Clickable keywords and SEO

A friend pointed out that our competitor websites have clickable keywords on the product pages. Well, I was going to add this feature some time ago anyway, so today I finished it. Now we also have clickable keywords, only better then our competitors. Besides, this seems to be a good thing for Search Engine Optimization. Especially, when keywords go to static pages instead of dynamic pages. Try this page 3D model of a car rim and click on keyword tire. What will happen is that you will be transfered to the page http://www.exchange3d.com/cubecart/3D_catalog_tire.html which looks like a static HTML page. Thanks to apache mod_rewrite tricks!

New feature on the website

Luckily for exchange3D artists I had nothing to do today. Why? Because, it means a coding spree for exchange3d.com. So, I fixed some bugs that I was going to fix for a long time, and added some features. So, why exactly it is a good thing for exchange3d.com artists? Because now, when you type an artist name into the search box at the top-left corner of the home page, the search script will treat this request as if you were searching for models of this artist and include the models by the matching artist at the top of the results page.

Selling animated 3D models online

Way too often I have customers ask me whether a model is animated or is suitable for animation, whether certain parts of a model are rigged, etc. In some cases, this is not a straightforward question to answer. Now that we have video previews, it is easier for a customer to determine whether a model is good for animation and what parts of it are movable. Another great 3D artist shows his 3D models in a YouTube video. Now, as you look at this 3D model of a Transformer robot-car (Lamborghini Gallardo to be exact) there is no doubts that it is rigged for animation, and you can see that everything moves in this 3D transformer.

The website is back

After a week of horrible experience with our hosting provider the 3D models store is back and fully functioning. I do not even know where to begin to describe how bad our provider's customer service was. So, probably I will leave it aside and bury it in the depth of my subconsciousness hoping that it will not come back in nightmares :) If you are particularly interested which hosting provider they should not go to - you can ask. On the other hand, does anyone know a hosting provider that has great customer service, where people do thei rjob thoroughly? I heard they all are like that, even those that charge a lot more than others. On the bright side we did get a huge discount and a coupe of months of free hosting. However, even though we lost about 4 days of revenues, our sales seem to be growing rapidly.

The first 3D model of the Ford Mustang Giugiaro

A must see, this is the first and so far the only commercially available 3D model of Ford Mustang Giugiaro.
See it here (http://www.exchange3d.com/cubecart/cars/ford-mustang-2008/prod_2903.html)

The rest of the newsletter

TSOE.COM has joined us after leaving another well known CG models marketplace. TSOE.COM brings a number outstanding 3D models of various famous yachts. The new yachts are still being uploaded as I am writing this email. You can see his page here: http://exchange3d.com/cubecart/index.php?act=viewAff&affId=929

Another new artist is be_fast. He brought an impressive collection of cars, to which he claims that he will add 50 more models by the end of March! You can see all his models on this page: http://exchange3d.com/cubecart/index.php?act=viewAff&affId=654
be_fast also decided to introduce himself with a 1/3 price sale action. He just added a very nice Audi Q5 2007 model which he is selling for only $15. This won't last long though, he is going to sell it for this low price only for one month and after that the model will cost over $40 as it should.

3D artist bleegor keeps creating more 3D models of sci-fi aircraft, space ships and airplains. He also added one 3D model of sci-fi interior for free, you can find it here ( http://www.exchange3d.com/cubecart/architecture/scifi-interior/prod_2775.html)

3D artist Wydler Studios has recently created a number of outstanding models of commercial passenger aircraft as well as several cars andother models. You can see all his models here (http://www.exchange3d.com/cubecart/index.php?page=0&act=viewPublisher&aff_id=480)

I can keep writing about new artist on and on, because we really had hundreds of new artists joined exchange3d.com since last year. I believe one of the main reasons is our customer service, we treat both buyers and sellers as valued customers. As a matter of fact, one of the artists told me today that "he could not hope to be treated better".

Many artists often ask me who buys their models and how the customers use the models. While I do keep in touch with some of the frequent customers, I wanted to find out much more. So, I encourage you to send me an email with short description of how and where you are using the 3D models that you buy on www.exchange3d.com. As a token of appreciation, I will give you additional in-store discounts in response to your emails. Please write to support "@" exchange3d.com

February newsletter

I think my newsletter spamming script choked again. So, if you missed the newsletter, here is the promised coupon that gives 5% off any product in exchange3d.com: FEB-A746R-63722
This coupon is valid until March 20. In order to get 5% off, enter the coupon code on the checkout page.

Watch 3D modeler be_fast

Watch this artist's models: be_fast
He is finishing up a model of Audi Q5 in very high detail with interior. But the main reason to watch his page is that he just told me that he is going to conduct "an experiment", he will be selling this model for $15 for a month.

Sell your tutorials

Also I added a new category of products that you can sell/buy in exchange3d.com: Tutorials.

Lightwave 9

Just added Lightwave 9 to the list of formats in the store. All this means is that you can now sell Lightwave 9 models and buy Lightwave 9 models on exchange3d.com

100% royalty to all new publishers for 2 months

Vlad and I decided yesterday that we will be giving 100% for all new publishers for the first two months, not only to those who come from TS. This is not an official announcement yet, but it is already happening. I just modified the store to make it happen. I might change it to 95%, because PayPal and payment processing systems charge us for the payments. So giving 100% would mean paying extra

GMax files

Now you can upload GMax files of your models to exchange3d.com. I just added this format.

Welcoming new publishers

So, today Vlad and I decided that we want new artists to join our website Exchange3D.com so much that we will offer 100% royalty for two months to any artist who switches to our store from Turbosquid. Welcome!