I have the same feeling towards Link Love. While I have 1700 plus "fans/likers" on my FB page, I would rather have sales in my Etsy shop. I have lately been slacking in my Link Love because of this. Having friends and supporters who are crafters is wonderful, but let's face it, I'm here to make a sale!
((Sarah's Stitches))

I spend a a lot of time marketing my Etsy shop on Facebook, Twitter and in the Etsy forums. I spend just as much time trying to improve my product, photos and tags – which is an ongoing process. I would say just this year all that hard work & effort has finally caught up to me – MerCurios has been in countless Etsy Treasuries and Fashion Blogs. We've been "found" in the Etsy Finds blog, interviewed for a local paper AND just this month we are featured in the Australian Fashion Magazine "Cleo". All of which has translated into sales for which I'm extremely grateful! My hardcore edgy chaotic style is not for everyone, so I am blessed to have this success.

If anything takes a backseat, it is my Blog and Facebook. I don't I've ever participated in "link love" although I'm not 100% sure.

xo,
MJ

Feeling the same here as well. I have over 1000 fans/likes. I have a tab to my artfire. One for my etsy, but I've let that expire until our store move. I haven't had a sale because of link love. At the beginning, I was heavily involved with link love..but then it was bothering me that people weren't "fanning/liking" because they were interested in my page or my product, but interested in only getting another fan on theirs. I would much rather have people that are interested in knowing if I'm having a bead sale, then someone who doesn't bead, has no intentions of beading or is just looking to add another number. Just my 2 cents for what its worth.

Haven't put a lot of work into my facebook page likes, as I think promoting my shop within Etsy seems to work better for me. To me, working hard on your photography, making treasuries regularly, renewing and adding new inventory have been working far better than wasting hours on social networking. I only have a little over 30 likes, most of which are just friends being nice. I still have been happy with my sales as a newer fully inventoried shop. We'll see how it goes down the road.

I have to agree with you. 299 fans (or whatever they are called now), no sales in several months. I've put together 12 or so treasuries and hearted all the shops I used. I notified every seller that they were in a treasury, and some didn't even thank me. I have found some awesome shops out there, and bought a few items and made a few online friends. Hoping sales will pick up for the holidays, although theeconomy is still so bad.

I have love link also. I have only been on facebook for about 4 months and sadly neglect it at times. I'm still undecided about link love and whether it is a good marketing tool. Fellow artists also buy from fellow artists so i think it can have benefits there.

In my Etsy shop i like to renew and relist and try and add new products to my store i think that has worked better for me also. I don't really like all the time consumed in social networking. Never been real good at it.

Having said that in my first year of Etsy i learned fast that you really do have to do some sort of networking to get your name out there. I spent a lot of time networking my shop and i think that did pay of for me.

Also thanks for featuring my Love Knockin necklace here on your blog.

I agree. Having fans and people who like you is great. Being able to network and communicate with like-minded people is also great. But it's also like preachin' to the choir. I make jewelry, and have "liked" a lot of people on Facebook and am following a lot of other designers on Twitter too. I follow moreso to see if they post about opportunities, or to see what they do to promote themselves and learn from their successes and failures. But I'm not very likely to buy from them, nor they from me, if we make the same stuff! I think group/co-op advertising of some sort would probably be more beneficial.

Couldn't agree more! I don't have a fan page (I focus on my shop, my blog, Flickr and feeding my Twitter addiction; and to be honest my shop is often neglected!) but I have never understood things like 'link love' – (in the same way I don't automatically follow someone on Twitter just because they follow me).

Surely people want fans/followers/likers who are genuinely interested in what they do and the information they post? It's about quality not quantity, and as a potential 'fan' I'm only going to like you page if I um, actually like it! I think: post good content, be passionate about what you do, and the 'right' people will find you!

Funnily enough I was thinking exactly the same thing recently!

I have a fan page on facebook and a few months ago joined in the link love frenzy that was going on. Result – lots more fans, most of whom were fellow jewellery makers! Unfortunately those fans didn't translate into sales.
I make jewellery so it's highly unlikely I'm going to buy from another jewellery maker, so apart from increasing the number of fans I have link love hasn't really achieved anything (unless you count all that time spent laboriously copying and pasting my links!)

Oh – I wondered how people left those messages on my facebook page, so now I know….link love! Obviously I've never used it…don't have a lot of fans – but I keep my Etsy page as active as I can. It has been a quiet summer for Etsy sales with mostly re-listing for me….but as I gear up for the holidays I'm starting to get new items in my shop – and that is the single most important thing to do for my sales.

I don't much care for link love. I don't have a problem with people advertising their shops, but even though they fan my page they don't seem interested in my shop. I guess I simply don't understand the concept.

thank you for this post! I've been thinking that maybe I was missing out on something very important because I wasn't actively pursuing agoal of 100 fans a day.
For me it was too much like having that regular person that drops into the brick and motar store to say hi, but in four years has never bought anything. Even if they love your style and items, when asked they have to admit they've never purchased anything. These fans are great but they don't give back the same feedback, and lets face it don't pay the bills or in my case the cost of the materials.
It's nice to know that there are others out there who don't go right to my fan numbers before they check out my shop inventory….and trust me if I fan you it's because of what you've created!
Oh, and to be honest, I just couldn't keep track of all the links….lol…too busy making my craft I guess…
debbie

I was so happy to see this post and reading all the comments! I kept on wondering what the heck I was missing with the link love too ! I havent been going out and actively seeking to "fan" others and hoping to get the same. My thinking was that people were becoming obsessed with the fan numbers and not putting the same energy into their work. And in my limited experience, the people who have "fanned" me, are, for the most part not taking part in the conversations about the art of craft itself… they couldnt care less about my work…. they plop their info on my discussion board , promote their own work, and then move on to the next to do the same.

Connecting on a site such as this is wonderful though.. finding like minded people who want to have dialogue about business and craft can be beneficial to everyone !

I'm in complete agreement. As much as love having fans on facebook, what I am more interested in, is having loyal customers for my Etsy shop. People that buy my products, are satisfied with their purchases and refer me to their friends mean more than trading links on facebook. While I understand that LL has a kind heart behind it – I'm not sure it produces what most Etsy sellers are looking for.

I am so glad you clarified for me what link love can or cannot do. I don't have time now to list the 25 or so business things I will do before I take the time to devote to Facebook…10 minutes tops!

I think you bring up some good points about "link love" — everything needs to be kept in perspective.

I don't have 100's of fans on Facebook and don't go around fanning others so they will fan me — and I stopped posting my facebook fan page in the etsy forums for other sellers to fan it.

I am doing Facebook for what it is – social networking, including promoting what I make. But I am one of those totally honest people. I don't add everyone who sends me a friend request and I don't "fan back" everyone.

I do think I have gotten at least one sale from Facebook. I saw the name on Facebook and they joined etsy and bought something in my etsy shop.

(continued — )

I do "sharing" with some Facebook groups and pages – meaning I post something of mine and share something I like of someone else's. I have also learned "tagging" on Facebook, which is really great. I can do a post on my personal page and tag my fan page, if I want to! Doing these 2 things, I think I have gotten a few new fans on my fan page.

I have sales in my etsy shop — but I think it is mostly from internal searches or google (my Google Analytics shows traffic from google) or my etsy teams, but I do want to add one thing – I do get low bounce-rate traffic from Facebook in my etsy shop.

Whatever I do anywhere, Facebook or on my blog — it is real, as what I make is real!!

I agree. I have been spending so much time trying to get caught up with LL and never do that i have neglected everything else – including doing actual studio work. To date as far as I know I have only had one actual sale through my LL connections. I get lots of views and hearts but not the sales. i honestly don't know what the answer is.

I think you missed the point of Link Love all together. As I understand it, and I have over 1,500 fans myself, the purpose of Link Love is that when others click on your links it raises your Search Engine Optimization. This helps you be more ‘Googleable’, which should lead to more sales/information. I too have torn feelings on mostly reaching others who are trying to promote/sell also. But these things time and more exposure to ANYONE helps.

I have slacked up some on it because of the same reasons sited in your article, but I will indeed continue LL because I have also learned alot from my fellow artisans, such as yourself. I found Handmade Spark through Link Love and I read your newsletter every morning over my coffee.