This is an ARTICLE REPRINT.

Editor’s note: Second in a three-part series on growing your craft business.

You’ve scraped together a few hundred dollars to do your paperwork and make your business legit. You have a new Shopify site (complete with complimentary listing in the Shopify marketplace) and spent a little extra to have a web developer customize it. That probably means you don’t have the $500 a month for Adwords or some other pay-per-click search engine advertising.

Don’t despair. This type of traditional e-marketing probably wouldn’t have done much for your business, anyway.

Contrary to popular belief, advertising for most e-businesses isn’t about attracting a huge quantity of clicks. It’s more about the quality of the clicks you attract and how you answer the question, “Do customers buy when they visit my website?”

Michael Slawin is president of Hits That Click, a marketing firm that specializes in the promotion of e-businesses and traditional businesses looking to increase their online presence. While he agrees that quality over quantity is key for most online retailers, Slawin suggests that social media can be the trick to having both.

“Social media is not an option anymore for business owners who value growth,” Slawin says, indicating such media are mandatory. “Social networks such as Facebook, MySpace and even Twitter are where people are spending their time and, increasingly, spending their money.”

To take full advantage of social media, try the following:

1. Participate in social networks. The great thing about sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Digg and StumbleUpon is that you can join for free. You can also download dozens of free widgets to dress up your Facebook or MySpace pages. If you can’t do it on your own, your neighbor’s 12-year-old would probably do it for a song.

In the creative world, websites that sell handmade items, such as Etsy and DeWanda, are all the rage. But handmade product mavens shouldn’t discount more mainstream social media.

For business owners, Facebook and MySpace represent a growing trend of subtle advertising. This type of under-the-radar marketing has become huge on the web. Tweets (a term familiar to the Twitter crowd) and blogs are popular ways to gain visibility.

Tweets are a kind of mini blog, a one- or two-sentence “where are you, what are you doing?” update that encourages others to take an interest in you and your ventures. You can even tweet on the go via your cell phone or BlackBerry.

2. You’ve got to blog. Blogging can be more intimidating than tweeting–but think of a blog as a really long tweet. Open your laptop and start writing. Warning: Don’t blog only about your shiny new product or your recent adventures at the DMV. Blog about other artists. Turn your blog into a central knowledge hub for all things creative and yourself into an expert in the field. This will attract a diverse audience to your blog and new customers to your product. If you don’t have the time or the inclination to blog, firms such as Slawin’s will blog for you as part of their marking services.

3. Solicit advertising on your blog. Your blog also can make money on the side for you if you allow other artists, crafters and designers to advertise on your site. Since sites such as Blogger offer free blogs, your only overhead is your time and energy.

4. Create a network of blogs with a few of your artist friends. Link to each other’s sites. Takes turns as guest authors on each other’s blog. Before long, you’ll have a devoted following.

5. Contribute to blogs. Don’t take an interest only in your own blog. There are hundreds of crafts and design blogs on the web, and most accept queries and cold calls. The most popular, Poppytalk and design*sponge get most of their featured articles and photos from the artisans themselves.

6. Advertise on blogs. Don’t stop there. Contact the blog owner/author to inquire about advertising rates. Be careful, though. Some blog advertising is outrageously priced. Always ask the blog owner what the site’s daily traffic is. If it gets fewer than 5,000 page hits a week (that’s hits or impressions, not visitors), it’s outrageous to spend more than $50 per month on the ad. Sites such as Blogads make it easy to choose the ideal blog you should advertise on. You can select a prospective blog based on the number of impressions or the dollar amount you’d like to spend. You can also search by blog topic.

7. Explore print advertising. So you’ve got your blog and you’re tweeting like mad. Your MySpace and Facebook pages are up. But you’re still not making sales. That’s because there’s so much great stuff on the web, it’s unlikely anyone will ever stumble upon your website or your advertising. You have to reach potential customers before they reach the internet.

Trouble is, advertising in print media can be cost-prohibitive. That’s why you have get creative.

First, keep handy the e-mail addresses of every marketing and sales director of every publication you read. Make note of publishing deadlines, usually listed on the media kit available online. A day or two before the publishing deadline, contact the marketing director(s) and ask for pricing on remnant advertising. Publishers seldom sell all of the advertising space in their newspapers and magazines. Remnant advertising is the last-minute purchase of available ad space at a discounted price. Publishers would rather sell that space at a discount than not sell it at all. Still, you might have better luck finding cheap remnant advertising in newer magazines and alterative publications vs. mainstream periodicals.

8. Get free ink. If remnant advertising is still too pricey, get the print media to notice you and your business without paying them. The secret driver is charities. In this economy, the only institutions worse off than banks and small businesses are charities. When profits dry up, so do charitable contributions. So contact a local nonprofit and ask if it has any high-profile donation drives coming up. Then offer to donate a product for a silent auction or raffle. In exchange, charities will often mention your business in the event program, on their website or in a press release. Don’t be afraid to ask for that exposure if the charity doesn’t offer it. Members of the media covering the event might mention you in the article.

9. Send a press release. You can also distribute your own press release. Sites such as PRWeb will distribute your press release for free, although for optimum circulation, you’ll want to pay for upgrades. Either way, hundreds of people will see your release and the media might even publish it.

Remember, people won’t buy from you if they can’t find you. Legitimizing your dream is the easy part. Marketing your business is the true challenge. So use your creativity where it matters most–getting your name out there.

Next: Adding a wholesale component will turn your tiny venture into a full-time success.

Maria Falconer is the founder of Rambles.com, an online retail shop specializing in handmade goods from a variety of designers.

From:  http://www.womenentrepreneur.com/article/4220.html