When thinking about a cake business, many envision a counter full of baked goods and a back room with messy mixing bowls and frantic staff. With the prevalence of online shopping, though, cake companies don’t need a physical store to reel customers in. In fact, many customers decide to do their bakery shopping online due to the ease. If you have a knack for baking and want to earn money from your craft online, here is how.
While you don’t necessarily need to choose a niche, it can help you find a specific and reliable audience. A couple of niches to consider include weddings, birthday parties, and using only vegan ingredients. If you decide on a very specific niche, make sure you incorporate that heavily into your marketing.
While setting up a cake business online isn’t as costly as buying a store, you’ll still need to budget for equipment, ingredients, postage, and more. Before you start posting your delicious baked goods, spend some time writing out a budget as well as your ideal profits so that you know what to aim for.
When it comes to baking, using the ideal equipment is crucial. It’ll save you time and energy and will help you create professional and stunning cakes. You’ll need baking trays, piping bags, mixing bowls, spoons, stencils, and more. If you want to make sensational patterns on your baked goods, use a quality custom stencil maker for ultimate precision.
No matter how beautiful your cakes are, you won’t make any sales if you haven’t found your audience. One of the easiest ways to do this is through social media. Share your images and your story online on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and TikTok. The more you put your business out there, the more likely your audience will find you, so the next time you perfect a red velvet cake, make sure to showcase that on your feed.
If you are deciding to start an online baking business, the chances are you are already skilled at baking. That doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement, though, and the better your skills are, the better your business’s reputation will be.
You should focus on working on the areas you aren’t as confident with. If you’re an excellent piper, but you can’t stand working with chocolate, then spend some time figuring out how to make the chocolate work for you. It’ll take some sweat (and possibly some tears), but by mastering every skill, you’ll be ready to take your business to the next level.
As an online business, you must start marketing yourself online. After all, how else will people find you? Some ways to market your business online include using social media, SEO, and email marketing. Knowing your audience will come in handy here, as you can tailor your marketing strategies for them. If you make wedding cakes, for example, then you know to target couples in love, and that should shine through in your social media posts and SEO content.
You should think of your business’s website as your store. Instead of showcasing your cakes on display in the store window, you must show them off on the screen. When it comes to building a website, simpler is better, especially if it is your first time.
Remember not to overload your users with too much information – a large block of text might put a potential customer off, even if it tells an exciting story. Make sure your paragraphs are relatively short and engaging and use only the best images of your cakes. A web designer will help you create a website that is attractive and user-friendly.
Great cakes don’t just come from creativity and nerve – they also require a spacious and comfortable workspace. Your home kitchen is fine, but make sure you completely clear and clean the space before getting to work.
Once your online cake business starts to grow, you might consider expanding your kitchen or even renting a kitchen space to bake more cakes. Just make sure the cupboards are filled and the area is spacious enough to handle multiple ingredients, a couple of spills, and moments of high emotion.
Once your business has grown, you can start thinking about employing staff. It’s one of the biggest milestones of any business, and while you might be eager to hire your first employee, you should first take a step back and make sure your cake business is stable enough to pay their salary.
If you know for sure that you need a spare pair of hands to deliver the cakes, then look for someone with plenty of experience with baking and the same level of passion you have for creating only the best. If you’re not sure about how to go about the hiring process, don’t be afraid to outsource the task.
The idea of starting a successful online cake business might seem like just a dream, but with enough hard work, preparation, and drive, you can make that dream a living reality.
