Increasing Your Website/Blog Success

As of a few months ago, I have started selling on ETSY.  It's a site for all things handmade.  I was thrilled to find such a wonderful website where artisans like myself have the opportunity to monetize their craft.  It didn't take me long, however, to realize that it was much more complicated than that.

Many of you probably know better than I do just how hard it is to sell online.  There is so much that goes into advertising your product and making your pictures represent your items accurately.  Here's a few things that I have noticed that seem to increase traffic and sales.
                1.)  Good Photos

Pink Shell Chain Bracelet
www.beadazzledjewels.etsy.com

                           -Believe it or not, this is the hardest challenge.  I spend hours everyday taking pictures of everything I make and editing.  You want to make sure you have clear close-up shots of everything you make.  You know that your items are beautiful but most people that come to your site will have no idea.  Customers will rely on those pictures.  A good site for free photo editing that I use a lot is www.pixlr.com.  I've had a lot of success cropping and getting better clarity in my pictures.
             

              2.)  Advertise
                        -I originally thought that if I just made my pieces everyday and put them up then customers would automatically find me.  This was definitely not the case!  I spend hours on blogs, twitter, facebook, kaboodle, and stumbleupon trying to promote my site.  I've tried using google adwords with very little success.  Unless you have a good grasp on that concept, I wouldn't waste your money.  I have also registered my site on www.handmadespark.com.  It's $6/month and has actually started to pay off.  Another site I've tried just recently is Project Wonderful at www.projectwonderful.com.   I haven't used it long enough to be able to tell, but the site has had excellent reviews.  All you do is create a few buttons or banners and it finds blogs and other websites to advertise them on.

Purple Crystal Ring Button
www.beadazzledjewels.etsy.com

  3.) Monitor Where Your Customers Come From
                      -This is actually just a helpful tip that I've found extremely useful.  I have used free google analytics on all of my websites to keep track of how many visits I get each day, where customers are coming from, how long customers are on my website, etc.  Knowing exactly how my customers are finding me is useful to know where to advertise.


So now I want to know, how do you promote your website/blog?  Are there any secrets that I am missing out on?  Is there anything that has led to significant success on your website/blog?  Let me know what you think!