Sewing Business Blog

Bloggers and Businesses Partnering for Profit!

by Leave a Comment

Business 2 Blogger

Business2Blogger is a service designed to help connect businesses and bloggers for FREE.  Businesses are looking for bloggers to review and help spread the word about their products and services. This is where Business2Blogger comes in to connect the two to present their needs/offers. “Big blogs & small, they want you all.”

Partnering with bloggers is an inexpensive way for businesses to run grassroots marketing campaigns since bloggers can quickly and easily deliver their message to consumers with credible and positive voices.  If you have a blog you can sign up for Business2Blogger for free and whether your blog is big or small you’ll gain access to paid writing opportunities that have traditionally been grabbed before most bloggers even knew they were available!

What’s in it for you? 

Companies that are looking for bloggers to help spread the word about their products and services are willing to pay you to promote for them, or compensate you by giving you free products to review and/or to giveaway on your blog. You only choose the opportunities that are suitable for your blog and it’s a win-win situation for everyone!

How does it work? 

After you sign up you’ll receive up to one email a day notifying you of the latest blogging opportunities. If you decide it’s a fit for you and your blog, you can submit your interest in doing the work. Then, if the business thinks you’re a fit for their request, they will contact you directly.

How can this work for my business? 

You don’t have to be a blogger for this to work for you!  If you have a business or an Etsy store, or something you’d like to promote, you can also get in on the action.  For example, if you sell handmade tote bags in an Etsy store, you can contact Business2Blogger and tell them you’d like to have 20 bloggers write about your beautiful handmade bags. You could offer them each their choice of bags from your store as payment to do the work, and then they write wonderful glowing posts talking about how much they love your bags, their readers click your links and you get lots of search engine love.  Not only is it more economical for you to pay bloggers in product than to pay for Google Adwords or other pay-per-click ads, your audience is already “warm” when they get to you, and you just can’t beat word of mouth advertising!

See how easy it is? 

Whether you’re a blogger, a business owner, or both you should head on over to Business2Blogger and sign up today for a free account.

2009 Holiday Shopping Trends

by Leave a Comment

shopper2The online holiday shopping season has already begun according to the IRI Holiday Forecast.  With only a month and a half until Christmas, and less than three weeks until Black Friday, most people have already started their holiday shopping, so you should be busy with holiday promotions for your business.

Consider the predicted 2009 shopping trends when planning your promotions and you’ll be able to create more effective marketing campaigns.  For example, shoppers this holiday season are anxious to take advantage of discounts, so look for items or services that you can afford to offer steep discounts on and promote them heavily.

Many shoppers report that they plan to be more frugal with their shopping this year and you can cater to these customers by offering free shipping or featuring a special deals section within your store or website.

Another trend is “back to basics” which has been beneficial to the craft and sewing market.  Take advantage by offering free classes that teach customers how to make homemade gifts using your products, or focus on offering practical, budget-minded gifts.

Social shopping is rapidly becoming more popular with many mainstream companies promoting their products on Twitter and Facebook.  If you haven’t already, you should consider creating accounts and get started on growing a member base of fans that will love to hear about your promotions.

Don’t forget Cyber Monday if you have a website, Etsy store, or some type of online presence.  Shop.org reports that Mondays in December 2008 were the highest grossing online sale days of the season for many retailers, with December 1st (Cyber Monday) being the highest grossing day for half of the retailers surveyed.  This year Cyber Monday falls on November 30th – make sure you’ve got some great deals ready on your site!

5 Ways to Promote Your Sewing Business

by 1 Comment

Promoting your business is the key to its success!  If you don’t promote your business, how will you find new customers and help the business to grow?  Here are some easy steps to help you promote your sewing business.

1)  Create Some Marketing Tools

Every business should have business cards and flyers.  It doesn’t matter if you run your business from home or from a studio or retail space somewhere, you need to have some cards handy to give people whenever the opportunity arises to talk about your business.  Keep plenty on hand in case you’re able to post some on community bulletin boards in local grocery stores, or perhaps your favorite fabric store will allow you to leave a few near the register or cutting table.  You can print some yourself on pre-scored business card paper from the office supply store, or you can have some printed for free at Vista Print.

While you’re at it, be sure to create some flyers that give more information about your products and/or services, as well as any specials you may be running.  Give them to current customers and ask them to help spread the word.

2)  Place Local Ads

Check out the advertising prices in your local newspaper(s).  You may not be able to afford a display ad right away, but try running a classified ad in the “services” section.  This is an inexpensive way to reach your local market, but you could also place some free listings under your local area at CraigsList.org.

3)  Start A Website

If you don’t already have a web presence, then there is no time like now to get one started.  Reliable hosting can be found for as little as $4.95 per month at GoDaddy or LunarPages, and both services can even help you to get a site designed and online in less than 24 hours if you’d like.  With the relatively low cost, and ease of getting a site setup, there really is no excuse NOT to have one.  You might think that a website doesn’t apply to a local business, but most people get online these days, and even if you only acquire one customer a month from the site it will pay for itself.

4)  Market Your Website

Look for sewing forums and other online communities where you can contribute your expertise.  By making relevant posts at other websites, you will establish yourself as an authority, and you can provide links back to your website with each post or comment that you make.  There are also niche pay-per-click engines, like SewVillage.com, where you can list your site and bid for higher placement in the search results pages if you want.  You can even get started for free because they give you $20 in your account just for signing up!  How can you beat a deal like that?

5)  Get Involved In Your Community

The best kind of advertising out there is word of mouth since most people tend to take the advice of their friends and loved one’s first, before they seek out other alternatives.  Join a local sewing club, volunteer to make costumes for a play at your child’s school, or offer to teach some neighborhood kids to sew.  Getting involved helps you to put your business out there in a positive way and can help you get some buzz started!

4 Cheap Ways to Market Your Business

by Leave a Comment

In the current economy everyone is looking to save some money, but the marketing budget is one of the worst things a business can cut in a downturn.  It’s tough to spend on advertising though when other bills are getting harder to pay.  Well here are four ways you can market your business for cheap or free, so save some bucks while reaching as many potential customers as possible!


1)  Have A Contest


Everybody loves a contest and they’re a great way to gain visibility.  Give away a product or a service of your own, or partner with another business that complements yours.  This is a great way to come up with an even better prize package without blowing your own budget, plus you get more help spreading the word.


2)  Help Your Customers Save


Most everyone is concerned about saving money these days.  Promote your most inexpensive products, or find a way to repackage some of your best selling products or services so that perhaps they don’t include as many bells and whistles, but you can afford to sell them for less.


3)  Provide A Guarantee


It’s especially important these days when so many people are watching their money so carefully to help your customers feel more comfortable about buying from you.  Give them a satisfaction guarantee or warranty of some sort so your customers will know that you stand behind your products.  Keep in mind that although there are some folks out there that might try to take advantage of extended money back guarantees, it could be even more harmful (and costly) for you if an angry customer went online and started bad mouthing you in chat rooms, forums and online reviews.  So why not do what you can in advance to keep your customers happy?


4)  Be Sociable


Popular sites like Facebook, Twitter and FriendFeed are good for more than just socializing with your friends and family.  These sites can help you reach millions of potential customers for free!  Use these tools along with other social media like blogs to provide tips and information of use to your target market to help expand the reach of your business.  You don’t have to spend all of your time tweeting or blogging, but be sure to be consistent.  Don’t tweet 10 times one day and then skip a couple.  Update your blog or Facebook page at least once a week, and if you decide to Twitter as well, then plan to tweet at least once a day.