I do apologize for my latest hiatus. I just completed my move to NYC. And getting settled with a 5-year old has been both challenging and fun.

In any case, I do have a very cool showcase opportunity that some of you may be interested in.

Unzipped is a Seattle, Washington-based event where only 50 independent designers are permitted to showcase their wares to both industry and retail buyers. It takes place on November 17-18, 2007.

Their main focus will be apparel, with a few limited spaces for exceptional jewelry designers. Exhibit space ranges between $225-$495.

They’ve partnered with the International Gem & Jewelry show - which is also in Seattle that weekend. So the foot traffic is definitely there in town.

For more information, see their Designers page.

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A few weeks ago I signed up for PayPerPost.com.

If you’re not familiar with this service, PayPerPost.com has two arms. As a blogger you can sign up for the service and get paid by advertisers to blog about their site, product or service. And as an advertiser you can pay to have targeted bloggers talk about your products or website.

Anyway, I recently signed up to have fashion bloggers talk about my IndieLust.com blog.

To do this…

1) I had to deposit $50 into my PayPerPost.com account. They will debit your account as you go along.

2) Then I had to write a project description. Here’s what mine looked like:

I’m looking for fashion bloggers to review IndieLust.com.

IndieLust.com showcases apparel, accessories and handbags from independent designers. It’s updated every Monday through Friday.

Here are the requirements:

Site must be fashion related.

No mentions of this being a paid post within the actual post.

Your post must be positive in nature.

Thank you in advance.

3) Next I decided how much I wanted to pay the blogger. I decided on $10.

The total price ended up being $18.50, since PPP tacked on their own fee’s.

4) Finally I posted my project to the Marketplace (https://payperpost.com/advertiser/opportunities/base/list), and waited.

Well it took less than an hour and I had a taker. A freakin’ beer/alcohol related site, if you can believe it!

The way PPP works is that a blogger agrees to take the job, and when they do, your project posting comes down off the Marketplace.

I promptly e-mailed PPP and expressed my ‘anguish’ that an untargeted site had taken the job.

I mean I can see if I didn’t clarify precisely what I wanted. But I did. I made it 100% clear that I wanted a fashion blogger.

To their credit, PPP agreed to re-post my project, and not charge me.

So the following day I get another taker for my project.

This one was a woman blogger (at least). However she ran a more family orientated (read ‘wholesome’) blog. And it wasn’t a fashion blog.

I didn’t e-mail PPP this time because I was curious to see if I’d get any clicks.

I got 2 clicks in the past 3 weeks. I’m not complaining though. Really.

I was curious, and I found my answer. I won’t be paying for untargeted bloggers to write about my site. Period. End of discussion.

The good part of this story - and where you’ll positively benefit from my mistake - is that PPP does have a Directory (http://payperpost.com/ppp_direct/blogger_directory.html).

The Directory allows you to seek the bloggers that you want to hire - instead of posting a description in the Marketplace and having untargeted bloggers snatch up your opportunity for a quick $10.

By the way, if you decide to try PPP, please post your results here in the comment section of this post so that we may all benefit.

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As a fashion blogger, I examine my stat’s like a hawk. I like to see where my site visitors are coming from… which links they click on… how long they stay on my site (according to Google Analytics the average person stays on Indie Lust for 4.44 minutes!)… and so on.

Because I have a search feature on my blog, I also check to see what my site visitors are looking for.

Most times it’s nothing. But ocassionally I’ll find someone searching for a specific designer.

And when this happens, I almost always blog about that designer (provided they’re independent, of course).

So how can you use this bit of knowledge to your advantage?

If there’s a blog you want to be featured on, do a search on that blog. If the writers are anything like me, they’ll also be checking to see what their site visitors are searching for. Seeing your name in their logs may prompt them to write about you.

It’s kind of like calling the library and asking if they have a specific book. If enough people ask, the acquisitions librarians will definitely get a copy.

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There are 161 more days till Christmas. Have you been thinking about your pre-holiday strategy? Are you building up your inventory?

My 5-year old has already started designing her little girls bags for the holiday rush.

(We’ve been doing bags for friends and family over the past year. She just told me a few weeks ago that she now wants her own store. And that was with absolutely NO encouragement on my part! Gasp! Was that a crocodile tear that just welled up in my eye?)

Besides inventory, do you have a holiday advertising budget set aside? Here are a few sites that may want to incorporate into your plans:

ChristmasGifts.com
Ad rates range between $300-$2,400 (they’re on sale right now). During the holiday season they claim to get 1.3 million visitors.

CelebratingChristmas.com
Last year the Celebrating Christmas PDF magazine was downloaded by 11,000 people. Ad rates in the magazine range from $25 for a 120×60 text link ad, to $1,000 for the inside front cover.

They also have advertising on the website, from $50-$150 a month. They claim to receive 85,000 visitors a month.

And e-zine advertising - which is sent out to 2,500+ subscribers - ranges between $5-$20 per issue.

There will be more sites like these coming up in September. So keep an eye out!

P.S. - Two weeks ago I promised that I was putting up Buy Indie Wholesale - a directory where you could list information about your wholesale merchandise.

Well trust me when I say I’ve been on it. The directory script is causing me a little - ummm - technical grief. The site is up, but don’t go submit anything until I give you the okay.

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I know that some of you are using craft fairs and other local events to sell your merchandise.

Today I’ll introduce you to a website where you can sell your goods to local buyers. But before I let the cat out of the bag, let me say that it’s 100% free. (So do it, do it, do it.)

For the uninitiated amongst us, that website is Craigslist.

Craigslist is one of the most popular classified ad websites in the world.

There are dozens of cities represented in Craigslist. And each city website has a For Sale section, where you are free to list clothing, jewelry and accessories.

It’s important that you choose your home city when listing on Craigslist. If you attempt to list the same ad in multiple cities, all of your ads will be deleted.

Furthermore, people who shop the For Sale section on Craigslist really are seeking a local seller. They don’t want to buy anything and have it shipped.

If you wanted to, you could basically list every new product you come out with.

If you’re doing a craft fair, Craigslist is also good for announcing your presence.

For sellers outside of the United States, Kijiji has a similar established following. In fact, Kijiji recently announced that they’re open for US ads as well.

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