In*ter*net Mar~keting Don'ts 2!

Hi Everyone!

Welcome to the third issue of the Basket Biz Cafe Newsletter! I'm so glad to have you as a member of our newsletter readers. Just a note here, if you see crazy characters in the text, it's to help this newsletter get through the spam filters to reach your inbox instead of your junk mail box, I really do know how to spell! The word S~A~L~E is especially vulnerable.

What's In This Issue

1. Editor's Note: Valentine's S@le, Tax Time & Volleyball
2. Feature Articles: Do’s and Don’ts for the Internet Marketing Newbie (Part 2) by Debra Hamer
3. Gift Basket Idea of the Month: Beautiful and Versatile
   Towel Cakes
4. Business Tip of the Month: F~ree Shopping Cart That Really Is Pretty Good!
5. New Inventory, Sa~le Items & Upcoming Items - New S*ale Items~Valentine's Items Now Marked Down! New Coffee, Teacups, Baby Stuff Has Arrived! See Right Column For Details=>
6. Upcoming Events - Right Column =>
7. GBWS Sponsors - Right Column =>

Editor's Note

Sooooo, Valentine's is almost here, right? Well, that's good news for you because it means I need to make room for new Mother's Day inventory! And that means I'm going to put all our Valentine's Day stuff ON S^LE! Yea!!

Valentine's Day is a good holiday to pick up bargains. You see, most retail s*ales for Valentine's Day items occur on the day before or the day of the holiday. However, suppliers, like us, don't want to get caught carrying inventory over for another year, so we put it on s@le while there's still time for you to sell it! Yes, that means more money can go into YOUR pocket. Another thing about most Valentine's Day items, is they are usable year-round, yes, a little white bear with a heart can be used in a baby basket, a pamper basket and a Mother's Day basket. So, take advantage of every opportunity you can to pick up sa(le merchandise right now! And be sure to check out the s@le items on our site, they won't last long and we won't be getting these items again. Here's a link to the SA^LE page:

S@LE! S@LE! S@LE! ~ CL|CK HE~RE!

And, what else is approaching fast? TAXES, that's what! It's time to start thinking about TAXES (ohhhh, nooooo!) again. Those of you who run corporations on a calendar year will be turning yours in mid March, the rest will have until April 15th to get it done, just like with your personal taxes.

For anyone who may be new to doing your business taxes, please be sure to consult with your accountant. He or she is the only one you should trust as that is what they're trained to do. However, it's hard to make an appointment with an accountant if you are totally clueless to the process. It can either be very intimidating, or worse, you will miss some important money-saving deductions because you didn't know to mention something. The best thing to do is "bone-up" on the subject before you pay a fortune to consult with the accountant, that way you get the most out of your meeting (which isn't cheap, if you know what I mean).

I found a product that will really help prepare you for when you sit down with your accountant. It's called Home Business Tax Smarts. Basically, Home Business Tax Smarts IS NOT a technical how-to course on how to prepare your taxes, what it is is three hours of tax tips, information and advice tailored for the home business owner.

Anyway, if you feel you need some information before it's time to do your taxes, you might want to at least take a look at this product. I will tell you however, it's not for corporations and it is geared specifically for businesses that are run out of the home. It's not the "be all to end all" as far as tax advice goes, you'd have to pay much, much more for a product like that, but it will prepare you for the process. Here's the link to read more:

http://www.giftbasketwholesalesupply.com/tax-smarts

So, what else is going on you ask? Well, have you read our blog recently? Don't forget about it, be sure to set it up in your RSS Feed Reader or on your MyYahoo page so you know what's going on. This month I made, I think, six posts. Everything from new products as they arrived and an extension of the sa!e ~ to an article about Anniversary Gifts and Business Start-Up. If you add us to your RSS Feed Reader you'll never miss out on the great info I come across. I always seem to have information to share, sometimes I find it hard not to post twice in the same day, I almost have to tie my hands! Here's the link, if you haven't been there before, be sure to check it out.

http://www.giftbasketwholesalesupply.com/blog

Now that we have a few newsletters under our belt, I guess it's time to set up a newsletter archive. So, that's on my list of things to do very soon. I'll set it up so you won't lose any of the valuable information you may find in one of the newsletters (i.e. the RSS, XML and Feed Readers? Huh? Help! Article). I'll post the link in the next issue, and I'll also put a link on the newsletter page at the site. Not everyone will have access though, only if you actually signed up and gave me your email address will you be able to access the archive. So think twice if you're considering canceling your subscription ;-)

And, what else is going on in my life? Well, we're off to Ft. Worth this weekend for a VERY competitive volleyball tournament that my daughter's team is playing in. If you didn't catch the article I posted in the blog, my daughter is 17 and is a volleyball player. She's currently in her club season and plays on a very competitive team, one of the top teams in the state. Actually they were 15th in the top division for her age group last year at Junior Olympics which is the annual National tournament. So, they aren't the best in the country, but they're pretty darn close and getting better everyday.

The tournament we're going to this weekend includes 24 of the best teams in the state of Texas (one of the teams was the National Champ when they were 15). They had to play in a qualifier to get a bid to play in this series of tournaments (there are three tournaments in the series) and Brit's team came in 3rd. So, we're off to see some great competition and have a really fun weekend. And before you get your next newsletter, her team will have played in two more tournaments in February, one being in Las Vegas! I'll tell you all about it in the next issue. Wish us luck (well...it's Brit's team but we root for them)!

So, that's it for my part of the newsletter for this issue, hope you enjoy the rest. As I told you last month, I'm going to keep the format the same each month so you'll be able to read it and find what you want quickly. If you would like to contribute a gift basket idea or article, by all means, please do, just email me. And don't forget to send me your feedback as well. So, I can keep your letters out of my spam filter, use the following email address - editor@giftbasketwholesalesupply.com

Featured Articles

by Debra Hamer

You are now reading Part 2 of my article the “Do’s and Don’ts for the Internet Marketing Newbie”. Part 1 covered the Do’s and this part will cover the Don’ts.

• Don’t throw your money away! Unless you have lots to throw away and can afford to buy whatever gets thrown at you. Budget yourself and keep within your budget. Only spend when you need to. You will come across plenty of sites that want you to spend your hard earned money for an internet marketing course, E-book, or piece of software guaranteed to make you money. Don’t fall into the trap. First investigate, ask questions from other marketers to see if they are familiar with the product and recommend it. That’s where the forums come in handy and are beneficial.
  
  
• Don’t believe all of the hype you will encounter. Example. BUY THIS SOFTWARE NOW! YOU ONLY HAVE TILL MIDNIGHT TONIGHT OR THE PRICE IS GOING TO DOUBLE OR EVEN TRIPLE. YOU’LL SAVE $200.00 IF YOU BUY RIGHT NOW! Don’t believe it, the price will be the same tomorrow and the next. Or here’s another good one. I’m only selling this to the first 50 people who visit my website. Yeah, right. I really believe that one.
  
  
• Don’t forget you are a potential customer to every marketer out there, so they will try to sell you their service or product to make money. Remember you are now a marketer and your purpose is to sell your service or product to others, not for you to buy theirs.
  
  
• Don’t get me wrong, some services or products are worth buying. You just have to figure out which are the right ones for you and your business. Remember you’re not trying to line someone else’s pockets. You’re trying to line your own.
  
  
• Don’t get frustrated and give up because things don’t happen right away. You have to have the mindset that you can do it and succeed. Granted you will have good days and bad days. Every accomplishment is a victory. Every defeat is a learning experience. No business is an overnight success.
  
  
• Don’t limit yourself and your thinking. Be willing to try different things and when you find the one thing that seems to work, build on it, but keep trying other things as well.
  
  
• You’ve had your business up and running for a couple of months and you’ve only made one sa*le. Don’t quit because you think it’s not working. Think in these terms instead. If you’ve made one sa|e, then you can make 2 sa|es, and if you can make 2 sa*les, you can make 3 s@les and so on. Many of the top marketers on the internet today took years to find the formula that led to their success.
  
  
• Don’t believe that there is such a thing as an “auto-pilot” business. Like Ron Popeil’s rotisserie oven, SET IT AND GO. Just doesn’t work that way. I don’t care what you have heard or have read. You have to promote your business. You have to get your name out there and become visible so people can find you and what you’re offering. Just because you now have a website does not mean the masses will come in droves. There are millions upon millions of websites and probably at least a quarter of a million of them are selling the same service or product as you. The question is how are you going to get people to visit your website instead of someone else’s? Once they are there, what’s going to get them to buy from you or join your affiliation? So understand you are going to have to learn how to promote and sell your business and that involves work and time.
  
  
• Don’t upgrade your affiliation accounts until you can afford to do so. Many affiliate programs will try to pressure you into upgrading to a “Pro” account. Wait until you start making some money from your business first, then upgrade.
  
  
• Don’t rely solely on emailing to promote your business. Due to major Spam filters your message may not get through. Find all of the different ways to advertise on the internet like writing articles, exchanging links, click/surf exchanges, and Pay Per Click search engines. Use offline ways to advertise your business like newspaper ads, mailings, telemarketing, faxes and flyers. Put your website on a t-shirt and wear it!
  
  
• Don’t give up, persistence will pay off eventually.
  

Okay, I’ll stop there. I probably could go on and on and even write an E-book about this subject (that’s a thought). I think you get the idea about how to avoid the “Information Overload” headache and hopefully I have given you some substance for thought. The most important point is take one step at a time. Don’t rush it! And remember once a “newbie” always a “newbie” because you will be learning all of the time!

About the Author: Debra Hamer is the owner of the http://profitfromhomebiz.com website where you can find lots of tips, tools and resources for starting your own work at home business. Visit her PlugInProfitSite at http://www.pluginprofitsite.com/main-4256 to have your own website setup and ready to go within 24 hours, complete with everything you need to start making a profit.

Gift Basket Idea of the Month

This month we are featuring two Towel Cakes.

Towels cakes? Yeah, I know, you've heard of diaper cakes, but towel cakes? YES! Towel Cakes ~ aren't they cool?

Just think about it, we use towels all over the place. In the kitchen, in the bathroom, in a new home...isn't it appropriate that towels could be incorporated into a gift? Of course it is!

I decided to make towel cakes for this month's issue after I did some research on the internet. At first I found tons of sites that teach how to make diaper cakes, and then...I started coming across sites that teach and sell Wedding Towel Cakes. Hmmm...I thought, these are really cute but how could I use the idea to help sell MY products? And, BAM!!! (imitating Emeril), it came to me...kitchen, welcome home, pamper. Oh, what about a Tea Cake or Coffee Cake? Yes! And I was on a mission.

First is the Tea Cake you see above. The one shown here is a double-sided "Tea For Two" Cake. I used six tea or kitchen towels and two linen napkins. I rolled the first two towels shorter than the outside towels so I could sit my saucer down inside the middle of the roll. That then became the base for all the items. I also rolled one of the napkins in with the towels. I used a large rubber band to hold the towels together around the outside, it was ultimately covered up with the napkin that I tied around the outside.

I used Glue Dots to help hold the teacups in place. Be careful with the really strong Glue Dots on a paper-covered hard-back book, it could tear the decorative paper. So this didn't happen, I wrapped the bottom of the book with newsprint paper so the Glue Dots wouldn't come in contact with the bookcover, the newsprint couldn't be seen when I was finished. Because the base saucer kind of dips down like a shallow bowl, to get the cups to sit straight, I had to build up the Glue Dots on the side of the cup that was closest to the middle. Eventually, I got it all to sit just right.

The Tea Cake includes items I purchased from a retail store because we don't carry those items. However, if I got enough input and you guys convinced me that these are items that you want and would buy, I might be willing to add them to our line. Be sure to let me know if you would like us to carry any of these items.

The items I got from the store are:

• 10 - Individually Wrapped Tea Bags (preferably wrapped in a pretty wrapper, mine are Waterford)
• 6 - Kitchen Towels, I used white
• 2 - Linen Napkins, I purchased them on s~ale for $ .70 each
• 2 - 1.76 oz. Jars of Honey
• 1 - lace-printed cardboard cake base, I got it at the hobby store
• Silk Flowers, on s*ale at the hobby store

Items that can be purchased from Gift Basket Wholesale Supply:

The second Towel Cake is a "Pamper Me" Spa Cake. I used two plain white spa towels which are about the size of hand towels and one beautifully embroidered and edged hand towel. These were just rolled together with the embroidered edge of the hand towel hanging over the edge in the front. Again I held it together with a large rubber band which I covered with a ribbon at the end.

The items I put on top are just stuck into the roll and hold there very well. I ended up having to redo the roll because the first time around it was so tight that nothing would slide into the creases, so when you roll yours up, roll gently, not too tightly.

Again, there were items I used that we don't carry, like the lotion and shower gel, but I'm sure you have suppliers for those. I purchased the following items from the store:

• 2 - Spa Towels, I purchased them on sa|e for $2.00 ea.
• 1 - Embroidered Hand Towel
• 1 - Shower Gel, I got on the clearance shelf
• 1 - Skin Lotion, clearance
• 1 - lace-printed cardboard cake base, I got it at the hobby store
• Silk Flowers, on sa]e at the hobby store

Items that can be purchased from Gift Basket Wholesale Supply:

**In regards to the items listed above, I just want to warn you, the stock on these items is very limited. Being we just opened our business, we're being very careful with the items we invest in and the quantity we stock. I'm finding some of my suppliers are running low after the holidays and until new shipments arrive from China, I may not be able to restock. As for the Valentine Bear (seasonal) that's on sa*le and the soaps (closeout), we will NOT be restocking these items, once they're gone, they're gone. Just wanted you to be aware, it's first come, first served. :-)

Business Tip of the Month

In a previous issue of this newsletter or maybe it was on my blog, I wrote about how I set up our website at Gift Basket Wholesale Supply using PayPal as the only payment method. And I told you how it didn't work, people just didn't want to use PayPal to make a credit card payment. I learned quickly and got set up with a merchant account so I could accept credit cards directly instead of through PayPal.

After that article was published I got a note from one of our readers, Kassie Walls, with Reflections (www.reflectionsgap.com). She wanted to share with me the software she uses, here's her email:

Hello, I thought I would share this site with you- it is a fre*e shopping cart that I use on my website www.reflectionsgap.com and I love it! Very easy to use and to set up! I takes a little reading but I received the info from my hosting site Harris Media and I think it is terrific. I too started with paypal and never received orders, but after setting up Mal's ......
www.mals-e.com

Kassie is so right about the Mals-E, it's great software and is absolutely f~ree! Thanks, Kassie for your great input!

Just so you know, I have experience with Mal's E. I use it on a website I set-up a while back...I'll tell you more about that later. Anyway, since I am experienced, I really am qualified to talk about this software.

First, as great as Mal's is, you need to know, it will probably get pretty cumbersome if you have over 30 items or so. Also, the fr*ee version doesn't process credit cards in real-time, but it will collect the info so you can process the transaction manually. If you want real-time processing or have lots of items, Mal's gives you the option to upgrade to the premium version and it's only $6 a month. It's a bargain in my opinion because it gives you a lot more options than the fre~e version.

But don't let me make you think you have to use the premium version, the fr*ee version is very good and you don't need to upgrade even if you have 500 items, only do that if you feel you need the options offered by the premium version. It's just that, in my opinion, if you have over 30 items or so, using a database that will categorize the items and make data entry easy, is a better choice and much easier for both you and your customers.

Another feature I don't want to forget to tell you about is the built-in affiliate program! Just imagine recruiting other website owners to promote your gift baskets for you! I've checked out affiliate program software, it costs tons, like $1000s of dollars...with Mal's it's included. It might be available only with the premium service, I'm not sure about that though, the website says it's fre~e.

And, lastly, there are tons of companies that have created what's called "Third Party" add-ons for the Mal's E-Commerce shopping cart. One that I have used is called Cart Keeper. It's an add-on to Mal's that is a database and makes adding items to your cart super easy.

Cart Keeper allows you to categorize your items so they're easy for your visitors to find. It also has a search feature, again, making it easy for your visitor to find what they're looking for. You do realize, making the shopping experience easy for your visitor will increase your s*ales, right? I use Cart Keeper with Mal's Ecommerce on the site I mentioned above. The site is called Nikki Rae's. This site is an older site that hasn't done too well for me (not because of the shopping cart), if you want to take a look at Mal's and Cart Keeper in action, go to www.nikkiraes.com .

So, if you're new to selling your gifts on the internet and are considering setting up a website, or just need a better shopping cart on your existing website, consider Mal's E-Commerce. Here are the website links so you can check out both Mal's and Cart Keeper.

http://www.Mals-E.com

http://www.CartKeeper.com

Oh, and one more thing, if you don't have a merchant account, Mal's can be set up to use PayPal, it's up to you. As I mentioned earlier, my experience with using PayPal as my only payment option was not a good one, however, your experience may be different.

And, if you're looking to set up a merchant account, you might want to consider the account that NSGA (National Specialty Gift Association) offers their members. It's a discounted merchant account through Discover. Joni Damico is the owner of NSGA and she offers much more than just a discounted merchant account. You owe it to yourself to check it out, and if you decide to join, tell her I sent you. Here's the link:

http://www.nsgaonline.com

Until next month....

Want to Interview or Contribute?

If you would like to be considered to be interviewed for an article to be published in this newsletter, please email me at the following link: "Editor" We will consider gift basket companies and other vendors who supply the industry as long as they don't compete with our product offerings.

Also, if you would like to contribute an article, I will consider any article that would be helpful to our industry and I will include an "Author's Info" box and link to your website. Just email me at the following link: "Editor" .

We do not pay for articles or interviews and we reserve the right to only publish those we choose to use and think are appropriate for our audience.

Until Next Time

Thanks for joining in reading this great information. I'm hopeful that you learned a lot. So, I'll be talking with you next month, until then,

Good Luck, God Bless and Happy Gift Basketeering!

Have A Happy & Prosperous Valentine's Day!

Reba Collins
Gift Basket Wholesale Supply
www.giftbasketwholesalesupply.com