Pssst….
The good news keeps rolling in, folks.
There’s something artists have been wanting a long time, a topic that keeps coming up again and again in discussions.
It’s been on GCU’s “wish list” forever.
And I’ve been told your wish is about to come true!
What is it? Now that, I’m not telling. Nuh-uh. Speculate amongst yourselves. I CAN tell you we should be getting an announcement that’ll knock your socks off either this week or next.
Discuss! 🙂
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NEWS: The Gremlins are at it again!
Sorry, folks! I hear some technical glitches (aka, pesky digital gremlins) have caused the new Design of the Day feature over at the Greeting Card Universe homepage to go slightly awry, but they’re working on it and soon hope to have things ironed out. In the meantime, I suggest a nice cup of tea, a cookie, and some soothing music while we wait. Virtual chocolate chip anyone?
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Nuts and Bolts: Storefront Banner
BANNERS: A FIRST IMPRESSION
Apart from the background you give your store, and apart from any other bells and whistles, the banner (or header) at the top of your storefront reveals a lot about you as an artist, and equally importantly, you as a business person.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if you’re designing greeting cards, uploading them to Greeting Card Universe, and trying to sell them to the buying public, then make no mistake – you ARE in business. And any business professional will tell you that first impressions are extremely important.
Typically, a person takes about three seconds to evaluate you at first glance. It’s no different when evaluating your store. When a shopper sees your storefront, the first thing that catches their eye is your banner because it’s right there at the top. In that split-second, the shopper is already forming an opinion of you (and by extension, GCU in general).
Since first impressions are nearly impossible to undo or reverse, you have to make yours a good one right off the bat if you expect shoppers to continue to the even more important (to you, anyway) task of browsing your designs and buying a card.
A good banner will entice shoppers to stay. It will impress them with your professionalism, your individuality, your personality, and give them an idea of what to expect from your card designs. You can’t afford NOT to make a good impression.
Where does a good banner start?
I’ll begin by pointing out that you need toactually make a banner. I can’t tell you how many artists’ storefronts I’ve visited lately, and there was no banner at all! Without a banner, your store looks unfinished and neglected, like you couldn’t be bothered to complete it. A shopper might think that since YOU can’t bring yourself to finish your store, why should THEY bother to stick around and look at your cards? Off they go, taking your potential earnings with them. If you owned a brick and mortar shop, wouldn’t you put a sign on the front to attract customers?
A poorly designed, badly positioned, out of focus, out of proportion, warped and/or wrong sized banner doesn’t do you any favors, either. Banners should be clean, crisp and clear, a synopsis of your design skills or a statement of your professionalism. A banner should be integrated into your storefront (preferable) or at least not be involved in a fight to the death with your background color.
Here are a few examples of good banners:
These banners are pleasant, well designed, and serve as introductions to each artist’s store. There are more good ‘uns out there; I just don’t have room to show them all.
So how do you make a good banner? The same way you make a good (ie, a commercially appealing) greeting card – by using your artistic and designing skills to the best of your ability. Here are some tips that can help steer you in the right direction:
Size matters!
The banner size that displays best is 945×149 pixels. Make sure it’s centered properly.
To Text, or Not to Text…
You’ll definitely want to include your name or your store name, but please… save the “cool” text effects for another project. Text on a banner should be easy to read, not fussy, look pleasing, and be well balanced with other elements in the overall design.
How Much is Too Much?
You shouldn’t try to cram everything but the kitchen sink into your banner. Too many different elements are distracting, not appealing. Strive for balance. If you have a logo (and you should – we’ll get into that another day), integrate it into the composition or make it the focus. Your mantra should be Keep It Simple.
Well Begun is Half Done!
Any art or photographic elements you use in your banner should be crisp, sharp, in focus, detailed without distracting elements, and represent you as an artist or photographer.
Remember, your banner tells a story about you. Make it a story that grabs a shopper’s attention, and leads them to the rest of the tale – purchasing your greeting cards!
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NEWS from Greeting Card Universe
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I’m totally thrilled to share this exclusive news with my community peeps! (it’s quite a scoop – this hasn’t even been officially announced by the GCU Team, so you heard about it here first!)
GCU is about to launch a new way to showcase the unique talents of their artists, called the Design of the Day Award. What’s this, you ask? Each day (except holidays, of course), the GCU Team will choose one card out of the many from that day’s NEW cards (meaning, the cards newly approved that day, but you knew what I meant, didn’t you?). The Design of the Day will be showcased on the GCU homepage for 24 hours. How cool is that!
The new DotD is going to replace the current “Featured Artist” slot on the homepage which was, in fact, pulled randomly from the entire pool of artists, and changed each time the front page was reloaded.
Who does the choosing, and what criteria do they use? That info’s staying behind the veil drawn over GCU HQ, but it’s okay. Every artist who submits cards has the same chance as everybody else, so I wouldn’t get too hung up about it. Just go on making your fabulous cards, and someday you may join the ranks of the chosen. 🙂
This is a great way for GCU to acknowledge the best designs by the best artists, and best of all, you get bragging rights! What’s not to like? And to help celebrate these achievements, the GCU Community (that’s me) will be giving all winners a special star to display on their website or blog. Yay!
When does the fun start? Tomorrow, so stay tuned. I don’t know about you, but I’m excited!
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Dash of Inspiration – May 2, 2011
A Dash of Inspiration…A Cup of Creativity by Doreen
Beyond Visible: 100 Years of Infrared Photographs
I consider myself very fortunate, because I began my journey in photography as a student in 1980. This gave me the opportunity to learn photography in a film-based world, choosing different types of film for different situations and developing my ‘masterpieces’ in a darkroom. In my studies, I took four-years of Black and White photography which included studying Ansel Adams Zone System, it was in this class I was introduced to Infrared Film and the dreamy effects one could create simply by through the use of film and on-camera filters. Sadly those days are nearly gone; however beautiful creations can still be made in the style of infrared using our own digital darkrooms.
These absolutely brilliant examples of Infrared Photography brought to us by Noupe will hopefully bring you some inspiration on how to transfer this beautiful photographic style to your digital darkroom. In addition, I’ve provided a link to a tutorial which gives some basic step by step instructions on how to apply an infrared effect to some of your landscape photos. As with all techniques, this will take some experimenting before you’ll find a process that provides the results you want to achieve. I’d love to see your creations!
100 Years of Infrared Photographs
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DON’T FORGET: When you leave a comment on any post, be sure to include a link to your store, your blog, your website, etc. It’s an opportunity for promotion!
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Weekend Recap – April 23, 2011
It’s been another exciting week for all our community peeps. We’ve had some “spring cleaning” of GCU storefronts, and good discussions and feedback. In this week’s Community Newsletter, we learned how to write blog posts that are attention grabbers, and why titles on your posts are important (some nice do’s and don’ts tips, too). The GCU Community All-Star awards were launched – congratulations to our first round of winners! How can you earn your very own star? Start a blog and promote your GCU cards, or start promoting your cards in your existing blog (or Squidoo lens or website – we’re not picky).
Till next time, have fun creating, learning and earning!
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FROM THE FRONT LINE
SQUIDOO-BE-DOO-BE-DOO:
When you make a new Squidoo lens, in addition to using the Amazon, Zazzle, etc. modules to make a little moolah, why not include your GCU cards as well? You can have up to 9 outbound links to GCU per lens, which is plenty to promote greeting cards without seeming spammy. Use the Sell This Card tool – it’s easy!
NEED FOR FEED:
Want to add the GCU Community blog to your RSS news feeder so you can stay on top of all the latest? Here’s the link you need: https://gcucommunity.com/feed/
DON”T MISS:
This week’s GCU Community Newsletter.
This week’s A Dash of Inspiration…A Cup of Creativity by Doreen at Salon of Art.
Our guest blogger, Tom Rent, on the importance of your artist profile and how it might affect your sales.
Design Spotlight on Rycky Creations: Hope
Design Spotlight on Ernestine Grindal: Breakfast in Bed
Artist Interview: Maria Dryfhout
Nuts & Bolts – GCU How-To & Tips: Storefront Design
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COMMUNITY SHOUT OUT
If you want to volunteer to write about a subject close to your heart on any topic you think will interest and inform the community, get in touch. We’re also seeking artists who’d like to have a favorite/bestselling card spotlighted here. If you want to get some free exposure, contact us about being in the Design Spotlight.
If you haven’t already, don’t forget to send in your links to your blog, Squidoo lensmaster profile, Twitter or Facebook so we can add you to our roll calls.
Got a question about GCU you want to Ask Mindy? Send it in to us and we’ll pass it on!
Don’t forget about our CONTEST – make a new blog post or a Squidoo lens and include at least 3 links to GCU cards, and you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a really cool book (see last week’s newsletter for details). Just leave a comment with your blog’s link or send in your entry by email.
REMINDER: GCU is doing a promotion with Groupon and Plum District – coupons used by shoppers in these promotions to buy greeting cards will earn artists 15 cents per card instead of the usual commission. See Mindy’s forum post on the campaign for all the details.
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A PEEK BEHIND THE SCENES
Tomorrow’s the big day! I’ve heard from my spies at GCU headquarters that there’s going to be an announcement that will knock your socks off, so stay tuned ’cause you’ll hear about it here first!
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CONTACT US: You can get in touch anytime at gcucommunity(at)bigdates.com
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Design Spotlight: Ernestine Grindal
Today’s Design Spotlight is on Ernestine Grindal, who shares a very sweet story with us about her Mother’s Day card. It’s also a lesson in spontaneity for all you photographers out there. If you would like to see your favorite and/or bestselling card spotlighted here, get in touch!
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Outside: I suppose you'll be expecting breakfast in bed? Inside: No problem, you deserve it! Kibbles or bits? Have a great day, Mom. You're the best!
My Jack Russell Terrier, Phoebe, is my muse, my buddy and a source of great entertainment for the last 12 years. She’s been a true inspiration (and model) for many of my cards. When she’s not jumping around on her hind legs she’s such a “prima donna,” always looking for the cushiest spot in the house, burying herself in the pillows.
I had just gotten a digital camera – pretty late in the game, I must admit it was difficult to pry my hands off of my 35mm Nikon. Phoebe was just peeking out from under the covers and I saw a great chance to test my new camera. Now I’m not a photographer, and don’t claim to be, but I thought the shot was pretty cute. Mother’s Day was coming up and being a designer and illustrator, I loaded it into the old Mac, did a little pattern magic in Photoshop with the clone tool for the background . . . added borders, a little cropping and pulled in some Victorian ephemera, it all came together.
I’d picked out a pretty but casual font, now to come up with some copy for the text. As an artist, that’s always hard for me, but I thought I couldn’t go wrong with a little bit of humor — not the rolling on the floor laughing kind, just a little warm and fuzzy smile.
Phoebe always makes me happy with her warm little fuzzy smile, and sharing her on my cards has proved to be a great hit.
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Artist Interview: Maria Dryfhout
Today we interview Greeting Card Universe artist, Maria Dryfhout, who joined GCU in 2008.
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Maria, what drew you to join GCU?
So many friends and family members encouraged me to create cards using my images and verses. I finally took their advice. GCU offers a golden opportunity for me to sell my ideas.
Please tell us who you are, where you are, and what you do.
I live in Holland, Michigan. I am a wife, mother and a grandmother. I was let go from my job after having been there for 20 years. God slammed the door behind me that day and opened a whole new world to me through my camera lens. I thank Him now for doing that. I live in an area where there is so much to photograph. Lake Michigan beach, lighthouse, Dutch traditions, and nature are all around me. The four seasons in western Michigan are beautiful. I love creating and learning new photo techniques. Besides creating and selling cards, I also sell my images on 12 different microstock sites.
Vintage Hydrangea Birthday Card - Maria Dryfhout
What’s your favorite greeting card on GCU that you’ve created?
It is so hard to pick my favorite out of 1987 cards in my store. I do like the old-fashioned textured effect.
Where else can we find you?
You can find me on Facebook.
What would people be surprised to learn about you?
How much time I spend on this computer.
How did you become a photographer?
Even at a very young age, I had a camera in my hand. My favorite subject back then was bears in the zoo. To this day, I still shoot bears. I am now learning that it is more than “point & shoot.” It is lighting, focus and subject.
What or who inspires you? And what motivates you to create greeting cards from your photographs?
I look at everything as a photo opportunity. The simplest things in life can be made into an image for a card. And I love sending cards to people. It lets them know that I am thinking about them. I also believe that if you send a card… you start a smile.
Where do you find ideas for your work?
I find them all over the Internet and some just pop into my head. You have to think “outside the box”. Some days that is hard to do.
What tools do you use to create your work?
Cameras: Nikon D80, Nikon D200, Nikon L110. Lens: All Nikon AF. 18-55mm 55-200mm 80-400mm Micro60mm Micro105mm. Adobe CS3, Adobe Lightroom2, LucisArt, Capture NX 2.
When and why did you start selling your designs as greeting cards?
Beside selling my images on microstock sites, I wanted them to go on cards. I knew there was money to made doing that. I began thinking about this concept in 2008.
What do you do to promote your greeting cards on GCU?
I buy my cards and give them to friends and family. In turn, they see my store link on the backside and order more.
Is there a tip about GCU or promoting your GCU designs you’d like to share with other artists?
Try to be different… think “outside the box”. Buy your cards and give them away.
Name three other GCU artists whose work inspires you or that you admire.
Is there something you’re really proud of having done?
Raised two beautiful daughters who have now given me grandkids to love and photograph.
If you weren’t an artist, what would you be?
Not real sure…happy where I am at in life. Love making cards and money while wearing my robe and fuzzy slippers!
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Thanks for the interview, Maria! If you would like to participate in an upcoming Artist Interview, get in touch: gcucommunity(at)bigdates.com
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GCU Community Newsletter – April 28, 2011
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Issue #2
IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Welcome to the latest edition of the GCU Community Newsletter. Because our inaugural edition proved so popular, we’ve decided to bring it to you every week (on a Thursday because… well… um… because it’s Thursday).
We had a busy week. Our Nuts & Bolts feature about GCU storefront design stirred things up. Rycky Creations was in our Design Spotlight with a touching story about Hope for Cancer. Our guest blogger, Tom Rent, talked about the importance of your artist profile. And Doreen’s regular A Dash of Inspiration – A Cup of Creativity column gave us fantasy themed brushes and a Photoshop manipulation tutorial.
Thanks to everyone who continues to participate by leaving comments, having conversations with fellow artists, and contributing to our community blog, not to mention passing the love around. Keep up the good work!
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Five Steps to Writing a Blog That Get Noticed
In the world of blogging, content is king.
What you choose to write about in your blog and how well you write it will determine how much attention it receives from the rest of the world. If you promote yourself and your greeting cards by using a blog to showcase your work, you’ll need to do it the smart way.
Hidden Gems: Mothers Day - May 8 - Eugenia Bacon
Keep in mind, the more people you entice to visit your blog, the more people will potentially click one or more of your greeting card links, the more traffic you’ll attract to your cards at Greeting Card Universe, the more sales you make. The equation is simple: Interesting blog = traffic = sales. This is true whether you’re writing a blog or a Squidoo lens.
Here are five step that will help you achieve that winning equation.
One – Determine Your Audience: Who are you trying to attract with your blog? If you say “shoppers!” then nope, sorry, that’s not the right answer. You need to look at things from another angle. What you want to do is turn visitors into shoppers. You attract visitors by writing a blog that contains the content they want to read. You give them an opportunity to click on card links IN ADDITION TO your main content. So the first thing you need to do is figure out the theme of your blog, which is going to determine your audience.
Two – Figure Out Your Theme: What are you going to write about? We’ve talked about this before, but it’s worth repeating – write about what you know. Are you into hiking? Write about the walking trails you’ve visited and what you experienced there. Love dogs? Write about your pooch’s adventures. Enjoy gardening? Give tips and talk about your favorite plants. Are you an illustrator? Talk about your inspiration, how you create your designs, what gets you going. The point is, use a subject you’re passionate about as a jumping off point, and tie your greeting cards into that theme.
Three – Write the Right Way: You don’t need a degree in journalism or creative writing to run a blog. You DO need the ability to tell a story. And you also need to write without a lot of grammar and/or spelling mistakes. Whether educational or entertaining, a post should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Make your point. Share your thoughts or opinions. Be concise. Tell anecdotes and personal details to give a human face to your blog. Be original. Choose an attractive title. Then go over your work with your most critical eye. If you were a reader, what impression would the blog post make on you?
Four – Have Fun: Once you pick a theme you love, run with it! The more fun you have, the better you’ll write, the more motivated you’ll become, and the more your audience will enjoy your enthusiasm. Try not to struggle too much, especially in the beginning. As you continue writing, you’ll get better at it – trust me.
Five – Be Patient: This will be difficult, I know, but getting a readership takes time. There are things you can do to promote your blog (we’ll get into that another time). Just don’t expect to make one post and have thousands of people flocking to your doorstep. Consistent posting with attractive content is the key.
While this is a Squidoo lens, not a blog, I wanted to bring up Sher’s Photography Tips for the Beginner as an excellent example of how to integrate GCU greeting cards into your main content. Go have a look and you’ll see content + promotion in action. Way to go, Sher! Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!
For a very good guide to writing blog posts, check out How to Craft a Blog Post: 10 Crucial Points to Pause.
Next time on Time to Blog, we’ll talk about the importance of commenting on other blogs, and how it can lead to more attention for your own blog.
Each artist who writes a new blog post or Squidoo lens containing at least 3 links to greeting cards at GCU will be entered in a random drawing for a fantastic book Art Escapes: Daily Exercises and Inspirations for Discovering Greater Creativity and Artistic Confidence (Dory Kanter). “This title for both beginning and experienced artists gives readers ideas for building an art habit. It contains daily projects for drawing, watercolour, mixed media, collage and more. It aims to help readers increase their skill and creativity and find time to make a little bit of art every day.” Simply make your post on or before May 8th, then leave a comment on this blog (or get in touch by email).
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The title of your blog posts is vital. Not only is it your first (and best) tool for initially “hooking” a reader’s interest, it also weights heavily in search engine algorithms that determine your page ranking. Always include a title on every blog post. Don’t think it’s important? Do a Google search for “untitled document.” That’s right, millions of pages. How’d you like your blog to be one of them? I didn’t think so. Here are some do’s and don’ts to help you come up with great titles that compliment your blog (and get results).
- Don’t stuff your title with keywords. It’s not only ineffective at attracting readers, such blatant tactics won’t get
Hidden Gems: Mothers Day- May 8 -Pattiann Malynn
you far with search engines, either.
- Do figure out the key points in your blog post. For example, if you’re writing about going to the zoo to photograph the new penguin habitat, your key points are likely “photographing” and “penguins.” Since the first words in your title are deemed the most important by search engines, a title like “Photographing Penguins at the Zoo” will be more effective than “Fun Day with Flightless Birds.”
- Don’t be deceptive. If you give your post a provocative title like “10 Seduction Techniques that Work on Women” and proceed to write about baking cookies, your blog will earn a high bounce rate – meaning people are drawn to your site but leave immediately because it isn’t what they’re searching for.
- Do make your titles easy to read and comprehend. Puzzling your potential audience doesn’t make them intrigued; it’s more likely to prevent them from visiting you at all.
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Announcing the GCU All-Star Awards!
You see that happy star over on the right? The one I’ve been teasing you about? Finally, I can tell you the news a little bit earlier than planned.
That’s just one of several award badges we’re going to be giving to the GCU Community artists to proudly display on their blogs and websites (including Squidoo lenses) that they use to promote their work at Greeting Card Universe. How many awards and what do you have to do to earn them? Ah, we’re keeping the answer to that one under our hat. Rest assured we’ll be giving all our “all-stars” their awards as they continue to do cool things to help themselves as well as the community.
Our first batch of All-Stars is:Bright, Doreen, Cindy, Elizabeth, Judy, Peggy, Tora, Robin, Janet Lee, Maryann,
Hidden Gems: Mothers Day - May 8 - Sandra Rose Designs
Moonie, Roseanne, and Sun at Night! Please join me in congratulating our winners! (If you win an All-Star award but don’t receive it in your email, please check your spam folder; if you still don’t have it, contact us).
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:
- August 1 – Ramadan
- September 5 – Labor Day
- September 11 – Grandparents Day
- September 11 – Patriot Day
- September 29 – Rosh Hashana
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 5
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Nuts and Bolts: Storefront Design
Why is the design of your storefront so important? Isn’t it just an extension of your artistic creativity, a way to further impress the beauty of your personal aesthetic on an audience of onlookers?
Um… no, not quite.
You see, those artists who do custom requests already know something you may not – a lot of shoppers don’t understand that Greeting Card Universe is composed of individual artists. No matter how many different styles of card they’re looking at, they believe it’s all just GCU itself. And that’s why I’m passing this tip along to you.
How to put this delicately… let me begin by saying I’m not pointing fingers here, and no names will be brought up, so don’t take anything personally. I’m just stating a fact: some artists go too far when customizing their storefronts. Dark blue or purple background with red text; badly designed, wrong size or distorted banner; an artist profile that’s either the size of War and Peace or full of spelling and grammar errors or both; HTML or Javascript like, God help us, Midi music. That’s what I’m talking about. See my hand? No pointed fingers.
So what? Who cares if another artist chooses to represent themselves that way? Why should you care about another artist’s errors or poor judgment? BECAUSE if a shopper happens to run across such a storefront, they’ll USE THAT STORE’S APPEARANCE TO JUDGE THE REST OF GCU… that includes me, you, and everybody else. Remember, many shoppers don’t understand we’re individuals. If they come onto a GCU page from an outside search (which happens often), then the first store they light upon is the one they think represents ALL of GCU.
Just as we’ve often talked about how an unappealing card design can drive shoppers away, not just from that card but from purchasing any card at all, we need to represent ourselves with a professional storefront. In this day of Web 2.0, Internet users expect to see sites that are clean, uncluttered and attractive.
Put it another way… would you trust your credit card details to an on-line retail company whose website was riddled with mistakes, and was shoddy and unprofessional looking to boot? Of course not.
Here are three examples of excellent storefront design. You’ll notice the banners are clean and well thought out; the background of the pages is white, so as not to detract from the card designs; no weird HTML or Java, no animated this and that. These artists present themselves as professionals, ready to do business with shoppers.
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I’m not saying you need turn your storefront into a clone of these examples. Far from it… as you see, there’s plenty of room for individuality and originality (particularly in your store banner). As artists and as business people – yes, if you’re selling your greeting cards to the public, you ARE in business – we need to give a good impression to the shoppers who visit us, so they’ll have an overall good impression of GCU.
Check your storefront with a critical eye. Look at it closely, not from the standpoint of an artist, but from the standpoint of a shopper who is considering giving her hard-earned money to GCU (and, by extension, to you as well). Ask people you trust to give you an honest assessment. Be aware that your storefront not only represents you, it represents GCU as a whole. What’s your storefront saying? Is it a message you want shoppers to hear?
A word to the wise… a little bird told me the Big Kahunas at GCU are considering removing some of the storefront customization options because of this issue. Don’t panic. The option is being discussed, that’s all. However, if we don’t clean up our act, we may find our toys taken away. ‘Nuff said.
GCU Community 