GCU Forum - Store Owner Tip...

Doreen_137017

Gold Member
artist

Posts: 5273

Store Owner Tip...
Dec 14^th, 2010, 6:11pm

As someone who regularly promotes other artist's work on GCU and on other sites, I wanted to mention two things many don't think about at the time of creation...

Store name: When you open a store, it is a real turn off to those of us who share your store link on our sites to have a number that was assigned like a prison suit as your URL Grin

I would encourage you to choose a name for your AND

Use proper Capitalization on your URL store name AND any place that shows your name or store ... such as GCU under the cards. This is for display, to capture attention, to make a statement about your work and lower caps, or numbers look unprofessional and may be ignored by some embarrassed

I am surprised by how many have their name as by doreen erhardt rather than by Doreen Erhardt

Just food for thought!

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Kathleen_137290

Senior Member
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Posts: 498

Re: Store Owner Tip...
Reply #1 - Dec 14^th, 2010, 6:43pm

You are so right Doreen. My studio, over 20 years ago, was Anura Designs. Then when I went on the internet, I could not get that name so changed it to Anura Design Studio. At the time, did not have someone to give me sage advice like you and thought I could not use capitals. AnuraDesignStudio would have been so much better than anuradesignstudio for my URL. To those of you just starting out, be sure to heed Doreen's good advice.

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Anura Design Studio:
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Elizabeth_137795 Gold Member artist Posts: 724	Re: Store Owner Tip... Reply #2 - Dec 14^th, 2010, 6:53pm Same here. I didn't realize you could use upper case on a URL store name until a couple months ago when I opened a store at another site. I do happen to sign my first name as "elizabeth"...but not in a professional setting, though. Thanks for your advice on appearing to be more professional, Elizabeth
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Doreen_137017

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artist

Posts: 5273

Re: Store Owner Tip...
Reply #3 - Dec 14^th, 2010, 7:04pm

At least at GCU you can go to your Admin Page and in the Artist Profile change your display name, so when someone (like me) grabs the Sell This Card button, your display name whether set for store or name will be in proper caps

I think you might even be able to change your URL to proper Caps in the Store Settings. Hopefully Shaun will help us with that one.

And for those of you who have signed up with a random number and want to change your URL to your store name, I think that can be done through tech support. If anyone wants to do that post here and we'll see if we can catch Shaun and ask him if this is possible.

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Elizabeth_137795

Gold Member
artist

Posts: 724

Re: Store Owner Tip...
Reply #4 - Dec 14^th, 2010, 8:18pm

Yippeeeee....I did it! Okay, here's how to change your stores with upper/lower case.

Store Name: Look and Design > Store Settings > Name of Store: You can reset your Store Name.

URL: Look and Design > Store Settings > Store URL: Change your store URL with the proper upper/lower case.

Image By: Your name, which is seen under each card can be changed in Global Preferences (under Images and Cards), including all existing cards.

Don't forget to SAVE CHANGES after each setting.

Good luck

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ElizDesigns:
http://artist.greetingcarduniverse.com/ElizDesigns

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Doreen_137017 Gold Member artist Posts: 5273	Re: Store Owner Tip... Reply #5 - Dec 14^th, 2010, 8:30pm Yippee Elizabeth! I admire your courage! Wow that looks good
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Elizabeth_137795 Gold Member artist Posts: 724	Re: Store Owner Tip... Reply #6 - Dec 14^th, 2010, 8:33pm No problem (she says after much trial and error)
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DENISE_132110

Gold Member
artist

Posts: 769

Re: Store Owner Tip...
Reply #7 - Dec 15^th, 2010, 1:21am

mine is such a mix... some places it is upper and lower, some places all lower. i usually sign my name lower case on my artwork, and have my db visual arts in lower case. but on my business cards its upper case on some pods a mix.

i cannot seem to settle into one look and one set way of doing things. my logo has changed many many times. i tried the other day to make a whole new one..but didn't like it. my son who is a stickler for proper grammar and punctuation is continually saddened by the fact that i use lower case.

i don't know, i think some of it has to do with feeling i have earned my "stripes" so to speak... when i feel like i have done it... i will settle into an identity. it took awhile to settle into db visual arts, let alone a logo... i need to brand myself i know but its hard settling when you are an OCD person.. Roll Eyes

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Sandra_133229 Gold Member artist Posts: 787	Re: Store Owner Tip... Reply #8 - Dec 15^th, 2010, 2:37am I just changed mine too, and am so glad you brought this issue up and the solution, Elizabeth. GCU may want to look at their name...
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Tom_133317 Gold Member artist Posts: 2169	Re: Store Owner Tip... Reply #9 - Dec 15^th, 2010, 4:56am Gosh, you people are brilliant! My "by" name is OK but I did change my URL from: comicalcaptions to ComicalCaptions Thanks for the great idea! Stands out nicely. Turns out URLs are not case sensitive ... I'm not sure I ever really knew that.
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Pamela_135500

Gold Member
artist

Posts: 1945

Re: Store Owner Tip...
Reply #10 - Dec 15^th, 2010, 5:01am

Thanks Doreen,

As you can see from my logo the uppercase letters are part of my design, I had not noticed I was all lowercase in my url. Where was I Grin

I changed it, now if I could just change a store name at the other place Wink

I have a question Doreen

Do you know if the search engines pay any attention to upper or lowercase changes in something like this? undecided

Having fun with smileys today!
Pamela

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PamJArts:
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Prisiclla_134572 Senior Member artist Posts: 294	Re: Store Owner Tip... Reply #11 - Dec 15^th, 2010, 5:21am Doreen, thanks so very much for the helpful hint. I went in and changed my URL to capitalize each word!
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Doreen_137017

Gold Member
artist

Posts: 5273

Re: Store Owner Tip...
Reply #12 - Dec 15^th, 2010, 8:05am

Quote from Pamela_135500 on Dec 15^th, 2010, 5:01am:

Thanks Doreen,

As you can see from my logo the uppercase letters are part of my design, I had not noticed I was all lowercase in my url. Where was I Grin

I changed it, now if I could just change a store name at the other place Wink

I have a question Doreen

Do you know if the search engines pay any attention to upper or lowercase changes in something like this? undecided

Having fun with smileys today!
Pamela

Hi Pamela,

I believe...not positive...but I believe this answer is No search engines are not case sensitive. Just for grins, I typed my name into google first without caps, then with proper caps and the results were identical for both. I did the same using Christmas Cat in the GCU search engine, first with caps, then without and again the results were the same.

WOW...you folks are looking good

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Salon of Art:
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/SalonOfArt

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Pamela_135500 Gold Member artist Posts: 1945	Re: Store Owner Tip... Reply #13 - Dec 15^th, 2010, 8:14am Thanks Doreen I tried a few things too and it seemed to yield the same results, but I wondered if you had come across this in your experience with SEO. I appreciate the input. Pamela
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Rachel__144130

Full Member
artist

Posts: 136

Re: Store Owner Tip...
Reply #14 - Dec 15^th, 2010, 3:10pm

Hey Doreen,

Thanks so much for the tip!!! Bits of info like this is great for us relatively new to CGU.

Just thought i'd say a quick thank you for all of your suggestions over the past few months which have helped me personally. The fact that you take the time to help out others is so lovely and a lot of people benefit from and appreciate it.

Wishing you a very happy Christmas

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