Advertising My Etsy Shop on A Blog

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As I mentioned before, I decided to finally buy some ad space on a blog for my Etsy shop.  I had a few criteria.  The blog needed to be:

• one I read already so I’m familiar with the content
• about design somehow, since my products are all about strong patterns and vibrant color
• supportive of handmade
• not a how-to craft blog (not because I don’t love them – I read a ton – but I don’t think that’s what my target market reads)

So after digging through my Google Reader a little I decided on one of my fave blogs, In Honor of Design.  Anna’s a graphic designer and a jewelry artist and is super supportive of handmade businesses.  Make sure you check out both her blog and her gorgeous jewelry, mmmkay?



The ad went up on February 9th, so it’s been up for two weeks now and I feel like I can give you a feel on how it’s going for me.  I did a little digging on Google Analytics to check my numbers and see if the ad is helping drive some traffic to the shop.

Of all the traffic to my shop, IHOD is the #4 source of traffic to my shop with 8.31%.  In fact, it’s only behind direct traffic, Google searches, and my Facebook page.  It’s even ahead of my blog!  That means it’s my #2 referring site, sending just a few less visitors to my blog than my Facebook page.




It’s great traffic too. The bounce rate for traffic from IHOD is about 48%, which means most of the people who visit are hanging around for a bit.  Visitors average 2.5 pageviews and stick around the shop for a few minutes.

I’ve had a noticeable rise in shop hearts and traffic over the past few weeks.  The ad is not the only contributing factor – I’ve been renewing twice a day thanks to the Statsy Clockbot – but it’s certainly helping things along.  Although I wouldn’t say I’ve been overwhelmed with sales by any means, I am starting to see the results of my efforts.



So is it worth it?  In my opinion, absolutely!  Lots of great bloggers offer super-reasonable rates that make it easy to get into advertising.  Don’t hesitate to contact your favorite blogger for advertising information because you may be surprised at how well it fits into your business budget.  Also, you’re supporting another small business owner, so it’s a win-win!

I know we’ve chatted about advertising before, but I’d love to hear more from you guys!  Let me know if you have an ad somewhere and how it’s working out for you, good or bad.  And if you don’t advertise now, are you considering it?

Odds and Ends

Tweet I hope you all had a lovely Valentine’s Day!  Last night we had a double date at our kitchen table with the ever-charming Bridget and Graham that included knock-off Chicken Bryan, candles, and 80s love songs on Pandora.  My birthday is a few days after Valentine’s Day so we usually just go out once to cover both days.  This weekend my best friend (whose birthday is a few days after mine) and I are being whisked away to Bloomington by our husbands to pretend like we’re 22 again.



I finally picked a blog to sponsor!  Head on over to In Honor of Design to check out my ad (it’s on the right sidebar) and read Anna’s great blog.  This is my first time designing an ad and I must have reworked it ten times.  Thanks to all the bobaloo! Facebook fans for helping me pick which product to include – I think you all made the right choice!

I’m inching closer to finally signing up for the wholesale fabric account.  I’m pretty sure I’m going to go with Westminster/Free Spirit because I love a lot of their designers (and how great is this new line?) and I know I can use a TON of their fabrics.  However, it’s probably going to take me ten years to pick which fabrics I want to buy.



I started using Outright for my accounting – anyone else use it?  So far it’s been pretty easy.  It automatically syncs with my Paypal account and categorizes my expenses, which is pretty nice.  I haven’t had any luck linking my business bank account, so I have to log all those expense by hand.  I set up all of my expense and income categories right after filing my taxes so that the different designations were fresh in my mind (like supplies, marketing expenses, etc).  I might post more about it later, so let me know if you want more info.

Last but not least, I’m feeling like it’s time for a giveaway here.  What would you guys like to get your hands on?  A crafty book? Fabric? Something from my Etsy store?  Cast your vote in the comments and help me decide!

Advertising – I’m Lost.

Tweet I know I typically share with you guys how I did something for the business, like filing the LLC paperwork or running an Etsy shop during vacation.  Today, though, I’m going to chat about one of my goals that I’m really in the dark about accomplishing – advertising, both for my shop and on my blog.

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I’ve had advertising on the brain lately.  I’m ready to start advertising my shop, but I just have no idea where to start.  Also, I had decided a while back to start looking into adding ads to this blog once I reached 10,000 page views, which happened last month (completely arbitrary number – it just seemed like a whole lot of people).

I’m pretty sure I want to start advertising my shop on blogs, mostly because it seems reasonably targeted and definitely affordable.  My problem is the blogs I read are not necessarily geared toward my target market.  I love me some crafty blogs, that’s for sure, but I’m not convinced that’s the best place to reach my customers.



I’m also considering trying out Facebook ads.  These two articles have definitely encouraged me to try it out – Do Facebook Ads Really Work? and Stronger Evidence That Facebook Ads Work.  When setting up a Facebook ad, it’s posssible to define your targeted demographics so narrowly that I feel like I could really reach my market.  Also, you set your budget for the campaign, which makes overspending pretty much impossible.

As for advertising here on the blog, I’ve pretty much decided to add a small AdSense ad somewhere on the sidebar to try it out.  Since all I have to do is enable the ad though Blogger,  I figure this is a good way to try out the whole advertising thing without a huge time investment on my part.

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I see a lot of information on running ads on your own blog.  There is a really great interview with Jena Coray of Modish on CraftyPod about running your own ad program on a craft blog.  It’s tempting, that’s for sure, but is my time better spent running an ad program on my little blog or making new products?

I’d love your feedback on advertising ‘cause I’m sure struggling with it!  Have you guys done any kind of advertising, and was it successful or a waste?  How do you feel about blog ads – love ‘em, hate ‘em, hardly notice they’re there?  As a consumer, what kind of ads grab your attention?  Maybe together we can sort this whole advertising thing out!

Fairs galore

Tweet I don't know if you noticed, but I added a business goal on my sidebar - add 15 inventory items by July 31st, which just so happens to be tomorrow.  I've added 8 since that goal was set, so I have my work cut out for me.  I also have my culinary entries for the State Fair due Saturday and photo shoot with my beautiful new niece tomorrow.  I am counting the felt flower corsages that I will be selling at the Irvington Iris Tea Room in my inventory goal, so I think I'll probably make it.

If you visit your local fair every year, it's definitely worth entering some of your own creations if it's anything like Indiana.  For $35 I can enter up to 35 (!) items in Home and Family Arts, which includes sewing, painting, photography, antiques, knitting, culinary... pretty much anything I'd even consider entering.  You get a shot at the cash prizes for the top awards, plus 6 tickets to the fair.  The tickets alone are worth more than the entry fee.  The cash prizes aren't huge - I think I won a grand total of $14 last year - but it's still fun.  Oh, and for some culinary categories the awards are in pounds of butter!  How awesome is that?!  

On to some big business news - I officially signed up for the Irvington Halloween Festival.  The hubs talked me into it.  He made a good point; if I'm not ready for it inventory-wise, I don't have to do it and I'm only out $32.  This will be my first craft fair on my own since I'm sharing a booth with Mom at the Rocky Ripple Festival in September.  I gotta say, it makes me a little nervous just thinking about it.

Yesterday the Groupon here in Indianapolis was $15 for $30 worth of merchandise from Skreened, a custom screenprinting website.  Kenny and I both ordered one so we can make Bobaloo tshirts to wear to the craft fairs.  I'll let you know how they turn out when they get here.  I think they look so cute on the website's preview that I might wear it around town.  I figure it's advertising, right?