web site design – ebay stores design – small business websites

We are still testing hundreds of clients sites to see what is going on with Twitter. Twitter made a decision to change their login methods for those using WordPress plugins. Therefore, if you are using a plugin to post to twitter, you will need to upgrade it or change it.

We are currently testing and feel confident with Twitter Tools for WordPress, while using the Facebook twitter application and RSS Graffitti. Why so many tools?

1. Twitter Tools posts from our blog to Twitter.

2. RSS Graffitti picks up the blog feed and puts it on Facebook, a little delayed but appears about every 30 minutes. It does not update status with images, so we opt out of the status update.

3. Facebook posts to Twitter, if it is a status update only, therefore the blog post going onto Twitter does not get posted twice.

I know, it’s complicated.

Recently we were informed that Twitter has changed their API connectivity which may cause some blog feeds from WordPress to go haywire. We are working on testing for some of the issues and will post results soon….

One of the most neglected parts of ecommerce is getting the word out. Time and time again new internet retailers just put up a site and then do nothing. These are the few that subscribe to the old adage “Build it and they will come.”

A few months or a year goes by and their next move is to call around and find someone to do SEO work because they have heard that Search Optimization will get them some free clicks and they need business. Those who do search optimization are in a great position, everyone knows that being on top of Google is king, and the money to be made by these professionals has hit the roof. As time ticks by not much happens. Sure you get some keywords to rank, but the majority of your promise is still sitting in your website unnoticed.

This is where the shopping feed comes in. Specifically Google Base which has been rolling along bringing great sales to many a smart retailer for free.

Sellers who don’t utilize a platform that does shopping feeds automatically need to get with it. There are many ecommerce shopping carts that do this, and one of the best to do it automatically is ProStores. Set it up, and wallah! Go! You’ve got business. Neglect it and guess what, you’ll be out there paying some programmer disguised as an SEO expert $2 grand to do not much of nothing that will reflect in internet sales.

Another cart that does this is Channeladvisor and Miva can do it using Template Data Feeds by Emporiumplus.com

Moreover you can subscribe to a number of feed services that will do all the updating for you.

So get with it people! Stop complaining about a lack of sales and increase your money making activities on the internet now…. For FREE!

Everyone wants a great looking eBay Store, but what some people don’t know is the limitations on stores and eBay Listings.

1. Live Chat on an eBay Listing or store: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/reviewsandguides/links-reviews-guides.html Prohibited links include: Links or other connections to live chat systems. You can include a live chat link in your About Me page or custom Stores pages, but not in your Store home page.  You may include your chat user names in an item description, but not a link to chat. http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-links.html
2. Audio or Video on eBay: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-links.html You can include a video in your listings as long as it can be played back within the listing. But you’re not allowed to link from your description to a video on another website. There are some exceptions, ie: YouTube video is okay.
3. Mailing Lists on eBay: Links or solicitations to subscribe to non-eBay newsletters or mailing lists are not allowed.
4. Scripts on eBay: If you try to use scripts that we disable, you’ll get an error message that says “Disallowed JavaScript/HTML Syntax”. This means you won’t be able to list the item, or the script will be disabled at run-time.
5. Logos with .com on ebay: Anchor Store logos that are used on the Stores home page have to include the official Store name, and the name can’t include any of the variations of “.com” or other extensions like .net or .org
6. Phone numbers on eBay: Store logos and Anchor Store logos can’t include phone numbers, email addresses, or other contact information
7. Flash on eBay: Store logos and Anchor Store logos can’t flash, move, or be animated

There are virtually hundreds of rules for eBay Stores and eBay Auction Listings, but the above sampling are a few of the more common requests that we get. While we can design using any of these infractions we do not recommend it. It’s only a matter of time for any eBay seller until a competitive seller will bring your store or listing to the attention of the eBay policy enforcers and you are pulled down for this. I’ve seen sellers with thousands of auctions be pulled down in a heartbeat even though they have sold for years on eBay.

I will be out and about and traveling to Las Vegas for the Ecommerce Summit 2010 Tuesday April 13. eBay will once again be sending an army of executives from the various departments to the eCommerce Summit to spend quality face time with sellers about their issues, suggestions and concerns. In addition there will be a host of great speakers but more importantly great friends to network with on everything eCommerce.  If you’re in Vegas, look me up!

..Suzanne

With so many get rich quick schemes on the internet – it’s a wonder that more of these stories are not out and about.  Albert Gonzales will have seen most of his life go by before he is eligible to get out of prison. He will be 48 years old.

Gonzalez, who once called  his criminal enterprise “Operation Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” apparantly did not factor in the Get Rich or Go to Jail slogan that he should have used instead. He was involved with two other hackers who got into the credit card cookie jar causing damage of over $130 million to Heartland and Hannaford companies.

According to Wired.com the 28 year old hacker along with other accomplices got into JC Penny, 7/11 and others by using a mysql injection technique, which basically means he hacked the database that is holding all the credit card numbers.

the hackers installed back doors to provide them with continued access. They tested their malware against 20 different antivirus programs to make sure they wouldn’t be detected, and also programmed the malware to erase evidence from the hacked networks to avoid forensic detection.

Although they hacked in 2007, Heartland discovered the hackers on its network only in January 2009

This just goes to show people that Crime may pay in the beginning, but it certainly doesn’t pay overall.