|
Chats & Workshops
Valentines Prep Workshop: Part 1
BrittaCP:
Hi everone! BrittaCP:
Thanks for joining us today BrittaCP:
We're talking about Valentine's today. It's
in Feb, but we want to get you all ready for it now. magadog1:
New Designs, no doubt! AngelaCP:
I know the holidays just ended but theres no time to lose.
The next gift giving holiday is just around the corner - Valentines
Day! AngelaCP:
Theres about a month to get ready. Weve
already started planning our V-day campaign. AngelaCP:
Theres a great opportunity so, well be sharing with you information to
help you increase your V-day sales. magadog1:
good. I need it! AngelaCP:
The agenda for todays workshop: AngelaCP:
1. Share
industry factoids 2.
Merchandise 3. Shop
tips 4. What
CP is doing AngelaCP:
Share Industry Factoids AngelaCP:
Typically, the heaviest weeks are week 5 and 6. In 2008, it will be Jan 28-Feb
9. AngelaCP:
According to BIGresearchs survey last year:
AngelaCP:
The following is a chart with the type of gifts planned for V-day. (insert
VdayGifts.jpg)
AngelaCP:
The red checks represent the merchandise we have available.
Another thing to note: last year, we didnt have the single greeting
card. Its number one on the list of
gifts planned! AngelaCP:
The dollar amount spent on V-day gifts have increased year over year with an
increase of 16% in 2007 from 2006. AngelaCP:
Any questions before moving on? AngelaCP:
These factoids can help provide insight when preparing your shop for V-day We
know its been helpful to us! AngelaCP:
you can design a few.... magadog1:
I figured. That is a lot of designing for just one little card! BrittaCP:
You can also use your designs on the packs of cards... just be sure to feature
it on single cards as well! AngelaCP:
It should be well worth it magadog1:
Then some of the designs will be generic-- who wants a pack of TEN romantic
cards? AngelaCP:
The single greeting cards will be featured... so design V-day themed messages on
the single cards. magadog1:
I see AngelaCP:
Moving on AngelaCP:
Merchandise AngelaCP:
Well be focusing on two areas for merchandise. 1.
Merchandise
assortment 2.
Content ideas AngelaCP:
We have done some research to see what historically sells on CafePress over
V-day. Using this data has been
helpful to get our portal created as well as provide SKs with this information. AngelaCP:
Were breaking it down for you! Here
is a list of the merchandise that has done well:
AngelaCP:
Youll see the colors in parenthesis well be featuring on the portal.
Britta will touch upon that later TexasFiddler:
Is there any plan to set something folks can buy a product set, like a shirt and
card combo? AngelaCP:
We will not be doing a combo pack, but you can certainly promote your
merchandise as a package deal. AngelaCP:
Combine the two and encourage your shoppers to get the two... AngelaCP:
SKs have different types of audiences and niches, so these merchandise *may* not
always work for you in your shop. If
that is the case, you can leave it out, OR have them available in the
Marketplace but not in your shop. AngelaCP:
Two of the merchandise I want to call out are the Single Greeting Cards and
Keepsake Boxes. AngelaCP:
With the Single Greeting Cards making its first V-day appearance, be sure to get
your V-day/LOVE related designs/messages on the Single Cards! TexasFiddler:
Available in the Marketplace but not the shop....is that done by putting it in a
hidden section? AngelaCP:
You can turn off the sidebar links... AngelaCP:
or, you can put it in a section within a hidden section, that way, it won't show
up in your shop, but will in the marketplace... AngelaCP:
NiftyGaloot has the right idea. TexasFiddler:
thanx AngelaCP:
Remember, this is only for those who want to include merchandise that otherwise
won't fit in their shop "niche". AngelaCP:
If the merchandise works, keep it in your shop for all to see! magadog1:
Does it hurt to leave them and just move the V-Day stuff to the top in its own
section? I just moved my holiday gifts and cards down to the bottom and put my
calendars on clearance. . . AngelaCP:
Magadog, is "them" magadog1:
yes, Angela. Winter Holiday AngelaCP:
It's always best to be relevant. If
you have holiday stuff in your shop still... past January, you *may* appear
irrelevant AngelaCP:
Other SKs create "holiday" sections to keep their holiday related
merchandise year around, such as Easter, St. Patricks Day, etc AngelaCP:
So, back to single cards... AngelaCP:
With the Single Greeting Cards making its first V-day appearance, be sure to get
your V-day/LOVE related designs/messages on the Single Cards! AngelaCP:
Also, youll notice that its the top gift purchased by gift givers (note
earlier factoid chart) AngelaCP:
Keepsake Boxes were called Tile boxes last year.
This year, were putting a focus on these items and want to be sure you
guys are doing the same. AngelaCP:
Content ideas for merchandise AngelaCP:
This year, we dont want to just focus on the traditional Valentines love
we want to reinvent the idea of V-day! Sure,
you should have the standard V-day designs.
But, lets think of it from the following point: AngelaCP:
Theres romantic love more traditional and what weve come to know V-day
for. The usual love messages,
hearts, lust, cupid, wife/girlfriend, husband/boyfriend, etc AngelaCP:
Theres the other side of love anti-Vday as many old timers recall,
weve done this for the past few V-days and its done very well!
Talk about protesting V-day ;) AngelaCP:
Ideas: I hate Valentines Day, Retired Cupid, Whatever \^/, Love Hurts, Scorn,
Bitten, Screw Love just to name a few magadog1:
Narcissistic love! AngelaCP:
Then theres celebrating V-day, but not as a couple AngelaCP:
Ideas: moms, dads, brothers, sisters, celebrate love, being single, I Love
., etc AngelaCP:
Any questions before moving on to the next topic? Gandalf_Parker:
Remember the anti-valentines crowd. The Teddy Bear makes excellent VooDoo dolls magadog1:
you will have to get your own pins, Gandalf! AngelaCP:
When creating designs for V-day, be sure to Tag your images appropriately.
As always, THINK LIKE A CUSTOMER. A
customer searching for a keyword (Tag) - would your design be relevant as part
of the search results for that Tag? AngelaCP:
Moving on to AngelaCP:
Shop Tips AngelaCP:
Be sure to optimize your shop for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) AngelaCP:
SEO is one of the most important things you can do to help drive traffic to your
shop. AngelaCP:
It does take time for your shop to get indexed by search engines so start early.
Most of you know this already. I
know some of you already have your Vday sections from last year so your pages
already have ranking. If not, start
now! AngelaCP:
Why start early? Search engines have spiders that crawl your site so your
shop will show up, or get listed, when someone searches for a keyword on
search engines. TexasFiddler:
SEO hints? AngelaCP:
they're coming.... AngelaCP:
Spiders are programs that get your website indexed in search engine databases.
Spiders, or crawlers, are used by search engines like Google and Yahoo.
Basically all your pages should be visible to crawlers, or they will not be
listed. AngelaCP:
Ill repeat what I normally say In the world of SEO content is KING! Make
sure your shop is rich with content. Use keywords that your target audience will
use to find your shop. AngelaCP:
Once you have keywords for your shop, add Valentines Day keywords/phases such
as Valentines Day gift for him/her. Include
your shops keywords + Valentines Day Gift (and vday gifts) AngelaCP:
Heres an example: Find the perfect Vday gift for your dog
loving sweetheart this Valentine. Find all types of dog
breed designs from AngelaCP:
do not use the quotes Im just using them in this example to point out the
keywords. TexasFiddler:
So how would we optimize the card designs in hidden sections? AngelaCP:
If your card is in a hidden section, it will not be SEO'd allcreative:
Google hasn't spidered my shop in several months. Any way to get them to spider
cp shops faster? AngelaCP:
Does anyone know the answer to this? NiftyGaloot:
Pray! TexasFiddler:
sorry. Google is a mystery to me
most of the time. AngelaCP:
If you keep your content fresh and relevant... that helps AngelaCP:
if it's content rich that will help AngelaCP:
but yes, as everyone mentioned, it's got a secret sauce and they aren't sharing
;) StrykerWife:
How do you know if your shop has been "Spidered?" allcreative:
Google will tell you when it was last spidered. cupid:
blog and hit social networks that you belong to. brainlint:
If you haven't already, get your products on googleBase....then there are links
to your pages. Might help magadog1:
What is Google base and is it expensive? brainlint:
Googlebase is free...it's the way Google shows individual products NiftyGaloot:
Using Cafetoolbox will create a Google base upload for you: http://cafetoolbox.com/ AngelaCP:
thanks for all the feedback on this. AngelaCP:
Here are some top tips for making your shop content rich for Search Engines. 1.
Include a short
intro on your shop front using descriptive content and keywords. Be sure to
include Valentines Day gift to help bring in Valentines Day traffic 2.
Fill out
Section Name, Section Teaser, and Section Description. If you have a special
section for Valentines Day, be sure to include Valentines Day Gift,
sweetheart, etc. 3.
Make sure your
links are descriptive. Use keywords to describe the section such as: love
sucks or bummed about love gifts as your links.
TIP:
Instead of a section called Stuff for Her, you can have a Valentines
for Girlfriends section. Better
keywords. 4.
Fill out your
Product Descriptions and Names. Heres an SEO tutorial with some visuals to
help you out: http://www.cafepress.com/cp/learn/tutorial_seo_opt
AngelaCP:
Any questions so far? AngelaCP:
These are general best practices for making your shop SEO friendly. For
Valentines Day, just apply the V-day related keywords. AngelaCP:
To organize your shop, create Shop by Recipient categories. AngelaCP:
There are many ways to organize your shop. However, its always important to
organize your shop so its easy for your customers to navigate through your
shop. For V-day, its best to
create a "Shop by recipient" section to help your customers easily
find what they are looking for. Such as:
Gifts for Him, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Children, Gifts for Pets, and/or Gifts
for Everyone You Love. AngelaCP:
In addition, men are typically those purchasing (and they need the most help ;))
so highlight the Gifts for Her and feature your top selling gifts for
women. AngelaCP:
Sorry guys .... :P AngelaCP:
Don't forget the teachers, and other categories to buy for.
It's great way to get your customer to purchase beyond their sweetheart. Jim:
right now I have links to items instead of by design. Should I have both? AngelaCP:
It depends on your shop... but generally, organizing by design seems to work
best TexasFiddler:
Does creating sections like you just described with products that are the same
as the products in other sections look like spamming Google to the spiders? AngelaCP:
If it's done sparingly. TexasFiddler:
multiple pages with the same basic content AngelaCP:
The thought is to have all your v-day gifts separated by recipient AngelaCP:
to help the customer easily find gifts AngelaCP:
TIP: Remember SEO best practices. Use keywords for your sections
such as Valentines Gifts for your sweetheart (or girlfriend). I see a
lot of Shopkeepers are already following this during the Holidays, I've seen
awesome shops with great shopping experiences AngelaCP:
Does it make sense to organize by recipient? AngelaCP:
Does anyone have any more questions about tips for your shop? magadog1:
I'm going to have to go through my shops and pull out all the holiday and
Christmas words! AngelaCP:
If appropriate, definitely swap them out for V-day terms magadog1:
right AngelaCP:
So if you dont have any more questions, I'll hand it over to Britta to share
what we're doing at CP. BrittaCP:
Hi everyone. As Angela mentioned before, we will be putting up a special
Valentines portal just as we have in years past. cupid:
What is the launch date for the V-day portal? BrittaCP:
We're aiming for mid Jan. magadog1:
what is that? BrittaCP:
Just like you would create a special VDay section in your shop... we're making
one in our Marketplace. BrittaCP:
Just like we had for the magadog1:
ah BrittaCP:
Our focus will be to show that Valentines is for EVERYONE, and not just
couples. We want to entice all walks of life to participate in this day of love,
whether it be giving or receiving. BrittaCP:
Well be breaking things down into 4 areas. BrittaCP:
The different colors of love: Here
we look at traditional romantic love. This includes gifts for her (fiance,
girlfriend, wife, lesbian girlfriend) BrittaCP:
and him (boyfriend, husband, fiance, gay boyfriend) BrittaCP:
and gifts for everyone that highlight the TYPE of love you may have for someone:
Happily Married, New Love, Lustful Im sure some you can have fun with that
theme ;) BrittaCP:
That's to name a few.... BrittaCP:
The other side of love: This is for all those that may not dig the
hearts, flowers and fluffy feelings. spunkygirl:
woot BrittaCP:
As you can guess, this is where you can find all the Anti-Vday designs, along
with designs for the heartbroken, the whatever opinions, and love hurts. magadog1:
and perhaps a few parodies I have in mind. . ..:-c BrittaCP:
If you want to stick it to Vday, the other side of love is the place you want to
look. BrittaCP:
Again, we want to everyone to feel special and be a part of Vday BrittaCP:
Well also be featuring a Not just for couples section BrittaCP:
Not just for couples: [BrittaCP:
Here youll find gifts appropriate for your mom, dad, brother, single friends,
best friends magadog1:
awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww BrittaCP:
And of course well have a section featuring those key products we mentioned
earlier. BrittaCP:
Greeting cards (single), Keepsake Boxes, Dark Tees, Teddy Bears BrittaCP:
So be sure to get those designs added to the products Ang mentioned before, and
tag appropriately. cupid:
Do we use those 4 categories as key tags for products for the portal? spunkygirl:
the teddy bears will be huge AngelaCP:
No, only use these keywords as Tags only if it applies to your image. AngelaCP:
Please! magadog1:
Yes PLEASE!!! StrykerWife:
How do we get a design featured on the V Day portal? AngelaCP:
Designs will be search based... which means if you Tag your image appropriately
and relevantly, you have a better chance of being selected AngelaCP:
Also, we have thousands of designs to choose from.
It's always difficult to find one when we have thousands of great designs NiftyGaloot:
@StrykerWife - Dance naked under a full moon! AngelaCP:
Ha, that might work for other things... ;) magadog1:
better with fewer tags? AngelaCP:
Better with relevant Tags AngelaCP:
It's better to have 5 relevant Tags than 10 Tags with only 5 relevant and 5 not
so relevant Jim:
well, thank you very much. gotta run. Will you be saving the transcript for us? magadog1:
funny. no thongs, huh? AngelaCP:
You can have thongs if it's the right audience ;) Blonde
Designs: I have
sold quite a few thongs... AngelaCP:
Yes, I think thongs would be appropriate AngelaCP:
How about a naughty section? BrittaCP:
In a naughty section... that's where you can put all your "Lust"
designs AngelaCP:
we have a few minutes left.... any more questions AngelaCP:
I hope some of the tips we shared with you today will help you in preparing your
shop for Vday cupid:
When you had the wedding portal there were specific tags for designs types, and
that is what I am trying to ask. Will there be specific design related - not
spam tagging - tags for each section of V-day designs. If not, then I assume we
use the design related (no tag spamming) 4 category key tags you mentioned for
the appropreiate design. Right? AngelaCP:
You're talking about categories such as "Brides Maid",
"Groom", etc? cupid:
Yes AngelaCP:
Britta shared some of the categories we will be having, but not the Tags the
search results will be pulled from. We don't normally share the specific Tags... AngelaCP:
But you'll know what it is once the portal is live. AngelaCP:
We just want you to Tag your images as relevant possible cupid:
Okay, just trying to keep it cleaner and more precise. AngelaCP:
If you tag appropriately cupid, you'll be fine :D cupid:
Thanks, Ang. AngelaCP:
Take a look at the categories Britta shared with you...that should help give you
a direction of where we're headed cupid:
Would you recommend setting up V-day sections by product type, also? AngelaCP:
By recipient is best then by design, or product line. That's your call AngelaCP:
Just organize it so as a customer, it's easy to find and navigate to. Have a
friend navigate through your shop for an opinion. cupid:
I was thinking about the keepsake boxes which are nice gifts and to bring some
awareness to that product type since many shoppers may be interested in that
type of gift item. AngelaCP:
yes, Keepsake Boxes and Single Greeting Cards... highlight those items, and
feature them AngelaCP:
Alright everyone. Thank you to everyone that attended spunkygirl:
bye all! AngelaCP:
thanks for attending this workshop everyone |
 |
Customer Service | About Us | Jobs | Sitemap | Affiliate Program | Gift Certificates | Blog |  |
  |
