Hi everyone,
It's been busy few months since my last post. Some good news is that I got the all clear on my breast cancer twelve month checks in February. A huge sigh of relief! I'm still having on-going checks and taking medication of course but finally feeling pretty good.
My daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren came for a visit in March (from the UK), we had such an awesome time and the weather was perfect. I crocheted some light blankets for the children's beds which came in handy for the cooler evenings. The beautiful wildlife and natives bed linen came from Spotlight and I picked colours in Marvel 8ply yarn to match. I just made simple grany squares, joined as I went and finished with a simple border so it didn't take me too long.
I've recently had an operation on my right hand (Trapeziectomy) so am severely limited to what I can do - and no crochet as yet. I'm hoping to be back up to speed as soon as possible before I go crazy!
So let's talk about the advertising we see on crochet designers websites and YouTube channels. Do you mind them? Are you put off by them? Or are you impartial? And have you ever bought from these ads?
First, how does pop-up adverting work? Anyone with a website can approach companies to advertise on their page with a pop-up ad and there are a few rules. There is no minimum number of followers for blogs or Instagram however as a general guide you should have at least 1,000 or more for advertisers to be interested in you. To be eligible for YouTube Ads, you must join the YouTube Partner Program. This requires having at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time in the past 12 months.
If someone views the page or channel and then purchases something from that ad, the designer gets a small commission. You can imagine that if your page or YouTube channel is running lots of ads from which viewers are making purchases it could add up to a tidy income. However, as a designer is your priority making money from ads or promoting your skills and have you really considered your audience preferences?
I've done some research on the top crochet bloggers from Australia, America and the UK and here is what I've found regarding websites and YouTube channels...
Most of the Australian designers do not have pop-up advertising. Yes, there are one or two with minimal ads but the majority don't run ads at all. It seems with YouTube there is often a couple of short ads at the start of the clip but once the clip starts it's ad free.
The UK is similar to Australia. Most of the top designers don't run ads despite having thousands of followers. There are one or two with minimal ads but no major disruptions to their content.
American designers and YouTubers seem to be the opposite to Australia and the UK. Many top designers run ads. In fact, it's sometimes difficult to sift through what is an ad and what is page content. My frustration here is that when I think I'm clicking on content I sometimes inadvertently click on an ad which I then find difficult to close. I have often left a web site or YouTube channel due to the relentless advertising pop-ups and interruptions to videos. I have just looked at a web site that is running seven different rotating ads across all the pages. In fact I had to count them twice as they were constantly changing and shifting. My concentration was certainly on the ads and not at all on the page content. In this case it's a shame as the designer is great.
Another area regarding advertising is so called FREE patterns. Some free patterns are truly at no cost although usually found on third party websites such as Ravelry or for example sites run by yarn brands. With individual designer sites, some basic patterns are ad free. However the majority of patterns that show as free have multiple ads running through them with the option to 'purchase' an ad free pattern from a platform such as Etsy.
My personal preference is not to see ads and I mainly gravitate towards some of the wonderful designers who are ad free. I feel that their heart and soul is fully invested in their art and crafts and not making money from the side hussle of running ads.
I'm not on the scale to be able to run ads on my site. If I were able to - would I? That's a NO from me!
Here are some links to a few of my favourite ad-free (at the moment) designers:
https://shelleyhusbandcrochet.com/ Australia
https://www.jennykingdesigns.com/shop/ Australia
https://www.knotjustknitting.com/freeform/ Australia
https://kingandeye.shop/pages/about-claire-king UK
https://katika-art.com/about Russia