Hi FCACshelter, I just took a quick look at your store.

I think you have a couple of major problems at the moment, a lack of choice coupled with a category system that requires me to work hard as a customer.

Here's a real scenario...I'm the very proud owner of a weimaraner, so after entering your dog breeds section I scroll down...and down...and down, oh boy I've still only reached the "B"s, so I then grab the side scrolly thing and whizz right down to near the bottom, dang I missed them, so now I'm tentatively scrolling back up again...THERE IT IS! The Weimaraner Category...In I dive!, only to be confronted by 3 lonely products, each with a different design. Two tees and a bumper sticker.

...and I quite like the designs but I don't want to buy any of them on those products...So where do I go from here? Next shop here I come!!!

Sorry to be long winded, but that is how I felt about your store. The organization needs to be broken down into further bite sized chunks, easily digestable and instant, maybe along the lines of "dog breeds A-D" that kind of thing.

Each design you create should be presented on a good variety of product choices on which they fit (and preferably within it's own category folder). Learn how to create templates to enable you to apply your designs to a more appropriate amount of products for each category.

Filling your store with great designs on good products is far more rewarding financially than filling your store with category folders. I do hope this has been of some help, and I truly wish you luck with it because it's a huge project!

Hrm your notecards are 3.25, mine are 2.95.....I oughta go check my royalties

Everything they said (points up). The "dog breeds a-d" "dog breeds e-m" etc idea is a great one......no one likes to scroll more than a few times. Clicking down folders is one thing but after a while that scrolling gets to you.


You have some more work to do on organizing categories. I like the oddball critters so I went into the rabbits/iguanas section.... but I would like to have been able to click on a folder and see all the iguana stuff, a different folder for the black hamster, etcetc versus having to look through a mix of things :0


*passes over the wall pad* You've still got a lot more work ahead . Makes you want to beat your head against the wall huh? Hang in there, the pictures are cute! Fix the folder images, fix the categories, make it easier to find something .

Are you using the template setup like shopaholicchick has the tutorials for so you can quickly put a design on each product vs making everything seperatly? If not, you should .

Are you uploading your items in an organized manner? Best way to avoid the missed categories stuff

In case it helps, here's my ideal workflow (keeps me organized):
Make design/fix photo.
Make Image Set for that design (if it doesn't fit elsewhere).
Upload image into image set.
Add store category and put design on category folder immediatly, including sub categories for that design.
"Quick Create" using preloaded template set I did per shoppa's info.
Since the store category is already there, dump QC products into it.
Move on .

I do have a few orphan categories I got as far as making folders for and neglected to add at least one product for (sigh)... which is why I now have the above list written down and I mentally check each thing off .

Hang in there, you're doing stuff for a great cause! I'm sure there will be many more suggestions coming!

Also, i was thinking of using just links and no images for how the categories show up but then no one would see the dog face image there. i just don't have dog breed photos and i cannot just take them off the internet. i considered having one of the designs be the category image but then customers might think that's all they will find there, and not any other design.

Definitely take time to figure out how to use quick create as soon as you can. I waited for a long time, because I didn't understand how it worked, for one, and then I was too scared to try.

Now that I know how, I want to cry when I look at how much time I could have saved. It still takes a fair amount of time, because you still need to go back and fit the design on each product, then add whatever customization options you want, but it's eons faster than one by one, I promise!!!

I agree about not reading the directions, but scrolling down forever to find just a few blah designs in my dog's category.

I think it would help to do simple replacements for those ugly gray folders, which have less than zero appeal. How about squares, all with the same border and background color, and just the name of the breed, until you can get photos.

Most people will know the name of the breed they are looking for anyway; they won't need to see a photo. But those ugly gray folders just don't make you want to click at all!

WOW, you have a ton of work ahead of you! And I never heard of a bunch of those breeds before...! How admirable to do so much for shelter animals. You'll have enough good karma to see you through several lifetimes! I'm sure those dogs could help you if they could.

Keep plugging along!


Alina
Alina's Pencil: whimsical words and pictures

Definitely develop your own set of good templates for Quick Create production - this will not only save you TONS of hours of work, it will allow you to almost effortlessly add multiple types of products per design.


The main issue I see is that you are not offering the customer choices as to which product they would like with a particular design. Offer EVERYTHING - stationery, business cards, mugs, posters - EVERYTHING. This is why you need to create your own design templates for QC. It will take you maybe an hour of work per template set - well worth it.

Include embroidered hats, shirts, hoodies and bags. If you stick to basic text on embroidery work you don't even have to pay for embroidered designs.

Finally, you need to focus exclusively on greyhounds, golden retrievers and golden doodles.
(okay that last bit might just be my own bias showing through there - LOL)

ok, i've gone into Zazzle help and read all about qc and the templates. i don't understand it at all. i created a template last night and cannot find it. i am frustrated! is QC faster than my going into a shirt and then changing the text and saving elsewhere? i don't get this at all.

This is what I do:

First, I make a product category for my templates. Let's call it "Z templates Set 1".

Then I make a design with an image that fills the design area well. It can be anything - here's my example:

http://www.zazzle.fr/colorful_swedish_dala_horse_bag-149141881059065779

Then I create every product that Zazzle offers using that image. I check off the little box under advanced options that says "make this item a template".

Under title, description and tags I just put something like Z template 1. These I will fill in with the appropriate info when creating the actual products.

I set my royalty per product.

For public category, I just whatever default I want. Under Store Category I select "Z templates Set 1". That will stick your templates in that slot.

Then I post for sale, using the "HIDDEN" setting.

It will take a couple of hours for your products to show up in there, but after they do you have a set of templates you can use over and over again. When you want to create a batch of new products, just go to QC, select the category "Z templates Set 1" and everything will be there. Then it is just a matter of changing your image, adding additional images or text, and filling in your tags and descriptions. The nice thing is that all products will be displayed at once, and you only have to fill in the tags and descriptions one time for the whole batch. Your royalties will be set already as well.

Good luck!

You can't really hide it, but you can disguise it. I titled my Template section "Other Stores" and inserted a graphic link to one of my other shops which will take the customer to another store of mine. Since the templates themselves are set to hidden, no one else but you can see them. Like this:

http://www.zazzle.fr/cowboyannie/gifts?cg=196578559997894191