Artspan News

When sending emails to us here at Artspan, please be sure to include your full name and the name of your site. We get literally hundreds of emails a day, and this will help us to help you more efficiently. Thanks!

We recently received an email from a member who almost fell victim to the scam we are becoming only too familiar with. These unscrupulous people attempted to prey on her emotions by telling her that the 'buyer' was 9 months pregnant, this in an effort to deter the seller from not insisting upon taking the 'extra' money for the shipping charges. This particular person was, so she said, moving to an apartment in South Africa which she needed to decorate. It was not clear whether she was going to move before or after the baby's arrival. A more in-depth article on this type of scam is in last month's newsletter. For more information on the 419 Nigerian scams, go to http://home.rica.net/alphae/419coal/index.htm

We do regret this kind of thing. It is very prevalent on the Internet. Again, make sure that the check clears before you do anything. And if payment is sent for more than the artwork cost, that is a huge red flag, almost the size of the coming baby. ("Buyer" will ask you to send the difference to the "shipper." or to someone else).

Use your common sense and NEVER do anything before you are absolutely sure that the check is real. Its not enough to deposit it, it also has to clear. Incidentally, these scams target everyone selling anything on the Internet, not just artists. A friend of Eric recently received a check for $24,000 to cover sale of 2 antique clocks. Needless to say, that check was bogus.

There are also real buyers out there, we do hear of member success. So hang in there.

So far, over 30 members have upgraded to our new Pro Plus level of membership! If you missed last month's newsletter, this is our latest offering: Unlimited pages and images for $16.95 a month! If you are interested in upgrading, contact Denise at support@artspan.com. You will be upgraded immediately and not charged for it till next month's billing.

With more and more members opening accounts with PayPal and adding buttons to their sites, it's time for a quick review:

With Pro and Pro Plus level memberships, you can add buttons yourself to individual images in your gallery. There is a field provided with each image for this purpose and you can access this in the Artwork section of your admin. Click on Edit under image.

Watch out for emails purporting to be from PayPal that ask you to verify your account information! These are frauds, and their goal is to get your credit card information. ALWAYS open a new browser window and type in the web address; DO NOT use the links provided in these emails, as they lead you to a very authentic-appearing dummy page.

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Editor's note: This aricle was excerpted from one written by the Artspan search engine optimization (SEO) consultant, Wil Reynolds. It will not tie in specifically to your promotional efforts as it was directed to producers and retailers of mainline consumer items. However, there may well be information here that you can use. For example, see the references to blogs and forums below. You can use these mediums to promote your work. Remember that references to your work online are seen not only by visitors to those forums and blogs but also by search engines. Over time, this will result in improved rankings for your site. You can contact Wil or learn more at www.thinkseer.com.

A recent study indicated that 26% of adult users of the Internet (about 33 million people) in the US have rated a product, service or person using an online rating system.

Think for a second about the number of sites where people can post their opinions regarding products and services: Amazon, CNET, Overstock, eBay, Citysearch, Tripadvisor, Pricegrabber, MySimon, Become, epinions, Bizrate, eBags... the list is growing!
People are talking online, and they could be talking about your products and services, especially if you are selling direct to consumers. Online reviewers absolutely realize that the reach and impact of their sentiment about your product or service is greatest on the Web, especially compared with all other communications means (mail, email, phone, fax, face to face, etc.).
Reading the comments of real people that have bought the same product or service helps buyers feel more confident and comfortable in their purchasing decisions, especially when an item is bought sight unseen.
The Power of Blogs
Do not neglect the importance of blogs and how they affect the way your products and services are perceived. Often, these blogs become little fiefdoms with large followings and tremendous influence; they become trusted sources of information to their audiences, which will often revisit these blogs to stay on top of their recommendations and reviews.
Treehugger.com and gizmodo.com are very popular among targeted audiences and are likely to review several products or services in a week.
You can do a search to see which blogs are discussing your products and services, using for example blogpulse.com's trend tool and input your company name or product names. You can also use blogpulse.com's search tool to find the actual blogs reported in the trend tool.
Keeping an Eye on Forums
The same methods used for staying on top of blogs can be used to help you do the same with forum postings. Usually, forums allow anyone to post, so that sense of an individual's authority on a topic is lessened.
Where forums have an advantage is that they allow for multi-user conversations, whereas blog communications are usually one-to-many, with little question and answer. Before you purchase a digital camera, a forum allows you to get answers to specific questions from actual owners (often enthusiasts) of the product.


Editor Note: We are redesigning the individual member sites. Among the new features we will offer will be a guestbook.

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— Denise Glover, Editor