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Awww, bless him. I wonder what he's dreaming about... :love:
Chasing kittens 
Awwwwww
Glad you liked it, although I probably have about 50 zillion extra steps in there than the good guys It really was just how I do it rather than how anyone else had to, but it was to show my sewing friends what was involved in making one, as, coincidentally, it was being made for another sewing friend, and a number of them had met some of my guys that I'd taken to an event last summer.
Oh, sorry, I should also add that Google Analytics is a great way to monitor your traffic. My website is currently woefully out of date, and I really need to spend some time this easter overhauling what's on there, but even though I've not been promoting anything on it for about a year, I still get traffic, and 80% of my visitors right now are new, that have never visited before. A lot of blog platforms have this kind of analysis built in as well, for instance I can tell you that last month I had 12,107 pageviews on my blog (which slightly blows my mind btw!) and it shows me where my traffic comes from (you should check out what search terms bring people to your site some time, it's hysterical!)
Sorry, I should clarify, that any time you spend on Facebook/your blog interacting with friends who may be customers, even if it isn't specifically saying 'buy my bear', is still instilling in their mind that you exist, indirect marketing if you will. People honestly do like to feel that they have an 'in' with people they admire, so even if you're sharing a joke, or describing a fair that you attended, then you're still popping up on their feed. I will admit that I stopped using my Facebook account because my feed was totally overwhelming me, and I didn't have the estimated 3-4 hours to go through the latest day's worth of news from my 'friends' and actually have time to make stuff. I know there are settings now that allow you to filter your feed down, but even the thought of going in and setting those is daunting me! That aside though, I do know that there are many, many people that are on there for large chunks of the day, who really are reading it all, and possibly sharing on with others.
Karen, I understand what you're saying about people's work being different, but I think you have to remember that in any craft business you have 2 potential sets of customers - the 1st set are seasoned collectors, they know what they want, the looks they like and so on, but the 2nd set are kind of coming in on spec, they've maybe never collected/purchased the kind of art that you're selling before, and are therefore much more open to suggestion. Recently I had a customer ask if I could make her a custom quilt. Now while I could do that, I was already making her a large custom bear, and I really didn't have the time to take on another commission, plus, it's far more expensive to buy fabrics and make a quilt up here than it is in America due to insane price mark ups on the exported fabrics and/or the cost of shipping + import taxes if you buy direct. I showed her some of my work, and then I showed her work of some American friends that had quilts for sale, and she happily toddled off, easily distracted by what they were offering. She'd never bought a quilt before, and knew nothing more, really than the vague concept of a nice bed covering, and she never came back to ask me again for a quilt. Now I gave her those links (I don't link to them from my blog), but if someone comes into your site and falls down a rabbit hole of links off to other sites you may find that they've completely forgotten what they thought they wanted on your site in the first place. Adding links to places like this or the Guild are good signs that you interact with other makers, and people may be inclined to follow through and check them out, but it's far less direct at rerouting your customers.
I think a bunch of us did an experiment with selling bears on Etsy a couple of years ago, and didn't really sell on there. It's an enormous marketplace, but not somewhere that most people seem to go to intending to spend on big ticket items. The shops that do best on there are supply shops, and ones selling low value items - looking at all the recently uploaded items on the front page right now, 80% of them are under £30, and 65% are under £20. The items that are more expensive than that are a few items jewellery (most jewellery fell into the under £30 section) and a couple of items of clothing (a basque and very fancy frock) and even then, only 2 things are over £100. It's the same for page after page. Now I don't know how much you intend to sell your bears for, but I'd really hope it was for rather more than £20 or even £30. Artists with very good online followings may be able to sell high end items on etsy, but I follow a number of people with literally thousands of blog followers, that still can't shift quilts and the like easily because they're higher ticket items.
Whatever you choose, be prepared to spend a lot of time marketing yourself. I have a full time job, and I realised that I just didn't have the time to devote to working, making bears and selling them - I've seen some of the bigger artists stating that they spend at least a day a week on doing things to market themselves, whether on Facebook, blogs, Bearpile and more. If you want people to visit your blog/website/Facebook page where there is social interaction then you will need to invest a lot of time visiting those belonging to other people, and interacting with them, they won't just come to you magically, and people like to feel they're building up a rapport. To be honest as far as giveaways go (and I've been involved in a lot of large ones in the sewing world) you need a certain number of people following you to start with (although you can make advertising your button on their blog worthy of another entry, be aware that not many will want to do that), otherwise you're reaching too small an audience for it to be worth your while, also, don't make the deadline too long, people forget in a matter of days, and they won't keep coming back for weeks and months to find out if they've won. You may also find that even if you make following your blog/Facebook page a condition of a giveaway entry, you will probably lose a bunch of them again after the giveaway has ended, and a whole bunch more will never interact with you unless you're giving away something else for free.
I think Jenny's right about the links too - link to your Bearpile from you blog, for example, or your Facebook page, but links to your competition are, well, links to other places people can spend their money, and however much they may be your best friend, you still don't particularly want all of your potential buyers shopping there!
Most of my blog these days is devoted to other kinds of sewing, but I did a series last year called Anatomy Of A Bear where I broke down every step I go through in making a bear, you can find it here:
Pile on top!
'I can hear the sea!'
*mwah*
Well that's a whole new kind of Chinese takeaway...
Oh Peter, I'm sure his mummy would agree, you could come to lunch, then BE lunch 
Nom nom nom nom nom nom nom...
Every bunny needs some bunny to love...
'What's all this 'ere?'
Aww, baby fur ball
You have a little something on your nose there...
Are you my mummy?
Wheeeee!
Wheeeeeeee
I was just about to say what Karen said!
I'm thinking the little one at the bottom is eyeing up her chance to attack her unsuspecting neighbour 
Congrats everyone 
You can get daylight lamps in Hobbycraft - you say you're in Devon, there's one in Newton Abbot if that helps? Also, most UK craft mags carry discount coupons for them if you have any of them to hand.
