Please review this site Design, user experience, speed, SEO - any ideas on improving it? Thanks in advance!
I've got both a customer + an artist for you. How do you sign up to do custom cartoons? Everything looks good, your big problem is driving traffic to the site and establishing credibility when you are brand spanking new. Your blog writer is Paul Simon - is that his real name? You have a signup form for email but I'd suggest adding facebook and twitter in there too, I barely read my email newsletter's subject lines but spend ages scrolling through Twitter. Your message is more likely to reach me there. I'd be looking at getting a few sites to use your cartoons - give them away free - and do some A/B testing with the owners. Google Analytics showing that without the cartoon the bounce rate and time on page was X, with the cartoon it's Y. Write up the results, with their own cartoons, and promote it heavily. As for getting artists - they'll come to where the work is. To spur them along haunt sites like redbubble and find ways to contact the artists. They might not be selling cartoons but for some their work will translate well, particularly for the custom work. Apparently, if you're 18 this is funny, I love it because the dog is mine and dog owners love anything that features their own dog, right?! Anyway, getting the attention of these kids is really important and they do talk to each other and they will follow the money.
Thanks for the awesome feedback, sarahk! Custom cartoons options are here. If it falls out of that scope, feel free to drop me a note. Artists can sign up here. Great suggestions!