GROW News
December 30, 2009
Who Sold Online This Week?
GROW Nebraska is now highlighting what sold online for the week. If your item sells the most for the week, it will be the featured picture for this section of the weekly update!
If you don't see your products on your list, consider updating your photography or your description to help entice more buyers. For your convenience, we have linked each product to their listing on the eCommerce or eBay sites so you can see what that member has done to help sell their product.
We encourage you to look at the photography and descriptions for each of these items to see how you can make improvements to your listing. Remember, you know more about your business and product than we do, so we really need your help to make your listing the best it can be! To easily find your products on the eCommerce store please
click here.
If you would like to make edits to your listing, please e-mail us at
info@grownebraska.org.
December 23 - December 30
Lincoln Holiday Store will close January 8, 2010
Thank you to all the members who participated in the 2009 Lincoln Holiday Store. The sales have been very good and we are going to try something new this year and keep the store open until January 8, 2010.
Product and display pick up will take place January 9 through 12th. Pick up times will be announced in the near future.
We would like to offer 10% off all items in the store from Dec 15 - Jan 8. Please
click here to let us know if you are willing or not willing to allow 10% off your items from December 26, 2009 to January 8, 2010. If you have any question, please contact
info@grownebraska.org or call 888-476-9632.
Inventory for Stores
The GROW Nebraska stores will be completing an inventory count on January 11-12, so no new inventory orders will be going out prior to that time. If you had plans to deliver inventory before January 11-12, please contact us at
info@grownebraska.org. Holiday sales were better than expected, and we appreciate everyone's cooperation. If you have suggestions for how to handle the holiday season for next year, we would love to hear your ideas at
info@grownebraska.org.
Super Bowl Sampling Saturdays
GROW Nebraska would like to have food samplers in the Grand Island and Kearney stores the two Saturday's before the Super Bowl to help prepare for the big game. If you are interested in sampling on January 30 or February 6, 2010, please fill out the form
here.
5th Annual Governor's Agri/Eco-Tourism Workshop
The 5th Annual Governor’s Agri/Eco-Tourism Workshop is scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, February 3-4, 2010 in Kearney at the Holiday Inn & Convention Center.
Back by popular demand is the “Taste of Nebraska Agritourism” networking event, Wednesday evening, February 3rd, 5:30 - 8:00 p.m. The event offers the perfect opportunity for you to showcase your quality homemade and homegrown products. Visitors are always eager to sample a variety of Nebraska made products including beers and wines. The event also offers the perfect venue for you to network and visit with possible partners to cross-market those products.
The event is organized similar to a farmer’s market. While there is no charge for booth space for those attending the workshop, we ask that you provide product samples for attendees to try. Businesses are welcome to sell packaged products during the event. Proper licenses and certifications for food and beverage sales need to be followed.
To register your Nebraska-made products for the upcoming “Taste of Nebraska Agritourism” networking event, please fill out the form below and include a check for payment made out to
Nebraska Tourism and mail to
Karen Kollars, Agritourism Development Consultant, P.O. Box 252, Sidney, NE 69162. If you need further information, feel free to call or email me at 308-249-3220 or
Karen.Kollars@nebraska.gov. And don’t hesitate to spread the word about this exciting event with others who also may be interested in showcasing or selling products.
We also encourage you to attend the Governor’s Agri/Eco-Tourism Workshop which is geared toward generating ideas and ways that you can improve your business. Early registration is $75; however, if you host a booth at the Wednesday evening “tasting” event, you can register for the workshop at a discounted rate of $60. GROW Nebraska will cover $25 of the registration fee for its members (bringing your cost to $35.00). Booth rate for those
not attending the workshop is $15.00.
A brochure that contains the workshop agenda and registration form can be viewed and downloaded at
www.VisitNebraska.gov/industry.
Valentine's Items
GROW Nebraska would like to stock your Valentine's items in our Kearney and Grand Island locations, and also feature them on the eCommerce site. Do you have chocolates? How about heart shaped jewelry? What about customized items? Please let us know by e-mailing us at
info@grownebraska.org or calling 888-476-9632 by January 8. All items that you would like added must be delivered to the stores by January 15 in time for Valentine's Day promotions.
"Enhancing your Online Presence" Webinars
The first of the three part series on
"Enhancing Your Online Presence" is scheduled for January 14, 2010 at 1 p.m. CDT; 12 noon MDT. The January session will focus on Website Usability Testing. Lana Johnson, CIT DEAL Lab, University of Nebraska will be explaining the process of testing for how 'usable' your website is.
eXtension Entrepreneur and Their Communities webinars are on the 2nd Thursday of every month. All of our webinars are recorded and available for on-demand viewing but nothing beats the live presentation so mark your calendars and spend an hour a month learning with us! Please feel free to join us on the 2nd Thursday of the month at 2 p.m. EDT; 1 p.m. CDT; 12 noon MDT; 11 a.m. PDT.
All webinars are one hour long. Free and open to everyone, this session is part of a monthly series. The Web meeting room opens 10 minutes before the start time. Go to
connect.extension.iastate.edu/ecop to view. Newcomers to online learning are welcome.
"Enhancing Your Online Presence Series"
January 14 - Web Usability Testing
Lana Johnson, CIT DEAL Lab, Communications, Information and Technology, University of Nebraska. Usability is the ease with which people can perform a certain task on an object or system to achieve a particular goal. Web usability testing allows us to observe what users do, where they succeed and where they have difficulties. Feedback from this testing can then be used to improve web designs and interfaces for better user experiences.
February 11 - Analyze This
Vishal Singh, Instructional Multimedia Designer - Communications, Information and Technology, University of Nebraska. Google Analytics generates detailed statistics about visitors to your website. It provides you with a powerful website analytical tool that can help you improve your websites.
March 11 - Get Found!
Jay Jenkins, Extension Educator, University of Nebraska. Is your information getting lost in the sea of information available on the Internet? Are you lost in the maze of acronyms and vague meanings of terms like SEO, SEM, keywords, tags, page titles and subheadings? You will learn how clearly written and properly implemented web pages get found.
Second Round of Renewals
All renewals have now been sent for 2010 membership. The deadline to be in the 2010-2011 GROW Book is to
renew and pay by February 1, 2010. Our designer will be taking a leave of absence in March, so
NO exceptions will be made to this deadline to ensure that the GROW Book is printed in a timely manner. Remember, if you joined after September 2009 you do not need to renew. Second notice renewals will be going out this week. If you have any questions or concerns, or did not receive a renewal, please contact us at 888.476.9632 or e-mail us at
info@grownebraska.org.
New Members
K & A Creations - Andi Peterson and Karen Griffin - Lincoln, NE
Andi and Karen create a myriad of jewelry from earrings to necklaces and bracelets. Specializing in both beads and silver smithing, they are sure to have something for everyone. Learn more at
k-acreations.com.
Marketing Workshops
Twitter Tense? Facebook Frets? Utterli Uneasy? Social Media Stressing You Out? We Can Help!
GROW Nebraska has teamed up with the University of Nebraska Extension Specialists to help you reduce your anxiety in keeping up with the social media marketing craze.
Social media marketing is essential to increasing brand awareness and expanding your online business presence. However, if you don’t understand how it works, thinking about posting tweets, updating your Facebook page and incorporating your blog into the media mix seems overwhelming.
Not only will we teach you how to save time by being more efficient when using social media, but we are bringing the "Get Social Sessions" to you. Spots are filling quickly! Price is $10/person. If you have questions, call us at 888.GROW.NEB or e-mail us at
info@grownebraska.org. If you are interested in attending one of these workshops, please sign up
HERE.
- January 26 - North Platte - 3-6 at West Central Research and Extension Center
- January 27 - Chadron – 3-6 at Chadron State College Student Center
- January 28 - Scottsbluff - 9-12 at UNL Panhandle Research and Extension Center
- January 28 - Sidney- 4-7 at Western Nebraska Community College - Room 112 (NOTE: Date and Time have changed)
- NEW: March 18 - Kearney - 9-12 at IntelliCom
