Trysh, one of our fellow buzzers (whom you can find at http://www.cre8buzz.com/profiles/1225 ) asked me in a comment:

Got a question - with your products - what is the way you sell the most? I am trying to figure out new ways of doing what I'm doing....since what I'm doing now just isn't working....any enlightenment??

I tried to answer in her comments, but realized quickly I'd be hijacking her comments with a huge reply, so I've decided to write it up here, since it's really not a way most people who want to sell something on the Net tend to go.

I do have a domain--my future store will be at http://www.lyeslingers.com (don't go there just now--it's not up at the moment) once I figure out how to actually WRITE the silly thing. I'm not good with HTML, hopeless with any other web page language and graphics are mostly luck rather than any skill on my part.

However, anyone who crafts knows that you can't just supress the need to create--art makes its demands on the artist and they must be met. In my case this results in a crapton more soap than the average human can use in a lifetime, so another need that my art demands is getting new homes for all the freakin' soap I make.

SO--can't write a store to save my soul, can't be up to my eyeballs in things I so lovingly made because they all deserve good homes, so what does my Internet-lame self do?

I use my blog. Specifically, I list what I have and what someone has to do to get some of it in posts like this one:

http://pandoraschest.blogspot.com/2008/03/inventory-this-week.html

It works pretty well--people who read see what they can get, even tho it's kind of a small list as far as soapmakers go, and if they don't see their favorite scents there, they do use the email link (making it worth the spam risk) to see if I have their favorites around the house. Since I usually stock about 100 different essential and fragrance oils, I can please nearly everyone. If I don't have it on hand, I can nearly always find it at one of my wonderful suppliers' websites.

It was slow going at first but it's resulted in a nice slow building of a loyal customer base, which works out beautifully when it's time to select gifts during the holidays--people know where to come for something unusual and made especially for those on their gifting lists. I also do custom gift sets, bags and baskets, which go over wonderfully at that time of year.

The biggest advantage I've seen to marketing this way is that Lyeslingers isn't just another name in the search engine--my blog doubles as my personal outlet, so customers have a real person to fix to the business name and feel more comfortable asking me questions and asking for custom work or scents not up on the blog yet. I think that's the biggest reason marketing my handmade goods on my blog actually works--it sets me apart from the crowd and lets people know there's a real person on the other side of the screen--someone they can identify with because they see some of me in the more personal posts.

Once I finally get a webstore up, I will still continue to use the blog as an update system for the store--listing new items, new scents, putting up pictures of some of the cool custom work I can do and the many other details of my biggest passion. I might eventually go to a WordPress blog, since that's my favorite way to blog, but there will always be a place where I can make my business more personal.

Trysh, I hope that answers the question and that perhaps I gave you some insight into how I do what I do. I hope it not only helps you but some other of our buzzing friends.