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I have created a website for people to Join Free and to place Free Classifieds/Messages for 30 days. The website is called Heartsay.com and it will hopefully save people from spending large amounts of money placing messages in newspapers and sending cards for special occasions.
There are many many categories to select from including Bereavement, Marriage, Births, Valentines, Christmas just to name a few. You can also upload a photo. You can notify the person for whom the message is placed by clicking on the Email a Friend button. I could never afford to place messages in newspapers and many others were in the same predicament so I created Heartsay so that everyone can place a message and friends and family can see it even if they are in other countries. I hope you will look at the site and hopefully decide that it is a helpful and cost free resource for you to use.
Take Care
Alison
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Hi there,
The object of Heartsay.com was to actually replace the classified messages people put in newspapers which are very expensive. When someone dies for example people like to put their bereavement notices in to show they cared. It is not possible in this circumstance to send an e-card to the deceased person. Valentines is another example where people fill up the newspapers with Valentines greetings (well they do in Australia anyway) these are not cheap and can cost $50 to $100 for a couple of lines. Here in Australia people spend a fortune placing Birth notices, Death notices, Valentines, Remembrance, Engagement, Thankyou etc etc in newspapers and I thought that this site may be a free alternative to this. The main reason for setting it up was hearing many people say that they would love to put a notice in for someone but could not afford it. I guess the difference in sending a card is that these are notices that you want to tell the world about and not just a message to one person. Would be interested to hear your view on that as I value any input or advice. There is an email a friend link to send the message placed on the site to the person it is for to notify them of it's placement.
Thanks Alison
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Nice to meet you Allison and best of luck with your site. :) Welcome aboard. I don't know how much public notices are in the paper now but I remember having to put one in when my gran died and it was shocking the cost of it. I think that's a nice way to remember them. Can contributors extend the 30 day period if they want to?
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Hi Kay,
Thanks for your comment. Yes the classifieds here in Australia are around $100 just for a few lines. When someone special in your life dies it is nice to be able to write a lot of nice stuff about them and not have to worry about the cost. This is one of the reasons I created Heartsay as I have always been on a budget and sometimes I have not been able to afford to put notices in for friends and family. I have heard a lot of elderly people on pensions say the same. This is why I came up with the idea to provide the means for people to do it free. Unfortunately many people are misunderstanding that the site is meant to replace newspaper notices and are thinking it is meant to be just a facebook message type site. I think it will take a while to spread the word so that they get the concept. In answer to your question Messages are Free for 30 days. You can choose the Free 30 day with optional upgrade package which allows you to extend it after 30 days for $5. The other alternative is to pay $10 for a permanent message. I made it this way to make sure that the site was not filled up with messages forever that were no longer relevent eg. Birthday, Christmas etc. By making a small fee payable it will ensure that only the very special messages, perhaps death or remembrance will remain on the site forever. I think most messages will serve their purpose within the 30 days as people can print them off and keep them. The message in the newspaper is only for 1 day so you get 29 more days. If you have any input I am really happy to listen.
Thanks again
Alison
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Welcome to billeater.com, Alison. I think your site idea is very well thought out. $10 isn't much to ask for a permanent option either. I was wondering about the 30 days too and can see your reasoning behind that. One question - how do you prevent fake notices going in? Our local paper had to change their policy after an engagement notice was published that has been sent in by an ex-girlfriend maliciously claiming she was engaged to her ex when she wasn't.
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Hi Savannah,
Thanks for your comments on Heartsay. I want to keep the site as economical as possible so that everyone can afford to use it. I think in most cases the 30 days will be enough to cover the majority of messages. I too am concerned about fake notices going on and have put the Report this Message button on so people can notify us of any notice that is either inappropriate or misleading. We will investigate any like this and delete if found to be a problem. I guess it is the same with any internet site even Facebook and the like, people can say anything about anybody and it is probably impossible to stop it. I am just hoping with all my heart that the site will not be misused and will spread the goodwill that I dreamed it could. It is sad that some people need to lash out and spoil things for others but hopefully we can catch it before any pain is caused to anyone.
Thanks again
Alison
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Hi Everyone,
Re Heartsay.Com Free Classifieds/Messages. I am wondering if any of you would be prepared to join up for FREE and leave a FREE MESSAGE in any category to someone just to try the site out and see if you encounter any problems that you think I should fix. I am wanting to get the site full of messages and also test for any glitches before I go more public with it. This was a big challenge for me creating the site as I really had no experience on computers other than basic email etc. I really was technically challenged. However after a year of reading manuals and any other information available I have finally got it up and running. I had to enlist a web developer to help me with the technical stuff that was beyond what I had learned. I would really appreciate anybody just putting a message on to help it to start getting used. I do not have money to advertise it professionally so am just hoping that word of mouth will gradually get it known and in time become popular for people to leave their dedications. My whole object in setting it up was to enable people to save money and put notices on that would normally cost a lot of money in newspapers especially when someone dies or if they want to remember a birthday or special occasion of someone who has passed. There is a lot of categories you can put a message on though. With Christmas coming up you could just put some Christmas greetings in to some friends. If you click on the email a friend link they will get notification on their email that you have posted a greeting for them.
Thankyou in anticipation
Have a nice day
Alison
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Alison , nice to meet you! I have a suggestion. Open yourself a Twitter account and send out a Tweet about the free messages. This would be a good chance with Thanksgiving coming up. Suggest they send something different this year than an e-card. That will help spread the word. I'll pop by and do one soon.
There's also free PR sites you can submit a press release to. Your site's lovely.
http://mashable.com/2007/10/20/press-releases/
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Hi Jewel,
Thank you so much for your suggestion and encouragement. As I am new to this I am really appreciative of any help. My dream was to create a website to spread goodwill and for people to show the special people in their life and also ones who have passed on that they care. I thought if I made it free then a lot of people would be able to use it without having to worry about any cost.
Thanks again
Alison
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I think you have a wonderful idea going, Alison. :) It's nice to meet you. I'll try and drop by when Thanksgiving is out the way. I can't think of anything else right now that doesn't involve turkey LOL :)
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Hi Cookiefan (sorry I don't know your other name)
That is great, I will love you to put something on when you have an appropriate occasion. Good luck with that turkey, I too will be concentrating on one soon for Christmas.
All the Best
Alison
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Good luck with your site and welcome to billeater Alison. Most of us here just go by our handles anyway. I call cookiefan cookiefan too! :)
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Hi cheapncheerful
Thanks for the info and good wishes. I suppose I better go by Heartsay then.
No can't help myself have to put kind regards from Alison
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Hi cheapncheerful
Thanks for the info and good wishes. I suppose I better go by Heartsay then.
No can't help myself have to put kind regards from Alison
LOL! You go by whatever you want Alison. :) Good to meet you.
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Good to meet you too purplerain. I like your name. Have a great day. Alison
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Hello Everybody,
I would really love it if anyone had the time to put some Christmas Greetings on Heartsay.com for me. I have not got any placed in the Christmas category yet and it would be great to get some in. It would be nice to put some on for your children as well as friends and family. You could even upload a photo with Santa. I will upgrade and feature any messages put on by my billeater friends for FREE until Christmas. When you place your standard free message just email me through the site and tell me it is on and I will go in and feature it for you. You can do this for people you care about all around the world. Just click on email a friend button and they will get an automated email from Heartsay telling them there is a message on there for them. So come on spread the Christmas cheer the only cost is a little time.
Enjoy your day
Alison
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Hi everyone,
I have just added a new category to Heartsay.com. It is Santa Claus. Children can now put a Free message on for Santa and if they put there first name on the bottom of it, Santa will put a message on for them with his photo. If there name is not on it he will just place it under their user name.
Hope you all ready for Christmas and looking forward to it
Kind regards Alison
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Santa is a cute idea! I'll spread the word for you best I can Alison. :) Nice to meet you.
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Hi greenmachine,
Nice to meet you too. Thank you so much for spreading the idea. I just thought it might make some children happy to get a message back from Santa. There will be no promises made of what they may or may not get though, parents will not need to worry about expectations being met. The message will stay pretty neutral and be filled with good wishes and greetings and no commitment of anything they may want to receive. I hope it will be well received and thanks for taking an interest.
Have a Happy Christmas regards Alison
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Valentine's Day saving idea. You can place a FREE Valentine's message on heartsay.com and any message placed will be upgraded and featured for FREE also. You can keep your message anonymous if you prefer, as the only identification required is a valid email address which is NOT visible on the site and is only a security requirement. In the true Valentine spirit you can go under a nickname and not use your real one. You can notify someone you have left a message by clicking on the Email a Friend button after completing it. So do not spend lots of money placing greetings in the newspapers, when you can make your message very long at NO Cost on HeartSay. You can really personalise it too by adding a Free photo or Image.
Have a lovely Valentine's Day and show someone you love how much you care with a nice message. Words mean more than anything you know. ♥
©2009
Hi Alison, welcome to billeater. :) Can you tell me why I would want to do this rather than say send an e-card? I'm not getting really what is different about your site from doing that.
When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a rose with the other.