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Q: How do you choose the sites to list on Favorite Online Shops ?
A: I have a few criteria for choosing shops to list:
    1.  These are primarily "shops" that are home-based
    2.  Most (but not all) are women- or family-owned
    3.  Web sites have excellent credibility (meaning I would want to shop there)
    4.  Shops offer unique products or services
    5.  Shops offer affiliate programs or free (or low cost)-to-join consultant or rep programs
        Since I don't accept paid advertising on the site, any commissions help offset website hosting fees
        This also serves as a portal where others can find interesting business opportunities
    6.  Shops must have active, responsive owners. If I send an email asking a question and get no reply, I assume that any customer would get the same treatment, so that shop will not be listed.

Q: So how do you help advertise and promote the shops ?
A:  Several ways, both online and offline.  On the site, each shop gets a paragraph listing with a button, each shop gets a full description and banner in the blog, and each shop's banner goes into the banner rotator on the site. A coupons and specials page and blog also lists any monthly specials offered by the shop with the expiration date.

Then I'm a lifetime member on several traffic exchanges. I list the individual pages from my sites so that each shop's button will be seen.

I also enjoy Top Sites as a way of advertising online and I'm considering other exchange-type options.

Offline, I'm a member of MomPack and participate in the fillers program.  I send fillers featuring Favorite Online Shops and some of the individual shops as well.

For social media, I feed my blog posts of shop listings and coupons into Twitter and I have 2 Facebook Fan pages at Favorite Online Shops and Indie Affiliates where I also feed my blog posts.

I also like to buy from these shops and donate prizes to online events and offline local fundraisers. I think nothing helps promote "shops" like having the product in a customer's hands, yet I don't have much time for home parties, so this is a fun way for me to help promote the products.

Q:  How often do you update the site ?
A:  Almost daily. I need to make sure that all the information is current for the shop listings.  If a shop closes, if the page doesn't load correctly, or if a shop is getting bad reviews from customers or other affiliates, it will be deleted. Plus it's alot of fun for me to go hunting for shops that I think you'll enjoy.