Posts Tagged ‘business’

I am of the belief that one of the best ways to increase traffic to a blog, is by promoting it on other blogs. When you choose which blog(s) to seek advertising space on, you’ll want to find one with a similar readership, but not one that looks like it could be a mirror-image of your own.

For instance, if you run a home decorating blog, and tend to feature lots of French Country items and links to Better Homes & Gardens articles, you’ll probably not pick up too many readers by having a button on a hunting and fishing blog. However, if you advertise on another blog that also frequently links to the same BHG articles and posts pictures that look like they could be from the same photo shoots as the ones you post, readers will wonder what the point is in subscribing to both blogs. A good balance might be a blog that touches on various aspects of the home – cooking, organizing, and home decorating.

But what about the cost?

For many bloggers, this isn’t our source of income – we might not make even a penny off of it. So how’s a blogger to advertise? Enter cross-promotion.

Cross-promotions can work a little differently, based on what the two parties agree upon (blog posts, blogroll listings, etc). However, I’m going to use buttons as my example.

Blogger ABCD runs the aforementioned home decorating blog, but she would love to get her name out to the readers of Blog XYZ, the “various aspects of the home” blog. So she writes to the owner of Blog XYZ and suggests a cross-promotion.

Her request is that Blogger XYZ puts up a Blog ABCD button on the Blog XYZ  sidebar. In exchange, Blogger ABCD will place a button for Blog XYZ on the Blog ABCD sidebar.

Blogger XYZ writes her back and says she accepts the cross-promotion. They decide to keep one another’s buttons up for 3 months.

Yep, it’s that simple! Okay, so you do have to find a compatible blog, and you have to write to the owner of that compatible blog, and you have to hope and pray that said owner of said compatible blog thinks that a) cross-promotion is a good idea for her right now and b) that your blog is compatible with her own. But the overall idea of cross-promotion is simple. And the work involved is simple (though it will take a little time if you have to try multiple blogs). So, what are you waiting for? Go cross-promote your blog!

Today marks the start of our weekly Etsy feature – and what an adorable little shop we have to open with! Percival Road Designs is owned by Aussie wife and mama Anastasia. Her whimsical paper goods are made with a mixture of vintage and modern papers. My personal favorites are the gift tags made from vintage wallpaper.

Anastasia also shares about her life, her inspiration, and her favorite discoveries, at her blog, Anastasia Drawing and Dreaming. Be careful when you visit – you might become addicted!

Okay, so not really. I think it’s pretty darned difficult for such a thing to happen. But, wow! What a great response I’ve received to my Etsy feature request. Over 20 shops and counting. Now I just need to start browsing them all and deciding which ones to showcase here on Honey and Cheese.

Make sure you stop by next Wednesday to find out which one I decide to feature first.

If you have an Etsy shop and you’d like to be featured on Honey and Cheese, I’d love to hear from you. I’d like to get enough interest from shop owners that I can feature one a week. There’s no catch – I enjoy browsing Etsy and I’d love to be able to make new discoveries and share them with my readers.

Just  leave me a comment and I’ll contact you. (Make sure to enter your e-mail where it’s requested – this only shows up in the back end and I won’t share it with anyone else.)