Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Hard work pays off!

This picture has nothing to do with this post. Sure, it was hard work (relatively speaking) to make these since it took three different variations before I was satisfied with the final results, but I'm not talking about hard work in regard to my handcrafted jewelry.

BTW ... before I go any further, these earrings are NOT for sale; they are a commissioned work. But I really like how they turned out so I wanted to show off the picture, and I know people who visit blogs like to see pictures.

Getting back to the hard work. It's all about Entrecard. I have been working the Entrecard system for two weeks now. The past several days, I have dropped 300 cards. The first two days of dropping 300 cards took quite a while (I have a tendency to READ a lot of the blogs) but I came up with a system and time budget that works for me. (So far!) Yesterday I had 192 cards dropped on me, a nice 64%. Thank you everybody who reciprocates. I do my utmost best to do the same.

Needless to say, the number of hits to my blog has skyrocketed. Even the few who actually pause for more than 1 minute to read and or look at photos have increased. It's very satisfying to see hard work pay off.

Even better, I have come across a number of blogs that appeal to me on a lot of different levels. I'm beginning to recognize their calling cards and I look forward to jumping back to their blogs for their latest photo, story, joke, pearl or bucket or boatload of wisdom, and of course, I always drop my card.

I haven't had any handcrafted jewelry sales as a result of this effort, but hopefully they will come over time. I do excellent work, I use quality components, but that's not as easy to see on the 'net as it is in the non-virtual world.

In the meantime, increasing the visitors to my 'lil ole spot of the www is an achievement all by itself.

Again, my deepest thanks to all who stop by, even if it's just to drop your card. I look forward to the end of the month when I shall publish my first Top 10 list.

In the meantime, if you need or like or want handcrafted jewelry and you like my style, please visit my Etsy shop. If you have any questions about Etsy, feel free to drop me a line.

11 comments:

The Florida Furkids said...

Try the Entrecard toolbar. You have to have FireFox, but it makes it a lot easier to do 300 drops. Of course, like you, I end up looking at lots of them as I go :)

Sharon

Susan Cook said...

Beautiful earrings! I hope your hard work pays off. Entrecard does really help with the traffic! and even better it's free! Thanks for stopping by my blog & your nice comments :)

Elle said...

AWESOME earrings, you are so right to post the pic!

Anonymous said...

I love the earrings, and Entrecard too. I dont have the toolbar, nor do i drop 300 cards. I do average about 150. I read at least the top post, on every blog I visit. I dont leave comments on them all, but I do read them.

Anonymous said...

Lovely pair of earrings!

ShinyAdornments said...

I'm an entrecard dropper. Relatively new too. And I stopped to read today. :-)
Nice post by the way.

Anonymous said...

The Entrecard toolbar is really helping make dropping faster. Hopefully they'll refine it in time and make it even better.
Beware, EC is addicting!

I have managed to sell a few items thanks to the increase in traffic from EC. I hope you can do the same.

Silver Canyons said...

Wow, those are beautiful earrings!
I thought I was the only one, stopping and reading blogs! LOL!!

Thanks for stopping by my blog as well!

Crimzen Creative said...

These are beautiful and I can only imagine how difficult as I have tried beadwork myself. You made someone very happy :-)

Liz said...

EC is really amazing, i love the traffic i'm getting and like you i tend to read many blogs too. i have encountered so many great blogs and i just can't help but stop for a while and read.

btw, i love the earrings ;)

Desert Rose Door Refinishing said...

Those earring are lovely and I'm sure whomever you made them for will be pleased. I look at a lot of the blogs while I entrecard too. But it has paid off. I have made sales and I've been doing this since March.