Do you recognize the header at the top of today’s blog post? If so, you’ve probably navigated over to my Facebook page at some point in the past. The last time I posted something on my Facebook page was February 25th.
In fact, I haven’t even opened my Facebook account since then. Not even once. Until today, that is, when I went in to take some screenshots — the same screenshots you’ll see in today’s blog post.
I used to be involved in a dozen different doll-collecting and doll sewing groups on Facebook. They’d offer contests where everyone would post their dolls in holiday dioramas or themed outfits. I’d look at other people’s pictures of their dolls and leave comments. They’d look at my pictures and leave comments. And it was really fun, but…
I gave up on Facebook groups when I realized admins were picking and choosing which posts they’d let me share and which ones they wouldn’t. In my book, that’s called censorship.
It didn’t matter that members of these groups were allowed to buy, sell, and advertise their handmade doll clothes. In fact, the group from the screenshot below even has the words “all crafters” in their group name, welcoming all crafters to display whatever creations they have for sale, but they censored three of my posts, including the one below, which gives away my free patterns as well as showing my projects in a diorama with a miniature quilt.
I mean, yeah, I get it. Nobody wants to be in a group that’s spammy. But I only belonged to groups that “allowed selling” doll-related items that were handmade.
Aren’t my patterns handmade? I don’t use expensive software. I just draw the patterns on graph paper with a pencil, scan them, and draw the lines in, using Microsoft Paint. And on top of that, I’m not even selling my patterns. I’m giving them away for free!
Here is what this group (and many other groups that I belonged to listed) on their “about” page, so why was I being censored?
When I voiced this issue, some people (those people who actually appreciated that I was posting free patterns) suggested that I make a Facebook business page where I could post my patterns, so I could just offer links to the patterns instead of posting them in doll lovers’ groups.
I tried that route.
See this post?
That was a post that linked people to my Facebook business page, and do you know what I discovered? People would just take a screenshot of my pattern without ever visiting my own website.
You might think, “Well, what’s the difference? They got the free pattern, good enough!”
But here’s the problem… The PDF for each of these patterns costs me money to store them here on ChellyWood.com, so if people never navigate to my website because they can easily download my patterns from Facebook, I don’t earn any of the money needed to keep my free pattern website going!
When you come to this website and view my ads, I earn a fraction of a cent on each ad you scroll through. When I say a fraction of a cent, it’s a very small fraction.
In fact, as I wrote this blog post, I did the math. Here’s what my ad revenue shows for this very website that you’re viewing right now:
In September of this year, the ad revenue totaled $73.17 after showing you 224,306 ads. That means I earned approximately .0003 cents per ad view.
In October, the ChellyWood.com website earned a total of $59.56 for 238,971 ads.
You might be thinking, “Hey! That’s not bad. You’ve earned a fair chunk of change off of your ads…”
This year was a payment year. I had to pay that almost $500, using the money from my ad revenue, just to keep storing my patterns on my website.
Yes, I’ve gotten 13,285 visits to my site this month, and each visit helps get ad revenue, but how many people are still trying to get my patterns off of my Facebook “business” site instead of coming to my site?
And how much did I earn from my Facebook “business” website? Nada. In fact, they wanted ME to pay THEM to advertise my site!
So while people on Facebook were able to take screenshots of my free patterns without ever visiting my real website, I was losing money on my website.
In fact, it looks like 2024 will be in the RED for me. I paid my $499 fee for storing patterns, back in March, but I haven’t made enough money on ads (including YouTube ads) so far this year, to cover the fees I’ve paid. I mean yeah, it looks like $59.56 in October is more than enough to cover the cost of my $20.79 per month, right?
But think about this… The last time you went into JoAnn’s to buy fabric and snaps, what did the bill cost you? I’ve been buying all my fabric second-hand lately, to try to cut costs!
When I realized how badly my Facebook “business” site was actually hurting my business, I tried to completely delete the ChellyWood.com Facebook “business” page, but of course Facebook likes to offer free stuff that they can earn money from. So there didn’t seem to be a way to get rid of the Facebook “business” page for ChellyWood.com at all.
And now I just have to live with the fact that people can still access my patterns through Facebook without ever visiting this REAL ChellyWood.com website.
It was a BIG mistake to create a Facebook business page, and I wish I could go back in time and just NOT create it ever. Period.
Looking at my Facebook page sort of makes me feel sick to my stomach. I feel like “I got took,” as my grandma used to say. So if I haven’t answered your questions on Facebook, please understand… I’m happy to answer your questions here, but I don’t even want to go look at Facebook anymore. It just makes me ill.
Feel free to leave your own comments on how you use Facebook to share doll pictures, whether or not you belong to Facebook doll groups, and what you really, truly think of Facebook these days. You can rant, like I did, or you can thank Jesus and Mark Zuckerberg for the invention of Facebook as a phenomenal platform, if that’s what you really think.
I won’t censor your comments unless they’re totally off-topic or not family friendly.
If you enjoyed this blog post, and you’d like to see my videos, you might want to navigate over to my YouTube channel, ChellyWood1 to look through my playlists.
If you would like to make a donation to this free doll clothes pattern website, please click here. There’s also a “Donate” button in the main menu.
For anyone who would like to expand their dolls’ wardrobes, you should really check out my “How to Alter Doll Clothes Patterns” course and my “Design Your Own Doll Pants Patterns from Scratch” classes on the Creative Spark online learning platform. Here’s my bio page on their website, where you can learn more.
For any class on Creative Spark, you don’t have to follow a schedule. Just sign up when you’re ready.
It’s a one-time fee for the course, and there’s no specific time limit to finish your course. You can just take your time and learn at the pace that suits you. So go check out my paid courses on Creative Spark, using this link.
As always, feel free to pin, like, or tweet about my free patterns and tutorials.
To read more about my free sewing patterns and tutorials, please visit the “Helpful Tips” page.
Disclaimer/Credit/Affiliate Marketing Link:
*Please note: when you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include Amazon, JoAnn Fabric, Etsy, and the eBay Partner Network. As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. To learn more about how my website uses affiliate marketing, please visit the website’s Privacy Policy page.
Chelly Wood and the ChellyWood.com website are not affiliated with any of the doll or toy companies mentioned in this blog post, but Chelly enjoys designing her doll clothes to fit a variety of dolls. To learn more about the doll companies mentioned in today’s post, please visit the doll or toy company’s website.