Thursday, March 27, 2008

How to Network

There are tons of blogs out there, a million websites, a billion-jillion people... and how do you get them into your shop?

This is something as a new online seller, I have struggled with. I find that if something isn't fun, I can find a whole slew of reasons to put it off.

So I try to make things interesting, spicy even.

One thing I love to do is card swap. Once in a while on Www.etsy.com I will throw a post up onto a forum and ask for people to swap 10 business cards with me. When I receive their cards in the mail, I include them with any future purchases I send out. It gets their cards into the hands of potential buyers who might never have known their store existed. In return, my cards make it into the hands of people I wouldn't have reached otherwise. I've swapped cards with people internationally as well as in my own state. It's a fun way of networking, besides, who doesn't love getting mail?

Another way I network is this blog. I count on my readership to comment or even pass the blog along to other people they think might enjoy it. The same way I count on my etsy to get passed a long. I read blogs, and therefore, I hope paying it forward and karma work :).

I also have a myspace. http://www.myspace.com/littlepods (add me as your friend!) Myspace is a great way to network as well. I can often be found searcing through my friends lists, and being lead to another list, then another and another and then all of the sudden, I'll be clicking "put into my cart" and paying for a great item.

There are tons of networking sites out there, you just have to look around!

Just the other day, I received a letter from Pittsburgh Parent Magazine asking me to advertise in their magazine. How did they find me? Who knows. Maybe from a friend of a friend of a friend on Myspace, maybe they stumbled me on www.stumbleupon.com or maybe they found me right here, in my own little corner of blogspot or etsy.



There is a picture of my son Sam sporting a cute Grateful Dead Orange Bear t-shirt I painted for him for our recent trip to Florida. He got a huge haircut- I cut all his curls off. I miss them a lot. :(

These two pictures next are of a custom order I had for a little girl who was just born. On the front of the oneie is a Ladybug (the girls nickname is Bug) and on the back is a beautiful bunch of flowers.





Well my son is up from his nap, so I had better go get that beautiful little boy.

5 comments:

Rosebud Collection said...

What cute shirts..Just adorable.
Of course your son, beats them all..
He is so cute...

njm said...

This onesie is ADORABLE!

TabiHats

Mixed Species said...

Great ideas on steering through the maze of promotion ideas. Love your onesies as well!

TexasTesla said...

So many ways to promote...hard to tell which ones really pay off! Me, I've been nervous about MySpace - mainly because I just don't have the time! Oh well.

artmixter said...

Networking is definitely the key to success on etsy and everywhere else in the virtual marketplace, keep up the good work!