Offer Your Suggestions on How to Grow DU's Marketplace

[Le Taz Hot]

I've been speaking with the Group Host in this forum, Tansy Gold, about ways to promote and grow the DU Marketplace. The Marketplace hasn't been very active and we're talking about ways to change that. Additionally, I would venture to say that most DUers don't know it even exists so we need ways to promote The Marketplace. Here are some ideas we've batted around so far:

-Add a promo for the Marketplace in your sig line
-Start a thread in GD advertising the DU Marketplace (I'll do this this coming weekend)
-If you are an artisan/crafter, include in your Subject Line something about "Handmade by DUer" or "Made in the U.S.A. by DUer by ___________"
-If we can get enough traffic, maybe we can warrant a special section on DU's Home Page.

Thanks for your time and consideration,

LTH

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1120
Edit to add link to DU Marketplace. (Thanks, Scuba!)

[Scuba]

1. Here's another idea ...

Add a link to the marketplace in this thread! And on the home page, greatest page, etc.

I have no idea how to find the marketplace.

[Scuba]

2. Still no link!!

[Le Taz Hot]

3. Oy vey!

[Scuba]

4. LOL Been there, done that.

[annabanana]

5. I wish there was more DU merchandise!

You know.. License plate frames, coffee cups, Tees & totes.. that sort of thing.

There is a LOT of clever running around this place and I wouldn't mind showing it off.

[ZRT2209]

6. Do new posts in the DU Marketplace

appear in "Lastest Threads?"

[Le Taz Hot]

10. I just saw this.

Please accept my apologies for not getting back to you until now. To answer your question, only the Forum posts get on the Latest Threads page so, no, threads to the DU Marketplace (a group) won't appear there afaik.

It would be great if we could get this place to see more activity. That way perhaps we could appeal to the Administrators to give us our own space on the Home Page. That may just be wishful thinking on my part but I figure it wouldn't hurt to ask but first, we must be able to justify it with much more traffic than we are getting now.

[My Good Babushka]

7. I have no ideas as to how to promote this group,

I wish I did. I feel like I'm out in the wilderness!

[Le Taz Hot]

8. I'm working at a fevered pace

trying to get an inventory up. Right now I have only a few pieces ready. I'm going to put a mention in GD this weekend to see if I can call attention to the group.

[hvn_nbr_2]

9. Some thoughts about this

1. Thanks for raising the issue.

2. It seems that there used to be more posting. Maybe people got discouraged. I've posted a few times but not much recently--I guess I got lazy and distracted. Maybe you'll prompt some of us to post more often.

3. This point may be important for some potential posters. At least in some cases, people do continue to see these posts for a long time. For example, I posted some pro-union pro-worker designs for T-shirts, bumperstickers, buttons, etc. way back on DU2 (www.democraticunderground.com/112077) and that thread continues to get one or two hits almost every day. (In case anyone wonders how I can know if an old DU2 thread gets hits, it's because the thread uses graphics that are hosted on my personal website, so I can see in the traffic for my website that that URL is referencing those graphics. I don't know how people are finding that old thread, but they are.)

4. This thread had 4 recs. I gave it a rec, making 5. I wonder if a thread this old will actually appear on the greatest page? If some threads from here appear on the greatest page, maybe more people will know this group is here. (Not suggesting blanket rec'ing but if somebody posts something cool here, rec it.)

[Le Taz Hot]

11. Thanks so much for your suggestions.

It's sort of a Catch-22 in that people won't come here until we get content but people may not want to post content because it gets such little traffic. DU2 Marketplace used to get MUCH more traffic than the DU3 version. I'm not sure why that is. Maybe people just lost the link in the transition.

I keep meaning to post something about the DU Marketplace in GD on Saturday or Sunday when, I would imagine, there's much more traffic than on the weekdays but I haven't managed to do it yet. (I'm not sure the Hosts will allow it to remain. I suppose I'll find out one way or another when I try it.) I think a LOT of DUers don't even know we're here AND the DU Marketplace is hard to find anyway (Economy and Education--> DU Marketplace) but a link directly in a GD post might at least raise awareness of its existence.

I know the DU Marketplace is for anyone who wants to sell anything but I've asked Tansy Gold to consider maybe pinning a thread for those of us who make our own product and who have websites/blogs so we can have a permanent link and a permanent presence in the Group. We could still offer individual threads featuring our latest and greatest projects as well, but it might be good to have sort of a permanent, fixed list for DU's artisans/crafters.

Finally, would you consider posting info on your work/website on DU3? My own blog isn't up yet (I'm currently working on getting up some inventory) or I'd have something up right now.

Anyway, thanks so much for your response and please feel free to share any other thoughts you might have.

LTH

[OneGrassRoot]

12. I came here to create a new OP, but will ask here first instead. :) (edited)

Last edited Tue Feb 26, 2013, 08:36 PM - Edit history (1)

As part of the latest "Help a DUer" OP in General Discussion, I mentioned brainstorming about ways to help DUers via auctions, and enlisting members here in the marketplace to share ideas.

Since you're brainstorming this forum, please let me know if it's okay to go ahead and post this question as an OP here, or maybe we can just discuss it here in this thread you've created.

What I wanted to ask is noted in the link below. Sorry, I edited this post so it made more sense.



http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022429507#post8