Correction: Not that it makes that much difference, but the Google search was actually for "godparents greeting cards."  
 
On that particular search GCU is 2nd from the top! I still don't understand how those search engine rankings work.
 
DK

Wow, that's really wacky!
 
Dustin

A couple of thoughts worth mentioning:
 
1. it is very important to use descriptive and specific titles and keywords for your cards.  The more accurate the better.  Especially with keywords, be descriptive in respect to visual elements that are not relayed otherwise - colors, animal breed, emotion, flower type, etc.
 
However, do not make your card out to be something that it is not, it will only produce erroneous search results.  Using a laundry list of keywords for occasions or people that a generic card can be appropriate for does not serve anyone well.
 
2. the "profile" is for our email reminders, not search engines.  The categories that you choose for your cards are taken into account by search engines so choosing the most accurate one or two is vital.
 
3. cards created for requests are likely to be purchased again by follow on buyers.  By all means keep these cards in your store.  The fact that one shopper has asked for it indicates that more are looking for the same thing and now will find it at GCU.
 
4. search engine logic is quite a mystery and will always remain that way.  If the world knew the magic formulas then we'd all be ranking #1!  Our natural search rankings are improving every day.  All of your cards on all of our sites (BigDates, DateBoxx, GCUniverse, etc) produce very content rich pages as well as our forum pages too.
 
Don't be alarmed that GCU is relatively low on the results for generic "greeting cards".  This is an issue of free e-card sites terming themselves as "greeting cards" and coming up higher.   This will be overcome with time and tweaking.  We consistently come up high in ranking for nearly all specific greeting card searches.  
 
5. peculiar search words on a sale will likely tell you that they came searching for one card and ended up buying something different or additional.  The shopper for example who purchased your "otter" card may have also purchased the "diarrhea" card too but you wouldn't see that in your sales notification since it appears only in that artist's notification.

Thanks, Mindy, for all the helpful information. I appreciate all the advise and trouble shooting you and the other GCU staff members provide.
 
Dustin

Talk about "Finally made a sale..."  I finally made another sale after a 3 week stall!  Yeah!!!
SueB

Sure you can ask Tom, and I will even answer.  Although my answer will probably give you very little indication of what can happen here.  You see, I too am a new comer.  I was not here for the Christmas rush; I came in for the Lull after Christmas.  (My timing never has been the best, even though I am a musician...)
But to answer your question, my best is only ten cards in a week.  I have had no bulk orders....still patiently waiting....
I do not earn a living on GCU; I earn inspiration here.
And even if that never changes, that's okay, because it's this inspiration that helps me earn a living outside of GCU.  And I do believe that not putting all of ones eggs in one basket is always the best policy.  GCU is just one of my avenues into the publishing world.  After a while, with enough hits in enough ball parks, people will begin to say, "Oh yes, Sue B..."
So to answer your question again...10 in one week.  I am very sure you can find others who were here through the Christmas season who have real success stories with sales!  
SueB

Quote from Hilly_132655 on Mar 5^th, 2008, 3:10am:

 
I've already determined it's a futile effort for me to keep adding cards here until the site traffic improves significantly, like 100x.  Also, the traffic needs to outpace the number of new artists and new cards that are added each day, otherwise each individual artist will never really see any sales growth.  With just 250 cards printed each day, based on last month's site sales data, suggests that the average GCU store will sell 86 cards in a year and make $43 in commissions.  Some more, some less.  
 
My feeling is GCU needs to hook-up with a major "paper publisher" internet traffic source, like Amazon,  B&N, or Vistaprint, in order to bring us a reasonable level of online sales.  I hope something like that is in their plans.  Otherwise, it is up to us to sell our own cards, and I believe that is best done by selling them locally.
 
I don't believe the reminder-sites, or search engines traffic, will grow all that much.  Frankly, I've tried finding my own cards without using my name or my store name, via google and yahoo, and struck out.  Even GCU is hard to find without typing in the company name.