The following should arrive Wednesday or Thursday:
(again, a reminder - we're now CLOSED ON TUESDAYS)
- Raoulia australis
- Coprosma 'Tequila Sunrise'
- Carex tenuiculmis 'Cappuccino'
- Sedum spurium 'Red Carpet'
- Sedum spath. 'Cape Blanco'
- Kalanchoe thyrsifolia
- Vitis 'Gewurztraminer'
- Abutilon 'Variegated Peach'
- Crocosmia hyb. 'Lucifer'
- Echinacea purpurea 'Tiki Torch'
- Fuchsia magellanica 'Isis'
- Gaillardia 'Sunburst Yellow'
- Ampelopsis brevipedunculata 'Elegans'
- Hosta 'Elvis Lives'
- Hakonechloa macra 'Beni-Kaze'
- Helictotrichon sempervirens
- Geranium 'Rozanne'
- Ficus 'Violetta'
Monday, July 20, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
thinking out loud (hey, at least I'm thinking)...
I think we may finally have a plan for the blog. We haven't used it well to this point but more than anything, I think it's had an identity crisis.
We have our primary website at emeraldcitygardens.com; it's rarely updated and is there primarily to show...well, that we have a website. Some general info about who we are and what we do, job postings (and considering we just laid almost everyone off, I REALLY need to take it down some time once I'm on the right computer when I think about it and can use the unexpired version of the web editor I use and actually get into the thing...yeah, a real tech-head, that's me!).
We have this blog. Ideally it was to be for newsy updates, advice/seasonal reminders and of course - pictures! Fair enough, and basically what we've done, but not frequently enough to make it all that useful. I'd love to incorporate it into the primary site so it isn't at a separate address...I'm told that's not easy with Blogspot, much easier with WordPress but I'm only beginning to get back the free time I need to do something like that, so it may be a while yet.
We have a Facebook page. FB is nice because it's convenient and LOTS of people are on it, and so far I've been much better at keeping it updated than our other online presences. Thing is, though, FB is for sound bytes - you can certainly type longer entries there if you're so inclined (and I might at some point), but after so many sentences it automatically goes under a cut. For the kind of rambling I'm known for, a good old-fashioned blog still seems like the way to go for a primary web presence.
Lastly - probably most successfully - we communicate via an opt-in email list. Approximately 500 people allow us to spam them - infrequently - to get all of the above and more: general info, newsy updates, sale notifications and whatever else comes to mind. In return they get a "Frequent Flyer" card with a yellow brick road of sorts on the back...for every $10 spent, a brick is initialed until all 20 have been, at which point the card becomes a $20 gift certificate. They're also privy to exclusive sales and offers the general public doesn't get - after all, this is our loyal customer base and did I mention, they allow me to spam them? :b
It's becoming clear, though, that the email list needs re-thinking. More than anything, the mail itself needs to be more concise - maybe teaser headlines with links to more? In fact, yes, I'm sure that's exactly what should happen. Some sweet people are apparently fans of my writing, and they wish I sent the email with greater frequency: never mind that I DON'T particularly care for my writing, that will never happen. The point was driven home in the last mail I sent out, which netted us several "unsubscribe" requests. Hard not to take that personally, but the message is clear:
tl;dr
(and maybe my writing sucks, but I'm not inclined to ask!)
So...yeah. I'll transfer much of the email's function to the blog beginning approximately August 1st. If I update here at the beginning of each month, that should suffice - and it will already be more frequent than the email.
If we're lucky enough to stay in business long enough, we may even be perfect one day. :) Thank you for hanging in there while we strive for perfection!
We have our primary website at emeraldcitygardens.com; it's rarely updated and is there primarily to show...well, that we have a website. Some general info about who we are and what we do, job postings (and considering we just laid almost everyone off, I REALLY need to take it down some time once I'm on the right computer when I think about it and can use the unexpired version of the web editor I use and actually get into the thing...yeah, a real tech-head, that's me!).
We have this blog. Ideally it was to be for newsy updates, advice/seasonal reminders and of course - pictures! Fair enough, and basically what we've done, but not frequently enough to make it all that useful. I'd love to incorporate it into the primary site so it isn't at a separate address...I'm told that's not easy with Blogspot, much easier with WordPress but I'm only beginning to get back the free time I need to do something like that, so it may be a while yet.
We have a Facebook page. FB is nice because it's convenient and LOTS of people are on it, and so far I've been much better at keeping it updated than our other online presences. Thing is, though, FB is for sound bytes - you can certainly type longer entries there if you're so inclined (and I might at some point), but after so many sentences it automatically goes under a cut. For the kind of rambling I'm known for, a good old-fashioned blog still seems like the way to go for a primary web presence.
Lastly - probably most successfully - we communicate via an opt-in email list. Approximately 500 people allow us to spam them - infrequently - to get all of the above and more: general info, newsy updates, sale notifications and whatever else comes to mind. In return they get a "Frequent Flyer" card with a yellow brick road of sorts on the back...for every $10 spent, a brick is initialed until all 20 have been, at which point the card becomes a $20 gift certificate. They're also privy to exclusive sales and offers the general public doesn't get - after all, this is our loyal customer base and did I mention, they allow me to spam them? :b
It's becoming clear, though, that the email list needs re-thinking. More than anything, the mail itself needs to be more concise - maybe teaser headlines with links to more? In fact, yes, I'm sure that's exactly what should happen. Some sweet people are apparently fans of my writing, and they wish I sent the email with greater frequency: never mind that I DON'T particularly care for my writing, that will never happen. The point was driven home in the last mail I sent out, which netted us several "unsubscribe" requests. Hard not to take that personally, but the message is clear:
tl;dr
(and maybe my writing sucks, but I'm not inclined to ask!)
So...yeah. I'll transfer much of the email's function to the blog beginning approximately August 1st. If I update here at the beginning of each month, that should suffice - and it will already be more frequent than the email.
If we're lucky enough to stay in business long enough, we may even be perfect one day. :) Thank you for hanging in there while we strive for perfection!
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