As a creative soul who finds joy in the quiet moments of stitching, painting or shaping clay, it’s easy to feel that a polished website is the missing piece in your business journey. I used to think that too.
Then I realised that the most meaningful connections often happen away from our own platforms. In this piece I’ll reflect on how we can nurture our audience and invite them into our world without a traditional website, drawing on the wisdom Kaylie shared in our latest podcast episode.
Building a Gentle Path
A website is only one way to guide people to your work. On platforms like Etsy or Zazzle, the buying part is already taken care of. Our role is to build a gentle path: offer one clear link, describe our craft with heart and welcome people into our shop.
Tools such as Beacons, Stand Store, Milkshake or Canva’s bio site let us create a simple hub. In that space we can share who we are, what we make and how to support us.
Cultivating Community Through Email
We can still nurture a community without a standalone site. Email platforms like ConvertKit and MailerLite host sign‑up pages and let us share stories, behind‑the‑scenes notes and special offers.
Think of it as sending a letter to a friend: be clear about what they can expect and always include a way to opt out.
When customers purchase from us, we can tuck a small card or PDF with a QR code inviting them to join our list.
Honouring Our Offerings
It’s important to honour our creations by making them easy to find. On Etsy and Zazzle this means using clear titles, specific tags and rich descriptions. A few thoughtful tweaks to your top listings can make a world of difference.
On Pinterest, try organising boards around the stories you want to tell – spring gifting, mothering celebrations, eco‑friendly living – and pin directly to your marketplace listings.
Seasonal Moments and Mindful Marketing
As the seasons turn, so do our customers’ needs. International Women’s Day, Mothering Sunday and Mother’s Day, Easter, World Art Day, Earth Day, Teacher Appreciation Week, Father’s Day and Pride Month each invite unique stories and campaigns.
Choose the moments that resonate with your values and let them inspire your communications. Remember: one thoughtful email, a handful of Pinterest pins or a single Instagram carousel can be enough.
Closing Thoughts
You don’t need a website to cultivate connection. By sharing your heart through a simple hub link, nurturing an email community and honouring your listings, you can invite customers into your creative world.
Let’s embrace visibility over perfection and continue to craft with joy.
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Resources or Businesses Mentioned in This Episode
· Marketplaces: Etsy, Zazzle, Folksy, Spoonflower
· Link‑in‑bio tools: Beacons, Stand Store, Milkshake (Later), Canva Bio Site
· Email platforms: ConvertKit (Kit), MailerLite
· Social platforms: Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest
· Marketplace marketing: Etsy targeted offers, holiday email toolkit for creatives
· Seasonal opportunities: International Women’s Day, Mothering Sunday & Mother’s Day, Easter, World Art Day, World Creativity & Innovation Day, Earth Day, Teacher Appreciation Week, Father’s Day, Pride Month
Affiliate Disclaimer
Some links in this post may be affiliate links, which means either Kaylie or Delores may receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you). We only share tools or products we genuinely love and use ourselves.
TRANSCRIPT:
Kaylie Edwards: [00:00:00] Welcome back to the Creative Juggle Joy podcast, the show for artists, makers, and multi-passionate creatives, building businesses that fit real life. I am Kaylie Edwards from the Blustery and Rainy Welsh Hills, multi-passionate, creative marketer, Toddler mum and lover of all things creative and chaotic. And alongside my co-host Delores, we talk about the real behind the scenes of building a creative income without losing your joy and your sanity along the way.
So grab a cuppa, take a breath, and let's get into the day's episode.
If you've ever thought "Kaylie, I can't really market properly because I don't have a website" or "I'm only on Etsy". "I'm only on Zazzle". I'm only on Folksy", so I guess I just have to hope the algorithm is kind to me.
This episode is for you.
Because [00:01:00] I want you to know something straight away. You don't NEED a fancy website to make sales.
You need three things. You need to be findable, you need to be relatable, and you need to be clear about what you sell and where people can buy it. That's it. Not perfect, not complicated, not expensive. And today I'm going to walk you through some practical non-tech UA to market your work. Even if you, your shop is just Etsy.
Zazzle, folksy, Spoonflower or another platform. I'll also give you some seasonal examples for the next few months because if you're listening to this as it goes live on the 19th of February, we're heading into a really good run of opportunities. You have spring gifting, end of term, summer, and all those little moments people actually buy for.
Let's bust the myth first. People say you need a website. [00:02:00] What they really mean is. You need a place that does four jobs. A website usually helps people, one, discover you. Two, trust you. Three, buy from you, and four, a way to stay connected.
But Etsy can handle buying. Zazzle can handle buying, folksy can handle buying. Spoonflower can handle buying. Your marketplace listing is the checkout. So your goal is not build a website. Your goal is build a simple path. Each of those platforms has their own way of driving traffic to your products.
Assuming you list it properly,
a path that looks like someone finds you, they click one link, they see what you sell, they buy, and ideally they stay connected. That is marketing, and you can absolutely do that without a full [00:03:00] website. So step one is what I call your hub link, your mini website. If you are mostly on Instagram or TikTok or some other social media, you already know the vibe.
You can't just sprinkle clickable links everywhere in your captions. So you need one main link that sends people where they need to go. This is where linking bio tools come in. Now, you don't need to overthink this. Pick one that fits your brain and your budget. A few options I've got beacons is popular because you can build a proper little hub, even collect email subscribers right there on the page Stands store is more of a Lincoln bio storefront vibe.
It's very focused on selling digital products, courses, bookings, things like that. And I see a lot of people using stands store, on Instagram. Milkshake is very mobile first and works with swipeable cards, so it feels like [00:04:00] Instagram, but as a tiny website, that's been created by later the, social posting platform.
Canva also has Lincoln bio or bio site options, which is handy if you are already designing everything in Canva anyway, all you need to find is a quick tutorial and how to create one, and you'll be up and running within like a day if that. And here's what matters most.
Sorry. Here's what matters more than the tool on your hub link. Or hub page. You want your top section to be ridiculously clear. Think handmade. So what it is? R for who or product for who Based in where. So where is your product based then? Buttons like Shop my Etsy, shop my Zazzle, browse my spring gift guide.
Or grab my free freebie, which is your email list. And [00:05:00] yes, you can build an email list without a website because most email platforms now host landing pages for you. The email marketing platform kit, formally, known as ConvertKit, literally says you don't need a website or blog to create a standalone landing page.
Mailerite, which I use also offers landing pages and signup forms as lead collection tools. And you can even sell digital products on, through mail. Alight and the likes of ConvertKit as well, not Kit I should say. So your hub link can send people to your marketplace shop and hosted signup page for your email list as well.
No website needed. You can have both of them.
Next, how do you showcase products? So people actually click, let's talk Pinterest quickly, because I think a lot of creatives either either ignore it or they overcomplicate it. Pinterest is a visual discovery engine, basically a search engine [00:06:00] for ideas. And Pinterest itself encourages creators to use descriptive titles and strong keywords and pin descriptions.
So the systems can match your pin to what people are searching and it is, Pinterest is so used now for buying, I dunno how many times I've gone on and found Pin and I've actually clicked through to the site and found I've like, actually really did like it and, but I've bought, people's products off Pinterest through, sorry.
I've bought people's Etsy products through Pinterest. 'cause it shows up. I think I bought some nursery stuff before and it is just a way for people to find you and discover you, even if they don't. Buy straight away. If they regularly look at their pin boards and things for certain events, then they may as well go through.
And a lot of people actually, I think the statistics, I can't remember what the statistics are, but it did say something about Pinterest. More and more people are using it [00:07:00] to buy, but actually with the search intent to buy. So here's a simple approach. Make one board per buying theme, not per product type.
Instead of my art try spring gift ideas. Mother's Day gifts, teacher thank you. Gifts, colorful home decor, decor, cozy cottage core style or gifts for book lovers. Then you create the pins that go straight to your Etsy listing or your Zazzle product, or your folksy shop, whatever you use, and you don't need to pin 50 things a day.
Even if you fresh pins a week is progress, especially if you reuse the same product image with different seasonal angles. So a mug can be teacher gift idea in May or Father's Day, gift in June. Back to school. Treat for yourself in [00:08:00] August. Same product, new story on Instagram. Think in mini campaigns. So instead of 20 random posts, do one carousel that acts like a gift guide.
One reel that shows your progress, process. One post that answers, who is this for? One reminder post with the link. Your job is not to be everywhere. Your job is to help people understand what you sell and how to buy it. Now, a quick word on marketplace, SEO, because if you're selling on Etsy, especially this one of the best.
This is one of the best "work once, benefit for ages" tasks. Etsy has been really clear that search considers holistic view, so titles, tags, attributes, descriptions first, photo reviews, and more. They also recommend using all 13 tags using relevant attributes and categorizing items as specifically as possible.
So here's your 20 minute [00:09:00] listing refresh. Pick your top three listings, then check is the first photo crystal clear. Does the title sound like something a buyer would type? Have you used all your tags? Are your attributes filled in Etsy? Even published new guidance around listing titles and updating them.
So it's worth revisiting if you haven't looked since last year. If you're on Zazzle tags matter two. Zazzle's own guidance basically says, don't waste tags on generic words that apply to everything. Be specific. This is why I always say visibility isn't just social media, it's also your listings doing their job when you are asleep.
Now, what about follow up? If you don't have a website? It's easy to think. You can't do remarketing, but you can. Etsy has targeted offers. Built in, it can send promo codes to shoppers who favorited an item. It can also send offers when someone abandons a [00:10:00] cart with specific timing rules described in Etsy help.
That's like Etsy doing a bit, a little bit of email marketing for you. Granted, it's not the same as having your own list. You don't own those. Those email, you don't own that list. You can't. Really mark to a, to them off the site. You have to obviously look at their rules as well about it, but there's easy ways to gain the email lists, sorry, the email addresses of buyers that, that have already bought from you on Etsy.
So if you add like a card, you know, if you're selling physical products, you can add a card with a link to your, email list. With an incentive to sign up, you can add that with a QR code on it. Maybe even a personalized message if you do, custom gifts. If you are selling digitally, obviously you can add a PDF with the.
QR code or the [00:11:00] link to your signup page with an incentive to sign up to your list. So there's numerous ways you can do it. And yes, you might not be getting every person that buys from you from Etsy or any of the other marketplaces, but it is one way of at least trying to connect with people.
In a different way, offer Betsy or offer any other marketing platform that you use,
and outside of that, your email list is your best friend. Quick note, for UK Creatives, if you collect emails, be clear about what people are signing up for and include an unsubscribe option in every marketing email. That's part of the ICO's guidance around electronic marketing, and there could very well be similar ones in other countries, I would absolutely make sure that there's always an unsubscribe link at the bottom of every email, no matter where [00:12:00] you sell from, because that's the pet peeve I've had before is I've gone to unsubscribe from somebody and there is no link to unsubscribe from their emails, and you are stuck and you're like, well, what do I do?
In that situation, I don't want to be emailed by this person anymore. They don't, maybe don't align with me. Or maybe they, you didn't actually approve them to send you emails, and they do anyway. So you should always add that to the bottom and obviously make it very clear of what they're signing up.
But don't let that scare you. It's as simple as pop your email here. If you want studio updates or first dibs or something like that, you can unsubscribe any time. And then done. Let's make this super practical. So seasonal opportunities coming up from late February onwards. Here are some seasonal hooks you can market around without a website.
Early March gives you International Women's Day on the eighth. [00:13:00] And the UN even lists it as an observance, which is it's a moment where people are celebrating women's achievements and supporting women led businesses. So it's always one you can market around, or at least you can connect with your audience who are women.
Here in the uk mothering Sunday is Sunday the 15th of March. So it's different from the US and Canada. It's Mother's Day, which is on Sunday, the 10th of May. So you have two opportunities for Mother's Day in the year. So let's say you did mothering Sunday gifts and got them up ready for March keep them up.
And then they're gonna sell in May as well, as long as they're the language is aligned. Easter Sunday is the 5th of April this year. And then you've got World Art Day on the 15th of April. Which is recognized by unesco, which is a gorgeous excuse to do an artist appreciation style campaign [00:14:00] and World Creativity and Innovation Day on the 21st of April.
Also, a un designated day, which is basically made for our audiences. Earth Day is 22nd of April, organized globally by earth day.org, and that's a great hook if you have any sustainability angles or eco-conscious products. In the US Teacher Appreciation Week is between the fourth and eighth and May this year, which is a massive gift seat search moment.
Like it's crazy how much teacher appreciation happens. That, that just that week and even in the UK that, that there's still, there's still that goes on as well. And then Father's Day lands on Sunday, the 21st of June in the UK and the US. And June itself is pride month, which can be a great time to share inclusive work and community support if you do it authentically.
[00:15:00] Obviously, you can build tiny campaigns around any of those. Even if you only shop is Etsy or Zazzle. A campaign can literally be one gift, email, or a gift guide. Or even just, even just connections, like how you can connect, your work around it. One Pinterest board and three Instagram posts. That's it.
And speaking of email, this is exactly why I created my holiday email toolkit for creatives because the biggest reason creatives don't email isn't laziness. It's not knowing what to say without sounding salesy. So I wrote templates. You can literally copy, paste and tweak whether you sell on Etsy Z or folks you are anywhere else.
You can literally pop in my templates or swipe files and put them into, ChatGPT or any other AI that you are regularly using. Get it to customize it to you and your business and [00:16:00] your audience and your product.
And I'm expanding it also, 'cause it, obviously I recently did that around Christmas time, so it was a lot Christmas focused, templates, and Black Friday, and I have Valentine's Day and everything inside, but I have. Um, been starting to add spring and summer seasonal promotions in there as well.
So like Mother's Day, earth Day, teacher's gifts, father's Day, et cetera. So you can buy it and it will work for you all year round as well. So let me leave you with this. You don't need a fancy website. You need a clear path. A hub, a hub link, a few strong listings, and a way to stay connected, even if that's just one email a month. Visibility over perfection. And I have to keep reciting that to myself as well because I'm very good at telling others, but then forgetting to do it for myself because the creators who grow aren't the ones who do the most. They're the ones who keep [00:17:00] showing up in a way their buyers can understand.
You'll find all the links and resources mentioned in today's episode in the show notes. And if you want my plug and play email templates, you can grab the holiday email toolkit for creatives. It's designed to help you sell all year without sounding pushy. Thanks so much for listening to the Creative Juggle Joy podcast.
If today's episode gave you a few light bulb moments, please share it with a fellow creative who needs the reminder that you don't have to do it the traditional way to make it work. Until next time, keep creating, keep juggling, and most importantly, keep finding joy in the process.
