Chances are you’ve created some amazing quilts over the years.
If so, your family has likely been enjoying your creations for some time, and you may have even sold a few of these at your local market. Awesome!
The question is though, can you really make money selling your quilts online?
Yes, you absolutely can, and you don’t need to be some kind of ‘marketing guru’ or ‘tech wiz’ to make it happen either. Even better, it’s 100% free to get started which means there’s zero risk involved. Read on to learn how it’s done…
Selling Handmade Quilts Online
Before you can do any kind of selling, you need to know about the people you are going to be selling your products to and what opportunities exist in the marketplace. Don’t worry if this sounds like a complicated process, it’s really not. In fact, it’s dead simple and I’ve done the heavy lifting for you.
The first bit of research we do is look at Google Trends to see how popular the quilt selling niche is and what kind of potential exists within this space. The data below shows how many people have been searching for the term “quilts for sale” in the last 4 years:
As you can see, there is a strong and consistent demand for these products across the web and no doubt people will continue buying these products for many years. The interest is coming mostly from the US, Canada, UK and Australia which is pretty standard stuff.
Ok, so now we know there’s some great potential within this space. Awesome. But there is more research to be done before jumping into things. Read on…
Drilling Down To Find Your Niche
One of the most effective ways to sell your products online is to ‘drill down’ and try to find a targeted group of people (niche) interested in what you are offering. Trying to ‘sell quilts’ to everyone doesn’t work. Now, I know what you are thinking… what the heck is a niche and how on earth do I drill down?
Fear not! A niche is just a group of people searching for stuff online. That’s it.
Really? Yes.
The reason we want to drill down and find a more targeted audience in the first place is because you are going to see much better results in a much shorter period of time by targeting the right people instead of trying to sell to everyone. Trying to sell to ‘everyone who likes quilts’ is not the best approach and will likely end in frustration. We need to get more specific if we want to make this work.
So how do we drill down and find a good niche idea? Well, the first way is really just to brainstorm and think of the different types of quilts, the patterns, the occasions people want to buy these for and so on.
Here’s a few ideas to get your imagination firing:
- Different types of quilts (patchwork, handmade, crazy quilts, machine sewn)
- Different Materials (velvet, cotton, flannel)
- Occasions for buying (football events, Nascar, Christmas or birthday gifts)
- Quilts for ___ (babies, girls, men, camping, bed size, pets)
Believe it or not, any one of these can form the basis of profitable business. Ok, so I need to drill down. Got it. But why do I need a website and how does all of this relate to me making money you ask?
Why Do You Need a Website?
There are many reasons having a website is critical, the most basic one is having a place to sell your products from. But, these days you can sell from places like Amazon and eBay, so why choose this approach? The steps I am about to show you will allow you to attract a steady flow of targeted buyers to your website for free every single day and your competition will be extremely low.
steady flow of customers + low competition= profitable business
I won’t ramble on about how to build a website, but just know that it’s a very powerful approach and one you can use to sell anything online. Not just quilts.
Anyway, let’s proceed…
Do You Need To Sell Your Own Products? Nope.
There are essentially two main ways you can get rolling with this:
- Sell your own quilts
- Sell someone else’s quilts
Either option can work very well with the method I am about to show you so don’t stress if you’re not sure which way to go. Basically, the main difference is that selling someone else’s products is quicker, easier and potentially more profitable. I recommend choosing whatever you are most excited about.
If you love the idea of getting your creations out to the world, go the first route. If you love the idea of making money within this space but don’t want some of the hassles that come with running a typical business, then choose the second option. Heck, you could even try both options as many folks do. Whatever works for you.
The 4 Step Process Explained
Creating an income online doing something you love really is as simple as 4 steps.
These are the exact steps I took to go from zero clue to working from home doing what I love. So, they absolutely work if you apply yourself and are the foundation of any successful online business.
Step 1- Choose a Niche: As I was showing you earlier, you want to drill down to find a profitable niche rather than selling to a broad audience. You’ve already got some basic ideas in mind so you are off to a good start.
Step 2- Build a Website: This is where you will be selling your products from or promoting other people’s products from. This is essential to your success and it’s stupid simple with the way I show you. In fact, I show people how to build a fully functioning website in under 60 seconds! Really? Yep.
Step 3- Get Visitors: Every business needs customers right? This is SUPER important and this method is all about getting free visitors through Google. By following the process you’l learn how to get a steady stream of buyers to your site every single day, for zero cost. Yes, I am being serious.
Step 4- Make Money: This is where you ‘monetise’ your website and decide if you want to sell your stuff or someone else’s as I mentioned earlier. This is the easiest step and most exciting step.
That’s it!
That is an overview of the steps you need to take to make some extra cash. Or with enough effort, potentially a full time income selling quilts online. It’s entirely up to how much effort you want to put in. If there’s anything you are unsure of feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll answer you as soon as I can.
How To Get Started
Now that you have an idea on the process, it’s time to make it happen.
The best part about all of this is you can actually get started for free. As in, zero cost. On the next page I’ll show you how to put all of this together and get your very first website up and running. Go here to see my free website building tutorial.
Depending on how keen you are, you could have your very own revenue ready website up and running within the next 5 minutes. And yes, you can absolutely do this!
Hi! I’m looking at finding a way to get out of my job at night and wanting to start my online business of making all my project at home and selling them. Once I get the website started how can I spread the word and gain a profit for making all this stuff?
Hey Marissa,
Good question. There are many ways to get people to visit your website, which ultimately will lead to sales. For example, getting your site ranking in search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing, and leveraging social media platforms among other methods. If you start your website through this link, you will get some free training to help you set it all up and promote it online. There’s also an option to upgrade to more training, tools and support, if you want more results.
You can also list your projects on popular sites like Etsy and Amazon Handmade too.
Hope this helps, and all the best with it! 🙂 Cheers
do I need to have a tax id/official dba etc?
It all depends on where you are and what you are doing…
Generally speaking, you will need to keep a record of all of your revenue and expenses, and have your accountant handle this at the end of each financial year. As an employee, tax is automatically withheld. As someone running a business, you need to keep these records and pay (if any) the tax on your income minus expenses.
And you don’t need to register a DBA name as far as I know. This is only if you want to trade under a certain name. For example, if you were selling products as “Quilt Creations” for example and billing people under this name, then you’d need to register a business name. But if you just have a website selling products (a website name is not a business name) and bill under your legal name then it should be fine.
As an affiliate, you definitely don’t need to worry about this unless you have a specific reason. You simply have a website that you use to recommend other people’s products.
To be clear though, I’m not an accountant and this is very general information. This varies according to many factors.
Hope this helps
very helpful – thank you for your insight.
You’re welcome Cris, all the best 🙂
I just want to make sure that all your help in setting this page up is free.
Thank you ,
Barb
Hi Barbara,
I show people how to setup a free website (free for life) through a platform called Wealthy Affiliate. As part of this, you receive 10 free step-by-step video training lessons. In addition, you will get personal help from me for a full 7 days where you can ask me any questions and I will help you get your website up and running. You do not need a credit card to do any of this.
There is also a Premium option, which gives you addittional training, tools and support to build your business. While it is well worth it, it’s not essential or required. You can compare these two options here.
Hope this helps!
i am clueless when it comes to setting up a store to sell items. I really need some help.
Hi Barbara,
Just follow the link at the bottom of this page. I have a system set up that will welcome you once you create your free website, reply to that message and I will personally help you setup your store. Setting up a store is very easy these days, a lot easier than you may think. It’s getting people to that store that is the more difficult part. I will help you with both.