Thank you for your statement Nasser,
I think it is motivating and very helpful for all members. I have used GCU mainly for promotion of my original artsor art prints and that´s the perspective I would like to add to this thread.
 
I see a potential to GCU to sell more to corporations or small businesses using GCU cards for direct mailing actions. From my experience I can say that CGU cards get about 85 % attention and make recipients take action. (In my case visit a certain website to have a look at my artwork.) I wish I could add my signature to the text by uploading it as JPEG by the way.
 
Most companies no matter what size send christmas cards for example. There is a big potential to expand the sales volume there. Speaking from a gallery point of view : why not send out exhibition invitations via GCU and let the artist supply the art work image ? ..and so on....
 
Maybe part of the solution is not only thinking the "traditional card buyer" but expanding it to other areas and divert a share of the direct mail business to GCU ?
 
all the best
Martin

    Again, Corrie's suggestions are great.  I think those categories for Christmas are much more attuned to the way people (and businesses) shop.  If one looks at card catalogs from various card companies, the categories offered are very specific to the ART on the cover, and since the interior message at GCU can be customized to a customer (particularly business customer,) "seeing" what they may want quickly is paramount.  
     I believe the Christmas card category could use some more sub-categories as well.  The less time a shopper needs to spend finding JUST what they want, the better.  Christmas is such a good time to get some "bulk" sales to businesses.   And NOW is the time to be thinking about that.  Brick and mortar shops are buying Christmas items now (if they haven't already.)  We need to be on top of the game. . . better yet, ahead of it!
 
-Ernestine

Hi Nassar ... thank you for posting this update as well as the objectives that GCU is working on.  
 
I want to commend you, along with Mindy, Shaun, Bryce, Matt and everyone in GCU admin ... you have created something that is unique for retail card buyers and a wonderful outlet for creative and talented artists.  GCU has accomplished amazing growth and success in the past year that I have been here, and I sincerely believe that the hard work and dedication of the staff, along with optimism and efforts of the artists here should be recognized and applauded.  But it's the brilliant business model that also deserves a high-five ... without that, we (as artists) wouldn't have this venue for selling our work, nor would we (as shoppers) have the opportunity to find and discover the amazing pool of greeting card artistry that exists at GreetingCardUniverse.com.  My compliments and congratulations to all who have helped create and nurture GCU in it's first year.  
 
As for public awareness, that will come ... I've seen remarkable strides in the past year, thanks in great part to the effective SEO by GCU and the grassroots marketing of the artists and sellers communities.  If you provide unique products and outstanding customer service --which GCU does, shoppers will find you.  Where specialty and subject-specific greeting cards are concerned, GCU products (direct or through the reminder affiliates) rank #1 on most search engines that I've tried.  Keywording refinements are the golden ticket to driving more traffic to the door.  I think Corrie does this extremely well, and I'd like to thank her for the knowledge and helpfulness that she has shared with all of us.  I also think that when the GCU web address is implemented on the back of the cards that, too, will help recipients find their way here.  
 
I'll be glad to contribute to the free printable cards as well, but I'm not sure how well that will translate into sales.  The feedback from my friends who have purchased from GCU has been most positive on the Free Shipping promotions before major card sending holidays.  The deadline seems to spur them to make their selections and purchases before the promo expires.  
 
Again, Corrie, Martin, Ernestine, Norval, et al., are certainly on target about marketing to businesses and refining the categories that would be of interest to them.  Another avenue that I think could draw more traffic is promoting the Sellers/Artist's widget to special interest, non-profit, charitable, school, and fundraiser organizations.  It's been discussed in several different forums, and I hope that's something that can be developed more in the next year.  It's already an excellent way of fundraising for organizations who wish to put a Seller's Widget on their sites, but I think there is a wider potential for both the organizations and the GCU store artists to cross market.  My main objective in joining GCU was to see if there would be a way, as GCU develops, to connect the dots between my card sales and some of the organizations that I support.  When the new internal arrangement within our stores is available, it may be possible for us to do this if we care to on an individual basis.  But one factor that I have discussed with some of the non-profits I work with would be for them to create their own GCU store, which would allow them the benefit of both the Artists and the Sellers commissions.  If that is a viable option that would be sanctioned by GCU, it holds a promising potential for additional cross traffic and greater brand recognition for GCU.  In some cases these organizations would have their own content to add to their GCU store, but for others product inventory would be a problem.  I would be very happy to donate cards to these "good cause" stores, and I have received very favorable responses from other professional photographers and artists who would be willing to donate some of their work as well, provided that their copyrights are protected.  From discussions with other GCU artists, it seems there's a wide field to exlpore in this area.
 
As for humorous cards ... I can't help much there ... I'm not that clever.  But thankfully there are many here who are.  I tend to be very blunt and call things as I see them, but always recognizing and respecting that there will be many other perspectives.  I try to solicit the thoughts and insights of others as a way of viewing things from a wider angle ... but in doing so, if I have offended anyone or contributed in any negative fashion to the forum, I do sincerely apologize.  Until recently, I did not post very often--only when I had a question, information to share, or saw an opportunity to welcome and encourage someone new at GCU.  It was never my intention to criticize GCU -- it was simply to invite thoughts and dialog among the artists here on issues of concern to all of us.  Again, my regrets if it was interpreted in any other way.
 
I truly believe that GCU, in affiliation with BigDates and the other reminder services, is singularly poised to change how consumers buy greeting cards in the future.  Like all good things, it will take some time, a bit of trial and error, and a lot of dedication -- which GCU has in good measure from both the administration side as well as from the artists community.  I look forward to the new shopper's and store management tools ... and I wish great success to all!
 
Teri
 
    
 

Nasser, Mindy, Shaun all you excellent peeps at GCU
 
Why don't you advertise GCU on TV? like eharmony does.  If national ads are too expensive, start locally?  GET ON TV!
Make bumper stickers, matchbook covers, flyers in libraries, gyms, restaurants, etc, etc, etc?
 
Just an idea...I LOVE GCU, it's the best on the net in my opinion
 
- EL, Monkey Artz  

Quote from Corrie_131338 on Mar 24^th, 2008, 1:19am:

 
100% agree on the more logical categories!  And yes, the shopping tool will help a ton.

Wow.   What an amazing response.  Thank you all for the support, praise and ideas on making GCU the ultimate destination site for paper greeting cards.    We're humbled by your kind words and generosity.  
 
We should no longer consider ourselves a small company, but a powerful community of hundreds of field experts.  Once our shopping experience is fine tuned, our next challenge will be getting the word out through conferences, articles, blogs, newspapers, radio, and other media outlets.   We need to to let the world know about GCU, the place where you can find any card you want.  
 
To take GCU to the next level we'd love to see if we can get artists more involved - identifying projects to not only contribute ideas but also take the lead on certain tasks that requires input and feedback from the artist community.
 
Following up on some of your comments and suggestions....
 
Nicole, you mention widgets.  Do you have any specific widget or promo in mind?   Can you point us to some that stands out?
 
Linda, good idea on making the printing/shipping info more prominent as it is very important and possible one of the online obstacles.  Any specific place you had in mind to display this info?  
 
Corrie, good observation on the search listings for "greeting cards".  Unfortunately most people performing that search are looking for ecards, and that's why the ecard sites dominate the listing.   There are two potential solutions.  First is to offer more/better ecard solution and slowly climb up the ladder to the top listings.   Second is to educate shoppers to include the word "paper" in their search.   Both very challenging, but somehow we have to figure out how to address this.   BTW, we do have a promotion that appears at end of shopping if you're not already a reminder service member encouraging you to join.  
 
Totally agree on changing the Christmas category list.   Would you be interested in taking the lead with a forum posting to get other artists' input on what subcategories this improved Christmas holiday category should consist of?  Ultimately it may require some recategorization efforts from artists.
 
Martin, we're on the same page with expanding the userbase.  We'll need a powerful address book/merging utility and better pricing for higher quantities to meet some of the holiday card and other business needs.  Both of those are in the works for 2008   BTW, the signature upload is coming soon.
 
Terri, great insights and clearly aligned with our vision.  Widgets for special interest groups are extremely appealing to us.   Why wait for shoppers to find us via search, let's be present at the sites they already frequent.  We have incredible collections of very specific themes, i.e. autism, 12 step programs, breast cancer awareness, dog breeds and many more.   We simply don't have the manpower to reach out to all the different special interest groups.  Perhaps artists could sign up for a special interest group that they have an affiliation/affinity with.  Terri, would this be something that you would want to facilitate with your fellow artists?   Perhaps for every effective widget that is placed, GCU pays the artist $100 (once 50 cards have been sold via the widget).    
 
Picture This, you mentioned "exactly the right card".   That is our biggest differentiator - other card companies can not offer that.  Perhaps a new tag line is in order in the near future.  One that communicates that ANY card can be found on GCU, and if not we'll create it for you.  We began with Connecting Artists and Card Buyers.  Does that still resonate with shoppers and artists?  Is it time to rethink the tagline?  Anyone want to harness the creative juices of our artists on the forum and come up with some good candidate taglines?
 
El. Yes, we would love to advertise on TV and other big mediums.  Clearly a funding issue at this time, simple dollars and cents.  Similarly, fun promotional items like T-shirts, bumper stickers, etc, all great ideas, but need to come up with a clever way to address it with minimum resources.  
 
We've yet to participate in any of the greeting card and stationery shows.  Which are the big ones you attend/exhibit at?  The National Stationery show in NY (May '08) seems to be the premier industry event.  Who has been before and who plans on going this year?  Any nuggets of knowlege you can share on this show would be helpful.
 
Thank you again and happy selling
Nasser
 

hey... I put the gcuniverse.com/flyinghorsedesing right across fron where I put my name, rigt on the same line, I swear, and don't often, that it has increased my sales, I figure it can't hurt.  On some designs I have put it running up the left hand side,depends on the cardd and desingn,,,
Hope this helps,,,,
insidenetly
I HAVE gotten sales frome this, just the other day I had someone buy ecause they saw my www. on a card.........yippee, live to create, create to live, linda

Hi GCU,  
Just wanted to share a few of my thoughts on this subject.  So glad to get an update.
 
Pattiann, as they say, great minds think alike.  I suggested the fundraising idea for schools, churches and other organizations back in a thread on February 23.  If you want to read the thread look under Feedback & Suggestions the title is Fundraising Idea. (sorry I don't know how to directly point you to the thread)  I think the idea was generally well received by artists.  In fact, Teri Francis indicated having spoken to GCU about fundraising privately also.  I think it would be fairly easy to weed out the cards which might not be appropriate for a school or church fundraiser by eliminating certain categories--I think all these cards are placed in specific categories.  I don't know how GCU feels about the idea, as I did not see any feedback from them.  Hope your bringing it up again will get the idea attention.
 
I think the shoppers tool that is being worked on will be a great asset.  In addition, I think having the GCU Url on the back of cards and the artist info on the back of cards will be great additions.  Glad GCU is working on all of these.
 
I think it probably is time to change the connect artist with card buyers theme, as Nasser suggested.  It is convenient to get a card on the web, but it is convenient to get one while at the grocery store too.  What sets GCU apart is the fact that you can get any card you want!  Where else can you go to ask for a card and not just get one, but many like you want to choose from?
 
Just a few thoughts.
 
Kathy