It’s Monday and the inbox is a little full, so instead of a blog post today, I’ll tackle some of your questions that have passed muster for inclusion right here:
From email: I’ve had a Yahoo! Store for almost seven years now and I’m looking at moving my store over to another platform that offers more included features and more design flexibility. Do you have any recommendations for me to look at?
Sorry to hear you’re considering leaving the Yahoo! Store platform. I started using big purple for my eCommerce stores in 1998 and even started a business around the Yahoo! customer in 2001. While I love working with and on the Y! Platform, it’s frustrating to see other shopping carts like Magento, Volusion, 3dCart and others continually come out with new features while Y! hasn’t made much headway since I first used it over a decade ago.
There is no shortage of shopping carts out there and I encourage you to test drive several and come up with a list of must have features that you’re going to need to run your business properly. Compare that list with the feature set of the cart as well as looking at reliability, scalability, design flexibility, support and customer service as well as price.
I’m not in a position to make a recommendation on another cart, because I simply haven’t used any other than Yahoo! Good luck in your search tho and be sure that whatever cart you choose, make sure that your URLs can remain the same to avoid being punished by the SEO Gods.
From email: I know you’ve said that I should be blogging at least two to three times a week, but I can’t think of anything to blog about! Any suggestions?
When all else fails, you can always write about Charlie Sheen. Just kidding. When you have writer’s block and can’t come up with a topic for today’s blog post, go to your store, browse around and pick an item – any item. Then start writing about different ways that item can be used, how customers are using it, why you decided to carry it, what you like about it, what others like about it, what you hate about it and why someone should fork over the money to buy one.
If you just don’t want to write… enlist the help of guest bloggers. If a customer sends a comment about how wonderful an item they bought from you is, ask them to write you a few paragraphs for the blog in return for a coupon off their next order.
From email: Romney or Obama?
I haven’t voted since George W was elected president not by the popular vote, but by the electoral college votes. Seeing that my vote didn’t count, I haven’t voted since nor am I registered to.
From email: I post about three or four times a week on my store’s Facebook page, but I kind of gave up on Twitter. Is Twitter something I should still be concerned with?
In my opinion, Twitter is a vast wasteland of trash inhabited by spammers and those who believe they can make Zuckerberg style billions pushing their multi-level-marketing agenda. Then throw in the motivational speaker quotes and it’s like an Amway convention held in the deep south.
With that said, I don’t think you should completely give up on Twitter – keep a small presence there – but spend time cultivating followers on Facebook, Pinterest and Google+.
From Facebook: Hey there Mr. I Love Apple. Did you order the new MacBook yet? LOL
Well, LOL back you SOB. FWIW, I didn’t. I’m trying to determine if I should give up my 17” MacBook Pro for the 15” MacBook Pro with retina display. While I’d love to ditch the nine pound boat anchor that I love lugging around airports, I’d hate to give up 2 inches. After all, every inch counts – right ladies?
From email: I just received a couple of quotes to redesign my store at [domain deleted]. I got a quote from your company and a few others and I’m confused as to why there is such a big difference in price between them all.
Without seeing all the quotes (please do not send them to me), it’s hard to see if you’re getting apples to apples on each one. However, I’m going to assume that you are. When it comes to putting a quote together for a redesign, it’s all based on labor – design and programming labor. Those labor charges are going to vary between companies based on their overhead which is why you will see varying costs. For example, a small company with a few employees who work from home may have little overhead and can do their work for $75 – $100 an hour, while a larger company in an office building with a couple dozen employees and free pizza Friday’s needs to charge $125 – $150 an hour. Then of course, you have boutique firms who, like my lawyer, charges $300 an hour and doesn’t come with a kiss.
On average, I would expect to pay anywhere between $7,000 and $12,000 for a redesign of a Yahoo! Store that has all the latest bells and whistles.
From email: I’m getting ready to (finally) have your company design a blog for my store. They told me it should be on press something or other, do you know what they’re talking about?
Well, you’re close. The “press something” they’re talking about is WordPress. WordPress is the most popular blogging software out there and it’s very simple to use. I have several blogs that I run for nefarious reasons and they are all running on the WordPress platform. If my friend Pam can manage her blog on WordPress, you can too. Don’t fret, when your blog is out of the design and programming phase, you’ll get some training that will have you on the road to writing your first post in no time.
From Facebook: I read your post about Domino’s Pizza. Coming from Northeast PA you should be ashamed of yourself for even mentioning that crap. Next time you’re passing through, spend a few bucks in Old Forge and get some real pizza.
Well! You’re just begging for me to click the “unfriend” button now aren’t you? I will agree that Old Forge has some good pizza and I’ve had them all – Arcaro & Genell, Revello’s, Ghigiarelli’s, Anthony’s, Brutico’s, Rinaldi’s, Salerno’s and a few other’s I can’t remember. My favorite is Revello’s, even if Hillary Clinton ate there. But down here in south Florida my guinea brothers just can’t make a good pie, so I resort to Domino’s on occasion. I’m sure even the Pope has eaten a little meat on a Friday during lent, so give me a break.