On this first one, you can see a list of pages I’ve [...]]]> I realize there’s no way for my readers to know how it is, I bring traffic to our sites. Here’s a list of most of the places where I blog, network the sites or write articles with links back to the sites.

On this first one, you can see a list of pages I’ve built at Squidoo
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/red46

http://ezinearticles.com/?expert_bio=Judy_Sims

http://www.articlesbase.com/authors/judy-sims/31717.htm

A whole list of blogs with links back My Blogger Profile

The Home and Family Site
My Trucking Blogs
The Christian Fellowship site

There’s my facebook profile where I talk about us all the time.

And my twitter account
My Stumbles
My bookmarks
My Diggs
MySpace
My technorati page

One of my networks on Ning
My profile on Merchant Circle

That, believe me is not all there is but I’m tired.

This is what it takes to get known in the search engines. Networking the internet. So either you do it or I do it. If your information is listed on the Crafter’s Corner you can take advantage of the traffic I work on. What comes to me, also comes to you.

All you have to do is submit an article with your website address included in it, or click on the link in the first paragraph for the Crafter’s Sites and pick out a box and click it. Submit your information and I’ll get it in there.

from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Just like any other business online, you have to build your own market.

from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit

One of the best ways to get the word out about your own website or pages with your crafted products, is by publishing e-books.

There are all sorts of ways, you can battle this. Not all are free but even those that cost money, cost very little if you’re careful.

One direct way [...]]]> You have your own website or you’ve listed with Etsy or some other selling site but you’re not getting enough looky loo’s coming your way.

There are all sorts of ways, you can battle this. Not all are free but even those that cost money, cost very little if you’re careful.

One direct way is through google ads. There, you can set a monthly budget, dictate which hours of the day your ad shows up in searches. It takes some snooping around google and learning how to use it but it will bring you traffic.

Other ways, include blogging and writing articles. Did you know, there are hundreds of sites for ‘free articles’ for other publishers?

If you know enough about your craft, you can write articles about the craft, the history of it, some ‘how-to’s', even recipes or patterns. Add your links where you want to direct traffic and submit the articles to several of these ‘free article’ sites.

What’s the use in doing that? Plenty! Not only is it important for you to have a presence on the net, it’s also very important to have incoming links from other sites. Those incoming links influence the search engines, and raise you up on that search page.

People who write newsletters, blog or even write for their own sites, go looking for extra content. Where do they look? In those free article sites. The articles are offered up for reprint online, for others to use on their own sites, as long as they keep the reference to the author intact.

By writing an article that would appeal to others, you have the chance of getting your information all over the internet. Information with links to your own site or your products. All this, does more than you can imagine to build traffic to your products.

Run a search for “free articles” and you’ll find yourself buried in too much information. The most popular sites will be the first ones on the list. Just follow those leads, sign up at the sites and start submitting articles.

And when do these sites delete old articles? Never. Their database just keeps growing.

Folks looking to add content to their own projects, come looking. They will search out subjects that fit their own nitch. So if somebody is adding information about all sorts of crafting projects, they will come searching under the heading of ‘arts’ or ‘craft’s’ etc and find your article. They sign up for a membership, take the article and paste it into their own site or newsletter, along with your information.

Of all the millions of people working on the internet, building onto their own projects, how many do you think will be using your article and placing your links in front of the eyes of their own audience? Thousands!

The more articles you submit, and the more that are accepted, the higher you rise in the ranks of that particular site and the more you are ‘featured’.

This may seem like a lot of work but believe me, it’s worth it. Months down the road, when you haven’t had time to write in ages, your articles are still alive and still working for you.

Every where you go, on the internet, take your signature with you. Fill out those profiles and tell the world what you want them to know.

Join Facebook, twitter, myspace and all the rest of the networking sites and make sure you leave your links on your profiles.

Spend some time finding out what the internet can give you, in return for your time and energy. Jump into the ocean of faces and names.

So your email fills up with spam, because you’re out there and sharing your information. So what? I clean out at least 100 emails every day but it’s worth it, for what I get out of my own farming out my buyers.

Make sure you have a separate email address just for business and don’t give out personal information, like your phone number. You can give your phone number when signing up for these sites, but don’t post it in your profile. Don’t post your personal email in there either.

When you get a direct email headed with something like ‘ big order for Australia ‘, or ‘your products’, sounding too general and not seeming to know anything about your product – delete it. True contacts will make reference to where they found you. You’ll know the difference.

Websites that let you list your product and sell, aren’t out there advertising just for you. They will advertise to get more lister’s. Their business is in selling ad space, not your product.

So get out there and bring in your own traffic. Just like any business, you need to promote-advertise-be known.

Even if all you have are the old, vintage patterns or recipes, you can submit them to certain sites. The free article sites want your submissions to be your own writing. There are other places that will take your articles or patterns, that don’t offer out free articles. These are ok too, because it’s yet another link out there, pointing to your product.

I’ll take your submissions too at Crafter’s Corner

So get out there and get serious about driving traffic right past your door. Then attract them with something beautiful.

We’ve had numerous visits from buyers but, I suppose, because they browse through the categories and see only 2 pages offering products, none of which they are [...]]]> Since building the new site, I’ve had one submit information about her products so that I could post it and possibly match her up with wholesale buyers.

We’ve had numerous visits from buyers but, I suppose, because they browse through the categories and see only 2 pages offering products, none of which they are interested in, they sign up for membership but don’t submit to me what they are looking for. No wonder.

If you don’t get me information on your products, I can’t help the buyers in finding products. We need more to show our wholesale buyers or they just go away.

If you are a crafter and have or would do wholesale, be sure to submit that form on the first page at U.S. Connections

Come on, gang. Folks are searching for product.

For something local, you first need to decide [...]]]> So you want to start your own craft shows. First, it’s a good idea to determine the size and territory of your show. Is it just for your own town, your own state or do you want to go all out and have a national show.

For something local, you first need to decide where to advertise your show to the crafter’s, then to the visitors you want to attract.

It’s always a good idea to plan your show around some annual event, like the ‘watermelon festival’ or the ‘strawberry festival’ or something like the ‘Octoberfest’. Find out who’s organizing these events and get them your information and plans. How can your craft show fit into the theme? Where can they fit some space in for your project?

Call the local newspaper and let them know your plans. They will add a mention with their usual write up. Make up fliers and take them into the craft supply stores and ceramic supply stores, hobby and crafts shops, the grocery store. Post up fliers at the laudromat. Talk to the editor at the local papers, about doing a write up on you and your coming show.

You want your information to get out to the crafter’s, long before you start announcing to the public. You first need a fair idea of how many crafter’s will attend.

Before you talk to the crafter’s, you need to know when, where and what you can offer. Will it be outdoors, will it be indoors, will you provide tables or lighting. Will you charge a fee to the public, just for visiting. Where will everyone park? How close to the event, can you let the crafter’s park? Are you sure this parking space will be available? Will you also arrange for food vendors? Will your spots for the crafter’s be marked off? Will they be numbered? Can they pick their spots and reserve them ahead of time?

If you’re renting a building, make sure of the parking arrangements and don’t make your crafter’s haul their goods across a parking lot. Get them as close as possible.

What will you charge per crafter’s booth? This gets right down to what your expenses will be and how much profit you want to make off the show. It’s just like any other business, once you get it rolling.

In the event you want a big show and want to go national, you really have to think ahead of time. Most magazines are already set and ready to go, as much as 3 months ahead of issue date.

Your first thoughts will be national publications-craft magazines and specific subject magazines such as Ceramics Monthly.

The best way to get acquainted with these magazines is by visiting your biggest book store and browse the magazine section. You could do a search online for ‘Knitting magazines’, ‘Crochet magazines’…check out every possible crafting subject and track down the magazines.

You want to get a sample copy. In each magazine, towards the front, you’ll find a section that tells you the editors for each dept., what their readership is (pretty much tells you how popular the magazine is). Flipping through the magazine, you’ll note an area that seems to be only announcements. That’s your goal. That’s free advertisement.

Then it’s time to think like a writer. You will write the perfect (won’t you) news release. Something like this:
Acme Shows is organizing it’s, soon to be, annual craft show. The theme for this years show is “Christmas in July”. This is a national show including artist’s and crafter’s of every media. Call ***-**-**** for an application packet. Expected are 200-300 booths.

Simple and to the point. If you’ve had a previous show and it was successful, mention that too. Something like “Acme shows was a great success last year and we expect an even more exciting show, this year”

Once you found the section in the magazine, you want your notice to show, contact that editor by letter which includes a separate page which is your ‘news announcement’.

You can get even wider coverage, simply by submitting a well written article about yourself. Make it sound interesting and exciting.

I was once written up in one of the most popular ‘general crafts’ magazines simply because I sent them an attractive article. At the time, I was living 15 miles from the nearest town, on farm land. So I started my story with ” Down a dusty road, sitting in the screened in porch, hard at work on her typewriter, Judy works in seclusion. Only the postal worker knows of her existence. She knows because of the huge volume of incoming mail…….Surrounded by cotton, wheat and chickens, Judy pounds away on her typewriter, turning out yet another edition of her newsletter……..”

You see? I included a picture of me at the typewriter, one of the farm and made sure I followed their guidelines for photos. They included both.

Magazine editors like it when you give them something of value, well written and is a great magazine page filler.

Remember, you need to have your announcements or articles into the magazines, at least 4 months before you event. You want the issue out and on the stands, at least a month before your event, to give yourself plenty of time to organize your applicants. That’s ‘at least’. A better idea would be 6 months ahead of time.

What this means is, if you want to go national, you need to think bigger. All your plans need to be on paper, before hand. You need to know about any local regulations, what permits you might need, what building you might be renting and if included with an already scheduled event , you really need to get with those event organizers and sponsors, the previous year.

A local show isn’t nearly the preparation as a national event.

Some more great ideas. Find an art supply and buy some of that magnetic rubber material. You can cut it to size and either hand paint your small billboard, or use stick on letters to make magnetic placards for you car doors. Everybody’s doing it…..rolling advertisement. You could have something like: Acme Craft Shows 800-100-8000 or Sign up for Oct Craft Show 800-100-8000. Use your imagination and come up with something short and simple along with a phone number. Then….answer your phone.

In your application packets, you want one sheet that’s just a simple contract. On that sheet you will have a list of data like : name, address, your craft, and have information about when and where to pay their fee. If you care about the quality of crafts coming to the show, set up a judging platform of some kind. You could have them send pictures of the products they will bring. If it’s not suitable, you can inform the crafter that their product ‘doesn’t fit our them’…:) Something kind but a let down all the same.

Another sheet will have a map and possibly the layout of the booths. Information about the setting of the show, what event it may be participating in, how much traffic you expect and what helps will be provided AND who is responsible for what.

Will you provide security? If something get broken, who’s responsibility is it? Be sure that’s included in the sign up sheet.

All information needs to be right up front, for the crafter to make decisions. Do they need to bring their own tables and chairs? If lighting will be needed, do you have electricity available. All that.

Well, you have the general idea. It’s really not so hard but do remember, the crafter depends on you for prior information. They need to know what preparations they need to tend to, how much traffic they might get, what the surrounding will be and parking.

For a national show, once the crafter is signed up, sent in their application form along with what ever money they need to send, etc, you need to reply with an ‘X’ showing where their booth is, in the scheme along with a map of the entire arrangement, like an overview of the building or show area and the parking arrangements, entrances etc.

Good luck with your plans and if you have any questions, just comment here.

‘

The wholesale buyers can be as small as one gift shop owner, so don’t let the wholesale market scare you away.

I will collect the information on both sides and make the matches. That way, [...]]]> This new site is strictly for making connections between U.S. small business crafter’s and artisans with U.S. wholesale buyers.

The wholesale buyers can be as small as one gift shop owner, so don’t let the wholesale market scare you away.

I will collect the information on both sides and make the matches. That way, by the time you get any information about the other party, the buyer will have already been given enough information to make a good decision. In essence, I get to know what each party is looking for.

So why not get listed. All you have to do is use the form on the home page and include your information. From there, I will contact you to get the information I need to build your personal page. No name or personal information is exchanged until both parties express a confirmed desire to do business.

http://judysbookshop.com/biz2bizAmerica/

There it is and it’s brand new as of last night.

The Crafter’s Corner was created with the business crafter in mind. Of course, that doesn’t exclude hobbiest crafter’s, it’s just that those who desire to sell their art works, always need the extra boost.

I spent my [...]]]> I’ve received questions from confused folks, so I thought I’d take the time to do some clarifying.

The Crafter’s Corner was created with the business crafter in mind. Of course, that doesn’t exclude hobbiest crafter’s, it’s just that those who desire to sell their art works, always need the extra boost.

I spent my share of time, living in the depressed state of OK, during the 80′s. Making a living off of crafting was almost a nightmare. Back home, in my home state of NM, it’s a whole other world. So I’ve seen it from both angles. Thank goodness for the internet. It helps to level the playing field but you have to know how to work it.

That’s where I come in. I don’t ask for membership fees, although sometimes I wonder if I shouldn’t. It seems to me folks will pay for the service but seem to shy away when it’s free. Go figure.

I have google ads and affiliate ads, all over the place. That’s what I depend on to help me offset the cost of keeping all these websites afloat. Not your money.

On the pages of the Crafter’s Corner are how-to articles, hints and tips of all sorts, links for supplies and we even have our own forums. My favorite is found right up on top/center where crafter’s with their own webpages can claim a block for exposure and links back to their products. I do that for free.

Best of all, I think, you can ‘submit news’, and send in an article. You can write about just about anything pertaining to crafts: any media, news about a show or a product and you can include links back to your own information/webpages/etc. It’s great exposure.

Down the left side of the home page, you see all these links. That 3000+articles is actually not me, at all. It’s a link into one of the thousands of articles sites but if offers even more opportunity to find the subject, you’re looking for. Just trying to help.

In the downloads link, you’ll actually find some freebies.

In the content and Topics you’ll find all the articles on the site. Most of what I write is right here in the blog.

Down the center of the home page you’ll find links to a collection of videos I’m collecting, for instructional value.

As you scroll down the page, you see links on both sides, as well as the beginning of articles down the center. Stroll around and get acquainted. I’ve worked hard for you and it’s nice to see when folks take advantage of it.

If there’s anything you’d like to see added to the site, just give me a holler. I’m glad to get it done.

See you at the Crafter’s Corner.