I figured out a neat way of emailing my newest designs to people. I make a picture page. So I put a picture of the design, one of the design on an item (like t-shirt) a bit of description and link directly to that design page on the site. In the body of the email I make remarks to the attachments and if my friends and relatives would rather not have this type of email from me to let me know..blah blah. I thought it was kind of a neat idea.

The picture pages are starting to make me think of designing my own catalog. Because a lot of people I know are NOT internet savvy. Not like I am an expert or anything. But I thought perhaps if I had a catalog someone would find something they liked, contact me or a friend of theirs to purchase something from the book.

Is this a dumb idea?

actually..I've thought about this myself, a small catalog that could be left in laundry mats, or in lunch rooms of business's, doctors offices or whatever, passed around to friends..

I was also thinking that cafepress should maybe look into things that could help one's offline business as well, such as car magnets we could design ourselves, to advertise on our vehicles, or offer us the option of designing our own flyers/business cards, sure...we could do some of that ourselves, but they could likely do a more professional look/feel, basically..business essentials for the shopkeepers.

Sharon

Cool idea, I'd like a button on the admin page that gives me a nicely formatted PDF catalog of all my designs with one click please

quote:

Originally posted by Timewarp:
Cool idea, I'd like a button on the admin page that gives me a nicely formatted PDF catalog of all my designs with one click please

Ooooooh!! Me too, me too!!!!!

*if* someone were to figure out a way of doing something like this, how would you like them organized and what would you want to see with them? The designs don't have descriptions associated with them, only products do. Would you want to see products with that design, or would you want to just see the design? Would you want to see all products associated with that design or would you want to select them?

I ask because it's possible to build a tool that might do what you're asking - or at least get close to it - but as with most things, the devil is in the details of how it functions. Would you really want a pdf catalog of all 35,000 products in your shop, or just the design and a representative sample of products?

*bowing at your cyber feet Teesed!*

I read the catalog idea and thought, that's perfect! I could send one here there and everwhere!

IMHO, I think a catalog where you could possibly pick some designs (maybe to spotlight) with a sample of products (perhaps with the designs). Could THAT be possible? Like if I have 500 designs, maybe pick the top say 50 of them.

I don't know that you'd have to..or want to showcase *all* your stuff, I mean egads!! on having to actually put that together for the average shopkeeper,
Maybe showcase per page..say the Fitted T shirts, then a row (in little boxes) of what designs are available? or some of the designs? ultimately..
It's a tool to get them to your website right?
The catalog could have an order form in it for people to call and place an order with you I suppose as well, but mostly..it's to promote your site, something one friend can give to another etc...

The other thing is..if you showcase products instead of the designs, for each product you could show different designs available, and then mark on the front of the catalogue most/all designs are available for most products or something like that, that way..you could show off several of your designs too.

Anyway..just some idea's lol

Sharon

Don't go bowing down just yet... It's simply an idea mover. After all, everyone will want a different thing for their catalog. Some will be possible, others will be unlikely. After all, you're not going to pay hundreds of dollars for this - or are you?

The bummer for anything reasonable like this is that it's going to have to be fairly standardized. Now, don't let that stop you from dreaming, but do let it focus your answers to the most important things.

Teesed I would love this for a few of my sections. Some of my customers are not too computer savy, and they've asked me for a catalog so they could shop and order by phone. To that end, the catlog would need to include pictures, prices, and product number.

I would want to be able to pull it by section(s)and product type, and probably would print different catalogs depending on what these shoppers wanted...
...a mug catalog
...a greeting card catalog
...kid's shirts catalog

I've experimented doing this with Adam's InstantCafe feeder tool. I think it's possible, but I'm not quite there yet.

kiwi

A catalog would be a great "leave behind" piece. I would probably do one quarterly (Summer 2008) and put in 10 or so of your best designs and some of your new designs so it doesn't always look the same. I'm thinking 16 pages or so, half page size. 5.5 inches x 8.5 inches. Name of store (logo) on the front. Full color, glossy.

Maybe the people that get your catalog might even want to sign up to be a Shopkeeper too. Then you can get a referal. Make sure to leave your shop name on there.

I'm interested to see what comes of this. Great idea.

I designed a catalog for a fellow shopkeeper (for hire). I've also done single page "flyer" type versions for myself.

One important element to include is the Product number of any item shown, that way folks can call in an order if they are immediately sold on it

Another thing I've done is show products from examples from different categories. For example, something for Men, Women, Kids and a household item.

I get requests for full product catalogs but I never seem to make the time to make them for myself

Well, this is something I wanted the Content API key for. My hope (long ball version) is to allow you to log in to your account, give you a list of the folders and designs, and let you select which you want. Then, have it go through each design and let you pick a few products with that design to feature, as well as let you put in some text for the design or products, then have it arranged on a page for each. There would have to be a pretty standard template, as in "2 designs per page" or something like that, with a way to put your shop info/url/etc. on each page and output it as a pdf. Then you could add your own cover and print them out or send out as an email. Just thinking out loud in case someone else feels like cranking it out tonight or tomorrow.

I didn't read all the responses... just wondering if the CP "book" product could be used as a catalog.

I am really surprised at all the responses to my original post.
My thoughts were just to use one product say t-shirts and by design catagory show the design and a t-shirt with the design on it. I already have some of my own products so photograph them on the kids, friends to add that personal/model effect.
For other designs, since I have several fine art designs they might look better on pillows, coffee mugs ect.
I am still mulling the whole idea over. I guess I just thought maybe depending on the cost of the catalog I could have a few printed up I could send them to family, friends tht do not have computer experience or computers.

quote:

... and print them out...

Oooo...I'd really like to give my opinion on printing a catalog out yourself. Color ink jet printouts will smudge very easily if they get wet, or touched by a sweaty finger, etc.

Unless you can afford a color laser jet printer and use photo-grade paper it will look unprofessional, IMHO. I used to try and print the business cards, etc. for my husbands business and I quickly realized how much better and cost-effective it is to have them done through Vista Print.

If it were me I'd have my catalog professionally printed. The CP book might be an option if it's not cost-prohibitive. I've never sold their books, don't know how much they cost.