GCU Forum - Nasser asked: feedback on new look for site

DENISE_132110

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artist

Posts: 769

Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look for site
Reply #45 - Aug 19^th, 2008, 5:48pm

gina i like the way your sister thinks... i am usually up at 3 am as well. i am a follower as well, i like being in the background trying to help someone else succeed.
in this case i just happen to benefit from it as well.

i hate being in others way and the fact that most major holidays end up with people 4 deep at the card displays is just a nightmare for me.

which leads to another thing in the convenience line ... the cards can be mailed through GCU as well. how many times have you had a card laying around while you are forgetting to buy a stamp??? post office lines are another big waste of time and energy if all you need to do is pick up stamps when the machines won't work.

can't say it enough... convenience is one of the key perks to boast about

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Nasser_16

GCU Administrator
CEO

Posts: 152

Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look
Reply #46 - Aug 20^th, 2008, 1:10am

You’re all correct. Convenience is a key benefit to our service. The problem is that it’s not a strong enough reason to initially pull shoppers in. Trust me as we’ve struggled with a similar challenge with our reminder service for many years. Most folks will tell you that in fact they forget birthdays all the time, but none get up in the morning and decide to setup a better more effective reminder service.

We also have done some research on card buyers behavior. For the most part buying a greeting card is not a big enough pain for people where they actively start to look for alternate solutions. Most folks procrastinate and pick up a card the last minute, and typically don’t make a special trip for it. They either pick it up while getting groceries, gas, prescriptions, etc. Cards are available everywhere.

Another fact is that there are many other online greeting card sites out there. Most provide the same convenience we’re discussing. However, what they can’t claim is offering the huge selection of cards that we carry, accompanied by a powerful content engine/community that can quickly create new requested content.

So my initial suggestion for attracting new shoppers is leveraging every possible search that includes the many greeting card search combinations of interests, hobbies, and other attributes. Once they purchase one card, we’ll have their email address and are able to reach out to them on a regular basis with various marketing campaigns. We also urge every card buyer to enroll in our free reminder service, so we can contact them on major holidays and other special occasions.

Once shoppers use our service they realize that in fact it is a better and more convenient way to purchase greeting cards. Your thoughts?

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Corrie_131338

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Posts: 1611

Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look for site
Reply #47 - Aug 20^th, 2008, 3:18am

Hmmm... how about something like:

Greeting Card Universe
"The Card You Want, When You Want It"
Powered by the most creative community on Earth

Eh, it's not like it isn't true. Cheesy

Okay, next...

We know GCU hasn't done that much promotion of their ecards, preferring at this time to focus their attention on paper cards. However, part of the "problem" of getting consumer attention and recognition is that when a potential consumer does a generic search for "greeting cards" on Google, MSN, AOL, Yahoo, etc., they're much more likely to get a slew of free ecard sites before GCU shows up in the results. This is well-known.

Barring a nationwide (oh, heck, make it global) media saturation campaign to educate consumers to add the word "paper" to their search terms, how can we boost GCU's profile on these searches?

A possible solution might be for GCU to promote its ecards more heavily. Every ecard on GCU's site could (and possibly already does, I'm not sure) contain links to paper cards of a similar nature. Search engines love link-rich pages. GCU has that edge over their competition already. Once GCU starts showing up on page one of generic greeting card searches because of its ecards, more traffic should flow to the paper cards as a result.

And since customers have to register to send a free ecard, that gives GCU an email to continue marketing that customer.

So what's needed? More and better ecards, for a start. Flash-based or animated, preferably, to compete with the bigger guns like Blue Mountain. The service would remain free, as there's no point charging for ecards when everybody and his dog has ecards for free, but if the traffic warrants, GCU could even offer targeted advertising spots on its pages - we see that a lot on popular websites and blogs.

Corrie
http://www.corrieweb.nl

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Sue_132963 Gold Member artist Posts: 1224	Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look for site Reply #48 - Aug 20^th, 2008, 9:29am Corrie...That is absolutely genius! Sue
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Linda_132742 Gold Member artist Posts: 1796	Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look for site Reply #49 - Aug 20^th, 2008, 10:51am Great ideas, Corrie. I love the "by line" if that is the correct term for GCU. Fabulous. You have really captured the essence of GCU. Nicely done, Linda
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Ernestine_131365

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artist

Posts: 853

Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look
Reply #50 - Aug 20^th, 2008, 12:03pm

Corrie-

I bow to your merchandising expertise! Cheesy

as always. (But then weren't the Dutch the first "merchants" of the world??) Wink

And the ecards should be GCU artists cards. . . not the "canned" ones that don't represent the artists. It could do SO much the promote GCU, individual artists and over-all exposure and ranking.

On another note about "paper greeting cards." Folks that have web pages or blogs that include a GCU link should put: "paper greeting cards" in the meta keywords (or whatever they're called) in their site's code. Every little bit helps!

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Sue_132963 Gold Member artist Posts: 1224	Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look for site Reply #51 - Aug 20^th, 2008, 2:00pm Another good idea, Ernestine! Sue
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Tammy_131374

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Posts: 630

Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look for site
Reply #52 - Aug 20^th, 2008, 5:16pm

Nassar- you nailed it as far as I'm concerned! Marketing to customers you have established is a big key!
Corrie- yes- excellant idea on the e cards!
All of those clicks to our website makes a huge difference too in where we turn up in google searches. The more clicks- the higher you go on the totem pole- along with those keywords. That is why many places - (real estate offices come to mind on this one)- have people clicking on their internet listings - so they climb higher in the searches.

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nicole_133673

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Posts: 118

Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look for site
Reply #53 - Aug 20^th, 2008, 5:20pm

I have been absent for a few days but for good reason, my sister had my second niece (on Eugenia's birthday none the less! Wink

)

Anyway I have caught up and although it is a hair off the subject I was wondering if we could have a code for our personal websites that would sign one of our customers up to the reminder service instead of linking and sending the customer to the reminder service. You know like a newsletter sign up code? (I hope I am explaining myself right, a new baby and a four year old can suck your brain out of your head especially if you don't have kids yourself Grin

)

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Nasser_16

GCU Administrator
CEO

Posts: 152

Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look
Reply #54 - Aug 22^nd, 2008, 2:08am

Regarding ecards. What are your thoughts on the following?

We offer an electronic version of all our paper cards for a smaller fee, lets say $1. So below every paper card, there is an icon that allows you to send the card immediately in an electronic format. Its very different that most ecards out there. This also solves the last minute shopper dilemma.

The ecard would be the cover of your card. The recipient clicks on the cover and it animates like a page in a book and flips the cover to show the inside. We've done some testing/mockups on this. So its really your paper card, but in an electronic format. We'd call these pcards. The artist would most likely earn around 30 to 40 cents per card. Basically a split after deducting credit card and overhead charges. Let me know your thoughts on this.

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Linda_132742 Gold Member artist Posts: 1796	Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look for site Reply #55 - Aug 22^nd, 2008, 2:12am I support the idea of the pcard. Linda
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Corrie_131338 Gold Member Posts: 1611	Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look for site Reply #56 - Aug 22^nd, 2008, 2:35am Pcards sounds like an interesting prospect, and certainly different from the usual ecards offered at many sites. My one concern is this - how big will the pcards appear? Fine details are lost if the pcard is too small. Is it possible to see an example? Corrie http://www.corrieweb.nl
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Tom_133317 Gold Member artist Posts: 2169	Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look for site Reply #57 - Aug 22^nd, 2008, 2:46am pCards - could they be prevented from being forwarded? What would the size be? Would these be on all the BigDates sites? Can you post a link to an example? TOM
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Kathy_131728

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artist

Posts: 610

Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look for site
Reply #58 - Aug 22^nd, 2008, 6:16am

Pcards...interesting...I can see where these would be of value for the last minute shopper.

From an artist's standpoint, however, I have a few concerns.

One, I share Tom's concern of could they be forwarded? I'd hate to earn .30 on a card seen by 100 people. Don't know if there would be a way to prevent forwarding, but it would seem that it would be necessary.

Two, how would the image artwork be protected? We upload at 300 dpi, but anyone can steal an image at 300 dpi. I have even read that an image as low as 72 dpi can be reproduced at 288 dpi (something about the rules of fours). I have not seen it done, but it is supposedly possible.

Three, how would verses be protected? I consider myself a writer and have many very unique verses inside my cards. I see no way to protect my copyright if these cards are being sent via e-mail. Just too easy for them to be stolen at that point.

It seems like there would have to be a choice for the artist to participate or not with a default option being set for all cards and then an option at the individual card level to allow or not allow a card to be a pcard.

I would also be interested in seeing what a pcard looks like.

I know I would not want all my cards to be pcards (those with truly unique verses would not be candidates), whether or not I would want any to be pcards would depend on the answers to my questions.

Again, I see why it may be a good business idea, but let's find a way to protect artist's too!

Thanks

Kathy

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Tammy_131374 Gold Member artist Posts: 630	Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look for site Reply #59 - Aug 22^nd, 2008, 10:07am That is a good idea Nasser! Do they click on a link which brings them back to GCU to view their p-card?
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