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

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Posts: 61

Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look for site
Reply #75 - Sep 10^th, 2008, 7:48pm

Did anyone else see this article on Yahoo about micro payments?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080907/ap_on_hi_te/games_micropayments

I wonder if it would work for GCU. Instead of a customer being billed say 99c every time they purchase an p-card they could pay say $5 up front for a pre-paid coupon of some sort. Then they could just log in choose a card enter a code and be done until they need to re-charge their coupon credits or however it works.

Don't know how it would work with paying the artist but I'm sure there's a way.

Just a thought,

Pauline

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Pattiann_132699

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Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look for site
Reply #76 - Sep 10^th, 2008, 9:04pm

Teri, you did such a great job with the new web page. Thanks so much.

Nassar, I think "Greeting cards for all" is clear and to the point.

" Masses of freelance card artists don't have the resources to get their cards to the retailers and in your hands.

We're changing all that by connecting card artists with card buyers, making the selection and supply limitless! The end result is the largest, most unique and varied greeting card selection available."

This could go on the artist recruitment page, but I don't think it needs to go on the front page, where I assume that the main goal is to draw card buyers in.

I know the boy with the apple is a placeholder. Maybe a pic of an assortment of cards standing up? I'd like a visual that says "We sell paper cards here".

Again, Teri, great job.
Pattiann

Quote from Nasser_16 on Sep 10^th, 2008, 7:17pm:

Thank you again Teri. Really appreciate the time you've invested in this.

We can take it from here, but wanted to get everyone's input before doing so.

Any text suggestions anyone? Will shoppers know right away we're talking about real greeting cards? Should we change the main title from "Expanding the Possibilities" to "Greeting Cards for All" or "Worlds Largest Greeting Cardstore".

Do you like the Upcoming Holidays box at BigDates.com? The main image will change automatically with holidays and seasons, what else do we need to add/do to make the page Halloween like or Thanksgiving like?

Ernestine, Denise, or other volunteers, do you have the time to manage the feedback/suggestions and help finalize the last pieces of this page?

Looking forward to finalize your input so we can put this page up. BTW, we're now #1 in natural search on Google for "Paper Greeting Cards"

It's been a gradual climb, but we finally made it. We've definitely been experiencing more activity, so getting this homepage up should make a difference.

Thanks,
Nasser

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Nasser_16 GCU Administrator CEO Posts: 152	Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look Reply #77 - Sep 26^th, 2008, 11:48pm We're going to start coding the new homepage next week. I think its going to look great. Thank you for all your help and feedback. If you have further comments, please let us know asap. A lot easier to address before the coding begins. Thanks again. Have a great weekend, Nasser
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nicole_133673

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Posts: 118

Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look for site
Reply #78 - Sep 27^th, 2008, 7:45pm

I am so excited to see the new website! Sorry I couldnt have been more help to you all but I have been trying to make my own sites more cohesive and coherent and it is a big job. I agree with all of the suggestions and I think with all of the collaborations we are going to get an even better place to sell our cards (it is already a great place to sell our cards!)

I like the idea of Pauline's about micro-payments, it worked wonders for iTunes (who knows maybe a gift card in those kiosks in brick and morter stores just like iTunes???) ok I know I am thinking big but you never know, we all came so far already.

Wink

Now if we could just widen our personal stores and categorize them to our liking and all will be right with the world

Thanks Nasser and all of the GCU team (and artists that help them grow)

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Leslie_134775

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Posts: 67

Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look for site
Reply #79 - Sep 28^th, 2008, 10:44am

Hello all,
with regard to the gcu home page, could we have more links from images - more cards displayed as folk have already mentioned, clicking on a card would take you to more in that catagory or more of a similar style or by that artist. It would make the home page more visual ( like when walking into a high street card shop) and if the cards were different each visit the whole site might look fresh? The few cards down the left aren't enough of a visual feast for the eyes.

In a normal shop, you see ever changing products in the front window each time you pass by to entice you in, not wordy descriptions to tell you whats inside. Also, is it possible to programme something that looks and works like the card spinners you get in shops? might give more of a shopping feel?

The very wordy block of catagories could each have a page for holidays, or birthdays etc as I think there are too many words for one page. Personaly, on the home page I would like to see more cards to click on, and the search box with perhaps a few helpful guidelines, thats about it.

On our own storefronts, is there a possibility of having a box where we can name our ranges and these are links that bring up all our cards within that range. I have 3 ranges at the moment, 'holly and robin', 'the sunshine gang' and 'flower buddies', all are characters I have created initially for cards but with possible licensing potential. Within the ranges I am slowly trying to cover lots of the gcu catagories, and I use the range name in the keywords for the images. This is so that in the bulletin box I write a little about each range and also state that keying in the the sunshine gang for example will bring up all the images/cards within that range, which it does.

Just a few thoughts, I'll post it now, later re-read it , then realise I'm not making sense. or someone has already said the same. Appologies in advance. . .
Les.

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Leslie Stones:
http://artist.greetingcarduniverse.com/lesliestones

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Leslie_134775 Junior Member artist Posts: 67	Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look for site Reply #80 - Sep 28^th, 2008, 11:05am - just read again the bit about pcards, and think it a good idea. Les
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nicole_133673

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Posts: 118

Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look for site
Reply #81 - Sep 28^th, 2008, 11:31am

Lesile,

Spoken like a true artist, unfortunately SEOs do not think like an artist (which through MANY trial and errors I figured out) word heavy pages are good, they help you get ranked higher if you use the correct ones and the correct phrases - images however do not, even with the ALT tag. Too many images and the website ranks lower. people who have slow connections will not wait for images to load and leave (I am one of them being on dial up so I know that for a fact). That is why keywords are so important when tagging your work, the search engines do not see your image only the words connected to it (also too many keywords or meta tags and your rank lowers) The whole thing is a delicate balance.

Google has a wonderful webmaster site that helps people improve their websites.
It also performs diagnostics for you telling you if you are too image heavy, too many or not enough keywords etc.

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/dashboard?hl=en

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Leslie_134775

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Posts: 67

Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look for site
Reply #82 - Sep 28^th, 2008, 12:20pm

Thanks Nicole - I didn't realise.
With limited computer skills I set up my own site www.lesliestones.co.uk using dreamweaver. I come top if you key leslie stones into google, but nowhere to be seen if you key in anything like cat prints etc. Now I know why, I'll take a look at the google thingy you mention. Hard to divide time between that spent at the computer and at the easel.

The pages look beter with more images less words, but I agree that is no use if no one will get to see them.
thanks,
Les.

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Leslie Stones:
http://artist.greetingcarduniverse.com/lesliestones

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Mindy GCU Administrator Community Manager Posts: 6566 Gender:	Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look Reply #83 - Oct 3^rd, 2008, 2:17pm Hmm, no one has mentioned shopper testimonials Do you pay attention to these or are you influenced by these when you shop online?
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Leslie_134775 Junior Member artist Posts: 67	Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look for site Reply #84 - Oct 3^rd, 2008, 2:26pm Hi Mindy, where are shopper testimonials - my one and only shopper didn't leave one so where would I take a peep to see what they say. Are they about individual stores or their expierience about gcu as a whole? Should I allready know about these? If so, appologies. Les
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Mindy

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Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look
Reply #85 - Oct 3^rd, 2008, 3:37pm

Quote from Leslie_134775 on Oct 3^rd, 2008, 2:26pm:

Hi Mindy,
where are shopper testimonials - my one and only shopper didn't leave one so where would I take a peep to see what they say. Are they about individual stores or their expierience about gcu as a whole? Should I allready know about these?
If so, appologies.
Les

These are testimonials we receive from the site feedback. They are usually about the site & service in general but sometimes about a specific card or artist.

We have some for reminder service testimonials on our other sites, see lower right hand column under Customer Reviews on: www.BigDates.com

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Leslie_134775 Junior Member artist Posts: 67	Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look for site Reply #86 - Oct 3^rd, 2008, 4:03pm Thanks Mindy, those customers all seemed to be great fans of the reminder service! Must be good if they tell friends the same, word of mouth must be a good way to get noticed. Is there a similar thing on the gcu site, I havn't noticed, but I'm still finding my way around. Les
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Mindy

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Posts: 6566
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Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look
Reply #87 - Oct 9^th, 2008, 1:34pm

Quote from Leslie_134775 on Oct 3^rd, 2008, 4:03pm:

Thanks Mindy,
those customers all seemed to be great fans of the reminder service! Must be good if they tell friends the same, word of mouth must be a good way to get noticed. Is there a similar thing on the gcu site, I havn't noticed, but I'm still finding my way around.
Les

We have lots of wonderful artist testimonials here on GCU:
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/community/art_welcome.asp

but no card buyers yet. We will put these into the new plan.

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Mary__137064

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Posts: 515

Re: Nasser asked: feedback on new look for site
Reply #88 - Feb 26^th, 2010, 7:29am

Besides convenience, the one thing I love is that I can keep all the paper cards I have been sent.
For the sentiment, the beauty and reference to how styles change, and hold them in my hand and
think about the person who sent it to me. I don't tend to do any of that with ecards which are
much more of and in the moment.

Bright

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