GCU Forum - In serious need of help

Jane_144775

Ex Member

In serious need of help
Mar 18^th, 2011, 6:14pm

Hi! I'm a real newbie here, I work full time plus and I need serious help with my store front and cards. I see so many other stores that look great. Can a few of you please look at my store and give me honest feedback and how to improve my store front and cards. I'm not getting any sales either embarrassed

Also, I have a Facebook account so I am clicking "like" on each store I visit here so you get more exposure - can you please return the favor? Thank you in advance for your help

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JMDykstra Photography:
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/JMDykstraPhotography

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Emily_138045

Junior Member
artist

Posts: 59

Re: In serious need of help
Reply #1 - Mar 18^th, 2011, 6:27pm

Jane, I see you only started in September 2010 -- you are VERY new! It's not so unusual that you don't have many sales yet. Your banner is very pretty and eye catching, but you should come up with a name for your store. The color scheme is very pleasing. Your card designs are great -- I love the picture within a picture designs. I like the way your store looks.

Try to remember that there are over 400,000 cards on this site -- I'm always amazed if anyone buys one of my cards, simply because of the volume out there. I find that sales pick up with a major holiday. Wait and see if you sell any Easter or Mother's Day cards. You can always email everyone you know and tell them how convenient it is to shop for cards from the comfort of their computer and provide the link to your store. Put your large family to work for you!

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http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/emilysimagerycardstore

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Trish_136241

Senior Member
artist

Posts: 440

Re: In serious need of help
Reply #2 - Mar 18^th, 2011, 6:29pm

I LOVE your store! I think the banner is very very nice but I would add your store name to it as well. Your cards are beautiful! I know it takes time to be found by buyers. I would encourage you to add all the cards you can. The bigger the store, the better. Also, there is no need to add greeting card to your titles. Thats a given. Don't get discouraged. I never thought I would sell any, but I have and it is an awesome feeling! You're going to do well here, just keep putting the word out.

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Bow N Ranch:
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Doreen_137017

Gold Member
artist

Posts: 5273

Re: In serious need of help
Reply #3 - Mar 18^th, 2011, 6:46pm

Hello Jane!

You do have a lovely start to your store. I agree with Emily's advice on the banner including a store name. I would also suggest you create a logo for the back of your cards rather than a picture of you...that's just my personal preference. A business logo is something people get to know and recognize when they see it, therefore associating it with your business. It's a more professional look in my opinion, but that is only my opinion Grin

Work on a Welcome message to replace the the generic message on that sits under your store banner. As already mentioned, it takes time to be found. Other than time, it takes a fair amount of marketing to get yourself found out there. In addition to the 400,000+ cards on GCU, there are millions of competitors outside of GCU.

Corrie Kuipers is one of the best sellers on this site and she has a few Squidoo lens where she shares some good advice about getting found and selling online. Though I don't remember all the links, you can get to them all from this lens of hers:

http://www.squidoo.com/GCU101

p.s. I posted on my FB page your New Baby Girl card...so sweet

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

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Jane_144775

Ex Member

Re: In serious need of help
Reply #4 - Mar 18^th, 2011, 7:00pm

Thank you Emily, Trish and Doreen! I work on a computer every day but you would think I could figure my way around this site - not so much! LOL! Most of my time on here is late at night so my brain is not functioning at full capacity either Wink

I am working on my site while reading this. I like the suggestion of a logo instead of the photo on the back of the cards and the name in my banner.

Trish you mentioned not adding greeting card to my titles - I'm not sure how I'm doing this. Do you mean the titles to my cards?

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JMDykstra Photography:
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/JMDykstraPhotography

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Rachel__144130

Full Member
artist

Posts: 136

Re: In serious need of help
Reply #5 - Mar 18^th, 2011, 9:13pm

Hey Jane,

Firstly, great store! You have a great selection of cards already

I really like your banner, and I am a bit of a purple fan so I like your colour theme too. My only suggestion would be perhaps using a lighter shade of purple for the background so that the colour of your side banners is darker than the background and may stand out more?

But as I said, I think your store front looks fantastic - best of luck

Rachel xox

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http://artist.greetingcarduniverse.com/graphicallsortzcardstore

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Jane_144775 Ex Member	Re: In serious need of help Reply #6 - Mar 18^th, 2011, 9:38pm Good idea Rachel! Thank you
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Celia_143184

GCU Newbies
artist

Posts: 17

Re: In serious need of help
Reply #7 - Mar 19^th, 2011, 2:31am

Hi Jane, I really love your site. I was going to offer to desig a 'name' for your site but I see you've already done that. What I really find wonerful about your site (besides the fantastic photography, are your verses), I can never think of something nice, so mostly leave mine blank.

Well done and keep it going just the way you are, I predict loads of sales soon.

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FunAttic New Image Card Store:
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/funatticcardstore

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