Nothing lights a fire to online shop sales like a feature in a popular blog! How do those lucky folks get featured? In some cases, the stars may be aligned just right. But if you can’t wait for a celestial event, you might just take matters into your own hands and send some friendly emails.
First, spend some time blog surfing. One of the best parts of an indie business is surfing that can be called “research.” But this is real research. Look at the blogs you like to read. Are they a fit for featuring your items? Do those blogs feature products like yours? Do they feature only vintage or art or children’s items?
Take notes. Build a list of target blogs to contact. Note the name of the editor. Is there a contact email address listed on the blog or a contact form? Expand your search, check out the blog rolls on those blogs.
Second, write each blog an email. Compose a short, friendly email introducing the blogger to you and your items. Greet the editor by name– it’s a nice thing to do. Start by saying something about the blog– a comment on a recent post, perhaps. Be genuine and let the editor know you’re interested in her blog.
Introduce yourself and your items. What’s unique about your items, your process, your shop? Let her know. Who’s your market? Keep it short– a paragraph or two. Any specific information you can provide about your items and market may help the blogger see that your shop would be a good feature and give her some solid information for the post.
Include your shop URL and other website URLs. Do you have a fan page on facebook? A blog?
Attach a few SMALL images to the email. Don’t fill their box with 10MB of image files, but 2-4 small images, sized for a blog post, may be appreciated.
[Update: Daisy Janie wrote a wonderful post dissecting an email submission step by step.]
You may not hear back from some of the blogs. But don’t despair, the editor may like your work and is waiting for your work to fit a theme on the blog. Or maybe your work is really good, just not great. You’ve still accomplished something– you’ve gotten your name out there and your name will be more recognizable the next time the editor sees it. A recognizable name is a good thing. And you can always send another email in 6 months or a year.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with single step.
The usual suspects. A list of some of my fav fabulous indie blogs and their editors to get you started:
Decor8 – Holly
Gathering Spriggs – Heather
Going Home to Roost – Bonnie
Indie Fixx – Jen
Modish – Jena
PaperNStitch – Brittni
PoppyTalk – Jan
ScoutieGirl – Tara
sfgirlbybay – Victoria
For more information, check out these resources:
- Modish did an article on contacting bloggers.
- Grace at Design Sponge gathered input from several design bloggers in her Biz Ladies series.
- Connie at The Tiny Fig wrote a post in the etsy forums.
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Hi Tricia! Thought you might like this post I wrote on Scoutie Girl back in June. In it, I take an email submission and break it down piece-by-piece and describe why it’s a good one. nice blog!! i’ve got it marked.
http://www.scoutiegirl.com/2009/06/f-is-for-frank-and-they-get-an-a.html
daisy janie´s last blog ..happy weekend!
I think that Jena’s post on submitting to bloggers might mention this, but I’d just like to point out to be very careful when emailing a bunch of bloggers at once, if you’re using the same email template over and over (which I think is fine, but personalize it to each blog a little), make sure you’ve got the blogger’s name & other info right in each email! I recently got an email from an artist who said “Hi Jena”, so I knew that they were doing a mass email and clearly must have also emailed Jena from Modish and they got sloppy when emailing me and forgot to change the name! Also, if you choose to email a bunch of bloggers at once, use blind carbon copy, not just CC! (Although again, I think emailing bloggers one by one and addressing them by name is a better way to go.) I got an email today from an intern for a shop who CC’d a whole bunch of bloggers… it felt very impersonal. Which I’ll forgive because the person mentioned they were an intern, but it’s something to be aware of!
Mallory´s last blog ..Shop Local New Orleans: Branch Out & Skip N’ Whistle
Mallory, thanks for the heads up! Holy cow! I would never have guessed that folks would cc a list of bloggers! That’s really lame!
Folks, please, write each blogger *individually*. Spend a few minutes making each email specific and personal to that blogger. Creating realtionships and positive impressions is more important to the long term success of your business than the few minutes you save with a shotgun approach to email.