11 benefits of blogging to boost your craft, creative or handmade business marketing success

It's estimated there are around 300 million blogs now online including abandoned blogs that serve as reference materials and highly interactive blogs with hundreds of thousands of visitors.

Blogging started in the late 1990's and gave rise to a new era of social interaction which is now firmly embedded as a social media platform enabling millions of individuals to flex their creative writing muscles and publish content that is informative, inspiring, educational & entertaining to appeal to a select audience. In return, readers engage with the content and the blog authors enabling insight into the minds and hearts of many readers and potential customers a business would not previously had such direct access to.

So, how can blogging benefit your creative, craft or handmade business?

1. Blogs are the most popular online method of enabling you to raise awareness that your business exists and to provide a regular showcase of your work, talent, creativity and knowledge to build, inspire and educate an audience of appreciative readers and potential customers. They can also help your audience understand both yourself & your products and services better. 

2. Using your blog you can communicate en masse your expertise, inspiration, knowledge, passion and skills through teaching, demonstrating, provoking thought & supporting your readers on their own creative journey. 

3. A blog assists in establishing you as a voice, a leader, an expert or as the 'go to' resource in your industry which assists in enhancing your reputation, appeal and popularity in your chosen niche. Your personality will shine through to inspire others. 

4. Authentic blog content which is clearly aligned with and resonates with your readers interests & purpose will help you to build interactive relationships which over time can assist in turning them from engaged readers to appreciative buyers.

5. Having a blog that is full of useful, informative & interesting information can help attract media opportunities such as guest posting,personal appearences, featured work, media coverage and contributing to your 'social proof' as others will be effectively endorsing your views to distribute to their audiences

6. Blogs help contribute to your search engine optimization (SEO) which is one measure of how much search engines and the internet view you as a useful resource. As your blog content should naturally be full of relevant keywords associated with your business and for which you wish to be recognised online for then your search engine ranking will improve and you will become more visible in searches performed by your readers. Regularly updating your blog is a necessity as it provides search engines with continual fresh content for them to take a look at and reference.

7. If your business objectives are to make sales, become profitable, build an audience, keep existing customers loyal then a blog can help you achieve these objectives by exposing your business to a worldwide audience of potential readers and customers that you would have found it harder to access. As an added bonus, as blogs are like small children who need to be nurtured, loved and developed, they are a great tool for showing you are reliable, committed and interested enough in your readers to show up regularly and ask for nothing in return. 

8. Perhaps you are an aspiring writer, teacher or leader in your field? A blog offers you an outlet to showcase your work and ideas. Readers who continually see your work, enjoy it and gain value from it will learn both yourself and your advice and views are trustworthy and likeable without ever having to meet you. Blogs have the added bonus of enabling you to hone your writing and communication skills to ensure your points are accurately & succinctly communicated!   

9.  Blogs are often free to set up if you start off with Blogger or Wordpress and can provide a base for structuring your social media updates. If you regularly post new content to your blog then this same content can inform your social media messages.

10. Blogs are excellent interaction and research tools as they offer the opportunity for your customers to comment and start conversations with you as steps towards building relationships which are critical for business success.

11. Useful, adding value, informative & interesting blog content can set you apart from your competition and position you as an online industry friend with benefits! 

Next week I'll be writing about the do's and don'ts for successful blogs but in the meantime, with all the above benefits in mind will you start blogging to boost your business success?

How to hand make a layered paper bow using paper scraps

Here's a quick, simple & cute way to adorn a gift, card or decoration - a hand made paper bow

Easy to make, you simply take 2 scraps of different size rectangular shaped paper and then fold each one over until the opposite ends meet and secure with glue. 

Layer several on top of each other for a more decadent effect! 

Do you have any bow tips & techniques you'd like to share?

Easy 8 point checklist to ensure your new craft product creations will actually sell!

When we craft we pour our hearts, souls, aspirations, hopes & dreams into our creations. They are a small part of us sent out into the world with love to be adopted and cared for by appreciative customers. 

Sometimes, it seems as though what we're making isn't what others are desiring. 

Here's a handy checklist you can bear in mind to ensure there'll be an loving home for your creations to go to...

1. Is your creation on trend, in vogue, up with fashion? Fashion trends change all the time and are heavily influenced by the media, celebrities, television and culture. To stand the best chance of creating products that sell pay heed to predicted hot colours, trends, styles, ethics & beliefs that are resonating with potential customers.

2. Can you market and promote it effectively? Clear, professional photographs, simple & clear descriptions outlining how the product benefits buyers, clear pricing strategies and innovative & timely methods of communicating the products existence are all imperative to get right to attract the right attention. Confused buyers simply do not buy!

3. Is it an original idea or a copy of someone else's work? If original, your creation provides uniqueness and a sense of fulfilling core feelings and desires within your customers. Your creation has an inbuilt passion that only handmade with love can create. If it looks like every other creation in the marketplace, think why would a customer wish to buy it and ensure this is translated in your sales message. Be realistic on your sales projection numbers - you an't be all things to all people all of the time.

4. Does it fit with your existing brand and image? Potential & existing customers view you as a maker ass representing a certain look, image or style. Does your new product fit in their expectations of you and your brand? Think about your audience and what they want from you first. 

5. Are you willing to put the time & effort into marketing your new product? Long gone are the days when you could put it on your website, shop front, online store and it would just sell itself. You need to actively, consistently & patiently build your audience for your product, sell it based on how it benefits buyers, tell potential customers how it will solve their problems or address their fears, reassure them how they're likely to feel once they've purchased it and how you're going to reward their loyalty after purchase.

6. Is your creation actually what people want? Knowing your buyers is fundamental to achieving sales. Do you know what they like, where they buy, how they buy,  what they buy, what are their interests, what budgets they operate to, their tastes, styles, preferred colours, how they dress, what do they want to achieve when buying? Build the answers to these questions into your creation process and you'll have more chance of a winning product.

7. Can you leverage social proof into persuading others to buy? Any great testimonials from customers who've already purchased the product or similar products from you? Use them! Recommendations are still the #1 method people rely on when selecting who to buy from. If you're unsure of how to get great testimonials read my article on

8. Where are your potential customers in the sales process? Although they may not buy this time, this product, you may be slowly and surely working your magic on them to purchase at a later date. Don't be disheartened if sales are slower than you want them to be, it may just be a case of building your like, know, trust factor more before they're ready to make the purchase. 

How to make a hand made rolled paper flower wreath home decoration or gift

I'm in the mood for decorating this week!

I found some old half circle solid polystyrene wreaths in the garage and thought they could do with cheering up with my favourite rolled paper flowers and some old ribbon and voila some new decorations!

To make the wreaths, simply wind your favourite ribbon around the polystyrene base covering it and secure at the back with some hot glue or strong adhesive

Then cut different size squares of paper for your flowers. Taking each square in turn cut a spiral into it - some with straight edges and some with wavy edges for variety.

Then starting at the end of the spiral start to roll the paper over and over until you get to the centre of the spiral which you can tuck underneath and glue to make a base. 

Gently let the spiral unfurl to make your flowers! 

Here they are in situ  ...

Have you re-purposed any garage finds lately?

How to use Facebook for selling your craft, creative or handmade business products

With more than 1.26 billion registered users, 350 million daily uploaded photos, 20 billion minutes of usage per day & 4.75 billion average daily shared items Facebook is a social media opportunity crafters, creatives and handmakers HAVE to be seen on.

Set up as a predominately social media platform, in recent years craft sellers have taken to it in droves to promote their craft, creative & handmade businesses. 

However, with the recent algorithm changes meaning much reduced organic reach for content & updates, this has meant many users have seen less visibility for their businesses. However we also seem to have forgotten that to be successful on Facebook we need to pay homage to the original social aspect of the platform.

Long gone are the days where you could post your creations, name your price and how to order. Combine this with modern marketing theory focused on relationship building as opposed to sales message driven and here's 10 tops tips on how to successfully sell on Facebook now.

1. Buying fans and followers does not guarantee you'll get sales & facebook likes don't equal sales or profit. Concentrate on growing your business & shop with likers that really like, that will comment, engage and share your updates. This will ensure these 'true' likers will continue to see your updates and also enables you to benefit from 'social proof' ie your likers recommending you to others through their interaction with your content. Agreed your page likes may be fewer but what's the point of 1000 likers who like and run and aren't interested enough to want to hear from you and potentially buy? Encourage your likers to like, follow and get notifcations from you so they always see your latest news. 

2. Facebook wants to ensure it's users have a quality experience whilst on the site. It doesn't want users to be continually spammed with untargeted, irrelevant, opportunistic sales messages - buy me, look at me. Concentrate on crafting your posts full of content that is useful, informative, interesting or entertaining to your ideal customer. Position yourself as an authority base for everything to do your chosen craft. Out of every 10 status updates you make, 8 of them should be education or entertainment based and just 2 of them should be sales oriented. Remember, people need to know like and trust you before they will purchase - you cannot build this by solely posting sales content messages continually. Do you buy from anyone you haven't felt a resonance with or done some background research on or have a feel for?

3. Always drive your Facebook traffic back to your website, blog or online shop. If Facebook went down the pan tomorrow or changed it's thinking on how it disseminates information you could lose all your potential customers or business if you rely solely on it. With every status update provide a hyperlink back to your main sales site (you do have one, don't you?) where the reader can gain more information, read about you and learn more about your products and services and what's in it for them to buy from you. 

4. Ensure you have a subscriber opt in offer to your mailing list on your Facebook page - this enables you to collect email addresses from those that truly wish to express and interest in and hear more from you. In conjunction with #3 above, collecting email addresses ensures you have control over when, how and what you communicate with your potential customers. Even better, have an opt in offer (discount, tutorial, exclusive content) to tempt potential customers to give their email in exchange for their email address that will benefit them. 

5. Ensure your status updates have clear, in focus, professional looking, emotive and engaging photographs that will make potential customers stop, look, like, share, comment and read more. There are lots of online free photo editing tools such as Picmonkey and Canva where you can edit your photos, watermark, overlay text and give them a professional look and feel.

6. Invite questions with your Facebook status updates - always finish your update with a clear call to action for the potential customer to respond to. And make sure you take the time to respond to their comments too! This is how two way relationships are built.

7. Post at least once a day on your Facebook page, preferably two or three times. Remember to post educational/informative content more than sales messages to maximise the opportunity for relationship building. You could try tips, tutorials, behind the scenes info, customer focus, facts & figures or a funny story. If your content isn't being seen by your prospective customers, it may mean Facebook has deemed it irrelevant and not interesting or quality enough to raise it's hand above all the other content vying for your customers attention. 

8. Be patient. Building relationships takes time. It is estimated it takes between 5 - 27 times of potential customers seeing you and your products before they may even consider buying. Your time and efforts will take time to be rewarded as there's no such thing as overnight success. Building trust and credibility are the all important factors to concentrate on in using social media. 

9. Remember people buy based on how products make them feel - not necessarily because they need or want them. We all desire to make purchases to make us 'feel' a certain way - do you clearly communicate how your products can make someone feel as opposed to the physical attributes or the benefits of the product? 

10. Check your Facebook insights regularly. They are a mine of information regarding who's seeing your content, how well it's performing, what types of posts are favoured more by your audience (to enable you to concentrate more on this type of post). You can tell when the best time to post updates, the demographics of your fan base, the days of the week favoured and where else your page traffic is coming from. Use them to inform your future actions. 

My crafty creative handmade story & free Facebook craft clubs!

Good morning & welcome to July!

You're going to see some changes around here as by my personal & ethical choice I've decided to no longer continue to be a Stampin' Up! demonstrator - but I'm still committed to bringing you pretty paper craft ideas, inspiration, projects, tips & techniques so I hope you'll stick with me!

I thought it's about time you found out a little more about me & what I get up to behind this blog so here goes ...

Creativity is a HUGE part of my life and I'm always on the look-out for the latest on-trend craft idea to inspire me with my own handmade cards, gifts, tags, home decorations & accessories, bags & boxes creations.

However despite loving my crafting hobby of over 10 years it had never occurred to me to turn it into my job until 2012! 

Hence the Vintage Celebrations blog was born with the aim of bringing you easy, quick & fun craft projects, tips, ideas & inspiration, often using up whatever you have in your craft stash or ordinary household objects :)

As a mother of 4 young girls & wife running my own business from home has meant I can choose my hours of work to fit around my home life and I can decide how much time I spend on my business to achieve a healthy & fulfilling work/life balance. 

Sharing my love of crafting with you brings me much joy & fulfilment and I am so grateful that my work has brought me many new crafting friends just by doing something I love and that inspires me every day. 

To enable me to keep in touch with my fellow crafters, creatives and handmakers I have a Facebook group called Craft, create & chat which is free to join by clicking the link below! I look forward to 'meeting' you there!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Craftcreatechat

As my career of 25 years has been in marketing & sales, I also offer free marketing & sales tips and advice to fellow crafters, creatives and handmakers through my site at http://www.creativecraftmarketing.blogspot.co.uk and on my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Creativecraftmarketing - feel free to pop by and say hi!

I even have a free e-book stuffed full of marketing & sales tips to boost your craft business success - you can get a copy of my free tips e-book here.

I also have a Facebook group for creatives, crafters & handmakers to share business tips, tactics & techniques - you're welcome to join us there too! 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Creativecraftentrepreneurs/

Looking forward to meeting you!

How solving your customers problems is key to boosting your craft, creative & handmade business marketing & sales success

Think about it. What compels YOU to buy in a certain store, visit a certain place, eat a certain food, follow a certain cause, read certain materials? 

Answer: because the store/place/materials/food/cause gives you something you need back in exchange for your time and effort. It solves a problem for you. You may get a feeling of fulfilment, joy, acceptance, comfort, understanding, empathy, value or to just feel plain old good about yourself - problem solved.

So you return again and again to get your fix.

Now turn to your craft, creative or handmade business and apply the same concept - what problems do solve for those who visit your craft business website, blog, social media page, online shop or who you meet in person? What could attract them to you in the first place? What do you offer them that they haven't seen before or can get elsewhere? How do you solve their problems?

For example, this site offers simple, easy & free marketing & sales tips specifically to help crafters, creatives & handmakers boost their business success from an experienced and long standing craft marketing specialist. It solves the problem of easily accessible, simple, reputable, trustworthy & free information to help crafters, creatives & handmakers sort their marketing out. 

I also give away a free e-book with 50 quick, simple & easy marketing & sales tips that can kickstart a business that's flagging as a thank you for taking the time and trouble to visit my site, ask for updates and give me the opportunity to share my knowledge and experience with you.

Although not unique, it's unusual to solve problems or give away so much for free and not expect anything in return.

So what could you give to keep your visitors coming back to your site or store for more? A free tutorial? A promotional offer? A chance to win? A book of tips? A free product? What would they like best? 

Solve these problems and you've made appreciative customers for life.