Once you’ve started a craft blog, there are a few simple things you can do to help make your blog more successful. These are just a few ideas that appeal to readers and tips to attract a wider audience.
- Show off your craft – If you are a craft blogger, people following you primarily want to see your crafts. Sure, they might be interested in seeing your little ones’ birthday photos and probably don’t mind hearing about your latest internet find. But what they really love are your handmade items. Even though you may throw in a few family stories, be sure to give your audience what they are after—crafts!
- Never commit to anything you can’t follow through with – Technique Tuesdays and Linky Love Fridays are fun, but if you aren’t going to do it for more than a month, it’s pointless to even start. Your readers will start to expect it regularly, but when you fail to deliver you could lose followers. Instead, offer techniques and link lists, but avoid committing to any particular day or promise weekly commitments you can’t keep.
- Crafters love tutorials – Crafters love to see your crafts, but what they love even more is when you tell them how you made it! Craft tutorials are what make good craft blogs great. Readers love step-by-step instructions and photos—when you provide that, they will come back looking for more. My most popular blog post is a Copic tutorial I wrote 2 years ago, and it still regularly gets the more traffic than any other post.
- Don’t underestimate the allure of good photos – As I already noted, crafters love to see crafts. If your pictures are dark, blurry, or so tiny you can’t tell if that card has a dog or a car on it, it won’t appeal to anyone. It’s worth spending the time getting a good photo—it helps illustrate your work, and readers will love sharing them with friends and other crafters.
- Automatic music on blogs is a no-no – I see you are a big fan of Taylor Swift—that’s great! However, your readers may not be. It’d be a shame if readers came for your great tutorial but left because they hated the music. Worse yet, readers checking in during a quick work break might get caught blog hopping because suddenly some song began playing as soon as the site loaded. Eliminate the music altogether, or, as a compromise, offer it as a play list that your readers can click to play if they so choose. In the comfort of their own home, they can then read about your latest projects while rocking out to that sweet hair metal mix you created.
- Want blog comments? Be a commenter! – Participating in comments is a two-way street. It’s how we build friendships and readerships on the web. And, it’s just plain old nice. You obviously love that one blog you read every other day, so why not let the author know? It’s good “netiquette,” and it will inspire those bloggers to check out your work and make comments of their own.
- Post links to where people can find you online – Linking is especially important if you are selling your crafts online. Put links to your Etsy shop, eBay store, or other online marketplace in an easy to find spot so that your readers don’t have to go searching for the information. If you have online galleries, are on Twitter, or have a Facebook fan page, be sure to put prominent links to this destinations as well. Make these links easy to find, if readers need to search for a link to your online store, chances are they will lose interest while they are searching.
- Give credit where credit is due – Even if you weren’t the one who thought up that great idea on how to make ribbon rosettes, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t share it with your readers. Just be sure to credit the person who did come up with the idea. Link to the blog or website where you discovered the technique or idea; it’s not only proper etiquette, but it can also bring new readers from the site you linked to.
- Be a regular blogger – Blogging is fun, but quite honestly it can be a bit of work to keep updating often. Unfortunately, bloggers who are inconsistent lose readers fast. In order to hold the attention of your audience, you need to have something for them to read or see. No one is suggesting that you post every day, but two or more times a week would be a good start. Blogging software typically allows you to schedule posts to publish at a later date. So if you have a lot of free time on a Sunday afternoon, you can write several posts and schedule them to publish during the week. It can really help if you have a busy week ahead and might not have time to write after taking care of work, home, and other commitments.
- Spill the beans on your favorite products – I know I already told you that crafters love to see crafts. But they also like to know what you used to make those crafts, and where you got them. People are increasingly buying supplies online due to the shortage of local craft stores these days. And with so many shops on the Internet, it is not always easy to find a particular stamp, fabric, or tool. Share all the little details about the things you use to make your crafts. Readers will be very grateful you did, especially when they are determined to make the cool project they saw on your blog because it came with a handy tutorial.
By: Simone Collins, Editorial Director for FaveCrafts.com
Originally featured on Craft Critique. Republished with permission.
What other blogging tips work for you?
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