Follow Shubi around the world

Follow my adventures around the world at http://gotshubi.wordpress.com/

Breezy answers Shubi's call for help

As soon as the rain stopped, all of the animals including the birds and butterflies came out of hiding. Breezy, the butterfly, an old friend of Shubi’s, heard his call for help.

“Shubi!” Breezy shouted. She flew to his rescue when she saw him trapped in the spider’s web. “Are you okay? What happened? What can I do?”

Shubi was sure happy to see her! He replied, “I don’t have time to explain right now. Just help me out of here, but be careful and don’t get stuck yourself!” He then instructed Breezy to get the attention of the helicopter to show them where he was.

Breezy thought for a moment, wondering how she would be able to do that.

"The Amazing Shubi Bird" is available as an e-book

“The Amazing Shubi Bird” is available as an e-book at http://www.shubibroom.com.

Your children will fall in love with this adorable birdie, as he teaches valuable life lessons such as bravery, courage, and perseverance.

There's a little hero in everyone

Tanner and Cody knew how dangerous it would be for Shubi to fall out of the sky. They did not think Shubi could survive, and knew the children might need them. They both decided that they would go home with the children.

Jude and Lauren both tried hard not to cry. Neither of them thought they could find poor Shubi. It seemed hopeless as they looked out of the helicopter window. They began to think that they would never see him again.

Shubi saved their lives and they would never forget him. They hoped that he survived the fall, but they gave up hope of ever finding him.

“He’s gone forever, isn’t he?” Lauren asked. Jude hugged his sister as they both cried.

Lucky for Shubi, spider webs are the strongest material in the world. It was a web that broke Shubi’s fall. It was a very large, freshly spun web, and must have been spun by a large spider! Shubi would need to be freed before the spider returned, so he would not be the next meal of this spider.

He hollered for help but feared no one could hear him over the rain. His bear growl would not help him here. There was nothing that he could do but wait and hope one of his friends would come to his rescue, and quickly!

Shubi had many friends in the wild. He was friends with many different types of animals and it would take one of his friends to help him out of this trap. He kept calling for help and did not give up.

Sadie finds the children, but loses sight of Shubi

Shubi could not fly with Sadie in her helicopter because he could not see well enough to lead her to the children. Instead, he flew in front of her.

This was a dangerous journey for Shubi. There were dark clouds above him. If it were to rain, he would not be able to fly. He could fall from the sky. Shubi would need to lead Sadie to the children before it rained.

The sun was also going down, which made it even more important for them to fly as fast as they could. Shubi flapped his wings faster than he had ever flapped them before. It was up to him to save the children and get them safely home again.

Shubi did the very best he could to get to the children before it started raining or got dark. Still he didn’t make it all the way there before the clouds above him started to pour rain, soaking his feathers.

As he fell from the sky, he saw the children sitting between the trees with Cody and Tanner.

As Sadie watched Shubi fall from the sky, she looked down and saw the children too. She hoped Shubi would be okay, but she could not keep him from falling.

She did what Shubi would want her to do. She flew to the children and found a place to land between the trees. Sadie tried hard to hold back her tears for Shubi, because she did not want to upset the children.

Congrats to Kat

Sadie fires up the helicopter for a rescue mission

Sadie heard Shubi’s call for help and quickly came to the window. “Shubi?” Sadie exclaimed. “I am so happy to see you, but what’s wrong?”
Shubi replied, “I am happy to see you too, Sadie! I need your help. I have found two children lost in the woods. Follow me. Hurry!” Shubi shouted.
Sadie was all dressed up and on her way to a costume party. It was planned to raise money for homeless pets. She wore a beautiful, long Victorian dress with a big feather hat. The feathers were donated by some of her birdie friends who wanted her to look her very best.
This costume was not the best thing to wear for a rescue mission, but Shubi said there was no time to change. “Get in your helicopter and follow me quickly!” he instructed.

Shubi looks for Sadie

Shubi was very happy to see Cheeky, but he did not have a long time to visit. After a short break with Cheeky, Shubi took flight again to find the house.

With just a few more flaps of his wings, he found the house between the trees. It was just the way he had remembered it.

The windows were all open, so Shubi stood on the window sill and hollered for Sadie. “Sadie! Are you home?” Shubi shouted. “Sadie! It’s Shubi. This is an emergency! Please come quick! I need your help right away!”

Shubi continued to yell for Sadie until he got her attention.

Review of “The Designer's Guide to Marketing and Pricing, how to win clients and what to charge them” By Ilise Benun, and Peleg Top.

I ordered this book to see how it may help in marketing a children's book we had published last summer. I have found a lot of “gems”, and I have to say it is well worth the price. It's chronological order lists issues from startup to ways to grow your business. Ilise and Peleg have taken their actual experiences with clients and used them to help others. This book is filled with worksheets and special notes in highlighted boxes, that help you put into words and actions all of the principles they are teaching the beginner, as well as the experienced. The podcasts that go along with the book are a great resource as well. I will use my dogeared copy as a reference continually throughout my career. I highly recommend this book.

Check it out at:

http://www.marketing-pricing-guide.com

Shubi heads off to Wilsonville

Earlier that day, the children had told Shubi that they lived in a town called Wilsonville. They had gotten lost while on a camping trip.

Wilsonville was not far away, and Shubi knew a young lady from there that happened to be a pilot.

The pilot’s name was Sadie. She had the biggest and best bird feeders in all of Wilsonville. She always left her windows open so birds could fly right in to visit with her. She loved all animals and did everything she could to help any animal in need.

Shubi daydreamed about Sadie’s place all the way there. He knew he had made it there when he saw Cheeky, the duck. Cheeky had been rescued from poachers and retired to a beautiful lake on Sadie’s property.

Lauren and Jude are vegetarians

“Okay, boys,” Shubi interrupted the argument, “This is Lauren and Jude. They are vegetarians. I guarantee that they do not want to eat you!”
After calming down Tanner and Cody, Shubi instructed them to stay with the children. He promised to bring a treat from the city if they would take good care of Jude and Lauren.
“I’ll be back soon,” Shubi said. “Cody will bring you kids some nuts. Tanner will bring you some carrots.”
“But, we are not having rabbit stew!” Tanner screeched.
Jude giggled and replied, “Carrots and nuts sound just great!”
Shubi warned them all to be good to one another, and flew away.

Computer problems

Good morning friends,
Our computer was knocked off the table and hit the floor, so as a result we had to order another one and hopefully it will be here soon.
Thanks for your patience.

The children are amused by Tanner and Cody

Sure enough, Tanner let out a loud breath and jumped out from behind the tree. “You’re hungry for what?!” he screamed.

“I told you to stay quiet, Tanner!” Cody shouted as he jumped out from behind the rock. He was angry with Tanner.

Tanner was so mad he completely ignored Cody. He shook his fist at Jude and told him to never even think of eating a rabbit.

“Or a squirrel, either!” shouted Cody. “That’s even worse than eating a rabbit.”

Tanner and Cody started arguing with each other about what was worse—eating a squirrel or a rabbit. The children laughed so hard their faces turned red.

Rabbit Stew ?

Tanner did what Cody told him to do and took a deep breath and held it in. He held it and held it and held it until his face began to turn blue.

Shubi and the children made it back. If Tanner let his breath go, he thought they would be discovered for sure.

Shubi knew exactly what those two were up to. He told the kids to play along. They pretended they did not know Tanner and Cody were hiding or that Tanner was holding his breath.

“Let’s just sit here and take a rest,” Shubi told the children.

“Oh, No!” Tanner thought to himself. “Cody is going to be really mad at me if I let out this breath. But, I can not hold it much longer!”

“Well, kids, it seems that Tanner and Cody have left. We’ll just wait here for their return so I can go for help. You two just have a seat and relax for a while,” Shubi said as he winked at the children.

Shubi was expecting his friends to pull such a stunt. He knew those two would do anything to avoid children.

Jude and Lauren played along with Shubi and pretended not to see Tanner hiding behind the tree holding his breath. They acted like they didn’t know that Cody was hiding behind the rock wearing a bright yellow and purple helmet.

Then Jude had an idea about how to get Tanner out of hiding. He decided to play a funny trick on him.

“Okay, Shubi—I am a little tired and could use a rest,” Jude replied. “But, I sure am getting hungry. I haven’t eaten all day, and I didn’t have anything yesterday either. I would do anything right now for some rabbit stew!”

Jude was sure that would be enough to make Tanner take a breath. Lauren knew what her brother was up to, so she played along too. “Oh, that does sound good!” Lauren added.

The children both snickered to themselves as they waited to see what Tanner would do.

Shubi thought, “Oh, no! Tanner and Cody will never stay with the children now, but that was pretty funny!”

Shubi hopes for sustainable book printing in the future.

In observance on Earth Day, April 22,here is an interesting article on printing college textbooks and how the environment is affected.

College students purchase about a tree per year in textbooks

Purchasing your textbooks will not only burn a hole in your pocket, but it will also destroy the environment. According to the Green Press Initiative, over the past three years the U.S. book publishing industry has consumed an average of 20 million trees per year to print books sold in just the U.S alone. Publishing companies have become a top contributor to the destruction of forests world wide.

"The global impact of this is rather mind-boggling," says treehugger.com. For instance, if a publisher sells a million copies of a 250-page book it will take 12,000 trees just to produce the necessary amount of books for this one title. By producing new editions of Textbooks every year publishers are destroying the environment to fatten their pockets. Just think about the amount of trees killed to produce enough textbooks for every student at every college & University. It gets worse...

The Green Press Initiative estimates that nearly 40% of the materials found in landfills are paper products. As this paper degrades, it produces methane—a greenhouse gas with 21 times the heat trapping power of carbon dioxide that eats away at our atmosphere. Each time a student buys a new book they are contributing to these numbers. It's time to make a difference.

Chegg is working together with students and organizations to help improve our environment. Renting your textbooks helps keep books in circulation and ensures that one less new book will need to be printed this year. In addition, for every book a student rents, Chegg will plant a tree in their name. Together we can make a difference, one book at a time.

Chegg is proudly partnered with Eco-Libris

Source http://www.chegg.com/EcoFriendly

Shubi Broom is doing his part by offering his book, “The Amazing Shubi Bird” in a downloadable version for only 3.99. It contains 42 illustrations and 42 pages of easy to read text. Visit www.shubibroom.com today.

Friends of Feathers

Chapter Two

Friends of Feathers

As Shubi and the children were getting to know one another, Shubi asked about their parents.

The children were excited to tell Shubi that their dad was an engineer named Jeff, and their mom’s name was Gayle, but her students at school called her Mrs. Broom.

Shubi giggled. “Why do they call her Mrs. Broom? Does she like to sweep a lot?” Shubi asked.

Jude laughed and said, “Broom is our last name, but she does sweep a lot!”

Shubi started to chuckle as he realized that if they adopted him, his name would be Shubi Broom—he thought that was the cutest name he had ever heard!

This name made Shubi feel like being even sillier. “It’s perfect,” he thought. Meanwhile, Cody and Tanner saw them in the distance, and both became very nervous.

Tanner hid behind a tree where he thought no one could possibly see him. Cody put on his helmet to help protect him from the rocks that he thought would be thrown at him.

Almost every child that Tanner and Cody had ever met chased them and threw rocks at them. They were worried that these children would do the same.

Cody was very angry with Shubi for bringing the children back with him. “This is just the meanest thing he’s ever done to me!” Cody thought to himself as he hid behind a rock.

“I’m ready,” whispered Cody to Tanner. “They’re almost here. If we stay perfectly still and very quiet, maybe they won’t notice us and will keep walking.”

“Do not sneeze. Do not cough. Do not hum. Do not whistle. Do not make any noise at all,” Cody ordered. “Do not dance. Do not bounce. Do not move!”

“Can I breathe?” Tanner asked.

“No,” Cody answered, “That will make too much noise. We must be perfectly still and make no noise at all so they do not know we are here. You are a noisy breather.”

As Shubi and the children got closer and closer, Cody and Tanner became more afraid.

“Thank you. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen”

“Thank you. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen,” Shubi said upon landing, as he took a bow.

The children jumped up and down, cheering and clapping their hands with excitement.

“We had better get to a safer place so I can go for help,” Shubi told the children. “Let’s go!”

They began to head back to Tanner and Cody, where the children could stay while Shubi went for help.

Shubi gave the children a friendly reminder to be very kind to Tanner and Cody because they were afraid of children. He knew that his friends would love the children once they got to know them.

Shubi saves the day!

The children were so relieved that Shubi had saved them. They watched Shubi chase the scared lion far away. It was the funniest thing they had ever seen!

The lion ran very fast and Shubi flew just as fast right behind him, roaring all the way.

Shubi loved any chance he got to pretend to be a bear. He giggled between every roar. Finally, he decided that he should get back to the children.

Flying around in a big circle, Shubi turned back to the children. Jude and Lauren were still laughing as they waited for his return.

Come join Shubi's new social network

Hi friends,
You are cordially invited to join Shubi's social network on Ning. go to http://amazingshubi.ning.com/ to join today.

Shubi scares away the Mountain Lion

Suddenly, as the mountain lion was about to pounce on the children, he was startled by an earth-shaking roar! The lion was too afraid to look behind him because he just knew it was a huge bear. A bear much bigger than he!

The lion thought he was the one in serious trouble then, and must run away as fast as he could!

Jude and Lauren could not believe it! Shubi came back to save them! It was true that Shubi could indeed growl like a bear! He really was The Amazing Shubi Bird!

Now the children knew that everything would be just fine. If Shubi could protect them from a lion, he could surely help them find their way back home.

Mountain Lion wants Jude and Lauren for Supper

“GRRRR,” growled the mountain lion, as he came closer and closer to the children.

He walked back and forth in front of them, growling. He angrily flipped his tail from one side to another as he watched their every move.

Jude and Lauren knew they were in serious trouble. The mountain lion was not a vegetarian like they were. He was a meat eater, and wanted to eat them!

They both wished that they were home helping their mother with chores, and doing their schoolwork. They wanted nothing more than to be home!

Big trouble on the way Grrrrr

“I know that once they meet you, they will see that you are both very nice children, and they’ll warm up to you quickly. Then you can wait with them while I go for help,” Shubi explained.

Jude and Lauren agreed that they would be very kind. They told Shubi that they loved all animals and would never harm one.

Shubi and the children spent some time getting to know each other and the children were laughing at everything Shubi said. They had no idea that while they were making their plans, big trouble was on the way down the mountain behind them!

Suddenly, they heard a loud, scary growl! Startled, they turned to see what the noise was, and saw a big, angry mountain lion crouching right behind them!

Shubi flew away so quickly that the children did not see which way he went. The children thought Shubi flew away because he was afraid.

They did not know what to do without him. “If only we had wings, too,” Jude said to Lauren as his voice shook with fear.

“What should we do?” Lauren cried. “The lion can run faster than us and I don’t think he wants to be our friend!”

Jude and Lauren ask Shubi to live with them

Shubi was feeling particularly silly and started dancing around on Jude’s hat, while singing.
He sang, “Not only can I talk, but I can sing, I can dance, I can fly to the moon and back-I can whistle, I can bark like a dog and meow like a cat, I can swim like a fish and run like a tiger, or growl like a bear, because I am The Amazing Shubi Bird!
I can even hang upside down from your hat like a bat and make funny faces at you.”
Jude could not believe his eyes or his ears! Shubi hung from Jude’s hat, scrunched up his face and made a mustache out of his feathers.
“Oh, Shubi! You are so funny!” Lauren shouted, as she giggled and giggled and giggled.
“When we find our way back home, will you come live with us? Our Mom and Dad are the greatest parents in the whole world,” Lauren told Shubi.
“I would like that, Lauren,” Shubi answered, “but let’s talk about that later. Right now, I need to get you and your brother to a safe place so I can go for help. I will take you to my friends.”
Shubi told the children all about his friends Cody and Tanner. He also warned them that his friends are very afraid of humans, especially children, because in the past, children had been very cruel to them.

Jude and Lauren

“But how did you ever learn to talk if you live in the forest?” asked Lauren.
“Well, Lauren,” Shubi explained, “I once had a little girl just like you. Her name was Alyssa, and I learned to talk from her.”
Lauren asked, “What happened? Are you lost too?”
“No I am not lost, Lauren,” Shubi told her. “I just do not have a human family now. My little girl grew up and moved away, so I decided to move out on my own.
I met my friends Tanner and Cody and they are my family now. But don’t worry; I will help you get back home to your family. Just stick with me and I will keep you safe. I am going to go talk to your brother now.”




Shubi flew to the little boy to talk to him. “Hi Jude,” Shubi said, as he landed on the top of his hat.
It took Jude a minute to realize that a bird was talking to him. “Wow!” Jude said with excitement. “Where did you come from?”
“My name is Shubi. Your sister told me that you two are lost. I’m going to help you get back home.”
“How are you going to do that?” Jude asked. “And, why am I talking to a bird? I must be dreaming.” Jude mumbled.
Shubi replied, “No, Jude, you are not dreaming. I am a real, talking bird. I can help you get home by finding help and telling them where you are. That’s why they call me The Amazing Shubi Bird.”

Hope you are enjoying this preview

Greetings friends,
We are up to page 17 of "The Amazing Shubi Bird", and we hope you are enjoying Shubi's first book. Stay tuned as we continue this preview. Remember if you can't wait, the book is available at www.shubibroom.com in both print and downloadable version.
Thanks for stopping by,
Jeff, Kat, and Shubi

Shubi meets Lauren

While Cody and Tanner were plotting their scheme, Shubi flew as fast as he could and landed on the little girl’s shoulder. He told the little girl, “My name is Shubi. What is your name?”

“I’ve never heard of a bird that can talk!” The little girl giggled and then replied, “My name is Lauren. My brother Jude and I are lost.”

Shubi smiled and said, “Nice to meet you Lauren. You have never heard a bird talk before? All animals can talk, but most do not because they are shy, and no one takes the time to listen. I’m not shy though. I talk all the time, whether someone is listening or not!”

Cody and Tanner fear the children

Shubi giggled and shouted down to Cody, “That’s real funny, but that is not why children shouldn’t be in the woods by themselves. They could get hurt! This is serious! I have to go see why these children are all alone. I have to help them.”

Cody shouted back, “Don’t bring them over here Shubi!” As Shubi took flight to go to the children, he loudly replied, “What? I can not hear you, Cody!”

Cody and Tanner were upset and afraid of the very thought that Shubi would bring the children in their direction. “Oh, what are we going to do?” asked Tanner.

“We will just have to hide and prepare to defend ourselves,” Cody told Tanner as he scratched his head and began to devise a plan.

Shubi and friends find lost children

Meanwhile, at the top of the tree, Shubi was surprised to see two children, in the forest, all alone. He shouted, “Children are not supposed to be out here without their parents!”

Tanner and Cody both agreed. Tanner warned, “Children are not supposed to be out here because they throw rocks at us and try to trap us.”

Cody nodded his head and agreed, “Yeah, and when they catch you they pull your hair.” Cody started laughing and laughing at his joke because hair is another word for rabbit, spelled “hare.” Cody laughed so hard that he couldn’t even stand up anymore, and rolled on the ground laughing and kicking his feet.

“I don’t get it,” Tanner thought, as he shook his head while watching Cody savor his joke.

Tanner wishes he could fly just like Shubi

Shubi chuckled and then asked Cody, “Will you climb to the top of the tree and fly off with me?”

Cody did not have a very good sense of humor when someone was joking with him. He only laughed when he told a joke, or kidded around, so he got mad at Shubi and asked, “Do you see wings on me?”

Shubi laughed at Cody and said, “I am only joking. Why do you have to be so serious all the time? You are just grumpy, Cody! You are just grumpy!”

Shubi seemed to enjoy kidding around with both Cody and Tanner, just to lighten the mood. He was always playful and lively, and would do anything for a laugh. Still, Shubi’s friends were not always in the mood for his silliness.

Tanner and Cody watched Shubi fly to the top of the tree, flapping his wings very fast as his body floated to the top branch.

Tanner shouted “Wow! I do wish I could do that. I would have so much fun if I could fly like Shubi!”

Grumpy Cody said, “It’s just not normal. I would not want to do that even if I could!”

“Boy, Shubi is right,” Tanner said to Cody. “You are grumpy.”

Cody snarled at Tanner and told him that he would be grumpy too if he was attacked by Hermit Harry’s big mean birdie.

“Well, you shouldn’t have snuck into his cage to run off with his treats!” Tanner scolded.

The Blue Guardian

Chapter One

The Blue Guardian

Shubi the bird, Tanner the rabbit, and Cody the squirrel were all friends in the wild. Although they all used to be someone’s pets, many years ago Tanner and Cody were mistreated and left their homes. Shubi once had a home too, but his little girl grew up and moved far away, so he started a new life in the forest.

One afternoon Shubi jokingly said to Tanner, “Let’s go to the top of the tree and fly away!”

Tanner knew he was not a bird and could not fly, so he replied to Shubi, “I do not have wings. If I tried to fly with you, I would get hurt!”

Introduction to "The Amazing Shubi Bird"

Sheba’s Story Time

Hello Children! My name is Sheba. Someone told me that you want to hear about my special friend, Shubi.

He became known as the Amazing Shubi Bird because he is unlike any other bird in the world. Sure, there are others that can talk, but Shubi is the smartest, funniest, and bravest of them all, as you are about to see.

There are many stories I could tell you about Shubi, but let me first start at the beginning. This is how Shubi and his friends were adopted.

Shubi

Here we go

Text and Illustrations Copyright © 2007 by

Jeff and Kathelené Joyce

All Rights Reserved

Published by lulu.com

ISBN 978-1-4303-2182-8

"The Amazing Shubi Bird" preview

Hello friends,
We will be previewing "The Amazing Shubi Bird" over the next several months. We will start at the beginning of the book, and feature a page and a graphic that matches it each week or so. This is to familiarize our readers with the book, and would be a great storytime reading for small children. Hopefully you and your friends will join us.

Free copy of “The Amazing Shubi Bird”

To start out the New Year, during the months of January and February, I will conduct a drawing for free copies of my book, “The Amazing Shubi Bird” (a $33 value). It is simple to enter, just post a comment here on this blog, with your name and e-mail address. And remember to tell all of your friends about me.

Your friend,

Shubi

Web design

Here at TamedLyon Design, Kat has been designing websites and databases for several years, so in light of this we have a nice article from t-shirt forums by contributor AndyC.







Beginner's guide to E-Commerce

---

Introduction:

Out of boredom I decided to type up a beginner's guide to E-commerce. Please keep in mind this is going to be very basic. I thought it would be good to have all of this basic information in one post. Please feel free to provide your input if you feel I have left something out or you have additional recommendations.

Background:

This is just a very quick rundown of my experience with commerce and the Internet. Five years ago I started a webhost that had approximately 500 customers when I sold it in 2003. I also have a degree in web development and have been playing around with web design for 10 years.

Domain Names:

One of the first things you will need to do is register a domain name. This has become increasingly more difficutl as domain name speculators buy up domains and try to sell them for a profit. To help in finding this domain I highly recommend using Dotomator. With this tool you simply enter a list of up to 15 prefixes and suffixes, combine them, then do a bulk search to see if any of the domain names are available.

Once you have decided on a domain name you will need to register it. For this I recommend GoDaddy. The normal price for a domain is $8.95 but you can usually find a promo code to get a discount. Right now the promo code OYH3 will give you $2.00 off which makes the domain name $6.95. I have confirmed this code does work.

Whatever you do try to avoid registering the domain name with your webhost, which brings us to our next topic.

Webhosting:

Now that you have your domain name you need to find a place to host your website. Most webhosts offer three different types of hosting: Shared, Reseller, and Dedicated.

If your are just starting out you will probably want to find a good shared web hosting solution. If you plan on hosting for friends or hosting multiple sites the reseller option is a good one. The host I recommend is HostGator. They have a plan called the 'Baby' that will allow you to host unlimited sites for $9.95, but all the domains will be created on the same account. They have an unadvertised reseller plan for $14.95 that I use and like because I can host domains on separate accounts. Coupon code hgc25 will give you 9.94 off your first month for any plan you select (Does not include Hatchling).

Once you sign up with the host you will receive a welcome letter that will have instructions on how to direct your domain name so that it points to your new host.

Now that you have your host it is time to put up a site...

Website:

The first thing you need to do here is decided what type of shopping cart system you wish to use. Three of the most popular are:

CubeCart
OS Commerce
Zen Cart

These carts generally have very thorough installation instructions so if you have every installed a script before you should have no problems. Now, if the thought of doing this scares you to death all is not lost. Most webhosts offer a program called Fantastico that will install these carts for you. Once you login to your web host's control panel you can click on the Fantastico link, select the cart you wish to install and just follow theprompts. It is very easy.

Once you have the cart installed you will probably want to customerize the look of it. If you are familiar with HTML/PHP and have good design skills this should be simple for you. To get instructions on how to do this please see the support section for the cart you use.

If you do not have any design skills you will need to find someone to customize the cart for you. One of the most affordable solutions is to purchase a template from Template Monster. You can get a very professional looking template starting at $160. Template Monster will customize the templates for you at an additional charge. The drawback to using a template is that other sites may have purchased the same template so your site will not be unique. You can purchase the template so that it will never sold again but this will cost you in the thousands of dollars.

To get a unique site you will either have do design it yourself or hire someone to customize your cart for you. Two great sites that I have used in the past are Guru and Elance. The prices for a unique site depend on what graphics you need (i.e. a logo) as well as anything else you are requesting. From my experience the pricing starts at $500 and goes up.

In addition to getting the design done and the cart configured you will also need to decide what types of payment methods you want to use and set those up but that is a discussion for a more advanced guide.

Conclusion:

As intended this guide is very basic but should give the budding entrepreneur an idea of what they need to do and how to go about it. If there is something you would like for me to expand on or add please reply to this post so that other members can provide their input. If you need any assistance please feel free to PM me. Also, if you have other services you
would like to recommend in addition to the ones I have provided please do so.

http://www.t-shirtforums.com/ecommerce-site-design/t25617.html

We welcome comments and suggestions, and if you would like to guest post, please leave a comment.

Have a great one,

Jeff and Kat