Friday, March 31, 2006

Coming soon . . .

Now that the images in CommodoresLocker.com are spanning nautical themes and "natural world" themes like flowers, trees, and critters it seems appropriate that the two sections should be divided to become two unique shopping places. Watch for details coming soon!

Commodore

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

New Images in Nautical Series

New images in the NAUTICAL SERIES include: Schooner Ernestina, Butler Flats lighthouse, Old Scituate Lighthouse, Nauset Light, Nobska Light, Palmer Island Light, Massachusetts Lighthouses, Great Hill, Fishing Shack, Palms, Sunset Boating, Dinghies, Marblehead Light, Waves and Ned's Point Light.

Commodore

Technorati Tages: , ,

New Images, Natural World Series

New images in the NATURAL WORLD SERIES section include: Spring in the Woods, Cranberry Harvest, Mums, Woodland Flowers, Lady Slippers, Azalea, Wildflowers.

Commodore

Technorati Tages: , ,

Monday, March 27, 2006

update: additions, changes, reorganization

CommodoresLocker.com has some new images and products added this weekend!

New images include several florals displayed in grouped sets of items. Mugs, mousepads, aprons, clocks and light-switch plates are now available. See here for new floral images and products.

The new arrangement of grouping— one design/image per line of item—really seemed nice to me! I was not happy with the arrangement of shirts, tiles, hats, etc. all thrown on one page!

So many hours were spent also setting up nautical items in similar groupings of 4 per line. The new nautical groupings include the "seascapes" and "lighthouses" themes. More will follow! New products, new images, new pages to see it all! Mugs are now part of the nautical designs, too. More images will be reorganized this way soon and additional images will be added.

"Subscribe" on the left, to keep automatically informed of the newest information and coupons!

Commodore

Thursday, March 23, 2006

stats

Is google working?? Of the last 40 recent visitors to one of my image pages, 10 came from Google adwords and 24 are from "unknown" -- so Google is bring people in. Now the challenge is to get them to buy...

Commodore

Sorting it all out....

There are many different items from CafePress on which images can be placed. Some items just do not appeal to me or fit with the particular images I use.

But I do find the images work well on ceramics and shirts and probably also on prints. So far I have not created any prints with CafePress since it seems to me that they do not belong in the same grouping as t-shirts. I'm pondering either a new section in the online CommodoresLocker.com or a new store for prints, ceramics and cards.

Commodore

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Google, MY Google!

Wondering how to get people to see www.CommodoresLocker.com , I decided to take a small group of images which are quite location-specific and historic and purchase some adwords ads from Google relating to them. This is always frightening, the wrong settings and you could be paying a fortune!! One of my recent keywords for another project was generating 10,000 clicks a month!! Fortunately I had an online budget which saved me hundreds of dollars! In the last few days about half my visitors are coming from Google's adwords. Now I just have to get them to purchase something . . .

Friday, March 10, 2006

Getting traffic

Getting traffic to come to MY online store is not easy. Swapping links and joining groups of others selling similar items does help everyone get traffic but also to compete for the same buying dollars. And when presented with dozens of people selling hundreds of designs on multiple kinds of items, who wouldn't get overwhelmed...

A niche, that seems like a good idea. Focus on one audience type and products for them. Then go find those people. A lot to consider here but I do have some ideas which remain top secret at the moment!

Commodore

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Marketing on the web

The online store is neither complete nor exactly as I wish — but the marketing of the it has begun in earnest. Google AdWords is being used to send searchers for certain terms to part of the online shop. This blog is listed with a few "blog tracking" services. The actual online store has a counter so traffic can be monitored and results attributed to specific sources.

Question of the day: why do we reach knowledge plateaus, remain there for weeks or months and then get hurled into a sea of unknowns requiring intense learning? Hmmm

Commodore

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Using images on items

Here are some items created with the CafePress system: shirts, a wooden box with printed ceramic tile insert and great-looking cards. All these items use the bridge image and all are remarkably clear. People who have purchased the ceramic tile, either alone or on a box, always remark at the clarity of the imprint. These are just a few of the items available. If you look at www.ForeRiver Bridge.com . you will see plenty of other items with large, clear previews. If you know anyone from the south of Boston they wold love an image of this wonderful landmark which no longer stands.

Commodore

Fore River Bridge

Here she is! And what a story to tell. This little drawer bridge connected Quincy and Weymouth, Massachusetts from 1934 until it was replaced with a temporary bridge in 2004. Just beyond the bridge was the Fore River Shipyard which began in 1884 and grew to be the second-largest shipyard in the US. The "yard" constructed hundreds of ships from freighters and sailing ships to aircraft carriers and tankers. All passed under the open bridge, some with very little clearance. The location of the bridge—which itself had replaced an earlier bridge—on busy Route 3A south of Boston made it very well known to people headed to Nantasket or Cape Cod. Nearly every driver south of Boston has been detained for a bridge opening for an oil tanker or a tall sailboat! This picture was taken from the "Weymouth side" near the old Edison building — long a little park and fishing area but closed many years ago for removal of the old Edison building.

Commodore

Technorati Tages: , ,

Looking good, what is it??

Now that there is an online store the next thing is to get people to see it. And when they see it they should find it interesting and worthwhile. CafePress provides many details and templates so you can design your images in the correct proportions or adjust them to be right. But you don't have to do it. You can have a square image automatically plopped on every type of merchandise, even circular items. Or you can put a square image on a rectangular product with the result of some extra white space on one side.

These type things make for a terrible impression, thankfully customers see a very good representation of what it is they are purchasing. Well, that is my opinion. I have lots of opinions.

I organized my store with all the items I would like to sell with a particular image on one page, or in one section. Now I think it would have been better to show one item with many images on it on each page. So there may be a lot of reorganizing to be done. Oh, yes, the software does let you do those kind of things! Thankfully. But you need to be careful not to delete something by mistake.

One of the first images I put online is the oldest in my collection. See www.ForeRiver Bridge.com . More on that shortly!

Commodore

Are you interested?

Would you like to see what I have done with www.CommodoresLocker.com ?? Use the coupon code in the left column for a nice little discount!

Commodore

Starting up with CafePress

Cafepress seemed like something too good to be true. And what I am saying is intended for those who seriously want to work with it. I had a difficult time getting started with the system--ok, climbng the learning curve. On the one hand I had my images and on the other hand I had the printed dimensional specs (in pixels) required for each item that can be ordered from CafePress. So, for instance, my photo of a bridge was rectangular but needed to be square for certain items. For other items I needed rectangluar or round images. I dutifully perfected the dimensions for several items with a couple of my images. Phew!!

Now to get this info into CafePress. There were many error messages when trying to upload.I learned to ignore most of them. Some naming convention was needed so I could remember what image was what and in which size.

Hmmm...now was this "section" stuff I read about in all the message groups? It took me a while to figure out it was a "page' which could hold whatever I wanted—a group of items with one image, several different images on one kind of item, or more. Once the structure was figured out it was very easy to work with. After uploading and creating many items, shortcuts were found. Dozens of items later more shortcuts became very obvious. And the www.CommodoresLocker.com — with nautical and lighthouse gifts and gear was a reality.

Commodore

Technorati Tages: , ,

In the beginning ...

Photos and camera have always been important to me. Using a camera trains the eye to look at the world in a new and wonderful way. When showing my photos to others they frequently have asked for prints and often I see several of my images nicely framed and hanging in people's homes.

Images of oceans, canals, skylines, cityscapes as well as all manner of ships and boats are most fascinating to me. And I wanted to put those images on items that people could use or wear.

After a few attempts at printing shirt transfers and applying them to shirts with an expensive heat press I was discouaged. This was after months of extensive research and reading and the purchase of approximately 30 dozen cotton shirts of various colors and sizes. However, the technology for printing as I wanted on fabric demanded white polyester and those shirts were too hot to wear. Then the thought of inventory and sizes and storage made the whole concept of selling images on shirts fade from my horizon. There were "transfers" which consisted of a layer of plastic adhered to shirts, I could have used those. They could be used on any color shirt but wearing a plastic patch on a shirt did not work well with my image of what I wanted to create or wear. I wouldn't sell something I wouldn't wear.

Time passed. My barely used, and probably retired, heat press moved hundred of miles with me and it was time for new distractions. Technology marched on. Recently I once again check out a service called CafePress (see www.CommodoresLocker.com ) and not only did they have new technology and printing processes, they also manage inventory, printing and shipping for people and business just like me.

Commodore