"What's in it for me?" blogging

This month I've been writing about how to promote your handmaking business. Blogging is one area that's been covered in more detail. In this article, Hand-makers: how to blog your way to more sales, more PR and higher web visibility, I mentioned the up-and-coming new blog at pressies4princesses as an example of "What's In It For Me?" (WIIFM) blogging. Check the original article for more about WIIFM.

Well, Gifts Solved, the new WIIFM blog, is now launched. It's a chance to see my blogging advice in action - or, indeed, whether I am following my own lead!



Take a look and you'll see that Gifts Solved has a mandate to help people choose, wrap and give their gifts well. We're trying to blend our selling agenda into the useful stuff. This is the essence of WIIFM blogging. You still get to do your selling, but you don't get to write only advertorial, because nobody will read that.

Have we got it right? Let me know what you think.

PR - Free Publicity for Crafters

PR - free publicity? Well not exactly. Nothing's free. It's going to cost you a little effort, though nothing more.

With free stuff the temptation is to take a punt. Not spend too much time on it. After all, it's cost nothing. That's absolutely the best way to ensure it achieves nothing too.
If you'd spent £500 on advertising, you'd spend a little time on getting that advert just right. Don't do the same with your press release and you're just squandering the opportunity.

PR should be easy for handmakers. Chances are, what you're doing is already more interesting than the local cleaning contractor's business, for example. There's a person behind your business (you!), which means there's a human story too. The media loves stories with a human interest angle.

The 'angle' is everything in PR. It's what makes a story newsworthy (ie published) or not. Typically, things that businesses do are only interesting because of the people involved or the people they affect. Not surprisingly really, because it's people who read/ watch news.

New products are interesting because of the way they are going to change people's lives. Or, because of the people behind them. Likewise companies. Journalists don't care about a new widget. They do care about helping people walk again.

OK, so dramatic stuff and, let's be realistic, your handicraft probably isn't going to heal the sick. That doesn't mean it's not interesting. And, even if it isn't, you can make it so. I mean, the bottom-line these days is that all you need is a celebrity customer or two.

Don't worry - you don't have to court celebrities. There's plenty of other routes to go. Why not spend the next few days thinking (on the back burner) what might be interesting about you, your products and your business. Then check back at the end of the week. Fingers crossed by then I'll have had a chance to compile a concise guide to using PR effectively...

See you soon.

Steve

Handmaking business advice on Squidoo

Hand-making business advice is now available as Squidoo lenses.



Taking a dash of my own advice, I am now translating key posts into permanent Squidoo lenses (web pages) for reference.

What's a lens? A single page about anything. Why use them? Because they are easy to produce and can contain 'Web 2.0' rich content like video, blog feeds, news feeds, social bookmarking, etc.

Apart from hopefully providing a useful online resource, by producing these lenses I am learning all about Squidoo and how to best use it. Information that I'll be passing on here at Pretty Somethings soon.

Handmaking lenses produced so far:

10 FREE Ways To Promote Handmade Products

Why Designer-makers Should Blog

Hand-makers: how to blog your way to more sales, more PR and higher web visibility

Why every hand-maker should publish a blog hopefully gave you good reason to want a blog. But now the question is what to do? What should I use my blog for?

Well, not to produce an online brochure easily and expeditiously with limited web skills, although that is one option. Blogging software does put push-button web publishing at your finger tips. And, with WYSIWYG previews and little html to learn, it could be a short-cut to a website on a budget. But, the easiest option rarely pays out the biggest reward. You'll need to invest a little more time to achieve the real benefits but, thankfully(!), no more money.

What you shouldn't do with a blog, really defines what you could. Because, actually, you can use your blog as creatively as you wish, so long as you don't break these golden rules. These are rules are about what people don't expect from your blog.

• They don't expect you to be an exagerated alter ego. No fakes please


• They don't expect you to be a character devised for marketing purposes


• They don't expect you to represent yourself dishonestly


• They don't expect your blog to read like a brochure. It has to feel 'real'


• They don't expect one way communication; you must allow comments (even if you moderate them)


• They don't expect a static website; you're not blogging unless you update it regularly


• They don't expect a diary of drivel. Only D-list celebrities can get away with publishing the mundane details of their trivial existence!


• They don't expect it to be rudderless - about everything and nothing. You have to pick an angle and stick to it

Your blog is only as good as your angle. Yes, it's the PR conundrum all over again! That sad fact that no one is interested in you or your products, until you give them a reason to be. But, heck, it's so hard to think of that reason. In fact, it's sheer bloody torture. If you've already been through this exercise with your PR, then you may have a ready-baked answer. Otherwise, rest assured that waxing lyrically about your products is no more interesting to blog readers than it is to journalists reading your press release, UNLESS you have an angle.

What's an angle? In short, it's the reason I should give a damn. It's the answer to "so what?", when you tell me your news. It's the human interest or the answer to "what's in it for me, if I read this?" It's horribly intangible and not something that can be prescribed. There's no universal angle - otherwise we would all tire of reading!

These examples of 'blogging angles' from real blogs might help you understand this 'angle' thorn:

• For this blog, www.pretty-somethings.co.uk, the angle is writing to a niche (handmakers) from a position of relevant experience (in selling handmade goods online). Please note that this post isn't about why accountants should have blogs!


• Thomas Mahon in English Cut uncovers the secret world of Savile Row and the mystique of Savile Row tailoring. By learning about this quirky world and the unique skills of the tailors who work there, we understand why his suits are worth every penny.


• Over at women's gift retailer pressies4princesses, we're launching our first blog (yes, a little late, but we firmly believe in doing things well or not at all). Our angle (and name) is "Easy Giving". We won't just be waffling on about our wonderful products. We'll be publishing gift wrapping tutorials and gift selection guides, offering inspirational ideas, running romance tips and suggestions, as well as special reader offers.

The simple secret to discovering your interesting angle is to investigate the periphery of your product. What surrounds it? Whoops, that sounds like marketing jargon. In plain English, it reads "You know your product..."

• What is it used for?


• How is it made?


• Who buys it?


• Why do they buy it?


• Who do they buy it for?


• How do they buy it?


• When do they buy it?


• Why is it unique?


• What are the alternatives?


• Where is it made?


• Who makes it? (Why are you special?)


• Why do you make it?


• When did you start making it?

Answer these questions thoroughly and the answer to your angle might just be staring you in the face. It's still fairly torturous but a lot more productive than staring blanky into space!

Use the "What's In It For Me?" test for a winning angle. Of course, what's in it for you is selling your products, so don't ask yourself. Imagine you're a visitor or prospective customer instead. What are they getting out of it? "They're getting to read about my wonderful products" isn't good enough. Your angle must deliver something else worthwhile, like free business advice, insider knowledge about tailoring, or help with choosing, wrapping and buying gifts as in the three examples given above.

Don't forget your blog is to help sell you and your products. Check you haven't gone off at a tangent. Avoid the temptation to write about something irrelevant to your handmaking just because it's interesting. Readers won't get it. It won't help you sell products. Not if readers are bemused by the apparent lack of any connection.

The perfect angle contributes to your credibility as a handmaker; it's a soft sell. You can see how pressies4princesses aims to achieve this through their guides. The 'how to wrap gifts guides' actually show how any gifts purchased will be wrapped. They sell the business's expertise, as well as offering free advice. After reading a guide, you will be confident the folks at pressies4princesses know how to wrap a gift well!

The right angle attracts links, referrals and press coverage. No more pushing water up hill, begging for links and PR. Instead, make sure your content will be linkable and media-friendly. Consider what other websites would link to you and why. Do some 'googling' to find sites interested in your angle. Ask yourself why the media would be interested. Use google to see if there's any existing media coverage. It's hard to overstate how much easier choosing a linkable and media-friendly angle is going to make promoting your website.

Don't start blogging until you're sure you have enough to say. Too many blogs dwindle and fade after a month or so. Don't start writing unless you're confident you can keep on writing and keep it interesting. If you pick a angle that's too narrow, you'll soon run out of inspiration and posts. Remember this will be an on-going commitment. You need to be able to add to your blog frequently and regularly.

Test your idea by mapping out the broad areas you'll cover on paper. A spider diagram is helpful. Break down big subjects into smaller parts. You don't need to go into detail; just use keywords. And, don't worry about being too thorough. You'll soon get a feel for if there's enough ground to cover, and long before you've produced any definitive plan. Also, consider whether things are changing much in this subject area. Change is great as it guarantees a constant source of new things to write about.

Summary: How handmakers can best use blogging

• Come up with a good 'angle'


• The angle is the hook, the reason people will bother to read your blog


• Ask yourself "What's In It For Me (THEM!)?"


• Don't write about irrelevent stuff just because it's interesting


• Ensure your blog contributes to your credibility. Make it part of your 'soft sell'


• Ensure your angle is linkable and media-friendly


• Make sure you're not going to run out of writing ideas quickly

This post is part of 10 tips to help you promote your handmaking business on the web

Why every hand-maker should publish a blog

I discovered blogs only 12 months ago but I am hooked already on the power of blogging. I believe blogging can drive great strides in hand-makers' visibility and appeal on the web. In this post, I will tell you why and how.

Why should you listen to me? Well, I started speciality gift retailer pressies4princesses as a static website from my spare room 6 years ago. Now it receives over a million visits a year. I know how to build a successful web presence. Since starting this blog, I've discovered much about blogging. I still wouldn't claim to be an expert. Personally, I would beware of anyone who does. But, I've learned enough to realise that a blog should be every hand-maker's first priority on web. That blogging fits so well, it could have been made for working a niche. And, that starting a blog could be the single most important step you take to promote your business this year. To understand why, think about what's wrong with plain old websites.

Is your website up-to-date? Not a silly question, but a harsh reality. If you're a small business and don't have a blog, the answer is almost certainly "No". I see it all the time. Hand-maker's referring me to websites that haven't been updated in 18-months and don't contain their latest work. Some are beautiful examples of graphic design. Some look like they were nailed together by an 11 year old. Either way, they aren't helping to sell you or your products if they're out-of-date.

'Static' websites are a lost opportunity. Apart from costing good money, they close people's minds to the real opportunity. Because, no matter how awful or out-dated, the temptation is to think "Have website... tick" and, move on like that job's done. Worst still, some time in the near future, many hand-makers will decide their website needs updating and complete the whole exercise again. And, in return, they'll get another website that's redundant the day after it was launched.

Stop squandering money and opportunities by starting a blog. Imagine if your website did have your latest designs on it. Perhaps it could be even fresher and have you latest ideas? Imagine if you had control over the content from one hour to the next. You could add and edit at will. Imagine if you didn't feel obliged to produce a brochure but could instead represent yourself and your work personally, letting your personality and passion shine through. Dare to imagine that your website could even become 'useful' to some people. This is the power of blogging.

A blog sells handmade better. Why? Well, why do people buy handmade? Why do they rate it above mass-produced alternatives? Well, two main perceptions spring to mind:

1) It is more exclusive and individual

2) It has been conceived and crafted by someone who cares, because this is their passion


These are the same reasons that handmade products are worth more (that is, consumers will pay more). It is the second perception that makes blogging so apt for hand-makers. Your customers want to know that there is a passionate individual behind these designs and producing them. They are buying into you as much as your products. Blogging can bring you - your passion, personality, enthusiasm and love of your work - to the fore. It can give your prospects a taste of the real you - even if you never meet them. In short, it can be the starting point of your personal (or personality) brand and that's what sells products - lots of them.

Blogging puts personality into your online brand. Jade Jagger, Jimmy Choo, Nicky Clarke (even!) these are all personal brands. Brands built on the personality of the people behind them. They are attractive because of their real life namesakes. Those folks made a name for themselves, spread their identity. Their enthusiasm, passion, personality was contagious. OK, so Jade Jagger had a little head-start. But, now people buy her and Nicky's and Jimmy's products because of that name, even if they no longer make/ do everything themselves.

Putting the person into hand-making increases sales. Even if you don't aspire to be the next Jade Jagger, putting yourself forward is essential to maximising sales of your handmade wares. Often consumers want to know the real person and story behind handmade products. There's an emotional involvement that they are not necessarily looking for with mass-produced items. Maybe they seek evidence your work is 'authentic' and you're the real deal.

Sceptical? Well, consider this example. Over at the aforementioned gift retailer pressies4princesses (the family business) we sell handmade jewellery by Posh Totty Designs, amongst others. We had our first ever Posh Totty return the other day. We asked the chap why - to see if we'd done anything wrong. We had. We hadn't sent any information about the designer/maker with the piece. Did he like it? Yes. Why was he returning it? Well, basically, because he stopped believing. Without the extra information, it was just a pretty necklace. He had nothing to pass on the recipient to tell them why it was special. He wanted them to know that it wasn't something mass produced that he'd picked up on the High Street. We had given him no way to do that, save him directing the recipient to our website (and the price). For that reason, the sale crumbled.

Blogging helps you 'keep it real' and make real profits. The sort that are going to turn this hobby into a bread winner. Get someone to design you a website and you'll likely end up with a static brochure. All very elegant, but also bland and impersonal. Get a blog and suddenly you have the power to tell your own story. In your own way. And, while a website may stretch to a couple of paragraphs about you, now you have unlimited editorial. You can cover all the angles - from how you design, your ideas, inspirations and passions to how things are made. There's nothing more convincing for the prospective customer than the full story - and one that doesn't read like a brochure!

There's plenty of proof that blogging works in niches. If you need to see one, check out this blog by Thomas Mahon, bespoke savile row tailor. It has transformed his business. It gave him a way to reach out to discerning gentlemen the world over and has been staggeringly successful at generating new custom, repeat custom and media coverage. Oh, would you look at that - he just got some more!

Journalists love blogs because they tell them so much about the person behind the products and they are inevitably looking for a human interest angle in any story. Plus, people love linking to blogs, whereas who really wants to direct their visitors to an online brochure?

A cautionary warning though, blogging is not a panacea. It can't make bad products good, uninspired work interesting, or the same old same old, well... different. And, all blogs are not created equal. There's plenty of "terrible" as well as "great" out there. The reality is, the blog is just a tool - albeit a very powerful one. How you use it matters. That will decide what it delivers for your business. Get it right and it'll beat that static website hands down for business contribution. But, it could wind-up being just as irrelevant, which is why the advice doesn't end here; part two describes how handmakers can best use blogging: Hand-makers: how to blog your way to more sales, more PR and higher web visibility

Summary: Why handmakers need to blog

• It's an up-to-date web-presence


• Your stale website is missed opportunities and sales


• Re-publishing your website periodically is expensive and ineffectual


• People don't read brochures, they do read blogs


• Blogging puts you in control of your web-presence


• Blogging puts personality into your online brand


• More customers buy your work if they buy your 'story'; blogging lets you tell it and makes it 'real'


• Blogging generates new custom and makes your site 'sticky' for repeat customers


• An honest, uncontrived blog will attract PR opportunities and links

This post is part of 10 tips to help you promote your handmaking business on the web