Recap on 11/10 Show with Links

Last night we shared with you another great Etsy team. On this show we introduced you to LEST. LEST stands for the Lampwork, etc Etsy Street Team.
LEST was created by Melissa Vess and Cindy Haberman. Currently LEST is made up of 120 talented lampwork artists and the group is growing everyday.

Each Month LEST has a Team Challenge, or a Special Promotion. Nicole Valentine Rimmer is our Promotions and Challenges committee leader and has put together some really great promotions!

Throughout the Month of November participating LEST members will be donating canned food items, or dollar amounts for each bead/bead set sold in their Etsy shops to Food Banks or Shelters in their communities.

Learn more about this great team and how you can help them raise canned goods by visiting their blog.

http://welcometolest.blogspot.com

Blogging for Doughnuts
Yep, I went all Ben Stein on you last night. Blogging should be an important part of your guerrilla marketing campaign. It's free and easy to do. I just hit a few of the high points of starting a blog last night. I am in the process of writing a little guide on making your blog work for you. I'm a great writer, but when it comes to trying to explain over the air I am a bit lacking. We won't put you through that again. Here are some of the points I hit last night:

Make a Plan
Sit down and write up a brief plan on how you are going to use your blog for promotions and sales. How do you want it to look. How to promote.

Feedburner
Make sure you submit your blog/feed to feedburner. It is part of google and almost a requirement to make a blog successful. They have great tutorials on how to use all of their services. Take the time to do this step.
http://feedburner.com

Site Meter
Site Meter is a great way to track your out click traffic. It is free and easy to sign up for.
http://sitemeter.com

Project Wonderful
Project Wonderful is a great way to market and make a little money. It is an Infinite Auction system. It is something worth signing up for for two reasons. Inexpensive advertising and another way to make money from your blog. Once you have 30 post you can apply to put advertising space on your blog for sale. I use the money I make on Project Wonderful and turn it back into advertising.
https://www.projectwonderful.com

Google Analytics
This is something that I did not mention on the show last night. Google Analytics is the best site traffic system out there. It is easy to include on your blog and is a must.
https://www.google.com/analytics

Posting
A minimum of 5 posts a week. You might be concerned about what to post. Here are the 5:

1. Post about somebody else. Share with the readers another artisan who you know or enjoy their work. Include links and let the person being featured know. Tell them to share the feature with their groups, forums, threads, etc. This work in favor to both of you. You will recieve traffic to your site and they gain exposure.

2. What are you working on. Show it off with photos

3. A personal post. If you are uncomfortable doing this, there are other options. Do a Wordless Wednesday where you just post a photo. Share a recipe. There are many options here.

4. Money Post. This is where you are going to offer something for sale. Think of it as a listing. Include a title, photo, description, and "policies". Include a paypal button for the quick sales.

5. What are you working on Part 2

All your posts should be a minimum of 150 words, include images, and links. Keep 5 post viewable on your front page.

Widgets
There are 3 widgets that you must have on your blog. Followers, feedburner subscribe, and your blog archive. These are very important and should be above the fold if possible. Don't overload your sidebars with widgets.

Making Bucks from your Blog
I know this is the hot topic and what a lot of folks wanted to hear.

I only use one affiliate site. I have been burned on click through by the big one and have always been gun shy of using them. I always searched out individual site that had their own. I have found one that impresses me to no end and I use them. Pepperjam Network offers a wide selection of advertisers to pick from and the click capture rate is outstanding. They show more clicks than I have tracked.


Pay Per Post
Pay Per Post is a site that has advertisers that will pay you to post about them. Huckleberry Arts does this and is making some extra money every month doing so. Your blog must be 90 days old and not a strictly commercial site.


Text Link Ads
This is another advertisers site. You can make money on the side by putting text links on your blog. It's well worth looking into.


These are just a few of the ones that I know and trust. I am researching others right now and will share my findings once I have all the information.

Tweets of the Week
http://roseworksjewelry.etsy.com
http://www.thefiligreegarden.etsy.com
http://flutteringdesigns.etsy.com
http://bamdesigns.etsy.com
http://delightdesign.etsy.com
http://www.thefinerthings.etsy.com
http://crysalliscreations.etsy.com
http://shinyadornments.etsy.com
http://catiesblue.etsy.com
http://www.spoolsewing.com
http://storybeader.etsy.com

Just follow Blockhead Rod on Twitter for a chance to have your shop promoted.