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Post by PickyChicky on Jan 29, 2019 19:30:41 GMT -6
I had posed a question on eCrater's forums about the effectiveness of their promotional board because I'm looking for effective promotional tools outside of social media. During the course of the conversation, I had an epiphany about our own Cafe Classifieds section. In the past, I was tightly monitoring its use to keep it from being abused by those who just join to post and run. Of course, that also led me to wanting to control the format used.
However, I'm thinking of revamping it entirely for each of us to frequently promote our shops and products. I believe I can invite eligible members to post to each of the boards so it can't be abused by those who post and run. The Cafe Classifieds section does get views, but I think it would get a lot more views if it were actually an active board and it can't be active when it's being so tightly controlled.
So, I'm curious to know if anyone would be interested in using it to promote their shops and products on a regular basis? There won't be any specific format required and it can also be used to promote other people's shops and products that you find worth promoting.
There also won't be any limit to how many items you can promote. However, to ensure that nobody is dominating a category and burying other members' stuff, the only requirement I'd have is that you use one post to advertise your current batch of products. You can have a separate post for each shop, though. Plus, there are multiple categories that items would fit under, so you can also have separate posts for each shop under each related category.
Speaking of categories, I'm reducing the number of categories that are currently featured and would like your help with that. Basically, I would just like to know which categories each of you would use so I can make sure to keep them available. I have already planned to delete the following categories as they can fit under one of the other categories: Antiques, Baby Products, Health & Beauty, Home & Office Decor, Jewelry & Watches, Pet Products, Pottery & Glass, and Sporting Goods.
While I'm waiting to hear back from you, I shall clean up the Classifieds section and get it ready for use.
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Post by PickyChicky on Jan 29, 2019 22:30:12 GMT -6
I just remembered about the image-hosting issue. I'm going to post a request for info on ProBoards support forum because I know there are ones we can use with this site. Now that everybody's had a chance to test out the list they had, I'm going to see if anyone can readily recommend any for us to use.
Anywho, it's late and I have other things to do before bed, so I shall do that tomorrow.
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Post by PickyChicky on Jan 31, 2019 6:43:16 GMT -6
I removed the extra category posts mentioned and edited the Guidelines post last night. I also removed the Weekly Deals & Steals board since it never got used, as well as the Products & Service Requests board. Now I'm just reorganizing what's left, combining boards to do away with extraneous ones. I have also decided to remove the Art and Crafting & Supplies categories because there aren't any listings under them. So, they can be combined into at least the Home & Garden category. Since nobody is commenting on the subject, I'm making my executive decisions so I can move forward. I don't want to spend a lot of time on it since I have many other things to do. I just wanted to hurry up and get it set up properly so we can all start marketing our stuff, myself included.
ETA: I've put a question regarding image hosting recommendations on ProBoards support forum and am awaiting responses. There is a self-hosting tool available, but I need to double check what its storage limits are before deciding on whether or not we can use that.
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Post by PickyChicky on Jan 31, 2019 11:10:25 GMT -6
As mentioned in the How to Post Images in Forum Posts thread, the self-hosting tool won't work for the purpose of the classifieds section because you can't easily make an image a clickable link to the listing. As mentioned by one of ProBoards' support team, the self-hosting tool is more for adding attachments that don't require linking. However, I did get two good recommendations for free third-party hosting sites that we can use and will continue to monitor my support thread for any additional recommendations: nickpic.host/ (sponsored by ProBoards) village.photos/About the Classifieds section, I have moved all of the threads from the now deleted Business Directory board to the main Classifieds board. The board for marketing our products remains, but its name has been changed to Shop by Category. I have also edited the The Master List of Presto Shops thread to remove any that are no longer on Presto and make a note of the two shops that still use their custom domains for other shops.
However, I will be deleting the Presto thread entirely once I make sure the remaining nine shops are included in their related categories. While none of those shop owners have been active here for a while, I've known each of them for a long time and don't mind promoting their shops.
I also need to go through the various category boards to update some listings -- mine and others. Although, that will be for another day because I really need to switch gears to other more pressing matters.
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