PJ of Immortal Beloved Toys is putting on a Show. He invited artists to paint on his toys and display them.
I asked him how he pulled this off! This is what he said:
“I searched galleries all over the world via the internet. I then hand selected who I would like to be in the show. From there i offered each artist a chance to do a custom toy. I ordered about 35 blank toys. I explained to each of the artists that i am only a small mail order store and so they need pay up front. So after I got the list all worked out i went to this new gallery that one of my friends opened and offered him a chance to hold what some of the toy websites are calling *possibly one of the best shows of the year*. So i expect that most of the sales will come off the site, not at the actual gallery itself. so with a lot of begging and pleading and promoting, here we are! So basically anyone with a product on their site can offer a little more with asking someone to do a special one of a kind piece :)”
If you are in the New York area - Go check it out!
Nice job PJ! Please let us know how it went.
I’m excited to announce our latest feature, which will be useful for both eager shoppers and for store owners looking for some free marketing. Link sharing lets people post products from any Flying Cart store on their Facebook, MySpace, StumbleUpon, and Twitter accounts. Once a product is posted, it is seen by all of the person’s friends. Then the friends click the link to come visit the store. It’s a fun way to shop and a simple but very powerful marketing tool.
Look for the link sharing icons on product pages just below the “Add To Cart” button.
How does it work? For example, if I find a product I like such as the Tokidoki Kaniza from Immortal Beloved Toys, I can click on the Facebook icon (third from the left) to show all my Facebook friends. A screen pops up with the product information and I can add a comment. Then I click “Post” and I am done.
Link sharing can be turned off on the Store > Settings page when logged in.
Google Product Search is a shopping database that puts your products in front of a huge worldwide audience. By following these directions to create a product feed and a Google Base FTP account you will be able to submit your products to Google Product Search from within your Flying Cart Headquarters. We will also submit your products automatically every 30 days so they never expire from Google. Here’s how to do it.
1. Log in to your Flying Cart Headquarters and navigate to Marketing > Advanced Tools. Find your “Product Feed Filename” and write it down.
2. Go to Google Base and sign in with your Google account. Your Gmail email address will work. If you don’t have a Google account, sign up for one. It’s free.
3. Click on “Data Feeds”.
4. Click on the “New Data Feed” button.
5. Pick your Target Country, select your Item Type (in your case it will be “Products”), and select “googlebase” for the type of data feed you are registering.
6. Enter in your “Product Feed Filename” from step 1. Hit the “Register Data Feed” button at the bottom.
7. Next you will create a Google FTP Account. Click on “Sign Up” on the left under FTP Uploading.
8. Create a FTP username and password. Write it down. Wait several hours for Google to activate your account. (Google says that it takes 15 minutes, but we have noticed that it usually takes 8 hours)
9. Log in to your Flying Cart Headquarters. Go to Marketing > Advanced Tools. Enter in the Google FTP username and password that you created in the previous step. Hit “Save Settings”.
10. You are now ready to submit your products. Click “Submit Products to Google”.
All business pray for press, well stop praying and subscribe to Help a Reporter Out. Peter Shankman sends out daily emails where reporters are looking for stories. This is how we got Flying Cart into the New York Times and Gaebler.com.
Just the other day a reporter wanted to do a story about green laptop notebook cases, just imagine if you were a store selling these. It does take time and little bit of effort but in the long run it is totally worth it.
Here is a quick tip. If you own a custom domain register it for at least 5 years. Google favors websites that have been registered for 5 or more years. It shows them that your website will be around for a while.
Last week I met Ted. He started Powered Green. You can buy a sticker for your laptop that goes towards buying a new wind turbine. The wind turbine produces the amount of energy an average laptop needs in its life time. Here is how it works.
Anyway… I bought one. A day later Ted emails me asking if I can send him a picture of me and my powered by green laptop to post on their website. Of course I was pumped and excited! I sent him my picture and he posted it.
I thought this was a great idea! Post pictures of your customers using your product! This can be easily done with flickr or slide - Let me know if you are interested on a “How To” post about this.
Why I like it:
- The best customer testimonial you can get is a picture of your customer smiling and using your product
- It shows a sense of community
- This will get your customers involved and excited to be a part of your business. Customers will be exited to show it off to their friends.