Cloud9 Emporium :: Indie Marketplace

So the economy stinks, but buying handmade is an important way we can all contribute to a new, more earth-friendly economy & help put an end to mass production by supporting artists, buying local, & purchasing items made with love.

Here are 101 reasons to buy handmade from the Poppytalk blog.

After seeing the success of both the Holiday Gift Guide & my Valentine Gift Guide, I’ve decided to have a monthly juried online marketplace called “Cloud9 Emporium” featured on the Cloud9 Blog.

This is just one of the many NEW regular features that Cloud9 will use to showcase & promote emerging indie artists and designers which encourages building the indie community by shopping local & buying handmade.

If you are an independent artist, designer or artisan that sells your wares on Etsy.com you can apply to be part of the Emporium. The 1st marketplace will be called: “A Greener Spring” which will focus on earth-friendly Spring-related goods to fit in with the theme. The “A Greener Spring” Emporium will run from March 13th – April 22nd giving you 6 weeks of promotion.

The deadline to apply is February 27th.

Just e-mail me if you are interested. Put “A Greener Spring Submission” in the subject line. **And please give me the URL link to the Etsy shop you wish to be considered.

There is only a limited amount of space available; so only the top applicants will be selected. The submissions must have a strong design aesthethic, impeccable, compelling photography that fits into the theme, and must be high-quality, earth-friendly handmade wares. The fee for being a part of the Emporium will be $40.00.

The Emporium will have highest, top placement in the sidebar.

The Emporium will be marketed on: other blogs, Etsy, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, TwitterMoms, Ning networks, We Love Etsy, IndiePublic, with my Etsy Street Teams: CAST (Christian Artists), EcoEtsy, & EtsyAustin {just to name a few!}

***I have a VERY large following on these social networking sites which gives me a wonderful arena to introduce new and interesting handmade goods, and increases the exposure & traffic to my blog & the visibility of your shop!

This new opportunity for increased visibility for your shop is a great way to help your shop be seen in the sea that is Etsy….Here are some stats for the blog:

We use Quantcast to verify our traffic figures, obtain audience information and to supply our Cloud9 Media Kit. Our audience is 59% female, and 65% of our members are college graduates or hold advanced degrees. Below is a snapshot of demographic and lifestyle attributes of the Cloud9 Design audience.

Some of the lifestyle attributes the Cloud9 blog readers have are the following:

Sitemeter information for my blog states that the Cloud9 blog has had 48,077 visitors(since I joined sitemeter) with an average of 177 per day and growing!!!

My WordPress stats since the blog started: