Heart to Heart Forum

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Good Morning All, We are now recruiting for participants in the New Year's 2010 Contest. The entry fee is only $25 of which $10 goes toward the Grand Prize gift voucher. The Contest will run January through April. (The current contest winner will be drawn Christmas Day. They then have 48 hours to choose from the participating shops, where they would like to spend their voucher. We PayPal the voucher amount to the shop chosen by the winner.) We rotate the shops to the top of the page and the redirect from the contest entry form goes to each one in turn. See $100 Contest for an example. We will be working on the new contest over the next two weeks and would like to get started ASAP. If you would like to participate or have any questions, please respond to this e-mail. Although we limit the participants to ten, we seldom get that many : ) We make up any remainder of the $100 prize with a gift provided by us. The $25 will by due by December 31st. Thanks!

We look forward to hearing from some of you,
Vic & Jeff

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Good Morning Everyone, I hope you have all recovered from giving thanks with great food : ) God is good!

Please take a minute today and check out our beautiful December feature:
December Feature

The ladies at Roses and Teacups really know how to put on a show of wonderful gift ideas!

Thanks to all of you who have weathered the economic storm with us this year. You have touched my heart in so many ways, sharing your hopes and challenges on a daily basis! I am so appreciative of each and every one of you for your support, encouragement, and very personal caring!

May you all be blessed with His saving grace!

Thanks,
Vic

P.S. Jeff will be here at your beck and call : )

Sunday, November 1, 2009

November's Feature

Good Afternoon, If you find yourself browsing this beautiful Sunday afternoon, take a minute or two to visit our Feature page for November:
November Feature 'Shelley McVittie's Studio'

The beautiful graphics are compliments of Shelley, from Shelley McVittie's Studio. What a treat it is to visit our neighbor to the north (Shelley is located in Canada) and really appreciate her talent on display! Enjoy your day : )

Vic

P.S. Special announcement either tomorrow or Tuesday about our participation in the Make Mine Pink Shop Hop!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

October's Featured Site

Good Morning Everyone, We are welcoming October this morning in New Mexico : ) September seemed to be a rather challenging month for many of us. I hope that those of you who faced some tough challenges see a bright new day today!

We would like to direct you toward our Featured page for October:

October Features 'Swan's Picture Hangers'

Carol of Swan's Picture Hangers has some great deals to offer as well as some historic significance of Victorian Picture Hanging! If you pay Swan's a visit sometime today, you may never look at picture hanging the same again. I certainly never have since first visiting Carol's shop now some five years ago!

Have a great day and let's keep encouraging each other in our endeavors. An internet business seems for many of us our "heart and soul" in cyberspace!

Vic

Monday, September 28, 2009

New Member to Welcome

Hello Everyone, It is a beautiful Sunday afternoon in New Mexico! A great day for thanksgiving, baseball, and barbeque : )

If you are strolling through the internet today, take a minute to visit our newest member's shop: Marianne from Recollections

You will find Recollections' gorgeous product line displayed on our First, Second, and Fifth Avenue Shoppes.
First Avenue
Second Avenue
Fifth Avenue

We welcome Marianne to our community. (See her photo in our gallery: About Us )

Regards,
Vic

Friday, September 25, 2009

Remembering September 11th, our fallen Heroes

Lest we never forget their sacrifice:
Charmed Victorian Remembers

Saturday, August 15, 2009

End of summer news!

Good Morning Everyone, We are giving you a sneak preview of our End-of-Year Event! This contest will run from September 1st - December 31st:

End-of-Year Event!

It will take the place of the current holiday page after our summer winner is drawn : ) We actually have room for a few more merchants to join us on this page. I purposely put the prize as a grab bag so we could adjust its value. If anyone else would like to participate, let me know by Monday and we can add you to the page.

Hope you all have great 'end of summer' days!

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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