Promoting Struggles and Success

We all know that promotion is key to getting your site and products in front of potential buyers.  That in itself is hard work.  There are so many different ways you can promote but finding what works is the hard part.  I know when I started my Etsy shop I thought, "Once I get that first sale the rest will be so easy".  Well, as great as the first sale is we want more and its alot of hard work.  Of course friends and family can be a great help but you want people that are freely interested in and want to buy your products.

Here are some things that I have tried or am in the process of trying:
Facebook and Twitter - I use them to promote my new items, you can let people know what is coming soon, specials just for your followers and just to say "hi" so you can stay connected with your followers.  I tried advertising on Facebook, but it was a total flop for me.
Blog - now I'm no expert on this since I'm just starting out, but I love doing posts like this that allow interaction with my readers.  I have advertised on several blogs and have gotten quite a bit of traffic from them.  I love the blog advertisements that do features on your shop or specific items, you get something special and not just a button on the side of the blog.  Lots of blogs do traffic giveaways also.  Which is a great way to get traffic from people who have never seen your shop.
Pinterest - this is a great, free way to promote.  Don't go crazy and just promote yourself.  Find things that you find useful or beautiful and then throw in some of your items.  I have 1 board that is for my creations and the rest are beautiful items I find on Etsy or Pinterest.  If your on Etsy find a team that pins for one another.
Linkiden - this is brand new to me.  I'm not sure yet how it works and I would love your input if you use it.
Etsy Search Ads - I bought a $5 ad and got 1 sale for $5.  So, I didn't lose any money but it sure would have been nice to make money from it.  Has anyone else tried a search ad?

I'm also trying Craigslist and local classifieds.  Nothing to report there yet, as I just posted them today.

Vista Print has many free business promotional tools.  I got a $75 Google Adwords coupon from Vista Print that I was very happy to find. I also found on Vista Print that you can design postcards, fill out your target market and have them mail them out to potential customers for a reasonable price.  This is something I would like to try out.  Have any of you done anything similar?

I read several months ago that it is imperative that you have your own website if you sell on Etsy or Artfire.  The main reason for this:  If you buy outside advertising you are buying for everyone selling on your site.  Its too easy for someone who finds your ad to leave your shop to go see what others may be offering.  If you have your own site your not helping others profit off of your paid advertisement.  Sure, they can move onto other sites but at least they only see you when they click on your advertisement.  So, I thought I would give it a try.  I went with an indiemade site.  It was super easy to set up and it automatically submits your site to Google and Bing.

I would love your feedback!!  Do you have something that worked for you that you'd like to share?  Have you had great success by just word of mouth and business cards or shows?  Would love to know!