CafePress. A great group of people!

Day317
I’m always fascinated by the bits of information I pick up about other CafePress storeowners through the forums, their stores and blogs.

Sometimes the forums get heated because it’s a pretty opinionated bunch! Most often the people are funny and fun, lending a bit of humor to others as a way to reach out and touch.

They are also incredibly willing to help each other. Mainly with sharing information, but sometimes more. Earlier this week Rachael Tallamy threw an offer out on a forum. She said she would design a graphic for anyone’s store free of charge as her way of saying Merry Christmas to the group! She had an example in the forum of a banner she had made for her store, and it was beautiful.

I asked her if she would make a smaller banner for me for the holidays. She created a perfect match to my shop and I immediately put it up instead of my logo to “decorate” my shop for Christmas.

I love the way it looks! View here

Then I went to Rachael’s shop and was blown away! She is an artist whose areas of expertise are: digital paintings, photo art and manipulations, photo restoration, graphic design, traditional art and graphite. I wanted to show you a couple of her posters and send out a link to her beautiful site: Rachael Tallamy

Kevin's interview

Day134
Here’s Kevin’s two sites and what he has to say about them.

http://www.cafepress.com/knightinink/?pid=4370506

http://www.cafepress.com/calicodragon?pid=4370506

1. What drew you to opening an online store? Were you in a related field?

I’m a freelance illustration artist and I have a lot of art that was stuff I did just for me and CafePress offered an option to use that artwork.

2. When did you open your store?

Its been about 3 1/2 years now.

3. What is harder about doing this then you thought it would be?

I’m dyslexic so creating tags and searchable phrases can be a challenge at times. While spell checks are handy it sometimes leads to a correctly spelled, but wrong word for what I need. With dyslexia I can’t always distinguish if I have the right word once I have spell checked it. For the record it can also be a blessing in disguise. I’ve seen a few sales because of misspellings! I had a guy find my sight via Google because I misspelled water as watter and he found some of the mermaid items and bought a shirt.

4. What do you like best about being an online shopkeeper?

It’s a great outlet for some of my artistic musings. Sketches that were just collecting dust in my archives now not only have a use, but are finding a new home and audience.

5. During the very first month, what do you wish you had known then that you do now?

Visitor count tracking. I can’t say enough about having a good visit tracker that can tell you where people are hitting your site from.

6. Could you share some of the marketing you’ve tried so far (on or off line) and what has worked and what hasn’t?

I do a lot of offline advertising. I do try-fold fliers. This is a standard 6-panel flier with the front panels designed to catch people’s attention. The interior is a fold out display of art and product. The two outer panels have contact information designed to direct traffic to the sight. I have a by-fold flier that features a comic strip panel of two people discussing how cool the Knight In Ink shop is and it opens up to show an outer border of artwork and several items featured on the site; like the t-shirts, the buttons, the coffee cups, etc. I also have posters, which have a border of artwork and shop products on them. This, along with my business cards, which have my Knight In Ink shop listed on them. I put tease items out at coffee shops, bookstores, comic shops and catchy little shops all over. I’ve placed them locally and also out of town and out of state. I have even had friends place them for me in San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Chicago, Boston, Charleston, Atlanta, and Orlando. I also use my online blogs as advertising points. It drives a little business to the sight. Also search engines are a great way to draw traffic. CafePress also has an affiliate program my friend at http://www.cafepress.com/jazilla?pid=4370506 has helped me out with.

7. What other sites, blogs, etc. do you have if any?

http://www.xanga.com/knightinink

http://www.myspace.com/knightinink

http://tagworld.com/knightinink

http://tagworld.com/calicodragon

Along with over a dozen art boards I post on regularly.

Nancy’s comments – Kevin’s dragons and little sluggers in his Calico Dragon shop made me want to decorate children’s rooms. They are adorable. As you can tell by his blog, various sites and marketing, he’s working hard at this!

Nifty Wares interview

Day133
It’s Kent’s turn to share his endeavors with us:
http://www.niftywares.com?pid=4370506

http://www.cafepress.com/niftywares?pid=4370506

1. What drew you to opening an online store? Were you in a related field?

The story starts back quite a few years with drawing a self-portrait sketch to put on Christmas cards. It said, "Hoe! Hoe! Hoe!" under a guy working in the garden getting rid of weeds. Then I found iron-on t-shirt transfers. (A light bulb moment!) I put the design on a shirt I could wear to the farmers market where I sell my garden goodies. From one... came other ideas and more shirts for variety. Shoppers started commenting that I ought to be selling the shirts. A few shirts sold, nothing much really, but fun to have beside the veggies at market.
Then... whilst surfing the net in January 2005, I came across CafePress, it looked like a good fit for selling the designs on the net and maybe developing some other design ideas. Another good thing... they also did books. I had been gathering recipes at the market for years and been thinking they should really be put together into a book. Yep!... I ended up with a recipe book to sell at market too. So... That's how I became an online merchant.

2. When did you open your store?

I started with a basic store in January of 2005 and later upgraded to premium.

3. What is harder about doing this then you thought it would be?

Marketing is harder than I thought it would be. Just having products and getting them listed in search engines isn't enough. Finding other ways to market isn't easy.

4. What do you like best about being an online shopkeeper?

The chance to take an idea and run with it. It's fun to create something, put it on products and actually have someone buy it.

5. During the very first month, what do you wish you had known then that you do now?

How much of an advantage a premium shop has over basic shops. It's so much easier to manage designs and run a premium shop when you have more than a few designs. Also, the ability to use html is another big plus over basic shops.

6. Could you share some of the marketing you’ve tried so far (on or off line) and what has worked and what hasn’t?

I've done adwords, had some success with a few ads. Found out you have to be careful and not try to compete for keywords everyone else is bidding on and ads work best when they are specific to a design. Also found that a very small change in wording of an ad can have a big effect on how well it does. It's good to run a couple of ads with different wording for each set of keywords and keep track of how well each ad does.

I sold at the farmers market where I sell my garden goodies. Recipe books did well, t-shirts not so much.

I tried blogads that was a flop for me.

7. What other sites, blogs, etc. do you have if any?

http://www.gardenerwares.com/blog.html - Garden Gossip
http://www.gardenerwares.com - Gardening site
http://www.grfarmersmarket.org - Grand Rapids Farmers Market

Nancy’s comments – I personally love everything that has to do with gardens – it seems, Kent and I have found two very time consuming passions. I spent all winter glued to my computer, but now my yard is calling my name!I especially like the way he has set up his gardenwares site. You can tell he took a lot of time and searched for the best garden gifts/items from CafePress’s 2 point some million shops and he’s done a great job setting it up!

Melhi interview

Day132
Today we are hearing from Melhi and taking a look at her businesses:

http://www.cafepress.com/melhi?pid=4370506

1. What drew you to opening an online store? Were you in a related field?
It's something people have been telling me I should be doing since I was a teen. It wasn't until I met my current husband and he insisted so enthusiastically and adamantly that I was missing my calling, that I started looking into it with any seriousness at all. Online friends started recommending that I should sign up with CafePress, when CP first arrived on the scene, and as I would look into starting a large scale slogan-ware business of my own, off and on over the years, I always kept coming back to CafePress as an attractive and infinitely more affordable alternative. So, it took me a LONG time to decide to do this and exactly how I wanted to do it.

Was I in a related field? Sort of, but not really. I was successfully self-employed in real estate speculation, construction, CFD property reselling & land lording when I first started taking the suggestion seriously. I was also selling rhyming poetry on the side and volunteering as the advertising & PR person for a local charity. Later, I worked in many capacities at a local radio station, including advertising director, copywriter, producer, on air personality and co-programming director. Plus, I'm a political junkie who's been (mostly anonymously) slipping motivational social, economic and political commentary, humor, jokes, slogans, song parodies, very badly drawn cartoons, etc. into mainstream circulation (mostly spread via copy machines back in the olden days!) for the last couple of decades or so.

A couple of months into 2005, I sketched out a peace ribbon design I'd been picturing in my mind since the ribbon magnet craze had started. As soon as I showed the rough sketch to my husband and described what I had in mind for them, he insisted that it was something I should have been marketing since it first formed in my mind. To prove it, he showed the rough sketch to a couple of friends -- one wanted to know how soon he'd be able to buy it on anything and was later my first customer. I had only worked with creating low res web graphics, previously, so I had to upgrade all of my graphics software and learn to use it, before I could work on the design, itself. I'm not an artist, so I spent several months working on the high res version of the symbol, before I was comfortable opening a store to start marketing them.

2. When did you open your store?

Mid November 2005

3. What is harder about doing this than you thought it would be?

Carving out enough time to work on any aspect of it is definitely the hardest part, by far! I knew I was never going to have as much time to devote to the store and its related blog as I wanted or needed and I knew I'd picked a particularly busy stretch of my life to start this, but I had no idea JUST how desperate I'd become for more time!! I joke to my husband that even if I had all the time in the world, I'd still be overbooked!

4. What do you like best about being an online shopkeeper?

I like that there's no heavy lifting involved!! Seriously, compared to having a brick and mortar boutique, I like that I can work it around my busy life. It never takes time away from my family or my activism. If I don't have time to work on my store, today, I don't have to put up a "closed" sign and lose the business I would have had. Instead, my store is open 24/7 and the potential "foot traffic" is so much greater for a small online shops than if I'd opened a boutique in my little town. This being an election year, I'm especially busy and I'm seriously considering a bid for public office, so if I did have a small real-world boutique, I would be weighing whether to close my shop, altogether, at least until after the November elections. Instead, I can keep it open and work on it at odd hours, catch as catch can.

5. During the very first month, what do you wish you had known then that you do now?

I wish I had known that when we tag our graphics on CafePress, those tags don't double as Meta tags for the products that have those designs. I'm still rewriting descriptions, whenever I get a chance, to include important keywords that I thought I'd already covered with those tags. The time I've spent on that is time I would rather have been spending on store promotion, blogging or creating new designs.

6. Could you share some of the marketing you've tried so far (on or off line) and what has worked and what hasn't?

I've been too strapped for time to really work at promoting the store in any of the bigger ways I'd like to, yet.

Mostly, I've been marketing my store in conjunction with marketing my political blog of the same name. As I build a reputation, unsolicited links to and a regular audience for the blog, I'm also increasing awareness of the store. I placed banners and text links on my already established site & forum, as well.

I'm about to start a mirror/extension of my blog on an internationally famous political pundit's website, where, hopefully, I'll soon also be hosting a forum on issues related to the economy. I didn't join that forum to promote my blog or my store, but I'll get a lot more name exposure there and I do mention the store in my profile.

I have just signed on for a run of opt-in e-mail ads promoting the store. I'm not expecting much out of it. Mostly, I'm just curious to see if it will result in any new traffic or conversions.

I'm about to start printing up vinyl magnets in various sizes for display on my vehicles -- these will feature my peace ribbons and the URL to my store. I plan to begin displaying these during the summer as the election season is just starting to heat up. I'll be involved with a few fall events, so I may also do a print run of these in a business card size to give out for free. Assuming the store is doing well enough by the time we're heading into the 2008 Presidential election and assuming the ad rates are still as affordable as they are now, I'd like to purchase some premium advertising space on a couple of the bigger, well known liberal blogs.

What's working best for me? The CafePress marketplace is actually turning out to be a very valuable part of their service -- I've made as many sales through the marketplace, at this point, as I've made any other way! Search engine referrals have been growing, gradually and have just barely started to convert for me -- with the amount of thought, time and energy that goes into SEO, I'm very hopeful that this is just the beginning of an upward trend!

What hasn't worked? As far as I can tell, I don't think including my store's URL in my e-mail sig has converted to a single sale, yet. The first banners I made to display on my sites were amateurish & dull and didn't result in any clickthroughs at all -- I made new banners and that changed, immediately. I also get a few referrals from affiliate links, but no conversions from them, yet.

7. What other sites, blogs, etc. do you have if any?

Primarily, I have...

Monkees 101 - http://www.monkees101.com

The Monkees Mailing List - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/monkees-list

Melhi Ink blog - http://melhi.blogspot.com,

Melhi 101 (my derelict ego site) - http://www.anycities.com/melhi

While I won't own it, I'll begin co-webmastering the official site for my county's Democrat party, later this week and, as I mentioned, above, the "Melhi Ink II" blog is coming soon.

For the Cow interview

Day131
Here is Lauren’s site and interview – enjoy!

http://www.cafepress.com/forthecows?pid=4370506

1. What drew you to opening an online store? Were you in a related field?

I originally was introduced to CafePress when I purchased some gifts from the ASPCA store, while tracking my order I read about opening my own store and thought it would be fun to try. Once you open one store it’s addicting, you just keep opening more. I suppose I’m in a somewhat related field. I recently graduated with a degree in Film and I’m developing an independent documentary on how the Standard American Diet is killing us. I suppose I use my CafePress store as an outlet for the frustration that comes with seeing people eat themselves into diseases like cancer and diabetes everyday.

2. When did you open your store?

I opened my first basic store in August of 2005. Then after opening about ten or twelve basic stores and making a little bit of money, I decided to upgrade and combine them all into a premium store in February of 2006.

3. What is harder about doing this then you thought it would be?

Probably the hardest thing about running my store is finding enough time in the day to accomplish everything that I would like to accomplish. It seems like each time you accomplish one task, that accomplishment leads you to several more tasks. The more you learn about running the store, the more you realize there is to do.

4. What do you like best about being an online shopkeeper?

I think my favorite thing about being a shopkeeper is that I have an outlet to spread awareness, and to reach people all around the world with my designs.

5. During the very first month, what do you wish you had known then that you do now?

I wish I had been more organized and I wish I had studied a bit more about what it takes to get a website running and to build traffic. You learn something new everyday.

6. Could you share some of the marketing you’ve tried so far (on or off line) and what has worked and what hasn’t?

So far the only marketing that I have done is to submit my website to as many search engines as possible and to submit my store to some affiliates who have websites that are relevant to my designs. I try to read something everyday about internet marketing, but I still have a lot to learn. So far I have generated a few sales from the affiliate program.

7. What other sites, blogs, etc. do you have if any?

I don’t have any other websites at this time but I hope once I’ve gotten my store well stocked with designs, to start a blog or a website to spread my message.

Nancy’s comments – The first thing I thought of when I looked at Lauren’s site is clean. Her designs are clean, simple and attractive. She has a message to share: to treat the earth and animals with respect and to simplify our lives. I like it!

Deeks interview

Day130
Here’s Deek’s interview. Check out her two sites:

http://www.cafepress.com/deeksbrats?pid=4370506

http://www.cafepress.com/deeksdigs?pid=4370506

1. What drew you to opening an online store? Were you in a related field?

As a SAHM of 5, we needed a second income, and I needed an outlet for my Paint Shop creativity. Selling shirts online seemed like the perfect way to accomplish both!

2. When did you open your store?

I started Deeksdigs.com (my raunchier shop) over a year ago and started deeksbrats.com (my family-friendly G-rated shop) a month or so later.

3. What is harder about doing this then you thought it would be?

Reaching customers, I think, turned out to be more work than I imagined. For some reason I assumed that since my designs were so awesome, people would find them without my having to do anything at all....(HOLY RUDE AWAKENING, BATMAN!!)

4. What do you like best about being an online shopkeeper?

I like that I don't have to do anything but design and promote my stuff. The printing, the shipping and the customer service is handled by CP.

5. During the very first month, what do you wish you had known then that you do now?

I wish I had known the importance of tagging my designs appropriately so that the search engines would pull my products up according to customer search terms. It makes all the difference.

6. Could you share some of the marketing you’ve tried so far (on or off line) and what has worked and what hasn’t?

Marketing can be tricky, with lots of dead ends. Online I have tried Craigslist, Recycler and other "free" ad directories and they DO result in hits to the shops, but those hits don't regularly convert to sales. My best advice for promotion online is MySpace. I built a MySpace profile for my Deeksdigs shop and a nice chunk of my sales come from there.Offline, I advertise in places that I know my customers will see me. Tattoo magazines for instance. Alternative lifestyle magazines also provide good bang for your advertising buck.

7. What other sites, blogs, etc. do you have if any?

I am concentrating on my shops 100% right now, but plan to do a blog sometime after Christmas.

Nancy’s comments - Deek must be doing something right, I see her banners in lots of other shopkeeper’s stores!
Her family friendly shop is set up very orderly. Her first section is Welcoming the Baby and has everything from the birth coach’s buttons to the new big brother or sister’s journal to write down what they want the new arrival to know. The next section is maternity items for mom and then on to the new baby, kids and teens. Just reading all the onesies is a lot of fun!

Austin Animal Art & Photography interview

Day129
Today we are visiting with Austin Animal Art and Photography:
http://www.cafepress.com/aaap?pid=4370506

1. What drew you to opening an online store? Were you in a related field?

My wife and I are already running a pet portrait business and trying to build it up a little. The idea of a client being able to buy their finished design on a variety of products was quite appealing to us.

2. When did you open your store?

I first opened the store about a month ago.

3. What is harder about doing this then you thought it would be?

The actual set-up of the shop was quite easy, so the hardest thing would have to be marketing the products.

4. What do you like best about being an online shopkeeper?

I think the idea of not having any overheads is great!

5. During the very first month, what do you wish you had known then that you do now?

I'm sure I'm going to look back and see plenty of things I could have done, but I guess we all have to start somewhere. I have a feeling I should have already changed to a premium shop...

6. Could you share some of the marketing you’ve tried so far (on or off line) and what has worked and what hasn’t?

So far, all of our sales have come through the main pet portrait business. I have put up some links on various sites, but this has not yet been successful in generating sales. I suppose the best advice I can give is to try everything, and see what happens.

7. What other sites, blogs, etc. do you have if any?

This is our main site: http://www.austinanimalart.com

I've considered a blog but I just can't seem to find the time!

Nancy’s comments - I had a great time looking at Austin Animal Art’s main site! It was fun to see the photograph and then the drawing she did from it! And Patricia is such a good artist! I agree with her husband's comment in the interview where he said they probably should have gotten a premium shop already. The artwork is so good, they shouldn’t limit themselves to one product per design.

Husband and wife have 3 unique shops

Day128
Today’s shops belong to a husband and wife team:
Rainbow Design Fine Art Prints & Gifts
TEE Total - Shirts for the whole family
Gunman´s Erotic and Pin-Up Art

1. What drew you to opening an online store? Were you in a related field?

My husband and I have both been painting for a hobby for decade. Since starting our own art websites we’ve been looking for a way to sell prints of our work. To have prints done yourself and then ship them requires a huge amount of upfront money, so when I received an e-mail from CafePress about a year ago, asking if I would be interested in their online stores, I considered having a look at it. As chance wants it, I had no time - and lost the e-mail. Last December I stumbled across a CafePress shop by chance and realized it was the company that had sent me the e-mail.

I am not working in any related field, but spent about 20 years working in brick and mortar shops - so I know a bit about business. And as for the design side of the business, I design our five websites, including the graphics, I have a site where I offer graphics and IM stationery for download - so designing comes easy for me.

2. When did you open your store?

I opened my first shop on Dec. 9th 2005. I started premium straight away. I have so many paintings that having basic shops would just not be enough. Also I am into designing websites as a hobby, too - and a basic shop just doesn´t fit my taste... I have three premium shops now - the first, Rainbow Design, where I sell (or try to sell) our original art as prints and on gift items, as well as some digitally designed gifts. The TEE Total store for the t-shirts, apparel and baby stuff, and a shop for my husbands erotic art and pin-ups.

3. What is harder about doing this then you thought it would be?

Turning the premium store into something special - I have learnt heaps of Html in the past four months; thank god for the CP forums! And getting people to come and visit my shops - and, more important, stay a while! I still haven´t got where I want to be - but I´m patient!

4. What do you like best about being an online shopkeeper?

I like being able to work as and when I please - I wish I didn´t have to go to my daytime job, too (although I must admit that I often drop into the forum while at work :-)) And about the CP shops that I haven´t got the hassle of production, and packing and sending the stuff! I can concentrate on my store.

5. During the very first month, what do you wish you had known then that you do now?

Knowing more about customization would have saved me hours of work and changing the look about four times!

6. Could you share some of the marketing you’ve tried so far (on or off line) and what has worked and what hasn’t?

Up until now I have only tried free marketing. The first thing was SEO optimization - having spent five years optimizing my other sites has helped to know what I was doing there. I have linked from all the other websites to the shops, and get a good amount of traffic from there. I have put lots of t-shirts in different marketing sites. I have two blogs, but I have not much feedback from there - probably because I lack the time to post very often. I joined some webrings, which have driven a satisfactory amount of traffic my way. Also I am a member of several art forums with a high visitor frequency, and have my links in my signature - that´s a very good way to get free PR.
Now that my shops are looking a bit more presentable, I am going to put in some paid ads on sites that drive targeted traffic to the shops. I haven´t decided where yet, I´m still looking for the best deals. And I have spoken to other shopkeepers who sell my sort of designs and have "shopping mall" stores. That has been a very good thing. Offline marketing is no good for me, as I live in Germany and the cost for the items is too high if you add the shipping.

7. What other sites, blogs, etc. do you have if any?

I have my art site: Rainbow World of Colors
My husband has an airbrush art site: Airbrush Alley
my husband’s Pin-Up site: Gunman´s Pin-Up and Erotic Art
My IncrediMail Stationery and PSP resources site Rainbow Design
A blog on Myspace , which is for advertising my t-shirt shop
A blog on blogger.com for my art shop - although I should spend a lot more time on the blogs!
RAINBOW DESIGN INCREDIMAIL STATIONERY & MORE

Nancy’s comments – All of these are great looking sites filled with beautiful art and wonderful ideas. Having lived in Germany myself for three years and traveled all over Europe I really enjoyed Hilly’s landscape in Rainbow Design. Her still lifes are really beautiful too. I like that she kept those on prints, coasters and greeting cards and didn’t stick them on t-shirts just because she could. Some designs aren’t meant for apparel and I think it takes away from the store when you don’t pick the right items. She has her separate shop, Tee Total for that and it’s full of cute, fun designs.

Tech Styles interview

Day127
Tracy and Jeff, owners of http://www.cafepress.com/tech_styles?pid=4370506,
are sharing with us today.

1. What drew you to opening an online store? Were you in a related field?

My husband is a graphic artist. For Christmas last year, we came up with a design for a shirt that I stenciled onto a shirt for my college-aged daughter. We both thought the design was so good that we should try to sell it. We turned to CafePress. That design (Study Hard. Be Evil.) was the first of the many we now have.

2. When did you open your store?

December 28, 2005

3. What is harder about doing this then you thought it would be?

Promotions is the hardest part. Trying to get the word out so that people will come to your store is definitely the hardest part of owning an online store. We really don't want to lay out cash for advertising so we have to continually look for free promotional opportunities. It is very time-consuming to do that. Not only is it finding places to do the promotions, it's finding promotional opportunities that generate traffic and sales.

4. What do you like best about being an online shopkeeper?

Being able to design so freely and having people actually buy the designs is awesome. This has been a very rewarding experience. We've only been at it for four months. We had no expectations that we would sell as much as we have so far. It certainly isn't a lot (yet) but it has been enough to pay for the store and we hit the first tier bonus level in our third month.

5. During the very first month, what do you wish you had known then that you do now?

Thankfully, I found the CafePress forum right away and read everything. There is a wealth of knowledge in those message boards. The people who have been with CafePress for years give so freely of their knowledge and share in everyone's tiniest of successes. I think the fact that I found the forum and dove into it so quickly helped us to ramp up faster than we would have otherwise. I think, without that, we would still be floundering with store design, tagging & descriptions, and ideas for promotional opportunities. I do freelance web design outside of my usual 9-5 job (Project Manager at Ford Motor Company). The experience I bring with website design gave us a leg-up over that learning curve that many people struggle with.

6. Could you share some of the marketing you've tried so far (on or off line) and what has worked and what hasn't?

CafePress's Marketplace really does a pretty decent job. The key is tagging your images well and writing good descriptions. We make sure that our tags include words that we think people might use as search words in the CafePress Marketplace for which we think they would like to see our designs as a result of their search. The same holds true for the descriptions. We use words in the descriptions that people using search engines such as Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc. will enter as search keywords. So, we don't just describe the design, we target the end users with the description. We have links to our CafePress store from other websites we own and our blogs and those links are generating both traffic and sales. We let all of our friends and acquaintances know about our store. We sent out a mass email to everyone but we didn't beg for sales. We asked for feedback. What we got in return was some sales and some ideas for more designs. My daughter in college promotes the store (primarily the "Study Hard. Be Evil." design) from her personal web space at college. My middle daughter promotes her own designs that we have in our store from her MySpace account. We bought a few of our designs and we wear them so that people can see the quality of the designs and printing. We are walking billboards. We find opportunities to mention our store to everyone and we printed our own business cards to have ready to hand out so those people have a URL to visit when they get home.

7. What other sites, blogs, etc. do you have if any?

www.inkleweaving.com - We have a set of designs targeted to this audience and promote them on this site.

www.degarmo.net - Tracy's personal website where all the designs are promoted.

www.techstyles-online.com (mirrored home page of our store)

Blog on MySpace

Blog on LiveJournal

Blog on degarmo.net

Nancy’s comment – Tracy mentioned being a web designer on the side and how that gave them a leg up. My husband is an internet consultant and also designs websites. I couldn’t have done my store without his help and it always amazes me so many people figure it out on their own!Tracy and Jeff have a different take on the immigration controversy in their “Legal American” section. They also have a very clever magnet to put on your dishwasher that you can turn to “clean or dirty” and they have a whole section of Mother’s Day products, which is coming up very soon!

gmonte interview

Day126
Today’s interview: The Federal City, Annex Online Store http://www.cafepress.com/gmonte34?pid=4370506

1. What drew you to opening an online store?

I have always had a dream to sell my art and designs to the public on a large scale on the Internet. My best friend C.W. Kelley from The Federal City Online Store for which my store is named helped me my first couple of months by paying for my premium store and encouraging me along on my sales.

Were you in a related field?

No not really I'm an amateur artist and was taught by my dad at an early age how to draw and paint.

2. When did you open your store?

July 16, 2005

3. What is harder about doing this then you thought it would be?

The advertising and getting people to my shop to see my designs and hopefully buy them.

4. What do you like best about being an online shopkeeper?

I like the hours. I'm disabled so its alot easier than going out and getting a 9-5 job. My husband has the real job. I can go rest when I feel tired or even take a day off if I want to. And it's my dream to work at home and do designs all day.

5. During the very first month, what do you wish you had known then that you do now?

How to organize my shop for easy navigating for the customers. And how to make it more attractive for the buyer. I also took all my links to other sites off to accept 2 paid sponsors of my store.

6. Could you share some of the marketing you’ve tried so far (on or off line) and what has worked and what hasn’t?

The main thing that has worked for me is free advertising and I made my own business cards. I have 3 businesses that I have them at for customers to pick up: Pizza Inn, Dos Charros, I Love Video. Also I am a member of great t-shirt voting sites which bring me alot of traffic and a few sales as well. I also advertise on MySpace and on my own blog.
What hasn't worked is I have done some paid advertising. I have paid advertising for my t-shirts and in all I have had only one hit so far from it. I think free advertising is best.

7. What other sites, blogs, etc. do you have if any?

I have a FREE Recipe site dedicated to my mother - www.recipes.2ya.com

my yahoo blog is http://360.yahoo.com/gmonte34

MySpace url is www.myspace.com/gmonte34

and my Friends site that helped me along is The Federal City www.cafepress.com/kelleyimages C.W. Kelley

Nancy’s comment – gmonte34 has the cutest alphabet designs! One for every letter. I also like her baby blocks design and in her birthday shop the 1 through 5 year old designs! All of these are great for little kid’s birthdays and also baby showers!

Detour Design interview

Day125
Juna answers our questions about his businesses today:

http://www.cafepress.com/detourdesign?pid=4370506

1. What drew you to opening an online store? Were you in a related field?

My business partner and I are owners of Detour Design, a graphic design studio in Salt Lake City, UT. We came across an article on the internet early last year, about how other businesses are making extra money selling t-shirts. We were intrigued. After looking at a couple of different t-shirt sites, we decided to go with CafePress because they looked the most professional. We jumped right in and Detour Designables was born.

2. When did you open your store?

May 5, 2005.

3. What is harder about doing this then you thought it would be?

I am actually surprised that this is even working. I was really skeptical at first. Now that we have had some success at it I think marketing the shirts is the hardest part. We love designing. We have tons of ideas. Getting the word out, that's the secret.

4. What do you like best about being an online shopkeeper?

I like that we don't have an actual inventory and we don't have to deal with customers. We don't have to stock 5,000 shirts in our basement. If somebody wants a shirt we have designed they can get one. If a design isn't selling, we didn't lose any money on it. We don't have to listen to someone complaining about the wrong size or color. Being an online shopkeeper is a lot less stressful than owning an actual store. Less stress is what I am all about.

5. During the very first month, what do you wish you had known then that you do now?

I wish I knew how to customize our shop in the first month. It took a little while before we got our look down. We still make changes here and there, but I think it really helps to have a nice homepage for people to come to.

6. Could you share some of the marketing you've tried so far (on or off line) and what has worked and what hasn't?

I'm really not sure if there is one specific thing that has worked for us. We just try and get as much exposure as possible. We have a MySpace account. Our blog has been up for a while. We regularly post on forums. We are constantly trading links with other sites. The Affiliate program is in place. There are also shirt ranking sites and banner exchanging sites. All of those things combined help spread the word.

7. What other sites, blogs, etc. do you have if any?

http://www.detourdesign.com/blog/ - our blog

http://www.detourdesign.com/ - our graphic design studio

sitehttp://www.myspace.com/detourdesign - Juna’s MySpace site

Nancy’s comment – This is the first time I’ve seen this. Detourdesign has a section designed by kids where the actual child that created the design gets the money. Great way to teach them early business skills and promote their creativity!

Designs by Joan interview

Day122
Today we’re looking at: http://www.cafepress.com/designsbyjoan?pid=4370506

1.What drew you to opening an online store? Were you in a related field?

I am a professional graphic designer and illustrator and wanted somewhere to post my original designs.

2.When did you open your store?

Last summer, I think

3.What is harder about doing this then you thought it would be?

It's just time consuming loading up new designs and keeping it fresh.

4.What do you like best about being an online shopkeeper?

I finally have a place to post my art!

5.During the very first month, what do you wish you had known then that you do now?

How to tag files and to go ahead and get a premium shop.

6.Could you share some of the marketing you’ve tried so far (on or off line) and what has worked and what hasn’t?

I've only done word of mouth and have sent out two newsletters. I think the newsletters are great if you can get people to sign up for them.

7.What other sites, blogs, etc. do you have if any?

None at this moment.

Nancy’s comment – Check out Joan’s custom birthday designs. You can either put your name on or someone else’s for a gift. I also really like her Graduation 2006 design, her house warming gifts and think her “Woman scorned” section is pretty fun. Joan’s got creative ideas and she’s good artist.

Dog Play Interview

Day121
Here’s Diane’s main shop and some of her thoughts:
http://www.cafepress.com/dogplay?pid=4370506


1. What drew you to opening an online store?

An internet friend opened one just to create a mug of her dog. I started exploring around. CafePress looked like it might be fun. That I didn't have to pay anything to try it, and that I didn't have any commitments at all was a big factor in my deciding to try it. I really like playing with the artwork. CafePress gave me a reason for doing it.

2.Were you in a related field?

Not at all. My images are in support of, and a mirror of, my Dog Play website which is devoted to helping dogs keep their homes. The Dog Play website was opened in 1996.

3.When did you open your store?

December 2003

4.What is harder about doing this then you thought it would be?
Writing the sales pitches and marketing. And maintaining the shop. I had no idea I would create so many designs. And keeping up with which designs have been added to which products (or rather which products I've accidentally skipped) is a challenge.

5.What do you like best about being an online shopkeeper?
The ego boost that comes when someone likes something I made enough to actually pay money for it. They see something there that speaks for them, and that's my goal.

6.During the very first month, what do you wish you had known then that you do now?

I really can't think of anything that would have made a difference then, except maybe to discourage me. Since I didn't start out taking it too seriously most of the things that cause stress (no sales!) weren't a big problem. Nice thing about being pessimistic is you can get pleasantly surprised when you are wrong. It is good to be wrong.

7.Could you share some of the marketing you’ve tried so far (on or off line) and what has worked and what hasn’t?

I haven't done the kind of marketing I could or should. Partly I have a mental block but also I committed myself that my primary web site would come first. I tried a blog, but couldn't keep at it. Generating income from sales should come second to keeping my web site a great resource for people to learn about their dogs. I'd like to do it all, but there aren't enough hours in the day. And I'd much rather teach or help than market.

Since I know I can count on traffic to my web site, and that will target my audience, I spend most of my marketing efforts there. This weekend for example, I've been working on extracting product and section images for a new script based display that I hope will work better than others I've tried.

I do very well in Google where I've made the effort to do good section descriptions.
I'd say the best side effect of working with CafePress is that it has convinced me that selling stuff on Dog Play can be a benefit for my visitors. That these things can support what I'm doing philosophically as well as financially.

8.What other sites, blogs, etc. do you have if any?

In addition to my premium shop I still have a LOT of basic shops, and I make sales through them.

I also have:
http://www.dogplay.com - what I call my primary web site.
http://www.dogplayshops.com - my affiliate shop.
Just because I have to check things out:
http://dogplay.blogspot.com/
http://myspace.com/dogplay
http://www.squidoo.com/Mcnabs
http://www.squidoo.com/mutts/
http://www.squidoo.com/ScienceFun/
http://www.squidoo.com/therapydogs/
http://www.squidoo.com/dogplay/


Nancy’s comment – I have found in my four months at CafePress that the shop owners are not only talented, but passionate people. Some have a special cause close to their hearts, others care about everything. They are all talented and willing to put themselves out their for their beliefs.
I read somewhere that making a commitment and putting yourself out there invites success even though it may not come instantly or through the obvious channels. Most of the shop owners I’ve interviewed don’t get in it strictly for the money, they don’t expect overnight success. They have a talent that needs to be expressed somehow and a passion that needs to find a purpose.
Diane is providing a service for dogs and you can tell she’s passionate about them, but she is also talented and smart.

Tabithadas Interview

Day120
Tabithadas has 2 premium shops with CafePress:

NaughTee Clothing and Accessories

Maternitees

1. What drew you to opening an online store? Were you in a related field?
I have always been interested in art and design, and my friends and I were always coming up with witty sayings and phrases that would make us crack up. It was only natural to put them together and make shirts!!

2. When did you open your store?

I started with Cafepress sometime in early 2004, but didn't have a "real" store up and running until around July 2005. I opened up a second premium store shortly thereafter, and have plans to open two more this year.

3. What is harder about doing this then you thought it would be?

Finding the time to work on everything! I work a full-time job with a 60+ minute commute each way, so by the time I get home, I am exhausted! I hope that one day I will be blessed enough to be able to stay at home and pursue not only my Cafepress interests but other artistic endeavors as well.

4. What do you like best about being an online shopkeeper?
I love the flexibility an online store provides. You can make sales in your sleep or while you're at work. It's great to come home after a tough day at the office and see that "You made a sale!" email in my inbox!

5. During the very first month, what do you wish you had known then that you do now?
I wish I had known how much work it takes to be successful. I think a lot of people, myself included, signed up and thought the money would just start coming in. But it takes a lot of work - advertising, marketing, designing, updating, research, and so on.

6. Could you share some of the marketing you’ve tried so far (on or off line) and what has worked and what hasn’t?
I have tried a few things... some pay off, some don't. I tried an ad on one site and had 1000 visitors practically instantly but not a single person bought anything. Start with friends and family - they will be able to look over your shop and suggest changes or other ideas you would not have thought of otherwise. Let them know about the affiliate program, and let them do a little legwork for you! The affiliate program has done very well for me so far - sales that I wouldn't get otherwise and require very little work on my part. I would advise the best way to get your shop noticed is to use great keywords and descriptions to get your site in the search engines. And don't forget about MySpace, Friendster, Facebook, email signatures, forum signatures, and trading links with sites of a similiar nature.

7. What other sites, blogs, etc. do you have if any?

I have two more premium shops in the works but you will have to wait and see for those!

I am working on www.naughteeclothing.com with CPShop to offer my Cafepress items, as well as my personal site, www.tabithadas.com which will feature my artwork such as pencil drawings, photography, and calligraphy. Neither of these sites are ready to be unveiled at the present moment but hopefully will be ready to go live this summer! I also have two MySpace accounts - http://www.myspace.com/naughteeclothing and http://www.myspace.com/tabithadas - don't forget to add me as your friend!!

Nancy’s comment – In her maternities store check out the mom and baby “supply and demand” items. Very clever!

Denes Place interview

Day119
Take a few minutes and check out Denes Place

1. What drew you to opening an online store? Were you in a related field?

I always wanted a business of my own but never had the money to start one and couldn't talk myself into giving up a steady paycheck. No guts, I guess. CafePress gave me the chance to give it a try in my spare time without sticking a lot of money into it. No, I was not in a related field. I managed a department in a factory.

2. When did you open your store?

I opened my store in 2003. But only spent a minimum of time at it for the first year.

3. What is harder about doing this then you thought it would be?

It was actually much easier than I had thought that it would be. It's more fun than work, and (not knowing html) CafePress’s templates really make it easy.

4. What do you like best about being an online shopkeeper?

I think that what I like best is that my CafePress shop gives me a chance to express myself in my designs, and I get a chance to make money doing something that I enjoy. Never really got a chance to find my "dream job" while trying to make a living.

5. During the very first month, what do you wish you had known then that you do now?

That my tastes are not necessarily the same as everyone else’s, and that your designs improve with practice. I really thought that some of my first designs were great. Looking back, I think that I was the only one who thought so. Some of my original designs may have done more to hurt my shop then help.
Someone just starting their shop should get a few opinions on their designs before jumping in feet first. Family and friends opinions don't count! They always seem to love what you do. At least, that's what they say!

6. Could you share some of the marketing you've tried so far (on or off line) and what has worked and what hasn't?

I've tried short ads in local papers. (Most people ignore them.) Links from my Pet Heaven site. (Quite a
few sales come through Pet Heaven.) My signature on different forums. (Some forums forbid this.) Started an affiliate blog. (Have had some sales this way.) Still haven't found a real great way to spread the word on my shop, but think business has picked up since CafePress started the affiliate program. I think that some of the better selling shops are doing big ads in magazines or paid ads on popular sites, but this can get pretty expensive.

7. What other sites, blogs, etc. do you have if any?

Pet
Heaven!
The Shirt
Shop!
Firefighters!

Nancy’s comment: This site has a little of everything. From items for the socially conscience to maternity t-shirts you are sure to find something that you love.

Ursine Logic's interview

Day118
Take a look at Ursine Logic’s Store while she share’s her experiences;
http://www.cafepress.com/ursinelogic?pid=4370506

1.What drew you to opening an online store? Were you in a related field?

I've been a free-lance graphic artist/web designer for several years now. One of my clients hired me to fix some of his images so they would work on black t-shirts. I went to look at this site and thought hey, I can do this with my art and photographs. It's better than having them sit on my hard drive all lonely and forgotten.

2.When did you open your store?

February 2006

3.What is harder about doing this then you thought it would be?

Getting traffic to the site. I usually can manage to get decent traffic to websites I design in about three months. This one is taking forever, although I've done everything and more that I usually do, with a focus on descriptions, keywords, and manually registering with the big search engines plus ones specific to what I offer in my store. I never show up in any of the CafePress marketplace searches even though I do everything I'm supposed to do. That's another mystery. However I am still optimizing my shop for what usually works and not on CafePress marketplace listings.

4.What do you like best about being an online shopkeeper?

Being able to have complete and total control over the designs and products. It's a great way also to show people who want to hire me for jobs what I do. It's a great portfolio page if nothing else.

5.During the very first month, what do you wish you had known then that you do now?

I think the most important was how to organize my shop. I set it up by product at first and then realized the other shops that were doing well were set up by design. Knowing this without going through all the message board stuff ahead of time would have been good information. I had to redo it.

6.Could you share some of the marketing you’ve tried so far (on or off line) and what has worked and what hasn’t?

Adwords totally sucked. It is expensive and I only had one sale that came from them. Don't even bother unless you are an adwords expert because that is what it takes to figure it all out. Sure, they have all the help files, but I think for the amount of money it costs, there should be more support when you first start. You're left there to figure it out yourself and by the time you do, your advertising budget has been eaten up with nothing to show for it.

Most of my traffic, little that it is, comes from my blog. I've had that since September and since I love to write, I put up my designs and use them to illustrate what I'm writing about that day. I'm an odd duck in many ways and so I think people come to look out of curiosity.

7.What other sites, blogs, etc. do you have if any?

My main blog is:

http://mishkabear.blogspot.com

I am also on MySpace, but I write less in that one. I'm there more for the social aspect of MySpace which I love. I could cut and paste from my main blog for the MySpace one I suppose, but that would seem kind of slimy and dishonest somehow.

Nancy’s comment – Urzine Logic has done a great job with text and descriptions on her site. She mentions in her interview she likes to write and it shows. I especially like her world peace greeting cards, buttons, magnets and stickers and her peace star design.

Cradlesong interview

Day117
Today we are hearing from Pam who’s site is at http://www.cradlesong.com

1. What drew you to opening an online store? Were you in a related field?

To tell the truth, it just seemed like the thing to do because that's how everyone shops and looks for things. In a related field...no, motherhood was primary job for the last 14+ years, before that I sold overnight mail and did marketing for a Pizza Hut franchisee.

2.When did you open your store?

August 2004

3.What is harder about doing this then you thought it would be?

Trying to keep things new and fresh, keep changing the site to keep it interesting for returning customers.


4.What do you like best about being an online shopkeeper?

Expands my market to world-wide, simple explanation for those who want to see what I do...just refer them to the site and they can see for themselves.

5.During the very first month, what do you wish you had known then that you do now?

How to work with tables!!! As best as I can tell it is the primary way to keep information & images where you want them. Things NEVER look the same on the back-end of the site as the do on the front-end.

6.Could you share some of the marketing you’ve tried so far (on or off line) and what has worked and what hasn’t?

Marketing started with an initial mailing (approx. 200) of brochures and a cover letter letting friends/acquaintances know what I was doing. To present a professional front although my products are handmade, I had taffeta labels made that have my logo on them (laundering instructions on the reverse). Both "cradlesong" & "cradlesong musical pillows" come up #1 on yahoo, google and msn searches so I consider even the tags as advertisement. Word of mouth, repeat and secondary business (those who receive my products often turn around and order them) are also good sources for additional business.

7.What other sites, blogs, etc. do you have if any? No other sites or blogs.

Drop ship from one site, Chicblvd.com and another potential in the works.

Nancy’s comment – I’ve been familiar with Pam’s work since before she set up her site and I have to tell you, the quality and detail are topnotch. These are the type of gifts that really do become heirlooms! She told me once that she gets a lot of traffic from her links (which are highly related) and she has a lot of links! Pam also offers gift certificates and gift-wrapping.

Ghost Raven interview

Day116
Today’s interview is with Randall, who’s store Ghost Raven Designs is
http://www.cafepress.com/ghost_raven?pid=4370506

1. What drew you to opening an online store? Were you in a related field?

Well, extra money is always good to have. In honesty, I'm not all that fond of my "day job," and am hoping to eventually make it to college so I can get a job I actually like. When I found out about cafepress.com, I'd already been doing a bit of work on the side as a freelance graphic artist, and being able to have my designs printed on items for everyone to see, and not losing ownership of them just seemed very appealing to me.

2. When did you open your store?

I opened up my first free store last September, and my paid store in March, I think.

3. What is harder about doing this then you thought it would be?

In honesty, I never expected this part to be easy, but marketing my stuff. My best sellers seem to be my political stuff... namely, my anti-Bush stuff. I certainly am not complaining, but I hope to see more sales on my original artwork sometime in the near future.

4. What do you like best about being an online shopkeeper?

The freedom I have. I can be just about as gutsy as I want to be, do things the way I want to do them, and all that good stuff.

5. During the very first month, what do you wish you had known then that you do now?

Heheh... I'm not sure I've learned anything since then that would've helped me much.

6. Could you share some of the marketing you’ve tried so far (on or off line) and what has worked and what hasn’t?

I take pretty much any free marketing opportunity I can... stickerpedia.com, shirtrank.com, the classifieds on craigslist.org, and the online classifieds on alibi.com (a local alternative newspaper). In addition, I will sometimes leave a couple business cards in a strategic location. So far, though my marketing has resulted in increased traffic, it's not resulted in many sales.

7. What other sites, blogs, etc. do you have if any?

Well, I have a livejournal.com free account, a myspace.com account that I don't pay much attention to, and a couple free pages on angelfire.com

Nancy’s comment – I like and relate to Randall’s own comment on his site “I got into this largely because it's an amazing feeling to know that people are willing to pay for my designs... not so much the money itself, but the feeling knowing that someone is wearing or proudly displaying a design I made is indescribable. I think that's the ultimate reward for any artist”
To go beyond just artists I think it’s true with any small business owner. It’s a great feeling when someone supports your business because it’s a tangible sign that they think what you are doing has value.

Gethsememerose interview

Day115
Today’s interview is with gethsemenerose. He used to be in the navy. Even though my husband went to West Point and Navy beat us this year – I like this site!

http://www.cafepress.com/gethsemenerose?pid=4370506

1.What drew you to opening an online store? Were you in a related field?
Well I was talking to some of the guys in my life group and I mentioned a purity wear line of clothing that had recently made the news. We discussed if we thought the idea had merit I said it did but when I went to the site I found their designs were limited (this was not a CP shop) I found myself thinking "I could do better." It turns out I am a terrible artist but great DESIGNER and IDEA MAN.

2.When did you open your store?
I opened my account last week (April 15th) and quickly built this store with the help of reading all the forums and posting a lot of stupid questions (and getting yelled at by some of the CP Cops) and generally not sleeping for 4 days. All the designs were created this week and one day I might hire a graphics designer to help me with some bigger and more involved projects than these.

3.What is harder about doing this then you thought it would be?
The art. I used to love drawing when I was in the Navy. I would spend hours drawing when I was out to sea, but the problem is one drawing took a week or so. The whole exercise was to pass time during long tours under the polar icecap, (I was in submarines) but now I have felt pressure to do 3 sometimes 4 designs a day and drawing with a mouse is not as easy as a pencil and pens. Also JASC Photoshop is not something I have ever used before (I bought my computer a year ago and I had a free 60 day trial version installed. I had never activated it until this week) I may buy an easier program and an art tablet later if this makes any money.

4.What do you like best about being an online shopkeeper?
Freedom to do my own thing. The ability to get my message out in a fun way. (Purity is Cool)

5. During the very first month, what do you wish you had known then that you do now?
Well it is still my first week I do not know anything but I sold something my first day to someone who I do not know.(It came through an affiliate and they got $0.60 and I got $2.40) Kinda wish I had understood price points better because that was 3 shirts sold.

6. Could you share some of the marketing you’ve tried so far (on or off line) and what has worked and what hasn’t?
I was in real estate for a year so I understand drip e-mail marketing. I had a decent size list of email addresses (over 150) that I painstakingly entered into the newsletter database then I sent out a newsletter. I advertised a sale immediately. I have also taken that list of 300 sites that have free listings and have been working my way through it about 5 or six a day. (Many are not free anymore but I have been annotating it and when I have finished I will repost it.)

7. What other sites, blogs, etc. do you have if any?
I had never thought of a site before (although I helped my old broker set up her real estate site at www.888grantct.com ) I have set up a blog this week because I read in the forums it would be good to do but I haven't had time to write in it because I have been making art and setting up the site. http://www.cafepress.com/gethsemenerose?pid=4370506

8. The unasked question. Do I think there is a place for a site like this in today’s world? Well I can only hope so. Purity is Cool and it is a possibility. Just try it you might like it.

Nancy’s comment – It’s hard to believe this site is only about 10 days old. He’s a talented guy and obviously working hard at this!