GCU Community

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Issue #1

WELCOME

Welcome to the inaugural edition of the GCU Community newsletter (and to doubly celebrate, today’s also the founding of our shiny new blog – yay us!).

We created this newsletter and blog to be super useful tools for Greeting Card Universe artists like you who want to learn more about GCU, find out how to promote your designs so they earn you more money, how to self-market your store to get traffic, get the inside scoop on stuff like SEO… in short, we’re here to help you write your own GCU success story.

How is this going to work?

Twice a month, in this newsletter publication we’ll bring you informative how-to’s on everything from getting your blog started to using sites like Squidoo, getting the most out of your social networks and social bookmarks, and lots of other stuff. You’ll participate in cool activities like blog carnivals and lens parties with your fellow artists. And there will be contests where you can win really neat stuff – yep, we mean PRIZES!

No kidding. We’re serious about our community ‘cause we know it’s a powerful force for good. We want every artist at GCU to grow their business. The best way to do that is to arm you with the tools you need, and organize activities that are beneficial for all.

Whether you’re an experienced self-marketer or a complete novice, a serious business person or a hobbyist, the newsletter will have something for you, we promise. Cross our hearts.

HIDDEN GEMS: Admin Pro Day - April 27 - by Tom Rent

Apart from hosting the newsletter, this blog will also give you daily (you read that right, every single day, rain or shine, except major holidays) updates that will keep you in the know about what the community members are up to. We’ll also bring you tips and tricks, point you towards resources, make announcements, and generally motivate the heck out of you.

Who am I and why am I running this blog? I’m Corrie Kuipers, a painter and illustrator in the Netherlands, founding member of the GCU artist community and one of GCU’s top sellers. I’ve been designing cards with my partner, Nene Adams, since 2007. Like many of you, when I started I had no idea how to promote my work. My continuing success comes as the result of much trial and error. Now I want to share the things I learned with you.

So don’t be afraid. It’s easier than you think. Just check the GCU Community blog every day. Read the newsletter. Play in our sandbox. Have fun and build your business at the same time. Artists helping artists is a fantastic idea… and you’re going to be an important part of it.

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Why should you start a blog, and more importantly, why should you keep it updated? To answer that question, we’re going to need to explain a little about how search engines work. Don’t run away yet… we’ll keep it brief.

Search engines use complex algorithms to catalog and rank on-line content like blogs. Simply put, the higher your site ranks, the closer to #1 you get when anybody does a search relevant to your keywords (we’ll learn more about that later). One of the criteria used for ranking by some search engines is backlinks – that is, links at other sites that point back to your site. The more backlinks, the better your rank.

We’ll talk about backlinks in more depth another time. The important thing to remember is that writing a blog and updating it regularly (I’d suggest once a week or at least twice a month) will give you backlinks to whichever site you want to promote… like, say, your GCU storefront. Or your collection of niche greeting cards at GCU. Or whatever greeting cards you want to attract more attention from potential customers.

You know the more your card sells at GCU, the higher it will appear in on-site search results, right? So it makes sense to promote yourself and your designs everywhere you can. The more you sell = the more you sell.

HIDDEN GEMS: Nurses Day - May 6 - by Sheryl Kasper

Does it actually work? You bet! I’ll use myself as an example. My partner and I noticed there weren’t many greeting cards made specifically to send to cancer patients. We saw this need and acted on it, uploading a collection of cancer cards at GCU. We also wrote a lens about it on Squidoo, promoted it on a cancer-related blog we wrote, flogged in on Facebook, linked to it in other blogs’ comments, used social bookmark sites… and three years later, we’re sending plenty of traffic to this card collection at GCU, we’re making sales every day, and it’s been such a success, we’ve made spin-offs like cards for cancer supporters, and cards to send to someone whose loved one has been diagnosed with cancer. (P.S., we sell those, too).

If we can do it, you can do it. You don’t have to be an expert or a professional journalist. Anyone can start a blog. What do you write about? Anything you love. What’s your passion? What inspires you? Start there, then begin to build your blog.

Remember, if you build it… they will come. In the next Time to Blog, we’ll discuss how to write blog posts that get attention.

For step-by-step information on why you should start a blog and how you can do it, check out How to Start a Blog.

If you’ve never blogged before, we want you to start a new blog and create one post. Just one post about anything you like, but it must include at least three greeting cards linked to GCU (your own cards or another artist’s, you can use the Sell This Card tool from GCU, it’s easy!). In the spirit of fairness, we’ll also accept new Squidoo lenses  entered in the contest. Here’s some advice – don’t just make a post saying “buy my greeting cards.” Be creative. Think of a topic close to your heart, then tie it into greeting cards at GCU. If you’re already running a blog, make a post and include three links to greeting cards at GCU. Then show us your fabulous work by posting a link in the comments of this post on or before May 8, 2011. Good luck!

Each artist who accepts the challenge above 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.” Sounds good to me! To be eligible, you must complete the challenge as stated above and leave a link in the comments section of this post on or before May 8, 2011.

If there’s something you’d like to see offered as a prize in our next contest, leave a comment and let us know! OR send your suggestions to gcucommunity (at) bigdates.com.

If you need help starting a free blog, here are a few of the more popular places to go:

WordPress | Blogger | Posterous

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Search engines give great weight, not only to actual links, but also to anchor text. What’s that?  When you make a link in a blog or a website, you don’t want your readers to see it like this (http://www.example.com). Instead, you want the visible, clickable link to be actual words, like this (Here’s an Example) linked to the URL. Many people use “click here” as anchor text, but that’s a mistake. Use something relevant instead. If you’re linking to a butterfly themed birthday card, for instance, try Blue Butterfly Birthday Card as anchor text. The more relevant and descriptive your anchor text, the better search engines will like you.

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High five moment: Sandra Rose Designs was recently interviewed in the Creative Artists Blog – Congratulations! And congratulations to Nancy who recently made her first sale!

Welcome: Say “hi” to GCU newcomer Gerda!

Squid-New: New Squidoo lens about Mother’s Day greeting cards from GCU artist Elizabeth! GCU artist Doreen has updated her Squidoo lens about Save the Date greeting cards! New Squidoo lens about Military Troop Support greeting cards by GCU artist William!  If you have a new lens or you’ve updated a vintage lens that features GCU cards, we want to know about it!

Stay Tuned: In the coming weeks, we’ll be bringing you news about some super secret projects we’ve been working on. Trust us, it’s worth waiting for!

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 Hashanah

HIDDEN GEMS: Mothers Day - May 8 - by Teri Francis

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!

Stars Wanted: If you’ve done something like a special achievement, an interview, started a new project, met a milestone, or other news you want to share with the community, toot your own horn and let us know! Leave a comment here or send an email to gcucommunity (at) bigdates.com and we’ll be sure to include it in our next newsletter.

Hidden Gems: In each newsletter we’ll choose two or three “hidden gems” to spotlight from GCU’s vast collection of greeting cards. These are cards that appear in on-site search results after page 5, so they’re a bit lost to the average shopper. Do you think a card is a hidden gem and want to nominate it for consideration? Send us the PID# or a link and we’ll take it from there.

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The next issue of the GCU Community Newsletter will be Monday, May 9, 2011