ShopWorthy - A Blog About Online Shopping!

What We're Up To At DreamWorthyGifts.com

Mail@DreamWorthyGifts.com (Your DreamWorthy Gifts Shopping Advisor Team) — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 19:55:00 +0000

Hello DreamWorthy Friends, Fans, Followers and Customers!

Some of you have asked what we're up to, since you haven't seen us online (representing DreamWorthy, at least) or marketing heavily through Social Media, like we used to. Others have kindly written to check on us, out of concern.

First, all is well. The business is still running, albeit quietly, and we are well, personally. It has been a wonderful summer so far.

What we have been doing, is thinking. (Yes, I know. Scary stuff. ;-)

Between us, we have a ton of business experience, some of it even B2B ecommerce experience. But this was our first venture into retail B2C, online. As some of you well know, it's a very different world. Over the last two years, we have been mildly successful, while we were figuring things out. But mildly doesn't really cut it, for the long-term. We believe we've learned what it will take to make DreamWorthy wildly successful.

Here's what we believe we need:

A complete, modern ecommerce website redesign with a great shopping cart software and full social media integration and Web 2.0 features. Think beautiful, functional, easy, inviting, intuitive. Stuff like this.
Then, we need to employ the best thinking in A/B testing, usability, and landing page click-pattern tracking to ensure the design delivers a customer experience that encourages conversion. This is great stuff straight from the great authors in Website Magazine, which I can't say enough great things about.
A merchant account to take payments directly, rather than only through PayPal.
A separation from our current primary dropshipper, replacing them with a fulfillment system that we control or can trust completely (Amazon fulfillment comes to mind as an option, if we outsource). Zappos' CEO wrote an article about their journey through this process and it was immensely enlightening. Different article, but here are some lessons he learned that resonated with us. You can't deliver phenomenal service if you don't control the fulfillment process.
A separation from our current primary supplier, to create private-label products of the finest quality, in one specific niche - likely continuing our current bath and body focus and dropping the other product lines. This and the fulfillment choice make stocking inventory mandatory, at our location or the fulfillment center.
A well-run SEM campaign.
A great SEO plan, built into the site during the redesign - not an afterthought.
Integration with, but less reliance on, Social Media as a marketing medium. Social Media should be our channel for listening, learning, connecting, creating a loyalty magnet and a human voice for our business, not the primary way we get orders.
An aligned PR/Marketing Plan that reinforces our SEM, SEO and Social Media presence and voice.

So, this has been two years' worth of learning. In retrospect, with hindsight being 20/20, I wish we had done these 2 years' worth of research first, and launched the business this year, but I'm not sure we'd really have learned everything we did without the experiences we've had. Kind of an interesting Catch-22 loop.

One thing that would not change is the thing we got right from the start, in our opinion:

A kind human voice, a sense of humor, an unwavering focus on customer satisfaction -- even if it means losing money on one order, and a commonsense approach to problem-solving when something doesn't quite go as expected.

Now, the question is, what's next? The above plan would give us a truly good chance at making DreamWorthy a very successful brand and business. Not "compete with Bath & Body Works" successful (from a scale perspective, at least), but it might take us to a platform from which we could decide if we want to go that far. A lot of successful businesses have started in a basement or garage.

So, what's holding us back, you ask?

This is a completely new level of commitment for two people with one very demanding full-time career, a family, a daughter headed to college, a busy household with two younger children, 2 cats and an unruly but infinitely entertaining Dachshund.
Financing. Do we risk funding this from personal funds or seek an SBA loan or other funding?
Is the "bath and body" space saturated enough that our entrance would make only a small ripple? (In other words, are we overestimating the potential return for this plan and do we need more market research?)
Choices and decisions. We're researching site designers, carts, and private-label options and costs.
One big decision: has this been a fun and interesting experiment that has lead to some cool new knowledge and skills, or is this the springboard from which we are going to leap and change our lives? Do we have (enough) passion for this business and the bath and body world?

For me (this is Mike), if I free my time up, I have an opportunity to focus deeper on my career in the training and organization performance profession (outside of work hours), and with 20+ years of highly successful experience, to become a respected voice in that industry and community. I have personally been wrestling with this choice, because choosing DreamWorthy means a continued, focused, dedicated effort outside of my already-long work day, until there is no longer a need for that work day. In essence, do I want to make a career change, leaving my training world behind? (Until, perhaps, based on our success, I could free up to teach others how to make the same journey?)

So there it is, friends, all laid out for the world to see. This is what we're doing, thinking about, going through, researching, and deciding. In the end, one of two things will happen. We'll either:

Close DreamWorthy Gifts and move on.
Execute the above plan and you'll see a relaunch of the store.

We'll keep you posted.

In the interim, we want to THANK YOU for your friendship, support and patronage. It has meant more to us than we could possibly tell you here.

Until next time, your online friends,

Mike & Kali

DreamWorthyGifts.com

DreamWorthy Wish List & Gift Registry - Buy Your Friends What They Really Want

Mail@DreamWorthyGifts.com (Your DreamWorthy Gifts Shopping Advisor Team) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:02:00 +0000

Along with our DreamWorthy Private Gift-Giving Network for Social Media Friends, something else that can be fun for the holidays is our Wish List & Gift Registry:

This is a cool feature.

From our home page, look on the upper right of the search panel, just below the top navigation bar. When you click on Wish List, you'll see this screen, where you can register on our site, or log in - if you are already registered. (By the way, registration includes only contact and shipping information, not credit card info.... even though we offer Secure Socket Layering security, we do not store any financial information on our site.)

As a registered site member, when you look at an item, you can add it to your Wish List, as you see with the Vanilla Caramel Bath Set to the right. Click on the "Add to Wish List" button, and the item will be added to your Wish List!

(Good choice! This stuff smells great!)

Then, if you tell your friends and ensure they have the email address that you used to register, they can shop for you using our Gift Registry.

They'll find the Gift Registry on the home page on the left navigation panel under the Shopping heading. (See the highlighted Gift Registrylink to the right.)

When they click on Gift Registry, they'll see a Wish List login screen, like below.

When they enter your email address and the displayed security code, they will see your Wish List and are able to purchase gifts that you really want!

That's it for this quick post on our Gift Registry and Wish List features. Remember to register soon and tell your friends!

And with that said, faithful readers, we'll wrap up this ShopWorthy post for now. Thanks for reading, and as always, happy shopping!

Until next time,

Your friends and Shopping Advisors at DreamWorthy Gifts

Introducing the DreamWorthy Private Gift-Giving Network

Mail@DreamWorthyGifts.com (Your DreamWorthy Gifts Shopping Advisor Team) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:56:00 +0000

Hello Social Media Friends, Fans, Followers and DreamWorthy Customers!

The DreamWorthy Private Gift-Giving Network
for Social Media Friends!

Last holiday shopping season, we started thinking about something special that we might do to help our social media friends and customers.

Then, serendipitously, a friend, whom we know only through social media, wrote to us and asked if we could help him. He wanted to send a present to a shared contact who was also a social-media-only friend. As such, he didn't want to make the recipient feel uncomfortable by asking for private info like an address, phone, or email (or broadcast the intent to send a present, and ruin the surprise).

What a pickle, right?

Our friend seemed sincerely motivated only by a kind, good nature, which we had already come to truly enjoy (a fellow "Pay-It-Forward" individual). This person knew the intended recipient was a customer of ours, and that we had shipped things to them before.

So, we were asked if we'd consider sending a present from our store without sharing the recipient's info... and in fact, even telling the recipient that we helped out this way, by keeping all info private and acting as a middleman.

Cool, huh? We thought so and said yes. And that started the gears turning.

This is Your Brain. This is your Brain on Social Media.

Could we do this for others?
Would it be viewed as completely self-serving or fun and helpful?
Do enough people care about keeping their basic contact info private from their social media connection?
Do enough people want to send presents to social media connections, especially in these economic times?

We don't have the answers to all those questions... but we're going to give it a whirl and see what you think.

Here's how we're thinking it would work:

(Click for a larger graphic)

We wondered to ourselves about the amount that people would want to spend on presents for social media friends and whether the cost of shipping and handling would be a deterrent (normally $8.99 but we offer special "save on shipping" promotions, based on what someone spends). We'd love to hear your thoughts. Keep these promotions in mind as you think...

Special Promotions That Might Help:

Coupon code PGGN4SMF * will save shoppers 20% at checkout. We'll likely enter the orders, based on the above process, and if we do, we guarantee that we'll reduce every order by 20% with this code.
For anyone who spends $25 on one order, shipping is reduced by 25%.
For anyone who spends $50 on one order, shipping is reduced by 50%.
For anyone who already has a gift card (we've distributed a lot of $10 gift cards during promotions), we can apply those as well, during checkout.

* PGGN4SMF = Private Gift-Giving Network for Social Media Friends

Flexibility and Comfort

There could be a few other ways to handle things...

If you ask in advance if the person is a customer and they are, you can just place an order on our website, use the coupon code, and request that we ship to your friend instead of you.
If we place the order for you, we'll send you an invoice through PayPal (so you don't need to share your payment info with us personally) and ship after we receive payment.
But we can work out preferred details on a case-by-case basis and ensure your comfort before we finalize.

So, friends and followers, with all that said...

What do you think?

We'll be waiting to hear.

Write to GiftIdeas @ DreamWorthyGifts.com, send us an @Reply or DM on Twitter @DreamWorthy
Give us a shout out on Facebook
Or, leave us a comment here on this blog post...

...whatever is easier for you.

Kali & Mike Kunkle
______________________
DreamWorthy Gifts LLC
Write to us: Mail @ DreamWorthyGifts.com
Shop at: http://www.DreamWorthyGifts.com
Read our Shopping Blog: http://bit.ly/ShopWorthy
Read our Networking Blog: http://bit.ly/DreamWorthyFriends

Refer-A-Friend Promotion: Refer friends and they each get a coupon for 25% off. When they buy, you get a coupon for 40% off! There is no limit to the number of friends you can refer or the number of 40% coupons you can collect. See the Refer-A-Friend banner at http://www.DreamWorthyGifts.com to participate.

JOIN US AT:
http://www.twitter.com/DreamWorthy - Follow us!
http://www.facebook.com/DreamWorthy - Be a fan!
http://www.facebook.com/Kali.Kunkle - Be a friend!
http://www.facebook.com/Mike.Kunkle - Be a friend!
http://www.linkedin.com/in/DreamWorthyGifts - Link to us!

The DreamWorthy 5-a-Day Gift Card Giveaway

Mail@DreamWorthyGifts.com (Your DreamWorthy Gifts Shopping Advisor Team) — Sun, 31 May 2009 18:01:00 +0000

5-a-Day Gift Card Giveaway!

Holy cow, we've lost our marbles!

It's happening again!!!

It's the DreamWorthy Gifts
~ 5-a-Day Gift Card Giveaway! ~

We did some math (yes, it hurt) and determined that this is a win-win promotion. It's a lot cheaper than other marketing/advertising options. Plus, call us crazy, but we just love giving away our gift cards!

So, we are extending our 5-a-Day Gift Card Giveaway until supplies run out! There is no calendar deadline ~ we'll just announce when they're gone. By way of estimate, at our current rate, we should have gift cards for the large majority of 2010.

So, we'll give away a $10 virtual gift card for http://www.DreamWorthyGifts.com to the first 5 people a day who send an email to GiftCards @ DreamWorthyGifts.com and ask for one.

That's it! Just send an email and you could win a free gift card! On random days, we may announce that we are giving away more than 5 a day - or we may not announce it but might give away more than 5 because we're crazy - so even if you think it's too late, send the email!

Our gift cards are transferable, so you can buy something for you, for someone else, or give it away! While you're at our site, check out our Refer-a-Friend promotion banner on the home page, and learn how to save up to 40% on future purchases!

It's always...

Serious Shopping | Crazy Prices at DreamWorthy Gifts!

For even more wacky fun, follow @DreamWorthy on Twitter!

Why Should You Shop at DreamWorthyGifts.com?

Mail@DreamWorthyGifts.com (Your DreamWorthy Gifts Shopping Advisor Team) — Sat, 16 May 2009 22:25:00 +0000

Hello shopping fans!

In this post we'll share some of our thoughts about how we are trying to live up to our own standards for great online shopping.

If You Deem This Worthy, Please Spread the Word!
We are always grateful for the support of our friends & fans!

So, without further ado...

Why should you shop with us at DreamWorthyGifts.com? Here is what we think:

• FIND THE PERFECT GIFT: Choose from romantic, relaxing, funny, pretty, cute, inspiring, or practical. We have 3,000+ items in 30+ product categories, with prices ranging from $1.95 to $299.95 We have something for everyone in every price range, including virtual gift cards and gift certificates for those 'hard-to-buy-for' people in your life.

• CONVENIENCE: Obviously, you can do your shopping without leaving your home. (Jammies and bunny slippers optional.) And your order can be shipped right to your front door.

• FREE SHOPPING ADVISOR SERVICE: If you write to GiftIdeas@DreamWorthyGifts.com and request it, we will make gift suggestions for you. The suggestions get better, the more you can tell us about the person and situation. Tell us...

Their First Name
Their Gender
Their Approx Age
What They Like
What They Don't Like
Some Other Things About Them
Occasion (Why You're Buying Them a Gift)
When You Need to Give Them The Gift
Total amount you want to spend (including shipping): From $___ to $____.
Where to email the suggestions

...and we'll make some great gift suggestions for you! For free!

• GREAT PRICES: In a recent pricing comparison test, DreamWorthy randomly selected 10 products and compared prices for the same or similar items at major brick and mortar retailers as well as other well-known websites. Market prices for this test ranged from $4.99 to $149.00. In every case but one, DreamWorthy Gifts' price was lower (we lost once by a few cents). The savings ranged from $0.83 to $65.04, with an average savings of $17.03. (Our analysis included our standard DWG20 coupon promotion, to save an extra 20% at checkout. This promotion is available for everyone, can be used every time, and does not expire.)

• SECURE ONLINE SHOPPING: When we transfer and receive financial information, we redirect visitors to a server that is secured using industry-standard 128-bit SSL encryption. SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a protocol developed by Netscape for transmitting private documents via the Internet. In a nutshell, SSL creates a secure connection between our online store and the Gateway, the mystical place where credit card transactions occur. This allows shoppers to send their credit card information in a secure manner over the Internet. All major e-commerce websites use this type of encryption, and you should feel safe to shop online at our store.

• MULTIPLE PAYMENT OPTIONS: In addition to using secure servers for your protection, we accept PayPal for payments. PayPal has earned over 20 awards, is owned by eBay, and remains the global leader in online payment solutions. You may pay using your own PayPal account, with a credit or debit card, or through eCheck (which is an electronic funds transfer from your checking account). And frankly, if these options don't work for you, contact us and we'll figure something out.

• UNPARALLELED CUSTOMER SERVICE: We stand behind our products and will do everything possible to ensure you are completely satisfied with them and us. Yes, we have company policies, but we also apply reasonable logic, listen with empathy, use common sense, act with integrity, and make decisions on a case-by-case basis. Occasionally, we break our own policies to ensure a customer is satisfied. We take service seriously.

• SAVE ON SHIPPING: Spend $25 | Get 25% off Shipping! ~ Spend $50 | Get 50% off Shipping!

• SAVE WITH COUPONS: Use a coupon you already have or use code DWG20 to save 20% additional at checkout.

• REFER FRIENDS & SAVE MORE: See our Refer-a-Friend promotion on our homepage: Refer friends and they receive a coupon for 25% off. When they buy, you receive a coupon for 40% off! There is no limit to the number of friends you can refer, or the 40% off coupons you can receive.

So, what do you think? Do you think we've got it right? Do you think we can do something else? Send us your feedback and suggestions - we love to hear from our friends, fans, blog readers and shoppers!

Thanks so much for your support!

Kali and Mike Kunkle
Co-Founders of DreamWorthyGifts.com and authors of ShopWorthy - A Blog About Online Shopping

DreamWorthy Gifts' 5-a-Day Gift Card Give-Away

Mail@DreamWorthyGifts.com (Your DreamWorthy Gifts Shopping Advisor Team) — Tue, 12 May 2009 15:18:00 +0000

5-a-Day Gift Card Give-Away!

Holy cow, we've lost our marbles!

It's happening again!!!

It's the DreamWorthy Gifts
~ 5-a-Day Gift Card Give-Away! ~

We did some math (yes, it hurt) and determined that this is a win-win promotion. Plus, call us crazy, but we just love giving away our gift cards!

So, we are extending our 5-a-Day Gift Card Give-Away through Sunday, May 31, 2009! We'll give away a $10 virtual gift card for http://www.DreamWorthyGifts.com to the first 5 people a day who send an email to GiftCards @ DreamWorthyGifts.com and ask for one.

That's it! Just send an email and you could win a free gift card! On random days, we may announce that we are giving away more than 5 a day, so even if you think it's too late, send the email!

Our gift cards are transferable, so you can buy something for you, for someone else, or give it away! While you're at our site, check out our Refer-a-Friend promotion banner on the home page, and learn how to save up to 40% on future purchases!

It's always...

Serious Shopping | Crazy Prices at DreamWorthy Gifts!

For even more wacky fun, follow @DreamWorthy on Twitter!

"Gettin' Social" at DreamWorthy 2.0 - The New Standards

Mail@DreamWorthyGifts.com (Your DreamWorthy Gifts Shopping Advisor Team) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 21:58:00 +0000

Hello Online Shopping Fans and Happy Easter!

We are just dropping by today for some quick announcements about DreamWorthy Gifts. We have a few NewsWorthy items we want to share. This post further clarifies our expectations for a great online shopping experience, and how we are trying to live up to the standards we espouse.

NewsWorthy

Special Promotions at DreamWorthy Gifts

First, we now have a more robust promotions page. You can see it at http://www.dreamworthygifts.com/promotion_list.asp.

On our site, you'll see an updated list of current special promotions. Currently, they include:

Our FREE Shopping Advisor Service
An ongoing coupon offer
How to save up to 40% by referring friends
Other special promotions, currently including two shipping promotions

Here are some additional details.

FREE SHOPPING ADVISOR SERVICE:

If you write to GiftIdeas@DreamWorthyGifts.com and request it, we will make gift suggestions for you. The suggestions get better, the more you can tell us about the person and situation. Tell us...

Their First Name:
Their Gender:
Their Approx Age:
What They Like:
What They Don't Like:
Some Other Things About Them:
Occasion (Why You're Buying Them a Gift):
When You Need to Give Them The Gift:
Total amount you want to spend (including shipping): From $___ to $____.
Where to email the suggestions:

...and we'll make some great gift suggestions for you! For free!

SAVE WITH COUPONS:

Use a coupon you already have or use code DWG20 to save an additional 20% at checkout.

REFER FRIENDS & SAVE MORE:

See our Refer-a-Friend promotion on our homepage: Refer friends and they receive a coupon for 25% off. When they buy, you receive a coupon for 40% off! There is no limit to the number of friends you can refer, or the 40% off coupons you can receive. It's the smart way to shop!

OTHER SPECIAL PROMOTIONS:
Shipping Promotions

25|25 Shipping Promo: Spend $25 | Get 25% Off Shipping!
50|50 Shipping Promo: Spend $50 | Get 50% Off Shipping!

Look Ma, We Won Something!
Kidding aside, we learned last week that DreamWorthy Gifts won the 2009 Most Wanted Coupon Tournament! We're honored and want to say "Thanks!" to our friends and fans who voted for us.

The tournament started with 32 coupon-offering contestants, ranging from giants like Wal-Mart and Amazon.com to smaller businesses like ScrapbookPal.com and DreamWorthyGifts.com. See WantedCoupons.com's blog announcement for more details and "Keep On Coupin' On" at http://www.WantedCoupons.com!

We're still a little stunned, but I believe this is a real tribute to Social Media/Networking, where we have made some phenomenal friends and fans on Facebook, Digg, LinkedIn and Twitter. Thanks to everyone who voted for us - especially our friends/followers and fellow "tweeters" from Twitter, where we hang out as @DreamWorthy.

"Gettin' Social" at DreamWorthy 2.0
Speaking of Social Networking, we have added some features to our site recently that increase the social aspect of shopping with us... functionality that is often referred to as "Web 2.0." We're not Amazon.com yet, but we are moving in (what we believe is) the right direction. We would certainly like to hear some feedback from you. (Leave a comment or send us an email.)

Product Zoom feature:
See an example here. Place your mouse over the product image and you will automatically activate the zoom feature. Move your mouse over the product to move the zoom window. You can still click the "larger image" link to open a new window with a larger static image.

Customer Reviews by product:
See this link and scroll down to see the area for customer reviews. The image of the candle below shows where a shopper can add a review.

Question & Answer feature for products:
Directly below the area for reviews, you'll see a button to click to send us a question about the product.

Testimonials:
Customers can leave a testimonial about their purchase. On our home page, scroll to the bottom, look under "Site Info" and you'll see the Testimonial link. You can also see Testimonials on the home page left panel navigation, near the bottom under "Express Orders."

Wish List & Gift Registry:
This is a fun feature.

From the home page, look on the upper right of the search panel, just below the top navigation bar. When you click on Wish List, you'll see this screen, where you can register on our site or login, if you are already registered. (By the way, registration includes only contact and shipping information.... even though we offer Secure Socket Layering security, we do not store any financial information on our site.)

As a registered site member, when you look at an item, you can add it to your Wish List.

Then, if you tell your friends and ensure they have your email address you used to register, they can shop for you using our Gift Registry. They'll find the Gift Registry on the home page, on the left navigation panel under the Shopping heading. When they click on Gift Registry, they'll see a Wish List login screen, like below.

When they enter your email address and security code, they see your Wish List and are able to purchase gifts that you really want.

Share Feature ~ Tell Friends:
This graphic is a picture of a product page. On it, you can see where to add a customer review, the image zoom, Wish List and our last new feature, the Share this item link. When you click the envelope link, you can complete a form to send an email to a friend (or multiple friends) to tell them about this item. You can send a 500 character message and even copy yourself.

And with that said, faithful readers, we'll wrap up this ShopWorthy post for now. Thanks for reading, and as always, happy shopping!

Until next time,

Your friends and Shopping Advisors at DreamWorthy Gifts

5 Things All E-Commerce Websites Need To Succeed

Mail@DreamWorthyGifts.com (Your DreamWorthy Gifts Shopping Advisor Team) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 03:15:00 +0000

Hello online shopping fans! Welcome back to ShopWorthy - A Blog About Online Shopping!

In our ongoing effort to provide you with information about all aspects of online shopping, we are taking another interesting twist for this post.

Last time, we shamelessly wrote about our own online store and shared how we are trying to live up to our own standards about online shopping.

This time, to approach things from another angle, we have asked Ken Ramirez, owner of AxsysTechGroup.com, to share a perspective from the side of an experienced Web site developer, who has helped many other e-commerce biz owners. At the end, we'll share a special link where you can learn more about Ken as a person and his businesses.

But without further ado, let's learn from a real expert about the...

_________________________________

5 Things All E-Commerce Websites Need To Succeed
By Ken Ramirez
Axsys Technology Group

When Mike and Kali from DreamWorthyGifts.com asked if I would be interested in composing a guest post for their awesome blog, I jumped at the opportunity. What I didn't have at that point was a solid topic to write about. Little did I know that the topic would find me.

In case you don't know who I am or what my company does, a short introduction is in order. My name is Ken Ramirez and my company (Axsys Technology Group) provides website design, hosting, and e-marketing services. A very common task for us is to design and build e-commerce websites.

Most clients start by telling us what they wish to see visually, but have no clue as to what should happen behind the curtain. These days, of modern search engines, Web 2.0, and computer savvy users, what goes on behind the scene is just as important (if not more important) than what you see visually.

Furthermore, when I present our options list to our customers, at first, most don't understand what the options are, let alone why they need it. When I thought about this, it became clear as to what I would want to guest-post on a blog operated by the owners of an e-commerce website. That way, perhaps we could help a few of DreamWorthy's readers in case some are in the process of building an e-commerce website, and have no clue where to start (other than what they'd like to see visually).

Think SEO Now, Not Later

As a brand-new online store owner, one of the first decisions you'll have to make is to decide what to name your domain name. Easier said than done. When picking your domain name, think utility, not coolness. You'll probably come up with fifty cool names that you're proud of. Perhaps because you think that they are witty or slick. But your name should be blatantly obvious of what you sell. Stay away from words like Best, Greatest, NumberOne, or other adjectives that seem more like boasting than actual facts.

Next, don't forget the big three meta-tags in your pages: Title, Description, and Keywords. Many websites make the mistake of using the same title, description, and keywords across the entire website. It is especially important that you DON'T make this mistake in an e-commerce website. Your product pages should contain meta-tags that represent what is actually being displayed. For example, if you sell chairs, and the currently viewed product page is a black plastic chair with chrome legs, that is what you should put in your title, description, and keywords.

Another common mistake is the use of parameters in the URLs provided as links. In order to explain this one, let me provide an example. Let's say you have a page containing a list of products for a given category. Each item in the list might have a link to view the full details for each product. The link is followed by search engines (when crawling your website). However, each link looks something like this:

http://www.yourwebsite.com?prodid=143

http: //www.yourwebsite.com?prodid=125

http: //www.yourwebsite.com?prodid=214

This doesn't provide the search engines with any information about the actual products that you sell on your website. A better choice would be to have URLs that resemble the following:

http://www.yourwebsite.com/chairs/plastic-black-chair.html

http: //www.yourwebsite.com/tables/rosewood-dining-table

http: //www.yourwebsite.com/sofas/white-sectional-sofa

These last three examples have information that a search engine can sink its teeth into in order to rank you better.

Don't Be Anti-Social

Many new websites are incorporating social media websites into their marketing plan. Doing so could be as simple as joining AddThis.com and incorporating the buttons into your website. These buttons can then be used by your visitors in an effort to spread the word about something interesting they found on your website. When one of your products makes it to the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Digg, and other social media websites, it could mean the difference between success and failure. Furthermore, you can incorporate this feature into every single one of your products to make it easy for your visitors to spread the word for you.

Another upcoming practice is the ability to update your status on various social websites with new product entries as you add them to your website. This can be automatic if your website developer is familiar with the Application Programming Interface (API ) supported by the social website you wish to provide updates for. On most social websites, as you add an update, the status is viewed by all of your friends (connections). If your friends comment on your status, their comment is viewed by their friends. This means that you could potentially reach hundreds of thousands of people...all from a single product update that made itself over to one or more social website.

Get Your Feed On

These days, it's becoming incredibly important for your products to appear on multiple shopping websites that point back to you for the final purchase. These sites provide product comparisons for the consumer and ease their product purchase decisions. The point is, you have to spread your wings a bit to make a bigger sale (or at least more of them). Sites that provide comparison features, pricing, discounts, etc., include: Google Base, Shopping.com, Bizrate.com, MySimon.com and many more.

Again, an experienced e-commerce development company will know how to add features to your store that will allow you to automatically forward your products to these other sites, based on a feed from your website to theirs. You should not have to perform double-entry. Most of these websites provide a public API that can be used by your website to communicate with them, easing the path to reach more customers.

This essentially translates to more sales for your company.

More Than Just A Pretty Picture - Rotating Banners

This is a visual component that can be used to display multiple products, specials, discounts, new items, etc. to your customers. However, just displaying pretty pictures is not enough. The images should act as clickable regions with specific words that state "click here to learn more" or something similar, in order to make it obvious what is expected of the customer if they see something that catches their interest.

When the potential client clicks on the image, they should be taken directly to the product's detail page, where they can view options, sizes, and most importantly, be able to add the product to the cart with a simple click of a button.

X-Sell Marks The Spot

X-Selling (a.k.a. cross-selling) is a technique that sometimes causes a customer to additionally buy something beyond what they intended to buy. For example, say they came to your website in order to buy one specific thing. When they got to the detail page, they clicked on the "Add To Cart" button. Next, they're shown the cart displaying their grand total and the list of products that they've added to the cart. Finally, right below the cart, or sometimes above the cart, they're shown a few other products that either:

A. Complement the last product added to the cart.
B. Other customers typically have brought when they also chose the last product added to the cart.
C. Is a good alternative product than the one last added to the cart (especially if it is more expensive).

When deciding how many products to X-Sell, a good number is 3. More than that is a bit overwhelming for the customer.

Summary

Now that you know what your online store should have, you're probably wondering the same thing that most of our customers start to think about next...what's it going to cost in order to add these features? There's good news and bad. First the bad, it does add more cost to your initial base when you start to add these features to your website. Now the good news...most of the features that I've discussed above, are now available as an add-on for most e-commerce engines. If your design company builds your e-commerce store on one of the existing e-commerce engines, the added expense should not be overwhelming.

You'll probably have to pay for a license (if there's a cost involved for integrating the add-on). You'll also have to pay for the extra time that your e-commerce development company will need in order to add the component to your e-commerce website.

If your e-commerce website designer has never heard of any of these features for your potential website, walk away and find someone else to build your online store.

And remember, if all else fails, feel free to give us a call at 954-499-5594 or write us at info@axsystechgroup.com. If you want to learn more about what it takes to run and operate a successful online business, read our blog at http://blog.axsystechgroup.com.

_________________________________

Well, faithful readers, this is the end of this special post. Even for you die-hard shopping fans, I hope it has been intriguing to see things from the perspective of a potential e-commerce site owner and the professionals who design sites to be efficient, effective, marketable, and profitable.

As always, please feel free to provide feedback to Ken or us, by leaving a comment or writing to us at Mail @ DreamWorthyGifts.com. And to learn more about the kind of person that Ken Ramirez is, and more about his business, see a special post at our other blog called DreamWorthy Friends.

And with that said, faithful readers, we'll wrap up this ShopWorthy post for now. Thanks for reading, and as always, happy shopping!

Until next time,

Your friends and Shopping Advisors at DreamWorthy Gifts

Safer Online Shopping While Avoiding Identity Theft

Mail@DreamWorthyGifts.com (Your DreamWorthy Gifts Shopping Advisor Team) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 23:38:00 +0000

NewsWorthy

A Little Diversion is Good For The Soul

Hello online shopping fans! We have something a little different for you today, but as ardent online shoppers, I believe it is something that will interest you and be helpful. We're thinking of making several (shopping-related) diversions like this over the course of this year, so your feedback would be appreciated about that. Good idea? Or do you need to slap us back into place? We'll wait quietly over here, and hope to hear from you.

The Buzz About Identity Theft

There is a lot of buzz these days about online shopping and social media networking and the risks involved with both for identity theft. Our friends over at AxsysTechGroup.com recently posted a blog about identity theft and Julio Ricardo Varela, a Facebook friend, posted this story. In addition to these examples, the news about online shopping, identity theft, and social media risks have been plentiful lately, so we won't detail them much further here. The last things we'll offer are Dateline's "To Catch an ID Thief" undercover investigation, which included an online store and some resulting tips on protecting yourself, including this helpful guide. Check it out when you have a chance.

So, What's YOUR Social Security Number?

We've posted before about ways to ensure safe online shopping (courtesy of Tech Paul), but a newsletter we received recently from LifeLock (we're members), and a link to their blog, jogged me into writing and asking if they would write a post for ShopWorthy readers.

I thought I'd get a response weeks or months later, or never.

Within an hour or so, I got a reply from Cortney Read, Public Affairs Coordinator for LifeLock, with an enthusiastic "Yes" reply and a friendly, professional message. Within a few days, I received the post below, from Cortney, which is written by Zach Friesen. Hats off to you, LifeLock (and especially Cortney and Zach). I am indeed impressed.

Disclosures, Disclaimers, The Other Side of the Coin

Now, we're not the Motley Fool, and we do not own shares of LifeLock (and don't even know if they're publicly traded) or get anything in return for mentioning them here, but we should offer a few other "disclosures."

First, we are customers of theirs. About 20 months ago, when we moved to a new city, we opened a new bank account and had to prove that one of our social security numbers was ours, because it had been in use at that bank previously, on a closed account, by someone else. It appeared that it was possibly an honest mistake(?) on the part of the account owner but the fact that it slipped past the bank was astonishing to us. We had been seeing the bold commercials for LifeLock where the CEO, Todd Davis, posts his social security number in magazines and on the side of a truck. After some research, we became customers to protect ourselves.

It does make getting credit somewhat more challenging, but with some advance planning it's not really a problem. There's a phone call involved between LifeLock and you to ensure it's you applying for credit. Not really a hassle for us, to know that our identity and credit are being protected.

Lastly, I've read that detractors say that placing fraud alerts on your credit bureau as a protective measure can slow down the entire system that is designed to protect those most at risk. Personally, I reconcile this easily, given the amount of identity theft that happens. Of course, given our story, I considered our risk high to begin with. Other detractors take issue with the CEO giving out his social security number, citing it as irresponsible. I can't speak to that, other than to say it was a bold and highly effective marketing campaign, and I have a hard time imagining that others would do it because he did, but you never know. The FBI sees fit to work with them, and Google's CFO sits on their Board of Directors, so that says a lot, from our perspective.

So with all that said, I would like to turn over the floor to LifeLock and author Zach Friesen.

__________________________

Advice from the Experts - Avoid Identity Theft While Shopping Online

Written By Zach Friesen, LifeLock
Edited by Mike Kunkle, DreamWorthy Gifts

Online shopping can be a lot of fun and lead to some great savings, but some people shy away for fear of the unknown. We've all heard stories of people who go to buy a gift or a hard-to-find item online and end up with a load of fraud and scams - but what's the truth behind the risks of online shopping? In this day and age, online shopping really is the best way to find just what you need, and despite the rumors, there are a number of ways to ensure a safe and happy experience.

Making a List (of Risks)

First, it's important to recognize just what kinds of identity theft you are at risk for when buying online. In general, identity theft is when someone obtains your personal information to use the credit you already have or to establish new credit. In addition, sometimes thieves attempt to use your information to get at your money instead of your credit. While identity theft has branched out into many different areas, these are the most pertinent to online shopping. (For more info on other types of identity theft, feel free to visit www.LifeLock.com.)

Checking It Twice (Bills and Credit Reports)

The next step for consumers is to know how to check to learn if they already are a victim and continue this process to spot potential problems early. This is as simple as reviewing a credit report annually and carefully checking all the bills and credit statements you receive monthly. Looking at these documents, make sure there is nothing on them that you don't recognize (for example, a credit card you've never opened with a retailer or bank, or purchases that you did not authorize). If you see anything you are uncomfortable with, or simply want to ensure that you're protected, you can visit LifeLock's website to learn more about checking your credit report and how experts can help you keep your identity safe.

Find Out Who's Naughty or Nice

Next, you need to be sure you know who you're dealing with, when shopping. There are some relatively easy and simple steps to ensure you're "where you think you are." A good rule to follow is: always find your sites, email addresses, and phone numbers yourself. If someone contacts you in an email or otherwise tells you where to go or what number to call, you should consider it suspect. You have no idea who you're dealing with, unless you verify the information or contact them another way. This is not to say that you cannot ever communicate using these means, just operate responsibly and never offer personal information without doing some of your own research. For example, many identity thieves will fabricate websites and provide links to you, in hopes of convincing you to give up information. Be cautious of this and look up the site yourself, using whatever search engine you prefer. It's also a good idea to check the URL to make sure the title and site match.

Finally, ensuring that you're dealing with secure sites can alleviate the fear of someone intercepting the transaction. While there are multiple ways to verify a secure site, the simplest and fastest is to check the URL again. If the site starts with "http" it is not secure, and "https" is secure.

Gauge Your Comfort - Decide What's Next

Remember, there is much that you can do for yourself to stay safe when shopping online, but there is still a lot that can happen - both on and off the Internet - that is out of your control. For additional help keeping you and your loved ones safe from identity theft, check out www.LifeLock.com. You'll find experts that offer not only protection, but also a million-dollar safety net to catch you, just in case the worst should happen.

__________________________

One last note. LifeLock has their own blog. Check them out at http://lifelockblog.com/

And with that said, faithful readers (Hi Mom!), we'll wrap up this ShopWorthy post for now. Thanks for reading, and as always, happy shopping!

Until next time,

Your friends and Shopping Advisors at DreamWorthy Gifts

Online Shopping Trends, Service Rants, Cool Sites and More!

Mail@DreamWorthyGifts.com (Your DreamWorthy Gifts Shopping Advisor Team) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 20:00:00 +0000

ShopWorthy Water Cooler

How Much Does Social Media Influence Your Buying Decisions?

Hey, I hate to talk out of school about some of the crowd we hang with, but if you listen to all to all the Internet Marketers, social networking for business is akin to the Second Coming.

Here's an article by Sarah Perez on ReadWriteWeb (which is actually a very cool blog and rated "top 20" by Technorati) that talks about the growing link between social media and shopping.

Our question for you, gentle readers, and especially any of you who may be "Gen Y", is this: "What influences your buying decisions?" Here's what Sarah has to say...

Sarah says: "Want To Market To Gen Y? Get on Facebook"

"According to research from shopping comparison site PriceGrabber. Some 85% of Gen Y respondents said they participated in social networking, and 57% reported involvement with blogs. In order to market to Gen Y, web retailers are now starting to use social media to do so. According to an August 2008 survey by Internet Retailer, 39.3% of retail respondents use social networks for marketing purposes, 32% have a page on Facebook, 27% are on MySpace, and 26% are on YouTube."

"...There are now more ways than ever for customers to share their experiences with others online. A 2008 study conducted by the Society for New Communications Research for Nuance Communications found nearly three-quarters choose retailers and products based on others' customer care experiences shared online. In addition to word-of-mouth and other trusted sources like Consumer Reports, respondents found information about others' customer care experiences online in the following ways:" (see graphic)

So, back to our question, shopping lovers, what influences your decision to buy or not buy? Does social media matter? Is it Web 2.0 functionality, like Amazon.com's product ratings?

Which of the things on this list ring your bell? And by that, we mean, what influences your buying decisions?

We would love to hear some feedback about this via a comment or an email to us at Mail @ DreamWorthyGifts.com.

The train has indeed left the station, but as far as we can tell, it's still moving pretty slowly, perhaps picking up steam gradually (like most "trends"). Here is an article from PRoactive, Sally Falkow's blog on PR trends. It's about Social Media Shopping on FaceBook. Note the date - November 05, 2007, well over a year ago.

In part, Sarah writes: "When Facebook members buy something at a commerce site, they can let those in their Facebook networks know about the purchase, passing along information on the item as well as a discount or coupon. The service will bring a sort of easily tracked viral element to online shopping. Two other people described it as part of a larger plan by Facebook that will allow data about Facebookers' online transactions and interactions to circulate within their social graphs."

Has anyone actually seen someone on Facebook sharing a purchase with their network? How often do you see it happen?

To us, social media is a great branding opportunity, as well as a customer service and customer retention strategy. But on our side of the fence as e-tailers, if you subtract all the hype, I think we're all still figuring out whether it will lead to increased sales or not. Again, we would love to hear some thoughtful arguments about this - especially from any online shoppers. (A notable possible exception may be Twitter - PRoactive's 2/9/09 headline on Twitter challenging Google is an interesting side note, as is the fact that Twitter has raised another $35 million.)

And by the way, follow us on
Twitter at http://twitter.com/DreamWorthy

NewsWorthy

Well, Here's a Good Slap in the Face for Ya

According to BBB statistics and reported by our friends at the Wall Street Journal, here are the most complained-about industries of 2008. How sad to see "Internet Shopping" at number 4 on the list. Ouch.

1. Cellular phones, service & equipment
2. Auto dealers — new cars
3. Banks
4. Internet shopping!! (Ouch again)
5. Television — cable, CATV & satellite
6. Collection agencies
7. Auto dealers — used cars
8. Furniture — retail
9. Telephone companies
10. Satellite equipment & supplies
11. Internet services
12. Auto repair & service
13. Financial services
14. Computers — dealers
15. Credit cards & plans

This reminds me of a company I once worked for. We surveyed our customers and asked them what they looked for in a sales/service rep who was handling their account. The number one answer? "Someone who returns our phone calls." That always blew my mind. But as I look at this list, and think about my service experiences over the past year, I can tell damning service stories about a cellular phone company, a furniture retailer, an auto dealer, our Internet service, a big-box computer reseller, a bank and a credit card company. And sadly, we do have an online shopping blunder to whine about - caused by the disconnect between the online arm and the brick and mortar arm of an electronics giant. (Left hand, meet right hand.) It worked out, thanks to a good local manager, but it almost created a really sticky Christmas problem.

Service Interruptus

I guess this isn't any major revelation, but this subject always gets me going. What's happened to service?!

We recently learned that a customer's Valentine's order wasn't likely to arrive by Valentine's Day, due to a miscommunication between one of our suppliers and UPS. We felt sick when we saw the update on UPS's site, showing that the package would arrive after the special day. Then, after endless conversations with multiple people at our supplier and at UPS, none of whom really seemed to care, we paid to have UPS reroute the current shipment back to us, and reshipped the order using rush shipping, to get it there on time for certain. In the end, when you do the math, I doubt there was much profit in that order for us, and frankly, I don't care. Disappointing a customer would have been so much worse.

So, dear readers, we'd like to hear about one of two things from you on this:

Tell us a horror story about online-shopping-gone-wrong
Tell us an online-shopping service-recovery story, where someone went above and beyond to help you or make things right

I sure hope there are more of the latter.

I Can Tell You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You

Oops, sorry. This story isn't THAT kind of "classified." Apparently, again according to the happy writers at the Tech desk at the WSJ,"Internet auctioneer eBay Inc. is looking to expand its global classified-ad business by taking advantage of an economic slowdown to buy promising private companies with low valuations." Or, eBay plans to buy some online classified ad companies. This is somewhat old news, I suppose, but gears grind slowly so it's still going on.

According to author Scott Morrison, "EBay, based in San Jose, Calif., in 2004 and 2005 spent hundreds of millions of dollars to buy about 25% of Craigslist, North America's top online classifieds site, as well Germany's Mobile.de, Marktplaats of the Netherlands and Spain's Loquo. It also launched Kijiji, a classifieds site available in more than 20 countries."

You can check out the article in detail here.

Interesting to read that experts estimate the offline and online classified industry to be worth $100 billion (with a "b"). I guess eBay should be rethinking something, because the long slide (to right) started well before the recent economic pressures started pushing it down.

Compare to Amazon (below) who felt the pain but has bounced back.

Seems like the fixed-price format may be winning out over the auction craze. An eBay story on MarketWatch this week seems to confirm this, with retailers looking to hold onto more of their already slim margins (which both eBay and their partner PayPal, eat into).

Another MarketWatch article from January lays out additional eBay and auction model struggles.

So it seems, shoppers, that you prefer the "deal with the discount" over the "bid for the buck." It will be interesting to see this play out, for sure.

Shameless Self Promotion: Refer-A-Friend & Save from 25-40%!

Okay, we really try hard not to do this on our blog, but we need to break protocol for this one. We've teamed up with NextBee.com to create a cool promotion that we are excited about. Our DreamWorthy Gifts' Refer-A-Friend & Save program will save shoppers from 25-40% with a “Pay It Forward” referral campaign that creates a Circle of Savings among friends.

See our press release on PRlog at http://tinyurl.com/DWG-Refer-A-Friend for more details, but here's how it works:
Shoppers can refer friends through a special Refer-A-Friend banner on our home page, and friends will receive a coupon for 25% off. When friends buy, referrers receive a coupon for 40% off their next order. Friends can refer their friends, and the circle of savings continues. There is no limit to the number of friends someone can refer, or the number of 40% off coupons one can collect. It’s the only way to shop!

Okay, propoganda over. It's safe to go back in the water again.

Savvy Shopper

Budget Well, So You Can Shop More

Hey savvy shoppers, we know that many of you are very budget-conscious, so we thought of you when we ran across these sites. They're not shopping specific, but hey, budgeting is budgeting. Or is it? You'll need to decide, but here are some sites that can help.

According to the fresh folks over at Mint.com, they offer easy setup, easy budgeting, and best of all, it’s free. You can find ways to save, reduce your debt, see where you spend, uncover hidden fees, and track your investments. Mint offers 24/7 protection, with an emphasis on safety and security. You can get timely alerts, see helpful graphs, and get mobile access including Mint on your iPhone. Mint.com has been named the best online personal finance tool by Money Magazine, PC Magazine, and is PC World’s Editor’s Choice. Good for you, Mint.

Read more About Mint and check out the rest of their site, if interested.

In case you've been living in a cave in Barbados since 1984 or on an island with Jack, Kate, Sawyer and John, you'll recognize Quicken as a budgeting resource. You can read more about Quicken here but they have been around a long time, are also free, and have a lot of cool services as well. They're cool enough to have a Facebook account. You can follow them on Twitter or follow their blog.

Wesabe says they are "part money management tool, part community." They go on to say, "We believe that one person's good financial decision can be leveraged to an entire community. Experts call this collective intelligence. And we have a whole community of people reaping the rewards of it every day. Find solutions to your money problems… you're not alone in wanting a better financial life."

Wesabe is part financial software, part community. With Wesabe, you can see all your bank accounts and credit cards in one place, categorize your transactions how you want, see spending and earning summaries, discuss things with other interested people, and receive tips for saving money based on your spending. The heavy community focus makes them interesting - check out the FAQ and About pages for more info, and of course, check out their blog.

And Now For Advice From a REEEEAAAAAALLLLY SMART Person

A new Twitter friend, Jim, writes a blog called Bargaineering - Engineering a Richer Life. We're poking fun with the above title, as usual, so we want to be clear that we think Jim really is a sharp young man, we're fans of Jim's blog, and - of course, we particularly love this post - titled: 8 Reasons To Do All Your Shopping Online.

We encourage you to read his full article, but here are the eight reasons:

Reason 1: Better Prices
Reason 2: Price Matching
Reason 3: No Sales Tax Collected
Reason 4: It’s In Stock
Reason 5: No Driving, Less Gas
Reason 6: Historical Order Record
Reason 7: Special Offers and Coupons
Reason 8: More and Longer Online Sales

We love you, Jim. In the most appropriate, platonic way, of course.

(I had an urge to reverse that list, add a drum roll, and do a Letterman-like Top 8 count-down, but I fought it off. I know you are now silently thanking me for my restraint.)

Slick Willy Had Nothing on These Guys

Slickdeals.net is, well, pretty slick. In their own words, "Founded in 1999, Slickdeals.net is a free, user-driven deal sharing site with a mission to provide consumers an avenue to collaborate and share information in order to make the best shopping decisions. Slickdeals achieves this by providing its users a forum for communication and various shopping tools. Slickdeals.net prides itself on being user and community focused, never allowing paid placement for frontpage deal listings."

Slickdeals includes everything from tech gadgets to running shoes. On the site, you can see:

Frontpage Deals
Hot Topics - popular items by ratings
Up and Coming Topics - popular items by activity level
They also offer a massive number of Coupons that you can use at your favorite stores, Forums for sharing deals, freebies, coupons, contests and more, a Blog at http://blog.slickdeals.net and a Tools section where you can do some deal and shopping research.
Keeping up with our need for instant gratification, they offer RSS feeds, deal alerts, and support m-commerce through Slickdeals for mobile phones.

Read more About them and check out their site.

And with that said, we'll wrap up our ShopWorthy post for now. Thanks for reading, and as always, happy shopping!

Until next time,

Your friends and Shopping Advisors at DreamWorthy Gifts

Old Guard or New Guard, It's Still Shopping! Read, Laugh, & Save!

Mail@DreamWorthyGifts.com (Your DreamWorthy Gifts Shopping Advisor Team) — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 02:54:00 +0000

As we head into a long weekend capped by Martin Luther King's birthday celebration and with an upcoming historic Presidential Inauguration, our minds turn to the lofty and exhilarating topic of, you guessed it... online shopping! (Well, hey, at least we're focused.)

ShopWorthy Water Cooler

Blue Light, Red Logo

A Little Shopping Quiz

This is a picture of:
A. An exuberant blue light bulb auditioning for "Dancing With The Stars"
B. An outdated marketing campaign that won't die
C. A piece of manufacturing scrap - a light bulb with legs can't be screwed in
D. Something even more frightening to small children than a clown
E. Kmart's "Mr. Bluelight" (of Blue Light Special fame)
F. B, D & E
G. All of the above

Okay, so seriously now, did anyone know this thing existed? Apparently, Kmart's TV ad campaign featuring Mr. Bluelight kicked off on May 14, 2007 on ABC's Dancing with the Stars (hey, who writes these questions?) and NBC's Deal or No Deal. (Did I mention it was May 2007?)

Now look, we don't get out nearly enough, with all the online shopping we do, but we do own a television. Three of 'em, as a matter of fact. But we've never even seen Mr. Bluelight here. If you have (or haven't), please write your Senator... no wait.... please comment on our blog here and let us know. We're dying of curiosity. (And yes, we've finally realized that we do need to get out more.)

To keep with our shopping theme, however, Kmart.com sells gift cards with Mr. Lightie on them, in full blue regalia. Click on the gift card and check it out. Much like the Pets.com sock puppet I still own, you might want one of these someday, for old times' sake.

On a bright note (bright?... get it?), Kmart and the namesake of its owner, Sears Holding Corporation, still offer layaway programs. Pundits are citing this as a reason for the (somewhat) better results they are experiencing, compared to a few other retailers. Leave another comment and let us know if a layaway program really gets you to shop somewhere. (I can see it now... a DreamWorthyGifts.com Layaway Program... and lest you think we jest, see www.elayaway.com - another topic for another time).

Wow, I think Kmart owes us a fee now for all this free advertising. One more thing before we move on... there are some interesting Kmart facts on the Sears Holding site. You'll rest easier knowing that Kmart Super Centers range in size from 140,000 to 190,000 sq. ft. and the average Kmart Super Center carries between 100,000 and 150,000 SKU’s. With the massive amount of money tied up in inventory in these big box brick and mortar stores, and with all the recent deep discounting to move that inventory, it's not hard to image why it's tough to be profitable in our current economy.

Safe Sects

The Encarta Dictionary defines "sects" in multiple ways, but one definition of sect is "a small close-knit group with strongly held views that are sometimes regarded as extreme by the majority."

Some may even feel that definition applies to the online shopping advice of blogger Tech Paul - but we advise that you "read and heed."

Whether or not you feel that way when you're done reading, you will at least have had the choice to decide. Most of the "be-safe-while-shopping-online" advice we see is about ensuring you're on a secure site with a cute little lock and an "https:" address. Paul mentions those and has a few other things to say as well.

"Download Software Updates — Regularly!
Use Complex Passwords (include numerals and @#$%^&*[]) (DWG: Do you kiss your mother with that mouth, Paul? ;-)
Use Onetime Credit Cards
Verify Secure Connections - See that little padlock symbol at the bottom of your screen, and in the URL address bar?
Check Your Credit
Enter Your Shopping Site’s Web Address Manually (embedded links=no!)
Shop From Your Own computer (not a public ‘hotspot’)
Enable your browser’s phishing filter, or install a add-on (such as the super-easy WOT toolbar)
Don’t Send Credit Card Information Over E-mail. Even if you think it’s secure. Don’t send it over IM either. If you feel uncomfortable about sending personal information online, call up the business."

It pays to be cautious, so judge wisely and give Paul's advice some solid consideration. For the record, with tongue out-of-cheek for once, we find his advice intelligent and helpful. Be safe out there.

The News Room

Need a Little Pick Me Up?

Keeping with our Sears/Kmart theme from earlier, and according to Sandra M. Jones at the Chicago Tribune (cold enough out there for you, Sandra?), Sears is taking a new swing at online shopping. In her article online, Sandra writes, "Sears Holdings plans to open a warehouse-style concept store in Joliet called MyGofer that will allow shoppers to order online and pick up their purchases in the store or at a drive-through portal."

"The prototype, slated to open by this summer" (after Chicago thaws), "is expected to fill a niche between Wal-Mart and Amazon.com and could provide a model for the giant retail chain to eventually operate with fewer stores and lower overhead."

MyGofer.com? Yup - and actually (and a bit confusingly-it's not summer yet) it's up and running now, and has a drive-through/delivery twist.

On the site, it's says:

MyGofer - It's about time

"Skip the hassle of repeated shopping trips and let MyGofer save you time and money. We'll deliver your order right to the office & or have it ready for you to pickup in-store. MY GOFER – IT´S ABOUT TIME is a concierge/personal assistant service."

Click here, scroll to the bottom and click on "About MyGofer" for more detail.

Shoppers, we're curious about this and will follow and report on it. If this actually works, we'll start delivering our customers' purchases personally via limousine. In Texas. In Flower Mound. In our neighborhood. On our street. And it won't be a limo but it could be a Honda Pilot with DreamWorthy Gifts magnets on it. But we'll do it. At least once, because we said we would. We'll keep you posted.

In the same vein, and despite some challenges of the past with this business model, we found a similar venture in Netgrocer.com, powered by MyWebGrocer (who powers Buehler's and Piggly Wiggly as well), according to InternetRetailer.com.

In About Us, it reads: "MyWebGrocer provides leading-edge eCommerce and eMarketing solutions to the grocery and consumer packaged goods industries. Our eMarketing services are focused on website design, specialty modules for websites, hosting, sophisticated email solutions and consulting services. These offerings are designed for use on a stand-alone basis or as an integral part of a seamless Internet solution. Our eCommerce offerings include a full online shopping and store fulfillment system, designed to match the retailer’s brand identity. All of our offerings can be individually tailored to meet the diverse needs of our client base." And hey, they blog, so they must be cool.

Back to NetGrocer: So, they have some solid infrastruture in place with MyWebGrocer, they deliver to all 50 states, use FedEx, and list their FAQs here, with a series of links to explore. Interesting that they offer the ability to save shopping lists and create regularly recurring orders. I didn't see explicit instructions about the handling of frozen items, but they sell them, and the total value of frozen items in your order must exceed $35 (excluding shipping) - so they must be specially packed. These guys have been plugging along for awhile... would you buy groceries online? Others obviously are, and this will be another interesting thing to watch and report on, over time

Use Those Circuit City Gift Cards Now

This isn't our standard storyline and the word is out everywhere, so we'll just make a quick comment and provide a link to a reliable source, just in case you haven't heard. If you've got any Circuit City gift cards, use them quickly, before liquidating stores don't have merchandise worth purchasing. Read more at MSNBC or Consumer Reports.

Savvy Shopper

Remember When "Cheap" Was Bad? Not Anymore!

Well, we threatened to do it and we did it. We got on Twitter as @DreamWorthy. (Hey Twitter, if our user name could have been 1 character longer, we could have been "DreamWorthyGifts." We 're writing to our Senator about that, too.) In a moment of tremendous fortitude, we actually tweeted something. So, we made a few friends (followers) and followed a few others, and then - mostly due to help from friends @AxsysTechGroup and @HolisticMamma and a little cyber-luck - we started connecting with other nice people. As of this writing, we have 54 followers and follow 66, so we aren't experts and won't try to pretend we are. But we have made some cool friends.

One of those connections is @CheapTweet, powered by the smart, fun shopping gurus over at Appozite. Okay, I don't know how many gurus they have, but the one we know and like is Jenn Deering Davis who runs several shopping-oriented businesses and writes a cool blog called Appozitegeist. As a doctoral student, I also think it's fair to call her smart, but we just like that she's nice.

So what exactly is CheapTweet? According to their site in About, "CheapTweet scans Twitter for the best deals, coupons and sales that people are tweeting about." Then, "CheapTweet lets users rate deals by saying It's Cheap (it's a good deal) or It's Lame (it's not a good deal). Deals move to the Cheapest Tweets section if they get enough votes." (I've been in the "cheap seats" a few times in my life, but being in the Cheapest Tweets is a different kind of thrill, let me tell you.)

There's more and I suggest you check them out and follow them on Twitter as @CheapTweet.

Does it work? Well, from our perspective, it does. We've tweeted a few deals - like our special coupon code Twitter20, which Twitter users can use at checkout to get 20% off - and gotten to CheapTweet's home page. (By the way, readers of ShopWorthy enjoy the same benefit - use coupon code ShopWorthy20 at checkout, and save 20% at DreamWorthy Gifts.)

Another site that earns its way into our Savvy Shopper section is dealnews.

About dealnews and FAQ.

dealnews serves up hot deals on gadgets, computers, electronics, cameras, and plenty more. One cool thing about this site is that you can subscribe to an RSS feed for the specific item you’re looking for.

Taken from http://dealnews.com/pages/about.html here are some cool things about their site, in their own words:

"We can send you an email alert so you don't miss a deal. In the market for a big-screen LCD TV and want to find out when a deal happens? This would be the option for you.
As we understand it, the dealmac forum is the most popular Macintosh forum on the Web. That does make us wonder what the least popular Macintosh forum on the Web is. It's not ours, though we're pretty sure of THAT.
Subscribe to our newsletter for a daily reminder in your inbox of our best deals for that day. If you occasionally forget to check dealnews, this will deliver them to your inbox so you won’t miss anything.
See if dealcoupon has a web coupon before you buy anything from anywhere. You might only get free shipping or $5 off, but that's still free shipping or $5 off.
We've got a good selection of RSS deal feeds. Pick a feed, stick it in your email client, My Yahoo, iGoogle, or even on your own website, and get a steady broadcast of deals."

Lastly, before we close, we need to offer a shout-out to our friends over at WantedCoupons.com.
They publish a blog, too, called - simply and clearly - Wanted Coupons. We follow their blog simply because we like it, and were surprised to see ourselves pop up in their recent Top 10 Useful Shopping Sites post. Thanks guys! Kudos to CheapTweet and the others who earned a mention. And in a move that tells you how decent the owners of WantedCoupons are, they recommend other coupon sites. 'Nuff said - please check them out.

And with that said, and with eagerness to go Tweet a shopping deal, we leave you for today.

Thanks for reading, and as always, happy shopping!

Until next time,

Your friends and Shopping Advisors at DreamWorthy Gifts.

Shopping at its "Find-est" - Good Shopping, Good Coupons, Good Deals

Mail@DreamWorthyGifts.com (Your DreamWorthy Gifts Shopping Advisor Team) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 02:28:00 +0000

Hey, We Missed Ya!

Hello Readers!

Weeee're baaa-aaack!

Our apologies for the recent radio silence.... between the holidays, our business, and other fun craziness, we have been very hectic. But we have returned to taunt you with our savvy shopping sagas. (Be still, my heart! Or your heart. or somebody's heart, after all... Valentine's Day is coming up soon! More on that next time.)

That said, allow us to sidetrack for a moment and ask for your feedback. We had a great opportunity recently to write a guest blog (called a Spotlight) for Ken Ramirez, owner of Axsys Technology Group, and a noteworthy networking contact and new friend.

You can see the blog here, and while the topic is not our normal online shopping shtick, we would sincerely appreciate any feedback you have to offer. The Spotlight at Axsys also links to another blog we started to showcase our noteworthy networking contacts and friends - it's called DreamWorthy Friends. If you're feeling kindly and are in a sharing mood, please check out the blog at Ken's site and link over to our new creative venture. Then, in a selfless act of extreme virtue, write to us here (via comments) on Ken's site, or hey, just email us at Mail@DreamWorthyGifts.com and lavish us with praise or throw tomatoes (figuratively speaking, of course) - and in general, speak out and let us know what you think. We'd be grateful for your thoughts.

Okay, shopping fans, shift gears and put the pedal down. Last time, we announced our new format.
Exciting eh? So without further adieu... some weekly columns... comin' at ya:

ShopWorthy Water Cooler

Lofty Pursuits
Our first water cooler trip gossips us straight into the lap of luxury at the The Luxury Loft - the indulgence you deserve.

The Luxury Loft is an online boutique for quality handbags and more. We met the owner, Michele, through another website for business owners and joined her Ning site for Mompreneuers.

Check out this cool purse, which apparently is sported by Jessica Simpson, according to the photo. (She's Bart's Mom, right?)

Okay, regardless of who she is or what they say on TMZ this purse is cool.

The News Room

What's The Buzz All About?
So, have you been bee-zy over the holidays? Have you gotten into the swarm of social networking yet? Where do YOU nest? (And can you handle another pun?) So is it MySpace, facebook, Digg, StumbledUpon, Twitter (do ya Tweet?), or where? We'd love to know. Consider it "research."

We met some cool folks recently from a new company called NextBee. They're offering what we found to be a very interesting way to spice up your shopping, create some buzz with your network of friends, and save money for you both. See an example of some of their referral programs here. We don't mean to turn the spotlight on us, but we'll be running a promotion starting Friday 1/9/09. As an example, if a DreamWorthy Gifts shopper (let's say "you" for this example, it's easier) - you refer a friend, and your friend gets a 25% discount. If your referred friend buys something from our site, you then get a special coupon for 40% off! Now, forget us for a moment, and watch for these programs on sites where you shop. NextBee was kind enough to share some places where you can refer friends and get some great deals. (Thanks NextBee!)

http://www.nuttyidea.net
http://africanvibes.com/wordpressnew/?page_id=426
http://www.shopdressonline.com (the promotion of $100 credit is listed below each product item)
http://www.veconnection.com (look at the bottom of the page)
http://dherbs.com/articles/ (the right column top button - get a 15% off coupon for a referral)
http://stores.moduscouture.com/StoreFront.bok (top banner)
http://www.babytoothalbum.com (side banner of tell a friend)

So get buzzed with NextBee - shop, tell a friend, and save money for you both!

Social Networks Dominate the Mobile Web
While we're talking about social networking... apparently, traffic to social networks comprise almost 40% of the mobile Web, according to Opera Software's "State of the Mobile Web" report.

The results both show healthy growth in the numbers of consumers accessing the Web from their mobile devices and provide insight into consumer preferences when browsing from their phones. As "CrackBerry" users and abusers, we're into the mobile Web, but have to admit to doing a lot of browsing and research via cell phone/PDA, but doing our shopping cart checkouts via a desktop or laptop. Guess this is the cusp of something big, though. How about you? Do you shop via mobile Web? Weigh in and let us know.

Savvy Shopper - Coupons, Discounts, Free Stuff!
We have two real winners this week. Our first is WantedCoupons.com.

According to the site, WantedCoupons.com is "the coupon hub to find great coupon deals for everything that you want online! Save money on the most wanted brands, stores, merchandise and services with Online Coupons, In Store Coupons, Printable Coupons, Promotion Codes, Coupon Discounts and a variety of Coupon Codes!"

WC also has a coupon forum and a coupon blog.

Folks, this is a cool, well-designed site. In synch with our social media theme, you can bookmark and share as well.

But more importantly, they have amassed some great deals for you. For example, click here to save up to 60% on Restaurant Gift Certificates: $25 gift certificates for only $10!

Now multiply that by a thousand, and you'll get the sense of the savings you can find here. They have premium merchants, the normal crowd, some obscure interesting sites, shopping by category, shopping by merchant, and coupon tips and advice. Check 'em out.

Hey Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime?
Another worthy venture is a click-over to the ExtraDime site.

They say that an extra million starts from an extra dime. This is a coupon forum with a twist. First, they offer shopping deals, bank offers, credit card bonuses, cashback offers, 0% credit offers, other deals, and more. Whew! And on their home page it says:

Get this:

1) 50 credits ($0.50) just for registering on this forum
2) 10 credits ($0.10) per new thread about a shopping discount
3) Free ad space for your AdSense banner when you post
4) Sign-up money offers from US banks for your next purchase
5) 0% credit card offers from US banks for your next purchase
6) A unique list of US credit cards sorted by annual cashback on purchases
7) Product ratings, reviews and price comparison

and did I mention shopping coupons and discount codes?

You can read the program rules here, but the bottom-line is this: share deals and coupons on the right forum and earn money, in addition to learning about all the other great deals that others are sharing. It's an interesting "save and earn" model. You have to play to get paid... and you get the most credits for helping to build the community, but it's a very creative concept and we hope it works out well for them and their community - and maybe you, if you trek on over and get involved.

And with that said, we'll wrap up our ShopWorthy post for now. Thanks for reading, and as always, happy shopping!

Until next time,

Your friends and Shopping Advisors at DreamWorthy Gifts

Nothing Constant But Change - and Online Shopping

Mail@DreamWorthyGifts.com (Your DreamWorthy Gifts Shopping Advisor Team) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 03:28:00 +0000

Well, we messed up. Have you ever run a blog search for "Shop Talk?" Apparently, we hadn't either. Not sure where our heads were (don't answer that, please) but we didn't. There are a billion of 'em. Okay, maybe a few less, but too many. So, before we get too settled or get too many posts up (or have followers other than friends ;-), we're changing our name.

(drum roll, please....)

Our new name is, "ShopWorthy... A Blog About Online Shopping."

Catchy, eh? I don't think we'll win any marketing awards, but it does synch with our business name, DreamWorthy Gifts, and it's clear what it's about from the title. So, we feel good about that, and hope you do, too, gentle readers. We'll settle in now.

Ah, but we're not stopping there. Nay, no, nein, nyet, notta chance.

While we're changing things, we might as well go all the way. Our posts have been fun and - we've been told (thanks Mom) - informative, but they've also been all over the place. As you know, focus is ver... oh, look, a kitty! You get the point. So, we are introducing a "format," if you will. We will offer some weekly columns, some monthly columns, and possibly a free-form twist for each post, as it strikes our fancy.

OUR NEW FORMAT

Weekly Columns:

ShopWorthy Water Cooler: Product and website reviews
The News Room: News; what others are talking about
Savvy Shopper: Coupons, discounts, free stuff

Monthly Columns:

Charity Corner: Charity Malls / ways to give back
Business Buzz: Online shopping business opportunities

So, without further ado, we will share one interesting item as a thanks for stopping by for this announcement, with a promise to have a post up in the new format before Christmas.

ShopWorthy Water Cooler

Buy.ology by Martin Lindstrom |Business Book Brief from BNET

Here's an interesting ditty by author Martin Lindstrom, brought to us by our friends at BNET.

In order to understand the effects of branding on the mind, branding expert and author Martin Lindstorm conducted the world's largest neuromarketing study. In this video he shares his discoveries about why we seem to be immune to cigarette health warnings, why we squeeze a lime into a bottle of Corona, and how to smash your brand into a thousand pieces and have it still be recognizable. The cool video is courtesy of BNET and is also viewable at its original location

BNET Video

For more information, or to purchase the book, Lindstrom's site is here , where you can download a PDF of all chapter summaries and see a ton of other cool information. Or, if you are so inclined, you may purchase the book through us at this link.

And with that said, we'll wrap up our ShopWorthy post for now, with another post coming soon in the new format. Thanks for reading, and as always, happy shopping!

Until next time,

Your friends and Shopping Advisors at DreamWorthy Gifts.

Shopping Stats, Charity Malls, and A Few Other Fun Things About Shopping

Mail@DreamWorthyGifts.com (Your DreamWorthy Gifts Shopping Advisor Team) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 04:25:00 +0000

THINGS LOOK BAD; THINGS LOOK GOOD. OH, JUST GO SHOPPING!

MarketWatch Reports

According to news at MarketWatch, grim job news might finally spur consumers to change their spending habits. It starts out, "Merry Christmas, you're fired" and goes on to comment that job "despair might temper consumer spending this holiday." This comes at no surprise, of course, unless you live under a rock somewhere, or don't own a television, computer, radio, or read any news.

Also at MarketWatch, an article titled PriceGrabber.com(R) Releases 2008 Black Friday Online Shopping Statistics displays the "Top 10 Categories and Percent Growth over Black Friday 2007" and the "Most popular products on Black Friday." Let us save you the click (because we know you're tired from job stress and shopping):

Top 10 Categories and Percent Growth over Black Friday 2007
1. Women's Boots - 203%
2. Watches - 202%
3. Blu-ray/HD-DVD Players - 147%
4. Women's Sleep & Lounge Wear - 415%
5. Games & Puzzles - 151%
6. Women's Jackets - 110%
7. Music - 96%
8. Headphones - 103%
9. Women's Dresses - 107%
10. Women's Casual Shoes - 143%

Most popular products on Black Friday
1. Nintendo Wii Console
2. Ugg Australia 'Classic Short' Boot
3. Sony BDP-S350 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player
4. Samsung LN52A650 52" LCD TV
5. Nintendo Wii Fit
6. Panasonic TH-42PX80U 42" Plasma TV
7. Sennheiser HD 555 Headphones
8. Canon EOS Rebel XSi Black SLR Digital Camera Kit
9. Acer Aspire One AOA110-1295 Notebook
10. Canon PowerShot A590 IS Black Digital Camera

Don't you feel better for knowing that? I know I do. Keep in mind that this is just from PriceGrabber. What is interesting is that electronics won by a landslide, and clothes/accessories came in a remote second, with music, games and puzzles squeezing in after that.

If you haven't noticed, the messages we're hearing are a little mixed, or at least complex to interpret accurately. "Prior to the Black Friday weekend, 71 percent of shoppers intended to spend less money this holiday season compared to last year and 66 percent planned to give practical gifts," said Ron LaPierre, president of PriceGrabber.com. "Thanksgiving and Black Friday traffic shows that value drives consumer spending. Consumers are responding to aggressive promotions and price drops on popular electronics."

How 'bout that. In English, "price matters." Hmm. Just to be sure, perhaps we should commission a government study on that?

Hitwise Shopping Stats

Continuing in this vein, Heather Dougherty of Hitwise Intelligence writes: "Thanksgiving, which has been the heaviest day of traffic to online retailers over the past 4 years, experienced an 11 percent decline in the market share of visits as compared to last year. The websites of brick & mortar retailers took a harder hit with a 16% decline as compared to last year, while traffic to web-only retailers was up 11%.

For Black Friday, traffic to the Retail 500 was down 5% year-over-year, with the brick & mortar players also down 10%. Web-only retailers also fared better with a 10% increase over last year, where Black Friday was the peak traffic day of the holiday season (followed by Cyber Monday, suggesting today may also prove fruitful)."

The chart says it all, though. Online shopping, up, for both Thanksgiving and Black Friday. ;-) Discussion over. Online shopping rules!

According to Hitwise, however, electronics is down 11% overall(?). Check out the rest here.

Elisabeth on SearchEngineLand

Oh, but we're not really done yet. Elisabeth Osmeloski. We didn't know who she was, but the stats geek in us also liked her article at SearchEngineLand, so, we hunted her down. Sharp cookie, apparently. Elisabeth shares a Cyber Monday 2008 snapshot:

"Among the top 500 Retail Web sites, the percentage of U.S. visits were down 1% on Cyber Monday 2008, compared to 2007. U.S visits to Brick and Mortar store Web sites (100 total) were down >4% on Cyber Monday.

U.S visits to Online-only Web sites (100 total) were up 5% on on Cyber Monday. U.S visits to the Comparison Shopping Web sites were down 21% on Cyber Monday.
U.S visits to the Catalog Web sites were down 4% on Cyber Monday.

Percentages based on U.S. visits to the top 500 Retail Web sites.
1. Amazon.com - 10.77%
2. Walmart.com - 8.55%
3. Target.com - 4.56%
4. BestBuy.com - 3.81%
5. Sears.com - 2.74%

Amazon.com’s traffic increased 21% on Cyber Monday 2008 vs. 2007. Walmart.com’s traffic increased 6%.

Google’s most searched gifts:
1. nintendo wii
2. wii fit
3. ipod touch
4. xbox 360
5. nintendo ds
6. ipod nano
7. uggs
8. nikon d90
9. zune
10. digital picture frame"

Except for the raw facts (although we don't really know the accuracy of sources, now do we?), the fuzziness comes in interpreting them. Unless, of course, you are Amazon.

Nice job, again, Mr. Bezos. Who's laughing now, eh?

One last time...

National Retail Foundation Speaks

According to the National Retail Federation's 2008 Black Friday Weekend survey, conducted by BIGresearch, "more than 172 million shoppers visited stores and websites over Black Friday weekend, up from 147 million shoppers last year. Shoppers spent an average of $372.57 this weekend, up 7.2 percent over last year’s $347.55. Total spending reached an estimated $41.0 billion. Though retailers in all categories were featuring big bargains, a majority of shoppers visited discount stores for holiday deals. According to the survey, more than half (54.7%) of this weekend’s shoppers visited discount stores. Nearly half (43.0%) shopped at a traditional department store, up 11.1 percent from 38.7 percent last year. About one-third of shoppers visited specialty stores like clothing or electronics stores (36.0%) and shopped online (34.0%)."

Whether we are shopping with appropriate caution or with reckless abandon, all depends on our personal circumstances, and I'm sure a lot of both are occurring. But even after all the stats, the bottom line is that we're buying plenty of stuff, and a lot of it online. (Don't you feel smarter now?)

MORE CHARITY SHOPPING

If we're all doing so much shopping, maybe we should do some of it for a worthy cause. Once again, here are some ways to do that.

Changing the Present

About Changing The Present
Welcome to Changing The Present, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit website offering gifts that change the world. Browse our causes to find gifts that make a difference, or search for your favorite nonprofit to make a donation. You can share these gifts with your friends and family, or use them for your own nonprofit giving. Our gifts are a great alternative to that bath set or novelty sweater you were planning to wrap up this holiday season -- just choose "Create A Card" from the shopping cart to send a personalized greeting card announcing each gift you donate in a friend's name.

Justgive.org
About JustGive.org

JustGive has harnessed the power of the Internet to remove barriers to charitable giving. Our technology, combined with our vast nonprofit experience, allows us to provide unique services, programs and advantages. At JustGive, you can:

Find the charities you want to support.

Discover everyday ways to support your causes.

Track donations through your personal Giving History.

Make private, secure donations.

Become an informed, knowledgeable donor.

They use an interesting touch of viral marketing with their Tell A Friend option. Kudos to them for adding a touch of social networking for a social cause.

THE GIFT CARD SCARE THAT ATE NEW YORK

The saga continues on gift cards. We wrote about the Michigan legislation on gift cards in a previous blog (must be good for 5 years) and poo-pooed the radical thought that we should not buy gift cards because retailers are closing stores.

Apparently, emails were flying about this closing-retailer scare and the possible impact on gift cards. One e-mail circulating on the Web was aimed at making consumers fearful of gift cards for this reason. The e-mail contended stores that are planning to close after Christmas are still selling gift cards that won’t be honored after January 1. The message was followed by what appears to be a new list of store closings — when in actuality, many were announced earlier this year. The e-mail also falsely indicated that J. Jill is closing, when in fact the parent company, The Talbots Inc., said it has put the chain up for sale.

(Was this email from Nigeria, I wonder?)

This prompted some communication from AnnTaylor Stores, who wrote: “'It has come to our attention that false and misleading information, regarding our company and our store closure program, is circulating on the Web as part of a hoax to scare consumers away from purchasing gift cards.' The company stressed its financial health and said it revealed plans last January to close 117 underperforming stores over a three-year period. The company stressed its gift cards will continue to be honored at all of its stores as well as on its Web site."

The site by the way, where this appeared, is WWD.com (Women's Wear Daily). Good place for fashion news.

We want to be clear - we're not saying to run out and buy gifts en masse without any regard for the health of the company, especially if the company or chain is closing. But if only a number of stores are closing and the company operates on the Web, this should not deter your gift card purchase.

BUT IF YOU'RE STILL WORRIED ABOUT GIFT CARDS...

The good people at Personal Finance Analyst have a thought for you.

Personal Finance Analyst is an online community of bloggers dedicated to taking the mystery out of money and helping you to live a happier, more successful life with the money you have. (There's a challenge if I ever heard one. ;-)

Seriously, they offer:

Money-saving tips for grocery shopping, energy, entertainment, and more.

Advice on loans, mortgages, investments, and retirement planning.

News about current financial events and how they impact you personally.

Creative financial planning and ways to get the life you want now.

Honest reviews of banks, financial institutions, and their products.

Personal finance basics, explained in easy-to-understand terms.

And since we can't let the gift card thing go, they offer some advice on Shopping for Gift Credit Cards that we wanted to toss your way.

According to the experts:

"Enter gift credit cards. These are “credit cards” in the sense that they work just like a Visa, MasterCard or Amex, but there really isn’t any actual credit involved. The cards are prepaid and loaded with funds by the purchaser. Unlike other prepaid credit cards, they generally can’t be “reloaded” after use of the original funds. In theory, this will allow the recipient to buy something he or she really wants anywhere that takes major credit cards (which is just about anywhere). It solves the “perfect gift” problem and skirts the inherent limitations of the good ol’ gift certificate."

They go on to offer some good tips and a few links. Check 'em out here and tell 'em Shop Talk sent ya.

INTERESTING NICHE MARKET

You Bought Me a Personalized What!?

We thought this was worth a mention, as a cool niche site.

pexagon is Making Storage Personal(tm) these days, with their personalized thumb drives and other stuff. Read about pexagon here. They have a host of other things like pens and laser-engraved knives, but the personalized storage is their forte. Check out the flash drives, especially the Animal drives. Fun stuff.

DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY

We had to end with this one.

One in three people feel stressed out during the holidays, according to a Gallup poll.

That’s not hard to believe when you think about the obligations, the crowds and the craziness that comes with the Christmas season. To make sure you’re on the other side of that statistic, here are five ways to have fun shopping for holiday gifts, rather than getting stressed.

Hey - and Lord knows, we all need a little more fun and a little less stress.

Thanks for reading, and as always, happy shopping!

Until next time,

Your friends and Shopping Advisors at DreamWorthy Gifts

Calling All Shoppers - Huge Discounts - 44% Off Retail Prices!

Mail@DreamWorthyGifts.com (Your DreamWorthy Gifts Shopping Advisor Team) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 07:12:00 +0000

From 12/6/08 through 12/31/08, shoppers at www.DreamWorthyGifts.com will save like never before. Shoppers save 30% off retail prices in the web store plus an extra 20% at checkout with the special coupon mentioned in this release.
_______________________________________________________________

In an timely marketing move, starting on Saturday, December 6, 2008 through year-end, DreamWorthy Gifts presents its "Serious Shopping | Crazy Prices" campaign.

During this time, Shoppers at www.DreamWorthyGifts.com will save 30% off retail prices in the main web store plus save an extra 20% at checkout by using special coupon code "DWG20."

Chief Marketing Officer Mike Kunkle commented, "There are obviously many consumers who can still spend what they want, when they want. They're welcome at DreamWorthy Gifts, of course. But we started our company to help regular people like us find the right gifts, at the right time, at the right price - meaning a price they can easily afford. Many Americans ARE feeling the pinch of our current economic situation, and this is our small way of giving back, to help them still have a great holiday season." Kunkle reminds, "Please remember to use your special coupon code at checkout... 'DWG20' will save you an extra 20%."

CEO and Chief Shopping Advisor Kali Kunkle added, "In a recent pricing comparison test, DreamWorthy randomly selected 10 products and compared prices for the same or similar items at major brick and mortar retailers as well as other well-known websites. Market prices for this test ranged from $4.99 to $149.00. In every case, DreamWorthy Gifts' price was lower. The savings ranged from $0.83 to $65.04, with an average savings of $17.03. And that was before we added the special DWG20 coupon promotion, to save an extra 20% at checkout. We sincerely hope our shoppers will be pleased. We know we are grateful for them."

DreamWorthy Gifts is a Web store featuring thousands of gifts for all occasions, figurines, home and kitchen decor, bath and body care, garden decor, religious home accents, men’s and women’s accessories, seasonal items, gift cards and more.

For the remainder of this year, it's Serious Shopping at Crazy Prices at www.DreamWorthyGifts.com.

###

DreamWorthy Gifts LLC
http://www.DreamWorthyGifts.com
DreamWorthy Gifts is found on the World Wide Web, but is based in the quaint Texas town of Flower Mound. Thanks Y’all!

Inquiries may be made to:

Mike Kunkle
Chief Marketing Officer
DreamWorthy Gifts LLC
2550 Cross Timbers Road
Suite 116-182
Flower Mound TX 75028-7525
214.930.9628
Mike@DreamWorthyGifts.com

MIRACLE 'SHOP TALK' BLOG, HELPS YOU FIND DISCOUNTS, GET FREE STUFF, BUY COOL GIFTS & SAVE MONEY!

Mail@DreamWorthyGifts.com (Your DreamWorthy Gifts Shopping Advisor Team) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 01:13:00 +0000

Hello shopping fans! Okay, so that headline is over the top and written with tongue firmly planted in-cheek. But we did come across some marketing advice this week from a LinkedIn connection, Gil Carson.

Copy Writing Secrets of the Masters

Gil's materials are pointed toward merchants, website owners and marketers, and seem to be proven-effective, based on his success. As shoppers, you should be aware of how websites and businesses market to you and use words and "copy" to seduce you or incite you to action. No judgment is meant by that, by the way... these are just techniques and are not "good" or "bad" in their own right ("...for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so..." - Shakespeare). They can be used by the most ethical, trustworthy (and DreamWorthy) sellers - as Gil would suggest - or by the biggest hucksters on the planet. So as always, stay sharp and Caveat Emptor.

See Gil on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/gilcarlson
See us on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/DreamWorthyGifts (If you are on LinkedIn, feel free to send us an invite - we'd be honored to add readers to our network.)

Caveat Emptor

Speaking of Caveat Emptor, here are a few watchdogs that may help make your online shopping experience safer, wiser and trouble free.

Consumer Reports

Like they need an introduction, Consumers Union (CU) is an expert, independent, nonprofit organization whose mission is to work for a fair, just, and safe marketplace for all consumers and to empower consumers to protect themselves. To maintain its independence and impartiality, CU accepts no outside advertising and no free samples and employs several hundred mystery shoppers and technical experts to buy and test the products it evaluates.

Better Business Bureau Online
Even less of an intro is needed in this case, but I'm surprised how few friends actually check businesses at the BBB. Here are some quick reminder links:
Check out a business or charity here
BBB Resource Library: Tips for Computer/Internet/Technology use

MeasuredUp.com
MeasuredUp.com is a consumer feedback website. Consumers share reviews about customer service and experiences, rating and reviewing the service they experience from businesses. The site is free and easy to use. You'll see positive, negative, and neutral reviews.

Epinions.com
Epinions (a Shopping.com company, which is an eBay.com company). According to their site, they help "people make informed buying decisions. It is a premier consumer reviews platform on the Web and a reliable source for valuable consumer insight, unbiased advice, in-depth product evaluations and personalized recommendations."

Early Adopter Shopping

KillerStartups.com "is a user driven internet startups community. Entrepreneurs, investors, and bloggers are staying informed on up-and-coming internet startups using our blog platform, where internet entrepreneurs submit their startup to see what others think about it."

From their home page, scroll down and type 'shopping' into the search box on the right and voila'... you'll see some interesting new shopping-related sites.

Online Shopping Business Ventures

This is a topic for an entire blog, but here are some teasers for the week. Caveat Emptor applies here, too. We have reviewed these opportunities but are not involved with them and cannot personally vouch for their viability.

Shop to Earn/Shop to Earth This is an affiliate marketing 'get paid to shop' Website that is also a MLM/network marketing business opportunity.

Company tour and opportunity explanation
Official Company Blog
We have two LinkedIn connections (that we know of) who are working the business.
Rae's site is here and Jill's site is here.

marketamerica

"How would you like to be rewarded for every purchase you make online? At Market America, we do just that! ma Rewards™ is the program that gives back by rewarding you for the purchases you make online at marketamerica.com."

That's the pitch from marketamerica, which posts a sharp-looking affiliate site for members.
ma also provides a business opportunity for those who want to pursue the MLM/network Marketing lifestyle.
Another LinkedIn contact of ours, Kim Hyson, has a site and speaks highly of the program.
A quick search for 'handbag' reveals a stunning 904 options in a surprisingly wide price range, including some Jimmy Choo handbags. Hmm. If you've been wondering what to get us for Christmas...

Ebates is another pre-arranged affiliate marketing site, with a ton of merchants involved. Like the others, Ebates allows you to earn cash-back rebates just for shopping online at their 1,000 or so stores. Here's a detailed review on epinions.com by a trusted Ebates reviewer (for clarity, the reviewer is unknown to us, but voted as trustworthy by the Ebates community).

CostCritter’s "mission is to provide you with an easy and convenient way to save money when you shop online. For every qualifying purchase you make from any of our participating stores, you will earn cash back. Recommend a friend to CostCritter and you can earn even more."

Rebate Shopping with a Caring Twist

We-Care.com is the brainchild of another LinkedIn connection, Kevin Lee of Didit.com. At we-care, they say it's "better way of shopping. You shop as you normally do, at your favorite online merchants, but by adding an extra click through We-Care.com or using their plug-in, you can donate a percentage of your purchase to the nonprofit, school, or association of your choice."

MyPowerMall - with this one, 6% of all corporate profits go into the One-Child-At-A-Time program, helping needy children all over the country.

Tips for Shopping Online Safely

Microsoft Corporation tips:

How to shop online more safely
Protect your privacy with online payment services
Bid in online auctions and avoid ID theft

ArticleBase articles:

Ten Tips for Safe Online Shopping
Holiday Online Shopping Tips

Quick Holiday Shopping News Updates:

We Lived Through Black Friday
Next... Cyber Monday

Give a Gift of Meaning This Season For a Good Reason

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.

Sponsorship transforms the lives of children around the world. You can help provide things like clean water, education, nutrition, and medical care for a child in need.

Ways To Give

Sponsor a Child: You can make a huge difference in the life of a child today!
Meet Basic Needs/Provide essential items: Help provide basics like food, clean water, medical supplies and relief.
Provide Emergency Aid: Give now to help where it’s needed most around the world.
Gift Catalog Giving: Give gifts with impact! Choose from over 100 unique gifts to give for any occasion.
Give Where Most Needed: Meet urgent needs - Provide a quick response to those suffering from war, famine and neglect.
Matching Gifts: Learn about the types of products they can accept and how to donate.
More Ways to Give: Discover more giving options. Find information about planned giving, donating stocks or securities and more.

And with that good deed done, we'll wrap up our Shop Talk for the week. Thanks for reading, and as always, happy shopping!

Until next time,

Your friends and Shopping Advisors at DreamWorthy Gifts.

Gift Ideas, Free Stuff and Shopping Trends

Mail@DreamWorthyGifts.com (Your DreamWorthy Gifts Shopping Advisor Team) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:34:00 +0000

Hello shoppers! Here are our DreamWorthy thoughts for the week and a little Shop Talk. Take a peek, and if you feel so inclined, please write and let us know what you think.

Even Santa Needs Help Now & Then
Hey, we all know that Santa and his little elves get pretty busy this time of year, and even the best need help. Here's a company, Package From Santa, that will help Santa write letters to your little lovelies. I wish I had seen this one sooner, since orders need to be in before 11/27, but here's the info:

There are 3 packages, Basic, Standard and Deluxe. The Deluxe includes a letter from Santa, a 'Nice List' certificate, another letter from Rudolph himself, a 8x10 glossy of the big guy, reindeer food in a nice tin, a CD of Santa telling a story (there's an audio sample on the site), and a limited edition swatch of Santa's suit itself (while supplies last). They offer a 60-day money back guarantee, but it includes sending the goodies back, of course. Again, order before 11/27. Other quickie details:

Basic - $12.99 + $1.99 shipping

Personalized Letter From Santa Claus
Shipped in Shiny Green Envelope

Standard - $27.99 with free shipping

Personalized Letter From Santa Claus
Custom Letter from Rudolph
Official Personalized Nice Certificate
Autographed 8X11 Santa Claus Photo
Shipped in Shiny Gold Envelope

Deluxe - $59.99 with free shipping

Personalized Letter From Santa Claus
Custom Letter from Rudolph
Official Personalized Nice Certificate
Glossy Autographed 8X11 Photo of Santa
Authentic Collectors Piece of Santa's Suit
Personal Greeting From Santa Claus (CD)
Genuine Reindeer Food in a collector's tin
Shipped in Bright Red Box

They seem pretty legit, secure (TRUSTe privacy and digicert secure), and sport the BBB accreditation seal. (BBBOnline program standards description.) Check 'em out at: http://www.packagefromsanta.com/

More Coupons Codes

The price of keeping your family entertained and on the go can be more reasonable and even cheaper by using the promo and coupon codes given by reliable merchants. We at DreamWorthy Gifts offer coupons and support the bargain shopper's quest. The kind folks over at Family Coupon Codes understand, too. See their site for tips on family shopping, travel, gift ideas, and money-saving coupon codes. http://familycouponcodes.com/home/

Gift Card Legislation
Yup, you read that right. I suppose this is helpful consumer protection, but I do get a little surprised by what gets legislated sometimes. Consumer Reports reports that Michigan’s new gift card law is a step in the right direction. (I must pause to say that I always wanted to write 'reports reports' and have it be grammatically correct. Crossing that off my bucket list...)

Okay, back to Consumer Reports, Michigan lawmakers, and gift cards. As of Nov. 1, stores must honor the gift cards and gift certificates they sell for at least five years from the date of purchase. According to CR, "the legislation, signed into law by Gov. Jennifer Granholm, also blocks retailers from imposing inactivity, transaction, or other service fees that would decrease the face value of the cards. Retailers are further required to disclose all gift-card terms and conditions to prospective buyers under the new rules, and companies can’t change the rules after the card has been issued." (Spoil sports.)

Michigan is not alone up there. They are "one of around 24 other states that has begun considering legislative measures to make gift cards last longer, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Heather Morton, an NCSL spokesperson, alerted us to a site that explains in detail each state’s gift-card rules, and the latest legislation in the pipeline." Check out: http://blogs.consumerreports.org/money/2008/11/michigans-new-1.html

Since You'll Be Holding Onto Those Gift Cards Longer...
...You'll need a place to store them all, right? The folks at wishing fish have a solution.

They claim this holder is "the ONLY gift card wallet with a register for keeping track of expiration dates and balances remaining on your gift cards!" I didn't research further but Google does have 512,000 returns for "gift card holders." Nonetheless, this one seems pretty cool. See it at: http://www.thewishingfish.com/510686.html

African American Women Are Powerhouse Shoppers
I'm cautious in providing this because I'm sensitive to the always-present possibility for misinterpretation of anything racially-related, so I'll disclaimer (new verb) that I'm sincerely fascinated by demographic research and my intent is pure. I got this link in a Google Alert for "shopping." The folks at http://buzzologysurveys.blogspot.com/ provide news for and about the African American consumer. There is some interesting data here.

This report includes additional facts about this powerhouse consumer - African-American women, who:

Account for 58 percent of all new car and truck sales made among African Americans, compared to 44 percent of women overall. Are also more likely to purchase prestige and luxury cars and trucks than women in general.
Spent $57 billion on food-related items.
Skew high on food-at-home expenditures ($36 billion).
Spend 30 percent more than the general market on personal/beauty products, an industry estimated at $7.5 billion

There is a ton of other research/demographic info on the links in the left pane of the site.

In agreement, Home Accents Today reports that spending on home decor items by African-American women "has increased by 6% compared to a 21% decrease for Caucasian women and a 30% decrease for Hispanic women." (Hey, ladies, check out our Web store!)

Shop More, Spend Less

Now wouldn't THAT be nice! Shop4Freebies seems to be an ad-revenue/affiliate site with a good cause... making people aware of free stuff. Hard to argue with that. On the site they have Freebies, Forums, Free Magazines, Coupons, and Freebie Hunting Tips. Check out http://www.shop4freebies.com/index.html. You can navigate to find:

Beauty Freebies
Food Freebies
Mixed Freebies
Health Freebies
House Freebies
Kids Freebies
Baby Freebies
Pet Freebies
Money Freebies
Magazine Freebies

You can also Download Free Stuff, view International free stuff and get Money Saving Tips!
You can link your site or blog to them here, if interested.

Do Working and Giving Mix?

Sure they do. But you should keep a few things in mind. Who better to give advice about being proper than our neighbors in the UK. The Office Connection helps businesses looking for new office space in the UK. And, they offer great advice in their Office Christmas Gift Guide. No matter where you park your briefcase, heed their advice this holiday season.

So, Does This Make it mShopping or iShopping?
The growing trend of mobile everything, including mobile shopping, will be a force to be reckoned with. On the iPhone Blog Forum there is a Holiday Gift Shopping Tracker application for iPhone that looks interesting.

You can easily manage a list of people you are shopping for, set your overall Holiday Budget and track progress toward each person’s Individual Budget. As you add Gifts to a person, your budget totals will let you know how much money you have left. Each gift has a checkbox to let you easily see if you have purchased the gift. An intuitive “Hide” button lets you mix and match different gift combinations to see how it will affect your budget, and more.

The Geek Shall Inherit the Earth
My faith in humanity, Deloitte, or perhaps both, was confirmed when I read Deloitte's retail research that "seventy-one percent of consumers will purchase online, making it the #2 shopping destination; almost half willing to pay more for ‘green’ gifts." Additionally, the reports says, "almost four in 10 (38 percent) surveyed say they will use fewer plastic bags from supermarkets and other stores this year — a significant increase over the 27 percent who said the same last year. One in five consumers (20 percent) say they will purchase more 'eco-friendly' products this holiday season than they did in the past. A similar number (21 percent) say they will consider not wrapping holiday gifts to conserve paper."

“The big question around the green movement has always been how it translates into revenues for retailers,” said Janiak. “Our survey shows that a significant number of people will pay more for eco-friendly products, which tells us that this issue is becoming a key factor in consumers’ purchasing decisions. Like multichannel retailing, environmentally friendly strategies can help retailers differentiate their brands, capture consumers’ hearts and minds and increase share of wallet, particularly in this economic environment.”

Of course, in the very next paragraph, green gets shot just a bit:

"For the fifth year, clothing continued to be the second-most-popular gift category in the survey (gift cards have been #1 for five years); however, the popularity of clothing has fallen over the past several years. CDs/DVDs for music and movies were again #3 and toys and games were #4. Money and books were tied at #5.

The top gifts that consumers said they intend to buy for friends and family include Nintendo’s Wii gaming system, Apple’s iPod (which has been in the top 3 since 2005), Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox. Other top gifts included two computer games — Wii Fit and Guitar Hero — Apple’s iPhone, Barbie, American Girl and Hannah Montana merchandise. The top “generic” gifts mentioned were televisions (HD, plasma, flat screen etc.), computers/laptops, GPS systems and digital cameras. As previously announced, the survey found that gift cards/certificates continued to be the #1 gift that consumers plan to buy; the top venues for these gift cards were Wal-Mart, Amazon and Target."

Hmm. Maybe some of the electronic items come in green?

On that note, that wraps up our Shop Talk for the week. Thanks for reading, and as always, happy shopping!

Until next time,

Your friends and Shopping Advisors at DreamWorthy Gifts.

One Week Closer... Black Friday and Holiday Shopping Are Almost Here

Mail@DreamWorthyGifts.com (Your DreamWorthy Gifts Shopping Advisor Team) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 02:31:00 +0000

Well, we are one week closer to Black Friday and the major holiday shopping season. Regardless of how the economy is affecting you personally, it certainly is affecting many, including retailers. As promised, here are some Shop Talk ideas that we hope will be helpful, whatever your situation.

Strapped for Cash This Holiday?
Other than the ϋber-rich, who isn’t? Here are some quick ideas that could help:

Follow the advice of blogger and China-shopping guide, Krista QQ, who offers some money-savings tips in her November 12th blog, where she recommends making lovely and economical handmade gifts.
Put your word processor or desktop publishing software to good use to make cool, personalized, homemade holiday cards and email them out for free. Pocket the savings or put it toward your gift purchase budget.
Review the 63 gift ideas for under $10, offered by Michelle Jones, editor of BetterBudgeting.com.
Another option, if necessary, could be to re-gift your personal gift cards or turn them into presents for others. This one’s a little radical, and might be best reserved for immediate family or for ensuring kids have something to make the season bright, but we offer the idea for your consideration.

More on Gift Cards:
Speaking of gift cards, last week we mentioned three sites where you can buy, sell, or exchange gift cards. Here are some other gift cards options. Some are old news, I realize, but it’s hard to argue with success, and hopefully it’s a helpful reminder to have them here in one place:

Here’s another buy/sell site. This one also sells “GiftBux,” which recipients may redeem for any certificate on the site. They also have an affiliate program, which by way of disclaimer, we do not participate in, but maybe we should since we’re giving them free advertising!
Buy, sell, or swap ‘em at http://www.swapagift.com/
Good ol’ Amazon.com has thousands of items these days and they are as reliable as clockwork. At their site, gift cards can be emailed, printed, or sent by mail.
Another well-established ol’ standby… American Express.
If you’re going upscale (one of those ϋber-rich, perhaps?), there’s always the Four Seasons.
Coming back to reality for most of us, the fun folks at giftcards.com (Visa/First Gulf Bank, N.A.)have some nice looking holiday cards
And the folks at Gifts.com Gift Card offer their own extensive list of participating merchants, including Old Navy, Macy’s, and a large ensemble of others.
I might quietly mention that we offer virtual gift cards, paper gift certificates, and online coupons at DreamWorthy Gifts. (Commercial over.)

The Other Side of the Coin (or Gift Card, in this case)
I guess there really are two sides to every coin. Lee Mark, who is listed as an eZineArticles.com Expert Author, cautions against purchasing gift cards this season.

Here’s why, in Lee’s words: “Many of your favorite retail stores are doing some major downsizing or even going out of business in the coming months. If you purchase gift cards and a store closes, then your gift card recipient cannot redeem their gift. Even if the retailer just closes a few locations, there is a chance that your gift card recipient may not be able to find a location that is close enough to drive to.”
Lee does proceed to rattle off quite a list of major retailer store closings and a list of bankruptcy proceedings, adding weight to his concerns. Sounds like a big downer until he ends with “This season I would predict that buyers will shop more online to avoid the impulse shopping and save fuel in the process.” Now obviously the fine team here at DreamWorthy Gifts believe that is the best option, and we’d add that many of the retailers listed in Lee’s article also have an online presence, and we’d bet that that portion of the businesses will survive, even if the overhead-laden brick and mortar structures suffer.

Mall or Online?
So this brings us back to the issue from last week, when we asked you to join our Squidoo debate on the price of shipping versus gas and time. (I’m sure you’ve just been busy, right?)

You can weigh in at http://www.squidoo.com/dreamworthygifts in the ‘Sound Off!’ Section near the bottom.
The folks from Seven Somewhere who blog ‘All About Christmas’ seem to have made up their mind. Read their thoughts here. Like us, they’re a little partial…
…So, back to you… what do YOU plan to do this year?

Got Dog?
If you love your furry friend and are looking for the perfect stocking stuffer, our friends at Puppy Kisses.com have some unique items for your stylish pooch.

They offer a lot of nice stuff, actually, but one of the cutest things is the collection of holiday hair bows, which are solidly made, and of course, trendy and stylish with multiple holiday styles. Hey, ya gotta have some fun, and they are very reasonably priced.

Cat Feelin’ Left Out?
Sorry. We have cats, too, so check out Cats Play and buy kitty a nice gift basket for the holidays.
And just for fun, cat lovers, check out these sites…

Gifts for People Who Love Animals
Animal Den offers an extensive line of gifts for those who love animals. And we’re not talking just cats and dogs here, folks, but - according to their product categories - also ‘Bugs, Birds, Barnyard, Freshwater, Marine Life, Reptiles\Amphibians, Small Critters and Wildlife.’ Get your Octopus earrings here. All of which really raises only one question for us… someone likes bugs?

Got Crack?

No, silly, not drugs (nor plumbers), but the dreaded Crackberry. Blackberries were once hated only by executive trophy wives, but nowadays, everyone seems to have them.

As a user and abuser myself, I find this site to be a great resource. When you can find a case for an older Blackberry model that accommodates an extended battery, you know you’ve found a good site. Check them out at http://crackberry.com/ and read some reviews for the new Blackberry Storm.
You can also take the guided tour for the Storm at Verizon.

Well, that’s our shop talk for this week. (One week closer to Black Friday…. Make your own countdown timer at http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/countdown-clock!)

Thanks for reading. Until next time,

Your friends and Shopping Advisors at DreamWorthy Gifts.

Shopping Online - Shipping Costs versus Gas &Time, and More...

Mail@DreamWorthyGifts.com (Your DreamWorthy Gifts Shopping Advisor Team) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 21:25:00 +0000

Well, we said we'd try to add some value by sharing thoughts about shopping, especially Online Shopping, that we deemed DreamWorthy. Here are a few thoughts for today.

Stress Free Xmas Shopping
This blog entry is by XUP (exurbanpedestrian), a Canadian blogger from Ottawa, eh, who apparently shares our philosophy "aboot" Internet shopping. She was apparently having a curmudgeonly day when she wrote this blog [smile] -"All the gates of hell open up and we get sucked into the fiery vortex of Christmas shopping anguish, torment and lamentations…" which echoes my sentiments on holiday shopping - especially in the offline world. Her thoughts on the benefits of shopping online, though, are on-target, bless her. Based on the responses from XUP's followers, many agree. Check it out.

Smart Shoppers Will Shop Online
Well, Shirley McNeal agrees with XUP, at least. Her piece on articlebase.com offer 7 reasons for online shopping, including going green. Shirley writes: "In today's world we need to continually be aware of ways to protect our environment. Every time we travel to a shopping mall we are consuming energy and adding to the problem of air pollution. According to recent studies shopping online has shown a significant reduction of fuel consumption and air pollution." You go, girl! I'm not a Greenpeace member and I couldn't make it all the way through "An Inconvenient Truth," but I am tired of being robbed at nozzle-point for gas (Exxon's shameful profit record) and we need need to take care of Mom Earth, so our kids can have a place to shop when they grow up. ;-)

Sound Off! On Our Squidoo Lens
Have you been to Squidoo? It's a version of blogging, I guess, deftly formulated by the always-firing neurons of marketing guru Seth Godin. We just started a Squidoo Lens yesterday and created a Sound Off section to gather some opinions. As the old saying goes, "we gotta million of 'em," but we'd settle for a thousand (hundred? ten? Mom?) of yours. Here's the debate:

Paying Shipping Costs vs. Burning Time & Fuel
A. Why pay shipping costs if I can pick it up in a local store and save that expense?
B. Save that expense!? If I plan and shop smart online, I pay less shipping than what I'd waste in gas and time.

Which side do you fall on? Is your time worth something? Is the gas expense a big enough deal? Or are those outweighed by shipping costs? Or perhaps by product uncertainty ("a GIF not a product is," as Yoda might say)?

Weigh in here or check out our Squidoo Lens at: http://www.squidoo.com/DreamWorthyGifts

Gift Cards Gone Wild
Have you checked out these gift card sites yet?

Cardavenue.com allows consumers to buy, sell or trade pre-owned gift cards.
PlasticJungle.com gift is another card exchange, whether you want to buy gift cards at substantial savings, sell them for cash, or trade pre-owned gift cards with others.

Until recently, when we opened our store, I didn't know these sites existed. I ran a Google search for "gift card exchange" and these two have the best organic search results, but there certainly are others.

Black Friday Cometh
As a 2 a.m. nut-job who has been living for early-morning Black Friday shopping for years, I was ecstatic when these sites started up again. Some of my faves:

Interestingly, and a sign of our online-shopping-times, Wally-World (Wal*Mart.com) is offering some Unbelievable Online Specials this year, that are online-only. I may never forgive them for killing their lay-a-away program, but this is a positive move, for sure.

Well, that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by. Until next time,

Your friends and Shopping Advisors at DreamWorthy Gifts.

Welcome to our Shop Talk blog about Online Shopping

Mail@DreamWorthyGifts.com (Your DreamWorthy Gifts Shopping Advisor Team) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 19:02:00 +0000

WELCOME TO SHOP TALK!

Hello and welcome to our blog launch! Thanks for being here to check us out.

Blogging is a new venture for us and we have a lot to learn. Oddly, and uncharacteristically for us, we leapt in with both feet today without having any material pre-developed (hey, what can I say... we're living on the edge today).

If you're reading this before we have had a chance to kick-start properly, we hope you will return over time, to check us out and judge us properly.

OUR PURPOSE IN LIFE

Okay, set aside family, friends, eating and sleeping for a moment and our purpose becomes shopping. Yes, we visit Tarszhay (Target) and wander around a Nordstrom's on occasion, but the real thrill is shopping online in our jammies (bunny slippers optional).

So, "Shop Talk" will be about shopping, especially online shopping. We believe we have some things to say about the topic that will add some value. But we will also stand on the shoulders of giants and offer links to other great information on the Web, including other blogs, and oddly, including stuff from our competitors. While we do run DreamWorthy Gifts, an online shopping site, it's a big world out there and we don't think for a minute that you'll be a totally captive audience (hmmm... wouldn't THAT be nice for us!), so we'll face reality and try to provide good deals, good value, and take our slice from time to time, if you deem us worthy.

We'll end today with a rare commercial and an introduction to us. Thanks for stopping by today and please come back to see us in awhile, and be patient while we ramp up. We look forward to knowing and serving you. If you have any advice or feedback, we listen well. Write to us at mail@DreamWorthyGifts.com and we'll put our ears on.

About DreamWorthy Gifts LLC

DreamWorthy Gifts is a Web store with thousands of products including giftware, collectibles, candles, bath and body, home and kitchen decor, garden and outdoor, toys and games, seasonal items, religious home accents, men’s and women’s accessories, eCatalogs, virtual gift cards, gift certificates and more.

We are dedicated to providing a safe, productive and enjoyable online shopping experience for everyone with a computer, an Internet connection, and a need to shop for something for someone for some reason (including themselves, and hey, even if the reason is just because!).

We are also family members, Moms, Dads, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, co-workers, neighbors, and everyday real people. We pay too much for gas, are far too busy with work and life, and sometimes don't know what to get that special someone, when it's time to show we care.

That's why we started DreamWorthy Gifts LLC. We want to help regular people like us find the right gift, at the right time, at the right price, in the right way... but also without a few things, too - without driving and wasting gas, without the hassle of rude service reps, and without losing so much of our precious time.