5 Steps to Posting Treasuries on Your Blog

In last week's post Blogging for Growth, I addressed some strategies I used recently to redesign my blog. Thank you for your comments and feedback!

Today, I want to share with you a "secret" strategy I use to create content while increasing traffic to my blog: Treasuries!!!

Many of my followers are owners of shops on Etsy, so you are aware of the benefits treasuries bring to your products. These pretty collections position our products in eye catching displays which increase our visibility throughout Etsyland. They act like shop displays bricks and mortars use to catch our attention. Additionally, these collections have a way of showcasing our products to those who might not otherwise find us in the vast virtual marketplace. And if we're super lucky, the Etsy gods will choose a gorgeous treasury featuring one of our products to showcase on the front page for an hour. Treasuries....we love them - don't we?

Here's a favorite of mine from the past week:

'Peachy Gifts' by ShariSilk

Set 5 needlecraft accessorie... GaffneyGirlStu... $7.95	Creamy Peach Goats Milk Hand... eleandhoney $7	Shabby Chic Coptic Stitched ... SeamsVictorian $42	Pink Camelia 10X10 Photograp... machelspencePH... $14.99
Custom order lace teapot an... Dprintsclayful $120	bridesmaid dresses / Romanti... FM908 $98	Personalized GRADUATION JOUR... EternalJournal... $14.95	LOVE in Letterpress topblocktype $32
Bubble Bracelet Peach trendy... Bellesansdire $11.99	Romantic Necklace Vintage St... ATwistOfWhimsy $22	Pastel Sunset Circle Texture... madhatterceram... $28	Peach earrings Rose Gold dan... Vitrine $24
Leather Peach Journal - Han... reneweduponadr... $24	Mango Papaya tea lights, 6 p... DLitesbyDorene $6.5	Post It Note Holder & Pen Se... GiftsNThisNTha... $5	Graduation Block Personalize... ekm43 $25

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites.

Alas, creating treasuries is just not my thing. I know I should do more, as just curating a treasury brings visibility to one's store. But I just don't have the knack let alone the desire to create them. But I can promote them to others. So I comment and tweet about my gratitude.

Then it clicked.

Since I'm fairly adept at promoting...and I needed more content for my blog....why not add a day focused on treasuries? I could give these fantastic creations additional life in the virtual world while continuing to promote them.

I receive questions from time to time on how to make this happen. So, here you go:

• Choose the most gorgeous treasuries to feature your products. 
• Use a tool such as Craftcult or Treasury HTML Code Generator.
• Take a deep breath and create your blog (or at least the treasury portion) in html. (Trust me, you'll be ok at this.)
• Publish your blog.

And here's the most important step

• Promote the blog to others included in the treasury!

For every treasury you add to your post, you can draw 16 other people to see your wonderful creation! Be careful when you convo everyone that you don't use language to "sell" them on your blog. My convos basically say, "Our products were recently featured in this beautiful treasury, which I've included in today's blog. I hope this brings additional visibility to your shop!"

Word of caution - for this week's Treasury Sunday I used the widget from Craftcult. I find it to be a touch more user friendly than the code generator. However, I noticed in the email post I received on my blog (do you do this? If not, you should!), that the treasuries were not included in the email. The only graphic to come through was my "Advertising Opportunities Available". Glad that message got through, but not at the expense of being the only one. So in the future, I'll be using the code generator.

I've found that by including posts with treasuries, traffic to my blog has increased, followers to my shop have increased, I'm included in more treasuries than before, and I've even received some sales from grateful shop owners! Give it a try and let me know how using treasuries works for you!

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Treasury Sunday, June 2nd

Treasuries are incredibly important to independent sellers on Etsy such as myself. Curated by other members, these collections help feature our products and get them in front of new audiences. Every other Sunday I like to show my appreciation to these curators by featuring some of these lovely collections on my blog. Please take some time to view these gorgeous collections and to support independent business! 

Click here for more information!

Blogging for Growth

My current focus in recent weeks has been to increase my blog presence as well as my Facebook fans.  I've spent much of my "down time" reading about blogging techniques and ways to increase my Facebook fanbase. I realize these need to be long term goals, as it can take time to increase one's social media crawl when everyone else it playing in the same sandbox.

So I thought it might be good to spend some time talking about what I have found to work for me, to share my "oops", and to chat with you about your successes, your challenges, and your questions.

Let's get the conversation started, beginning with blogging!

Recently, I completed as redesign of my blog. From the beginning, I used a template - don't we all? I loved the look, but knew it wasn't "mine." My sweetie gave me a new monitor for Christmas, and I love the more rectangular look. So a couple of months ago I began playing with new backgrounds. I don't know what I'm using now is the best, but here are a few things I've learned:

Make sure you're using a design that works with your brand. If you have graphic design skills or can afford a designer, create a cohesive look between your blog, your website, your logo, and all your marketing materials.

Use plenty of white space! We have so much distraction in our

lives, and people find simple designs more refreshing these days. I know we're all advised to use our sidebars for ads, calls to action, subscriptions, etc. But take some time to review what websites and blogs you like. Chances are most of them use their space well with plenty of visual breaks. While you're at it - make sure you're using a light background rather than a dark. I know it's not "artistic" but will be much more engaging for your audience.

Experiment with your settings. My sweetie gave me a new monitor for Christmas, and I love the more rectangular look. I suddenly became more aware of how my newsletter and my blog looked on the new monitor. As technology evolves and old monitors and television sets are being replaced, more and more people are using the more rectangular look. It's time to expand your settings to accommodate these changes. By the way - I found I also needed to increase my font size to keep up with the new design.

Move some of your sidebar items to page tabs. Like most, I had a widget for my Etsy shop and my Pinterest boards. I began to think about my sidebar items as "advertisements" and my page tabs as my website. So I changed things up a bit. My page tabs are more "about me" and ways to move my visitors deeper into my "website". My sidebar items are true advertisements (click here for advertising opportunities!) or calls to action for subscription management, etc.

Always, always, always create your settings for pages other than your own to open in a new window. The goal with any website, and your blog, should be to retain your audience for as long as possible. When you allow a new page to open over yours, you lose the opportunity for someone to stick around. When your viewer is done looking at the other page and closes it, he will come back to yours, and hopefully take some time to see what other great information you have!

Over the past few weeks, I've developed other techniques to increase new visitors, subscribers, and content. I've also found challenges to writing content, to finding advertisers, and to marketing my blog. Goals include writing content for my customer base, writing e-books for download, and always, increasing my subscribers.

What are your successes? What have been your challenges? What are your goals? I'd love to discuss these in the upcoming weeks, as we're all in this journey together! Please comment below with your questions or successes, or email me.