Welcome to Business of Craft, a show designed to help entrepreneurs with fabric or fiber businesses become more successful.
This is our 8th season of BOC and today we have another solocast to cover one of the topics in our new book, Marketing Magic for Savvy Craft Businesses. I’m super proud of this book which my whole team wrote in 2025. The book is available for sale in Kindle and print version (and soon to be audio) on our website or Amazon.
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Today we’re talking about a tool that’s been around since the ’90s but still packs a major punch when it comes to marketing your brand: blogging.
Now before you groan and roll your eyes and say,
“Ugh, I hate writing,”
let me reassure you — blogging doesn’t have to be overwhelming, and YES, it’s super important… Waaaay too many clients overlook blogging as an excellent tool to drive traffic to a website and improve SEO.
In fact, blogging is one of the most powerful spells you can cast to build community, grow your SEO, and position your business as a trusted expert. So let’s dive in.
Your blog is more than just a spot to dump updates — it’s a cornerstone of your online identity. Why?
Because every blog post creates:
This isn’t just about traffic. It’s about trust. Remember? If you’re a longtime listener to the podcast, you know how much I harp on this concept and you MUST get it right… Blogs are one of the number one tools to build trust.
We know, statistically speaking, blogs are powerful:
So if you’ve been ignoring your blog or haven’t started one yet, you’re missing out on one of the easiest and most organic ways to grow your audience.
Let’s talk about evergreen content — that’s blog content that never goes out of style.
Think:
Evergreen content continues to show up in search results years after it’s posted. One example? We wrote a blog for our client Thimbles Quilts on creative ways to display quilts, and it still ranks in their top 10 sources of organic traffic several YEARS— yes, I said YEARS later…
So how does blogging help create community?
We know from our 2023 Craft Retailer study (which you can download free on our website) that a majority of you want to build community but you’re struggling to figure out how… Well, your blog is one of the ways to do that.
Unlike social media, where your posts disappear in the endless scroll, your blog is a dedicated space.
It’s your digital living room. Visitors can stay longer, read more, explore related posts, and even leave a comment or ask a question.
This is where you cultivate connection—not just conversions. If you can cultivate your brand voice on your blog, this creates that space for your readers to connect and feel a sense of belonging.
Still not sure where to start? Here’s a structure we love:
Go back to your customer avatar from Chapter 4.
When you know your audience, your tone and topic become clearer.
Think about the questions your customers ask you in-store, via email, or on social. Write blogs that answer those. Remember to be generous– share your juiciest tidbits about how you untangle a thread nest or how you like to do short rows or how you maintain your personal studio or stash.
Shoot for at least once a month. Search engines reward consistency.
Right on your website—not on wordpress.com, not on a subdomain. Keep the traffic on your site and make it easy to find. The HTML files have to be on your server to gain the most value for SEO.
What do you offer that no one else can? Where’s your deep expertise? What’s your differentiator in the space. Why should I buy from you vs. the shop on the other side of town? Write from that place.
And let’s not forget our validated keyword list. If you’re not sure what that is, go back to chapter 9 in our book, Marketing Magic for Savvy Craft Businesses” where I talk specifically about how to make a validated keyword list and have that right next to your desk when you’re writing. Get those phrases into the top paragraphs of your blog for greatest value.
Now, before we move on, let’s talk about something big: AI tools — like ChatGPT.
I have a lot of clients who say “We don’t need a person to write our blogs now that we have ChatGPT and we just do them there now.”
Yes, AI can absolutely help you write blogs faster and with less overwhelm. In fact, I highly recommend using it to:
This can be a huge time-saver, especially if writing isn’t your favorite thing.
BUT… and this is a big BUT…
Please! Don’t let AI write your blogs for a couple of reasons…
#1- Unlike other industries, we are in a craft space, a creative space, a maker space and I promise you– your customers and your audience do NOT embrace ai in the way other industries to. It’s a complete turn off and will DEGRADE your trust if your blogs come across as purely written by AI. That’s why as an agency, we do not do that for clients. Everything we write is wordsmithed by a real human.
#2 We say that ChatGPT content is equivalent to having a 9 year old boy write your stuff. Is that how you want to represent your brand? I don’t think so.
AI should be your assistant, not your author.
Here’s why:
Your blog should sound like you. Your readers want you — your insights, your stories, your flair.
So go ahead and use AI to help with the heavy lifting, but always do a final pass to make it personal, relevant, and real.
In fact, if you’re listening to this podcast right now and thinking, “I’d love to use ChatGPT but don’t know where to start,” reach out — I can point you toward creating a Custom GPT that sounds like your brand, not a tech robot in a suit.
And once you’ve written that blog, don’t forget to share it.
Push it out through:
Make your blog the center of your content ecosystem.
Many blog platforms have an option to push the content to your readers inboxes. Make sure you have that available as an option on your blog page.
So let’s recap.
If you’re investing time in blog posts, make sure they’re working for you. Promote them, reuse the content in other formats, and let your blog become a hub for your community.
Remember that these podcast episodes are just the tip of the iceberg for these subjects and if you want a more in depth deep dive, get a copy of our book, Marketing Magic for Savvy Craft Businesses.
AND, as of this broadcast, we’re live with our new Members Only community that I mentioned during the break. We’d love to see you inside where you can learn at your own pace, meet other people in your same shoes and we’re available as a team to do live consulting to help you solve your most sticky and tricky craft marketing dilemmas. Subscribe for $49 per month by going to our website, stitchcraftmarketing.com