Those of you who have been to Quilt Market know that it’s an action-packed, fun-filled weekend where the quilting industry shows off its best products, skills, ideas, and designers. So many quilters in one place, all focusing on their favorite hobby makes for an unforgettable experience. Unfortunately, to attend this exciting event you have to be either a quilting wholesaler or retailer and get special approval to gain access.
The Online Quilter’s Market is very similar, only it’s online and EVERYONE is invited. It’s a place where quilters from all around the world can come together to show off their best tutorials, ideas, projects, and patterns. The Online Quilter’s Market offers anyone the opportunity to be heard by thousands of other quilters.
I’d be willing to bet that most of you have visited at least one quilting blog (you might even have your own), and, let me tell you, there are some topnotch quilting blogs out there. Well, imagine a quilting blog where ANYONE can contribute a post at ANYTIME. After all, millions of heads are better than one! Once you contribute your post, everyone can read it. If they like it, they’ll give your post a ‘thumbs up’ (they’ll press the “vote” button with the thumbs up icon on it). The more votes you get, the more popular your submission becomes, and the more people will read it. If you have your own blog, feel free to link back to it so that those who like your content on the Online Quilter’s Market can see what else you’ve written.
Here are the benefits of participating in the Online Quilter’s Market. *Note* Some of the benefits mentioned are only applicable to contributors who also have their own quilting blog:
- You will help build quilting as a hobby. Imagine the synergy that comes from thousands of quilters around the world all sharing skills and ideas in one place. You will be part of it!
- Instant traffic from the Online Quilter’s Market to your own blog. In the Online Quilter’s Market there are two ways to view quilter’s submissions: 1) “Recent” – meaning you can view submissions in the order they were submitted (the newest on top), or 2) “Popular” – meaning you can view submissions in order of popularity (the most popular being the ones that have received the most votes). Since your contribution will be the newest submitted, it will automatically be featured at the top of the “recent” section and give readers a chance to visit the link back to your site.
- Residual long-term traffic to your blog. You may have had your posts featured on other blogs and seen the instant bump in traffic mentioned above, but it doesn’t take long for that traffic stream to die off as the post gets pushed deeper and deeper into the archives until barely anyone sees it. Since Online Quilter’s Market users can also view submissions by popularity, if your contribution gets a lot votes, it will stay on top in the popularity section and produce a steady stream of residual traffic to you blog indefinitely.
- You can earn gift cards from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. As an incentive for good quality content, MSQC is offering gift cards for those submissions that reach a specified level of votes. Since the Online Quiter’s Market has just begun, the number of votes required is currently only 20. Attracting 20 votes will earn you a $5 gift card to the Missouri Star Quilt Co.’s online shop. As the Online Quilter’s Market grows, so will the minimum threshold of votes required to earn a gift card, but every time this threshold goes up, so will the value of the gift card you can win (woo hoo!)
- In addition to winning the gift card, all winning submissions will also be featured on the Missouri Star Quilt Company’s Cutting Table Blog. As part of being featured, you will receive a cute button that says “I was featured on the Cutting Table Blog” that you can put on your blog if you’d like. Being featured on the Cutting Table Blog is another great way to boost traffic to your own blog, as it is part of a site that receives thousands of visitors per day. *NOTE* – In order to be featured on the MSQC Cutting Table Blog and receive your gift card, the submission must original. Reposting articles or ideas from other sites is allowed (as long as you recognize the source in your post and link back to it), but it cannot earn you a gift card or featured spot on the Cutting Table Blog.
If the Online Quilter’s Market sounds like something you’d like to get involved in click here, or hit the contribute button at on the right hand side of the Cutting Table Blog to submit your first post. If you have a blog and you’d like your blogposts to be automatically submitted to the Online Quilter’s Market, click the FAQ link to find out how.
You can login to the Quilter’s Online Market using your username and password from ANY of the following sites:
- Yahoo
- Linked In
- OpenID
Or, you can simply register for a new account at The Online Quilter’s Market.
See you all at market and happy quilting!
