Help Someone - Get Something Cool for Your Kids

[SilentPen]

So a friend of mine, her fiance, and their four year old son are about to be homeless next week. The fiance works, but the money isn't enough to cover housing. She can't work a 9-5 due to a disability, and has zero disability pay. I'd get her into marketing, but she just doesn't "get" it. That said - she's offering custom handwritten letters from the Big Red Guy up north for a very low cost. Get something cool for your kids that'll make them feel all warm and fuzzy, and help them work for their money (as opposed to asking for handouts) and keep their place to live. Don't have kids? Order some anyway - she's got an option to order and send to less fortunate kids.

Check it out (and order now)

 

[b_sun]

Make a FB fan page for it, it will be alot easier to share and possibly go viral.

 

[tammysf]

also, it might be nice to have an image of what the letter might look like...

 

[BigWill]

in a good world natural selection would generally go into effect here

 

[Chianti]

Funnily enough, I mentioned this yesterday in a thread.
Tell your friend she might be leaving money on the table.
This retired couple are doing it better:
https://www.santasofficialnorthpolemail.com/builder/art.html

The difference here is that the user selects a design (image).
Then they pick a template 'base' letter.
Then they edit the letter themselves, changing whatever they want.

When the owners of the website receive the data from the form fields, all the work has already been done. They just print it and address the envelope, which takes less than two minutes per letter. During November and early December they process over 6000 letters; 150-200 per day. They charge 10$ for printing and sending each letter. Their profit from letters alone is 50,000$ for about 90 hours work. As you can see on the site, they also up-sell and cross-sell stupid stuff to go with the letters. As you can also see, their letters are crap.

Your friend is really handwriting letters for 6$?
Tsk.

 

[SilentPen]

Funnily enough, I mentioned this yesterday in a thread.
Tell your friend she might be leaving money on the table.
This retired couple are doing it better:
https://www.santasofficialnorthpolemail.com/builder/art.html

The difference here is that the user selects a design (image).
Then they pick a template 'base' letter.
Then they edit the letter themselves, changing whatever they want.

When the owners of the website receive the data from the form fields, all the work has already been done. They just print it and address the envelope, which takes less than two minutes per letter. During November and early December they process over 6000 letters; 150-200 per day. They charge 10$ for printing and sending each letter. Their profit from letters alone is 50,000$ for about 90 hours work. As you can see on the site, they also up-sell and cross-sell stupid stuff to go with the letters. As you can also see, their letters are crap.

Your friend is really handwriting letters for 6$?
Tsk.

Thanks for the info - I'll pass that along to her. Seriously though, $10 for that?? I could buy a stack of Santa paper at Staples for less, and print the thing on a home printer. I fail to see the value in that - especially when the orderer has to supply the letter text themselves. With my friend's site, you get a truly handwritten, completely one of a kind letter - for less.

 

[GoogleBitchSlap]

So she has a website that captures orders for her? I can help with some marketing if you want. No charge.

I don't have any kids the right age but I will get one anyway. If it's a good letter, I can give it to my son next year hehe.

Hit me up if your friend wants some help.

 

[cougarclaws]

post this on Reddit. They'll eat this up

 

[vinnythejinny]

go FB, Youtube and whole web 2.0 way, make it viral. May she gets the money she deserves, wish her good luck

 

[zach606]

post this on Reddit. They'll eat this up

Was thinking the same thing!

 

[SilentPen]

So she has a website that captures orders for her? I can help with some marketing if you want. No charge.

I don't have any kids the right age but I will get one anyway. If it's a good letter, I can give it to my son next year hehe.

Hit me up if your friend wants some help.

Yes, the website is already up and functional. Orders are placed on the website, but because there are any number of details one may want to include, she asks each person ordering to email with details after the order has been placed.

 

[Schlabbersack]

If you are interested... We could make this one of our pet projects for the WF Class of 2010 in the Noobs section? I'd bet there would be several folks willing to help, to learn by doing???

I'm in.. GBS above offered help as well....

Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

 

[Schlabbersack]

FYI - I'm more then happy donate a domain name for this, so it's on his own domain.

Someone up to help with 'real' hosting? I only have a shared account and am afraid this thing could blow up (As in success ) quickly....

 

[SilentPen]

FYI - I'm more then happy donate a domain name for this, so it's on his own domain.

Someone up to help with 'real' hosting? I only have a shared account and am afraid this thing could blow up (As in success ) quickly....

My hosting is only shared, but I can leave it on mine for now. Bloggitz.com is my domain that I use just for friends' pet projects and whatnot, so it's not on a wordpress-like-server.

 

[Schlabbersack]

How about I'll donate the domain and point it to your hosting then?

 

[SilentPen]

That'd be awesome - I'll pm you.

 

[justo_tx]

Seriously though, $10 for that?? I could buy a stack of Santa paper at Staples for less, and print the thing on a home printer. I fail to see the value in that

Welcome to the world of marketing, come on in, the waters nice

 

[GoogleBitchSlap]

Schlabber this would be a great pet project for us. I've already started looking over the site. I will start a group discussion as soon as I finish my keyword research and such.