The Shop Funk Blog

A little on marketing…

So, my friend decided to open up her own CafePress store, and I was giving her lots of tips and stuff on promoting it to the world. I decided to make a post to help any of you newbie CP shopkeepers out there!
Marketing can be very hard, and sometimes expensive, depending on the route you choose to take. Ads can get pricey, and sometimes other methods of offline promoting can also add up (i.e. magazine/newspaper listings). Here are some of the popular and easy ways to build up traffic; for free!

1. Blogging

Blogging is a very important part in promoting any business or website online. You can share your ideals on your blog (haha, Twix commercial), and it also works as a money maker. You can have multiple blogs and use programs like Google Ad Sense to put ads up and get money whenever other people click on them. The key part in this is to get a lot of traffic heading to your blogs, but if you keep making good posts and frequent ones, you’ll start to build up a bit of traffic!

I suggest using some free blog hosts, like Wordpress or Blogger.

2. MySpace/Facebook

These days, just about everyone uses MySpace or Facebook. Make a Facebook page or a MySpace page, and make sure to promote it on your CafePress, or website (or whatever you have!). People will want to add you because they probably have a page as well, so you can update them more frequently! Even professional businesses are starting to make MySpace and Facebook pages, so keep your fans up to date with either page!

3. Squidoo

If you’re looking to make free web pages, Squidoo is the place! Squidoo allows you to make individual “lenses”, which are just like a webpage. They love CafePress, and you can make your own lens and promote your store to the world, for free! You can also make money from Squidoo (or give to charity), with their eBay, CafePress, Etsy, Amazon modules, ads, and more!

4. Twitter

Twitter is a great way not just to communicate with your friends, but also potential customers! It’s free, and you can also Twitter from your phone! You can link people to important or cool things, or you can update your followers on what you were doing. Cool, huh?

That would be the basics to free marketing! Of course, it’s late, and I’m tired, so I’ve probably missed a lot. Haha. If you know some really awesome, FREE places for promoting your website(s), drop a comment, and we’ll include it in next time!

Also, I just saw the Twilight trailer for the first time offline! Even though I think the movie will NEVER live up to the book, I love the book so much that I get excited to see it! Eee!

My Crazy Halloween Costume

Now, anyone who reads this blog, or knows my CP Shop, HELLO! I love Twilight (the book series by Stephenie Meyer). Love it to pieces. I was probably one of the top fangirls out there. Every waking moment was breathe, eat, sleep, think TWILIGHT, EDWARD CULLEN, JACOB BLACK, VAMPIRES, AHHHHH!!!!

Did you notice that change in tense? Was…Yes, because as much as I still love the series, Breaking Dawn has pretty much broken my heart. It was, in my opinion, a tragic mockery of the series. As if Stephenie Meyer decided to laugh in our faces and publish fanfiction. It was almost laughable (it actually was) how pathetic the book was. Again, in my opinion. But that is my opinion. And I love to mock the last book. THEREFORE….

My costume, NESSIE CULLEN, was born!
Oh yes, it shall be amazing. I will have vampire fangs. I know, vampires don’t have fangs. But Nessie was freakin’ born with teeth. 0_o So I can make her have fangs. I will dye my hair bronze(ish), and go up to people and put my hand on their cheek, and try and telepathically communicate with them! “DO YOU SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE???” I will give speeches on the dangers of werewolf/shapeshifter pedophiles. I will have a tail. I mean, I’m well aware that she didn’t REALLY have a tail, but I like to pretend she is the Loch Ness Monster. If that’s not too much of an insult to the real Nessie. I mean, Reneesme is such a Mary Sue! It annoys me to no end.

Ack, /end rant. Sorry. No rant. But I will also get my friend to be a werewolf, so I can drag him around saying he is my imprint. Woot! And maybe I’ll post pictures (maybe…) afterward. We’ll see.

Now, what are some of the other awesome costume ideas out there? Unique Twilight ones are cool, not overdone ones like Bella, Edward, the main characters, etc, etc. Let’s celebrate Halloween the AWESOME way! With unique and unusual Halloween costumes.

Lots and lots of updates

We’ve got lots to update today! First off, I wanna share some awesome new sites for you to check out….

Twilight Gear!
Check out our own collective list of the best Twilight gear around! Looking for t-shirts, hoodies, bags, buttons, and more? See the best there is at the Twilight Gear squidoo lens!
Get the word out to your Twilight fan friends, so they can all get the coolest gear for the amazing book series by Stephenie Meyer!!!

Tree Hugger Tees Blog
Looking for awesome Green, Earth Day, or Eco-Friendly t-shirts? This blog updates every few days with a featured t-shirt! Find the best green t-shirts around the web! Coming soon: Subscribe to the newsletter and get weekly updates on the hottest Eco Tees!

Also, check out Funky Kicks!
If you’re looking for awesome shoes, Funky Kicks is the place to be! Get Twilight shoes, and more!


Check them all out at Funky Kicks.

And last, but not least, this week’s new t-shirt!

And….

Get on buttons, bags, and more! See the rest in different styles.

More updates on cooler stuff later, haha!

Boo! The Perfect Halloween Tees!

I wasn’t completely sure on what I would be dressed up as for Halloween. I was debating between the classic pumpkin or witch, and than thinking maybe something from Star Wars *nerd*, and then I thought maybe I wouldn’t even dress up and just wear an awesome Halloween tee. Going through all the costumes and picking one, etc, etc, it’s just not worth the hassle, right? In the end, I decided to just dress up as Sarah Palin, and maybe get my friends to dress up as moose. Cause it’s awesome. I totally did not steal that idea from CafePress (yes, I did). But I really despise Sarah Palin, and would love to mock her. Now, before I get into political arguments over me hating Palin, let’s just proceed to the awesome Halloween t-shirts I was checking out.

I thought this t-shirt was adorable. It’s from The Spotted Olive.

This one is from CafePress, from my own shop.

The wicked witch, flying on her broom!

This one is very basic, but obviously awesome.

This one is from Zazzle, mariannegilligan.

Another wicked witch one!

And we have tons more at Holiday Funk (our holiday store!). So check it out for awesometastic Halloween t-shirts.

New This Week: “This is SO Going on my blog!” T-Shirts!

Ok, as an avid blogger myself (for real now, this is an understatement), I can relate to people who have had that “this is so going on my blog” thought whenever something interesting happens. That is because bloggers are the better people in the world. Yep. It’s true. And so are blog readers. You guys, reading this right now, are AWESOME. And you know what, people who don’t read blogs, or go on the computer? Lame. The internet is now. And so, I present to you, “Bloggers” T-Shirts this week!

(Buttons and stickers to be coming soon, of course.)

PS: So, I watched Final Destination today and am feeling in a horror movie mood, which reminded me that Halloween is coming up soon (duh!). So I’ll be posting about Halloween stuff soon, cause I truly love Halloween! Imagine growing up in a house where super-Catholic parents don’t appreciate Halloween as much as I do! It’s tragic! So in fact, this blog might just go a little crazy in the spirit of scary. Oh well.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October may be the month for Halloween, but it’s also something much more important!

Breast Cancer Awareness month is here! It’s important to be aware of this tragic disease that has taken too many lives. So do your part (if you have money, of course), and buy some Breast Cancer Awareness gifts! Even if you don’t know anyone that has suffered or is suffering this, it’s important to let the world know what is going on, and that we have to do something to stop it! You’ll be helping out as well, because throughout the month of October, 50% of the commissions we get from our BCAM gear will be going to the Breast Cancer Foundation!

Also, I’m so sorry for not blogging as much as I should be. Just busy with lots of school stuff, and real life stuff. You know the pesky real world; gets in the way of virtual living. I’ll try to be blogging more, so ya’ll can read more about those totally AWESOME sales and etc. Yay!

Swimming with Polar Bears?! Sweet!

So, I was in the middle of writing my essay for Lit when I came across this amazing lens on Squidoo. I’m a huge fan of Polar Bears, but since I’m writing my essay (*cough cough*), I just skimmed across it and found this link to a Polar Bear News blog.

Swimming with the polar bears.

I know. My enthusiasm is too huge to contain. I love polar bears (explains my “Love Polar Bears T-Shirt”, does it not?). I don’t know why I’ve been thinking about polar bears so much lately, but it could be because I sold a “Love Polar Bears” tee the other day. We haven’t sold a lot of those (sad!), but it just got me thinking. So now I have to add in Ontario, Canada to my list of places to go to in the next few years. Not that I have any money to get to those places, but we’ll see. Meanwhile, check out the Polar Bear tees, and maybe buy one? 20% of the funds go to PBI (Polar Bears International), so it would go to a good cause! And even if you’re like me, and have no money (or are just a fan of the Panda), send it to your friends. We’ve got to protect these amazing creatures!!!!

Also, go check out our School Guide for what to buy this school year, before it’s gone! Tomorrow, this poor thing will be out of existence (for the next year), and you won’t see it again until August! So check it.

PS: I guess if I’m going to talk about Polar Bears so much, I might as well make a category for it. Which I did.