Blog About Crafts

I was looking at someone’s blog today and noticed a conversation on how to advertise a crafting business on the cheap. One of the things mentioned was to ask bloggers if they would be willing to interview artists or review their sites.

I’ve toyed with the idea to review each of the sites submitted and accepted to Crafty Tips Arts & Crafts Directory but my concern was trying to be fair and impartial. I mean, let’s face it not all sites are created equal. Some directory sites have started adding blog entries for sites being submitted but it would seem that could become a real black hole of time and frustration.

In the past, I’ve offered free profiles on several forums. I did ask for a link to this site or one of my other craft-related sites and was disappointed when only two artists took me up on that offer. My thought was that since my blog is not on the fast lane that it was simply a matter of not being popular enough to attract interested folks. The blog I was reading happened to have a comment from one of the editor’s in the jewelry section of a very popular crafting site. She too lamented that she could not find folks who wanted to participate and receive free reviews and profile pieces.

So, rather than try another round in the forums, I thought I would make the offer again here on the site where the profile would reside. Do take heed, that this is free advertising for your business and I take that very seriously. Your site or shop must offer something of value for sale or offer information and project tutorials that would be of interest to crafters.

Participants might also receive a bit of free business consulting advice along the way and when combined with a bit of free advertising both will hopefully bring a some new visitors/customers to your site.

Just let me know if you are interested. The profiles/reviews are free.

I’ve talked before about a variety of ways to get free advertising and backlinks. If you are a repeat visitor to this blog, you probably already know about Crafty Tips, my arts and crafts directory.

But, did you know that there’s a special category to showcase other websites that offer free or paid advertising to crafters? A recent submission reminded me that perhaps, as the last category on the main menu, many folks may not see this section. Other Advertising Options for Crafters is a place where websites that offer free and paid advertising can list their websites. Crafty Tips visitors should be sure to check out the sites listed there as they are all designed to help promote your website or online shop just like Crafty Tips does.

Additionally, I’ve recently launched Art Filled Days to advertise a number of Free Advertising Options for Crafters that are available on my crafting websites. I currently own this blog and Crafty Tips, as well as, The Crafty Tipster and Reusable Art. All four sites offer crafters free advertising opportunities. Those advertising opportunities are all discussed on Art Filled Days.

Why not visit Art Filled Days or one of the other three sites to learn how you can advertise you craft website or online shop for free?

Hi All, I’m back after a bit of a long Labor Day Weekend. I should be back on track for my Wednesday and Sunday postings now.

Shared Blogging

I’ve noticed a new trend in blogging - shared or collective blogging. Groups of artisans are getting together and sharing their ideas and inspiration in the form of a blog. The objective is to share their creative process along with joint promotion and marketing.

I happened across one such blog, it’s called Modern Savage. The blog’s about page explains that a modern savage is one who creates out of need where creating is an act of survival.

Web site navigation is about more than how cool or stylish your menus look. Web site navigation is about creating clear and obvious routes for your site’s visitors to get from one page to another.

I was recently working with a crafter on upgrading her website. Her husband was her webmaster and while his skills were quite good, he made one huge rookie mistake - creating dead-ends.

Dead-ends are when a site visitor follows menus and links and suddenly comes to a page where there is no navigational menus present. Yes, they could simply hit the back key; but, they could also hit the back key right off your site in frustration.

In case you haven’t come across it yet, Etsy.com is one of many great options for crafters to sell their hand-crafted items online without the need of a full-fledged website. Many Etsians (those crafters who are members of Etsy) know that they have to promote their Etsy shop just like any other website.

Let me say that again for anyone who didn’t already know that, Etsy shop owners need to promote their shops like any other webpage. That means getting backlinks, blog mentions and all of the other tactics used to promote websites.

What most Etsians fail to include in their promotional activities is the inside of their shops…