Heart to Heart Forum: May 2009

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Introductory Offer

Good Morning Everyone, We wanted to give everyone one last chance to participate in our "Grand Opening" of the wholesale page : ) This will be ready to upload on June 1st and we have decided to give everyone who participates one free month at the end of their year. So that's 13 months for only $25. I wanted to let you know that some of our merchants are looking for wholesale prices and believe this will be a quick and easy way to find them:

"As having a brick and mortar shop I am always looking for specialty handmade products to sell in the boutique if they are a good fit here. Those products I usually do not put online but offer locally to my regular customers so I will look forward to viewing some of the wholesale merchants products. I think this could be a good service to offer."
Thanks,
June @ Scarlett Rose

Thanks to June for sharing this with the group! If you are interested in getting in on this great introductory offer, just e-mail us in the next two days and we will let you know what you need to send.

Thanks,
Vic

Friday, May 22, 2009

Coming Soon - Wholesale Page

Good Morning and Happy Friday,
We have already received a handful of interest about our "Wholesale page" so we will lay out the objectives for this campaign.

To fill a need: I receive phone calls and e-mail at Victorian Laurels requesting wholesale prices mostly for "brick and mortars" and "indoor mall" booths. Wholesale orders have actually kept my shop in steady business this calendar year. There are times when these vendors are looking for items beyond my limited stock. I always refer them to the Heart Shoppe, but don't really have a handle on which of you might offer wholesale prices to these vendors.

The plan: We will be adding a page to the mall for our "wholesale merchants". The price will be $25/yr for a listing similar to the "contest page" listing. We will feature an image logo and a 50-75 word description of your wholesale program. We will also include an e-mail link with your name so that it is readily accessible to interested vendors.

Grand Opening: We will have everything ready for a June 1st "online showing".

Those of you who have already e-mailed with your interest will receive further instructions today. Anyone else who would like to join us is welcome, just drop us a note. The listing will begin alphabetical with rotations throughout the year so each merchant will have equal time at the top of the list.

Thanks,
Vic

Monday, May 11, 2009

"20th Wedding Anniversary" Road Trip

Good Morning, We are back and totally refreshed : ) Take a peek at our Blog sometime today and you will see some of the highlights of our 20th Wedding Anniversary road trip!

See photos below on the right!

We just had a fantastic time with the highlight of our trip being Mickey Gilley in Concert at the Tropicana Express! Mickey is responsible for us "getting together and staying together" in a very round about way : )

Have a great day,
Vic & Jeff

Friday, May 1, 2009

Happy May Day!

We have a few bits of news to cover this morning so let's get right to it : )

Our Feature page for May is brought to us by Angela and Jo of Gilded Rose Collection:
"May's Featured Shoppe"

It is nice that so many of our shoppes are a family affair. Jo and Angela are mother and daughter which seems fitting for Mother's Day! Take a peek sometime today at their lovely unique creations!
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We made the Vendor's Spotlight once again at Qflea for May 1st. You can link to their newsletter on our join page under media blitz highlights:
"Join Us"

It is nice to have this international exposure!
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Lastly, we hit a bit of a milestone this week on the internet. Our Alexa ranking for the "United States" is 97,958. We've been waiting for five years to hit the top 100,000:
"Alexa Traffic Ranking"

Hit the link above and scroll to the bottom of the page, it is the last tidbit on the left! I know that this is not the "be all and end all" of ranking systems, but they do provide some very valuable information such as time on site, page views per user, bounce rate, keywords, etc. Their Stats don't exactly match our more defined Stats, but it is useful. I have been reading about "Bounce Rate" and anything under 50% is considered really good. This refers to the number of visitors who just "bounce off your front page" and leave your site w/o looking around.

Have a great May Day,
Vic

12 Tips for a Successful Christmas Bazaar Table

12 Tips for a Successful Christmas Bazaar Table
by Victoria Otto

The following tips are recommended for a small retail shop participating in an arts & crafts holiday fair or a Christmas bazaar.

Up to 6 weeks in advance:

1. Make a list and check it twice; more often if a tendency to misplace lists exists.

2. Brand your booth with the following items: (These can be purchased "free" at www.vistaprint.com for only the cost of shipping) banners, business cards, calendar magnets, rack cards, etc.

3. Invite friends and recruit plenty of help for the actual sale day.

4. Inventory your products (something old, something new): ordering too late could cost a sale so make sure to have plenty of that "most popular"' and "brand new" item on hand for the big day.

5. Print out a readable price list, stickers and tags get lost in the shuffle: whole dollar amounts (round $4.95 to $5) will make it much easier to make change at the actual event.

6. Get in the spirit of the event with tablecloths, decorations, centerpieces, etc. that reflect the holiday theme.

At the event:

7. Provide a sample to all interested traffic (if you are selling perfume, spray a business card "to go", free recipe cards for a food booth, etc.).

8. A sale isn't a sale unless there is a discount: offer 20% or more off the regular price and be sure to bring a calculator.

9. Feed the impulse buyer: the 'five and dime' has acquired dollar signs so be sure to have at least one $5-$10 item for the impulse buyers, perhaps no higher than $30 unless you are prepared to take checks or credit cards.

10. Stage your products: the most expensive jewelry looks better on a hand, the most beautiful scarf around a neck, an exquisite 'wine charm' dressing a crystal goblet, the idea is to show off the goods (baskets, boxes, bags)!

11. Have an appropriate cash drawer, money bag, or register, with plenty of change (makes both dollars and sense).

12. Remember the true meaning of the event: Christmas is a celebration of the Christ child's birth. Arrive early, have fun, be of good cheer, suggest appropriate gifts, and be thankful for all blessings from Above.

Author: Victoria Otto from Victorian Laurels @ www.victorianlaurels.com

Contributors: Linda from Charmed Victorian @ www.charmedvictorian.com

Debbie from Cozy Cottage @ www.cozycottage.com

All of the above shops can be found in one place: Victorian Heart Shoppe mall @ www.victorianheartshoppe.com

About the Author:

Victoria Otto is the owner and CEO of the retail website, Victorian Laurels, and the membership mall, Victorian Heart Shoppe. Her newest venture is as the Editor of an online magazine called Victorian Etc. She has a BS in Mathematics and is a retired school teacher of twenty-five years. Victoria lives in New Mexico with her husband, Jeff, and their dogs, Duke & Roscoe.

Spring Cleaning by Terri Seymour

How to Spring Clean Your Website

Spring is a wonderful time of year but it might not be so wonderful for our online business. The weather is getting nicer and people are spending more time outside, away from their computers. One way to get more people to come to your website is to do some spring cleaning and I don't mean your house! Our websites can get stale and outdated if we do not clean them up periodically.

There are lots of things you can do to freshen up your site and bring new life and new customers to your online business.

1. Add a new section filled with resources, information and maybe even some special deals for your customers. Use relevant keywords to improve your ranking. For example: if you own a home decor business, offer decorating tips and advice. Show people how to decorate on a budget or how to redecorate with things they already own. By providing information and resources along with your products, you are giving people a reason to keep coming back. This is how you build trust with your visitors and get more sales.

2. Remove all dead links, outdated information and products. Nothing is worse than going to a site and finding links that don't work or information and/or products that are no longer useable or helpful. Go through all the links on your site and freshen up the content to offer up to date information!

3. Give your homepage a facelift by adding new graphics, text, etc. Redo your banner and give it some new life. Take out the old graphics and add some fresh new images. Research your keywords and revamp your text with some effective keywords. Write a new introduction to your site detailing all your new additions.

4. If you haven't yet tried blogging, read up on blogging and zap some life into your site. Some free blogging sites are Blogger and WordPress. Blogging is a great way to improve your search engine ranking while expanding your network.

5. Update your product line. Add some fresh new products and offer the old products at clearance prices. Have a Spring Sale and liven up your sales! Keep those customers coming back for more!

6. Add a What's New page so you can let everyone know about all your updates now and in the future. This feature could get more people to return to your site to see What's New?

7. Research the colors used on your site. You may find changing the colors of your site can bring a whole new life to your business.

8. Put a small survey on your site. Ask your visitors what they would like to see and what type of products they are looking for. Getting the information straight from the horse's mouth could do your business a lot of good. Offer your visitors a small gift for answering the questions on the survey.

9. Renew your goals! Make new goals and write out a new business plan. Learn from your experiences, good and bad, and improve your plan for success.

Spring is a time of renewal, revitalization and reenergizing! Our online businesses are no exception!

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