Blogging is a really big subject ( and we could easily do another 30 days just on blogging and probably not cover everything anyway). So, for the purpose of our creative challenge, let’s first focus on what you already have and how to move on from there.

1 Find out your most visited blog posts

You really need to make Google Analytics your new best friend for this. Check the last 12 months of your blog or website analytics and see what blog posts are the most visited (if you are not sure how to view this, re-visit the ‘Keywords Research’ mini lesson in this challenge – all previous links are in the introduction e-mail)

2 Check what keywords people are using to get to your website

(Again, revisit the ‘Keyword research’ module if you are not sure how to do this)

3 Make a list of topics for your new blog posts

First focus on the keywords that people are searching for and your website comes up, but doesn’t get many visits. Then look up what’s actually popular. What blog posts do people enjoy reading already? Can you think of a similar subject or a series of blog posts, that you can write?

4 Share your most popular blog posts again to your social media or in your newsletter

There is a reason why people like these particular blog posts and the chances are that others will enjoy them too.

5 Make a plan

Based on the research you have just done, write about 26 topics that you can happily write about. This gives you 2-3 blog posts ideas per month (one every other week), which is a good number of blog post to start off with. If you need more inspiration, visit the Social Media mini lesson for types of posts and check out the awareness days/week resources.

6 Stick to the plan

Most successful bloggers don’t write their blog post every week, they set aside a day or two a week or month and batch write all their blog posts. Unless you enjoy the ‘ad hoc’ type of writing and you don’t want to be restrained by some sort of system, batch writing is far the best way of making sure that your blog posts actually do go out on time

7 Don’t forget to promote each blog post to make the most of it

Why start blogging ?

This might seem like a simple question, but if you are in doubt whether or not to start blogging, let me take you through my 10 favourite reasons why you should definitely start!

1.Writing your own craft blog is a great way to promote your handmade business for free. Yes, it does take time, but if you are just starting, time is probably what you have plenty of, rather than the means to pay for PR or expensive advertisements.

2. Use your blog to help you make important decisions about where to go next with your handmade ideas – if you’re not sure about sharing a new handmade item, will you be confident to take it to an actual craft fair or a show?

3. Use your craft blog to get feedback on new handmade items that aren’t selling as well as you’d hoped. Ask your readers (and potential customers!) for feedback or even get them to vote on different designs. You will find that questions often result in comments, rather than just a descriptive blog post and you will get your readers engaged in what you are doing.

4. You don’t want your customers drowning in information on your craft website, so launch new handmade products on your blog. You have unlimited space for images and to write about them. And people love hearing the story behind the product, how you developed it, created it and what obstacles you overcame on the way.

5. Share your craft skills with tutorials and tips to raise your profile online. This could be the perfect way to show that you are a professional and an expert in your niche. Be careful how you approach this, though. If you are, for example, selling handmade fabric purses, it would defeat the object if you published a step by step tutorial on how to make these. So try to think about something that would compliment what you do, rather then just give away all your trade secrets.

6. Tell your readers what you’re making or planning to make. This will help to motivate you, but you might also get useful feedback from your readers. And once you launch your new product, you will already have an eager audience waiting to buy.

7. Writing about yourself and your craft skills can boost your confidence and this will be useful when you’re selling face-to-face. Selling is an art in itself and most people, especially artistic and craft people, often find it difficult to promote their own products. By writing about your work, it will become easier to talk about it and you probably won’t even think about it as a ‘sales promotion’.

8. Your blog can become a really personal online space and is great for engaging potential customers with your brand and also increases the opportunity for selling. Any potential customer needs about 7 points of contact with you or your handmade business before they buy. But most people, don’t want to be ‘sold to’, so indirectly promoting (e.g. writing your background story about why you do what you do) is the perfect way to engage your potential customer.

9. Still not convinced why start blogging? Here is another good reason – Building your own community of craft loving followers is invaluable. Follow and comment on other craft or handmade blogs and invite them to read yours. Other craft people might not be your ‘target audience’, but you never know a painter might need jewellery as a special gift or vice versa. Plus having the support network is invaluable on a personal level and even useful as business networking. Next time somebody needs a personalised picture print, I know exactly who I would recommend! And people trust recommendation!

10. Most importantly, blogging is great fun! Enjoy the time off from other, more boring aspects of craft marketing to recharge your batteries.

How to promote your blog

So, you have written your first blog post – you have proudly posted it on your blog or website late at night, checked the next day for all the lovely comments you’d expect to get, but somehow the world forgot that there is a new talented writer on the block!

Creating and writing a blog post is hard enough as it is, but without marketing your blog the readers are very unlikely to arrive just by themselves. That is why, in this blog post I want us to have a look at some simple ways of how to promote a blog to make sure you get all those comments, shares and traffic to your website that you deserve!

1 Post on a regular basis

This might seem like a strange way to promote your blog, but adding regular content (e.g. blog posts) to your website sends the right signals to Google. It means that your website is authoritative, real and has every chance of providing people with the information they might be searching for. To make sure you post regularly, it’s best to start with a simple spreadsheet that you use as your content calendar. Plan out what you would like to write about and when. The more you post about relevant topics to your craft, the more Google will like you for related keywords.

2 Use social media scheduling tools

After you have written your blog, make sure that you promote it on your social media. Not just once, but several times over the next week or so. Depending on what social media you use, most of them have a way of scheduling your post in advance, which is another great way to promote your blog. Try to vary how you introduce your blog post and check later, what worked and what didn’t.

3 Make sure your craft blog is set to ping

Depending on which blogging platform you use you can set this in your admin panel, in your blog settings. Pinging lets other websites you have linked to know that you’ve featured them. People appreciate being featured and usually would share your blog with their audience.

4 Link to other craft blogs

Look for websites in your niche that may be interested in featuring your blog or blog post with a link back to your website. This is something that usually takes time to establish, but you should be always on the lookout for ways of working with other website owners in your craft niche.

5 Write a newsletter roundup

If you have written several blogs in a month, why not create a roundup email for those interested in your craft business and e-mail it out in your next newsletter. It’s easier to turn your potential customers into readers first than immediately into buyers.

Still not sure how to promote a blog? The last point is something you can do right now and right here!

6 Join blog link party

These have been around for a while now, but it’s still a great way to promote your blog post. You get immediate traffic to your blog, comments and it’s a good way to network, too. We have our own Blog Share Wednesday here on Handmade Business and everyone is welcome to join.