"WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT, ALFIE?'

WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT ALFIE? IS IT JUST FOR PROMOTING THAT WE LIVE?

It sure seems that way most of the time. I ask why, why, why? And is it really worth so much of our time?

You have a shop on line--yea, I know you have to promote. Gotta get your name out there into cyberspace, people have to know about your shop. Hey, if they don't know about your shop how can you make a sale? And making sales is what it's all about--right? Right!!!

Granted, promoting is a necessary thing.

Okay, so let's talk a little bit about the actual promoting of our shops and wares. Hmm, well we sign up on sites: Plumdrop, Indiepublic, byhand.me, Mycraft, We Love Etsy, deviantArt, Craftrevolution, Kaboodle -- a mere sampling of the sites that are out there in cyberspace for us to sign up to for this most important activity. Now,what do you do once you are signed up to a site? We set up our profile, we join the groups that have the same interests, we talk on the forums, we add friends, we upload pictures of our work, we share ideas, techniques, we announce sales and giveaways.

Of course let's not forget that we also "tweet" and "plurk" and gather up followers and fans and you become a follower or friend... We are on Myspace and facebook where we set up business pages and ask for people to be our fan. We bookbook our wares on Stumbleupon, Delicious, Google, and more. We join guilds and teams to promote each other.

Hmmm, have I forgotten something? Oh yes indeed I have--we create blogs too.

OMG, is there no end to what we do in the name of promotion? I ask again, is it all worth it?

And I answer quite emphatically NO! I say it is definitely not worth it!!! Yes, it brings more traffic to our shops--Well, whippee do--traffic is great but where is the traffic coming from? Quite often it is from other sellers like ourselves, curious to see what you are selling. And I also ask, who are on the sites that we sign on to? Well, just about everyone we know who sells too.

Don't get me wrong promoting is a necessary thing--however, I think that we have taken this necessary thing and have gone too far with it--to no avail. Everyone who has a shop is everywhere you are. You need to see where your traffic is coming from and promote in that direction. You need to eliminate some of the sites and groups you belong to, keep the ones that you really enjoy and are helpful to you. You need to set up a schedule for yourself for promoting each day or every few days that is not etched in stone. And above all, you need to step back and smell the roses too.

So, Alfie promoting doesn't have to be what life is all about--just a small part of it!

okay, okay--"that's all folks"!

ttyl, :o)