Last week we talked about why you should advertise, but how about where you should advertise? And what are the benefits and drawbacks to each? There's lots of different advertising outlets specific to indie/handmade shops, so let's take a look at them, shall we?
{images of Decor8, Modish (my site :) and Design For Mankind- 3 great blogs to advertise your indie shop on!}
Blogs:
Blogs are a great place to advertise your shop! Most blogs
offer banner advertising, which are those colorful ads you see on
sidebars. They each have different sizes available and often many
options, so consult each one for particulars like that. Most blogs
sell advertising space at a flat monthly rate, often with discounts if
you purchase multiple months at a time. Their rates are based (or
should be) on the amount of traffic their blog receives and can vary
anywhere from $20 for one with a smaller readership to $300+ for one
with a large readership (some are even $1000+ when you get into the
HUUUUGE readerships territories!)
When deciding on a blog that's the best match for your advertising dollars, the key information to know is how much traffic their site receives and who their readership is. You want to make sure the pricing seems in line with the amount of traffic you can expect to receive, and also be sure that the blog's readership is one that hosts your target customer, one that appeals to their tastes, price range, gender, age range, etc.
- Benefits: often there are discounts with multiple months purchases :: some blogs offer special write ups in the editorial section of the blog (like my "sponsor spotlights") that are a great way to gain additional exposure for your ad :: good blogs have dedicated readerships and lots of traffic coming in every single day, so your ad is guaranteed to be seen!
- Drawbacks: your banner will be competing with many others, so it needs to look good and stand out! :: the average click-thru rate for a banner ad is around 1%, which means of 100 people who see your ad, only 1 will click it- make sure you choose a blog with a large enough readership that's targeted to your customer base to make it worth your moola- you can also help to up that click thru ratio with a well designed ad
You can find a big list of handmade and design focused blogs here (on a prior post), many of which sell ad space and offer gift guides around the holidays. You can also check out blogads and project wonderful, two popular advertising networks that many blogs work with instead of running their own ads.
Co-op advertising:
Co-op
advertising is a great way to purchase an ad on a site or in a magazine that may
otherwise be waaaay out of your budget. Online co-op sites are set up to list
individual goods from participants' sites and usually link directly
back to your own shop. They collect a small monthly fee
from all the participants (in the range of $100 is common) and use that fee to
advertise the co-op site on various blogs and magazines, often on those
$1000+ month blogs that alone, you may not be able to afford.
Magazine co-op ads work the same way, listing the various shops and web addresses in the ad. They collect a fee from all participants (around $100 is common again) and use that money to place an expensive, often full or two page ad in a print magazine.
- Benefits: Co-op ads get lots of exposure on highly trafficked sites/large readership magazines to bring you a share of that traffic :: they're much cheaper to buy into than the cost of advertising on the same site/mag by yourself would be
- Drawbacks: Co-op sites do not have a steady stream of traffic built in, like blogs do. To be effective, they need to advertise a lot, and you need to make sure the co-op owner is working hard to generate traffic to the site as a whole :: there is usually a cap on the # of participants and you may not be able to join a co-op until someone else drops out :: they can be a bit pricey for business owners who are just starting up
Some great co-op sites to look at: I Shop Indie, Loungeluxe, Cutique (all run by Merkell Inc) & etsy has a new co-op program running print ads in magazines.
Virtual Craft Fair sites:
This is a newer form of advertising that I first saw introduced by Poppytalk,
similar to a co-op. They are run like a virtual craft fair with
different "booths" set up by a variety of artists each selling their
own wares- you get to list a certain amount of items with a photo and a
link back to your site on each item. Fees are cheaper than the co-op
sites mentioned above because they have more participants, ranging from
$45-60 per month.
- Benefits: These types of sites are usually "juried" which means they select the best participants from their entries each month, meaning you're sure to be in good company, if accepted :: they're an inexpensive way to get the word out about your site, cheaper than banner advertising on some blogs
- Drawbacks: Like co-op sites, these do not have a steady stream of traffic without advertising- you need to make sure the site owner is working hard to generate traffic to the site :: like other forms of advertising, you will be competing with many other participants. You need to do your part and make sure your photos look great so they get clicked more often.
Sites to look at: Poppytalk Handmade, the Indie Fixx Galleria, Paper & Stitch
>> further reading: 11 free (and cheap) advertising ideas
