Do you love to paint, sew or knit?  If so you may be able to turn your past time into a second stream of income.

With this article we are going to share the 5 things you need to do to turn your hobby into a profitable online business. Now before we dive in we want to make a little disclaimer.

Building an online business on the side is not easy. It takes a great deal of time and effort to really get the ball rolling. If you aren’t willing to devote the necessary time then chances are it will not be a profitable venture for you.

If on the other hand you are committed to seeing just how far you can take this, here are the 5 steps you need to take to turn your hobby into a profitable business.

Step 1 – Market Research

The first and most important thing you should do is make sure your hobby is something that can actually make you money. To do that you need to do market research.

Thanks to the internet market research is a lot easier than you think. All you need to do is search the internet for products that are similar to what you will be selling. The goal is to determine if there is enough interest in that type of product for you to turn it into a business.

If you will be selling things that fall into the arts and crafts category, the best place to start your market research would be Etsy.com.  Pay close attention to the sellers that are selling products that are similar to yours.

Most importantly look at how much they are selling their products for. The ultimate goal is to determine if the products you create can be sold for a profit. If the answer is no then you may need to go back to the drawing board. If the answer is yes then continue reading the next few steps.

Here is a great blog post on 17 tools you can use for effective market research.

Step 2 – Determine How Much You Will Charge For Your Products

You want to know the secret to building a successful business online? Its pricing your products correctly. The problem is pricing can be a bit tricky.

You don’t want to charge too low as that can have a negative impact on your bottom line. You also don’t want to charge too high as that too can negatively affect your bottom line as potential customers will seek out less expensive options.

The key is to make sure the price you charge is not only something people are willing to pay, but that it also provides you with enough profit to make the business worth your time and effort.

Your market research from step one can help when it comes to determining the best price for your product. When determining price make sure you consider the materials you will have to purchase as well as the amount of time it will take to make each product.

Step 3 – Decide On a Name

As far a branding your products go, you can either use your own name or come up with something unique. It’s totally up to. While coming up with a brand name is important, it isn’t something you should spend too much time on right now.

Just decide on a name so you can get the ball rolling as quickly as possible. You can always go back and change it later on down the road.

Step 4 – Get Your Website Up and Running

Once you have done market research, figured out pricing and decided on a name, the next step is to get your website up and running. You will need two things to make this happen. A domain name and web hosting.

At Skygrace we offer very affordable web hosting packages. You can get started today on one of our basic plans for less than $10 a month.

Once you have your domain name and web hosting you can immediately start building your website using our website builder tools. With our one click installations you can have your eCommerce store up and running within a matter of hours.

When designing your website always remember it is the face of your brand. And while it doesn’t need to be a work of art, it does need to be something that makes a good first impression on potential customers.

Step 5 – Start Promoting Your New Website

Now that your website is up and running the next step is to start promoting it. And to be completely honest with you, this is probably going to be the hardest part.

You see, building your website is not enough. If you want to make money, which we know that you do, you are going to have to implement strategies that are designed to get targeted visitors to your website.

How you promote your website will depend on whether or not you have an advertising budget. One of the quickest ways to get started is to set up accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Combined these three social media networks get well over a billion visitors per month.

There is a good change your potential customers can be found on those websites. To get the most out of social media you will need to focus on providing massive value. If you are selling quilts show your followers how quilts can be turned into great gifts.

You can also show what it takes to make the quilts. Anything that gives people a behind the scenes view of what you are doing is a great way to generate interest and traffic.

Other methods you can use include content marketing, SEO and Youtube. As you start to make money you can invest in Facebook Ads.

To learn more about driving traffic to your new website check out our article on how to create an effective marketing plan for your new website.

Now that you know the 5 steps to turning your hobby into a profitable online business, the next step is to implement what you’ve just learned. You will never know what’s possible unless you try.

Ready to launch your online business? Check out our affordable hosting plans and get started today!