The Business of Blogging: Blogging for Business!

Welcome to our series of posts on the business of blogging! Each Thursday for 6 weeks, we'll debut a new post designed to help you build, market, and successfully create a small business with your Typepad blog. Late to the party? Check out our other posts about the Business of Blogging.

Last week in our Business of Blogging series, we talked about how to integrate your shop into Typepad. Hand in hand with this, there are many ways that you can promote yourself and your items right on your blog with blogging.

For instance, maybe you sell handmade crafts on your blog.  This could be anything and everything from greeting cards to scarfs to birdhouses.  Whatever you make, you have to obviously MAKE it to sell it.  Having a post or a series of posts on making your project is a great way to draw attention to your items.  Here are some ideas:

• Start from the beginning.  Have an initial post about what's required to make your project including all of your materials, equipment, and planning material. It helps to illustrate how much work goes into making your items. Take pictures of the materials before and after they become your item.
• Tell your item's story. What made you want to create this item?  Was there something particular that inspired you, be it an event or a person?  How did you learn to make it?  Did you take a class or are you self-taught?  Has someone encouraged you that you're thankful for?
• Show your work. Lots of work goes into making your items.  Take pictures of some of the steps that you go through.  The more work you do, the more you can feel justified in charging for your item!
• Display the final results. Your items are awesome!  Show them off!  If it's a clothing item, get gussied up and wear it!  If it's a toy for your pet, take a video of you playing with your puppy or kitty!  The ideas are endless to show how amazing your items are and how they can enrich someone's life by purchasing them.

These ideas can be applied to all kinds of items that aren't handmade in the same way, like art work and photography.  Show how much work goes into finding just the right subject that you want to take a picture of or paint.

If you're creating something even more elaborate - maybe building furniture or sewing a wedding dress - make several posts about the process.  After all, your work is intricate.  It's unlikely that just one post could cover all of the effort that goes into it.

Another way to engage your readers is to ask them what they think.  Is there a group of people that this would make a great gift for, like moms or college graduates?  Are there other colors, fabrics, or styles that would nudge them over the edge into making a purchase?  Perhaps there's something you can do just slightly different that would open up a whole new avenue of sales!

Bottom line, the more you blog about the process and the item, the more opportunities that you have to catch a reader's eye and get them interested in what you create.  As we all know, more opportunities means more possible sales.  Instead of thinking "ABC: Always Be Selling," think "ABB: Always Be Blogging!" instead.