Earlier today I did a quick post on a new shopping cart service offered by Ashop Commerce and I thought it would be nice to give a more in depth software overview of their shopping cart software.
So, here it is:
The ecommerce software offered by Ashop Commerce looks to be simple enough to be managed and customized by most internet savvy business people. Or anyone who can read the user guide, though, that may be a stretch in some cases. What the cart offers is full control over the storefront design, the addition of custom pages with or without column boxes, and the ability to automatically showcase your best selling items. And that’s without the need for a degree in web design. I think developments in software like this will make having an online store accessible to anyone, and it should lower the cost of development which is always nice.
So, if you’re looking into your own web business, definitely give Ashop Commerce a browse.
This has to be one of my favorite top ten buzz building methods this year. The humorous slap in the face! As most of you know, Lenovo missed the boat and came out second with their ultra thin laptop, but at least they did it with style. I’ve watched this video like three times already, it’s awesome.
In the past few months I’ve been giving some serious thought towards starting another futon online store. Something that would appeal towards college kids more, so today I started browsing for a way to promote your online store when I found Ashop Commerce, designers of a nice looking shopping cart & ecommerce software. The cart itself seems very rich in the options you can work with, fully customizable layouts, inventory, payment integrations, traffic reports, and a full newsletter management system are just the tip of the iceberg.
The cost of the whole cart wasn’t too bad either. You’re looking at $49 to $199 per month to have your custom shopping cart. But, there’s more optional features that you can add on as well! Logo Design, Search Engine Optimization, Business to Business Ecommerce Function, Homepage Design, MaxMind Fraud Protection, and more only available to Ashop customers. I think those features will really help a new business get a jump start on having an online presence.
This weekend I was checking up on a few Google things (ranking, PR, Links, SEO Stuff) that I Obsess About like to keep an eye on from time to time when I saw that Goodnight Moon Futon, my retail site, has been given site links. How cool is that, all you need to do is perform a Google Search for Goodnight Moon Futon to see for yourself. Or you could just take the image above as proof.
So, what does that mean?
Some of the webmasters over at Digital Point seem to think it means Google sees your site as becoming important enough to warrant it. I’m not too sure, but I still think it’s pretty cool.
Do any of your sites have Google Sitelinks? Let me know…
Here’s the deal, holding a contest with Blogger didn’t go over very well. I couldn’t contact the participants and I still have a futon cover I’d like to give away. As you can see, I’m advertising the contest on Contest Hound!
This month I will be giving away a full size Chinese Poem futon cover valued at $116. What do you need to do to win? Just comment in this tread, be sure to include your email (unpublished), and wait till May 7th for me to announce the winner. I’ll be using a random integer generator to pick the winner.
BTW, winners must reside within the Continental US for free shipping. Everyone else, don’t comment unless you want to pay for shipping.
Originally I had my blog setup on a Blogger platform. It was easy to use, edit, and publish posts. But, when I tried to hold my first and only contest, I gave away a futon cover, blogger didn’t record emails. In fact, you need to have a blogger account to even leave a comment on a post. That in turn leads to other problems, as most people don’t allow contact from their profile.
So, I now have a futon cover to give away and I think I might just hold the contest here instead. What do you think, is that a good or bad idea?
Almost every couple months in the furniture industry these days we hear about the cost of oil increasing and as a consequence futons are going up as well. But did you know that the same thing has started with cotton as well? This January I met with one of my mattress manufacturers at the World Market in Las Vegas. Gary, my rep, works for a well established mattress manufacturer in the Midwest with over one hundred years in the business. They process their own cotton at their own mills and actually sell batting to other manufacturers.
As things stand, Gary said, cotton prices in the US are now starting to rise as the Chinese Machine buys up cotton futures around the world. Cotton is actually being imported to China to make up for the huge demand that the Chinese farmers can’t meet. The increase is small at the moment, but it could rise any time (maybe Haynes will have a good year and the mattress industry will bear the burden).
It’s that time of year again when our local free paper, The Valley Advocate puts out it’s list of the best places for everything in the Pioneer Valley. As I thumbed through the pages I noticed all the regulars, the businesses that have been in the number one spots for the past five or six years. There I am with my former coworkers for our employers #1 picture last year, I look pretty beat in that picture. But I didn’t get a whole lot of sun being in the warehouse all day.
But wait, aren’t a lot of the best businesses in the valley hefty advertisers in the Valley Advocate? Hmm, I think so. I wonder if having a higher advertising budget could influence your standings in the best of the Valley “poll” that the Advocate throws every year to give a little back to it’s money makers.
Maybe, what do you think? Feel free to let me know.
On almost every webmaster forum I browse there is undoubtedly at least one or two threads about the next Google Pagerank update. It’s always the same song and dance as well, forumites posting questions such as: “when the pagerank update taking place”, “all the data centers are down can anyone check my pr”, and “has anyone seen any changes today”. This is usually on the same page as three or four other forum threads about the update.
What they should be doing is writing new content for their blog or website. Having high PR is nice, but in my opinion doesn’t do a whole lot for you unless you’re trying to sell links. Which, coincidently, will put you in the Google “sandbox” faster than you can blink if you get caught. So, stop worrying about when the PR update will happen and focus on your sites, it will only help you in the long run.
Ok, I’m off my soapbox now!
Oh yeah, I know my blog isn’t about SEO or MMB but I still felt like ranting on my own turf (for once).
I thought today I would take a break from the Japanese design (did I hear sighs of relief or despair). Instead I would like to showcase some very interesting art I found at Pieke Bergmans Design Virus. The Majority of the art work is abstract functional, and it really does something for me. Here is a nice collection of images from the Utopoia Infected project:
Astonishing how a creature can hide itself so well, and then suddenly expose itself so extravagantly. Beware: A high risk of contamination is involved when they are around. The mirrors shatter their surroundings into distorted fragments.
