For all you lovely bloggers out there and for people who have considered whether to blog but decided against it, do you think blogging is worth the amount of time spent on it in relation to sales? Has it worked for you? What made you decide to blog or not blog?
Louise
Hi Louise,
I have a blog and I am not sure if it’s working in relation to sales, but I started my blog because I like writing and also I wanted to (hopefully) inspire other people. My plan was to write from my own experience of starting my self-employment adventure and from being a self-taught artist and finding my own style. I wrote quite regularly for a while, but last year I just didn’t find the time to write and I was short of inspiration too. This year I started again and I am loving it! I have a few subjects lined up for my next posts and I am hoping to post at least once a month (I am currently posting once a week!). Folksy has a good advice about what to write and there are other Folksy sellers that I discovered recently that have inspiring blogs.
Good luck!
Teodora x
PS: Here is my blog in case you want to have a look: http://teodora-paintings.blogspot.co.uk/
Thank you @TeodoraPaintings for replying, I keep thinking I should start a blog but then get stuck about what to put as a first post. I also feel a bit stupid writing something aimed at . . . nobody, if you know what I mean. Mind you I had a similar feeling when I started Instagram but I’m getting quite into it now. How did you decide what to write in your first post?
P.s Just visited your blog is there a way I can follow your posts? I’m a bit dopey about blogs, I try to keep a few in my favourites but I forget to look at them.
I been wanting to start a blog for a couple of years now, but not really sure that it’s for me, I’m more a pictures person, not so great with writing about things or myself. I think it would be great to give it a go if you have a feel for it, I admire those that do. 
I have a blog, no one ever leaves comments (or rarely)…even when I post the link on here and fb,…so I cannot see the point in continuing it,…sad really but I am a very busy person and if no one reads it, then I could be painting or doing something useful…
Thank you for replying @DaisyWings and @teabreaks, yes this is what I’m worried about, the amount of time it takes to write a blog and I always feel self conscious about writing about myself, I’m liking Instagram, do you guys use this? If so do you post personal pictures aswell or just your items you make?
Yes I’m on instagram as @Daisywings2, I put pictures other than just shop pics, work in progress, my garden or anywhere interesting I visit etc. Just found and followed you on instagram
LOL…I am on Instagram…or rather should I say that I joined it but have no idea how to use it because it talks about APPS and downloads and I don’t have a smart phone…baffled…lol…everything now is geared to the phone and I only have an ordinary mobile phone…so I am scuppered…
Thinking about what @teabreaks says, I think blogging is tricky, because you need to tap into an audience. I remember my Stepdad wrote a blog for 6 months about him building a traditional kayak from scratch and he managed to get a fairly big audience (much to his surprise). He had always intended to stop the blog after the boat was finished, so his success ended there.
This example is extremely niche, which may explain why he found an audience, because there were not too many other people attempting this project, but there were other boat enthusiasts and woodworkers that wanted to read about it.
When it comes to crafting, the market is very saturated, and the audience any of us are looking for probably just follow Kirsty Allsop and leave it at that 
My conclusion is that the best way to make a blog work for a crafter is to find a very personal slant and stick with that.
When I think of one, I will start blogging, but not until then.
Sam x
You will need a smartphone for Instagram. As far as I can see, I can’t even get the photos off my normal camera and onto Instagram, so I have to use my camera phone and have different pix from the ones I use on Folksy. If anybody else knows how to get the nice silky shots from my Pentax onto Insta, I’d love to hear from them.
Sam x
@SamanthaStanley I save the photo’s I’ve taken with my camera onto my laptop, then email them to myself and open the email up on my phone and download them onto that, then I can upload them to Instagram. Hope that helps!
Natalie x
Thanks @MoreTeaVicarKnitwear! I will do that tomorrow morning. You have just massively increased the number of photos that are going on my Instagram feed 
Sam x
I am not sure, I didn’t add the subscribe option, but there is a follow option. Thank you for looking . Maybe you can start with what inspires you? I would like to read that!
I have a blog but I am terrible at keeping it up to date, I constantly forget to add to it!
I think blogs are great and some people are really good at them …I’m not really very good at all! 
I have put the link here for you to see it, but tbh I think it probably bores people senseless!! lol
Hi @DaisyWings I have just followed you on Instagram, I am going travelling soon so I may post some pictures of my travels aswell as artwork. IG is very addictive.
@teabreaks yes I have noticed that niche blogs do better. Don’t really know what my niche would be, bit of a jack of all trades master of none! Ha ha 
@TeodoraPaintings, ah I don’t have a Google + account so I can’t follow you but I will bookmark you and try to visit. 
@debbselliman I know what you mean, I sometimes worry when I post things that I’m boring people 
Im sure your blog is fine though, I will check it out when I get a chance. 
@SamanthaStanley, I have been wondering how people put watermarks on their Instagram pictures and your post has just explained a way to do it so thank you. Though I think I’m too lazy to go through the whole process and may just continue uploading straight from my phone. 
I blog, Semi regularly but it helps to keep up a schedule. I have started taking a bit more time and effort into creating my blog posts. Mostly it serves as a place I can muse outloud. recently my blog has been the focus of promotional activity - mostly on the ‘‘E’’ site.
Making posts with a purpose is probably a must for any blog. This months focus for me is assessing my success on sites such as Folksy and Etsy. Musing on what has worked and what hasn’t.
Also, if you want views and a readership you should promote your blogs and posts. Link your blog to Twitter, Instagram or Facebook to increase your reach. It also aids your SEO and visibility if you link to your selling sites.
If anyone is interested my blog is here: www.andyblowers.blogspot.co.uk
Here is my first post:
I am not sure how I decided to write it, it just came to me.
And here is an inspiring blog that I like to read. Personally, I enjoy reading blogs written by people like you and me, to see behind the scene, inspiration, work in progress, successes, spare time activities, etc.
And here is what Folksy says about it:
http://blog.folksy.com/category/seller-tips/blogging-tips
I hope it helps. I will look for you on Instagram .