Places To Promote Your Online Business

Often when business is slow I spend my time trying to find new places to advertise my online business. It can often be a struggle. It's especially hard for people that are new to the game and don't know where to begin. Lucky for you I'm here to help in the best way that I can. 

When I'm not chasing after my twin boys or busy on The CraftStar advertising handmade, supplies, or vintage finds, you will find me working on my own business Queen of De Tile. I've recently started to compile a list of blogs that relate to my demographic so that I can pitch my business. I decided to turn around and share my list of resources with my friends here so that hopefully they can also pitch their businesses to the editors or blog owners in their own market. When you decide to take the plunge and contact people please make sure you really read the submission guidelines. The guidelines are usually different for each blog.

My hope is that you can get some good use out of these and it can be a good resource for people that are ready to take that leap with their businesses.

Design and fashion blogs:
Nesting Place
Frolic Blog
Comfort Creatures
Scoutie Girl
Indie Fixx
Lonny NY
Design Sponge
Daily Candy
Oh Joy
Apartment Therapy
Decor8
Inhabitat
Swiss Miss
Desire 2 Inspire
Oh Happy Day

Crafty blogs:
Mixed Plate
Cuteable
Down and Out Chic
Indie Quarter
Poppytalk Handmade
Try Handmade
The Handmade Gift Guide
CraftGawker
PoppyTalk
Craftsyble
Oh My Handmade
Anything Indie
Craft Juice
Craft Stylish
Crafty Tips

Children blogs:
Simple Kids
A-List Mom
Oh Dee Doh
Cool Mom Picks
Design Mom

Vintage blogs:
Eclectically Vintage
Cedar Hill Ranch
Va-voom Vintage
Mod Vintage Life

Another thing I like to do while browsing my favorite blogs is check to see if they offer banner advertising. If they do I'll check out the rates and see if they are affordable. Sometimes you simply just need to contact the blog owner and ask about the rates. Don't be afraid to do so! It's a very simple process if you have the correct size banner ads at your disposal. 

Do you have banner ads? Banner ads can get designed by your favorite graphic designer, saved to your hard drive and then used over and over again on blogs or other advertising places. The two most popular sizes that I've seen requested are 125 pixels by 125 pixels and 468 pixels by 60 pixels. If you have those two sizes you will most likely be able to advertise your business anywhere on the net. There are times where you won't have the correct size banner and will need to get in touch with the person that does your graphics to make one in the requested size though. Here's a few sites you can submit banner ads to for a small fee.

Advertising:
Craft Cult
Project Wonderful
StumbleUpon Ads
HandmadeSpark
Paper N Stitch
Oh My Handmade
Try Handmade
The Handmade Directory

If free is more your thing then I've found a list here that will point you in the direction of getting back links out there so traffic can come rolling in!

Do you have a blog that accepts submissions? Are you looking for small businesses to feature? Do you sell advertising? Contact me so that I can add you to our growing list. I can be reached by clicking, "CONTACT" up above!

Kim Keane, is the Content and Community Manager for TheCraftstar.com. You will find her actively updating the blog as well as scouring the internet for fun ways to grow the community. Along with her duties to The CraftStar she is the owner of Queen of De Tile and mother to beautiful 11 year old twin boys Dylan and Connor.