Are you green enough?
We catch up with successful Zlioshop owner, Linda Gerfen.
With Earth Day just gone, now, more than ever, is the time to be thinking of those little ways to cut down the size of your carbon footprint.
Owner of Earth Care, Linda Gerfen, shines (an energy saving 
) light on the success of her ecologically friendly Zlioshop:
What inspired you into making a shop about green living? Is it something you feel particularly strongly about?
I believe that everyone can, and should, make at least some effort towards “green living”, even if for no other reason than to save money on utility bills!
In my own home we have swapped out many incandescent light bulbs for the new “spiral” type bulbs that last longer and use less electricity to operate. We also have wind-up flashlights for emergency use both in the house and in our vehicles. My favourite calculator happens to be solar powered.
Hopefully someday we can afford to add solar panels and wind power as our location is ideal for both, but that is still far in the future.
We recycle on a regular basis and also have acquired special shopping bags to help halt the use of “paper or plastic” although there still are very legitimate uses for those types of bags. It is just sad that so many plastic grocery bags have littered the countryside instead of being properly recycled or disposed of.
Do you have any special ways of promoting it?
The methods of promoting this shop, “Earth Care” (earthcare.zlio.net), that I have used so far are:
1. Use of the keyword and description areas in the “Meta Tags” module.
2. Linking to the shop from my other shops at Zlio via the “Shop Roll” module.
3. A link from my website “Shoebox Recipes” (www.shoeboxrecipes.com) to my original shop “The Peachy Kitchen” (peachykitchen.zlio.com) which in turn links to my other Zlio shops.
I’ve yet to try using any of the directories but I do have plans to give that a whirl. It can’t hurt.
Do you have any other shops?
Oh, indeed, yes! I am currently building my 47th shop and at this time I hope that the limit will someday be expanded far beyond 50 shops, or a greater number of items allowed per shop. With all the items that are available to stock each shop it will be a long time before I run out of ideas and there are still areas that I haven’t ventured into.
What do you think of the Zlio service?
I think that Zlio is a wonderful opportunity for all who choose to join and I’ve been having a fantastic time using the service. I get a sense of accomplishment with each new shop that I’ve built or when I add a new category to an already existing shop. Of course I enjoy the added bonus of making some money in the process too!
Are there any new features you would like to see added on Zlio?
1. I’d love to see more templates become available. I’ve used quite a variety of them already and love the fact that they are so easy to work with.
2. I think it would be a great service to have a forum available for use by storekeepers. It would allow the members to help other members with questions that come up beyond what is already in the help area, and it would allow everyone to meet eachother too.
3. More than 50 shops, although I don’t think I personally could manage more than 100 total and still do each of them justice.
4. The ability to have more items in each shop than is currently allowed. Perhaps double the quantity.
5. Site statistics available right in the Zlio shop management panels. I’ve used others but find them cumbersome at best.
Do you have any advice for other Zlionauts?
Absolutely! Here’s a short list of what I do:
1. Use the modules, especially the “Shop Roll” and “Meta Tags” modules on each and every shop.
2. Check the “Report Panel” on a regular basis for each shop to catch items that have gone “out of stock” and delete them. Immediately replace those items with new items.
3. Use the categories and sub-categories to their fullest extent whenever possible. Don’t be afraid to reorganise each shop when the need arises. Better navigation makes a better user experience for your shop’s visitors.
How do you foresee the future of your ZlioShop?
In one word: Growth!
I see new items continually becoming available to be added to my existing shops, or to create a new shops with.
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