Here is a great big list of resources I love and believe will help you grow the crochet business you love.
Some of the links in this list are affiliate links. Some of them are not. I love all the things just he same. 🙂 If you click the link and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission for the referral at no additional cost to you. For more information about affiliate links, refer to our terms and conditions.
Thrivecart
It’s been a long time since I’ve been this in love with an e-commerce tool With Thrivecart, I’ve been able to host large design bundle sales with affiliates and revenue sharing, create gorgeous sales pages for the Crochetpreneur® Business Academy and other resources and courses. And Thrivecart integrates with most every other tool that I’m using and it has made automating my business so easy! Highly recommended.
Shopify
This e-commerce platform offers online sellers more than a simple shop hosting service. Their helps with processing payments, marketing, shipping and customer engagement tools. It’s a great resource for the Crochetpreneur® who needs a landing place on the internet but isn’t particularly interested in blogging.
Send Owl
A quick and easy to learn platform for selling digital and physical products (including bundled products) and services. With the ability to have affiliates, Send Owl can help you grow your following, too! This is the perfect little platform for hosting tripwires.
Â
Etsy
Etsy is a great place to get your feet wet in the e-commerce world. While you don’t host your own shop, Etsy is the perfect place to build your brand, experiment with product lines, and expose your business to hundreds of thousands of customers who are looking to buy.
Ravelry
THE place for fiber artists to gather, chat about yarn and crochet, organize your stash and projects, and post patterns for sale.
While this platform doesn’t have the volumen of buyers that Etsy has, theya re all target knitters and crocheters. I recommend selling patterns on both Etsy, Ravelry, and your own individual shop.
Square
If you’re looking for a tool to help you process payments both online and off, Square is the answer. I’ve used Square for years whenever I do craft fairs and it’s be an amazing help.
PayPal
You almost can’t run you business without PayPal. It is used as the primary processor for Ravelry and a secondary processor for Etsy. If using Shopify, you can turn off PayPal and use a different payment processor, like Stripe.
Stripe
I have Stripe attached to both my course platform, Shopify, and Thrivecart. I love Stripe for it’s analytics which are second to none else I’ve seen in the payment processing world.
Siteground
A great place to begin your blogging journey. Siteground is an affordable option for new bloggers and has a great reputation. I currently have two blogs on Siteground and have never had any issues. I recommend them to all my incoming students.
Â
BigScoots
I recently started a website on BigScoots and have been so impressed with their customer service, ease of use, and pricing plans. Definitely a great option after you’ve grown your blog and are starting to make an income. I appreciate that they have a plan that will meet the needs for my site even on its busiest days.
Â
Restored 316
This is where I get all of my Wordpress themes. Lauren’s designs are distinctively feminine and create a professional website that will have your readers thrilled…and upgrade to Conversion Callouts for a customized, clean look to each page and post. This website is the June theme and the Made with a Twist website is the Sprinkles theme, but we love the Create theme for all makers, too!
Â
Mailerlite
I have soft spot for MailerLite. After using MailChimp as a beginning blogger, as my list grew along with my need for some automations and tagging, MailerLite fit the bill and has been so great to use for more than 4 years. I love this option for bloggers of any experience. The only reason you might need to move to another email service provider would be if you start using some sophisticated strategies for growing a course or membership.
Â
ActiveCampaign
For me, Active Campaign has been the Rolls Royce of email service providers. Their automations and integrations with other platforms have helped me automate much of my business. I couldn’t be happier with my experience with them.
Â
Elementor
Again, I’m in love. I’ve used Elementor for years and appreciate that they help me create sales pages, tripwire pages, and more that I can host right there on my blog. They’re so easy to learn and use an can help even the most technically challenged blogger create professional and sophisticated pages. In fact, this page was made with Elementor and an Elementor Add On plug in (for the tabs).
Â
Thinkific
If you’ve ever taken a Crochetpreneur® course, then you’ve been on Thinkific. I’ve enjoyed using their platform. After a bit of a learning curve with setting up my site, it’s old hat now. If you’re looking to host a course, I recommend taking a look at Thinkific.
Â
Recurpost
If you’ve been looking for a resource for scheduling out social media posts, check out Recurpost. I’ve been using them for about 3 years and love that I can connect all my social media accounts and send targeted posts in a set-it-and-forget-it manner. I particularly like this for schedule my Facebook group prompts so that I don’t have to think about them.
Â
Tailwind
It’s the app that will save you hours and hours on your marketing tasks. Tailwind can be used for both Pinterest pinning and Instagram posting (automatically). Features like SmartLoop, Create, and SmartBio are indispensible tools for growing your business.
Â
CANVA
Umm, what can I say. I’m kind of a nut for CANVA. I use it all day every day for creating instagram posts/graphics, all my marketing graphics, Pinterest pins, mockups, and more. I love that they continue to upgrade and update their platform to make it more and more helpful for content owners to DIY their design. Upgrading to a Pro account is highly recommended as one of the first upgrades you make for your business.
Ad Networks
Â
Ezoic
Honestly, I haven’t used Ezoic myself, but I’ve heard good things about it from some CBA students who have starting using this ad network as a middleground between Google Adsense and Mediavine. Their CPMs have been found to be comparable to those of Mediavine users!
Â
Mediavine
Mediavine is the ad network that I use on all my blogs. I have so enjoyed working with them and have appreciated the way the continue to expand their features to meet the needs of website and blog owners. As a coach, I recommend Mediavine to all my members!
Â
Affiliate Networks
Â
Share-a-Sale
Share-a-Sale is one of the largest networks available and are host to many fiber- and craft-based companies. When you sign up to be an affiliate, you can apply to work with brands like:
- Lion Brand (Orchard Yarn & Thread Company)
- Â Annie’s
- Tailwind
- Darn Good Yarn
- KnitPicks
- KnitCrate
- LeisureArts
- and more
Â
CJ (formerly Commission Junction)
When you sign up with CJ, add yourself as a “publisher.” Then, select the companies you’d like to work with and apply!
Some great businesses you’ll find on CJ:
- Annie’s
- Crayola
- Hobby Lobby
- Michael’s
- Red Heart Yarns
Â
Awin
Download the Awin Chrome Extension to quickly create and copy affiliate URLs and add them to your post. Affiliating is great with Awin because they host the Etsy affiliate program. So, any time you’re creating a roundup or gift guide using Etsy listings (but not your own), you can link via Awin and receive 2-4% commissions.
Businesses you’ll find on Awin:
- Etsy
- FaveCrafts
- Swarovski
- PaperChase
- FabFitFun
- Fiverr
- Screen-cast-o-matic
- Simply Crochet (buysubscriptions.com)
- and, obviously, more!
Â
Ultimate Bundles
A forerunner of the digital bundle movement, UB supports bloggers and other content creators by curating amazing digital products and offering them at steep discounts. The power of community is what drives these sales and their great commission structure makes it worth it to advertise their products (when they fit your readers’ needs). 70% commission to contributors, 40% commission to affiliates and 30% additional split commission to contributors for all non-contributor sales. I told you they were amazing! 🙂
Â
Other Affiliate Opportunties
Â
Love Crochet
Â
Furls Crochet
Â
Happily Hooked
Crochet Business Courses
The 3-step Framework for a Profitable Crochet Business
In this FREE masterclass, you’ll learn the top three mistakes everyone is making in their crochet business and why it’s costing you major profits, the secret to ensuring your business doesn’t get lost in the crowd, and my 3-step framework for growing a crochet business that will get you more loyal customers and more profits without the overwhelm. This course is currently in maintenance mode. Join the waitlist to be notified when it’s available.
Crochetpreneur® Business Academy
The premiere course for crochet business owners looking to dive deep into strategies that work for a crochet niche. Whether you’re a designer, maker, or service provider, CBA™ will help you go from overwhelmed hobbypreneur to profitable crochet CEO. Great for both new businesses and veterans who aren’t quite where they’d like to be.
Wordpress Course
Understanding Wordpress
This is THE must take FREE course for all new Wordpress users. Hosted by iMarkInteractive, this course will walk you through everything you need to know to set your Wordpress.org site up for the best performance and fewest troubles possible.
Â
Wordpress Support
If you do end up in need of technical support for your Wordpress.org site, I can’t recommend the services of iMarkInteractive enough. I have their monthly support plans for both of my blogs and it really does ease the burdon of fearing something will go wrong that I don’t know how to fix.
Â
Blogging Courses
Â
Treks to Blog Success Online School and Squad Community
This course is a must for all serious blogging candidates. Kim Anderson is an incredible coach who makes the blogging process understandable to even the most tech-challenged. I love this course and community so much that I’m still a member after several years and many of my CBA™ students are members, too!
Â
The 12-week Blog Growth Strategy
If you’ve been blogging for a while but struggle to gain traction, drive pageviews, and make an income from your blog, Kim’s 12-week strategy for growth is just what you need.
Â
Really, anything by Kim Anderson Consulting 🙂
Kim has a wealth of wisdom to share on topics ranging from blogging to podcasting to coaching. Check out her course list and I know you’ll find help to take you from where you are to where you want to be with your blog.
Graphics Courses
Canva 2.0 Quickstart
This FREE course will give you an overview of how to use Canva – my favorite graphic design program for non-graphic-artist. This guide will get you started toward making graphics that you can use in all parts of your business.
Â
Confidently Canva
This is a must have masterclass in using Canva for graphics, products, and presentations and more. If you want to learn to use this graphics design program knowing all the tips and tricks that expert designers know and which will save you hours of time and hundreds of dollars, check out this class!
Â
Really, anything from Simplifying DIY Design
Kara is my go-to person whenever I need help with design. She has several courses for bloggers and digital product sellers that will help you grow your business.
Â
Other Courses
Â
List Love: Introduction to List Building
Building your email list is a foundational piece of becoming a successful online (even, offline) business owner but it can feel pretty overwhelming. This FREE course will help you get started and keep going with a strategy that will help you grow your business longterm.
Â
YouTube Takeoff
Jennifer Maker will help you learn how to grow your YouTube channel to attract visitors to your blog, increase your mailing list, and expand your revenue!
Â
Easy Peasy Pinning Plan
With all the recent changes to Pinterest, creating a strategy for pinning can be confounding. Well, not any longer with the Easy Peasy Pinning Plan. Start today and you’ll be pinning with ease in no time.
Most of my favorite supplies can be found right on Amazon. Check out my Amazon shop for categorized lists of my favorites from photography supplies, shipping supplies, office supplies, books for Crochetpreneurs®, and more!