By Bob Beacham

Whether you are running a craft blog or a traditional website there are certain craft business basics that you should be following if you want to succeed. One of them is making your site “sticky” – making your potential craft customers want to stay – or come back often.

Interesting information is important, of course. As is nice clear design and easy navigation. People have very short attention spans online so if they can’t find what they’re looking for quickly they’re off… probably to your competitor!

But even if you have a bright, fun, interesting craft blog which engages your visitor and makes them want to come back, there’s a high chance that they won’t. Even those that think they will, might well not. Haven’t you done exactly that yourself? Said you’ll go back to a site later – but then not bookmarked it or got distracted by something else, never to return?

So your craft business has lots of visitors that might well have bought from you… but didn’t. What’s more you have no way of knowing who they were. To some extent that’s business life. If you had a real-world store you would have lots of people visit who never came back. But what if you could encourage them to do exactly that? What if you could do so relatively easily?

What your craft business needs is a newsletter or e-mailing list. They’re relatively easy to set up (all you need to do is copy and paste a bit of code), very low cost, and they allow you to contact your potential and existing customers with news and special offers as often as you like. Your visitor doesn’t need to come back to you – you can go to them!

It’s not a system to be abused though. Your craft business is just one of many trying to grab your customers’ attention and lots of other people want that email address for marketing purposes. You have to offer something of value in exchange – a discount perhaps, or a free gift – and then you have to provide them with useful information and ongoing value, otherwise they’ll feel you are only interesting in “selling” to them.

Of course we all know that selling to them is precisely what you are trying to do – you just have to be a bit cute about it! Make your newsletter subscriber feel valued and important, give them a sense of exclusivity and your craft business hasn’t just hooked a visitor it has gained a valuable, loyal, repeat customer.

For more details about setting up that vital newsletter visit Craft Business Basics. At the same time you can pick up your free copy of the highly acclaimed ebook “Craft Success Online”.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bob_Beacham — Craft Business Basics – Hooking That Visitor!

By Kyla Quinlan

Learning how to knit a scarf isn’t hard, and guess what? Once you know the basics, it’s just as easy to learn how to knit a striped, patterned, or fringed scarf, too. Really, simply understand one basic pattern, and make any variations you like from there.

The basics of scarf knitting

Knitting a basic scarf is very simple — all you really have to do is cast on ten to fourteen stitches and knit straight down. It’s a good idea, if you’re learning how to knit a scarf for beginners, to check out some of the common mistakes people make when knitting scarves.

From there, learn how to knit a scarf with these embellishments.

How to knit a striped scarf

If you can knit a solid scarf, you can knit a striped scarf, no problem. The only thing you need to know in order to know how to knit a striped scarf is how to join yarn.

Knit your scarf as you normally would. When it comes time to start the stripe, simply cut your working yarn and join in the new color. Knit several more rows until you’re satisfied with the length, and then switch back to the original.

The only thing to watch out for is that you make sure you join new colors on corresponding rows (for example, join only on odd rows, or only on even). Otherwise, you see the joins on the finished scarf.

How to knit a scarf fringe

If you can learn how to knit a scarf, a fringe should be no problem. Simply take a long strand of your yarn (if you used two colors for a striped scarf, double up so you’re holding one strand of each color) and wrap it around your hand six or seven times, depending on the thickness of the fringe you want.

Cut the ends. Use a crochet hook to pull one side of the loops through the bottom row of your knitted scarf. With that same crochet hook, reach through the loops that have come through the scarf, hook the bottom loops, and pull them through to secure your fringe. Now just cut through the bottom pieces so they hang free, and you have the first part of your fringe. Repeat to your heart’s content.

It’s just as easy to learn how to knit a scarf with bells and whistles as it is to knit something plain and boring!

Looking for free knitting patterns for scarves? Then look no further than KnittingforCharity.org. We’re your one stop source for all things knitting.

Article Source: Kyla Quinlan — Learn How to Knit a Scarf