According to a new study by Pew Research, 1 in 5 American adults own a tablet computer (see http://www.pcworld.com/article/248562/19_percent_of_american_adults_own_a_tablet.html).  I believe this statistic.  I see many people carrying around their tablet computers at church, at the park, camping, and especially in business settings.

Make sure your website looks great on mobile devices, including tablets.  It is not very difficult to design a website to look great on a tablet. In short, make sure you follow these general rules:

• Make sure your website looks good at a 1024x768 screen resolution
• Don't rely on Adobe Flash technology, as the iOS devices (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch) don't work with with Flash.  The iOS devices are the majority of mobile browsing on the web.
• If you use rollovers or hover-over effects on your website, make sure that you use touch-aware web technologies or have another way for tablet-based viewers to use and navigate your website.

Website statistic software, such as Google Analytics, will tell you how many people are visiting your website from mobile devices.  This will give you an idea if it is important for you to focus on this for your site.

Category: Web Design | Leave A Comment |

I had a customer service request the other day that got me thinking. This lady was concerned because she had beautiful images on her website of her quilting projects. She didn't want others to "steal" them from her and not give her credit for her work. She was concerned that others may pin them on sites like Pinterest and didn't want the credit for her photo's to go unnoticed. 

These concerns are extremely legitimate. I've been inspired by this request to make a quick 4 item list of things you can do on your website to be sure that your images and content are protected. 

1. Copyright. "The original authorship appearing on a website may be protected by copyright. This includes writings, artwork, photographs, and other forms of authorship protected by copyright. Procedures for registering the contents of a website may be found in Circular 66, Copyright Registration for Online Works." (Source) 
   Add a copyright line to the bottom of every page of your website in the footer. The copyright date needs to be for the current year. Don't forget to update this! 
2. Watermark. Add a simple watermark to all of your photographs on your website that include your photographer's name and the website address. The reality of the matter is that if some one wants to copy an image from your website, there is probably no stopping them. The best way to combat this issue is to make it difficult to omit the source from the photo by placing the source text directly on the photo. Use simple software like Google's Picasa, Photobucket and even Microsoft's Paint to place text on photo's. Here is an online source: http://picmarkr.com/
3. Site Your Sources. If you have borrowed content or collaborated with others on any content for your site, be sure to include their name. This helps build your reputation and also makes it easier for others to site the original source if they find information on your website. For instance, if you have a  blog post, be sure that the author of the blog post (even if it is you!) signs the bottom of the post as the author. If you use any outside resources, include links so that others can re-post and site the original source of the information. 
4. Identity. In order for others to understand your ownership, be sure that you've made a clear logo and identity for your brand, products and for your website. Your logo should be a symbolic, clear visual representation of the ownership of the website. A good logo is iconic and easily understood. If you have the ability to invest in a consultation with a marketing person or designer, be sure to address the issue of your branding. This will make watermarking images, branding your website and tagging your content a more efficient when your logo is a clear representation of your companies brand. 

With these four quick tools, you are well on your way to protecting content on your website. Here are some additional resources for protecting your website content: 

• http://www.timeforblogging.com/2006/12/10/how-to-protect-your-websites-copyright-when-someone-steals-your-content/
• http://www.legalzoom.com/intellectual-property-rights/copyrights/do-i-need-copyright

-Audri Wadsworth, Director of Marketing for Websites For Quilters

Category: General | Leave A Comment |

Wouldn’t it be nice to sell more fabric online without having to resort to putting your whole inventory on heavy discounts? There are ways to greatly increase your sales without having to place a single thing on a deep discount. Although you need to be reasonable on price and offer excellent customer service, there are strategies and technologies that I have seen others successfully employ in selling more fabric while making a fair profit at the same time.  Here are three tech tips to make your fabric and other quilting materials more enticing and easier for your customers to make a purchase.

First: Making color and coordinating print selection easier.

One of the reasons why quilters still prefer to shop in brick and mortar stores is because they actually get to see and touch a piece of fabric—to pull two bolts off the shelf to see if they go together. Although you can’t feel the fabric online, there are ways to make it possible to compare what two fabrics look like together.

• Have a color matching function. A color matching function analyzes and indexes the colors in a fabric photo.  When a user comes to your website and chooses a color, or shade of that color they are looking for, any product with that color will show. The user can then delve further and choose if they want that specific color to be the dominant color in a product or a minor color. This helps quilters find fabric with matching colors without having to go through hundreds of pages of fabric on a website looking for the perfect combination.
• Install a design wall or a block designer function. The design wall allows you to click and drag a fabric image on your screen and place it side by side another piece of fabric so that you can see how those two fabrics compare to each other.
  
  The block designer allows you to take the fabric you have in your online cart and put them directly into a quilt block. The shopper is then able to see how their fabric would look if they were to decide to quilt that specific block with the fabrics they selected (similar to how Electric Quilt software lets you design patterns). It makes it easier for them to decide what fabric they want because they are able to get a feel of what it will look like before they even start quilting.

Second: Making products available through specialty search engines.

An online quilt store owner recently told me that her online business has more than doubled in the last year because she simply made her products available on specialty search engines. Can you imagine doubling your sales by simply making your online catalog searchable from other sites? Our very own findmyfabric.com is such a specialty search engine that we often refer clients to. There are a few other ones out there too.  

The reason why these specialty search engines work is because quilters know specifically what they’re looking for. This allows them to shop around and find what they’re looking for in one place. Once they find what you have, these sites direct them to your online store to buy.  What a convenience!

Third: Improved post-purchase processes.

Are you consistent with your newsletter or your blog? Do you have a method to market and remarket to customers who have bought from you? We all wish we served no one but loyal customers; and, although having all happy returning customers might be an almost impossible task, you can get pretty close by keeping your customers in the loop after they purchase from you.

For example, let’s say you sell Amy Butler fabric, and a new Amy Butler collection becomes available on your website. You could easily send an exclusive email to your customers who have bought Amy Butler fabric from you in the past. Keep your customers updated. They’ll appreciate it!

In conclusion, if you make choosing fabrics on your site easy for your customers, make products available through specialty search engines, and keep in contact with your customers (especially after their initial buy), you could greatly increase your sales without having to become a deep discounter to attract and keep business.

Category: General | Leave A Comment |

We are proud to announce the Quilter's Shopping Trends Survey is now available! Take the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/shoppingtrends2012 

This year we've had many fabulous prized donated by our sponsors. To win one of the prizes listed below, just take the survey. At the end of the survey it will ask for your name and e-mail address. Only those that provide both a NAME and E-MAIL ADDRESS are eligible to win the prize. 

Winner's will be announced at the Spring Quilt Market Show in Kansas City. Visit booth #1939, 2037 May 18 at 2pm for the announcement. Winners do not need to be present to win, we will contact all winners personally by the e-mail they provided in the survey. 

Want to know how sweet the deal is for winners? They cold win one of the following:

Category: PR Corner | Leave A Comment |

Last month Facebook changed all of our business profiles to the new "Timeline" format. I've talked with quite a few people about utilizing this valuable space. With the cover photo you can add an image as the main attraction on your new Facebook page. But there are rules! Here's a link to the rules for the cover photo:

http://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=276329115767498

A "cover" is the large billboard image that goes at the top of your Facebook page, like this (see the part with the red box):

Here are some sources of inspiration for creating your own Facebook cover image.  These are from some of the pages that I have "liked" on Facebook.

Category: Cool Tips | Leave A Comment |