I was a relatively early adopter of blogging. I started my blog almost a year before I started my business. When I started blogging, I was teaching classes, and I wanted to have some place to publish tips, show off things that I made, and show off my students’ work.

In 2007, I started Gorgeous Fabrics. The way it started was through my blog. I made a dress and announced that I was selling the fabric I used for it. The rest, as they say, is history.

I realized quickly that, as a retailer, blogging is an efficient and cost effective marketing tool. It gives me the opportunity to get my message out and control the way it is disseminated. One of the beauties of blogging is that I own the work I do. I don’t have to give any tacit or explicit license to someone in exchange for publishing. Since I host my blog on the same server that runs my website, I also integrated it with my online store. It’s been a great tool for teaching people how to work with the fabrics I sell. I link to relevant blog posts directly from within fabric pages, adding value to my customers. It’s fabric and tutorials on how to sew with them – a win-win for everyone!

Blogging has also proven to be a fun way to engage with my customer base. I get lots of great feedback from customers. I get them to interact with me both in comments and through occasional contests that I run through the blog (everyone loves a giveaway!). Many of them tell me that they are inspired by projects that I have posted. The blog helps establish my bona fides as a sewing professional and it is a great tool for marketing. Blogging can give you an outlet for showing your abilities and creations, as well as an easy and inexpensive marketing tool. I heartily recommend creating a blog if you don’t already have one. By adding it to your business tool chest, you can get your message out there easily, expediently and inexpensively!

Written by Ann Steeves