Starbuck, my baby, hiding among stuff in our guest room.OK everyone, this is a feedback post, I REALLY need some feedback here. PLEASE leave me a comment with your opinion about this.
How do you feel about a blog that allows people to advertise on their site? Regina and I are considering offering this option here on the Crafty Girls Workshop blog. It wouldn't be a high cost thing, and we'd make sure that we only allow people to advertise who sell/make items that are relevant to what our readers want and, of course, don't compete with what we sell. That's part of the reason I need your feedback. It might seem a little over the top to ask people to pay for us to add their button to our blog, especially since we already sell fabric and kits and patterns but I want to offer people the option. Perhaps you're a reader of this blog and you LOVE to sew but have NO idea how to make cute jewlery, why not let us provide an image that links to a webstore of someone who sells pretty jewlery? Do you see where I'm going with this? So, hit me, tell me what you think, yeah or nay about advertising and IF you are someone who would be INTERESTED in advertising on here, please let me know as well. Of course, it would be sort of a let down if we went to all this trouble and no one wanted to advertise with us. Believe me, it's going to be VERY inexpensive to start, probably $5 a month! Most of our advertising budget goes to purchasing ad space on various blogs and we've paid anywhere from $10 to $85 a month for those ads, so I believe that $5 a month is VERY reasonable. I'll also do my best to help drive more traffic here so you get maximum exposure.
One more point: By asking for help with sponsoring our blog by purchasing some ad space, it will help us generate a little bit of money to be able to pay for ad space on other blogs. This will help us keep our prices on fabric, patterns and kits low and fair. We aren't doing this because we're greedy, but we do need to keep our ads on other sites running and hopefully we can do that and help promote some great crafty people in the process!
PLEASE leave me a comment with your opinion, no matter what it is. If you don't want your opinion to be public you can send me an e-mail anna@craftygirlsworkshop.com
BONUS: I will do a DRAWING from the responses (so make sure you leave me your e-mail) to win a CHARM pack of fabric! Drawing will be on Sunday March 7th. Thanks!!
Happy Stitches to You,
Anna
Hello! I tend to avoid blogs that are full of advertising. It's cluttery. It's annoying. And it cheapens the feel of the blog. However, nice ads that are tastefully done, placed in non-obnoxious places on the blog (such as in the sidebar, rather than throughout the blog posts) are far more appealing. Targeted advertising is also important, because the last thing I want to do is read a sewing blog that is advertising Clorox or weight loss supplements. If the ad is pertinent to something that fits the style and personality of the blog, then it has much more appeal for the reader.
ReplyDeleteJust my two cents. I do understand that advertising can help keep things afloat. I think the trick is to find a way to do it so that it enhances your blog (and thus your products) instead of detracts from it. Like you said, an ad for pretty handmade jewelry would catch my eye. :)
Hello, I think selling ad space on your blog is a really good idea and your starting price very reasonable! I love to sew and am hoping to open an Etsy shop in a few months and would definitely consider buying some space on your blog. Hope this helps!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Marie-Jolie - tastefully and not cluttered..people that come can ignore or click. I don't have anything to sell, but if I did the $5 would be most appealing!!
ReplyDeleteTargeted ads would be an enhancement, in my opinion, but I'm not interested in household products when I'm looking for craft ideas or recipes. I usually don't stay on a blog that is trying too hard to sell me something. I like to "browse" and learn new things - not feel bombarded with ads.
ReplyDeleteSusan
I have done both on our many blogs and I agree that cluttered ad filled blogs make me leave right away, but I also understand that if we do not have affiliates and sponsors button then you will never move into the profitable side of blogging. I have BlogHer on my blog and the ads they post are not always pertinent to what I am promoting, but I have been able to choose what not to advertise by them etc. This has enhanced my bottom line and I greatly appreciate making this money and the advertisers are only looking for exposure not direct sales. But regular people that advertise are looking for sales from their ad on a blog.
ReplyDeleteOn the inside I am a purest that really loves clean, button free, ad free blog experiences but it is not realistic. So I have my blogs that promote and then I have French Picnic with Marie where we have no ads so that we can have a little of both worlds. Just put things that you think are lovely and are enhancing to your site, try it out you can always change your mind. :)
But there is another side to this. My first year in business with Bee Wise Bags, I spent $2400 on blog advertising. I had buttons on really popular blogs like Simple Mom, Posh Mama etc. These had tremendous traffic and the demographic was correct for our products. I never made one sale from any of their promotion, lots of clicks and exposure but not one sale in a year from other blogs. All my sales came from my own promotion, our site, our blogs, being in stores, being featured in articles etc to the total of over $8000 dollars in gross sales.
I think your price is great and even if you make just enough to pay for hosting that it's worth it.
Sorry for the ridiculously long comment. :)
This feels weird commenting on my own blog, but I'd like to say thanks to those who have offered their input so far. Gabrielle, you need to let people e-mail you! Haha. Thanks for that input though Gabrielle because it's useful to know that I'm not the only one spending buku bucks on advertising on blogs and wondering if it's helping sales. I like the idea that it's a way of helping promote other crafty people and help to pay for the cost of hosting the site. I can't wait to hear some more comments!
ReplyDeleteAnna
I think that if you have some small, cute buttons on the sidebar to advertise shops (and maybe even blogs) that would be fine. I usually click pretty things I see in sidebars. However, I don't like paid blogging. I hate reading something and just knowing it's sponsored by a company. I just want to read people's thoughts, not advertising.
ReplyDeleteI agree. You can email me any time!
ReplyDeletebeewisebags@me.com
heehee!
I think it's a great idea! I personally don't have anything to advertise but I like that I would be able to visit your blog and find craft-relevant third-party sites!
ReplyDeleteI don't mind advertising.
ReplyDeleteAds do not bother me as long as they are relevant to the blog. I will steer away from blog with too much clutter and too busy (and I know mine is a little cluttered right now...but I am working on it) especially with ads. Ultimately if you can make some money that's great! Ads do not deter me...unless of course I am on a craft blog and there are ads for Viagra or something.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a great idea, my email is
ReplyDeletecindygutierrez71@yahoo.com..I read your post on my blog, thanks ;)))
I think it's a great idea and would be interested in advertising, should you decide to. Maybe you could start with businesses that use your products (to keep it relevant). By the way, LOVE your shop and had added your button to my blog a while ago: http://orabelle-baby.blogspot.com/
ReplyDelete