You have a quilting business with no customers yet. Knowing how powerful a marketing tool the Internet is, you're not sure how to use it. This short guide will help you get the most of the Internet for marketing your quilting business.

Start a Website

You can design a web site yourself. If you don't feel your web design skills are good enough, hire someone to create it for you. Not only is your web site a valuable market tool for customers to find you, but by creating a web site that allows customers to buy your quilts directly from it, you can save both time and money. By adding a shopping cart, all your customers need do is click the quilt they wish to purchase. Once you receive payment, ship it to them. That's it!

Social Networking Sites

Social networking is a powerful marketing tool for your quilting business. Nearly everyone have an account on one or more and usually check it at least once a day. Here are a few ways to use them to your advantage.

• Finding customers: Search for users who hobbies include quilting. Send them a friend request telling them who you are and explain about your quilting business.

• Comments: Comments on friends' pages are viewable by all their friends. Including a link to your quilting business website allows new customers to find you.

• Bulletins and status messages: These are great ways to let customers know when you have a special sale.

• Blogs: Share your experiences with customers, provide them with useful information or let them know about new products and services you plan to offer in the future. This can be a great way to determine demand before you invest the time or money in something new!

One of the most important aspects of using social networking sites is that they are free. The only investment required is a little of your time.

Email Marketing

Sending out a regular newsletter is a great way to keep your quilting business in the minds of your customers. When writing a newsletter, make sure that the information you provide is useful to your customers. Nothing irritates a customer more than to get an email full of nothing but advertising.

To be more effective, send out your newsletter regularly. Monthly or weekly would be best. Once you have a schedule, stick to it. Your business will look all the more professional for it.

Create one or two back issues of the newsletter before you get started and make sure to archive. Customers will want to view the back issues of your newsletter to see what they'll be getting out of it. Use the same format that you plan to use on all future newsletters. Continue to archive newsletters as you go, so customers will get a chance to make an informed decision of whether or not to subscribe.

Marketing your quilting business doesn't have to be hard. Using this simple guidelines, you'll be successful before you know it.