The Shop Funk Blog

Happy New Year! Valentine’s Day designs and more!

I know, it’s been FOREVER since I’ve last updated! A year! Ok, haha, kidding. But it’s been about a month and a half, and so much has happened since then! First off, I’ve been a busy little bee lately, working on a ton of Valentine’s Day designs!

Here are a few of our latest designs…

And while you’re in the Valentine’s Day mood, why don’t you learn about the true story of Valentine’s Day? Or you could check out our other Squidoo lens, Valentine’s Cards, Apparel, Gifts, and More!

While we’re on the topic of Squidoo, I thought I’d mention my newly opened (ok, it was there a while ago, but now I’m going to start updating it more) blog on Squidoo, for Squidoo tips! Whoo!

Other updates to our website? Well, I redid the header image for our main shop, which was kinda bulky and useless, to a more functional and trimmer image. Thoughts? Leave a comment! I’m also working ahead on St. Patrick’s Day designs! Yay me! Perhaps my procrastinating streak will disappear for a while. We’ll see. So, in the meantime, check out those designs, and get shopping! Me, I’ll be sticking to my, “Love stinks, Valentine’s Day is commercialized!” mantra. It’s the only thing I can do.

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!

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!

Squidoo for YOU!

We’ve updated our shop Squidoo, if you want to see it! New poll up about which TV season/series premiere was better!

But what you’re really interested in isn’t that! Nooo, don’t be silly! It’s our Tips for CafePress SK’s. Oh yes, it’s nearly done, but we’ve already published it. Needs some more work, but that’ll be done this weekend. Unless I have more essays to write (which I do, 3 of them, actually). Arg. But of course, no Squidoo lens is ever truly finished, is it? Meanwhile, check it out. It’s pretty cool. Needs more images and stuff though. Will be twittering about it as well.

Also, an update on our Gilmore Girls video contest: we’re having some delays as to getting the winners up because the other 3 judges (one helped) are not doing what they are supposed to be doing. But the winners should be up this weekend, whether I have to choose by myself or not.

And right now, I’m listening to the Beach Boys, “Be True to Your School”. Awesome. Ah, the good ol’ days. Not that I was alive when they were huge, really…

3 New Desigsn Up! (And some products!)

We’ve added three more new designs to our “Wordly Things” section!

Be sure to check them out!

Also, CafePress has added some new products!
Introducing….InfiniStitch! It’s a new embroidery type product, where the design is literally embroidered onto the shirt!
More info here!
Also mentioning, they added Pet Bowls!

5 Days Left to Get Your Order before Dec. 24!

Want your Cafepress order before Christmas? There’s only five days left, so buy now or get your orders in after the holiday!

(more updates later)

The Funk House- For all your TV/Book style merchandise

Cafepress Tip

As my shop is based in Cafepress, here’s a helpful tip for any other shopkeepers (or future shopkeepers!):

Wear your designs. People ask about them, and it gets you a lot of potential customers. And be sure to have a business card with you, just in case. That’s the lesson I learned today wearing my Summertime Shirt.