I've had a premium shop for quite a while now. I am just opening some basic shops. I don't mind just having one product per basic shop, because it pushes you to come up with variations of the same design, shapes, colors, sizes.

One thing bugs me, though. I don't think it looks good for CafePress to have such bland basic shops. Couldn't you have either a background color or a very simple background design (or a few choices?)

How does everyone else feel? Is this something that "experts" already know how to do?

Marian
www.cafepress.com/dancingtree_ts (premium)
funnypoodle (basic)
gunniesart (basic)

Question:
Can basic shops be given a color background?

Choices:
yes, neutral colors
yes, a solid background would help a lot.

 

I don't care one way or another. Unless a person works really hard to promote a basic shop it is unlikely it will ever be seen. Years ago when we were able to chain our basic shops together I would see my basic shops appear that way as a result of links on my external site. Since then, however, I've never seen one of my basic shops come up on a search. That doesn't mean it won't or it can't, because it really just depends on how one promotes. For example, I used to directly promote my basics from my external web site. I don't do that any more. Changes make me weary and wary - I never know what is going to either make my work useless, or use my own efforts to compete against myself.

I'd agree to a background color, but I don't even use one on any page now - Premium or not. Funny thing - this is one thing I asked of CafePress well before I opened a couple years ago. The answer I (actually) got from CP was that they had no evidence that a 'fancy' shop did any better than a plain white one. The W3 wrote (lonnng) ago that over 95% of the 'best' websites on the internet used a plain white background and instead focused on good lettering and spacing and 'better' graphics when used. The remaining 5% were trending toward a background that cut the glare of light (many using a simple color like f7f7f7 -or- black, dark blue, dark green - but then graphics need more attention). The W3 has written about certain aspects of web 'design' that is actually reducing a visitors interest in spending any 'longer' amount of time on a site, and the fact those aspects are the ones being pushed by many so-called designers - oftern refrerred to as 'mechanics' because they can operate the software but do not have any design sense. I'd like to use a dark backgound, but that does cause some problems with the display of our products - stark white rectangles, or spending time copying, cutting, making transparent backgounds for their display. I ended up just leaving the whole thing plain white.

Better yet, how about free Premium shops...

I'd love that, but that $6 a month per premium would have to be made up somewhere. If they'd started it without the fee, they would be priced/built for it, but I expect its a good chunk of change when you add them all up.

they can take it out of the money i'll be losing in the marketplace. :P

quote:

Originally posted by Tanith:
I don't care one way or another. Unless a person works really hard to promote a basic shop it is unlikely it will ever be seen. Years ago when we were able to chain our basic shops together I would see my basic shops appear that way as a result of links on my external site. Since then, however, I've never seen one of my basic shops come up on a search. That doesn't mean it won't or it can't, because it really just depends on how one promotes. For example, I used to directly promote my basics from my external web site. I don't do that any more. Changes make me weary and wary - I never know what is going to either make my work useless, or use my own efforts to compete against myself.

Oh, my gosh! I was planning to convert my premium to a basic and just have basic shops. I already have 3 basics. I can't afford the premium cost, especially with changes in the air. I guess color is a pretty low priority.

Marian