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cindylouwho-2 · 5 years ago

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RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, August 19, 2020

Welcome to my latest summary of recent ecommerce news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & Etsy! This covers articles, podcasts, videos and infographics I came across since the late July report, although some may be older than that.

Please note I am taking the next week off, starting tomorrow (Aug. 19), so I might be a little slow in replying to any comments.

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES

USPS has become the focus of investigations due to reported mail slowdowns. Some small businesses who rely on USPS to deliver are suffering. “The longer the policy has been in effect, the worse the backlog gets.” As of today (August 18), the postmaster says they will rollback the changes until after the election in November. This is a rapidly-moving story in part due to the push for voting by mail, and should concern anyone who ships to US customers using regular mail (as opposed to couriers). Meanwhile, they plan to temporarily raise commercial rates during the holiday shopping season, but retail rates will not change.

Ecommerce sales are still up year over year. "Before Covid-19 hit the US in March, e-commerce made up roughly 12% of retail sales in the country. That figure grew as states issued shelter-in-place orders that shut stores and kept shoppers at home, creating tailwinds for a company like Amazon. But even as states have begun to reopen, e-commerce has remained elevated, according to Bank of America data."..."The Economist used Google search traffic for hints of how lifestyles are changing and found users are still searching terms related to cooking, crafts, and exercise above pre-pandemic rates. There has been a noticeable spike in interest around such products as gardening supplies, baking flour, and Crocs." The UK is still seeing a good increase despite the ease in reduction in lockdown restrictions. The growth is slowing a bit in the US, though.

Half of US small businesses fail in the first year (and other stats on small business).

It’s been second quarter report season, covering company performance from April to June 2020. Here are results for major companies involved in ecommerce in some way (comparisons are year-over-year):

Amazon US: sales up 40%

eBay: sales up 26%

Etsy: sales up $146% [click the link to read my summary]

Facebook: revenue up 11%

Google: revenue down 2%

PayPal: revenue up 22%

Pinterest: revenue up 4%; active users up 39%

Shopify: revenue up 97%

Walmart [2nd quarter ran May to July]: ecommerce sales up 97%, same-store sales up 9.3%

ETSY NEWS

Admin are now posting a monthly update thread, in case you fear you have missed anything. This is how they chose to announce that non-seller accounts can no longer post in the forum. Since those account owners can still read the forum, that doesn’t mean you can call out your customers now.

Sadly, there wasn’t much media coverage of Etsy’s nearly-annual billing screw up, but this one did get some attention.

Etsy continues to get good media coverage for masks, including masks for your dolls. They also apparently got a decent slice of Google ranking for various pandemic-related searches in May [scroll down to the “Protection and Prevention” section].

However, Etsy is getting some bad press (along with Amazon), for allowing QAnon merchandise, because “the FBI has warned of the movement's potential to incite domestic terrorism.” Etsy replied to a request for comment saying that “that product listings associated with certain movements are allowed as long as they don't violate the company's seller or prohibited items policies, which ban items that promote hate or that could incite violence. The company said it is continually reviewing items on the site and could remove items in the future if they're found to violate Etsy's policies.”

More search trends on Etsy, this time kids’ items. I love how they think tie-dye was a ‘90s thing and not a ‘60-70s thing LOL. “a 318% increase in searches for kids tie-dye items...71% increase in searches for dinosaur wall art or decor*, and a 37% increase in searches for school of fish items….we’ve seen kid-friendly crafts spike in popularity, with searches for DIY kits for kids up 336%.”

Also, the holiday trends guide is out. “With the holidays approaching, and most shopping happening online, more shoppers will be looking for your help to make the season feel special.” The report is lengthy, covering Halloween to New Year’s, and most listing categories, while pointing out the possible pandemic changes to the usual trends. There is also an accompanying podcast with transcript.

Speaking of the holiday season, here are Etsy’s tips for shops. Note that it is a bit late, as businesses need to have their holiday items posted no later than July if they want to be eligible for most fall media coverage. Almost every point refers to an Etsy tool or feature, some of them costing you money, so use this as a very broad guideline & be careful to read between the lines.

They are still rolling out Etsy Payments to more countries: Morocco & Israel are the most recent. Note that Etsy Payments is not yet compulsory in these new countries.

Etsy Ads once again has graphs. Do you find them useful? (I haven’t run ads at all this year, so I can’t check.)

Sendle is the latest shipping company to have a label integration with Etsy shops.

Etsy asked US sellers to lobby their reps for more support for small business and other initiatives in the pandemic aid package.

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES

Google has stated that content on tabs is indexed and contributes to ranking as if it were on the page instead, but yet another test demonstrates that tabs may limit you.

Due to the pandemic, Google has delayed finalizing mobile-first indexing until March 2021. (They originally announced it would be finished this September.) That means you have more time to update your website’s mobile version, ideally with responsive design.

Site speed does matter to SEO, and Google is now asking some searchers how fast certain sites loaded for them.

User comments on your products, blog posts and website can help you improve your SEO. The article suggests ways of getting that feedback, and ways to use it. [I’ve even had buyers give me new keywords to describe my items, in their messages and reviews.]

Getting links back to your site is important to SEO, but don’t annoy people while doing it. [sort of humour & sort of a rant, but does give some useful background on why backlinks matter.] Internal links also matter.

There are some special tricks for food/recipe SEO, including structured data and even a WordPress plugin.

Another WordPress plugin: submit any new or updated pages to Bing to be automatically re/indexed.

Do your keyword research before setting up your website’s sections and sub-sections, as they should serve the buyer experience, not your perception of it. Same with choosing which pages link to each other.

SEOs are still trying to work out what happened with recent Google algorithm changes. Search Engine Journal claims that the May update was at least in part about demoting sites that had out-of-date or inaccurate information, so they suggest getting rid of the bad content on your site, or at least updating it. “Content pruning” has some advocates, but I wouldn’t worry about investing tons of time in this unless you have tons of time to spend. Just get rid of the blog posts that were wildly wrong, and the out-of-date filler. If you have a lot of sold out products, redirect those to relevant active pages.

Meanwhile, a “glitch” on August 10 led people to think there was a massive Google algorithm update happening, but it all got fixed in less than a day.

If you are behind on Google search news, here is a 7 minute video [with time stamped subtopics & resources links listed below], direct from Google.

(CONTENT) MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA (includes blogging & emails)

It’s tough to get started in social media if you don’t know the terminology, so here’s a list of the basic definitions you can consult if you get lost when reading.

Don’t know how to blog? There are formulas you can use; here are eight options, nicely laid out, with downloadable templates. Don’t forget to figure out what your audience wants to read. And make sure you avoid these common blogging mistakes.

If you have an email list but do not know how to take advantage of all the bells & whistles the companies (MailChimp, Constant Contact etc.) offer you, here are 4 ways to segment your lists. You can then send different offers or newsletters to different segments.

You can optimize your social posts for people with visual impairments; excellent tips here.

By the time you read this, the TikTok mess will likely have changed again, but here is an article on Trump’s order to prohibit US companies from doing business with TikTok owner ByteDance if the platform is not sold by September 15.

Instagram has released its TikTok challenger, Reels, in more countries.

Instagram is now offering a fundraising option, although it is a slow launch with some beta testing in the US, UK & Ireland to start.

Here are step-by-step instructions on setting up your “Shop on Instagram.”

Pinterest says that searches around self-care & wellness have spiked during the pandemic lockdowns. “Pinterest has recently seen the highest searches ever around mental wellness ideas including meditation (+44%), gratitude (+60%) and positivity (+42%) that jumped from February to May….Pinterest says that searches for ‘starting a new business’ are up 35% on average, as are searches for ‘future life goals’ (2x), ‘life bucket list’ (+65%), ‘family goals future’ (+30%) and ‘future house goals’ (+78%).” There were also some searches clearly about spending more time at home: “Productive morning routine (up 6x), Exercise routine at home (up 12x), Self care night routine (up 7x)”

LinkedIn has a new algorithm; here’s how to make it work for you. [Many of these tips also apply to social media in general.]

Spotify is now doing “video podcasts”. Apparently a lot of their podcasters already did a video version of the Spotify podcasts, but had to publish it elsewhere up until now.

Twitter now admits it is considering offering subscriptions to shore up its revenue numbers. “Shares of Twitter rose 4% in early trading Thursday following the earnings results....Twitter's growth plans are under close scrutiny as many advertisers pull back due to the pandemic. On Thursday, Twitter reported second-quarter ad revenues of $562 million, a 23% decrease compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has also been hit by advertisers participating in an ad boycott of social media, linked to the nationwide racial justice protests.” Also, the recent hack is not helping them.

That said, it is still possible to market using Twitter, and here are some of the basics.

YouTube is no longer sending email updates when a channel you follow posts new content.

ONLINE ADVERTISING (SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA, & OTHERS)

Ad spend has increased again as lockdowns end, in some cases beating last year by a decent margin.

The Buy on Google program is ending its commission fees. Participants will also be able to integrate their PayPal and/or Shopify payment options. As often is the case, they are starting with the US first, but plan on rolling it out to more countries in the future. There are more details here, and a review here (with some of the drawbacks).

Google Product Ads are now showing the item’s “material” on the listing card (before you click). If you are doing your own feed for your website, you may have the ability to add the attributes needed for the details to show up.

If you find Google Ads too expensive, consider buying search ads on Bing.

eBay is experimenting with showing ads mixed in with unpaid listings; placement would depend on the same algorithm.

Here’s a new guide to Facebook Ads [videos & text]

STATS, DATA, OTHER TRACKING

Bing has launched a new version of Webmaster Tools.

There are ways to reduce the amount of traffic that Google Analytics designates as “direct traffic”; here are 15 of them.

Currently in closed beta testing, the Google Search Console now has an “Insights” function, just like Google Analytics. I’ve found the GA one useful for telling me things I don’t always look at, so crossing my fingers that they release this to everyone soon.

ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS

Shopify helped many businesses stay open during pandemic lockdowns, giving it the boost to start competing with the likes of Amazon in ecommerce. “Shopify merchants that had previously or entirely relied on brick-and-mortar sales would later report they were able revive nearly 95% of that revenue online.”

eBay started rolling out its Managed Payments system to more sellers worldwide on July 20th. Things seem to be going slowly, with some confusion.

But eBay is also having a 25th anniversary party for sellers on September 25th; don’t forget to register.

Walmart is still delaying its new subscription model to challenge Amazon Prime, Walmart+.

Amazon in the UK has launched a “Face mask store” part of the website. I haven’t seen this on other versions of Amazon. They’ve also increased some fees for some UK sellers, based on the new UK digital tax. And they are launching a site & presence in Sweden.

The Competition Bureau of Canada has launched an investigation of Amazon’s treatment of third-party sellers. “The bureau is asking any person or business that has conducted sales via Amazon.ca to contact them if they have any insights into the issues it is investigating.“

Amazon Prime Day has been postponed to later dates this year, starting with India on August 6-7. The remaining countries will apparently be announced soon.

If you use WooCommerce, here are a bunch of free plugins, with brief descriptions.

BUSINESS & CONSUMER STUDIES, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE

Buyers do not all make purchase decisions the same way; Google uses its massive collection of data and some new studies to provide some examples. “Worldwide, search interest for “best” has far outpaced search interest for “cheap.”

It’s cheaper to keep repeat buyers than it is to find new ones; here are 16 ways to do that. One of my favourites is ““proactively providing information on how to avoid problems or get more out of your product” creates a 32% average lift to repurchase or recommend.”

It seems that researchers can never produce enough marketing guides on Gen Z and millennials.

MISCELLANEOUS (including humour)

I see a lot of new sellers, and some older sellers, confused about the idea of a business plan. HubSpot not only explains them, but also provides a downloadable template.

If you are thinking of changing careers, or just want to add skills to better run your current business, Google has many different courses, some of which they offer for free.

There are ways you can increase your productivity without (usually) working more hours. “A study published by John Pencavel of Standford University found that how much employees get done takes a sharp drop after 50 hours of work in a week, and even more drastically after 55 hours. The study found that employees working 70 hours per week actually produce nothing more in those extra 15 hours...taking a power nap in the middle of the day can help you process new information and even learn new skills.”

#SEO #seo tips #etsy #contentmarketing #ecommerce #smallbiz #ecommercetips #social media

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mostlysignssomeportents · 7 years ago

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#1yrago Touring, complete: what gear survived four months of hard-wearing book-tour?

I had the last official stop of my book tour for my novel Walkaway on Saturday, when I gave a talk and signing at Defcon in Las Vegas. It was the conclusion of four months of near-continuous touring, starting with three weeks of pre-release events; then six weeks of one-city-per-day travel through the US, Canada and the UK, then two months of weekly or twice-weekly events at book fairs, festivals and conferences around the USA.

Now I'm touring complete. There's one more event on Aug 10 -- a kind of victory lap presentation at my local library here in Burbank -- and then a trickle of events over the next six months, but that's more like my normal baseline of public appearances, a very different experience to the kind of thing I did from April until last weekend.

It's been nine years since my first book tour -- the Little Brother tour -- and as always, there were new facts on the ground to adapt to, as well as hard-won wisdom that saw me through.

Here's some new stuff: indie bookstores are doing better than they have in years, and they're expanding into lots of live events, which are better-planned and better organized than ever. In many cities, there is one thriving indie and three or four suburban Barnes & Nobles, and these have changed, too: seeing as they are the only game in town, these B&Ns attract some stellar booksellers who intimately understand marketing and also really, really care about books. Also: all the indie bookstores have devoted substantial floorspace to embroidered socks. I'm calling it: we are at peak funny-sock.

Here's some stuff that's still the same: "Never pass up a chance to take water or make water." That is hard-won, important touring advice, passed from serious traveler to serious traveler as gospel. Airports are worse than they've ever been...and it's easier to buy your way out of the hardship, between TSA Precheck and Clear, which require that you give up a ton of personal information (which I'd already given up when I applied for my Green Card, so I went ahead, and it was so, so worth it -- so much so that I presume that anyone who has the wherewithal will buy their way into these programs and cease to do anything to mitigate the traveling woes of the general public -- watch for travel to get waaaay worse for normals who only fly a couple times per year).

I've been changing out my travel gear for years, trying to find the optimal combination of flexibility and comfort. I check a bag, and my suitcase was not lost once on this tour (it's happened before, though, and had to catch up with me a city or two down the road). The suitcase was severely damaged, and more than once (more on that below).

Here's the gear that survived this trip, stuff that will stay with me on upcoming trips.

Coffee

This goes first. Life it too short for shitty coffee.

I use an Aeropress (but you knew that). I've stopped carrying around a hand-grinder. I have only so many duty-cycles left in my wrist tendons and then I will cease to be a writer. I'm not wasting them on a hand-grinder. Now I grind my coffee before I leave and put the coffee in a Ziploc Easy Open Tab quart-sized freezer bag (I keep a stash of these in my suitcase and resupply at coffee shops when I run out, having them grind for me; this means I can't buy Blue Bottle coffee since they, alone among coffee shops, will not grind their retail beans, boo) (I also bring along a handful of gallon-sized bags for various purposes). I've tried a lot of sealing bags, and Ziploc's easy opens are the only ones I can reliably seal well.

I heat water in the remarkably great Useful UH-TP147 Electric Collapsible Travel Kettle, a silicone collapsing kettle that has a thermostat that keeps water at near-boil so long as it's plugged in and on. It's multi-voltage and worked great in the UK, and it collapses down really small. The only downside: it looks weird enough on an X-ray that it is a very reliable predictor of having your bags searched by the TSA after you check them.

I am utterly dependent on the Orikaso folding cup to use with my Aeropress on the road. The majority of hotels supply paper cups, or glasses that are too narrow for the Aeropress. Carrying a rigid cup that decomposes into a thin sheet of plastic the size of a sheet of printer-paper spares me the awkwardness of holding the body of the Aeropress with one hand while pushing down on the plunger with the other to keep from squashing the paper cup.

For emergencies, I carried a stash of GO CUBES Energy Chews, a "neutraceutical" whose manufacturer makes a lot of extravagant claims for them. I think those claims are silly, but these are basically gummy-chews made from cold brew coffee (and stuff) and they work very fast and well, but did give me jitters (which were preferable to caffeine withdrawal).

Toiletries

I carried my favorite shampoo, conditioner, soap and a supply of generic woolite in a set of four Innerneed silicone tubes (which I kept in a ziploc). I've used a lot of different silicone tubes and these are my current favorites -- they have a locking mechanism that keeps the hard plastic lid more firmly in place on the silicone body of the tube, even when it's lubricated with slippery soaps, preventing the kinds of catastrophic breaches you get when the whole lid assembly just pops off the tube and everything comes pouring out.

I swapped out my old generic pharmacy rotary electric toothbrush for the Violife Slim Sonic Toothbrush, which is a AAA-battery-powered equivalent to one of those unwieldy, induction-charged Braun ultrasonic toothbrushes that my dentist wants me to use. It performs just as well as the Braun on my sink at home.

I suffer from really terrible, untreatable chronic pain and can't sleep or sit for any length of time without serious pain. I am absolutely reliant on my hot water bottle, with a knit sleeve. For my money, these are the best comfort items you can travel with -- I get them filled with boiling water by the flight attendants before take off and refill them hourly. At bedtime, I fill them from my collapsible kettle. The only downside: it's really easy to leave these behind in the bedclothes when you depart at 4AM.

I carried all my toiletries in Eagle Creek's Pack-It Wallaby Toiletry Organizer. It came highly recommended and after hard use, I see why: it has the best zippers I've ever had on a toilet bag, stores an incredible amount of stuff and still rolls up tight, and did a great job of containing one tube-of-goo breach that could have wrecked everything else.

Clothes

Before the tour, I did a bunch of reading on the best travel underwear and decided to try Uniqlo's Airism Low Rise Boxer Briefs -- they were so comfortable and so easy to wash out in the sink (and so quick drying!) that I threw away all my other underwear when I got home and ordered a half-dozen more pairs. I traveled with three pairs of these, which crumpled small enough that I could fit them all in a pants pocket (should I have a need to do so?) and I rinsed the day's underwear in the sink every night and hung them to dry, chucking them in the bag in the morning, dry and clean.

You might already know that I love the look of Volante's jackets and coats, so it won't surprise you to learn that I lived in an Augment hoodie for the first half of the tour (when the weather was cool), switching to a lighter-weight Peregrine for the second half, when things warmed up.

I started the tour with three different pairs of pants in my suitcase, but left two behind on a resupply stop at home, because I was only ever wearing my Betabrand Off-the-Grid pants, which have enough stretchiness in them to do some basic yoga in, have huge pockets that somehow don't bulge much even when overfilled, and a neat little discreet mid-thigh side pocket good for keeping boarding passes in. My complaint: these were not colorfast at all: they were basically gray by the time I got home, even though I only ever hand-washed them in hotel sinks with generic woolite.

I always travel with pajamas: when you're on long flights, you can change into them for comfort; they give you a way to interact with hotel staff from your room early in the morning or late at night without having to get dressed or put a towel around your waist. I've been buying deadstock vintage men's pajamas from Etsy all year, because they look awesome and are more comfortable than anything you'll get in stores today.

I've been using REI's Sea to Summit compression sacks as laundry bags for ages: there's no problem with wrinkling your dirty laundry, right? Compression sacks are sorcerous reminders of just how much space there is between molecules.

I lived in Native Jeffersons: basically a kid's croc shoe, but molded to look like a low-rise Converse All-Star. Super comfortable, and I could rinse them in the hotel sink every night and leave them upside-down against the wall and slip into them in the morning.

Comfort items

I traveled with a Stanley Adventure Flask that I filled with Jefferson's Reserve Pritchard Hill Cabernet Cask Finished, 15-year-old bourbon that's finished with a couple years of rest in old cabernet casks. Yum.

I always keep a couple dozen catering-sized sachets of Tabasco in my suitcase and handful in my carry-on. They don't seem to show up as liquids on TSA X-rays so you can keep them in your bag, and I've never had one burst in a bag. They make everything super-delicious (or at least bearable) and they are way more space-efficient than those cute, tiny, single-use Tabasco bottles.

Swimming

Swimming is the only way I can stay sane on tour. It keeps my chronic pain under control and burns some of the empty airplane-peanut and minibar calories.

I swim with an underwater MP3 player. After trying a lot of models, I settled on the Exeze players, which are only available for sale in the UK. However, I've since discovered that virtually the same players are sold under other brand names in the USA: one model I've tried and liked is the Aerb.

The reason I swim with an MP3 player is so that I can listen to audiobooks. I get through a couple novels per month this way. Audible's proprietary DRM format isn't compatible with MP3 players, so forget about getting your swimming audiobooks that way. Instead, try Downpour and Libro.fm, both of whom sell thousands of DRM-free audiobooks. Audiobooks and swimming are a magic combination. I couldn't make it through the tour without them.

Gadgets

I got my Calyx hotspot just over a year ago. It offers anonymous, unfiltered, unshaped, unlimited 4G/LTE wifi through Sprint's network, and supports the nonprofit good works of Calyx, who provide anonymity and privacy services to whistleblowers, journalists and many others. They are the good guys and this is a great product at a stellar price: $100 for the hotspot and $400/year for unlimited mobile broadband.

I continue to use X-series Thinkpads. I'm currently on the X270 and it runs Ubuntu very well. I didn't need any service on this tour, but I have on other tours, and I'm serene in the knowledge that the extended on-site next-day hardware replacement warranty (about $75/year!) guarantees that no matter what, I won't be without my computer for more than a day. My X270 took a lot of hard knocks on this tour and survived unscathed. My sole complaint: they screwed up the keyboards with the X230 (or so) and still haven't made a new chiclet keyboard that's half as good as the original Thinkpad keyboard. Please, Lenovo, bring my beloved keyboard back!

I use a Google Pixel phone and it's...not terrible. Everything about it works fine, but it has unbelievably shitty battery life. That is a killer on tour. The Alclap case solved that problem...for two weeks, and then it stopped working. I ordered two more, both of which were duds out of the box. The Scosche Magic Mount was more awkward to use, but also longer-lasting (it died last weekend, thanks to fraying in the wire that connected it to the phone).

Luggage

You know all those suitcases that come with ten-year warranties? They're all designed to have a ten-year duty-cycle...assuming that you travel once or twice a year. In decades of hard travel, I've yet to buy a suitcase that can live up to the punishment of daily flying.

So now I buy suitcases based on how easy they are to get warranty service on. I had heard great things about Rimowa, and I loved the look of their cases, so I bit the bullet and sprang for one (they're extremely pricey). I quickly discovered that their much-vaunted service was terrible -- in London, anyway. My options were mailing the case to Germany, or taking it to a service center on Euston Road where they were rude, deceptive, and all-around awful. I was ready to swap the case for another manufacturer when I moved from London to LA two years ago.

But in LA, the whole story is different. Rimowa's service here is handled by a place out in Beverley Hills called Coco's Leather and they're pretty good at fixing stuff (there's sometimes a week turnaround, but I've found that if I call them after messengering the busted case out to them, they can often turn it around in a day).

I needed it. My Rimowa case was seriously damaged three times on tour: twice it had wheels ripped off (the whole wheel assembly, including the riveted-on bracket, torn right out of the aluminum!) by Southwest's baggage handlers in San Diego. Another time, AA baggage handlers destroyed the latches.

I'm sticking with Riwoma for now. Every luggage expert I've spoken to says that there's just not anything that will survive the kind of punishment I put my bags through, so I'm buying based on warranties, and between Coco's Leather and Rimowa's long-lasting warranties, I can live with this situation.

I've gone through a lot of luggage tags over the years and have yet to have one last more than a few flights before it's torn off in the hold, caught in some grinding system. Now I use the TUFFTAAG Travel ID Bag Tag, made of hard-wearing aluminum with braided steel cables. Dozens of flights later, the tags are bent and battered, but still intact and still attached to my case -- that's a first.

https://boingboing.net/2017/08/02/hard-won-wisdom.html

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dramamomma56 · 5 years ago

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What is the Wheel Education Marketplace?

My father taught me to diversify and I credit him with any time I do so.

For instance, I wanted to become an actress when I finished college. I had the talent, but my father encouraged me to get my teaching certificate so I had something to fall back upon.

I’m very glad he suggested it to me. I enjoyed teaching even more than performing and that’s saying something!

Since my days in college, I use this suggestion all the time–create a play writing contest because there wasn’t one in existence for what I was needing (youth theater plays), create a youth theater company to provide more drama education opportunities for our community, spread our money over several stocks and bonds, etc.

I’ve been a Teacherspayteachers.com seller for two years. I have no complaints with it at all. However…when an acquaintance suggested I look into The Wheel Education Marketplace as another website to sell my drama education products, I was intrigued.

When you begin your store, it’s addictive and you can become hyper focused on it and not realizing there are other education marketplaces out there in web which may be a good fit for you, too.

What is The Wheel Education Marketplace?

The Wheel Education Marketplace is a youngun’ created in 2017. As of this writing, 170 sellers populate the website!

From their website: “The Wheel is an educational networking and resource marketplace that connects educators and students with knowledge, resources and tools to excel. Either digital or physical, each product is created to assist educators or students researching or preparing for a specific subject matter. The Wheel was founded by Michael de Main, a NSW Secondary Teacher.

The Wheel is a service designed for both Educators and Students to access educational resources to further their learning needs. Educators are able to share, and sell, resources they have produced and have the rights to distribute to other Educators. They are also able to share and sell directly to students, enabling them to develop broader knowledge of the topic they need assistance with. Students can access any resources for their own personal use or sell their old High School notes to the next cohort.”

Strengths of The Wheel Education Marketplace

I asked Michael De Maine what are the strengths of The Wheel. He stated, “The ability to build your own email list so you can send emails (either via the site itself or using your own platform) and not rely on just a notification like TpT. Adding up to 5 of your own related resources rather than TpT suggested ones. If you have your own website then you can embed your resources which means you keep people on your site longer plus it’s faster and easier to do. Also that resources can be filtered right down to your state or province when filtering so you know what you’re using is right for your outcomes and locality.”

As a seller, I can email my followers. That’s a wonderful asset! In my opinion, to be able to communicate with my followers and share any new products I have is worth the work of setting up a store. An email list is absolutely vital to a store of this kind.

I asked a teacher/author Mathew Forman of ELA in Middle School what he thought of The Wheel, he said, “”I love the easy access to the administrative team! Always ready to help if I encounter a problem!” (I agree!)

I’m impressed with The Wheel (as I affectionately call it.) Michael de Main is interested in creating the best website he can offer and he does an excellent job of listening to his sellers. I like that I can ask him a question and he answers it pronto. That doesn’t always happen in other sites.

The Reasons to Diversify Where You Sell Your Products

My goal is to have all of my drama education lessons on The Wheel by September. Lord knows if I’ll make it (I have over 200), but I’m gonna try.

I was researching the subject of the reasons to diversify where you sell your products and ran on to this great blog post from dearhandmadelife.com. Here is a bit of it.

#1 Reach New Audiences and More People

Just like you wouldn’t only sell wholesale in ONE retail shop, limiting where you sell online to only one place can have you missing out on audiences that would have never known you otherwise!

Think of these places as advertisement for your product beyond immediate selling propositions. It is a new place to gain SEO. It’s a new place to have an influencer, gift guide or buyer stumble onto your product.

#2 Weather Platform Ups and Downs

Whether it’s been good or bad for you, Etsy has become a very different place. It’s changed a lot. Same with the craft show scene. Even how wholesale is conducted has changed a lot in the last few years and continues to change!

These changes are inevitable. The good thing is that the more diversified your selling outlets are, the better chance you’ll have of weathering that. A platform like Amazon Handmade can help create a steady stream of sales, even if it doesn’t become your primary place to sell online.

#3 Push a Growth Mindset

You should experiment and figure out what works for you.

This naturally stretches you and your business to help create a growth mindset. While putting yourself out there in a new avenue can feel intimidating, if you do it enough it becomes old hat. Other bigger challenges don’t seem so scary!

#4 Understand Your Business from a New Perspective

Putting yourself into a new business avenue can give you perspective you never had! You can see your product through the eyes of new customers and better hone in on what you offer. Each interaction with new customers gives you a little bit more data about your product, marketing and service. This means better products and ways of selling.

Helpful, huh?

If you are interested in seeing a few of my Wheel Marketplace products, check them out here: DRAMAMOMMASPEAKS

Hamilton, the Musical

Hugh Jackman Biography

In the Heights Musical

Costume Design with Fairy Tales

It Could Always Be Worse

The Brave Little Tailor

Growth Mindset Posters

Set Design Unit

Playwriting Lesson

Radio Theater Unit and Play

The good part of diversifying is that it is easy for me to pivot (which seems to be our buzz word for 2020) from one store to another. In time, I will offer a product or two on the Wheel which you can not get anywhere else. Of course, the challenging part is keeping up with everything, but that’s nothing new for me.

Do you sell products on line? Do you sell them in several places? I’d love to hear about your experiences. Contact me at [email protected] or DeborahBaldwin.net

What is The Wheel Education Marketplace? What is the Wheel Education Marketplace? My father taught me to diversify and I credit him with any time I do so.

#costume design #diversify selling your products #drama lesson #drama units #fairy tale plays #famous artist biography #growth mindset posters #Hamilton #in the heights #multicultural folks tales #musical lessons #musical units #playwriting lessons #radio plays #the musical

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universeinform-blog · 8 years ago

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WordPress Plugin NextGEN Gallery Vulnerable to SQL Injection Attack

New Post has been published on https://universeinform.com/2017/03/29/wordpress-plugin-nextgen-gallery-vulnerable-to-sql-injection-attack/

WordPress Plugin NextGEN Gallery Vulnerable to SQL Injection Attack

The NextGen gallery has been plagued with a severe safety flaw for the second one time in consecutive years, and this time it’s miles even worse.

An internet safety company- Sucuri found that the NextGen gallery for WordPress (WP) is laid low with an intense Sq. injection vulnerability and attackers can get admission to the focused internet site’s database inside minutes which includes all of the touchy records.

“This is pretty an essential trouble, If you are the usage of a vulnerable version of this plugin, replace as soon as possible!��

More: 10 Ways to Protect Your WordPress Website online You Didn’t Realize Approximately

There are two opportunities from which the vulnerability may be exploited stated Mr. Mihajloski. If a website makes use of this plugin and the users are allowed to submit posts, an attacker can exploit the difficulty by executing malicious code via shortcodes, whilst the other opportunity is that if a site uses the NextGen fundamental tag cloud gallery in which case it may be exploited by using executing Square queries by using enhancing the URL of the gallery.

Up until now, this vulnerability hasn’t been exploited, however with over 1 million lively installs of the defective version of this plugin, you can best expect that havoc can cause if this difficulty isn’t taken care of speedy.

Also, this isn’t the primary time that the NextGen plugin has been inflamed with an important vulnerability. The remaining year the professionals found out a faraway code execution threat posting a massive protection hazard to the customers.

Although That is a vulnerability in WordPress plugin, the CMS itself isn’t always an awful lot comfy both. Closing month safety researchers at Sucuri located an extreme content injection vulnerability in WordPress that could let attackers edit content material on the WP based internet site.

What’s Best for My Site: WordPress or Joomla

You need to be really careful in terms of selecting the best platform for Seo. It’s very difficult to advocate a person approximately this due to the fact the choice need to specifically be primarily based on the desires of the websites and needs to be personalized. Maximum of the instances, users war among Joomla and WordPress. Both of them have their personal blessings, however, WordPress has gained lots of reputation over the latest years. This is manifestly for excellent motives. No matter the popularity, Joomla is observed simply in the back of. Right here we analyze them to determine what’s great on your Seo.

1. WordPress as a Winner

There are numerous benefits of the use of WordPress. One among the biggest perks of using its miles that you don’t must be an expert at HTML coding so that it will operate it. Modifications to the internet site may be made even when you have very little knowledge to it because it’s miles relatively very easy to perform. The kind of themes available makes it cheaper to build the website. it is incredible due to the fact SEO is made quite simple because of WordPress. There are masses of tools that continues it smooth to recognize and highly prepared. Thru WordPress, adding e-commerce in your internet site is a lot simpler and handy.

With all the perks, there are a few downsides of the use of WordPress. One of the Most commonplace ones of these faced by means of users around the arena is that WordPress improvements its software very often. If you want to function it at its high-quality, you need to maintain up with all of the upgrades often. Although you can make Modifications even without understanding HTML, a number of the instances it ends up searching entirely distinct in the actual browser. This might add to your frustrations as a user. If you want to customize a subject matter, it could be very steeply-priced Thru WordPress. In spite of some of these downsides, the perks outweigh the downsides evidently.

Let’s take a look at Joomla as a content management system.

2. Joomla as a Winner

For quite a few customers, Joomla continues to be running without a doubt well and there are a number of reasons for this. Even though the installation is tons extra hard than WordPress, it’s far still handy in quite a few methods in evaluation to other content management systems. Considering it is written in Php scripting, there may be lesser compatibility associated problems. Even though it seems tough to function, Joomla gives quite a few tutorials to the customers if they ever appear misplaced even as using it. In spite of little or no technical information, you may without difficulty perform Joomla. Most people locate it extra complicated than WordPress. On account that Joomla has an extensive range of extensions, you have got a number of freedom in selecting the one that customizes along with your needs.

Protection is a subject for folks that employ Joomla. a variety of customers has additionally confronted problems like compatibility, costing and restrained a number of customers.

Creating a Wall Gallery in Your Home

A gallery wall can immediately elevate the style of any area in any room in your home. Gallery partitions vary substantially, relying on the décor and taste of the human beings doing the arranging. They may be the total period of the wall, of a couch or other piece of furnishings, going up a staircase, or pretty much anyplace else.

Pick the Art You Need to Consist of

A gallery wall gives you a risk to make a declaration about who you’re and what you like. Your gallery is a first-rate manner to report and tell a tale of your travels and reports, display pix of family contributors through the years, display Artwork you’ve got gathered, show hand-drawn (framed) illustrations, contain metallic or wood items you have gathered, and much extra.

Blend it all Together

Introduce numerous exceptional materials and textures. Break up framed Artwork with timber Art, mental symptoms and even herbal factors along with feathers, branches, observed objects, and so on. Have a laugh the usage of your imagination.

Blend artwork and photographs, black and white with coloration, and high and low pieces. Gallery walls can consist of your favored portions of Art, artwork, the circle of relatives pictures, trinkets from trips, metal or timber items, and lots greater. If you’re seeking out objects to fill your gallery, go to flea markets, storage sales, thrift shops, Etsy, consignment stores, your grandmother’s house, antique shops, and different places of the hobby. Enjoy the hunt.

Frame It

Similarly to the Artwork you Select, keep in mind of the frames that highlight the Artwork. For an easy, formal, and minimalist look, Choose frames inside the same length and color. For a more eclectic look, Mix and in shape image frames so it seems which you’ve gathered the Artwork over time. In case you log on you may locate many framing opportunities which are a long way less highly-priced than going to and framing keep. You could discover thrilling vintage frames at flea markets, vintage stores, and backyard income.

Tip: If you have an unpleasant object on the wall (including the container for door chimes, why now not positioned a Body round it to include it in the gallery.

Provide you with a Game Plan

Once you have all of the Artwork you Want to Encompass, keep in mind that placement is the whole thing. Don’t simply begin placing. Right here are a few hints for arising with a clever wall:

Degree the amount of wall area you Need to fill. Then tape off a section that length on the floor. Set up, re-Set up, and rearrange once more the whole thing you Need to dangle until you Come up with the gallery wall that you are feeling seems great. Once you’re glad for the association, take some pix for reference. Or reduce out paper the exact sizes of your Artwork and tape the cutouts to the wall. Then grasp your Artwork one item at a time.

Why Energy Drinks Can Trigger Panic Attacks

Thousands and thousands of us citizens every day along with teens and adults are getting all hyped up from power liquids every day. It’s come to be a fad around the world and its hip and funky to drink strength drinks irrespective of what time of day. Children and adults aren’t only investing electricity beverages for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, however, they are also drinking power drinks at events as properly.

With Kids, the higher the attention of caffeine and different stimulants the more famous those beverages come to be. Lamentably quite a few Youngsters don’t realize that it may motive them to have panic assaults. For that count number, loads of adults do not know that either. They don’t have any concept why they once in a while experience the manner they do after consuming power drinks.

They can begin feeling extraordinarily “amped up” with hot flashes which can be ripping via their bodies caused by the adrenal gland secreting adrenaline at some point of their frame. They’ll begin feeling a tightness of their chest and a choking sensation that they cannot breathe correctly.

Their coronary heart will begin racing abnormally excessive and might even pass a beat or two causing extra worry to tear thru their frame and they do not understand what’s going on to themselves. Panic attacks caused via power beverages also can purpose now not best physical symptoms, however mental symptoms as well. Emotions of unreality or an intense feeling of coming near doom or demise are quite not unusual with panic attacks.

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mostlysignssomeportents · 8 years ago

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Touring, complete: what gear survived four months of hard-wearing book-tour?

It's been nine years since my first book tour -- the Little Brother tour -- and as always, there were new facts on the ground to adapt to, as well as hard-won wisdom that saw me through.

Here's the gear that survived this trip, stuff that will stay with me on upcoming trips.

Coffee

This goes first. Life it too short for shitty coffee.

Toiletries

Clothes

Comfort items

Swimming

Swimming is the only way I can stay sane on tour. It keeps my chronic pain under control and burns some of the empty airplane-peanut and minibar calories.

Gadgets

Luggage

I've gone through a lot of luggage tags over the years anhd have yet to have one last more than a few flights before it's torn off in the hold, caught in some grinding system. Now I use the TUFFTAAG Travel ID Bag Tag, made of hard-wearing aluminum with braided steel cables. Dozens of flights later, the tags are bent and battered, but still intact and still attached to my case -- that's a first.

https://boingboing.net/2017/08/02/hard-won-wisdom.html

27 notes · View notes

mostlysignssomeportents · 8 years ago

Text

Touring, complete: what gear survived four months of hard-wearing book-tour?

It's been nine years since my first book tour -- the Little Brother tour -- and as always, there were new facts on the ground to adapt to, as well as hard-won wisdom that saw me through.

Here's the gear that survived this trip, stuff that will stay with me on upcoming trips.

Coffee

This goes first. Life it too short for shitty coffee.

Toiletries

Clothes

Comfort items

Swimming

Swimming is the only way I can stay sane on tour. It keeps my chronic pain under control and burns some of the empty airplane-peanut and minibar calories.

Gadgets

Luggage

https://boingboing.net/2017/08/02/hard-won-wisdom.html

51 notes · View notes