Blogs and Advertising

It used to be that companies advertised their goods with contests and coupons. I've noticed something new going on. BLOG GIVEAWAYS! There is even a blog devoted to it. Just look at all the cool craft stuff you can win!

A non-tatting friend and I have talked about ads on blogs for a long time. I don't like them. When I first started blogging, I paid to keep them off. Now they pay YOU to let them put them on.

Sorry, but they truly annoy me. I never click on them. I don't care if you get money for it.

But what about the ads that are part of the blog itself, that promote the blogger's goods?

A few years ago, I belonged to a local Meet-Up group of bloggers. There were all of THREE of us. Blogging was still not all that popular. The leader of our group kept talking about how money could be made with blogs...on and on and on. It bored me. That wasn't why I was in the group. I wanted to learn how to make my blog look better. It was before google took over blogger.com and nothing was free besides the space which was limited.

I do have an ad....can you find it? I created some goods with the Tatting Goddess logo in cafepress. Where? you might ask. Cafepress was an early online storefront business. I've sold very little. Very little. I liked the idea of no inventory and no investment beyond my time. I should probably delete my storefront and the link to it and when I rennovate my blog, I probably will.

I don't mind links to a blogger's storefront or website where they sell stuff. What I don't like is the constant sales pitch. That's not what I read blogs for and I find myself skipping over those more and more. I understand that it's marketing. It's just not what I'm looking for. If I'm looking for something in particular, I go to Ebay or Etsy or Ravelry or do a google search.

But blogs aren't just for entertainment. They were highly instrumental during the presidential campaign. I didn't read any myself, but a good many computer literate people did. Good things get done because of blogging. Word spreads like wildfire when disasters happen and people call to help. Rumors spread too. You can't believe everything you read. That's important. YOU CAN'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ.

Blogs are an avenue where one can express an opinion as well as provide entertainment and information. I love that so many tatters are blogging now. It's so much easier to see another's work and understand what is being talked about. Blogs have inspired new designs and new tatters. It's explosive, the way it has happened. I do wonder what is next? (and don't bring up podcasts - I ignore those too. If I can't print it out to read later when I'm not in a hurry, it will be ignored.)

BTW, I'm not saying any of this is bad in any way, just my preferences and everyone has different preferences. That's what makes this such an exciting reality.

I love this little tree bookmark by Ellen Lai. I'm not doing too well with it but I'm using a smaller thread than she did and it was late, I have a crappy cold, and found it hard to pay attention. The diagram is great. The completed one is done wrong - I zigged when I should have zagged. The one in progress is also wrong and I opened up the ring to correct it last night and decided to go to bed instead.

I actually stayed home today because I feel so rotten. I'm housesitting for a friend for the next 10 days and have to pack my clothes and "stuff" to take over there later today. They've already left. They live at the other end of the county so I won't be coming home every day (they also have a dog I love who is in failing health) and their connection is dial-up so I probably will not be posting much either.

Yes, I plan to take the reindeer with me to work on. I've been hauling him around for several days now.

I actually felt pretty good yesterday between the time I left work and got home. I ran a few errands, stopping at the Dollar Tree to pick up some paperweights that Kathy posted about in her blog. I didn't find them but managed to pick up $40 worth of stuff anyway - and when I mentioned to the cashier what I had come to buy, she knew exactly where they were and went off to bring some back to me so I did bring a few home to play with. In the meantime, I got a lot of "little" Christmas shopping done - stuff for the grandkids, stuff for coworkers. Much of it is part of something else that I'm putting together.

Well, I'm finally hungry so better eat and get to packing.