A Guide to Ordering Your Photo Cards(if you're completely lost!)
ABOUT YOUR DESIGNERWelcome to Greetings Galore! Let me tell you a little about this site before you continue. My name is Laura and I'm a graphic designer. I created this website to design a custom greeting card just for you, featuring photos of your loved ones, for any special occasion. Graphic design services tend to be expensive and difficult for the average person to obtain. I have developed a passion for providing professional graphic design services to the average person at a price they can afford...and that is where this website originated. I get customers of all types, but I'd estimate that 95% of you tend to be mothers of young children, trying to capture your family's most precious moments (mainly baby's first birthday) in a special, shareable keepsake. And let's face it, most of us mothers just want to show off our beautiful kids to as many people as we can find an address to! Like most of you, I, too, am a mother of a couple precious children, and my enthusiasm for sharing my kids (and your kids) with the world is what inspires my work. I'm not a big company, or even a little company. I am a stay-at-home mom and Marine Corps wife with a laptop who wants to help you get some pretty cool birthday invitations in the mail! (Or Christmas Cards, or Birth Announcements, or whatever you need at the moment...)
|
Hint...Calculate your total in advance by following these steps: 1. Click on the link for the size you prefer: 4x6 | 4x5 | 3.5x5 | 5x5 | 5x7 | 4x8 |
One thing that sets my website apart from the competitors is that I don't take any payment until you are completely satisfied with your design, so there is no risk involved. The first step of placing your order is picking your design and submitting a "design request" by filling out the form next to the product of your choice. There will be no cart, no credit cards, no payments, or any of that. You are simply sending me an email (via the order form) to tell me what you want. When I get your email (and your pictures) I will create your design. Depending on how busy I am, it could take as little as a few hours, or as many as 3 business days to complete it. It will then be uploaded to the Smugmug website for you to review. If you like what you see, then that is the time you will actually pay for the design (or prints) right from the Smugmug website. If you need some things fixed or don't like your design at all, I'll keep working with you until we get it just right.
Remember, when you submit that first form I am really going to do work for you. Please don't submit anything unless you fully intend to finish up the entire process with me and submit a payment at the end of it. I'm a real mom providing a service for you to make an income. The time I spend on your design is either time I am taking away from my family, or time I am eliminating from my nightly allotment of sleeping hours. Therefore, I do expect to be paid for the time I spend doing your design, just as much as the guy who fixes your toilet or the teenager who babysits your kids expects to be paid for their services. :)
There's 3 types of customers I don't want on my site:
1. Those who submit that form "just to see" and never intend to actually pay for the work I do.
2. Those who will place the order and wait until the work is complete before they let me know that they already ordered cards from another website.
3. Those who order just 1 print, giving me a couple quarters worth of profit for the hours of work I put into their design.Fortunately, these types of customers don't come around too often, but if you are one of these people, I suggest you close the window and don't come back. ;)
Your clock will start from the very moment you send me the last of your photos (after you fill out the order form). When the clock starts it will take up to 3 business days to hear back from me with your proof. If you place your order on a Friday night, it may seem to take ages to hear back from me (3 business days would be the following Wednesday), but don't worry, I won't forget about you! And I don't like to advertise it, but generally you'll get a proof the next business day (depending on how many order I have at any given time). If 3 business days have transpired and you still haven't heard from me, please send me an email. I always get your order forms, but if I don't get your pictures within a week I delete the order. Very rarely, photos end up being directed to my Spam box (usually if they are sent through another website, like Kodak or Photobucket) and I don't know to check the Spam box unless you alert me.
If you're a majorly organized, overplanning weirdo like myself and need to know EXACTLY how long this is going to take, try this chart: Turnaround Times
The wonderful thing about me is I am not very strict at all about the design samples you see on the website. I will customize the heck out of them if you want. Pick your colors, pick your fonts, change the words. That's what the little "customization requests" box is for on the order form. If you like the general idea of GB6B, but you'd prefer purple instead of blue, 5 pictures instead of 4, a scripty font, and a complete different set of words, that's cool with me! You can even be extra tricky, and have me customize a Christmas card to be a birthday invitation instead. As long as the layout stays about the same as the sample, it's not a problem!
If customizing an existing design just isn't going to cut it, I also offer designs from scratch. The stipulations: this option is only available as a perk to repeat customers, it's only available as a digital download (no prints through Smugmug), and it costs $45. Usually custom designs are requested if a customer is throwing a really unique birthday party and they want their card to match the party. For example, recently a customer asked for a "Poodles in Paris" invitation. I'd never heard of Poodles in Paris before, but they sent me some pictures of the plates and napkins and things they were using for the party. The result was a completely unique photo card that matched their party theme to the T. Interested? Start here.
I get a lot of first time visitors to my site who request custom designs, but due to a lot of unfortunate incidents in the past (see the "PLEASE PAY ME" section) I no longer offer this to a first-timer. The custom designs take a pretty significant amount of time to complete and to prevent theft of services, I only offer them to customers who have established trust with me by ordering and paying for a design in the past. I am very sorry, but no amount of begging and pleading can sway me from this policy. The most I can do for you if you're a first-timer, is take an existing design on the site and match it to the colors, text, and style of your theme (which usually ends up producing a stunning result!). Remember, all you have to do is order and pay 1 time to become a repeat customer. ;)
If you've ordered from me in the past and you're interested in a custom design, just click here: Custom Work
The number one email question I receive is if I have any available designs of a certain theme (Snoopy, Dora, Nemo, Cars, etc.). The answer is, if it's on my site I have it. If it's not, I don't! Below is a list of themes currently offered on the website. If you need me to direct you to the specific place where you can find something, just shoot me an email!
The problem with running a business all on your own, is when you're unavailable you have to shut everything down. I do travel a lot, and when I travel I close the site. I also close the site for special occassions (like my husband leaving for or returning from a deployment). I try to give several weeks of advance notice of any closures, and I apologize for any inconvenience this causes you!
You can reach me at Laura@photogreetingsgalore.com and I'll get back to you within 1 business day. :)
birthday invitations | thank you cards | new baby | seasonal cards
