines. To see for yourself, type in “Almost Precious Etsy” into Google and you will notice one result for your store - www.etsy.com/shop/AlmostPrecious.
Now try using the sample store from above by typing “two little witches craftinest” into Google. Not only is the store domain presented as twolittlewitches.craftinest.com , but there are several results since all listings and categories use the store domain too.
Hope that helps... Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance.
And welcome to our little nest.
Samantha
The Craftinest Marketplace

So now you can see why I was impressed about the Craftinest marketplace and excited about joining their site and why I encourage others to join me there.   :)


11 comments:

  1. Those earrings are soooooo pretty!

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  2. Sounds like a great marketplace! Good luck with your venture. xo style, she wrote.

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  3. Well they're certainly helpful, which is good! Those earrings are so cute -- such a vintage Christmas charm to them. Try putting them on Craftinest? Or is there some way to have them on both sites, just to see how they each perform?

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  4. Very cool!

    I like the earrings - very festive! And before we know it, the Holiday Season will be upon us!!

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  5. Even I understand that and I am so not techie, lol :)

    Samantha explained it so well, I totally get why you wanted to join Craftinest :)

    LOVE the colours on your earrings, can't believe we are ramping up for Xmas sales already :(

    (btw, I left you a note about photos back on my blog comments :)

    Have a lovely day, cheers, T. :)



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  6. Well, that's really interesting. And the fact that they took the time to explain it with such details is impressive. Do you have a way of knowing if you've had any views? I truly hope this is successful for you.

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  7. Sounds like it is a marketplace that is working for the artist and not just themselves. That is very nice. Thanks for sharing this info, I may have to consider joining.
    Valerie
    Everyday Inspired

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  8. loving those crafts! very christmas already! :D

    do you want to follow each other? GFC, bloglovin and facebook? just let me know!

    xx

    ellie

    http://chasingculprit.blogspot.com/

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  9. :)

    just followed you back!

    thanks and keep in touch!
    ellie

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  10. Very interesting, I'd never even considered how Etsy doesn't use your store name in the URL but obviously that means issues with search engines like Google finding your stuff. I guess the only way to fix that is to put the shop name in the Item title/description but I wonder if that's frowned upon at Etsy? Craftinest sounds like a pretty great place to showcase your work and still keep your company name intact for only a small fee. Kudos on getting in with them!

    I've missed you my friend, been so busy writing for real clients (yay!) that I've let my blogging severely slide. So happy to hear you're doing well <3

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Nothing makes me happier than to hear from those who have dropped by my blog for a visit. I love hearing from you.

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