Increasing Online Sales

I'm wondering how far to go in order to increase my sales through the online stores.

A newsletter from Zazzle this week listed the following 'Top Searches':

- Personal Business Cards
- Anti-Obama Bumper Stickers
- Bridal Shower invitations
- Wedding Postage
- Wedding Announcements
- Graduation Invitations
- Birthday Cards
- Bachelor Party Invitations
- Funny Posters
- Geek T-shirts

And the top sales through GCU were:

- 4th July cards
- Weddings
- Graduation

Of all those listed, the only categories my designs would fit into are the birthday cards and perhaps the wedding announcements, though I haven't made a lot of those - and even this one was not my idea, but came from a customer who found my sweet pea bookmark and asked me to make it into invitations for her wedding and I adapted it later for GCU -

.

Just as I find it hard to create Christmas Card designs in the summer, I don't find it easy to design for something to which I can't relate and if I try to, I think it comes through in my work. Unfortunately, the subjects of most of the top searches and sales are outside of my experience - for instance, we don't have 'bridal showers' in the UK, as far as I know, nor do we celebrate 'graduation' in quite the same way as in the US. We do have 'Stag Nights' which I presume are what are meant by 'Bachelor Party Invitations' but they are generally very informal affairs and formal invitations would hardly be in keeping with the spirit of the occasion. As for the 'Anti-Obama Bumper Stickers', I'd never have known that there was any demand for such a thing!

So - unless I can somehow get my head around these, to me, quite alien concepts, I'll have to continue with my birthday cards and perhaps take advantage of all the flowers coming out in my garden to make more Wedding Invitations.

There are plenty of roses for inspiration -

- and my first autumn-sown sweet peas are beginning to flower -

And maybe I can make something of the mock orange?

Or these love-in-a-mist might make a pretty design?

But with the flowers in my garden coming out thick and fast at the moment, it's difficult to keep up with them all!

I've just checked on Zazzle and there are a few floral business cards - so maybe that's something to be thinking about, if I can put myself in the shoes of a florist or garden centre owner? I often find that I have my best ideas when I'm not trying to think of something. My son is coming down from York to stay with me next and I expect we'll be out and about in the mountains, weather permitting. So perhaps something will come to me while I'm trying to keep up with him on one of our hikes!