Window Dressings

Well, if you have an online store like I do, you’ll know that now’s the time to window dress your shop. Dress it up for the Christmas season with some of my suggestions  below.

1) First take stock of what’s on your homepage, you’ll want a nice cross selection of products showing.

2) Be sure to add in some holiday items that you think might catch the interest of those shopping at your store. Have items for all age groups, babies, kids, and gals and guys.

3) Change your banner to a Christmas or holiday theme to add some visual interest.

4) Let shopper’s know when sales are on certain items. You can announce these on twitter, Facebook or Google +.

5) Let shopper’s know that they can purchase gift certificates to give as gifts if they can’t decide on a specific item. 

Well the countdown is on, now just 57 days until Christmas! Sorry didn’t mean to scare you! Well stop by my store Designs by Shell and check out the fun selection of gift items and apparel . Open 24/7, the beauty of having an online store.

Here are some of my latest designs…

Technorati Tags: window+dressing+store,preparing+for+the+Christmas+shopping+season,designs+by+shell

Why Whistler?

Whistler is a resort village about 125 kilometers north of Vancouver, B.C. This beautiful town is known for it’s skiing and snowboarding during the winter months and for it’s hiking and mountain biking enjoyed in the warmer spring and summer months. If you’ve never been to Whistler, it is definitely worth the trip. This weekend my husband had a work conference that was held in Whistler, so I was able to tag along and enjoy staying in the beautiful Four Seasons Hotel. On Friday the conference only went until 3:30 pm so we had the afternoon to explore the village and wander the many little shops. Of course we stopped at the well known Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory to buy a favourite treat to munch on. We decided on peanut brittle, so tasty! We had a special coffee at the Starbucks in the village and then later had dinner at the ‘Spaghetti Factory’ It was a great time. On Saturday morning we woke up to snow, my husband Brian, opened the blinds in our room and said ‘it snowed!’, of course at first I didn’t believe him but then I jumped out of bed and ran to grab my camera. It was so beautiful the trees had a pretty dusting of snow, apparently the first snowfall the village has had so far this year. Pretty cool!

Well as you can imagine I got some great pictures and have already uploaded to many items for my store. Here’s a taste but come by my store to see more and many other new designs I’ve been working on.

Technorati Tags: whistler village,whistler b.c.,first snowfall,designs by shell

Keeping Your Content Fresh

With the busy shopping season soon approaching it’s important to review your website content and look for ways to freshen it up. I’ve recently been doing this with my store, Designs by Shell. When I started my business 4 years ago, everything was new to me, I was really only proficient at email and searching for things on the internet. In my business I draw, design and take photographs for products that I sell. In the beginning when I first launched my store many of my designs were very basic and lacked the correct keywords as I was just learning what those were all about too! For anyone that has an online store you know that there is a lot to learn in order to market your products and get them seen by the masses.  To market effectively is no easy task. We know that search engines love relevant and up to date content so it is within your best interest to stay on top of this. Researching for the best keywords to add to your products is a good idea. It’s important to choose keywords that are based on the real ‘thing’ that people are searching for. You want to choose words that are relevant to your product. Think of all the possible words that some one might put in the search to find your product.  So this week I’m working on products one by one in my store and checking to see that I’ve got good, relevant keywords and that I don’t have any spelling errors in there either.  It’ll take some time but in the end I know it’ll be worth it.  Products that don’t get found are pretty much useless so updating and freshening them up is a good idea.  Hope this helps some of you working on your stores too.

Here are some samples from my store. I try to add new designs daily so there are always fresh items, stop by for a visit when you can.

Technorati Tags: fresh content,keywords,relevant information,designs by shell

7 Things I Love About Fall

Fall is a favourite season of the year for many, myself included. So I thought I’d share some of the things I love about fall. 

1) The colourful leaves, golden yellow, rustic red, burnt orange. I love going for nature walks when the leaves are changing colors and many are floating to the ground and lining the trails.

2) Pumpkin pie… ooh la la, with whipped cream. Every fall my husband and I indulge in pumpkin pie on the weekends until we pretty much can’t take it anymore…we start sometime in Sept. and usually have had our fill by early November. So good!

3) Boots – what can I say. I love my boots, tall, short, dressy, casual  black, brown, gray.  Anytime, anywhere I’m usually wearing boots once the fall season hits.

4) Butternut Squash Soup, or any homemade soup. Fall is the time I make most use of my crockpot and we enjoy vegetable soups throughout this season.

5) Pumpkin or Chai Spice Lattes, warm and inviting flavours. Often my husband and I will pick up one of these drinks at our favourite coffee spot and take it with us while we go for a nature walk. (He usually just gets his regular coffee but I go for the lattes)

6) The glow and warmth of the fireplace, well it’s a gas fireplace but it makes the room feel warm and cozy, love it in the early mornings and in the evenings. 

7) Cozy sweaters, fall is the time to pull out those warm and cozy sweaters, cardigans, belted sweaters or turtle necks. All remind me of fall days…

Well there is my list, do you have some different favourite things you love about fall? Please leave a comment and let me know…

Here are some of the things I’ve been working on for my store. Getting geared up for the busy sale months. Stop by to see more of my designs, I try to add new ones daily, so you never know what you’ll find. Designs by Shell

Technorati Tags: 7 favourite fall things,fall list,designs by shell,autumn