Keeping your eye on the competition is needed sometimes. A little spy work or Neighborhood watch will allow you to keep your eye on the craft website area and other craft business.
What should you look for while 'looking around'?
- colors- what is the trend? popular?
- Layout of craft website. how many sidebars? big header pictures?
- Simple sides? Lots of words?
- Full posts or articles on the front page?
- What kind of posts get the most comments?
Usually us crafty people are always trying new things. We are constantly tweeking and switching things up. Ok, maybe that is just me. 
My blog and websites are changed weekly. It is addicting and sometimes I have to yell at myself to stop! Stop the madness!
Keeping up with what is going on around you is a bit important. You don't want to end up looking like the sore thumb. You know the one still wearing big glasses when everyone else is wearing tiny long ones. Or the one with a big blinky banner that runs across your screen scaring the whits out of your readers. hee hee that's a good one. You need to watch the other craft websites and see what is new. You need to make sure that what you are doing and saying and showing will reflect what others are interested in. This will help develop your craft blog and your readership too.
Keeping up is really a pretty simple thing to do too—- follow others blogs!! I know, that is a tough one.
And, if you like what they have— use it as a springboard for yours! Take their ideas and run with them.
Now, I am not promoting copying, I am promoting spring-boarding. This is when you use that idea and make it your own. Change a few things…..give a different way of using it, Seriously there is nothing new out there– it is new when we make it our own.
You never know too—-these craft websites that you are watching {to better learn your niche} might become your favorite! They might even be perfect to do some Joint Venturing with {more on that later}. Keep an open mind when you are checking others out.
Are you a neighbor watcher? Share with us some of your secrets–
