Tuesday, March 04, 2008

3 Great Business Resources!

I had to share three great experiences I had just this week and it is only Tuesday!

I am a firm believer in finding new and fun ways of improving on whatever you love to do. As some of you know, I publish a Pug Notes Quarterly Newsletter and email it to all of my wonderful customers every 3 months to say hello, share what is new and best of all share their own pugs and stories in the "Meet the Pugs" section which is my favorite part of the whole publication.

I have been sending out an HTML format version for about a year using Mail Chimp. To make a long story short, I just finished dotting my i's and crossing my t's in my new Spring Newsletter when I decided that I wanted to try a whole new company to create my newsletter to get a more refined product both for the user and the writer. I think Mail Chimp can produce great results, but not without a lot of tweaking and their html editor is far from easy to use.

So, yesterday, I spent the whole day reworking my Newsletter with Constant Contact. I cannot say enough great things about them. Their interface, template choices and flexibility to make them your own and amazing customer service have made me their biggest fan ever!

I am excited to release the Spring 2008 Newsletter in about 10 days, when Spring has sprung. If you would like your very own copy delivered to your inbox, please just email me and let me know. I will be happy to send one to you.

The second great business experience is finding a wonderful new book, I'd Rather Be in the Studio! by Alyson Stanfield. I am excited to learn new skills in reaching new customers and building business for Pug Notes.

I first heard about it by reading a recommendation on Claudine Hellsmuth's blog which I visit everyday. She is an amazing artist and a marketing genius who really inspires me.

I am excited to also find out that Alyson Stanfield is from Golden, CO and will be having a book signing in Boulder on Thursday April 3rd from 12-2 at my friend, Theresa Haberkorn's, artist studio. I have talked about Theresa before. I met her 3 years ago when I attend my very first woodcut class. She was the inspiration for carving woodblocks, collagraph printmaking and my hand-carved stamps.

My third great business resource is VistaPrint.com. I found them this year through my friend, Linda O'Neill, another amazing artist who inspires me everyday. I made post cards and business cards with them and was so impressed with their quality, service and amazing prices that I surprised my sister, Melanie with her very own set of cards for her Etsy Store, Shop Moe Moe.

I love how they turned out and wanted to share them and my yet again, wonderful experience with Vista Print.

I was having so much fun creating my newsletter, ordering my book and meeting Melanie to surprise her with her new cards, that I did not get a chance to walk Emmitt yesterday! I must go now because I have a pug starring at me with his lip pursed waiting for me to walk him. :)


12 comments:

Melanie said...

Thank you Missy for my ShopMoeMoe business cards! I just love them and can't wait to use them

Linda O'Neill said...

And a big thank you too, Miss Melissa! I must say that YOU are always a wealth of information about art and business. I have learned much from you, my friend. xoxo

The Devil Dog said...

Wow, that is a great way to start off the week. Hope it continues to be so good to you. Mom's week is a little bumpy, but we are hoping it will get better.

Roxy

Tara's Art Camp said...

what great info here, I'd love your newsletter.

Love your pug photo, he does look like he needs a walk. The British say "walkies" I think.

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much, Melissa. I'm honored to be in the company of others here. And I'm sending all of my dog peeps your way--particularly my pug-owning friend.

Ruth Welter said...

Melissa, thanks for sharing your info on how you create your newsletter. I've really really been wanting to start making a more professional newsletter but wasn't really sure how. I've bookmarked the sites you mentioned.

Once again and as always, Mr. Emmitt is adorable.

Nevis said...

Emmitt is SO adorable!!!

Unknown said...

Hi Melissa...

Thank you for all of your kind words and notes...I am blessed to have your support and I am thankful for it...

I have so much to catch up on here...and it will help keep my mind busy...

thanks again from the bottom of my heart...

Diana

Unknown said...

You are inspiring me to once again consider putting out a newsletter. I really should!

There is no such thing as too many photos of Emmitt the dog. What a charmer!

Anonymous said...

This is really a nice effort...Nice one!

Anonymous said...

Melissa – thanks so much for the kind words about Constant Contact. We are thrilled when we hear that our customers are pleased with our product. You noted that you are new to Constant Contact, so I thought I would point you to a couple of resources that could help you make your newsletters even more successful:
Our Learning Center can be found here: http://www.constantcontact.com/learning-center/index.jsp and we would love to have you join ConnectUp!, our user community http://community.constantcontact.com/ - you could even help others learn from your successes. Thanks again.


Maureen Royal
Director of Customer Experience, Constant Contact

lizzy said...

great tips! thanks for sharing! :)