Happy New Year, Everyone!
I decided toward the end of 2012 that one of the things I was going to do in 2013 was blog more consistently. To me, that meant publishing on a schedule, on a regular basis.
The challenge, however, was to decide how often I would publish. Because I tend to write long blog posts (i.e., 800+ words), publishing every day didn’t seem feasible to me. But I also wanted to publish more than once a month, which I had been doing in 2012.
Sara Duggan’s 2013 Crochet Business Blogging Challenge
Another thing I didn’t do last year was participate in Sara Duggan’s 31 Days of Crochet Blogging, something I promised myself I’d do this year. The focus of Sara’s 2013 blog challenge is building your crochet business. She’s made it pretty easy to participate by providing a framework for establishing a foundation for your business so you can grow it throughout the year and beyond.
My desire to publish more in 2013 fits in very nicely with Sara’s 31 Days of Crochet Business Blogging. She has provided writing prompts that will not only help me begin to publish on a regular basis but start thinking seriously about the direction in which I want my crochet business to go.
I titled this post “Week One” because I am going create a week’s worth of blog posts in one sitting. It’s just easier for me to do, and this will help me establish a once-a-week posting schedule. It will also give me time during the week to do some freelance copy writing, something I’ve been doing for a couple of years.
For the challenge, I’ll update each week’s blog post daily to be in line with Sara’s structure for this blog challenge. By the end of the month, I’ll have published four blog posts, each with a week’s worth of mini-posts.
DAY ONE
Writing Prompt: My business is ____ and I will make _____. I’ll sell my products online at _____ and/or offline at _______. Fill in the blanks and share with your readers.
My crochet business will focus primarily on blogging, designing items and selling the patterns for them, and teaching. I’ll do the blogging and pattern selling online and the teaching offline, in my home and at various yarn stores and other locations on the island. I already teach at YarnStory in downtown Honolulu and plan to approach Ben Franklin Crafts within the next two months to teach a course I’m currently getting certified to teach. I also have a pattern in the works that I need to decide if I’m going to give away or sell. And I have a book of patterns that I want to have published by the end of the year.
DAY TWO
Writing Prompt: What are your business goals for 2013? Write a 5 – 10 point list post today.
My crochet business goals for 2013 are to:
- Blog on a regular basis
- Double my blog’s traffic.
Do a better job monetizing and marketing my blog. - Teach more classes.
- Publish more patterns.
I’ll be more specific on Day 3 when I list my objectives for achieving these goals.
DAY THREE
Writing Prompt: What are your objectives for 2013? Write a declaration post listing your objectives and how you’ll celebrate reaching them.
My objectives (i.e., how I’ll reach my goals) for 2013 are to:Redesign the look of my blog with an updated template.
- Publish a blog post once a week at a minimum.
- Establish a mailing list of blog readers and publish a newsletter once a month.
- Accept and publish posts from guest bloggers .
- Find effective ways to monetize and market my blog (no details on how to do this yet).
- Complete Crochet by Numbers certification by the end of March 2013 or sooner.
- Begin teaching Crochet By Numbers at Ben Franklin Crafts by the end of April 2013 or sooner.
- Find effective ways to market the crochet classes I teach at YarnStory so that I’m teaching a minimum of one class a month (no details on how to do this yet).
- Publish a book of crochet patterns by December 31, 2013 or sooner.
Hope I haven’t bitten off more than I can chew. I can always adjust these as the year progresses. And I’m not sure how I’ll celebrate the completion of them – probably with a sigh of relief :-).
I finish up the first week of the 2013 31 Days of Crochet Business Blogging Challenge in Part 2.
16 comments On 2013 31 Days of Crochet Business Blogging: Week One
What great goals for your crochet business this year. Teaching using the CBN technique is also one of my goals too.
If the pattern you’re thinking of publishing is the one you mention on FB, I think it would be a great blog traffic booster to post it to your blog. Plus since you’re on Craftsy you can add it there too. 🙂
Since your blog posts are quality posts at 800 words a post you can 1) do a series by splitting the article up into 2 or 3 posts or 2) post just once per week.
Should be interesting to see which works best for you.
Sara
Thanks, Sara. Yes, it is the pattern I mentioned on FB. I thought the same as well about it being a way of increasing traffic. These crocheted beards seem to be pretty popular, and I didn’t get it at first. But at one point, I tried it on, and it was really warm, so I can see them coming in handy in cold-weather climates.
I’ll have to see about how the blog posts work. I may have to split this first week up if the post gets to be too long. Thanks so much for reading and commenting.
Hi Patrice,
I am definitely looking forward to reading/hearing what you have to say. Already subscribed and waiting!!
Happy Blogging!!
Hey ZaMarah! Thanks so much for subscribing. I’m just about to post day 2. You’ll have to come back to this post as there will probably not be an email notifying you of a new post. Thanks again, and happy blogging to you too :-)!
Patrice, I’d love to see the traffic on your blog double this year.
If you write an article and publish the pattern on your blog at the same time it can help bring a larger audience to you blog.
One more thing, once the pattern is published, list it on theyarnbox and you’ll have a whole community visiting your post.
Hey Sara, yes, one of the things I’m going to be doing this year is publishing my free patterns at the various free pattern sites, including the YarnBox. I’ve started a list of sites; now all I need to do is submit patterns to them. One more thing to put on my “to do” list :-).
Good luck on your goals. I’ll be following along.
Thanks, Michelle. I’ll check out your blog and follow your progress, too.
Hi Patrice! (Day 3) Nice objectives. I wonder if you post a flyer at an active senior center or even a Mommy and Me Play group would you be able to attract new students for your classes. Good luck.
Thanks, Michelle. Those are great ideas!
I would think that displaying a CBN piece at the craft store with an interest list would work for you.
If you plan to do one thing each month to reach the goal of publishing a pattern bookd (2 or 3 patterns per month OR 1) then by the time Dec. comes you’ll have enough to click publish.
If you work on submitting just one pattern per week or month, you’ll have them done in no time.
Excited to see you move forward in your crochet business this year.
Hey Sara, I have a specific idea for the pattern book. I gave myself until December to make sure I get it done, but it might be done earlier, depending on what else is going on in my life. Thanks for the encouragement!
Pingback: 2013 31 Days of Crochet Business Blogging: Week One, Part Two | Yarn Over, Pull Through ()
Hi Patrice, I’m so excited to be reading about your goals for 2013. I’m looking forward to your more frequent posts and following the progress on your crochet business goals and pattern book too. I loved your crochet bag pattern that you featured in your blog just before Christmas. It’s a joy to see your joy in your craft and the sharing of your craft. 🙂
Hey Karen, thanks so much for taking the time to check out my plans for this blog. I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I’m looking forward to it. And I’m hoping to make another one of those bags soon. Take care!
Pingback: 5 Reasons Why My Crochet Blog Has Been Languishing (and why that’s not a bad thing) | Yarn Over, Pull Through ()
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