Whoo-hoo! Today’s guest blog is from Pamela Jorgensen at PamJArts, and is our first report from the National Stationery Show 2011 in New York City (May 15-18). Sounds fascinating…wish I could go next year!
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This week I put aside my ‘taxi-mom’ hat and headed out of the ‘burbs’ on a little adventure to the National Stationery Show in New York City. At one time in my life it would not have been much of an adventure. Let’s just say, it’s been a while since I was in the actual hustle and bustle of commerce, instead of my quiet suburban life and the virtual world of my online enterprises!
The National Stationery Show is huge, it boasts 900 exhibitors and features 10,000 product lines, gift wrap and ribbons, party supplies and tableware, writing instruments, calendars, bridal accessories, to mention just a few examples, and of course, the one thing near and dear to our hearts … Greeting cards. Each exhibitor has a booth and is there to showcase their products, hoping to draw in potential retail buyers from all over the world.
Those big name Greeting card companies were there (you know who they are), along with our very own GCU artist Sandra Rose of Sandra Rose Designs. It was great fun to meet with Sandra in person and share our GCU experiences and artistic interests. She is very inspiring in every sense of the word, both for her business sense and her accomplishments. It was really a pleasure.
I also had the chance to meet with our fearless leaders, Nasser and Mindy who had been working tirelessly on our behalf. They are a great team, and passionate about GCU and it’s artist community. I am confident in their hands this company will continue to grow its presence in the industry. I feel as artists this is a great opportunity for us to grow too, in striving to produce quality cards that rival the best in the business and help propel GCU into the big leagues.
I did not get to walk the entire show, but my impression was a trend toward colorful upbeat cards and humor. Bright cheerful designs, whimsical illustrations, scrapbooking look, and f-u-n-n-y cards all geared toward providing a smile to someone’s day in these often challenging times.
How was my day? As my kids put it ‘COOL’!
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Thanks, Pamela! It’s great to hear a first hand account of the show.
I expect a report from Mindy (that’s her with Pam in the pic above) next week, and I’m also hoping to get with Sandra to find out her impressions of NSS 2011. Stay tuned for more!
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Today’s guest blog come from the ever talented (and amazingly busy) Doreen Erhardt, who very kindly tell us about the GCU Widget and why it’s an effortless way to make a profit!
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Widget Power
As GCU artists we have a powerful promotion tool called a Widget which we can place on all our other sites that support this type of Java/Flash script (most do these days). These provide a professional showcase of your store while earning some nice commission bucks from new customer referrals.
HOW TO:
Log in to your Admin Page and the Widget creation will on your Admin Page under Community & Resources.
- Choose your widget based on where it will be used, so be sure your choice will fit the dimensions of your location.
- Choose which cards you show off by choosing Random, Featured, Category, Keywords or Favorites. Be sure to SAVE to view what you chose.
- Enter a Header Title for your Widget to draw in traffic.
- Customize the color of your widget, SAVE to view your changes. Color options are only available for Style 2.
- Grab the HTML, copy and paste it into your blogs or website.
TIPS:
- You can change what your widget shows anytime you want and the widgets on all your sites should automatically update. Check this periodically; due to the complexity of coding they have corruption issues occasionally in which case all you need to do is delete and replace the code.
- Though you can have multiple widgets and various styles on your sites, the cards you choose will be the same everywhere you have a widget. In other words; my store widget is currently set up for graduation cards and I can place that widget or any combination of the three styles of widgets throughout all my sites…BUT, they will ALL reflect the graduation cards.
- On my PAWSitively PETrageous site I want to show only pet related cards, so I have created a Member Account using a different email address. I can now go to the Member’s Corner and choose the Sell Greeting Cards link to set up a new widget to show only Pet Related Cards chosen by Category, keywords or store.
I’ve had success using these widgets and place them everywhere I have my work. All your websites should have a list of where you can be found if you really want to promote your work. These widgets are a tidy and professional way to accomplish that. Though I have not tried to figure out how many of my own sales came from these Widgets or my Sell This Card links, I can tell you that I’ve sold nearly 400 of YOUR cards since January 2010 through these tools. Though you will receive email notification that states Sale Made through Widget, to view what cards sold, you need to go to your Reports & Analysis, then Earnings Report. Under the list of Payment History you will see the details of your Earnings History. This is the only place I have found that gives the specifics of which cards sold through your widget or Sell This Card Link.
The way this works is that each NEW customer you bring to GCU through your widget or Sell This Card link, you’ll receive .50-cents per card they buy up to a $25.00 maximum for that order. I’ve had three sales that reached the maximum payout. So in addition to my own card sales at GCU, I’ve brought in new customers with the reward of additional referral income nearly $200.00 over the past 18-months…now I ask you; why wouldn’t you want to use the widgets every place you can?
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GCU Community Newsletter – May 19, 2011
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Issue #5
NATURE IS BLOWING HOT AND COLD
Welcome to the latest edition of the GCU Community Newsletter.
In my copious spare time (ha ha ha :-)), I’ve decided to start a new Zazzle store called Every Little Thing just for some of my new greeting card designs for cancer patients. It’s an experiment, I admit. However, focusing on a group of related cards may attract shoppers who don’t want to wade through unrelated products when they only want a greeting card. I’ve added the same designs to GCU, too. Wonder who’ll be first in sales? Time will tell!
Hidden Gems: Memorial Day - May 30 - artist William Martin
Last week, our Artist Interviews with Doreen Erhardt and Tom Rent gave us a window on some very extraordinary artists (and business people). In addition, Doreen’s regular column, A Dash of Inspiration – A Cup of Creativity gave us inspiration for digital painting. In our Promotion in Motion feature, we talked about using Squidoo as a vehicle for promoting your GCU greeting cards. And finally, our Design Spotlight was on Pattiann Malynn.
Keep up the good work, and don’t forget to pass the love around!
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Bad Habits to Avoid
When you’re running a blog, it’s easy to fall into bad habits that might turn readers off, or cause you trouble either now or down the line. It’s much better to prevent yourself from developing these habits at all, but if you’ve already picked up one or two, then knowing you may have a problem is the first step towards solving it. For both beginning and experienced bloggers, here are some behaviors to avoid.
Don’t Ignore Comments: Did you know that only one in ten readers will actually leave a comment on your blog post? If someone takes the time to give you a thoughtful comment, it’s not only polite to reply, it’s good sense. Cultivate loyalty with your readers by engaging with them. You don’t have to reply to every single comment—especially the “me, too” kind, or if a troll tries to tempt you with tasty bait—but you should never ignore a question, request for an opinion, or a compliment. A little “thanks” goes a long way.
Don’t Make Yourself Crazy: I know authors listed on Amazon who obsessively check their book ranking every hour of every day. Don’t be that way with your blog stats or comments. Yes, we all love comments on our posts, and we all love visitors, too—they make you feel like you’ve succeeded. But don’t obsess. You’ll only fret yourself into a state, as well as waste time that could be spent more productively like, oh, I don’t know, making card designs. There’s no need to check stats or comments more than once or twice a day.
Don’t Be a Copy Cat:Unless you have permission from the author, you must never – never, never, NEVER – copy
Hidden Gems: Memorial Day - May 30 - Tanya and Craig Amberson
someone else’s post or web site content. Never! Remember, cut and paste is not your friend. Not only is it unethical, but search engines won’t give you any love for plagiarizing, either. Readers will be more attracted to a blog that gives them YOUR opinion, YOUR story, YOUR thoughts in YOUR unique voice. Short quotes are okay as long as you credit the source. Be original. Be unique. Don’t be a copy cat!
Don’t Run Out of Steam: Many bloggers start off with a bang. They’ll enthusiastically make post after post, then after a short while the enthusiasm wanes. The posts come further and further apart, then peter out altogether. Readership falls off in droves. Ennui sets in. You start to wear a beret and write slam poetry…nah, that probably won’t happen, but you DO need to make regular posts on your blog. Decide when’s a good time for you. You don’t have to stick to a rigid schedule unless that’s the way you roll. Just pick a time—like once a week—and write something. You don’t have to spend hours doing it. Let your spirit flow.
Don’t Forget to Promote Yourself: Just about any blog post can include links to your store or greeting cards at GCU. If you’re promoting other POD sites and not GCU, you’re missing out on an opportunity. Why not take advantage? Using the GCU widget is great. However, it’s been my experience that specific cards promoted on relevant posts tends to attract interest, too. People like recommendations.
Now’s the time to shed any bad habits you may have picked up. You’ll be a better blogger, and you’ll find your posts get more attention.
We’re having a blog carnival! You could win a $50 gift certificate from Amazon! I’m so excited, my exclamation points are showing! Join us and have some fun! Just make a new post on your blog with the theme SUMMERTIME, AND THE LIVING IS EASY, and include 3 links to GCU cards (or make a new Squidoo lens with the same rules). On May 24th, I’ll have a drawing. The master list of posts will be shared by all participants, so this is an excellent opportunity to get backlinks to your blog! Send me your link – you’ve got 5 days left.
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Forum Stars: Every artist who posts on the GCU Forum has stars after their name. What do they mean? How do you get them? You earn Forum stars by making posts. Here’s how it breaks down:
Gold Member (5 stars): 500 posts
Senior Member (4 stars): 250 posts
Full Member (3 stars): 100 posts
Junior Member (2 stars): 50 posts
GCU Newbies: (1 star): 1 post
Double Posts:Speaking of the Forum, quite often when you try to post, you’ll be timed out and get a “proxy error.”
Hidden Gems: Fathers Day - June 19 - artist Tom Rent
Don’t fret. Chances are your post has been made. Just return to the main Forum page, click on the topic you were posting in, and you should see your post there. Always check before you re-post to avoid double posting.
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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Blog Carnival I
SUMMERTIME, AND THE LIVING IS EASY – Our first blog carnival is going great! We’re halfway through, and already we’ve had 10 entries. If you haven’t done it yet, there’s still time. Just write a post on a summer topic—anything summery will do—and include links to 3 summer-themed GCU cards. Or mkae a Squidoo lens on the theme. That’s it! All participants will share the master list on their blogs, and everyone will receive a special GCU Community star, too!
Big Apple Visitors, We Need You!
If you attended the New York Stationary Show this year, please get in touch. We want to hear your story. We want pictures. We want your YouTube video. We want it all! Your peeps are waiting with bated breath to hear what happened. Don’t leave them in the dark. Send me an email and we’ll work out a guest blog, ‘k? Otherwise, fugeddaboutit!
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 11 – Grandparents Day
- September 11 – Patriot Day
- September 29 – Rosh Hashana
- October 8 – Yom Kippur
- October 10 – Columbus Day
- October 10 – Thanksgiving (Canada)
- October 13 – Sukkot
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 26
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Salon of Art Newsletter May/June
Thought I’d let you know Doreen Erhardt’s Salon of Art Newsletter May/June has been published. Go c heck it out. Seriously. Go. Why are you still here? This is an excellent example of promotion and we can all learn a lot from her. So get over there right now. And she’s featured some new as well as some established GCU artists’ cards. Yay!
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Promotion in Motion: Squidoo
Squidoo-You
We hear a lot about Squidoo around here, and I’m sure many of you have questions like, “What’s a lens?” or “What does calamari have to do with promoting myself?” 🙂 Well, fret not, I’m here to explain and give you a little tour of big, beautiful Squidoo.
Squidoo is a community site that allows users (called lensmasters) to build free individual websites (called lenses) using pre-set modules. No HTML knowledge is required, although in my experience, it pays to be at least a little savvy, like how to make links.
You can make money building lenses. Some folks have built entire careers out of Squidoo, and have thousands of lenses under their belts, earning enough royalties to live on. However, we’re not talking about those exalted (or should it be obsessed) people. We’re here to tell you how making Squidoo lenses can help drive traffic to whatever you’re promoting – such as a specific card collection at GCU.
First, think of your Squidoo lens like a blog post. It has to be interesting or informative or both – it can’t be just about “buy my cards, aren’t they cute, squee!” Pick a topic and build a lens around it. Then integrate your greeting cards into the lens, just like you would in a blog post. You can put up to 9 links back to GCU in a lens, which allows plenty of room for promotion without seeming spammy.
Let’s suppose you want to promote BBQ invitation greeting cards. You could write a lens with your own barbeque recipes in it. Include a couple of pictures of the BBQ fixin’s, or your family enjoying a barbeque in the backyard. Add an Amazon.com module and choose some BBQ cookbooks (you make commission on these sales, you know). Add a Zazzle module of BBQ aprons (again, you earn commission on sales). Add 9 links to your GCU invitation cards by using the Sell This Card tool (I explained how to do this in a previous post, How to Link Your GCU Cards in a Squidoo Lens). Publish and you’re done!
There are many modules you can add to enhance your lens and entice visitors including polls, etc. Some modules earn royalties. Some don’t, but are popular. Make your choice according to what fits your lens. And don’t forget, it’s very easy to edit an existing Squidoo lens.
The real trick here is to offer visitors fresh content that has value apart from your greeting cards. An excellent example is Doreen’s lens: Meet Ossa, a Dog with a Lot to Say.
My own lenses earn me a little pocket money each month – not enough to shout about, but it buys me a few books. My most popular lens drives visitors to GCU, and yes, I do make sales of those greeting cards I’m promoting. It does work, but it’ll take imagination, some elbow grease, and determination to make your lens project a success. People want to know how the top sellers at GCU got that way…well, this is how. Promotion is hard work, but the rewards can be great.
Of course, there are HTML tricks that you can use to spruce up your lens, but I’ll save that for another time. I also want to talk about promoting your Squidoo lens (and by extension, your greeting cards). So stay tuned, folks – there’s plenty more to come!
Lensmasters: how is Squidoo working for you? Share your success stories with us!
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Artist Interview: Tom Rent
This week, since he’s such a cool and helpful guy, we’re interviewing artist Tom Rent at Comical Captions, who has been a member of Greeting Card Universe since February 2008.
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Tom, what drew you to join GCU?
I made a few self-published Comical Caption books in 2007 that were hard to sell, so I was looking for another way to market my humor and thought I’d try greeting cards. It has worked out well.
Tell us who you are, where you are, and what you do.
I live in Minnesota USA. I’m an electrical engineer, freelance technical writer, and website designer. I run a small company called Fearless Thinkers, Inc.
What’s your favorite greeting card on GCU that you’ve created?
This is not a very good seller, and it is also not very attractive, but it was one of my original cards and the type I like to create. I like to take a regular old photo with a person in it and wrap a nutty but plausible 1-line story around it that just seems to bring a laugh no matter what. Humans are fun.
Where else can we find you on-line?
What would people be surprised to learn about you?
I was a chief engineer at a large defense company for 25 years. Odd to emigrate from that to being a greeting card tycoon.
How did you become an artist?
I am not really an artist in the traditional sense, but I have learned enough to do some rather fancy cards using programs like Photoshop incorporating my old photographs. I’ve learned a lot from other GCU artists as well. My knack is really in the humor writing area.
What or who inspires you?
Life! … I see humor in just about everything. I can’t shut it off! I need help!
What motivates you to design greeting cards?
It is entertaining to create these Comical captioned cards, and the fun continues when I see others enjoying them.
What’s the most indispensable item you use to create your work?
I have a huge photo, negative, and slide collection, all in protective sleeves and smartly organized. It takes a lot of work but it sure has paid off.
What tools do you use to create your work?
I’m a Corel Paint Shop Pro X2 fanatic!
What do you do to promote your greeting cards on GCU?
I find posting my sales on my Facebook page via the SHARE link to work well to keep my vast friends network (kidding) laughing and buying.
Is there a tip about GCU or promoting your GCU designs you’d like to share with other artists?
Send you own cards as often as you can.
Name three other GCU artists whose work inspires you or that you admire.
Robin Chaffin (Rycky Creations)
Is there something you’re really proud of having done?
Hit 10,000 cards sold in 36 months. Never in my wildest dreams!
If you weren’t an artist, what would you be?
Unhappy!
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Thank you, Tom, for sharing your humor with the world (and your peeps love it, too) 🙂
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Dash of Inspiration – May 16, 2011
A Dash of Inspiration…A Cup of Creativity by Doreen
Beautiful Hand Painting
I had the pleasure back in the early 90’s of seeing an exhibit of Italy’s Guido Daniele’s new hand paintings and apparently he’s been quite busy since then! This exhibit from last August is simply stunning… if this doesn’t inspire you to do something different, I don’t know what will!
Do not believe that just because you have never picked up a paint brush, you can’t do so today, or that you can’t be brilliant at digital painting. I had not painted anything since I was a child. My talents headed in different directions and though I was very creative as a child, I was never good at painting. A few years ago my husband gave me a Wacom Tablet for Christmas and bundled with it was Corel Painter. My birthday follows the holidays and I declared that day as a day to play and be completely unproductive, so I experimented with digital painting. The results were beyond promising and if I can paint, so can you!
In addition to this inspiring exhibit, I wanted to pass on some great brushes for adding to the avid digital painter toolbox and for the brave explorer to experiment with painting in Photoshop or Gimp. Below you’ll find a link to 40 Hi-Res Acrylic Brushes, a wonderful set of Pencil Box Brushes, a set of Realistic Watercolor Brushes, and for my friends using Gimp a link to 1000+ brushes! Declare a day to play!
Guido Daniele’s Exhibit
40 Free High-Res Acrylic Paint Photoshop Brushes
Pencil Box Brushes
10 Watercolor Brush Set
1000 Free High Resolution GIMP Brushes
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New York Stationary Show 2011
If anybody attended the NY Stationary Show this year, please get in touch! I’d love to do guest blog(s) from you (including pictures or video) so everyone can vicariously enjoy the experience and maybe learn something for next year. So after you recover from the excitement, could you please, pretty please, pretty please with a cherry on top get in touch with me at gcucommunity(at)bigdates.com
Muchos gracias!
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Blog Carnival I: Update
Hey, peeps – so far we’ve got several super entries in our on-going Blog Carnival I.
Who’s riding the carnival Ferris wheel, eating the cotton candy and corn dogs, and swinging on the Chair-O-Planes? Janet Lee, Mariana Musa, Catherine Sherman, Sun at Night, Maryann Nolan, Cindy and Naquiaya have all entered. What about you? It’s easy-peasy lemon-squeezy and a whole lotta fun!
The theme is SUMMERTIME, AND THE LIVING IS EASY. Make a post on your blog about summer – use your imagination – and include 3 links to summer-themed cards at GCU. Send me the link to your blog post. That’s it! At the end of the carnival (May 24), I’ll post a master list of links, which all participants will share on their blogs AND there’ll be a drawing for a $50 AMAZON GIFT CERTIFICATE!
You can get all the details about Blog Carnival I in my previous post.
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Design Spotlight: Pattiann Malynn
Today’s Design Spotlight comes from Pattiann Malynn Designs. What a striking kitty!
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This is by no means my best selling card, but it is among my favorites. This is my neighbor’s cat, who is allowed to roam the neighborhood at will. This cat not only digs in my gardens, but also takes great joy in teasing my Shi Tzu, Kirby, who is probably the same weight as the cat.
When I’m outside with Kirby on the lead, the neighborhood cats, this one included, take great pleasure in walking just beyond the lead, where Kirby can’t reach them. Although, truth be told, I don’t know what Kirby would do with a cat if he caught one — and neither does he! But Kirby thinks he’s a Doberman and has taken on the task of guarding the yard from those mean 🙂 neighborhood cats. Really, all he’s doing is amusing the cats. I can almost hear them snickering their little cat snickers as they walk away, finally bored by Kirby’s predicable reaction. “Stupid dog, he does it every time! Now let’s go see what the Gallagher’s dog is doing.”
To make this image, I layered a black and white layer of the image over a colored version. I then erased the black and white version over the eyes. I really wanted the eyes to pop and I think I succeeded.
GCU Community 