The internet seems like an easy way to deliver a message or a product. After all, you sit comfortably at home, click away and boom! Your blog (or website) is in cyberspace for all the see. Right? Nope.

If you've launched your site, you would have discovered it's like adding a drop of water to a vast ocean. Nothing in life is really free so you have to work at getting the word out. Here are some easy tips to do the "Hello!! I'm here!" bit and they are all FREE!

1. Signature Links with your website and/or blog URLs at the end of your email messages or forum posts are easy ways to get site exposure. You'll be surprised how many people do click on the URL out of curiosity.

2. Commenting On Other Blogs is a good way to build links to your own site(s). The SearchEngine Journal pointed out if you take the time to comment on blogs, each comment is a backlink to your own site. Just 3 a day will amount to over 1000 valuable links a year. The more good links you have the more highly Google will rate your site. You do want people to see the gorgeous jewelry you make, don't you?

Just go to the comment section at the bottom of each blog post (on the actual blog, not in feeds or the emailed post). But make sure you add your URL only in the offered box. There is no need to add it in the comment itself. Write good comments and people will check YOU out. I do.

3. Blog Follows. If you like my blog, please do "follow" it - right sidebar (subscribers will have to click on the post title to return to the blog). This adds a link to YOUR blog and the chances are people will wander over to you as they are always on a look out for new blogs to read. (Update : I no longer have the space for this widget but you can still follow if you use the reader).

4. Tags or Labels. These are keywords about blog posts which are like additional links to your site. If you are on my blog, you can see the tags at the end of the post. Tags are the one of the first things search engines look at after the post titles. Google Blogger offers this tagging system rather than categories which makes sense since they are also in the search engine business. Incidentally, if you wish to start a blog, consider Google Blogger. It's an easy blogging platform and less technically challenging, it's free and you can bet Google will search their own stuff first!

5. Pictures. I have lost count of the number of jewelry blogs I've stumbled upon without any pictures. Duh! A picture is worth a thousand words. No one will get excited about your jewelry if they can't see it. Whilst you're at it, make sure you upload your photo with a title like "rose quartz necklace" not DSC1545 to help Google figure out what your image is. The bots cannot "see" pictures. This is a lesson I learned the hard way as many of my earlier images weren't titled. It's astonishing how many visitors come to my blog because they found an image in Google Image Searches and clicked on the link. People love to look at bling. Give them a reason to visit and hopefully return.  [You could also put in some text in the html part of your blog post, between the quotes for ALT="".  This ensures that people who cannot see your images will see the appropriate text describing the picture.]

6. Posting frequency. You don't have to post every day but you do have to maintain some sort of posting schedule so your audience will be anticipating something new in the short term. Your jewelry blog could easily be a way of documenting all your creations as you churn them out. Some artisans have even turned their blogs into selling sites as you can add payment carts (eg Paypal) within each post. Ultimately it's really down to quantity. The more you write, the more there is to find. Blog posts are like needles in a haystack. Planting more needles increases the chances people will find one.

7. Social Sites. You really cannot afford to be shy if you want to promote your site. So join social sites like MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog which are for blogging enthuasists. Then there are the wildly popular Facebook and Twitter. Dedicated jewelry artisan communities or forums such as the About.com's Jewelry Making Forum will also bring you to groups of like-minded people. Even uploading your jewelry pictures on Flickr is another way to bring visitors to your site. The list is endless so pick a realistic list - the sites you enjoy most and have time for - as you can't really do it all.

The last bit of advice is for patience and perseverance. It takes a looooong time to build up a blog or website following. So don't despair and work at it a little at a time.

Before You Go :
6 Questions To Ask Before You Start A (Craft) Blog
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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
Jewelry Making Tips - Jewelry Business Tips