PCC Forums

Heya Folks...

So, for those of you more established bloggers, how do you drive traffic to your site? I'm averaging between 5 to 15 views a day and I'd love to get some more traffic. Any suggestions?

comment on other crafty blogs.
link to other blogs.
post regularly.

make fun stuff.

in addition to what cosy said:

+ run giveaways. free stuff always brings people. i do them twice a week and average around 200-400+ (depending on the item) per day.
+ posting on the etsy forums also helps. though, only if you have an etsy shop.
+ posting on craftster.org
+ adding your blog to your email signature, profiles, flickr, myspace, etc.
+ joining sites like blog catalog
+ stumble upon

i think the most important thing is to post regularly and have a variety of things to look at, ie - good writing and pictures. if it's too text heavy, i won't go back. or if it's a straight add for a shop, i stop reading immediately.

but where are you getting all your stuff from that you give away?

I'd be super broke if I bought all the things you offer. It's nice stuff.

flickr.
join groups, add photos with a link to the blog underneath. add people as your friends, they'll add you.

for fibery types.
ravelry.
join groups, add projects and be sure to link your blog post to your projects. i get A LOT of hits through ravelry.

but where are you getting all your stuff from that you give away?

I'd be super broke if I bought all the things you offer. It's nice stuff.

i most definintely do NOT buy those items. or even ship them.

i post in the etsy forums asking for people interested in participating. i have 3 pages of people interested. it's a marketing tool. i can expose them to 800-1000 potential buyers during the time of the giveaway and they get great feedback on what their most popular items are and why people like them.

i also get a few emails a month from others who have found my blog and want to offer something as well.

i post in the etsy forums asking for people interested in participating. i have 3 pages of people interested. it's a marketing tool. i can expose them to 800-1000 potential buyers during the time of the giveaway and they get great feedback on what their most popular items are and why people like them.

i also get a few emails a month from others who have found my blog and want to offer something as well.

Wow!! I had no idea that people would be interested in this, let alone line up for it! I have to say I checked out your blog and was really impressed with the stuff you've managed to give away!

flickr.
join groups, add photos with a link to the blog underneath. add people as your friends, they'll add you.

for fibery types.
ravelry.
join groups, add projects and be sure to link your blog post to your projects. i get A LOT of hits through ravelry.

Yeah the whole flickr thing... I haven't seemed to get as into it as much as other folks. I'm a little dis-satisied with what I consider to be a rather clumsy/clunky interface and it's really gotten in the way of utilizing it as a tool as much as possible. I did pay for a pro account though, so maybe I should use it a little more than just as a placeholder for my ravelry pics. Just out of curiosity, how much traffic can you attribute to flickr? I'll have to take a closer look at your flickr profile to see how you're using it.

I never thought about using my URL in the signature... that's actually a pretty easy thing to do! These are all great suggestions, BTW!

it really depends on the picture and if people are interested in knowing the rest of the story. my blog generally 200-300 hits/day... i just looked at the referers and yesterday i got over 25 - granted it was picture of viggo mortensen and not a knit garment

how do you see referrers for your blog?
I only know how to click the link in flickr that they give to us.

in wordpress you go to your dashboard, hit blog stats and that will tell you. i don't know about the other blog sites.

yes, I'm not sure that blogger has that. I've never seen it. But since they are part of google, you might be able to integrate analytics with it.

yeah, blog stats rock. Although it probably does nothing to help me with my slightly obsessive personality.

itstwoam wrote: Wow!! I had no idea that people would be interested in this, let alone line up for it! I have to say I checked out your blog and was really impressed with the stuff you've managed to give away!

at this point, i have enough people interested for 2 a week until mid-october...and that's just of people who have sent in item descriptions. i have about 15-20 more that have said they are interested but have not sent me any thing.

i think too, once people see how many new people they are being exposed to, it becomes worth it. a lot of BIG companies are starting to give away their products because it's more effective in terms of advertising and costs a whole lot less.

How many people were hitting your blog before you started offering giveaways? Did you already have a good number of views, or did the free stuff reel 'em in like fish?