Test Your Greeting Card Market
In my last post I showed you a way to spy on your competition and see what they are doing to sell their greeting cards.
Today we're going to look at ways to test your market.
Have you heard the story about the two Fishermen who were fishing on the same big lake.
One Fisherman was catching lots of big fish while the other Fisherman on the other side of the lake wasn't catching a thing.
What was this Fisherman doing wrong? He is fishing in the same lake as the other Fisherman, at the same time of day, using the same boat and fishing tackle.
What is the successful Fisherman's secret?
He knows exactly what part of the lake the biggest and most fish are and he also knows what bait they are attracted to.
This Fisherman has tested different types of bait in different parts of the lake and now, from that testing he knows that each time he goes to the lake to fish his is guaranteed to catch a fish or two or three.
Do you see where I'm going with this?
The same thing applies in business. The big market out there is just like the lake, its full of people looking for products to buy but you need to find where your market is then try out different types of bait on it until you find what it is they bite onto.
So this is what you do.
Go out and approach some businesses that some how are related to the types of cards you sell, for example, a Wedding Photogapher.
Let's say you make Wedding invitations and thank you cards. A Wedding Photographer would be a great place to start because his market is also your market.
So what you can do is set up a "voucher" system. The Photographer simply has a big pile of your "vouchers" he can give out to his customers and prospective customers when they come into meet with him/her.
This voucher offers a free gift ... free Thank You Cards with each order of Invitations (let your mind run free with ideas!), and then include your contact info.
But each voucher also contains a code which is unique to the store.
When they present the voucher to you, you can see this code. Which means if the person presenting the voucher to you becomes a paying customer, you give the Photographer an agreed percentage of the sale.
See, the great thing about this strategy is that you only pay AFTER you have a client. Which is better than paying up front for advertising when you don't even know if it will work!
It's called an "endorsement." And could send a flood of potential customers your way in no time at all.
Of course, I reveal all the tips and techniques about how you can explode your sales in "How To Start Your Own Greeting Card Business".
If you're serious about making some money from your favorite hobby, you couldn't ask for a better opportunity than this. Grab your copy now and get started.
Talk Soon
David W. Allen
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Friday, November 10, 2006
Greeting Card Business Tip
Greeting Card Business Tip
Here's a real sneaky tip for marketing your greeting card business.
Here's another tip to get you started.
"Find Out What Your Competition is Doing"
In my last post I showed you a way to find your greeting card market.
Knowing your customer intimately is the first step to easy sales. Until you know (1) who your customers are, (2) what they want, and (3) what motivates them to buy, you can't prepare an effective strategy to sell your cards.
Today we're going to spy on your competition.
Using the information you gathered form our last lesson we are going to go out and take a look at what your competition is doing.
A great way to sell your greeting cards is to find out what your competition is offering then find a way to do it better and make your cards more appealing to your market.
How do you do this?
Simple: You go to one of the major search engines like Google and type in the search terms you listed yesterday that relate to the market you are targeting, and start searching.
Now go through some of the top listed websites and see what they are doing, what types of cards are they offering and the prices they charge.
This will take a little leg work but it will pay off in the long run. I would also recommend you bookmark the sites that are doing what you want to do so you can come back to them later.
The good news is there is a piece of software called WebFerret that is fr~ee that will go out and search and find all the websites that relate to the search term you are looking for.
I suggest you go and get a copy at: http://www.ferretsoft.com/index.html
There is a paid version for only $29.95 that will give you all the features of the software.
This is such a time saver.
So go and start spying on your competition now and you will be amazed at what you find and the ideas you get from others.
Doing this bit of work in the beginning will pay off in the long run - trust me.
Of course, I reveal all the tips and techniques about how you can explode your sales in "How To Start Your Own Greeting Card Business" - available at:
http://www.greetingcardprofits.com/greetingcardbusiness.html
If you're serious about making some mo~ney from your favourite hobby, you couldn't ask for a better opportunity than this. Grab your copy now and get started.
http://www.greetingcardprofits.com/greetingcardbusiness.html
Talk Soon
David W. Allen
Here's a real sneaky tip for marketing your greeting card business.
Here's another tip to get you started.
"Find Out What Your Competition is Doing"
In my last post I showed you a way to find your greeting card market.
Knowing your customer intimately is the first step to easy sales. Until you know (1) who your customers are, (2) what they want, and (3) what motivates them to buy, you can't prepare an effective strategy to sell your cards.
Today we're going to spy on your competition.
Using the information you gathered form our last lesson we are going to go out and take a look at what your competition is doing.
A great way to sell your greeting cards is to find out what your competition is offering then find a way to do it better and make your cards more appealing to your market.
How do you do this?
Simple: You go to one of the major search engines like Google and type in the search terms you listed yesterday that relate to the market you are targeting, and start searching.
Now go through some of the top listed websites and see what they are doing, what types of cards are they offering and the prices they charge.
This will take a little leg work but it will pay off in the long run. I would also recommend you bookmark the sites that are doing what you want to do so you can come back to them later.
The good news is there is a piece of software called WebFerret that is fr~ee that will go out and search and find all the websites that relate to the search term you are looking for.
I suggest you go and get a copy at: http://www.ferretsoft.com/index.html
There is a paid version for only $29.95 that will give you all the features of the software.
This is such a time saver.
So go and start spying on your competition now and you will be amazed at what you find and the ideas you get from others.
Doing this bit of work in the beginning will pay off in the long run - trust me.
Of course, I reveal all the tips and techniques about how you can explode your sales in "How To Start Your Own Greeting Card Business" - available at:
http://www.greetingcardprofits.com/greetingcardbusiness.html
If you're serious about making some mo~ney from your favourite hobby, you couldn't ask for a better opportunity than this. Grab your copy now and get started.
http://www.greetingcardprofits.com/greetingcardbusiness.html
Talk Soon
David W. Allen
Monday, November 06, 2006
Find A Hungry Greeting Card Market
"Find A Hungry Market And Find Your Pot Of Gold"
You obviously love making greeting cards. But wouldn't it be great to actually earn an income from your favourite hobby? Doing what you love?
Here's a tip to get you started:
"Find A Hungry Market And Find Your Pot Of Gold"
If you have been trying to se~ll your greeting cards already but you just can't get any sa~les or enough to live the comfortable lifestyle you dream of, then the reason for this is simple: You're probably doing what 90% of other struggling businesses are doing - shooting in the dark and hoping to find a customer.
This is why the vast majority of marketing efforts fail!
Do you know where your market is?
If you have experience in making greeting cards, all you have to do in order to start getting customers is to find a market. How?
I'm glad you asked.
Simply this: The chea~pest way to find out if their is a market hungry for your greeting cards is the Internet. Go to this website: http://inventory.overture.com and start typing in terms that relate to the types of greeting cards you are trying to se~ll.
This fr~ee tool will give you a list of search terms people have been typing into the Overture search engines in the past month.
If you find no one is searching for greeting cards then you're in trouble but I did a test on the term 'Greeting Cards' and the results were amazing - 316,770 people searched for this term in July 2006,and this is only on the Overture search engines, this doesn't include Google.
Is that what you've been looking for?
Someone to se~ll your cards too? Well there is definatly a market out there for you, you just have to know where to find them and then and only then can you get the mon~ey.
Of course, I reveal more tips and techniques about how you can explode your sa~les in "How To Start Your Own Greeting Card Business" - available at:
http://www.greetingcardprofits.com/greetingcardbusinessb.html
If you're serious about making some mo~ney from your favourite hobby, you couldn't ask for a better opportunity than this. Grab your copy now and get started.
http://www.greetingcardprofits.com/greetingcardbusinessb.html
Talk Soon
David W. Allen
You obviously love making greeting cards. But wouldn't it be great to actually earn an income from your favourite hobby? Doing what you love?
Here's a tip to get you started:
"Find A Hungry Market And Find Your Pot Of Gold"
If you have been trying to se~ll your greeting cards already but you just can't get any sa~les or enough to live the comfortable lifestyle you dream of, then the reason for this is simple: You're probably doing what 90% of other struggling businesses are doing - shooting in the dark and hoping to find a customer.
This is why the vast majority of marketing efforts fail!
Do you know where your market is?
If you have experience in making greeting cards, all you have to do in order to start getting customers is to find a market. How?
I'm glad you asked.
Simply this: The chea~pest way to find out if their is a market hungry for your greeting cards is the Internet. Go to this website: http://inventory.overture.com and start typing in terms that relate to the types of greeting cards you are trying to se~ll.
This fr~ee tool will give you a list of search terms people have been typing into the Overture search engines in the past month.
If you find no one is searching for greeting cards then you're in trouble but I did a test on the term 'Greeting Cards' and the results were amazing - 316,770 people searched for this term in July 2006,and this is only on the Overture search engines, this doesn't include Google.
Is that what you've been looking for?
Someone to se~ll your cards too? Well there is definatly a market out there for you, you just have to know where to find them and then and only then can you get the mon~ey.
Of course, I reveal more tips and techniques about how you can explode your sa~les in "How To Start Your Own Greeting Card Business" - available at:
http://www.greetingcardprofits.com/greetingcardbusinessb.html
If you're serious about making some mo~ney from your favourite hobby, you couldn't ask for a better opportunity than this. Grab your copy now and get started.
http://www.greetingcardprofits.com/greetingcardbusinessb.html
Talk Soon
David W. Allen
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Give Away Free Greeting Card Samples
Give Away Free Greeting Card Samples
Yes you read correctly - Free Samples
If you have had some experience in making greeting cards then all you have to do to start getting some customers is to give some of your cards away.
Why?
Simple: While you'd rather charge for your greeting cards, what you're really doing is investing in your skill. See, in return for giving away some free cards, you ask for a testimonial from each customer.
Is that really worth it?
Sure. Once people can see proof that the cards you are making are great quality you will find your paid work will increase dramatically.
Testimonials (written recommendations) provide proof that you can do what you say you can.
For instance, what if you had a testimonial like this:
" David did a fantastic job of my wedding invitations. Every guest at the wedding make a point of how beautiful they were. Book her while you can, because once more people find out about her level of creativity and quality, she's bound to be booked out for months."
Jane Smith, Los Angeles, CA
See how powerful that is?
A collection of testimonials like that is worth thousands of dollars to you in sales down the track. That's why giving away some cards for testimonials is such a good idea.
Of course, I reveal all the tips and techniques about how you can explode your sales in "How To Start Your Own Greeting Card Business".
If you're serious about making some money from your favorite hobby, you couldn't ask for a better opportunity than this. Grab your copy now and get started.
Talk Soon
David W. Allen
Yes you read correctly - Free Samples
If you have had some experience in making greeting cards then all you have to do to start getting some customers is to give some of your cards away.
Why?
Simple: While you'd rather charge for your greeting cards, what you're really doing is investing in your skill. See, in return for giving away some free cards, you ask for a testimonial from each customer.
Is that really worth it?
Sure. Once people can see proof that the cards you are making are great quality you will find your paid work will increase dramatically.
Testimonials (written recommendations) provide proof that you can do what you say you can.
For instance, what if you had a testimonial like this:
" David did a fantastic job of my wedding invitations. Every guest at the wedding make a point of how beautiful they were. Book her while you can, because once more people find out about her level of creativity and quality, she's bound to be booked out for months."
Jane Smith, Los Angeles, CA
See how powerful that is?
A collection of testimonials like that is worth thousands of dollars to you in sales down the track. That's why giving away some cards for testimonials is such a good idea.
Of course, I reveal all the tips and techniques about how you can explode your sales in "How To Start Your Own Greeting Card Business".
If you're serious about making some money from your favorite hobby, you couldn't ask for a better opportunity than this. Grab your copy now and get started.
Talk Soon
David W. Allen
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Test Your Greeting Card Market
Test Your Greeting Card Market
In yesterdays post I showed you a way to spy on your competition and see what they are doing to sell their greeting cards.
Today we're going to look at ways to test your market.
Have you heard the story about the two Fishermen who were fishing on the same big lake.
One Fisherman was catching lots of big fish while the other Fisherman on the other side of the lake wasn't catching a thing.
What was this Fisherman doing wrong? He is fishing in the same lake as the other Fisherman, at the same time of day, using the same boat and fishing tackle.
What is the successful Fisherman's secret?
He knows exactly what part of the lake the biggest and most fish are and he also knows what bait they are attracted to.
This Fisherman has tested different types of bait in different parts of the lake and now, from that testing he knows that each time he goes to the lake to fish his is guaranteed to catch a fish or two or three.
Do you see where I'm going with this?
The same thing applies in business. The big market out there is just like the lake, its full of people looking for products to buy but you need to find where your market is then try out different types of bait on it until you find what it is they bite onto.
So this is what you do.
Go out and approach some businesses that some how are related to the types of cards you sell, for example, a Wedding Photogapher.
Let's say you make Wedding invitations and thank you cards. A Wedding Photographer would be a great place to start because his market is also your market.
So what you can do is set up a "voucher" system. The Photographer simply has a big pile of your "vouchers" he can give out to his customers and prospective customers when they come into meet with him/her.
This voucher offers a free gift ... free Thank You Cards with each order of Invitations (let your mind run free with ideas!), and then include your contact info.
But each voucher also contains a code which is unique to the store.
When they present the voucher to you, you can see this code. Which means if the person presenting the voucher to you becomes a paying customer, you give the Photographer an agreed percentage of the sale.
See, the great thing about this strategy is that you only pay AFTER you have a client. Which is better than paying up front for advertising when you don't even know if it will work!
It's called an "endorsement." And could send a flood of potential customers your way in no time at all.
Of course, I reveal all the tips and techniques about how you can explode your sales in "How To Start Your Own Greeting Card Business".
If you're serious about making some money from your favorite hobby, you couldn't ask for a better opportunity than this. Grab your copy now and get started.
Oh yeah, here is a pic of my new book. I know, but I feel like a proud Father at the moment.
Talk Soon
David W. Allen
In yesterdays post I showed you a way to spy on your competition and see what they are doing to sell their greeting cards.
Today we're going to look at ways to test your market.
Have you heard the story about the two Fishermen who were fishing on the same big lake.
One Fisherman was catching lots of big fish while the other Fisherman on the other side of the lake wasn't catching a thing.
What was this Fisherman doing wrong? He is fishing in the same lake as the other Fisherman, at the same time of day, using the same boat and fishing tackle.
What is the successful Fisherman's secret?
He knows exactly what part of the lake the biggest and most fish are and he also knows what bait they are attracted to.
This Fisherman has tested different types of bait in different parts of the lake and now, from that testing he knows that each time he goes to the lake to fish his is guaranteed to catch a fish or two or three.
Do you see where I'm going with this?
The same thing applies in business. The big market out there is just like the lake, its full of people looking for products to buy but you need to find where your market is then try out different types of bait on it until you find what it is they bite onto.
So this is what you do.
Go out and approach some businesses that some how are related to the types of cards you sell, for example, a Wedding Photogapher.
Let's say you make Wedding invitations and thank you cards. A Wedding Photographer would be a great place to start because his market is also your market.
So what you can do is set up a "voucher" system. The Photographer simply has a big pile of your "vouchers" he can give out to his customers and prospective customers when they come into meet with him/her.
This voucher offers a free gift ... free Thank You Cards with each order of Invitations (let your mind run free with ideas!), and then include your contact info.
But each voucher also contains a code which is unique to the store.
When they present the voucher to you, you can see this code. Which means if the person presenting the voucher to you becomes a paying customer, you give the Photographer an agreed percentage of the sale.
See, the great thing about this strategy is that you only pay AFTER you have a client. Which is better than paying up front for advertising when you don't even know if it will work!
It's called an "endorsement." And could send a flood of potential customers your way in no time at all.
Of course, I reveal all the tips and techniques about how you can explode your sales in "How To Start Your Own Greeting Card Business".
If you're serious about making some money from your favorite hobby, you couldn't ask for a better opportunity than this. Grab your copy now and get started.
Oh yeah, here is a pic of my new book. I know, but I feel like a proud Father at the moment.
Talk Soon
David W. Allen
Find Out What Your Competition is Doing
Find Out What Your Competition is Doing
In yesterdays post I showed you a way to find your market.
Knowing your customer intimately is the first step to easy sales. Until you know (1) who your customers are, (2) what they want, and (3) what motivates them to buy, you can't prepare an effective strategy to sell your greeting cards.
Today we're going to spy on your competition.
Using the information you gathered yesterday we are going to go out and take a look at what your competition is doing.
A great way to sell your greeting cards is to find out what your competition is offering then find a way to do it better and make your cards more appealing to your market.
How do you do this?
Simple: You go to one of the major search engines like Google and type in the search terms you listed yesterday that relate to the market, greeting cards, you are targeting, and start searching.
Now go through some of the top listed websites and see what they are doing, what types of cards are they offering and the prices they charge.
This will take a little leg work but it will pay off in the long run. I would also recommend you bookmark the sites that are doing what you want to do so you can come back to them later.
The good news is there is a piece of software called WebFerret that is free that will go out and search and find all the websites that relate to the search term you are looking for.
I suggest you go and get a copy at:http://www.ferretsoft.com/index.html
There is a paid version for only $29.95 that will give you all the features of the software.
This is such a time saver.
So go and start spying on your competition now and you will be amazed at what you find and the ideas you get from others.
Doing this bit of work in the beginning will pay off in the long run - trust me.
Of course, I reveal all the tips and techniques about how you can explode your sales in "How To Start Your Own Greeting Card Business" - available at:
http://www.greetingcardprofits.com/greetingcardbusiness.html
If you're serious about making some mo~ney from your favourite hobby, you couldn't ask for a better opportunity than this. Grab your copy now and get started. http://www.greetingcardprofits.com/greetingcardbusiness.html
Talk Soon
David W. Allen
In yesterdays post I showed you a way to find your market.
Knowing your customer intimately is the first step to easy sales. Until you know (1) who your customers are, (2) what they want, and (3) what motivates them to buy, you can't prepare an effective strategy to sell your greeting cards.
Today we're going to spy on your competition.
Using the information you gathered yesterday we are going to go out and take a look at what your competition is doing.
A great way to sell your greeting cards is to find out what your competition is offering then find a way to do it better and make your cards more appealing to your market.
How do you do this?
Simple: You go to one of the major search engines like Google and type in the search terms you listed yesterday that relate to the market, greeting cards, you are targeting, and start searching.
Now go through some of the top listed websites and see what they are doing, what types of cards are they offering and the prices they charge.
This will take a little leg work but it will pay off in the long run. I would also recommend you bookmark the sites that are doing what you want to do so you can come back to them later.
The good news is there is a piece of software called WebFerret that is free that will go out and search and find all the websites that relate to the search term you are looking for.
I suggest you go and get a copy at:http://www.ferretsoft.com/index.html
There is a paid version for only $29.95 that will give you all the features of the software.
This is such a time saver.
So go and start spying on your competition now and you will be amazed at what you find and the ideas you get from others.
Doing this bit of work in the beginning will pay off in the long run - trust me.
Of course, I reveal all the tips and techniques about how you can explode your sales in "How To Start Your Own Greeting Card Business" - available at:
http://www.greetingcardprofits.com/greetingcardbusiness.html
If you're serious about making some mo~ney from your favourite hobby, you couldn't ask for a better opportunity than this. Grab your copy now and get started. http://www.greetingcardprofits.com/greetingcardbusiness.html
Talk Soon
David W. Allen
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Find A Hungry Greeting Card Market
Find A Hungry Greeting Card Market
If you have been trying to sell your greeting cards already but you just can't get any sales or enough to live the comfortable lifestyle you dream of, then the reason for this is simple: You're probably doing what 90% of other struggling businesses are doing - shooting in the dark and hoping to find a customer.
This is why the vast majority of marketing efforts fail!
You don't know where your market is!
If you have experience in making greeting cards, all you have to do in order to start getting customers is to find a market.
How?
I'm glad you asked.
Simply this: The cheapest way to find out if their is a market hungry for your greeting cards is the Internet. Go to this website: http://inventory.overture.com and start typing in terms that relate to the types of greeting cards you are trying to sell.
This free tool will give you a list of search terms people have been typing into the search engines in the past month.
If you find no one is searching for greeting cards then you're in trouble but I did a test on the term 'Greeting Cards' and the results were amazing - 316,770 people searched for this term in July 2006,and this is only on the Overture search engines, this doesn't include Google.
Is that what you've been looking for?
So what now?
Go through the search terms and find the ones that relate to your type of cards for example: Wedding Cards, Photo Greeting Cards, Sexy Greeting Cards - Yes, this will stimulate your creative juices that's for sure.
The real money is in finding a small niche, don't try and sell to the most popular market because there will be a lot more competition.
See how powerful that is?
If you find a small niche market and give it what it wants you will make more sales than you can handle. This is a proven formula that works!
Of course, I reveal more tips and techniques about how you can explode your sales in "How To Start Your Own Greeting Card Business" - available at:
http://www.greetingcardprofits.com/greetingcardbusiness.html
If you're serious about making some money from your favorite hobby, you couldn't ask for a better opportunity than this. Grab your copy now and get started.
Talk Soon
David W. Allen
If you have been trying to sell your greeting cards already but you just can't get any sales or enough to live the comfortable lifestyle you dream of, then the reason for this is simple: You're probably doing what 90% of other struggling businesses are doing - shooting in the dark and hoping to find a customer.
This is why the vast majority of marketing efforts fail!
You don't know where your market is!
If you have experience in making greeting cards, all you have to do in order to start getting customers is to find a market.
How?
I'm glad you asked.
Simply this: The cheapest way to find out if their is a market hungry for your greeting cards is the Internet. Go to this website: http://inventory.overture.com and start typing in terms that relate to the types of greeting cards you are trying to sell.
This free tool will give you a list of search terms people have been typing into the search engines in the past month.
If you find no one is searching for greeting cards then you're in trouble but I did a test on the term 'Greeting Cards' and the results were amazing - 316,770 people searched for this term in July 2006,and this is only on the Overture search engines, this doesn't include Google.
Is that what you've been looking for?
So what now?
Go through the search terms and find the ones that relate to your type of cards for example: Wedding Cards, Photo Greeting Cards, Sexy Greeting Cards - Yes, this will stimulate your creative juices that's for sure.
The real money is in finding a small niche, don't try and sell to the most popular market because there will be a lot more competition.
See how powerful that is?
If you find a small niche market and give it what it wants you will make more sales than you can handle. This is a proven formula that works!
Of course, I reveal more tips and techniques about how you can explode your sales in "How To Start Your Own Greeting Card Business" - available at:
http://www.greetingcardprofits.com/greetingcardbusiness.html
If you're serious about making some money from your favorite hobby, you couldn't ask for a better opportunity than this. Grab your copy now and get started.
Talk Soon
David W. Allen
Thursday, September 07, 2006
New Book Reveals: How To Start Your Own Greeting Card Business
How To Start Your Own Greeting Card Business
I am so excited to announce the new release of my eBook "How To Start Your Own Greeting Card Business".
It covers nearly everything you need to know about the quickest ways to start selling your greeting cards online and offline as soon as TOMORROW.
Imagine being able to work from home and get paid doing something you love. Wouldn't that be great?
And imagine being able to start your own greeting card business part-time, working from home when it suits you while still working your current job?
To find out more about how you can get your copy now just go to:http://www.greetingcardprofits.com/greetingcardbusiness.html
Oh yeah I almost forgot! I am giving away over $700.00 of FREE Bonuses to the first 50 people who buy a copy. To find out how you can get your copy and all your free bonuses just Click Here Now.
Take Care
David W. Allen
I am so excited to announce the new release of my eBook "How To Start Your Own Greeting Card Business".
It covers nearly everything you need to know about the quickest ways to start selling your greeting cards online and offline as soon as TOMORROW.
Imagine being able to work from home and get paid doing something you love. Wouldn't that be great?
And imagine being able to start your own greeting card business part-time, working from home when it suits you while still working your current job?
To find out more about how you can get your copy now just go to:http://www.greetingcardprofits.com/greetingcardbusiness.html
Oh yeah I almost forgot! I am giving away over $700.00 of FREE Bonuses to the first 50 people who buy a copy. To find out how you can get your copy and all your free bonuses just Click Here Now.
Take Care
David W. Allen
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
What!? Christmas is Just Around The Corner!
Yes I know but its true. So if you've been thinking about designing greeting cards for the festive season then now is the perfect time to take action and get those creative juices flowing.
If you have a home based business selling greeting cards then you should be putting some designs together and start promoting them and start taking orders. You don't want to leave it to the last minute and get swamped with orders.
I have just read a great article by Alison Hodges of PhotoAffections.com I recommend you read and take a look at her website, Its a great business she has there. I posted the article at my greeting card business site.
Regards
David W. Allen
If you have a home based business selling greeting cards then you should be putting some designs together and start promoting them and start taking orders. You don't want to leave it to the last minute and get swamped with orders.
I have just read a great article by Alison Hodges of PhotoAffections.com I recommend you read and take a look at her website, Its a great business she has there. I posted the article at my greeting card business site.
Regards
David W. Allen
Friday, September 01, 2006
Having a Web Site - How is it Important for a Greeting Card Business?
Having a Web Site - How is it Important for a Greeting Card Business?
A web site is not only one way you can market your business, but it is also a way that you can start your business storefront or an alternate storefront. Having a web site gives you the ability to show and sell your cards on a global scale.
It also allows you to do business 24 hours a day, seven days a week, without you having to run the storefront. Instead, you can collect orders and payments online and handle shipping during your regular working hours.
If you do not have a business web site you are simply losing money. Every day more and more people are doing business online and its increasing.
Did you know?
79% of people in Australia alone are spending online. That’s 79% of a 22Million population and its growing.
Over 2000 Australian’s are making a living on Ebay
According to Forrester Research in the USA, online spending was US$95.7 billion last year and that by 2008 they predict it to rise to US$229 billion.
Nearly 5 million new households in the US will shop online in the next 5 years.
There are 55 million households in the US already shopping online.
By 2008 there will be 63 million households in the US shopping online.
If you are serious about building a greeting card business then you need to have an online presence.
For more greeting card information go to :www.greetingcardprofits.com
A web site is not only one way you can market your business, but it is also a way that you can start your business storefront or an alternate storefront. Having a web site gives you the ability to show and sell your cards on a global scale.
It also allows you to do business 24 hours a day, seven days a week, without you having to run the storefront. Instead, you can collect orders and payments online and handle shipping during your regular working hours.
If you do not have a business web site you are simply losing money. Every day more and more people are doing business online and its increasing.
Did you know?
79% of people in Australia alone are spending online. That’s 79% of a 22Million population and its growing.
Over 2000 Australian’s are making a living on Ebay
According to Forrester Research in the USA, online spending was US$95.7 billion last year and that by 2008 they predict it to rise to US$229 billion.
Nearly 5 million new households in the US will shop online in the next 5 years.
There are 55 million households in the US already shopping online.
By 2008 there will be 63 million households in the US shopping online.
If you are serious about building a greeting card business then you need to have an online presence.
For more greeting card information go to :www.greetingcardprofits.com
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Selling Greeting Cards
Selling Greeting Cards
Making greeting cards is a world wide hobby and favorite past time, but have you ever thought about selling your greeting cards?
You would be so surprised at how many people would buy your greeting cards and one of the best places to sell them is on the internet. Go to Ebay and see for yourself.
More blogs about selling greeting cards.
Making greeting cards is a world wide hobby and favorite past time, but have you ever thought about selling your greeting cards?
You would be so surprised at how many people would buy your greeting cards and one of the best places to sell them is on the internet. Go to Ebay and see for yourself.
More blogs about selling greeting cards.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Your Greeting Card Niche - Establishing it.
Your Greeting Card Niche - Establishing it
A part of developing your greeting card marketing strategy should be dedicated to how you will establish your niche in the greeting card marketing with your target customer.
A niche can be described like this; instead of advertising yourself as a greeting card designer why not target a specific niche like dog and cat greeting cards. A niche one inch wide and a mile deep is always going to be better than a mile wide niche that is only one inch deep.
The idea is to specialise in a specific niche of greeting cards, that's where the money is. This means that you will define in your greeting card marketing and/or advertising plan how you will marketing or sell to your target customer.
By creating a plan to sell your greeting cards, you not only gain focus in knowing your target customer, but you also gain knowledge by creating a baseline plan from which all of your sales can be measured and the plan adjusted whenever it needs to be.
You could test out different niches, for example, you could target Dog lovers and then target the market for Naughty or Funny greeting cards and see which one is the most responsive. Remember, give the market what it wants, not what you want to give it.
Some of the most important methods for establishing your greeting card niche are by:
Keeping a list or database of potential customers, referrals, and customers.
Regularly contacting your potential customers, referrals, and customers of new releases, specials, or new services.
Regularly updating your customer list or database whenever a potential customer, referral, or customer enters the shop, logs in to your web site, or gives his/her mailing address information for a catalog.
Send customers a newsletter or catalog by mail or Internet showing new greeting cards and coupons they can use in the store.
Let customers know of seasonal sales and events.
Click the link: sell my greeting cards for my helpful tips to sell your greeting cards.
Talk Soon
David W. Allen
A part of developing your greeting card marketing strategy should be dedicated to how you will establish your niche in the greeting card marketing with your target customer.
A niche can be described like this; instead of advertising yourself as a greeting card designer why not target a specific niche like dog and cat greeting cards. A niche one inch wide and a mile deep is always going to be better than a mile wide niche that is only one inch deep.
The idea is to specialise in a specific niche of greeting cards, that's where the money is. This means that you will define in your greeting card marketing and/or advertising plan how you will marketing or sell to your target customer.
By creating a plan to sell your greeting cards, you not only gain focus in knowing your target customer, but you also gain knowledge by creating a baseline plan from which all of your sales can be measured and the plan adjusted whenever it needs to be.
You could test out different niches, for example, you could target Dog lovers and then target the market for Naughty or Funny greeting cards and see which one is the most responsive. Remember, give the market what it wants, not what you want to give it.
Some of the most important methods for establishing your greeting card niche are by:
Keeping a list or database of potential customers, referrals, and customers.
Regularly contacting your potential customers, referrals, and customers of new releases, specials, or new services.
Regularly updating your customer list or database whenever a potential customer, referral, or customer enters the shop, logs in to your web site, or gives his/her mailing address information for a catalog.
Send customers a newsletter or catalog by mail or Internet showing new greeting cards and coupons they can use in the store.
Let customers know of seasonal sales and events.
Click the link: sell my greeting cards for my helpful tips to sell your greeting cards.
Talk Soon
David W. Allen
Friday, July 07, 2006
How to Research Your Target Market/Customer
How to Research Your Target Market/Customer
In order to communicate a message through the grapevine about your greeting card business a marketing/advertising plan should be developed. I have listed some steps for you to follow to help you do research on your target market.
The first step is to research industry trends that are and are not favorable.
The second step is to find your potential market(s) or “total” market(s) within the list of favorable trends. When you find each potential market, look at whether the market is at beginning growth, growth, maturation, saturated, or declining stage.
The third stage is to choose your target market and sales strategy method(s) to reach each target market (e.g., buying mailing lists, internet, direct mail, etc.). This step also involves predicting how many greeting cards your target customer will buy in a month, quarter, and/or year in order to determine how much revenue you can expect in the same period of time (e.g., one customer could buy ten cards per year, five cards per year, etc. depending upon the target market they are in).
The fourth step is to document your research and sales strategy into a marketing/advertising plan.
Hope this is helpful.
Please post a comment ofr contact me at david@greetingcardprofits.com if you have any questions or visit my website at: www.greetingcardprofits.com
In order to communicate a message through the grapevine about your greeting card business a marketing/advertising plan should be developed. I have listed some steps for you to follow to help you do research on your target market.
The first step is to research industry trends that are and are not favorable.
The second step is to find your potential market(s) or “total” market(s) within the list of favorable trends. When you find each potential market, look at whether the market is at beginning growth, growth, maturation, saturated, or declining stage.
The third stage is to choose your target market and sales strategy method(s) to reach each target market (e.g., buying mailing lists, internet, direct mail, etc.). This step also involves predicting how many greeting cards your target customer will buy in a month, quarter, and/or year in order to determine how much revenue you can expect in the same period of time (e.g., one customer could buy ten cards per year, five cards per year, etc. depending upon the target market they are in).
The fourth step is to document your research and sales strategy into a marketing/advertising plan.
Hope this is helpful.
Please post a comment ofr contact me at david@greetingcardprofits.com if you have any questions or visit my website at: www.greetingcardprofits.com
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Promote Yourself as a Greeting Card Expert
Recognize and Promote Yourself as a Greeting Card Expert in the Field
If you see yourself as an expert in your field, others will, too. The following tips will help you gain notoriety and respect in your field.
Write articles and How To’s to gain recognition from your peers and customers.
Write a newsletter to send to your clients.
Become a member of the Greeting Card Association.
Give classes on how to develop greeting cards.
Create Your Sales Pitch
Creating your own sales pitch is one of those things that seems easy, but, when you get in a spot, can really trip you up if you are not prepared.
Potential customers are potential willing listeners. So take advantage of their listening skills whenever possible.
I will take you through the Sale Pitch process in my next post.
Cheers
David W. Allen
Greeting Card Business
If you see yourself as an expert in your field, others will, too. The following tips will help you gain notoriety and respect in your field.
Write articles and How To’s to gain recognition from your peers and customers.
Write a newsletter to send to your clients.
Become a member of the Greeting Card Association.
Give classes on how to develop greeting cards.
Create Your Sales Pitch
Creating your own sales pitch is one of those things that seems easy, but, when you get in a spot, can really trip you up if you are not prepared.
Potential customers are potential willing listeners. So take advantage of their listening skills whenever possible.
I will take you through the Sale Pitch process in my next post.
Cheers
David W. Allen
Greeting Card Business
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
How to Promote Your Greeting Card Business
How to Promote Your Greeting Card Business
A new way to promote your greeting cards is by using a blog. This is best and cheapest way to promote your greeting cards because its free. Because blogging is still relatively new, so it is a lot easier to get your blog listed high in the blog search engines than it is to get a website listed in Google if you know the secrets the pros are using.
Its very hard to get a top 3 ranking in Google, MSN, or Yahoo. And it can get very expensive using pay-per-click advertising to drive traffic to your website.
So this is why you definitely can't afford to miss this.
Because a fellow mentor of mine, Derek Gehl and his elite team of Internet marketing specialists has put together test results and case studies that *prove* there is still a FREE way to blast your website to a #1 ranking in Google, Yahoo, and MSN... Yes, I said FREE!
A new way to promote your greeting cards is by using a blog. This is best and cheapest way to promote your greeting cards because its free. Because blogging is still relatively new, so it is a lot easier to get your blog listed high in the blog search engines than it is to get a website listed in Google if you know the secrets the pros are using.
Its very hard to get a top 3 ranking in Google, MSN, or Yahoo. And it can get very expensive using pay-per-click advertising to drive traffic to your website.
So this is why you definitely can't afford to miss this.
Because a fellow mentor of mine, Derek Gehl and his elite team of Internet marketing specialists has put together test results and case studies that *prove* there is still a FREE way to blast your website to a #1 ranking in Google, Yahoo, and MSN... Yes, I said FREE!
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Sell your greeting cards online without any upfront costs
Sell your greeting cards without any upfront costs
I just discovered a really cool way to sell your greeting cards online without having to put up any money until you get the sale.
You can have an online presence and an online shop that handles all the transactions and shipping.
Interested?
Good. This is what you need to do.
- You set-up a Blog at Blogger.com which is free.
- You go to Cafepress.com and set-up your own greeting card shop for free.
- Post articles about your greeting cards and photos of your products on your Blog with links to your Cafepress online store where visitors can buy your cards.
Now the way Cafepress works is you only pay for the stock you sell when you sell it. Cafepress will produce your cards with the artwork you upload to create your cards, and they will handle the online transactions and the shipping for you.
All you have to do is promote your Blog and online store and sit back and watch the sales roll in.
You could also place your cards on Ebay and when you get a sale you use Cafepress to produce the cards and send them to your customer. You just have to remember this VERY IMPORTANT factor when using Cafeprees this way.
You have to remember to check the box in the order section of Cafepress that says: “Check if this is a gift order”. If you don’t check this, Cafepress will send out an invoice slip with the goods stating the price you paid Cafepress for the cards not what you sold them for.
You don’t want you customers to know your bottom line for the cards you sold them do you?
Go to both of the sites and get started now. And you are not limited to just selling greeting cards, Cafepress let you create a lot of different products like T-Shirts, Calendars, Postcards and a lot more.
Enjoy and let me know how you go with this I would love to hear from you.
-David W. Allen
Thursday, June 01, 2006
How To Start A Greeting Card Business
How To Start A Greeting Card Business
The Quickest Way To Start Selling Greeting Cards - By David W. Allen
The quickest ways to start selling greeting cards are to go to a craft fair, hold an open house, or rent a kiosk. However, one single method may not get you going as quickly as using more than one method at the same time.
Another method a lot of greeting card makers are using is Ebay. This is a popular way to start a greeting card business.
Click the following link to read the complete article on how to start a greeting card business.
The Quickest Way To Start Selling Greeting Cards - By David W. Allen
The quickest ways to start selling greeting cards are to go to a craft fair, hold an open house, or rent a kiosk. However, one single method may not get you going as quickly as using more than one method at the same time.
Another method a lot of greeting card makers are using is Ebay. This is a popular way to start a greeting card business.
Click the following link to read the complete article on how to start a greeting card business.
Friday, May 19, 2006
Greeting Cards
Greeting Card Business
What I would do if I could make decent card; I’m still working at it. But if you have a talent for card making and you would like to make a dollar or two from your works of art, then I would look for a specific niche.
What I mean by niche is instead of trying to sell all types of greeting cards I would focus on, let’s say, Pet Greeting Cards for example.
By finding a specific niche like this and creating quality designed greeting cards that cater for that specific greeting card niche, you will be surprised how well you do.
You can position yourself as the number one Pet Greeting Card maker.
Lets face it how many people love their pets?
greeting card business
What I would do if I could make decent card; I’m still working at it. But if you have a talent for card making and you would like to make a dollar or two from your works of art, then I would look for a specific niche.
What I mean by niche is instead of trying to sell all types of greeting cards I would focus on, let’s say, Pet Greeting Cards for example.
By finding a specific niche like this and creating quality designed greeting cards that cater for that specific greeting card niche, you will be surprised how well you do.
You can position yourself as the number one Pet Greeting Card maker.
Lets face it how many people love their pets?
greeting card business
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Greeting Cards - Did you know you can start a business selling your greeting cards?
Greeting Cards - Did you know you can start a business selling your greeting cards?
As you probably already know making greeting cards is a world wide popular hobby. But did you know you can turn your greeting card hobby into a business.
I am amazed at the amount of talented card makers that have never thought of this. You only have to take a look at Ebay and see how many people are selling their greeting cards there and a lot of the cards are poorly designed.
click here to continue the article.
As you probably already know making greeting cards is a world wide popular hobby. But did you know you can turn your greeting card hobby into a business.
I am amazed at the amount of talented card makers that have never thought of this. You only have to take a look at Ebay and see how many people are selling their greeting cards there and a lot of the cards are poorly designed.
click here to continue the article.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Free Ecards Guide
You need to read this article jam-packed with free e greeting card info and links plus how to get free software for making greeting cards. Its a must read!
Free Ecards Guide - by Ivan Simurina
NATURE OF ECARDS ON THE WEB...
Ecards bring beauty and smiles to thousands of people worldwide but what folks need to be aware of is that some of these cute ecards carry malware with them ranging from simple spam, while some will install nasty spyware and on rare ocasions even viruses!
As a result many people have decided to ignore them completely, however there are many really Beautiful cards, you just need to know where to look for them.
click here to continue the article...
Free Ecards Guide - by Ivan Simurina
NATURE OF ECARDS ON THE WEB...
Ecards bring beauty and smiles to thousands of people worldwide but what folks need to be aware of is that some of these cute ecards carry malware with them ranging from simple spam, while some will install nasty spyware and on rare ocasions even viruses!
As a result many people have decided to ignore them completely, however there are many really Beautiful cards, you just need to know where to look for them.
click here to continue the article...
Selling Your Own Greeting Cards
Selling Your Own Greeting Cards - Do You Have What It Takes?
If you ever thought about how to go about selling your greeting cards then now has never been a better time to start doing it. One of the most powerful ways to sell your greeting cards is on the Internet. You can do it as simply as starting a blog, which is free to set-up, get a paypal account, and display your greeting cards on your blog with links to buy at your paypal account.
But do you have what it takes to start and operate your own greeting card business?
Before going into any greeting card business you need to evaluate yourself in order to define what strengths and weaknesses you have. If you are proficient in one area and lacking in another you need to identify this. When doing your self-assessment, try answering the following questions:
click here to continue article.
If you ever thought about how to go about selling your greeting cards then now has never been a better time to start doing it. One of the most powerful ways to sell your greeting cards is on the Internet. You can do it as simply as starting a blog, which is free to set-up, get a paypal account, and display your greeting cards on your blog with links to buy at your paypal account.
But do you have what it takes to start and operate your own greeting card business?
Before going into any greeting card business you need to evaluate yourself in order to define what strengths and weaknesses you have. If you are proficient in one area and lacking in another you need to identify this. When doing your self-assessment, try answering the following questions:
click here to continue article.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Make Your Own Greeting Cards
Make Your Own Greeting Cards
I think you will find this article by Flora Tan very useful if you need some tips on making greeting cards. This article also shows you nine of the basic supplies you need to start making your own greeting cards.
"Make Your Own Greeting Cards "
by: Flora Tan
Card making is a popular craft that anyone can enjoy without spending a lot of money. Most of the supplies needed for card making can be found around in your home. Look in your children's' rooms or schoolbags and you should be able to gather the basic tools and materials. "
...article continued
Follow this link to read the rest of this article and get some greeting card business tips on making your own greeting cards.
I think you will find this article by Flora Tan very useful if you need some tips on making greeting cards. This article also shows you nine of the basic supplies you need to start making your own greeting cards.
"Make Your Own Greeting Cards "
by: Flora Tan
Card making is a popular craft that anyone can enjoy without spending a lot of money. Most of the supplies needed for card making can be found around in your home. Look in your children's' rooms or schoolbags and you should be able to gather the basic tools and materials. "
...article continued
Follow this link to read the rest of this article and get some greeting card business tips on making your own greeting cards.
Monday, May 08, 2006
Handmade Greeting Cards
I came across this article by Linda Pace, a very talented and spiritual greeting card designer. I think you will enjoy taking a journey with her on how she approaches her greeting card design.
handmade Greeting Cards by Linda Pace
My handmade greeting cards are the result of my deep trust in Spirit. Each one is always different and unique, and they are all imbued with great love and attention to detail. Following is an explanation of what I call the "Pace Process:"
After creating an environment of peace and tranquility, I begin with prayer and meditation, invoking assistance from Spirit, and letting go of self-doubt, worry and self-criticism. I paint with my heart and soul, not my head. I reach for colors that attract me, and I use brush strokes that feel good. Losing track of time and space, I often paint for hours, sometimes filling the room with sheets of art-filled paper. I know when I'm done, so I stop and leave the works to dry overnight. I am always amazed and delighted when I return the next morning. The sheets of paper take on an entirely new look once they are dry. This is the first step in the process of creating my handmade greeting cards.
The second step begins with cutting the large sheets into the smaller versions that fit on the card stock. Again I invoke Spirit, and trust that I will cut the pieces at just the right place. Then I assemble the artwork onto cards, and leave them to dry overnight.
I begin the third day, and step three, by again invoking Spirit with great trust and love. I take each card and look deeply into what it's trying to convey, and if guided to do so, I assist it with little additions of paint, 'pen-work,' or glitter. As I do this, I meditate on the message it wants to express. I simply ask for the message, and then write whatever first pops into my head.
I know and trust that this message, or the name of the artwork, is just perfect for the person whose hand receives it. Sometimes these messages are quite profound, or mysterious, or downright irreverent! Step four, the last step, begins with signing and numbering if appropriate.
After this is completed, I fold all the cards and turn them over, artwork sides face down. I ask for an "angel word" for each card. Again, I write whatever word first comes to mind, trusting that it is exactly the perfect word for the receiver. This completes the "Pace Process" of creating my handmade greeting cards.
The original article, handmade Greeting Cards, can be found in PDF format, at ArborAria.com
Article Service by DET-Online
About the Author
Currently working in watercolors, Linda Pace focuses primarily on abstractions expressing her emotional, psychological and spiritual life journey. Many of her works have been inspired from her native Oregon upbringing, her love and respect of trees, the natural environment, and her ever-evolving spiritual beliefs. Linda's Blog is a spiritual journey of discovery, creating Handmade Note Cards.
I think you will agree, Linda's approach is different, she takes a spiritual journey and uses her angels and the divine spirit as her guide. I think I will try this approach to help me find new inspiration and I get to meditate at the same time. How relaxing and fulfilling.
Till next time.
Greeting Card Business
handmade Greeting Cards by Linda Pace
My handmade greeting cards are the result of my deep trust in Spirit. Each one is always different and unique, and they are all imbued with great love and attention to detail. Following is an explanation of what I call the "Pace Process:"
After creating an environment of peace and tranquility, I begin with prayer and meditation, invoking assistance from Spirit, and letting go of self-doubt, worry and self-criticism. I paint with my heart and soul, not my head. I reach for colors that attract me, and I use brush strokes that feel good. Losing track of time and space, I often paint for hours, sometimes filling the room with sheets of art-filled paper. I know when I'm done, so I stop and leave the works to dry overnight. I am always amazed and delighted when I return the next morning. The sheets of paper take on an entirely new look once they are dry. This is the first step in the process of creating my handmade greeting cards.
The second step begins with cutting the large sheets into the smaller versions that fit on the card stock. Again I invoke Spirit, and trust that I will cut the pieces at just the right place. Then I assemble the artwork onto cards, and leave them to dry overnight.
I begin the third day, and step three, by again invoking Spirit with great trust and love. I take each card and look deeply into what it's trying to convey, and if guided to do so, I assist it with little additions of paint, 'pen-work,' or glitter. As I do this, I meditate on the message it wants to express. I simply ask for the message, and then write whatever first pops into my head.
I know and trust that this message, or the name of the artwork, is just perfect for the person whose hand receives it. Sometimes these messages are quite profound, or mysterious, or downright irreverent! Step four, the last step, begins with signing and numbering if appropriate.
After this is completed, I fold all the cards and turn them over, artwork sides face down. I ask for an "angel word" for each card. Again, I write whatever word first comes to mind, trusting that it is exactly the perfect word for the receiver. This completes the "Pace Process" of creating my handmade greeting cards.
The original article, handmade Greeting Cards, can be found in PDF format, at ArborAria.com
Article Service by DET-Online
About the Author
Currently working in watercolors, Linda Pace focuses primarily on abstractions expressing her emotional, psychological and spiritual life journey. Many of her works have been inspired from her native Oregon upbringing, her love and respect of trees, the natural environment, and her ever-evolving spiritual beliefs. Linda's Blog is a spiritual journey of discovery, creating Handmade Note Cards.
I think you will agree, Linda's approach is different, she takes a spiritual journey and uses her angels and the divine spirit as her guide. I think I will try this approach to help me find new inspiration and I get to meditate at the same time. How relaxing and fulfilling.
Till next time.
Greeting Card Business
Friday, May 05, 2006
Great way to keep in touch with customers
Send Your Customers a Newsletter or a Catalogue
Another way you can maintain communication with your greeting card customers is by sending them a newsletter or catalog via mail, email, or a web site.
The newsletter can be used to communicate fun events, such as customer birthdays, holiday events or shows, craft shows in which you will be attending, and special sales or other incentives.
In your greeting card business a newsletter is also a personal way of letting your greeting card customers get to know you.
For example, you can write a regular column on progress made in the store in the last period, print pictures of employees who went the extra mile for a customer, or print pictures of customers who have been long-standing customers.
Articles could be written on each person, not to target your product, but to help other customers understand that the customer, the article is about, is just like the customers reading the article.
That way, the readers will subconsciously think, “this person is just like me, and the greeting cards are working for them. I better buy some, too.”
This may be a simplistic way of describing it, but marketing through a newsletter does not have to be difficult on you. Just remember to keep it factual, fun, friendly, and like family, and you will do fine.
As described before, a catalog can be used to inform a customer about your products and services. Catalogs can be fun to look at, but their primary purpose is to be a reference guide for customers to use in viewing all products available, and the prices at which they will be sold. The catalog can also have a description of your custom greeting card making service with estimate prices, a phone number and web site to use for more information, and examples of past custom greeting cards made.
When you develop your catalog, keep the following in mind.
How often you will need to update it based upon the types of cards you can produce by template and the types of services you can provide for custom greeting cards.
How often your customers will want to receive a catalog.
The type of catalog (printed or online via e-book or web site) the customer would prefer to receive.
The cost of printing the catalog compared to the cost of publishing it online as an e-book or on a web site.
Developing an item tracking number system for your greeting cards so that each card has its own identification number that is shown in the catalog and tracked in the system.
Till next time.
Another way you can maintain communication with your greeting card customers is by sending them a newsletter or catalog via mail, email, or a web site.
The newsletter can be used to communicate fun events, such as customer birthdays, holiday events or shows, craft shows in which you will be attending, and special sales or other incentives.
In your greeting card business a newsletter is also a personal way of letting your greeting card customers get to know you.
For example, you can write a regular column on progress made in the store in the last period, print pictures of employees who went the extra mile for a customer, or print pictures of customers who have been long-standing customers.
Articles could be written on each person, not to target your product, but to help other customers understand that the customer, the article is about, is just like the customers reading the article.
That way, the readers will subconsciously think, “this person is just like me, and the greeting cards are working for them. I better buy some, too.”
This may be a simplistic way of describing it, but marketing through a newsletter does not have to be difficult on you. Just remember to keep it factual, fun, friendly, and like family, and you will do fine.
As described before, a catalog can be used to inform a customer about your products and services. Catalogs can be fun to look at, but their primary purpose is to be a reference guide for customers to use in viewing all products available, and the prices at which they will be sold. The catalog can also have a description of your custom greeting card making service with estimate prices, a phone number and web site to use for more information, and examples of past custom greeting cards made.
When you develop your catalog, keep the following in mind.
How often you will need to update it based upon the types of cards you can produce by template and the types of services you can provide for custom greeting cards.
How often your customers will want to receive a catalog.
The type of catalog (printed or online via e-book or web site) the customer would prefer to receive.
The cost of printing the catalog compared to the cost of publishing it online as an e-book or on a web site.
Developing an item tracking number system for your greeting cards so that each card has its own identification number that is shown in the catalog and tracked in the system.
Till next time.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Mothers Day Ecards - How Are They Different Than Father's Day Ecards?
Mothers Day Ecards - How Are They Different Than Father's Day Ecards?: "Creating and selecting ecards or greeting cards is an art. Ecards are used for different occasions. To wish Mother on Mother's Day, to wish Birthday to a dear person or to convey Good Luck. Similarly ecards are designed for Father's Day also. Both mother and Father are parents, but the ecards are very different for both. Why and How? Let us examine.
For most of the children, mother is always closer. The child looks at mother's face and feels her body most during the infant days. That makes the child recognize mother as a protector and provider. During the early days of growth, children don't interact with father more. It is only after they grow up a little that fathers get more interested and involved with children. During the initial infancy, most of the fathers don't play with their children much as they don't know what the child wants and how to communicate.
As child grows, father becomes a major figure. Father takes the child outdoors, teaches him/her fishing, plays with them and is always there to guide and protect with the physical activities of the child. Mother is still very much involved as a provider of comfort and food. Children rush to their mother when hurt during the early growth. As they grow more, both father and mother come to occupy equal space in the child's mind. And as a child grows to an adult, he/she develops own personality.
The ecards for Mother and father are supposed to depict these differences in words and designs. The ecards for mothers are soft in color and talk more of love and affection. The ecards for father are manlier and the language is designed to convey more of what father taught and how he guided. Both father and mother are important for a child's growth and both play different roles. These are clearly seen in the ecards for Mother's Day and Father's Day.
CDMohatta writes for ecards, greeting cards and online cards.
The subjects include - Mothers Day eCards, Fathers Day eCards and Birthday Ecards To Mother
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=CD_Mohatta
For most of the children, mother is always closer. The child looks at mother's face and feels her body most during the infant days. That makes the child recognize mother as a protector and provider. During the early days of growth, children don't interact with father more. It is only after they grow up a little that fathers get more interested and involved with children. During the initial infancy, most of the fathers don't play with their children much as they don't know what the child wants and how to communicate.
As child grows, father becomes a major figure. Father takes the child outdoors, teaches him/her fishing, plays with them and is always there to guide and protect with the physical activities of the child. Mother is still very much involved as a provider of comfort and food. Children rush to their mother when hurt during the early growth. As they grow more, both father and mother come to occupy equal space in the child's mind. And as a child grows to an adult, he/she develops own personality.
The ecards for Mother and father are supposed to depict these differences in words and designs. The ecards for mothers are soft in color and talk more of love and affection. The ecards for father are manlier and the language is designed to convey more of what father taught and how he guided. Both father and mother are important for a child's growth and both play different roles. These are clearly seen in the ecards for Mother's Day and Father's Day.
CDMohatta writes for ecards, greeting cards and online cards.
The subjects include - Mothers Day eCards, Fathers Day eCards and Birthday Ecards To Mother
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=CD_Mohatta
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Greeting Card Selling Tip
Here is the last tip on the quickest ways to sell your greeting cards.
Kiosks
Before you rent a kiosk, you will need to do research on your target market, the rental fees associated with the kiosk, any insurance fees associated to renting the kiosk, and differences in renting kiosks from one mall to another and one season to another.When doing this comparison, it may be easier to develop a spreadsheet or list where you can list each kiosk rental opportunity and its associated fees. The spreadsheet would allow you to compare each kiosk to see which is the best opportunity for your business.
When doing kiosk research, ask the rental agent if they can provide information on how much each kiosk is making that is currently being rented at each location. This will not only tell you about each location and how much income can be expected at a particular location, but it can also help you project your future earnings for each location.
Hope this was helpful. Please leave a comment, I would love to hear your comments.
Signing off.
www.greetingcardprofits.com
Kiosks
Before you rent a kiosk, you will need to do research on your target market, the rental fees associated with the kiosk, any insurance fees associated to renting the kiosk, and differences in renting kiosks from one mall to another and one season to another.When doing this comparison, it may be easier to develop a spreadsheet or list where you can list each kiosk rental opportunity and its associated fees. The spreadsheet would allow you to compare each kiosk to see which is the best opportunity for your business.
When doing kiosk research, ask the rental agent if they can provide information on how much each kiosk is making that is currently being rented at each location. This will not only tell you about each location and how much income can be expected at a particular location, but it can also help you project your future earnings for each location.
Hope this was helpful. Please leave a comment, I would love to hear your comments.
Signing off.
www.greetingcardprofits.com
Monday, May 01, 2006
Another Greeting Card Selling Tip
Like I said here is another tip to help you start selling greeting cards faster.
Open House
If you are just starting your greeting card business, but do not have a business location to open, use your house. Spend time researching your target market and then make a list of those you would like to invite to your open house.
An open house can be formal or informal; however, you will want to make sure you invite not just family and friends, but those who fall in your target market (e.g., local small business owners, financial services business owners versus software services business owners, etc.).
If it is a formal event, you may want to invite someone from the press. Your target market group and the press will be looking for:
When sending the invitations, be sure to include with the invitations a map to your house, a schedule of events, and a short article or public relations piece that describes the purpose of your business and of the event. The invitations should note who the speakers are, the business owner, special guests, the date and time of the event, and address. It should also note what refreshments will be served.
Tomorrow I will give you the other greeting card selling tip.
Till then.
Open House
If you are just starting your greeting card business, but do not have a business location to open, use your house. Spend time researching your target market and then make a list of those you would like to invite to your open house.
An open house can be formal or informal; however, you will want to make sure you invite not just family and friends, but those who fall in your target market (e.g., local small business owners, financial services business owners versus software services business owners, etc.).
If it is a formal event, you may want to invite someone from the press. Your target market group and the press will be looking for:
- A presenter or more than one presenter,
- A press kit with materials about your business and about the products and services you provide,
- A portfolio of your work or displays that they can peruse, and Refreshments.
When sending the invitations, be sure to include with the invitations a map to your house, a schedule of events, and a short article or public relations piece that describes the purpose of your business and of the event. The invitations should note who the speakers are, the business owner, special guests, the date and time of the event, and address. It should also note what refreshments will be served.
Tomorrow I will give you the other greeting card selling tip.
Till then.
One Quick Way To Sell Your Greeting Cards
One of quickest ways to start selling greeting cards are to go to a craft fair. However, one single method may not get you going as quickly as using more than one method at the same time.
1. Craft Fairs or Trade Shows
A craft fair or trade show is a good way for new business owners to get started because you can schedule to attend the event in advance, prepare the cards you need for the event in advance, and test your knowledge of your target market at the show.
If your target market research did well and you picked the best event for your market, then you will most likely sell some greeting cards. If the show did not do as well as you anticipated, you can learn from the event and go to another show. This is a good thing compared to those who immediately open a shop and find they did not pick the best location for their target market.
But do not let it stop there. As you are meeting people at the show, hold a raffle for a free box of gift cards. Collect everyone’s name, email, and mailing address as a way to promote your business later. Keep a database of all customers, potential customers, and referral customers so that you can send the promotional materials and catalogs in the future.
Tomorrow I will give you another way to sell your greeting cards.
Till then signing out.
Greeting Card Business
1. Craft Fairs or Trade Shows
A craft fair or trade show is a good way for new business owners to get started because you can schedule to attend the event in advance, prepare the cards you need for the event in advance, and test your knowledge of your target market at the show.
If your target market research did well and you picked the best event for your market, then you will most likely sell some greeting cards. If the show did not do as well as you anticipated, you can learn from the event and go to another show. This is a good thing compared to those who immediately open a shop and find they did not pick the best location for their target market.
But do not let it stop there. As you are meeting people at the show, hold a raffle for a free box of gift cards. Collect everyone’s name, email, and mailing address as a way to promote your business later. Keep a database of all customers, potential customers, and referral customers so that you can send the promotional materials and catalogs in the future.
Tomorrow I will give you another way to sell your greeting cards.
Till then signing out.
Greeting Card Business
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Greeting Card Templates
Template greeting cards are greeting cards that have been developed so often that the process for developing each card was refined, documented, and standardized. The development of each greeting card template was documented and tested to ensure the template would recreate the same card the same way every time.
Creating template greeting cards can save you a great deal of time and money. By creating and saving template cards, you are enabling yourself to do business better and faster. For example, let’s say you are a painter and have some greeting cards with hand-painted scenes you want to sell. Instead of selling the original immediately, scan the pictures so that you can use the images on the cards that you sell. Prepare the cards with the digital images to be sole rather than the original painted cards so that you will always have the original if something goes wrong. Then when you have sold all of the digital image cards, you can create more in a short period of time using the template created with the digital image.
If you did not have a template, chances are you would have to paint every card that you wanted to sell. Maybe you could sell the painted cards for a little more money, but that might not compare to the number of cards you could sell using the digital image template. The template card would also be faster to produce because it could be printed; whereas, the originals had to be hand painted.
Just a helpful tip from my greeting card business book 'How to make money selling your greeting cards'.
Creating template greeting cards can save you a great deal of time and money. By creating and saving template cards, you are enabling yourself to do business better and faster. For example, let’s say you are a painter and have some greeting cards with hand-painted scenes you want to sell. Instead of selling the original immediately, scan the pictures so that you can use the images on the cards that you sell. Prepare the cards with the digital images to be sole rather than the original painted cards so that you will always have the original if something goes wrong. Then when you have sold all of the digital image cards, you can create more in a short period of time using the template created with the digital image.
If you did not have a template, chances are you would have to paint every card that you wanted to sell. Maybe you could sell the painted cards for a little more money, but that might not compare to the number of cards you could sell using the digital image template. The template card would also be faster to produce because it could be printed; whereas, the originals had to be hand painted.
Just a helpful tip from my greeting card business book 'How to make money selling your greeting cards'.
Friday, April 28, 2006
Photographic Greeting Cards
My favorite way of making greeting cards is using my photographs. I'm into photography too and one of my favorite subjects was my best mate Jackson. Jackson was my dog up until recently, unfortunately I had to let him go.
On a happier note his legacy lives on in all the greeting cards that I made with him on them. I'm not much of an illustrator nore am I as talented in the craft area like some of the greeting card designers I know. My mum's friend produces just beautiful cards and she just does it as a hobby. I told her she should start a small business because she would do very well.
What sparked me to write this post was an exclusive pet shop I found and it sells jewelry, studded collars, custom made jackets and so much more. Its where you go to really spoil your pet. But while browsing the shop they had a small display of greeting cards all of dogs but the dogs were dressed up in different theme's they were so cool. I asked the shop owner what company produces the cards and she told me it was not a company but a local guy.
He just focuses of this specific niche market of greeting cards and he does very well out of it too.
Thought it might help spawn some greeting card ideas for you.
Please leave a comment, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Cheers for now
David W. Allen
Greeting Card Business
On a happier note his legacy lives on in all the greeting cards that I made with him on them. I'm not much of an illustrator nore am I as talented in the craft area like some of the greeting card designers I know. My mum's friend produces just beautiful cards and she just does it as a hobby. I told her she should start a small business because she would do very well.
What sparked me to write this post was an exclusive pet shop I found and it sells jewelry, studded collars, custom made jackets and so much more. Its where you go to really spoil your pet. But while browsing the shop they had a small display of greeting cards all of dogs but the dogs were dressed up in different theme's they were so cool. I asked the shop owner what company produces the cards and she told me it was not a company but a local guy.
He just focuses of this specific niche market of greeting cards and he does very well out of it too.
Thought it might help spawn some greeting card ideas for you.
Please leave a comment, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Cheers for now
David W. Allen
Greeting Card Business
Thursday, April 27, 2006
How to approach a store to sell your greeting cards
Hi how you doing?
I got an email from a subscriber of mine asking me an interesting question, well two actually, so I thought I would share it with you.
The questions were "How do you approach a small store to sell your greeting cards?" "What percentage would you work out?"
Below is my answer. I you want to do this yourself you will find this helpful.
Now to answer your question: How do you approach a small store to sell your greeting cards? What percentage would you work out?
Ok, I would simply go into the store and ask to speak with the manager/owner and first up offer him some cards on consignment, meaning the owner only pays for the cards when he sells them. Now he can’t lose. As far as percentage goes I would offer him a large portion of the profits because if you are starting out and don’t have a reputation then the only way to get one is to sell your cards and get them out there in circulation.
So I would offer him 50% BUT if he can get the customer to fill in your opt-in form leaving their First Name, Last Name and Email I would give him 70% or more. Now you probably think I’m crazy but just hang on here. If you can get this valuable customer information then you can send them follow-up emails telling them about special offers you have on your new series of Greeting Cards and if they liked your first cards they will probably buy more and this time you get to keep all the profits and build a relationship with that customer. You must remember the life time value of the customer is like Gold. They will buy from you again and again and tell their friends about how great your cards are.
Now can you start to see the power of this? I would suggest you make it easy for the Store Owner to display your cards by supplying some form of point of sale stand and have some opt-in forms printed up. The opt-in forms could be for your newsletter and tell them you send out special offers and coupons or something of value to get them to give you their details. You could even give them some free greeting cards or some free postage stamps, what ever just get their details.
I hope this was helpful? I go into more of this in my book and cover issues like how to develop your sales pitch as well. So go get your book and read away.
I can't wait to hear what you think of my book. I would love a testimonial if you can spare the time.
Kind Regards
David W. Allen
Greeting Card Business Book
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Selling Greeting Cards - Do You Have What It Takes?
Hi welcome to my greeting card business blog and my first post.
Some of my subscribers have asked me about how they can make money selling their greeting cards. So I thought I would start a blog and share the answers with you as well.
Before going into any business even greeting cards, you need to evaluate yourself in order to define what strengths and weaknesses you have. If you are proficient in one area and lacking in another you need to identify this. When doing your self-assessment, try answering the following questions:
These are all important questions to consider, but don't be put off by them it is just a process to help you identify your strengths, weakness and reasons for going into business. It’s better to get this out and understood at the beginning that way you can identify what areas to build and improve on as you build your greeting card business.
- Do you enjoy making greeting cards enough to do it for a living?
- Are you familiar with the different techniques and tools of trade of making greeting cards?
- Are you prepared to do everything yourself - accounting, marketing, attend craft fairs, etc - to run your business successfully?
- What time of day/night do you do your best work?
- What equipment, hardware, and/or software do you need to do your work?
- How many hours can you work per day?
Now if you think you don’t have everything it takes to successfully operate your own greeting card business then I think you would be wrong. I’ll tell you why. People who fail in business are usually people who give up and don’t take action and do not continue to educate themselves in their profession.
You have already done one very important thing that the majority of people do not do - Take Action. By purchasing this book you have show that you are serious about building a business and learning about what it takes to do just that.
This investment will be the first of many in your journey to businesses success because information leads to knowledge and knowledge is POWER! Never stop empowering yourself.
The Fastest Way to Succeed in Any Business
The first time I was told this secret something clicked in my head, it was like I had a revelation, it was that one thing I needed to know to make it all clear. I was at a world internet and business conference and one of the speakers, a world recognized expert in his field said these following words:
“Fail as fast as you a can in your business because the more you fail the closer you are getting to success”
If there is anything you take away from this book make sure it is this. The fear of failing is one of the most common reasons business owners fail in business, because they fear making a mistake. That is why they fail.
Think about it for a moment. How do we learn in life, what has moulded you into the person you are today? Life experience and failing and making mistakes is what educates us and helps us grow. This very rule applies to business. Without failure you will not move forward, so fail as fast as you can so you can get to success quicker.
I hope you found this helpful.
Please leave your comments, I'd love your feedback
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