You want to add lotions to your list of products on your online soap shops, but there’s a snag. You want to create a lotion that will last longer than your competitors and lock-in moisture on the skin and keep it hydrated. How can you make that happen and get ahead of the game?

Take a look at your lotion recipe and see if you can add in a humectant like glycerin or sodium lactate while adding an occlusive ingredient in order to trap in the moisture. Some quality humectants include cocoa butter, allantoin, or dimethicone. For more suggestions on how to make your lotion more effective for longer periods of time, click here:: How to make a longer lasting lotion?

Oils and butters add a lot to soaps in order to create moisturizing properties and silky lather. However, there are times which you may want switch out oil for a substitute ingredient to change things up. What are some options?

Well, first you have to determine the oil’s purpose in the soap: does it provide the soap’s firmness or contribute to the lather or provide moisture? After that is determined, replace the other with a substitute that can fulfill that role. For example, a soft oil soap can have butter replace the oil in order to keep the soap’s softness and silkiness. For more on oil substitutes in soap, please click here:: How to Substitute Oil in Cold Process Recipes

Baking soda is a versatile ingredient that can be used in a number of bath and beauty products. It can an exfoliation factor into soaps and is used a primary ingredient in bath fizzies. Why is that the case?

Baking soda, known to chemistry buffs as sodium bicarbonate, can create a “fizzy” reaction when missed with citric acid and water. Without it, the bath fizzy would not fizz at all and the additional ingredients will have trouble spreading throughout the bath water. Baking soda also provides friction for a gentler scrub than sugar or salt based scrubs for hands, faces, and feet. For more about how baking soda is a great ingredient for soaps and scrubs, click here:: Sunday Night Spotlight: Baking Soda

Most humans are creatures of habit and routine for a good reason. Knowing what to expect and when can allow a person to properly prepare mentally and emotionally. Having a haphazard schedule can create a haphazard life of stress and missed opportunities that can make your soap shop suffer. What are some ways to keep you days organized?

First, develop a schedule that is right for you to concentrate on your work while getting moments of play in-between. Write up a schedule in a daily planner, either a physical notebook or phone app, and stick to it. You’ll be able balance your work life and play without slacking off too much or working yourself to the bone. For more tips on how to balance your daily schedule, click here:: Get Your Day Organized

You love the smell and feel of handcrafted soaps and you wish to expand your creativity to make some yourself. However, there are a number of ways to make soap that may or may not be right for you due to your skills, equipment, or interest. What are the primary methods to make great soap?

Melt and pour soap is probably the easiest way to start making soap since you don’t have to work with lye and just need to add fragrances and ingredients to the soap base. Cold process or Hot process soap, however, allows you completely make a custom soap from scratch and allows you more control over every ingredient you add to your soap. Milling soap allows you to make a soap with a cold process or hot process then refining with it a second time with additional ingredients or colors. For more details on these soap making processes, click here:: What Method of Soapmaking is Right for You?

Running an online soap shop from home can be stressful. Balancing budgets, getting supplies, making soap, shipping out products, etc. can wipe a person out. It can build up and get dramatic, but you can overcome it.

Just take a moment, breathe, and ask yourself “What do other people do when they are trying to fix this problem?” Whatever issue you are facing, know that someone else has had it and has overcome it. Likely, one of the answers in your head can solve the problem and you can move forward. For a full article on this topic, click here:: How to Take the Drama Out of Running Your Business

Okay, so you already have an inventory of awesome soaps to sell. You have your website and online store ready to go. All you need now is customers. However, not everyone is going to go ga-ga over handcrafted soap. So how can you appeal to your target audience?

You can advertise your website at places where people who buy crafts would visit and hang out, online or in real life. Find out if your target customers communicate whether its through message boards, Facebook, Twitter, or newsletters. By getting into the mind of your ideal customer, you’ll know what moves to do as opposed to wasting time trying to appeal to everybody. Get more advice from a full article on this topic:: How to Bring Quality Targeted Traffic to Your Online Shop

Things are going steady with your soap shop business, but they could be better. Revenue is stagnant and nothing seems to spark it up. So what can you do?

Take a peek to see what is causing any profit leaks. Are there any needless expenses? Are there less expensive places where I can get my supplies? Also, take an honest assessment of your website and maybe make some aesthetic changes. Doing some self reflection can help create external profits in the long term. Get more suggestions on how to double your revenue here:: How to Double Your Revenue and Profit. Really.

A lot of elements make up a successful online soap shop. High quality photos of products, an easy-to-navigate webpage, and shareable content all lead to more traffic and sales. However, many soap shop entrepreneurs neglect mobile devices when structuring their website.

As time goes on, more and more people are shopping from their smart phones and tablets, so it is important to make sure your website is “mobile-friendly.” Make sure that your website layout is basic and has legible print for a mobile phone. Keep track of your mobile traffic and ask your friends what they prefer to see when shopping from their phone. Making sure that your site is mobile-friendly will help you get those extra sales from people on the go. For more on mobile websites for craft sellers, click here:: Is Your Shop Optimized for Mobile?

You’ve made a bunch of different soaps for your inventory, cut them up into bars and ready to be bought and shipped. Yet you have a bunch of soap shavings and scraps that are too small to make a full bar. Don’t let them go to waste!

You can take those scraps to make rebatch soap using distilled water or hot tea. These scraps can turn into a rustic looking soap that you could sell. Another option is to take the scraps and mix it with washing soda and baking soda to clean your laundry. There are a number of uses for any leftover soap scraps you might have. For more suggestions and inspirations, please click here:: How to Use Leftover Soap Scraps