Day 4 What Happened?

[PillowThrowDecor]

What part of the marketing did you enjoy the most?  Also did you enter in the draw mentioned in yesterday's assignment? Saturday is deadline.

[The Gifted Nest]

Listed a few items and linked website from youcraft.org to iCraft
registered on twitter... still don't get the whole twitter concept but what the hey...
Got a few more members to join my facebook group
Listed a few items on twolia.com (now my shop on twolia and icraft are now linked)
planning on starting a myspace page
read the ebook and found it very informative ... but haven't sent the email (afraid i'll get tons of spam mail afterwards)
having problems with designing my business card (logo appears blurry, something to do with pixels...) getting frustrated so I quit for now and going to enjoy the sun for a bit and worked on my baby memory album ... Talk to you later
Guylaine

[PillowThrowDecor]

Wow... good for you.  Great to see everyone taking initiative s in their own area.  Try and keep any statistical data that you can get such as pageviews etc.

You should be ok sending an email to on the dot creations. I think she understands permission marketing.  She is a genuinely nice lady.

Polkadadotpixel... if you want to hire her to do these for you she is giving Bootcampers a price break. I have her working on another marketing piece template for us.

I can do some of my own graphics but they don't look professional enough... and I save myself a lot of time, aggrivation and grief!!!

I am so pleased you are working on business cards though!  Super.

Christine

[BeauMonde]

... so far today ...
Registered on youcraft.org and posted a listing there with a link back to my iCraft shop. When I get more time :lol: I will post more listings there ~ it's free and I like free!

Posted another listing on Craigslist today ~ I did receive 2 e-mails responding to my other listings, but they were just Spam and rude Spam at that  

I listed 2 brand new items here and refreshed a couple of stale ones.

So far, so good,
cheers everyone and have a great weekend

[Fairy Cardmaker]

Today I...
1. posted in the iCraft forums
2. listed one new thing

Just a little something but still something!

I will be working one of my May goals over the weekend.

[GalleriaLinda]

Today: Nothing  :cry:

I had a HUGE COMPUTER ISSUE - got a response from my very first CRAIGSLIST ad for a bracelet.

They were sorta rude and said "I'm really interested in your bracelet, but are you kidding me? What kind of price is that? I looked on [an apprailsal site link that I won't put here] and you are way off. I am very interested though and look forward to hearing from you."

Curiousity killed my computer. I NEVER click links in unkown emails. I KNOW better. NEVER, until today. It looked like the name of a known appraisal site and I was curious if they even appraised handmade type stuff. That is why I did it.

* cries *

Trojans, viruses exploded all over my computer - it must have been the motherlode of all packets and I have been dealing with it ALL DAY and lost a full day of paid work and will likely waste more time and lost money getting someone to come in over the weekend.

I deleted 12 trojans with the industrial strength malware software I have. (It is FREE [MalwareBytes] and recommended by my computer tech.) What is so weird is that my computer is my business computer and it was (supposedly) locked down tight. How on earth did this happen?

It is still not right - can't open my C and D drives in "My Computer." I still have a virus that is hard to get deleted.

Well, I know this can happen anywhere so I am not dissing CraigsList specifically. Just the Internet in general. It happens. Be alert.

CraigsList may be good for advertising locally, but I just encourage all of you to be smarter than I was this morning.

Don't click anything from any of the classified places. Although the majority of communications back and forth are legit, there are a few sleaze balls (LOL!) that are out to get you!

On a much, much, brighter note. I am SO encouraged by those that check in and list what they have done. I am getting very inspired. You all are the BEST!  

[Northern Girl Jewelry]

Oh Linda, that is awful!  I hope you are able to get your computer fixed soon.  And thanks for the reminder to be careful.  Even though we all know it, it is easy to be complacent and click on something we shouldn't.  

I hope tomorrow is a better day.

[StudioduSoleil]

Oh my Linda, I'm so sorry that you are going through that. Some people really don't have anything constructive to do with their life do they?

I'm done my homework for today, still working on rewriting my profile (which I started yesterday)...I have a great challenge talking about me beyond the mundane which I imagine other people read as boring! I think this is also my challenge with blogs and social networking sites in general.

I hope you all have a great weekend! I work Sat/Sun evening and have a fair amount of garden work to do now that the rain is gone, so I may not check in until Monday...if I can stay away, I love reading everyone's updates!

[GalleriaLinda]

Thank you both. I am just horrified over this but making progress on the computer. At least I am up and running.

StudioDuSoleil - I just checked out your profile and I think it is wonderful! It is warm, friendly - just like if I stepped into a small artist's shop talking to the "artist in residence." I think it is a great job!

[Brilliant Beads]

Oh Linda!!!

I received the same email about a listing....I didn't open the appraisal site, and didn't hear back.  I've received 2 spams, impolite ones, from Craigslist.  Hmmm....I might stick with youcraft and Kijiji for free ads.

I hope your computer woes get straightened out without too much difficulty!

I'm going to "plug away" at marketing over the weekend, and hopefully get some gardening done too.

Have a great one everyone!

[GalleriaLinda]

Oh my, Brilliant - really? I guess there is a "campaign" going on attacking handmade items in ads. So glad you did not click.

I am going to check out YouCraft.org - I had not heard of it before reading about it here in the forum.

Good luck with your marketing plans!

[BeauMonde]

Hi Linda and Gillian,
I rec'd the same rude spam, twice .......

"Hello....
I saw your ad listed on craigslist and I just had one question for
you, are you out of your  mind? How the heck did you come up with
that price?
Look, I'm really interested, but your asking price just seems so far
off of what I saw on (website)
 And they use recent sales to come up with the most accurate value. Did
you know about the recent sales prices in your area?
As I said, I'm really interested, so I hope to hear a response.
Sincerely,
Jenne"

If they are trying to get business for their jewellery appraisal site, then they are certainly going about it the wrong way :lol:  

Note for Gillian at Brilliant Beads - I saw your listings on youcraft.org and the links back to your website are not working .......
cheers,
Rona - Beau Monde

[Brilliant Beads]

Oh, goodness, thank you Rona!
I'm going to go and check it out right now...

Gillian

[Brilliant Beads]

I forgot to put http:// in front...thanks for pointing that out!!

[mountaindreamers]

thanks Linda for the warning about craigslist , that is awful , and we get so excited if someone is interested in our work it would be easy to just click , I am sure I would have. hope things get straightened out soon.  

listed another item on Icraft. Replenishing and creating this weekend. Emm a little cautious about Craigslist now , will vacumm the house and think about it . Great job for all the boot campers, have a good weekend . Laura

[Brilliant Beads]

Mountaindreamers, good job, and nice to have some time to create and replenish.

I retook a bunch of photos yesterday, and listed several lampwork beads and some jewellery on youcraft.  I like it there.

I have some more photos to take, and listings to write...my unfavourite part of the process.  I'd love some tips on more creative, interesting listing text.

Have a great Sunday everyone!

[mountaindreamers]

thanks  for the encouragement, I am as I speak hooking up youcraft, waiting on an email to confirm. As for descriptions , I like to link my creations to places I been, feelings, and textures. ; ) Laura

[Fairy Cardmaker]

Wow.  That's all I have to say. And I'm sorry that it happened to you.

I've received this advice about phishy phone calls and I suppose the same goes for links.  If someone purports to be from some place, DO NOT believe them.  Hang up and phone the place yourself from their known 1-800 number (example: someone phones you from the credit card company or bank and tries to tell you their's been suspicious activity on your account and they want to "verify" some things with you and then proceed to ask for your account number, etc.)

So, same for emails.  If they say such and such site, try Googling for the site yourself.  Although, if it is a true, malicious site (and not just a redirect fake link), then you'll still get messed.  So, not sure if it's really great advice afterall.

Abstinence is the best insurance!  Don't click! heh.

[PillowThrowDecor]

Wow I am so sorry to hear everyone is having a problem with Craigslist. I guess I have just been lucky???

I am still catching up!    I tried setting up a website and am stuck already. But I am going to plug away at it for a little while longer.

Donated some pillows to a Rotary club Wine Festival.  i don't know how much money the pillows raised but I know I am getting a few more customers out of it.  I saw lots of business cards were picked up.  

Got some cute little store tags designed and made up.
Have designed a postcard and will see about taking it to the printers next week.  500 at 35 cents each...or 1000 at 25 cents.  How does that sound?

Took a break this weekend from everything else.  But it is back at it.

Christine  

[kimbuktu]

My husband and I took a four day Anniversary weekend to visit family, stay in B&B's, and do some fun stuff.  So I haven't been keeping up totally with all the assignments.  

But, I did pass out my card to all three B&B owners as well as some of the guests staying there.  And they ASKED for them, I didn't even have to be pushy.  Who knows, something may come of it.

[GalleriaLinda]

PillowThrowDecor - you can get better pricing with the online printers because they have such huge volume.

http://www.overnightprints.com is used a lot by online sellers and I have read in forums that they are highly recommended. I am going to try them.

Great place to get your business cards and other printing too. They have design templates but you can upload your own art graphics as well.

POSTCARDS - single sided or double sided:
Qty  Single  Double  
100  $29.95  $39.95  
250  $69.95  $79.95  
500  $74.95  $89.95  
1000  $89.95  $114.95

[PillowThrowDecor]

Good prices for small runs!

I'll have to check them out.

These are awesome to hand out, mail out, stuff mailboxes, put in orders, make book marks out of.

Thanks so much.

Christine

[GalleriaLinda]

I have not done postcards but was really thinking all those uses like you said - really kind of using them like business cards. You have peaked my interest - I am going to do it!

[PillowThrowDecor]

I am going to ask polkadot if she can fix me up with a template that has a "gallery" on the front with say 8 or 9 pillow pics so that or I may do my sewing fairy on the front (people love the fairy and it gets attention) and this gallery on the back.  If I were to mail that out 4 times a year it will keep clients in touch with my new product and hopefully there will be something that causes them to come to https://icraftgifts.com/pillowthrowdecor  to check it out.

By the way if we keep putting our links in our forum posts does that help with SEO?

Christine

[PillowThrowDecor]

The postcard place is just awesome... Just played with it a bit but I will have to do my layout first and then up load the layout as one jpeg. Too cool!

And the price is just so reasonable.  I think I may try a small run first at 9.95 and then dive in.  

[GalleriaLinda]

Let us know how your postcards go - if you order, post to us your impression of the quality.

I am not sure if links in the forum are indexed. iCraft techs would need to answer that as many forums do not come up in searches.

[iCraft Admin]

Sorry about your computer trouble, Linda!
I admire how, despite everything, you've managed to turn this incident into a "teachable moment" for all of us. That's a great attitude!

Just wanted to share this link with those who tweet “Hundreds duped by Twitter phishing attacks” http://tinyurl.com/qpurow

And yes, links on Forum will be indexed by Google, as any other link on different sections of the site.

[GalleriaLinda]

Wow - another phishing attack on Twitter and Facebook? Twitter is so fun because followers share so many great links. But how are you to know if one is bad when you do not personally know your 2000 followers?

I don't have the answer. I had trouble with one Twitter link with malware in the past.

I guess be careful and prepared to handle issues with strong computer antivirus and antimalware programs.

On another note, it is great that links on the forum are indexed by search engines - one step closer to being found!