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cindylouwho-2 · 3 years

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RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, May 2, 2021

Welcome to my latest summary of recent ecommerce news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & Etsy. If you are interested in Etsy news, please read my top story below, as there seem to be a lot of changes afoot. (There is also a section general Etsy news below that.)

If you have any questions or news you would like me to cover, please drop me a line here on Tumblr, reply to this post, email me, or contact me on Twitter.

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES

Something is brewing at Etsy: as of April 26, people in almost all non-Etsy Payments countries “temporarily” cannot open new shops. They hid this development in a Help file, but someone reported it to Ecommerce Bytes, which garnered more attention. Why does this matter? Currently, Etsy Payments (EP) is only available in 44 countries; i.e., most of the world cannot currently open a new shop on Etsy. [Updated May 3 2021] Apparently the only exception is India; see the screenshot below, which someone kindly sent me:

(please click to see it in more detail, or check it out on Twitter)

There was no warning, and no published end date, even though they say it is temporary. Of course, they say it is to protect buyers, but they said that when they removed standalone PayPal too, and we know that was just about making more money. It’s possible they are adding new payment companies to the backend which will be able to operate in most of these countries, greatly expanding their take from EP. The first quarter report is scheduled for May 5, and that is often the time they announce new or expanded income streams. Expect to learn more sometime around then. In the meantime, watch for payment glitches.

It is also possible that the above situation is related to the glut of bad press Etsy has garnered recently. They released a blog post on April 29th, explaining how they plan on spending $40 million extra this year on marketplace enforcement. Turns out, they were just trying to get out in front of an April 30th report from Business Insider [paywall], which describes 800 policy violations in listings on the site. You can get the details in articles from Engadget and Gizmodo. This might get more traction, as both Insider and Gizmodo noted it is very easy to find more prohibited and even illegal items on Etsy.

“After Etsy deleted the listings the outlet identified, Insider reports that it was still able to find several others for ivory products, brass knuckles, mandrake roots, tools for using cannabis concentrates, mass-produced products, and other banned items. We poked around Etsy’s marketplace as well, and within a few minutes found a bunch of prohibited products, including a vintage ivory bracelet put up for sale as recently as March, several weapons that are plainly marketed as such, and a shop with more than 1,000 reviews selling all manner of spells for attracting love, wealth, and what have you.” [from Gizmodo]

Note that Etsy has also changed the wording of its Prohibited Items policy to include new definitions for counterfeit items. See discussion on this Reddit thread. Etsy is also still getting negative attention for allowing fake COVID-19 vaccine cards to be posted for sale. Vice has the most recent article, and Forbes has an overview of this hot new scam area.

So, is all of this linked, and if yes, what does it mean? Etsy hasn't cared about enforcing its listing policies for many years, as long as the media doesn't notice. Heck, you can still buy gift boxes of manufactured candy in thousands of shops, which is expressly prohibited, yet reporting never removes them. Is the media finally noticing enough to make a difference, or is Etsy really embarking on a huge cleanup that includes (at least temporarily) banning people from most countries from opening new shops? We will likely learn more this month, and perhaps even this week.

ETSY NEWS

Etsy says that shoppers are searching for “eco-friendly” items more often this year, and released a trend report on the topic. Insights include “42% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for reusable cotton menstrual pads...100% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for reusable straws...76% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for food covers...54% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for reclaimed wood shelves...176% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for environmentally friendly candles...712% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for eco-friendly tissue paper...285% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for vintage hoodies.” Definitely read the report if you want to know everything that people are looking for.

They also did a UK-based article on trends in outdoor items. Search tips of note: “2,644% YoY increase in UK searches on Etsy for patio furniture...Over 1,000% YoY increase in UK searches on Etsy for spring wreaths...1,266% YoY increase in UK searches on Etsy for garden lights or lanterns” It is hard to say how much these trends can be extrapolated to other countries, as the UK appears to have embraced online shopping much more during the pandemic than some other countries (see story below).

The latest Etsy Success podcast [transcript with podcast links] covers their buyer research, as well as a few questions from sellers. Not much here, except for the fact that they do expect wedding sales to pick up.

Reverb had a really large data breach, exposing the personal information of over 5 million customers.

As mentioned above, Etsy’s first quarter financial results for 2021 will be out on May 5th.

Apparently, Etsy is testing videos in search; here is a forum thread on the topic.

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES

Here is an intermediate/semi-advanced article on ecommerce websites and common SEO issues. If you don’t do any of your own coding and don’t have much control over site design and indexing, skip the first 3 points.

Link building: what is a high-quality link? (you know, the type we are always told we need.) Moz’s Whiteboard Friday covers the basics. [video & transcript]

If you are new to blogging or writing instructional articles for your website, this template for writing for both readers and for Google SEO should be very useful.

Google introduced an algorithm update for product reviews starting April 8th. If you review other products on your website or blog, you will want to get the details here and here.

The Google page experience algorithm update has been delayed; it is now going to start in June and be completed by the end of August. That and more is covered in the Google Search News video for April. [YouTube video with highlights and links in the comments]

Yes, you can use SEO to get more attention to your podcasts. Here’s a detailed how-to.

Focussing on YouTube? Here are some tools for YouTube SEO. (Some are free or have free versions.)

There are probably as many Google SEO myths as there are Google algorithm factors, but Google saying something isn’t true isn’t always proof it is a myth. With that in mind, please enjoy this summary of 15 Google ranking factor myths (some of which are in dispute).

[semi-advanced content] The current state of long tail SEO has changed due to both searcher behaviour and Google, and that has led to both more and less opportunity. [Google redirecting results to what it thinks the searcher really wanted, even when the exact words aren’t on the page that they rank first, reminds me of what is happening with Etsy search lately.]

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

Facebook still has the most traffic in the US, compared to all other social networks, but YouTube is even more popular. YouTube and Reddit are the only established major platforms with significant growth since 2019. You can read more details from the actual study here.

Instagram is working on new ways for creators to make money on the platform, not just those with business accounts.

HubSpot put together a summary of how the algorithms work on Facebook, Twitter, And Instagram.

Reddit appears to be testing a group voice chat feature, which would compete with Clubhouse.

TikTok isn’t just for young people; parents and grandparents are now on the platform too.

Twitter’s timeline algorithm (active if you are seeing “Top Tweets” on your feed) tends to ignore a lot of external links, and more than half of the posts can be “suggestions” from people you don’t follow. I’ve noticed lately that Twitter rarely makes suggestions in my chronological timeline anymore, except when I don’t have any activity for over 24 hours.

Twitter obeyed an order from the government of India and removed several dozen tweets which criticized the government’s COVID-19 response. The tweets in question can still be seen outside of India, however.

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

Understanding the definition of “return on ad spend” (ROAS) is the first step to making sure your ROAS is good for your business. “in general, a ROAS of 4:1 ($4 in revenue for every $1 spent) or higher usually suggests a successful campaign. But keep in mind that this is just a benchmark, not something to swear by. Some businesses need a ROAS of 10:1 to stay profitable, while others can do well with just 3:1...A large profit margin means you can continue the campaign with a low ROAS, whereas smaller margins demand a relatively higher ROAS and low advertising costs to maintain profitability. ROAS can also vary by platform. For instance, the average ROAS for Google Ads is 2:1.”

10% of money spent on US online ads last year went to Amazon, but they are still well behind Google. Meanwhile, Facebook’s ad revenue was up 46% in the first quarter of 2021, Google’s was up 32% & Bing's increased by 17%.

eBay launched the ability to automate their Promoted Listings.

ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS

Payment processor Stripe purchased TaxJar, with a plan to integrate it into Stripe. This would provide new options for calculating & filing US taxes to Stripe customers. TaxJar will also have a standalone version for the moment. While TaxJar does do US taxes for business from many countries, it has almost nothing available regarding non-US taxes at this time. (Someone needs to do this for other taxes including UK VAT registration, since they don’t have a minimum threshold for micro businesses, and are no longer in the EU, so won’t be included in the new VAT collection rules come July 1. How many sole proprietors want to be registering for & remitting all of these countries by ourselves?)

In related news, Florida has joined most other US states in requiring online businesses to collect state sales tax even if they have no base in Florida. Missouri is now the only state with sales tax but without such a law, and they are working on it.

eBay has rolled out its new coupon code tool. Also, they released lower than expected projections for the current quarter, which has disappointed the analysts.

Meanwhile, Amazon hugely beat its first quarter expectations, and projects the growth will continue. Prime Day will be in June instead of July this year; date to come.

Also, Amazon is letting its larger brands email customers directly, which was previously not allowed. Customers do have to follow the brand to receive these messages.

Mailchimp will soon be offering ecommerce stores, including a free option that has a 2% transaction fee, or more advanced versions with lower transaction fees for $10 and $29 a month respectively. US and UK customers will be able to start a store as of May 18th.

Shopify probably doesn’t feel that threatened by the new competition, as their first quarter revenue was up more than 100% over the previous year. Note it is estimated they got 8.6% of US ecommerce revenue in the quarter, while some believe that eBay, Apple and Amazon lost market share.

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

Mastercard says that people worldwide spent $900 billion more online last year compared to 2019. They expect the ecommerce trend of grocery shopping and bargain hunting to continue more than other retail areas.

Regions that had stricter lockdowns during the pandemic may have had a greater increase in ecommerce activity; this report compares the US and the UK.

Generation Z is likely to stop shopping with you if your site has issues. “Seventy-one percent of respondents want the experience to be personalized, and 76% said their favorite brands should reward them for their business, the survey found.”

MISCELLANEOUS

Brave browser has disabled FLoC, Google’s new tracking that is supposed to replace cookies in the next year. They explain why here. If you like Chrome but don’t want FLoC, try DuckDuckGo’s FLoC blocking Chrome extension.

#etsysellernews #Etsynews #search engine optimization #social media #ecommerce #smallbiz

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restorerjourney · 3 years

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Remix so far

September 9, 2021

The first two weeks were rough. I was in Oahu about 6 years ago and it was one of the most relaxing places I’ve ever been to! So I was asking myself two weeks ago why I am so stressed now? it wasn’t easy feeling stressed with the unknown and having to deal with what I was going to do with my future. I would unconsciously clench my jaw and have jaw pain at the end of the day. My acne flared up to the worst it has been which made me more stressed and question why God was allowing this. We as a team had a lot of moments of miscommunication because of our living situation initially. I also felt I was having troubles with a different person each day. Living in close proximity with 15 people and one toilet...let me tell you, is truly sanctifying lol..but praise God we haven’t killed each other yet and our relationships as a family has gotten deeper than ever before.

In this season, God invited me to physically rest and enjoy this month which was very difficult because I was initially anxious. I was disappointed at first with my anxiety, because I felt all that I learned from DTS flew out the window, but by His grace, He walked with me to really enjoy my time here. It was a time I might not get to rest like this and one of the pastors here that we are affiliated with even lend his car to us for a whole month free of charge! This was.a blessing in disguise as a lot of us were getting low in our remaining funds. We mostly went to the beach, snorkeled, and hung out in cafes or at home. In the morning we had different speakers come and give us words of wisdom and their testimonies on how to transition back to our specific sphere of life God has placed us. Here are some gold nuggets that I compiled with the different speakers...

-try to understand your greatest weakness

-pursuing success is so different from pursuing obedience

*Who am I becoming by what I do today?..your future changes by what you do today.

-What am I going to bring from YWAM to the world?

-What is the biggest problem in the world? It is the lack of understanding who God is.

-The more you understand who God is, the more life make sense.

-The two greatest moment in your life. The moment you were born and the moment you know why.

-Did you know that God is fun?

-You are investing in yourself to invest others.

-Every story in the bible is to teach you character.

-Your talents take you to the top but your character is what keeps you there.

-If you see a reward for change, you will always change. It’s a mindset!

-Only place you can grow in God is usually in discomfort

-God always rewards those who obey

-Delayed obedience = disobedience

-To hear God, obey God, and let Him deal with the consequences.

-It’s always right, to do what’s right, even if you don’t feel like it. Everyday we face this decision.

-Our generation wants the reward before obedience. Our reward for obeying God is more responsibility but our generation wants less responsibility.

-Am I living inside a box of comfort? the known? the dependent on self? Outside of the box is when we are truly depending on God and He is inviting you. It’s called faith.

-How are you reshaping your lifestyle to follow Christ instead of fitting the traditional life style?

-Christ follower lifestyle is to follow Matthew 28:16-20 and 22: 37-40.

-Am I worried about surviving? With the mentality of surviving, you stepped out of God’s hand and are trying to taking things in your control.

-In my lifestyle, how do I feel and where does this come from? A lot of the times it is lack of rest.

-In my lifestyle, am I a new creation of God?

-Did you know comparison is a sin? God never compares you with someone else.

-When we abide in Jesus, we get to live in so much freedom!

-Everything belongs to God. If you buy bread at the grocery store, did you create that bread? How could one say it is theirs when they didn’t create it? When you were born, could you claim and say it is your life? Did you make that decision while you were being born? When you harvest a crop, could you say it is yours? Did you make it grow or did you only plant the seeds and water it? All belongs to Him.

-God’s kingdom works like water...flowing from where there is abundance to the lowest place and it evens out.

During this process of rest and spending time with God and community, He asked me one day what I would like to do after DTS. He also asked me what would make me happy? I thought of so many different choices but I realized in the end, I just wanted to follow Jesus. I want what’s best and I trust Jesus gives me the best so I’ll follow Him. I just honestly couldn’t imagine my life without Him and I want to live in the new freedom I’ve gained in Christ to the next chapter God is taking me. During that time, one of the speakers named Tom and Cindy Baeur came and left such a lasting impression on me. They are in their 70′s who started a ministry and non-profit organization called Surf the nations 10 years ago. Personally they are solid in Christ, truly exemplifying what a man and woman of godly character looks like, and their lifestyle is close to what I would like to do when I am at their age. Their obedience to God is evident by the fruits in their ministry. They felt that the Lord called them to market themselves as a nonprofit organization which has opened so many doors to those who do not know Christ and even other countries like North Korea. They got the opportunity there to develop relationships with them and share the gospel. They have a passion for investing in the youth and being a light into their communities locally and globally. They run a discipleship program similar to YWAM but it’s only 3 months long. Another fruit is the impact they made in their community locally. Through God’s supernatural provision and their “yes” to following Him, they were able to purchase a strip of buildings where it used to be part of the red light district here in Oahu. What was a porn shop became a self-sustainable coffee shop to support this organization. What was a strip club and liquor store, is now a boutique and surf shop where all proceeds goes to help the organization and empower other small businesses globally. This is just scratching the surface.

Long story short, during my DTS and doing life with my team, I had the opportunity to learn more about my gifts and talents God has given me. I also have been walking in faith to what I believe God is leading me towards starting a business. Before DTS, business was the last thing I would want to do because my mom owns one and I saw how it robbed my mom’s attention from our family. I also couldn’t imagine what a Christian business would look like. I just knew if I were to do business, I would want it to be self-sustainable, to be a light in my community, and to impact globally either directly or indirectly by empowering the weak and marginalized communities. I just couldn’t imagine it was possible until I saw their organization and what God was doing. I also realized that when I am old, I could see myself so much happier impacting and discipling the younger generation and doing missions till the day I die. I felt like finally I made a realization to what truly makes me alive and flourish and it is to be in the mission field following Christ wherever He chooses to take me.

That’s when I felt a pull in my heart from God to consider doing a leadership training program with Surf the Nations which consists of 15 months of missionary living. Three months are dedicated to training, and the 12 months is to activate what has been trained. Because they are a pioneering organization and they are launching a business ministry as well, I felt the timing couldn’t be more perfect.

So for now I am saying “yes” to what I believe God is calling me to join the Surf the Nations Leadership Training Program here in Oahu for the next year and a half!

Am I scared? Heck yea. But I’m just called to walk in obedience and allow God to confirm as I walk in faith. I’m still praying through the process and I believe God will clearly confirm it to me in His perfect time and He will open and close doors if this is from Him.

Prayer request:

1) To enjoy the rest and community that we have with each other before we depart back to our homes

2) My mom is coming this Sunday and I believe God is using this time to help her experience possibly the next chapter in my life as I decide to move to Oahu.

3) To focus my eyes on Christ as He walks me towards the next chapter in my life.To not let fear, comparison, doubts, and other opinions hinder me from walking in obedience to Him.

Mahalo~

Alicia Kim

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kecharacosplay · 5 years

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So hi, my “normal job” has kinda put me on hiatus until further notice, so any help now would be appreciated! You can throw some money in my tip jar, buy something from my shop, or request a custom commission! Sky’s the limit on that one too, as I do more than just cosplays. I’m also quite adept at kimonos, corsets, skirts, dresses...pretty much anything that can be sewn. Shoot me a message if you’re interested!

And part two will be under a read more thing, because I feel like soapboxing a bit; feel free to skip/ignore! :)

Okay, so every time I talk to a friend/family member/random stranger about my sewing career, it always seems to go the same way. “Have you tried a theater position, maybe you could be like an apprentice?”, “Tailoring might be boring, but you’d do really well at an alterations shop.”, occasionally even “Just do something else to make money, you’ll hate sewing after a while if you try and make it more than a hobby.”, etc. The suggestions change now and then, but mostly the point remains the same.

“Work for someone else so they can make the profits while you scrape by at minimum wage.”

And before you say anything, yes I know it’s not always minimum wage. If you have the talent and the drive, you can advance, get raises/promotions, slowly build your brand, etc whatever. But here’s the thing about that. That’s still working you’re butt off to give some corporate bigshot a bigger profit margin, and I don’t have any desire to run a huge company of my own someday. Becoming ‘rich and famous’ is something I joke about, but have very little actual desire to accomplish. I don’t have the figure for cosplay fame or modeling, and I don’t have the determination to start some sort of business related to my passion. Selling supplies, assembly lines, warehouses, outsourcing, I know the words but they hold no appeal for me.

I just want to make enough to take care of myself. To pay my bills, maybe save a little for the future. Live a normal life basically. My prices are based on my time and my skill, and yes they only go to me, but isn’t that kind of what we all claim we want? I hear all the time how much people hate the ‘greedy one percenters’ and the big corporations screwing us all over for the sake of profit, but everyone still shops at amazon. everyone still tries to nickel and dime individual creators, complain about pricing from small businesses who can’t afford to outsource or cut costs by cheating their staff or setting up some sort of assembly line so they can make more stuff at a faster rate. And especially in clothes it’s a CONSTANT complaint about the crappy quality you get. But everyone. still. does it.

Now don’t get me wrong, I understand the cost of living. Trust me, being at the bottom of the barrel myself I can completely understand being too poor to buy custom work. One of my favorite guilty pleasures is rummaging through the digital dollar bins of Wish. But don’t bash the individual creator in your quest to get a higher quality product at the bargain basement price. I know exactly what I’m getting with my cheap purchases. Understand that quality comes at a price, especially on an individual level like mine. I can’t afford to hire a team, I wouldn’t even begin to know how to start up a business of any sort, and I don’t want to. And there are millions in the same boat as I am. We can’t afford to live doing what we love, so one by one we fall to despair. We give up our dreams and jump in that assembly line because we have no other choice. Be a slave to a company, or starve.

And that’s where I am right now. My ‘normal’ job is a basic part-time gig that’s constantly changing, similar to freelance I guess? But I get a regular schedule and hours and paychecks. So long as they have an assignment for my area, which they currently do not. So now I’m sitting here, a little ball of stress, trying to figure out what the heck I’m going to do. The credit card bills don’t care that my income has gone on hiatus. The medical bills have already sent part of my dues to a collection agency. Even something small like a phone bill becomes a dreaded reminder of that constant push to just become another worker bee and I hate it.

So I guess the point I really want to make is really think about what you’re buying when you order that new toy on Amazon. Whose pockets are you lining with that Disney vacation package? Did the janitor at your building get even a single dime from your company’s latest profit increase? Everyone is so worried about being taken advantage of by an individual seller with a high price tag that they completely ignore the real villains. I know that’s a bit cliche, but I feel its truth more and more every day as I listen to everyone tell me(not directly, but heavily implied): “I don’t trust your work ethic/quality/prices. You’re just trying to make all your profits off me so you don’t have to work. You’re too expensive, I don’t see why you need this much money, you’re just being greedy.” And let’s not forget my personal favorite: “I love your work, you’re so talented, you could make SO much money selling your stuff(just not from me, I get the friend’s/family discount, right???)”

Don’t nickel and dime the artists at a convention. If they’re really your friends, pay them MORE than what they quote you(because I can pretty much guarantee they already gave you a discount, asking for it to be even cheaper will subsequently guarantee they’ll never want to make anything for you ever again). Stop feeding the corporate wolves until they agree to fair up or get out. We must prove to them that quality really is more important than quantity, or it will just continue getting worse for everyone not already in that ultra rich bracket.

Okay, soapbox done, bonus points to those who made it this far. I’ll try not to do this too often. It’s just been bugging me even more than usual thanks to yet another conversation similar to the one mentioned at the beginning.

Starting next post: back to the regularly scheduled cosplay posts/tutorial reblogs! :P

#storenvy #kecharamooncreations #kofi #sewing #commissions

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