Design Contest: I Heart You – TIME TO VOTE!
Here are the entries in our latest Design Contest: I Heart You. You can click on each image to get a larger view. Below, you’ll find a poll allowing you to vote for your favorite.
THE RULES
Anyone may vote. You may cast ONE vote only for your favorite card from the greeting card designs below. Voting will take place from January 10, 2012 – January 17, 2012. Results will be posted on January 18, 2012. The artist who receives the most votes will win a $15 Amazon.com gift certificate or 10 free card credits. Feel free to spread the word on your blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc – EVERY VOTE COUNTS. Good luck!
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NEWS: GCU Badges Campaign
Today, Greeting Card Universe has launched an exciting new marketing campaign.
I’m sure most of you have received an email with the details (if not, get in touch with me, and I’ll send you a copy).
I’ve been asked to organize the campaign, so if you have any questions, feel free to send me an email via the Contact Corrie link you see on the top right side of this page.
Why should you participate in this campaign? Because spreading the word about Greeting Card Universe can only benefit you in the end. The more shoppers come to GCU, the more cards are sold, the more chances some of those cards will be yours! And the more chances those new shoppers will become frequent buyers, too. It’s a win-win!
So I hope to see many of you getting on board the GCU Badges Campaign.
P.S. – I hear the campaign will be expanding in the near future; as soon as I have any details, I’ll let you know!
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Dash of Inspiration – Spruce Up Your Store for 2012
A Dash of Inspiration, A Cup of Creativity by Doreen
Spruce Up Your Store for 2012
I always find January a good time to make sure my store and products are in tip-top shape to support another year of growth in sales. I thought I’d pass along some ideas to inspire all of you to do the same and even set some goals for the New Year!
1) If you want growth in sales, your store (websites) must remain ‘active’ according to search engine crawlers. This means that websites (stores) which are not updated at least weekly will most likely be ignored by these crawlers and therefore remain or fall to the ‘bottom’ of the rankings. So, if you wish to see growth in your design business don’t abandon your stores for weeks at a time.
2) Search engines and many POD sites are doing their best to ‘crack down’ on keywords ‘tag spam’. Sometimes this means that a product will be bumped to the bottom in rankings, some places will remove the product and some will ultimately ban the user. So, another way to keep your stores active is to spend a few minutes every day going over old products and refining those keywords, removing any which are not applicable. Keywords should describe:
- The Subject: cat, flower, etc.
- Occasion/Theme: retro, funny, birthday, miss you
- Primary Colors/Patterns: paisley, blue, striped
- Design Creation: photography, illustration, watercolor
- Who is the Recipient: sister, 5-year-old, boss
In case you missed it: Keywords – Nuts & Bolts
3) Use your descriptions wisely! This area is a huge factor in search parameters outside of GCU. Remember that search engines want good, solid and unique content. The Artist’s Notes is the place to do this. Create a well constructed paragraph which will help customers to identify with the card as well help search engines to pick up descriptive words and phrases to send traffic your way.
In case you missed it: Artist’s Notes and Product Description – Nuts & Bolts
4) Keep your storefront current. Don’t keep Christmas cards in your Featured Cards and/or Product Gallery front pages after Christmas has passed. It is true that most card sales come from the GCU marketplace rather than your storefront, however at some point you will be drawing returning customers and new customers from all the marketing you are doing outside of GCU (shame on you if you aren’t), so keep a current storefront.
5) Now is the time to change those 2011 cards to 2012 (except for those wonderful Chinese New year cards and the like). Swap your graduation, Christmas and other categories out now and you won’t lose sales later plus you will be making both your storefront and the GCU marketplace look up-to-date and professional!
6) Make your storefront professional in it’s appearance! Online marketing research shows that websites which are clean, easy to read, easy on the eyes with professional looking banners/logos hold the attention of potential buyers 10x’s longer than sites which lack these features.
- The store banner should be designed specifically for the size to fit the top of your storefront. It should have the name of your art business and/or your name, be legible and easy to read.
- Your store colors should not be bright or hard on the eyes. Don’t use lots of different colors, though various light shade differences can be professional. Keep in mind that the color in which your choose to set you cards on will cause a slight color cast onto those cards. This is the nature of how our eyes work. Choose wisely.
- Keep in mind that many shoppers stop in while at work or while the family is still sleeping. It has been proven that sites with auto-play music and lots of noisy widgets are an immediate turn-off to customers . . . so choose wisely.
In case you missed it: Storefront Banner – Nuts & Bolts
Here’s to keeping those storefronts professional and your cards in the forefront of those search engines! Have a prosperous 2012!
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Critique Clinic – January 6-8, 2012
How does it work? For three days a week (Friday-Sunday midnight), I will open the clinic to any artist who wants an honest peer review and critique of a card which gets plenty of clicks but no sales, so something’s probably not quite right, or you’ve got a new design you want to test drive, or you’re unsure about the marketability of a card. Or perhaps you’re a newbie who isn’t sure if a recently submitted card is up to a marketable standard. Anyone is welcome to participate. In fact, I encourage everyone to at least look at the cards in question and read the critique comments – you may learn something. The purpose of the clinic is to help artists improve the commercial appeal and marketability of their cards.
THE RULES
- ONE card per artist only.
- Card must be for sale at Greeting Card Universe.
- We will take an unlimited number of artists, including those who have submitted recently, HOWEVER I reserve the right to close a clinic for the day if the submissions become overwhelming. If the clinic has been closed, and you submit a card, your comment will be deleted.
- To submit a card for critique, post a link to the card at GCU in the comments section of this clinic post.
- Any artist is free to comment and/or give a critique of a submitted card. HOWEVER, post-and-run comments like “great card” or “you suck” will not be tolerated, nor will abuse. Criticism should be constructive, not destructive. Play nice or you will be banned.
- I also won’t tolerate temper tantrums if you decide your “artistic integrity” is being stepped on because you asked for a critique, and someone told you the photo you’re using isn’t in focus. If you can’t take honest criticism, don’t submit. Once gets you a warning; twice and you’re banned from submitting in the future.
- Artists who critique may do so by giving their opinion, posting an example of another card, or pointing the submitter to a video, on-line article, or other helpful suggestion.
- Don’t forget that artists who are giving you tips and helpful advice are volunteering their time and trouble. Be nice. A link back to their store on your website or blog is appreciated (but not mandatory).
- You are free not to take any advice offered. There’s no guarantee any card will be a bestseller, so don’t come into the clinic with unrealistic expectations.
- Rules may change as we go along and we see how things turn out, okay?
So without any further ado, I declare this week’s Critique Clinic open!
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Design Spotlight: Annie Lim Cheng En
Today’s Design Spotlight falls on Annie Lim Cheng En of Annielim Designs, who has won the Design of the Day award a few times. She has a very appealing art style. Thanks for participating, Annie!
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My name is Annie Lim Cheng En, and I am a Christian living in a small country – Malaysia in Asia. Well, this is a mixed culture with Malay, India and Chinese influences, and is the inspiration and source for my designs.Share this:
Nuts and Bolts: Back of Card Credits
Put Your “Pro” Face On: Back of Card Credits
It’s time to talk about the Back of Card Credits (BOC). That’s the information printed on the back of every one of your Greeting Card Universe cards – your logo + your store’s URL.
I don’t know about you, but when I pull a greeting card out of the rack at a grocery store, I look at the card’s front, inside, and the back as well. So do shoppers. The BOC is the second face of your store, something that represents you as an artist, a greeting card designer and a business person whenever a shopper buys your card and sends it to someone.
Just as you want your storefront to be professional looking, you want your BOC to be as professional as possible. It’s your brand, it helps sell you to customers, and it says a lot about you as a business. A logo can make or break a business, which is why companies pay thousands of dollars to design firms to come up with consumer-attracting logos.
You only have one chance to make a good first impression. When the recipient of a card flips it over to look at the back and find out where it came from, no matter how nice your front of card design is, a BOC that looks amateurish, ugly, sloppy, or just plain bad will not draw shoppers to visit your store.
And in case you weren’t aware, in the beginning GCU actually had cards returned by shoppers because the BOCs weren’t well done – hence the option for shoppers to choose a “simplified” BOC instead – meaning store URL only, no logo.
So what goes into making a good logo? Think about the company logos you see every day, the logos of companies you trust to give you a great product experience in exchange for your money.
The basic rules of logo design are:
Follow the Fundamentals – The logo must follow the basic principles of design – form, clarity, consistency, space and color. This means your logo must have aesthetic appeal, the same as the greeting cards you design, and be designed to attract shoppers of all types. No personal photos. The logo should not appear distorted or squished. Every element of your logo, including any fonts you use, must be visible and above all, recognizable or readable at a small size. For GCU, a 200×200 pixel square is the ideal size for BOC.
Form Follows Function – Keep it simple. You logo must be instantly recognizable and usable in any context, at any size, on any background (from plain to patterned, any color) – whether on the back of a greeting card, in a store banner, on a T-shirt, on a matchbook cover or a bumper sticker. The fussier and more intricate your design, the further you’re getting away from a functional logo. Do not under any circumstances use shadow, 3D effects, texture effects, embossing, beveling, glare, or gradients. Simple is best.
For Consistency: Use your logo on every product you produce, on every on-line store you maintain, on your business cards, brochures, and everywhere else. Branding is important to create consumer awareness. The more shoppers see you out there, the more they’ll want to find out more about you.
Find Your Face – Choose an image for your logo that represents something about you as an artist, or some aspect of your business. For example, my CorrieWeb logo is an illustration – the Earth encircled by different animals because a lot of my art has animals in it, and our tag line is “The Wonderful World of Corrie Kuipers.” Your logo should be unique, and have a classic, timeless quality that will not become dated in two years. And don’t be a copycat. It’s a fact that copycat logos will fail. Don’t believe me? Just ask Pepsi. Their old logo was very similar to the one used by Coca-Cola. It wasn’t until Pepsi completely redesigned their logo to be unique that they saw a big increase in sales.
Bottom line: if your logo doesn’t have the professional look, how can shoppers take you seriously?
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Design Contest: I Heart You
Welcome to 2012 – it’s a brand new year! Yay!
Let’s get things rolling with Design Contest: I Heart You. As you can probably tell, we’re asking for submissions of your very best Valentine’s Day card. Here are the rules:
- One submission per artist only
- Submitted card MUST be a Valentine’s Day greeting card with at least one HEART included in the design, and must be available at Greeting Card Universe
- To enter, leave the URL or PID# of the card in the comments of this post. Comments left on other posts, or entries sent to me by email, will not be included in the contest
- Deadline for submissions is January 9, 2012. Cards submitted after January 9th will not be considered for the contest
- Voting will commence on January 10, 2012 and will continue until January 17, 2012. The artist who receives the most votes will win. On January 18th, I will announce the winner. Anyone may vote, so I urge all artists who enter the contest to promote their designs via their websites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc
- Winner will receive their choice of a $15 Amazon.com gift certificate OR 10 free card credits
- Failure to abide by the rules will result in disqualification
Are we ready? Let’s get the love on!
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Happy 2012!
The New Year is almost here. 2011 passes, and 2012 begins – a new year with new opportunities, new chances, new designs, new colors, new fonts, new successes! I wish my fellow artists much prosperity, joy, happiness and peace in the coming year, and raise a glass of champagne to you all!
We’re out for the holiday, but we’ll be back on January 3rd with a new Design Contest for you to enjoy.
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Recommended Font
Today, I’m recommended a really cute, whimsical font that is completely suitable for greeting cards, and will make a wonderful addition to your font collection which I’m sure you’ll use again and again. Best of all, it’s on sale!
Dinzy Minzy is one of MyFonts Hot New Fonts – and I agree that it’s hot. You can see a sample above. Dinzy Minzy is going to become one of my “go to” fonts in the future.
Normally, Dinzy Minzy costs $20. However, right now the creator has a doozy of sale going on through January 13. You can get this font with license for just $2. TWO DOLLARS! The Desktop license allows you to use the font on greeting cards, T-shirts, etc.
Here’s what you do. Go to Dinzy Minzy on MyFonts.
If you’ve already got an account at MyFonts, you’re okay. If not, you will need to sign up to create a free account, but you can do that later, no problem.
Put the font in your shopping cart.
You want to choose the Desktop license.
Enter the promotion code: cheaper
Proceed to checkout. You can pay by major credit cards or PayPal. I went through the whole process using PayPal payment, and it went through smoothly. Once your order is complete, you can download the zip file.
If you’re in the market for a really sweet font with informal applications (perfect for birth announcements or Mother’s Day, for example, but I wouldn’t use it on funeral invitations), this is it.
Don’t wait too long to take advantage of the sale.
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Blast From the Past: Blogging Tips to Find Your Voice
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 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 writings, 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, and encourage them to leave comments, too.
GCU Community 