GCU Community Newsletter – May 12, 2011

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Issue #4

DON’T HAVE A COW, MAN

Welcome to the latest edition of the GCU Community Newsletter.

We had a little excitement yesterday when Christie Black discovered a couple of sites selling cards by some

Hidden Gems: Fathers Day - June 19 - artist Mike Shiell

Greeting Card Universe artists. Copyright infringement or something else? Turns out the site’s owner had purchased the cards for resale. Muchos gracias to Shaun for his quick action!

Lesson learned: if you discover a site selling GCU cards, check with Admin before you take further action. A post on the Forum  about it will usually get Admin’s attention real quick. GCU has zero tolerance towards theft of its artists’ intellectual properties, and will act on our behalf if necessary.

It’s nice this incident turned out benign. Still, the Internet being what it is, I’m not throwing out my cease and desist letter template anytime soon. Part of the price of putting your art out there on the World Wide Web, I’m afraid.

On to other business!

Last week, our guest blogger Tom Rent shared Part One and Part Two videos about his experience with Facebook ads – must see stuff.

An artist interview with Tanya (Moonie) at Moonlake Designs has us all smiling.

Another guest blogger, Peggy Mundell, shared some fabuloustips about photographing pets.

The talented Doreen Erhardt gave us her Dash of Inspiration – Cup of Creativity column, this time about using text on your greeting cards.

The winner of our first Contest: Maryann Nolan, who won a wonderful art inspiration book, and we’ve started a new Contest to tie into our first Blog Carnival.

The Design Spotlight was on Christie Black.

In Nuts & Bolts: GCU How-To and Tips, we learned about keywords and how picking the right ones can lead to more sales (and some tricks on to find good keywords, too).

Hope you have a lovely weekend and a great week! And don’t forget about our Blog Carnival – you could win a $50 AMAZON GIFT CERTIFICATE! I’ll give you the details later in this issue. Until next time, keep learning, laughing, and sharing the love!

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Finding Your Voice

I’ve said it before, and you’ll probably hear me say it again and again – in the blogging world, content is king. Search engines and visitors LOVE original content.

What does that mean? Simply put, to succeed you should write what you know and be yourself. In other words, once you’ve picked what you want to blog about, next find your unique writing “voice.”

Blogging, especially for newcomers, can be intimidating, but having the freedom to write what you want and share what you know with others is a wonderful experience. Adding the ability to promote your art via GCU card links is icing on the cake.

You don’t need to use twelve dollar words and complicated concepts. You just need the ability to write a clear, understandable sentence. And another, and another, and another… and soon you’ll be blogging with the best of them.

No matter HOW you say it, the point of blogging is to get your message across to readers. If you can do that – and you should be able to – then you’ll quickly find a natural sounding way of expressing yourself, and you’ll enjoy writing posts. That enjoyment will shine through, making people WANT to read your blog.

Here are some tips to finding your writing voice:

Daily Devotion:Reading and writing are important. Read something every day. You could be inspired. Write

Hidden Gems: Fathers Day - June 19 - artist Peggy Ferguson

something every day. Writing is like any other exercise: the more you practice, the better you get at it. Don’t throw out your old writing, either. You never know when you might be moved to polish up an older piece and present it to the world.

Be Yourself: Writing a blog is vastly different than writing a formal business letter. Don’t take refuge in stiff formality. Let your personality shine through.

Quit Wasting Time: Don’t spend so many hours editing and re-editing a blog post that you run out of time to actually write. Off-the-cuff remarks have charm. Don’t focus all your energy on perfection. As long as you avoid grammatical and spelling errors that turn your prose into alphabet soup, you’ll be fine.

Don’t Worry: You don’t need to write about earth-shattering topics of importance. If what you have to say moves you, it will move other people, too. You can reminisce about the past, ruminate about the present, voice an opinion, make a statement, share your knowledge. Anything that sparks your passion!

Spread the Love: Once you get your blog started, have a look around the Internet for blogs with topics similar to your own. Get commenting. Invite people to visit you. You can learn more about that in Newletter #3.

Still need a little help? Check out Seven Tips for Making Your Blog Posts More Readable.

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We’re having our very first Blog Carnival! Through May 24, write a blog post (or new Squidoo lens) on the topic: SUMMERTIME, AND THE LIVING IS EASY. Your post could be anything summer related, from childhood or present family memories, to a recipe for a summery lemon cake, to a summer themed painting. Use your imagination! Included in your post must be links to 3 cards at GCU – yours or another artist’s (using the Sell This Card tool earns you commission on new customer sales) that have a summer theme (like a pool party invitation, a beach photograph, a picture of a watermelon slice, a summer holiday like Fourth of July – again, use your imagination). Leave a comment on this blog with the URL of your blog post (or email me directly). On May 24, I’ll post the carnival master list, and I’ll also have a drawing for a $50 AMAZON GIFT CERTIFICATE! And the master list will be shared and posted by all participants, too. How cool is that… or should I say, how hot! 🙂

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Bloggers should have commenting enabled (and Squidoo lenses should

Hidden Gems: Graduation for Nephew - Sandra Rose Designs

have a Guestbook). The best way to interact with visitors (and attract repeat visitors) is through commenting. If you don’t have a way for people to voice their thoughts on your blog, you’re missing out. Not only that, it could make you seem standoffish or uninterested, which is a bad thing.

Need to upload and order a special card in a hurry? During the upload process, check MAKE AVAILABLE IN PRIVATE GALLERY ONLY. Doing this will also enable you to check WAIVE REVIEW. Voila! Instant gratification. Just be sure double-check your spelling and grammar, and don’t forget to enable the Private Gallery module in your storefront.

DID YOU KNOW you can “like” this newsletter or any post on the GCU Community blog, or include them in your social bookmarks? Just click the title of the post, which takes you to the permanent link page. At the bottom of the page you’ll see buttons for social sites like Facebook, Reddit, StumbleUpon, etc. And thanks for sharing!

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Call For Artists
Judy Adamson is looking for traditionally painted “New Baby” cards from GCU artists to promote on her blog! See her Forum post for all the info.

Tom Rent is seeking illustrators and painters, as well as digital artists, to help him in making a new video about guidelines for preparing art for GCU. He’s got questions, you’ve got answers. See his Forum post for details.

Squid-doo-be-doo-be-doo
Elizabeth has a new lens about Graduation Cards and Gifts
Moonie has a new lens about the Delightful Fairy Folk

GCU Community All-Stars!
While I try to be diligent about handing out our Community Stars, a lot of the time I can’t find an artist’s email address. If you’ve had a card chosen as Design of the Day, please get in touch so I can give you your Star. Equally, if you’ve got a new blog or if you’ve made a blog post featuring GCU cards, you’re eligible for a Star, too. Contact me, please.

Folks, don’t forget to include your email address on your GCU storefront, especially if the Contact This Artist module is at the bottom of the page. Potential customers can’t contact you if they don’t see an email addy (and neither can I).

P.S. Everyone who participates in our brand new Blog Carnival will get a special Star, too!

2011 Reminder Time: Since search engines can take up to 6 months to index new content, you should be working on this year’s cards ahead of time for the following holidays:

• September 5 – Labor Day
• September 11 – Grandparents Day
• September 11 – Patriot Day
• September 29 – Rosh Hashana
• October 8 – Yom Kippur
• October 10 – Columbus Day

Don’t Forget: To change the date on your year specific cards such as Graduation and  New Year’s. While GCU tries to contact artists who’ve been a little absent minded, this takes time that could be spent doing other things… like reviewing cards waiting for approval! If you happen to come across another artist’s card, and you notice they haven’t changed the date, give them a friendly heads-up. They’ll appreciate it.

We Need You!: If you’ve got a blog, a website, a Squidoo lens, or a YouTube video promoting your cards at GCU, or a Facebook or a Twitter account that you use, we want to hear from you! To join the roll calls here, leave a comment or send an email to gcucommunity (at) bigdates.com. We update the roll calls daily, so you’ll never be absent for long. Do you have suggestions? Features you’d like to see added? Tips you want to share? Send them in!

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The next issue of the GCU Community Newsletter will be Thursday, May 19