AI am trying to start up my own business and really want to get my business name and cakes out there. Can anyone help? I already have a facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flicker, Pintrest, and Instagram page. I also have a website www.mycreativecake.com Does anyone have any suggests on how to really make a name for myself??

I'm just a home baker who operates legally under cottage food law in Ohio, but one of the ways I started getting my name out there was to bake for people who actually could not afford a cake at all. I bake cakes for the local community dinner which they cut and serve, or make cake pops and other treats that they raffle off for free at the dinners also. Everyone knows someone who knows someone and eventually I got people calling me to purchase cakes. It took a long time, I'd say nearly two years before I got a steady stream of orders. Don't overlook any opportunity to get people to see and taste your cakes. :-)

Thanks I am not really sure how or who to get in contact with to do something like that. How did you find out or get involved with the community dinners? Thanks for the advice

Do you want some comments about your web page?  There are some things you could do to improve that.  I think having a good web page is important, I rarely do business without looking at their web page and/or facebook page first to get a good idea about their business.

AI don't do freebies, never have (except for family and good friends) and honestly think that it gives a wrong impression, when you do so. You'll be known as the lady to go to to get a free cake. I'm just a hobby baker and not pushing my cakes and cupcakes forward at all, but after just a bit more than a year that I started selling them, I'm actually in a position to turn offers down because it's becoming too much - just mouth to mouth! What I would probably do is checking out Christmas craft fairs. We have the first here in two weeks (where I'm Ws selling other stuff than cake) and I remember last year there was a lady who had stalls at quiet a number of fairs, selling super cute and delicious cupcakes, decorated in a Christmas theme (Christmas trees, Santa etc). I kept an eye on her stall and she was busy busy busy selling!!! You could also include cakes (maybe even dummies on display and real cakes you sell per serving). Have some of your best cakes enlarged pictures in nice frames, business cards, price list etc. Like that you'll be know as the lady who does amazing cakes/ cupcakes that taste delicious and one is happy to PAY for them.

In my opinion, your website is too complicated. If you don't want to change the design, at least fix the spelling and grammar errors, please.

A

I agree that the website is not design friendly. It is difficult to read and navigate.

I operate a home bakery in Ohio. I decided I wanted to focus on wedding cakes because in my area that is where the money is. I have a free listing on wedding wire (IMO wedding wire offers the best free listing options) and a paid listing on The Knot. I get about 50% of my brides from The Knot (the listing more than pays for itself) and the rest come from either wedding wire or google.

I also participate in a large bridal show in my area that hosts about 600 brides. I usually book about 7-10 weddings off of it - but the networking is really the reason I do it.

I don't give freebies away to drum up business. If I give something away it is because I am trying to be nice. My accountant gets some free cupcakes for he and his staff come tax time. A couple times a year I drop off cupcakes at my salon I go to. I have never gotten business of these which is why I don't think freebies work to drum up business - but I like using my skills to thank people for their services.

I agree that your website is quiet difficult to read - if I came across it looking for cake, I don't think I'd bother trying to navigate it.

Also, your photos need to be better - do some reading on cake blogs about getting better photos, there's lots of those online. You don't need a better camera, necessarily, just better backdrops.

Also ... please make sure all the cake pictures and backgrounds are your own.  The lollipop tree that you use in the background of your home page belongs to Amy Atlas.

You have several spelling mistakes on your site ...  "are" instead of "our", "your" instead of "you're", "god" instead of "goods".  Also, there are way too many exclamation marks.  Do you have a friend who could read it over with you to help you change the wording?  I would do it but I can't copy and paste the text from your site.   

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I'm wondering if there aren't more cakes on the website that were not made by the OP. The differences in quality are quite obvious and the best ones are not in the gallery. This may be misleading clients.