tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-213099712011-08-04T05:03:46.975-07:00<b>Blogs are the sanctuaries of the Banned.</b> During a banishment from the CafePress forum a couple of the moderators recommended that I start a blog. I will post various personal ramblings about the possibilities available in CafePress. Thats a "print on demand" service which lets you make your ideas available to the net in the form of T-shirts, mugs, posters, CD's, and many other items. Their forums are kinda taken over by entrepreneurs but the service is still good for everyone.Gandalf Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13703137315636968445noreply@blogger.comBlogger201100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21309971.post-43717912768809879822010-01-08T11:28:00.000-08:002010-01-08T11:33:43.185-08:00

Trolls are generally looked down on across the internet. And they should be. I certainly do. BUT everything has its pros and cons.An expert troll has specific skills. They tend to be wordy. Some are quite responsible in their "trolling duties". They can generate conversation and keep conversation threads going for far beyond what would be expected from the subject. And the best of them do so

Gandalf Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13703137315636968445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21309971.post-1166463209283800562006-12-18T09:15:00.000-08:002006-12-18T09:33:29.330-08:00

I have talked about how to find material but I have a new suggestion that I want to put out there. People seem to spend alot of time and effort trying to find images online. People! Images found on the internet are RARELY legal to use on something you sell. Making sure that it is might be more hassle than its worth.Often the images I see people wanting are things like backgrounds (trees, water, a

Gandalf Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13703137315636968445noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21309971.post-1154352018402333362006-07-31T06:17:00.000-07:002006-10-16T08:52:54.946-07:00

There are different levels. But of course the only thing equal to a copyright, is a copyright.People say that the "poor mans copyright" is no longer a workablething. That was the common suggestion of putting your idea in an envelopeand mailing to yourself, then never opening that envelope. True, it doesnot take the place of a real copyright but that does not make it worthlesseither.Actually there

Gandalf Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13703137315636968445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21309971.post-1153074303691801952006-07-16T11:24:00.000-07:002006-09-24T10:25:03.610-07:00

Offering personalized shirts to customers is on many shops. And there are shops I WISH did more of it. Instead of offering the same image in 100 ways, or every version of a zodiac sign on every item, or every state, or an entire shop for each letter of the alphabet in order to become the monogram king of CafePress.. please look into offering individual designs as they are needed by people willing

Gandalf Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13703137315636968445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21309971.post-1153074111660911572006-07-16T11:17:00.000-07:002006-08-06T12:44:51.580-07:00

A webpage for "creating a design online" is a great thing to offer. Many shops do this. However, at the time of this writing no one has released a script for everyone else to use (including Im afraid, myself. I also am not ready to release mine). There are basic tools available which make such scripts possible. A mid-level webpage developer and mid-level graphics person could visit the pages of

Gandalf Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13703137315636968445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21309971.post-1152805254837115702006-07-13T08:39:00.000-07:002006-07-13T08:48:57.500-07:00

Im seeing people complain lately on CafePress about the calendars. They want a head start on next years and they want more creation options. Things like adding text to certain dates. Im sorry but I dont think the CP servers need that kind of online creation load. Come on people! CafePress is supposed to be the bastion of creative people. Are you really limited to making a calendar only if

Gandalf Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13703137315636968445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21309971.post-1152719177922344262006-07-12T08:23:00.000-07:002006-08-17T17:22:22.723-07:00

OK more on descriptions. I see descriptions in CafePress that just plain don't seem to fit their purpose. They are like the label on a painting. "Unicorn Nonconformist commissioned by Gandalf Parker"ALL of the text on your pages, every field that allows a description, will be gathered up by search engines such as google, yahoo, msn, lycos. (it seems strange to explain how people search but so

Gandalf Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13703137315636968445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21309971.post-1151860758723590902006-07-02T10:16:00.000-07:002006-07-02T10:19:18.740-07:00

Donations by CafePress?Sure, you see the same thing all over. "And for your donation of $20 we will send you this pin". Yes I know that you can create a paypal account that people can donate to, if they have a paypal account. And I would recommend that also. And if you are a programmer you can create a SourceForge account that people can donate to which is also a good idea.But.. just as an option

Gandalf Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13703137315636968445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21309971.post-1151328328296839762006-06-26T06:17:00.000-07:002006-06-26T18:10:24.093-07:00

I was reminded by a moderator on CafePress of why I made this blog. It was created based on a suggestion by another moderator, and mentioned in an agreement with CafePress staff/moderators when they let me back into their forums. I apologize for the post I made recently which violated the CP forums guidelines and will repost it here..Someone was thanking me for the posts I had made there in the

Gandalf Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13703137315636968445noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21309971.post-1151068044745008722006-06-23T05:33:00.000-07:002006-06-23T06:07:24.790-07:00

CafePress is great. But its not everything. There are better sites out there but they are all better for a specific part of what CP does. I haven't found any site that is better at doing EVERYTHING that CP does. However, if you started in CP and found yourself getting focused and feeling limited, then there are other sites you can migrate to. Also, regular readers here might have noticed by now

Gandalf Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13703137315636968445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21309971.post-1146495945558295082006-05-01T08:05:00.000-07:002006-05-01T08:12:10.946-07:00

I have seen some SEO experts (search engine optimization) recommend that people shove their way past the search engine algorythm changes by putting up a blog. I hate that. Instead of recognizing the purpose of such changes, they try to falsify their way around it with some tactic until it trashes the change and forces yet another change on us.First off, engines like Google have said that they are

Gandalf Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13703137315636968445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21309971.post-1140389422057514632006-02-19T14:46:00.000-08:002006-10-18T10:23:30.840-07:00

How many times do I view a great design and see that they have 3 words for the search engines to index on? At best I generally see a well done description of about 3 sentences but its on duplicated 100 times on section teaser, section header and on every singe item with that design. Did that use up every keyword and tag you came up with?OK here is ONE of my items. One geeky internet design. I did

Gandalf Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13703137315636968445noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21309971.post-1139595359960036642006-02-10T10:15:00.000-08:002006-02-11T03:55:17.876-08:00

Another repost here of an old post of mine on Cafepress forums..The affiliate concept in general tends to go something like this...(watered down lecture from my consulting)Someone like Amazon knows they are a number one thought in many peoples minds when they want to buy a book online. Want a book on golfing? Go to Amazon, search for the book, buy the book. They provide that service.But they know

Gandalf Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13703137315636968445noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21309971.post-1139595222420324822006-02-10T10:13:00.000-08:002006-02-10T10:13:42.433-08:00

This is a repost of a posting I did when the affiliate program on CafePress was announced but before any of us were in it. For those who dont know, this is the type of thing Ive been helping web sites to do since before WWW existed. http://www.Any1can.net/MyShops.txtSo a website that is about monkeys has a blog and lots of interesting articles and pictures and some decent traffic. I recommend to

Gandalf Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13703137315636968445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21309971.post-1138298186935407922006-01-26T09:52:00.001-08:002006-06-22T08:57:54.916-07:00

There is a firm internet marketing tactic involved with making 2 sites pointing at the same products. One is a pro site praising the items and the other is an anti site describing the same items insultingly. There is an accepted marketing strategy involved with using both sides of the coin to sell the same item. Ever heard the phrase "no publicity is bad publicity"?Lets say that a shop has

Gandalf Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13703137315636968445noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21309971.post-1138034256242200382006-01-23T08:36:00.000-08:002006-01-23T08:37:36.253-08:00

Anyone who has a CafePress shop and finds themselves in Northern California, I HIGHLY recommend visiting the headquarters of CafePress in Foster City.There is SOOooo much that a single visit will make clear to you. Seeing how the different sections operate and meeting the guys that started it. What CafePress is, what they were, what they have become, what they want to be. I wish I could go into

Gandalf Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13703137315636968445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21309971.post-1137871662487239522006-01-21T11:27:00.000-08:002006-06-02T12:37:46.226-07:00

Using a PortalThere are many portals on the net now. A portal is someplace that allows you to build a "My Page" site. Some well known ones would be Yahoo, MSN, AOL. A personal homepage for your browser to default to which you can change to display YOUR choice of info. Local weather, TV listings, sports scores, traffic reports, watching your ebay auctions.Maybe you played alittle with

Gandalf Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13703137315636968445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21309971.post-1137871609128104632006-01-21T11:25:00.000-08:002006-01-21T11:26:49.130-08:00

Tags on images are for the CafePress search (people already in CP doing some shopping and use the search there).ALL of the text on your pages, every field that allows a description, will be gathered up by search engines such as google, yahoo, msn, lycos. (it seems strange to explain how people search but so many shopkeepers dont seem to think about it). When someone searches, they put in one to

Gandalf Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13703137315636968445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21309971.post-1137871460933924642006-01-21T11:23:00.000-08:002006-01-21T11:24:20.936-08:00

IN MY HUMBLE OPINIONa good CafePress shop seems to use the following people.The Ideas Person:Any, some or all of the following people.Artist, photographer, designer, musician, story writer, poet, witty commentary, comedian. None of which has to be exceptionally good. It can be a casual doodler as long as its unique and not just snagged off the net somewhere.The Word-Smith:The person who can

Gandalf Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13703137315636968445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21309971.post-1137871391663122262006-01-21T11:22:00.000-08:002006-06-22T08:45:20.346-07:00

edited: now maybe I understand why this was pulled from the CafePressforums by a moderator as being off-topic. That surprised me mightilysince I always considered it to be very on-topic for CP. Maybe themoderator knew ahead of time that the referral program was getting"nerfed" and would no longer be a viable way of making side money. I mayneed to switch to an alternative PoD program.Oh well, here

Gandalf Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13703137315636968445noreply@blogger.com5