The grass certainly was not greener!

Wow, so much has happened over the past month that it's hard for me to keep up with it. Originally I had thought that I would join a another handmade website and dissolve Indiesmiles. As it turns out, life was much better at home and the grass was certainly not greener!

El has decided to leave Indiesmiles because she has been too busy with classes and her online shops and I've taken over the helm. Since I felt that co-op articles is the way to go, so much has occurred in the world of handmade that it takes more then one person to keep up with the activities! So many online venues have come into the scene besides Etsy and Artfire. So many new crafter's and crafts and lots of changes in the way that we can present and promote our wares!

Lately we've had several columnists join us and a marketing expert who is going to help get the word out about Indiesmiles and the news we present.

Plus, the Coupon Directory lives on. It's difficult in today's economy for most of us to peel off the high dollars to advertise our shops, but as a very wise man told me that if you don't advertise, you will be advertising at some point "going out of business". Sad but true! So the question in my mind is this, what is too much for people to pay? So I'm going to put it out there for Izzy-it's readers. Please let me know! The questions is this:
Is $2.00 too much to ask for a text listing in a sale directory, essentially the Coupon Directory at Indiesmiles?

So the way it works in the directory you would pay $2.00 for the Text Listing and then another $2.00 if you want to feature (125x125 graphic ad) your shop graphically above the entire directory listings. Included in with that pricing is free graphics that are emailed to you for your own use. Use them in your shop, your blog or to circulate on Facebook, etc.

Why is it that in the corporate world, there are zillions of websites that offer coupon codes for sites like Victoria Secrets, Coldwater Creek, Micheals etc. Yet in the handmade circles, as such, this has been such a tough concept for our readers and advertisers. Please help me answer this. I don't want to give up Indiesmiles Coupon Directory, I think that there is a strong need for it. Buyers want to know who is having sales without having to sift through pages and pages of sellers.

Can this change, it's up to us decide. I feel that it's a great service, but like anything else...you've got to use it!
Sue
Indiesmiles