Blogging ideas/topics/suggestions

[Former_Member]

So I started a blog at the end of last month. I plan on posting 2-4 times a month, maybe more, but I'm hoping to get some suggestions on how to get a decent flow of readers.

My general list of "mentionings" or "talk abouts" are below.

Blog topic:
~something crafty on my mind (things I've found to be really neat or fun to do. Or other great crafty ideas)

Extra add on's :
~Question to engage readers
~a few of my recent creations (and a link to my shop)
~a few of my favorite etsy finds (a link to a recent treasure I've made)


Any ideas or thoughts would be wonderful.

http://beaded-treasures.blogspot.com/

[MadeByCristinaMarie]

Hi Sammie!

I like the ideas that you have! You could also maybe offer freebies and participate in giveaways. I recently started a blog as well http://www.madebycristinamarie.com - so I am in the same boat as you! I think the important thing is to just post as often as possible with relevant information to your readers. Hope this helps :)

Cristina

[sammysgrammy]

I was so timid about starting to blog, it took me forever to jump in. But now I'm in, I have a hard time figuring out what to blog about. We have a once a week "blog blitz" on one of my teams and the others who post are usually the only readers I have.

I even put it on my team face book page and on my own as well. Result.......very few readers.

I love doing it but it doesn't look like too productive use of my time.

Here's the link:

www.sammysgrammysneedlin.blogspot.com

[Former_Member]

thanks ladies for your thoughts.

On the freebies and give away's Ive thought about it but I really struggle with the idea of giving away my hard worked on product for free. Perhaps when my blog is actually generating something pretty steady I'll think more of it.

[Former_Member]

Have we gotten any other ideas?

[Former_Member]

Giveaways are a great way to get people to filter through all of your social media sites and Etsy shops. I understand that it is hard to giveaway hard earned work. When I started my shop, I did monthly giveaways of samples. People loved it! As the orders started rolling in, I graduated to gift certificates and full sized items. It really has been a great help!

[Former_Member]

Did you give away items 'just like that' or how did you work it? Free item with an order? Or a contest or what? Any ideas or thoughts on that would be great thank you.

[PICFiberArts]

I am thinking about starting a blog so this discussion is great. I actually got a book on Blogging for dummies! LOL

[Former_Member]

I notice that most of my followers come from my twitter and my Facebook page so those are updated regularly. So get those up and running. When I tweet it goes straight to my Facebook page for me - saving time. Or blog to facebook My tweets also appear on the side of my blog. So I look active all the time, even though I may only be on twitter or perhaps Facebook. I appear to be really busy and active.

www.craftmakerbynature.wordpress.com
www.donnavokes.wordpress.com

[Former_Member]

Oh gawd, I am rubbish at my blog. I never know what to write, and to be honest I hardly update.

Doesn't help that I have no followers!

I find twitter and my FB fanpage much easier... lol

[Former_Member]

Thanks Vixen! How would I go about attaching my Facebook to my blog? That would help a great deal I think.

That's If you would know how to do that with Blogger.com

[Former_Member]

Any other thoughts?

[PiecesofMeCardsnMore]

I've heard 2-3x a week is a good way to keep followers. If you don't blog frequently enough your followers lose interest. I'm sporadic about blogging so when I do I rarely get comments.

I like to post recipes and personal craft items I've worked on besides Etsy. Sometimes I'll find a nice quote on Pinterest and will post that when I have nothing else to blog about. I used to have a weekly scrapbook sketch feature but I got out that. It became too time consuming to create a new one every week.

Blog readers *love* tutorials. My most popular blog posts are my tutorials. You could create a tutorial on how to make a piece of jewelry. It won't take away sales, because people who have no interest in making their own will still want to buy from your shop.

[Former_Member]

I would love to be able to blog 2-3x a week but unfortunately I do not have the time or the topics to post that often. >.< Definitely something to work towards. And If at all possible to figure out how to link my blog to my face book that would be an awesome way to look more active.

And as far as doing tutorials, I'll have to find something I'd be able to describe through text. Though my next entry I'm working on is on prepping for a craft fair so hopefully that will bring some readers.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[PiecesofMeCardsnMore]

Sammie Sidness from BoxOfBeadedTreasures says
I would love to be able to blog 2-3x a week but unfortunately I do not have the time or the topics to post that often.

You can create multiple blog posts when you do have time, then just schedule them to post on a specific date. I do that all the time. :)

[Former_Member]

you have some great ideas already! i think the hards part is to keep blogging even if you dont get lots of readers right away.

[Former_Member]

Sammie, you might look around at the help areas or features of Blogger and see if you can connect to social media like Twitter and Facebook. I use Wordpress.org, and just recently they started allowing for a plug-in to automatically post from one's blog to Facebook and other social media.

Also, you can use apps on Facebook to have your FB posts from an FB page flow into your blog if you like to hang out on FB better. Take a look at NetworkedBlogs over in the app section of FB. Looks like they can export your FB stuff to Blogger or even vice versa.

Joanne

[Former_Member]

Someone else mentioned this blog app. I'm thinking I might actually have to move my blog over to Wordpress. Cause I do not believe Blogger can allow this. And this is such a useful tool. Thanks a bunch.