Wednesday, May 12, 2010

FREE Beads...or Not

Since I hung my little shingle out on the web three years ago, I've had a "FREE beads" page on my site. I did this to create links back to my site from other lampworking "list sites" which, in turn, made my new website look legitimate to the web spiders. Getting fans to vote for me, lifted me in the rankings and got me lots of hits and views from curious lampwork lovers.


At first, I struggled to make something new every week. It was so difficult to guess what would get people out to vote. A glass bead I didn't like would garner me lots of traffic. One that I thought was a sure hit brought little or no traffic.

It became such a chore to guess that I finally decided I would let the winners choose. I started giving away $50 Gift Certificates once a month. It seemed like a win - win. $50 was generous enough to allow for a full set + shipping and maybe even a sale page bead. Or a focal...

And over the years, it's worked for me and my customers. It was nothing for me to get over 400 votes in one month. I had one very dedicated voter that voted every single day in 2008. I was so overwhelmed with gratitude, I gifted her a $100 gift certificate over the holidays that year (She had also won several times during the year as well.) She cashed it in and never returned. Odd... was it something I said?

But other dedicated voters stepped up to fill her shoes and so it went. Until about six months ago. All of my voters just evaporated into thin air! Seriously...last month I had ZERO voters! And for the first time since it's inception, my $50 gift certificate went unclaimed! And this month? I've had ONE vote! ONE!

I'm not really sure why this has happened? Are there just too many promotions out there on the web??? Do people hate my beads? Are people just too busy?

I have no answers...It's a mystery to me. But if you are so inclined, vote and email, will you? You might just win something pretty!

2 comments:

rottrover said...

Well, I dunno, I like 'em all! But I especially like the second one...

Unknown said...

Hi - I just found your blog today - the 19th of May. So, I don't know why your voters have gone away. But I think your beads are beautiful!