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Our “lack” of SEO is also listed on at least one competitor’s website comparing them to FoxyCart, as though by our failure to mention SEO we by default get the big red “X” instead of the pretty green checkmark that they gave themselves 🙂",{"type":375,"content":446},[447],{"text":448,"type":379},"(Off topic, but if you’re looking for a merchant account in Canada, we’ve found David to be extremely helpful and more knowledgeable than the vast majority of merchant account reps.)",{"type":414,"attrs":450,"content":451},{"level":416},[452],{"text":453,"type":379},"Review 2: “FoxyCart E-Commerce Software–An Initial Review”",{"type":375,"content":455},[456,458,464],{"text":457,"type":379},"Like David’s review, ",{"text":459,"type":379,"marks":460},"Kevin Webster’s FoxyCart review",[461],{"type":428,"attrs":462},{"href":463,"title":194},"http:\u002F\u002Fkevinwebster.us\u002Ffoxycart-review\u002F",{"text":465,"type":379}," did include some ideas and language we’ve used before, but not always in the way we’ve used it. For example, Kevin calls us “e-commerce software” and draws a distinction between “shopping carts”. He also has a heavy emphasis on FoxyCart as an API-driven service, calling it a “checkout and payment API”.",{"type":375,"content":467},[468,470,474,476,482],{"text":469,"type":379},"This is really interesting to us because we’ve spent ",{"text":471,"type":379,"marks":472},"considerable",[473],{"type":384},{"text":475,"type":379}," time over the years discussing the distinctions. With the new API (fully RESTful + Hypermedia, aka. ",{"text":477,"type":379,"marks":478},"HATEOAS",[479],{"type":428,"attrs":480},{"href":481,"title":194},"http:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FHATEOAS",{"text":483,"type":379},"; email us if you’d like a sneak peek) we are moving towards positioning FoxyCart as an “ecommerce platform” and “ecommerce API”, so Kevin’s language is encouraging.",{"type":375,"content":485},[486],{"text":487,"type":379},"Kevin also asks a question we get more than we’d like:",{"type":489,"content":490},"blockquote",[491],{"type":375,"content":492},[493],{"text":494,"type":379},"So What Am I Paying For Exactly",{"type":375,"content":496},[497],{"text":498,"type":379},"Every time we get asked this question (usually by phone), it makes us think we’re doing a horrible job communicating our value. Kevin answers his own question, but the fact that he asks it confirms to us that we may need to more explicitly address that question.",{"type":375,"content":500},[501],{"text":502,"type":379},"We also really like the way he closed his review:",{"type":489,"content":504},[505,509],{"type":375,"content":506},[507],{"text":508,"type":379},"I recommend FoxyCart to developers if at least 3 of the following are true:",{"type":510,"attrs":511,"content":512},"bullet_list",{"tight":59},[513,520,526,532],{"type":514,"content":515},"list_item",[516],{"type":375,"content":517},[518],{"text":519,"type":379},"You like kicking ass.",{"type":514,"content":521},[522],{"type":375,"content":523},[524],{"text":525,"type":379},"You like taking names.",{"type":514,"content":527},[528],{"type":375,"content":529},[530],{"text":531,"type":379},"You like to be cutting edge.",{"type":514,"content":533},[534],{"type":375,"content":535},[536],{"text":537,"type":379},"You want to wow people.",{"type":414,"attrs":539,"content":541},{"level":540},2,[542],{"text":543,"type":379},"Why do reviews matter? It’s the honest feedback!",{"type":375,"content":545},[546],{"text":547,"type":379},"We’ve been approached by many web design and development blogs offering a review of FoxyCart in exchange for money or advertising. We also see a lot of affiliate marketing with (what I consider to be) fake reviews designed to be copy\u002Fpasted into multiple sites. We’ve never done anything like this, largely because I consider our target market (web developers) to be smarter than that.",{"type":375,"content":549},[550,552,557,562,566],{"text":551,"type":379},"But it’s also because ",{"text":553,"type":379,"marks":554},"product reviews are ",[555],{"type":556},"bold",{"text":558,"type":379,"marks":559},"far",[560,561],{"type":384},{"type":556},{"text":563,"type":379,"marks":564}," more important than inbound links",[565],{"type":556},{"text":567,"type":379}," for SEO, or for confirming to other potential buyers that your service doesn’t suck. Reviews are most useful for learning from your most important asset: your users (or customers). Is your messaging on target? Are they using fundamentally different language and concepts to describe the product? Are they even in the target market you thought you were going after? Are they getting different benefits out of your service than you thought were important?",{"type":375,"content":569},[570,572,576,578,582],{"text":571,"type":379},"If they are, fantastic! If they aren’t, there’s a tremendous amount to learn even from a bad review. (Indeed, in our experience most of the negative feedback we receive are because we didn’t do a good enough job ",{"text":573,"type":379,"marks":574},"discouraging",[575],{"type":384},{"text":577,"type":379}," users in target markets we know we’re not a fit for. We’d rather not have a signup than have the ",{"text":579,"type":379,"marks":580},"wrong",[581],{"type":384},{"text":583,"type":379}," signup. Though I suppose we could be crazy in that preference.)",{"type":375,"content":585},[586,590],{"text":587,"type":379,"marks":588},"What about you?",[589],{"type":556},{"text":591,"type":379}," Whether they’re reviews on blogs or Twitter or Facebook or Google+, or on your site’s internal 5-star+comment review system, or Amazon, how do you handle reviews? What’s been useful to you? Not selling a tangible product we’re certainly not the authority in product reviews, and we’d love to learn from you.",{"type":372,"content":593},[594],{"type":375,"content":595},[596],{"text":597,"type":379},"Over the many years we’ve spent building FoxyCart, we’ve received a lot of feedback by email and our forum, but not nearly as many public reviews on others’ blogs and sites. Maybe it’s the relative infrequency of “real” reviews (as opposed to the directory sites that just scrape our site content), but reading reviews by our […]",{"filename":599,"fieldtype":18},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.foxy.io\u002Fblog\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002Fusing-product-reviews-for-market-research.png",[601,605],{"name":226,"created_at":345,"published_at":346,"updated_at":347,"id":348,"uuid":224,"content":602,"slug":353,"full_slug":225,"sort_by_date":194,"position":354,"tag_list":603,"is_startpage":59,"parent_id":356,"meta_data":194,"group_id":357,"first_published_at":358,"release_id":194,"lang":200,"path":194,"alternates":604,"default_full_slug":194,"translated_slugs":194,"_stopResolving":162},{"_uid":350,"name":226,"component":351,"description":352},[],[],{"name":239,"created_at":606,"published_at":346,"updated_at":607,"id":608,"uuid":237,"content":609,"slug":612,"full_slug":238,"sort_by_date":194,"position":195,"tag_list":613,"is_startpage":59,"parent_id":356,"meta_data":194,"group_id":614,"first_published_at":358,"release_id":194,"lang":200,"path":194,"alternates":615,"default_full_slug":194,"translated_slugs":194,"_stopResolving":162},"2023-03-24T17:10:23.525Z","2023-03-24T17:17:35.456Z",64358,{"_uid":610,"name":239,"component":351,"description":611},"24be14a7-ad23-4a00-afce-6bcffc9113cc","Marketing advice for merchants, developers, and designers.","marketing",[],"5a0230b1-f01f-4152-8cb7-cecf8f7c34b1",[],"using-product-reviews-for-market-research","blog\u002Fposts\u002Fusing-product-reviews-for-market-research",1990,[],3267,"e654e25e-a97d-4659-8562-46dcdc93455c","2012-10-09T16:40:00.000Z",[],{"name":625,"created_at":626,"published_at":346,"updated_at":627,"id":628,"uuid":629,"content":630,"slug":883,"full_slug":884,"sort_by_date":194,"position":885,"tag_list":886,"is_startpage":59,"parent_id":620,"meta_data":194,"group_id":887,"first_published_at":888,"release_id":194,"lang":200,"path":194,"alternates":889,"default_full_slug":194,"translated_slugs":194},"Throw off the plague of PCI when choosing a website platform","2023-03-24T17:12:33.455Z","2023-03-24T17:20:29.916Z",64519,"7783a005-be1d-4fdf-a466-c9a46859caa2",{"_uid":631,"title":625,"content":632,"summary":860,"component":331,"categories":866},"d508f7fe-204d-447e-9520-69d09e1c0aac",{"type":372,"content":633},[634,651,669,674,682,692,704,709,721,751,759,764,768,774,779,793,798,806,815,838,848],{"type":375,"content":635},[636,640,645,649],{"text":637,"type":379,"marks":638},"We invited the E-business Coach, Patrick Pitman, to explore how niche merchants thrive amongst the Internet’s biggest retailers. FoxyCart enables anyone to easily, securely sell online, and we’ve found in Patrick someone who similarly champions ecommerce entrepreneurs. But given our tools, how do you compete and ",[639],{"type":384},{"text":641,"type":379,"marks":642},"thrive",[643,644],{"type":384},{"type":556},{"text":646,"type":379,"marks":647},"?",[648],{"type":384},{"text":650,"type":379}," Here’s part 2 in an occasional series…",{"type":375,"content":652},[653,655,661,663,667],{"text":654,"type":379},"Publishing matters so much to the niche ecommerce merchant. I argued ",{"text":656,"type":379,"marks":657},"in a prior post",[658],{"type":428,"attrs":659},{"href":660,"title":194},"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.foxycart.com\u002Fblog\u002Fis-your-shopping-cart-like-the-tail-wagging-the-dog",{"text":662,"type":379}," that it’s the dog that ought wag the tail, not vice versa. But the necessity to “publish” can be ",{"text":664,"type":379,"marks":665},"frustrated by the cookie cutter constraints of many hosted ecommerce solutions",[666],{"type":556},{"text":668,"type":379},". While merchants may attach a blog to their ecommerce website, it’s not enough for those who want to distinguish themselves in competitive markets.",{"type":414,"attrs":670,"content":671},{"level":416},[672],{"text":673,"type":379},"Ecommerce decision-making in reverse",{"type":375,"content":675},[676,678],{"text":677,"type":379},"When choosing a platform, the priorities can be hard to balance: on the one hand the desire to woo the customer with great story-telling, to cast a spell of fascination about the brand \u002F product \u002F experience \u002F target audience; on the other hand, the more mechanical task of sorting among products and ordering online. ",{"text":679,"type":379,"marks":680},"Which comes first? Which matters more?",[681],{"type":384},{"type":375,"content":683},[684,686,690],{"text":685,"type":379},"Publishing stories does come first — if you embrace the uniqueness of being a niche merchant and want to get beyond shouting ‘sale’. Romance the customer, ",{"text":687,"type":379,"marks":688},"then get their card number",[689],{"type":384},{"text":691,"type":379},", in that order! But do we choose ecommerce platforms with that order in mind? Often no.",{"type":375,"content":693},[694,696,702],{"text":695,"type":379},"There’s any number of ways to romance customers, and I teach a ",{"text":697,"type":379,"marks":698},"strategy of stories-not-discounts",[699],{"type":428,"attrs":700},{"href":701,"title":194},"http:\u002F\u002Fe-businesscoach.com\u002Fzero-course\u002F",{"text":703,"type":379},". But your capacity to follow through on a vision of story-oriented, discount-minimizing, niche-celebrating ecommerce will hinge on the platform that powers your website.",{"type":414,"attrs":705,"content":706},{"level":416},[707],{"text":708,"type":379},"The plague of PCI when choosing platforms",{"type":375,"content":710},[711,713,719],{"text":712,"type":379},"Is it ",{"text":714,"type":379,"marks":715},"PCI compliant",[716],{"type":428,"attrs":717},{"href":718,"title":194},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.pcisecuritystandards.org\u002F",{"text":720,"type":379},"? is a question that matters to any merchant. But it’s a question that ought come later, running down the checklist of must-have features that concern the mechanics of order collection. The PCI preoccupation becomes almost a plague upon the planning process for ecommerce websites. Let me explain.",{"type":375,"content":722},[723,725,731,733,739,741,745,747],{"text":724,"type":379},"In recent years, whether a platform is PCI compliant became a central question that would drive selection of hosting vendors. It forced a lot of consolidation among ecommerce merchants into big, hosted, software-as-a-service ecommerce vendors like ",{"text":726,"type":379,"marks":727},"Volusion",[728],{"type":428,"attrs":729},{"href":730,"title":194},"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.volusion.com\u002F",{"text":732,"type":379}," or ",{"text":734,"type":379,"marks":735},"BigCommerce",[736],{"type":428,"attrs":737},{"href":738,"title":194},"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.bigcommerce.com\u002F",{"text":740,"type":379}," that had the momentum to get PCI certified and essentially take the load off the individual merchant’s compliance burden. Okay, fine. I’m all for securing sensitive data; it’s ultimately positive to upgrade all of those “iffy” carts that were languishing on unsecured shared hosting plans from the early ’00’s. So that’s progress, in a sense. But what has this PCI-oriented progress resulted in ",{"text":742,"type":379,"marks":743},"that benefits the niche ecommerce merchant",[744],{"type":384},{"text":746,"type":379},", the one who ",{"text":748,"type":379,"marks":749},"must distinguish his or her product selection from the Big Box store online?",[750],{"type":556},{"type":375,"content":752},[753,755],{"text":754,"type":379},"VISA may be feeling better seeing this platform consolidation \u002F standardization, but it’s not been a great outcome for many merchants who must distinguish themselves through great story-telling. That can be harder now. Today there are a million ecommerce stores running the standard category and product template pages that come with these pre-packaged, hosted cart solutions. Granted, designers’ ability to customize with CSS has shown improvements, but it’s still shopping ‘inside the box’ — ",{"text":756,"type":379,"marks":757},"the same box out of which every other niche retail merchant is operating!",[758],{"type":384},{"type":414,"attrs":760,"content":761},{"level":416},[762],{"text":763,"type":379},"Don’t worry, we’re search engine friendly!",{"type":375,"content":765},[766],{"text":767,"type":379},"And neither is it a sufficiently search engine optimized shopping box — despite what vendors of hosted shopping cart solutions will tell you. The code can be “friendly” to robots spidering by, but that’s a quarter of the game. SEO is ultimately about content. It’s about popular (link \u002F share worthy), informative (descriptive in multiple media formats) content. So do you have an accessible content management sytem to help you a) distinguish yourself by fascinating customers and b) cast a spell over search engines? Probably not if you’re stock in the “all-in-1 hosted ecommerce solution” box. One PCI compliant merchant I know struggles to feed new content into his site through a tangled web of spreadsheets linked by ID’s. To top it off, uploads and downloads of this content need pass through a GPG encryption filter. Overheard: okay, now where’s that darn public private key pair so I can update the FAQ’s? It’s not pretty. It’s a major chore. Publishing frequency and presentation suffer. But he’s got that PCI thing checked off…",{"type":489,"content":769},[770],{"type":375,"content":771},[772],{"text":773,"type":379},"The problem in this instance is the control grid of PCI has been overlaid upon a content publishing scheme and the content suffers as the people who must work within it are ground down by procedures to govern sensitive data. This is not progress.",{"type":414,"attrs":775,"content":776},{"level":416},[777],{"text":778,"type":379},"Stuck in the box",{"type":375,"content":780},[781,783,787,789],{"text":782,"type":379},"The end result of these trends is that too many ecommerce merchants are selling undifferentiated stuff out of similar (but secure!) boxes, hoping for better search rankings but more often just paying for more Google AdWords. Is it any wonder that many shopping cart solutions offer you a free $100 on Google AdWords when you sign-up? It’s a clue, I say. It’s a clue to where you’ll be spending more. Count on it for traffic to your non-SEO, PCI-compliant, cookie-cutter storefront showing the predictable grid of thumbnail photos. VISA and Google are fine with this arrangement, I’d imagine. Are you? I’m telling you ",{"text":784,"type":379,"marks":785},"this isn’t a recipe for thriving, Mr. or Ms. ecommerce merchant",[786],{"type":384},{"text":788,"type":379},". It’s a “me, too” game that can lead to discouragement if you’re not really hustling and optimizing and busting your chops. I know there are success stories, but it can be a grind to differentiate and thrive under such constraints. I’m for ",{"text":790,"type":379,"marks":791},"less grind, more thriving.",[792],{"type":556},{"type":414,"attrs":794,"content":795},{"level":416},[796],{"text":797,"type":379},"Forget about keeping up with Amazon.com",{"type":375,"content":799},[800,802],{"text":801,"type":379},"I remember years ago when merchants would ask me to emulate features on Amazon.com, as if that set the standard for shopping usability and functionality (2004?). Granted, in ways it did, and still does. But I also remember the refreshing observation of one merchant who finally concluded (2008?) that if Amazon was doing it, that might be reason enough to do something different. Yes. Yes, because what, in the end, distinguishes your product selection from Amazon’s? For your sake, for the sake of avoiding a discount death spiral, for the sake of more thriving small business owners, I’d hope there’s more to distinguish your catalog than price and selection. The latest feature from BigCommerce, playing catchup to Amazon, isn’t really going to move the needle for you… ",{"text":803,"type":379,"marks":804},"So what can you do? How can you differentiate yourself?",[805],{"type":384},{"type":414,"attrs":807,"content":808},{"level":416},[809,813],{"text":810,"type":379,"marks":811},"My",[812],{"type":384},{"text":814,"type":379}," choice of content management systems",{"type":375,"content":816},[817,819,824,826,832,834],{"text":818,"type":379},"I’ve compared ecommerce to being ",{"text":820,"type":379,"marks":821},"more like a ‘novel’ than an ad",[822],{"type":428,"attrs":823},{"href":660,"title":194},{"text":825,"type":379},", saying it’s a long-form medium. But with video and photography and ",{"text":827,"type":379,"marks":828},"jQuery magic",[829],{"type":428,"attrs":830},{"href":831,"title":194},"http:\u002F\u002Fjquery.com\u002F",{"text":833,"type":379},", plus the promise of HTML5, the ‘novel’ comparison just doesn’t do justice to the potential to entertain and amaze shoppers. Pair inspired story-telling with the multi-media, search-engine friendly options available today in the best content management systems — then you’re onto something! ",{"text":835,"type":379,"marks":836},"Then you’ve got the beginnings of a recipe to thrive.",[837],{"type":384},{"type":375,"content":839},[840,842,846],{"text":841,"type":379},"The possibilities open up before you when you’re building a site on a world-class, flexible content management platform. Which one ",{"text":843,"type":379,"marks":844},"you choose",[845],{"type":556},{"text":847,"type":379}," ought be determined by your ambition and vision and resources, but the choice ought be yours. Then, yes, attend to PCI, too.",{"type":375,"content":849},[850,852,858],{"text":851,"type":379},"At the moment, I’m running an experiment for a luxury brand. We’re going to push WordPress to the limit (big media, responsive design, tablet & mobile friendly) while testing a ",{"text":853,"type":379,"marks":854},"catalog plugin that plays nice",[855],{"type":428,"attrs":856},{"href":857,"title":194},"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.foxy-shop.com\u002F",{"text":859,"type":379}," with FoxyCart. We’ll see how it goes, and I’ll be measuring everything come Christmastime. But I know already that the SEO-friendly spell we’re going to cast over customers, romancing them to a fan frenzy, won’t be limited by my PCI compliant cart platform. That’s because for my experiment I’ve got FoxyCart in my back pocket, doing its mighty job out of the way, but there when I need it: cha-ching!",{"type":372,"content":861},[862],{"type":375,"content":863},[864],{"text":865,"type":379},"We invited the E-business Coach, Patrick Pitman, to explore how niche merchants thrive amongst the Internet’s biggest retailers. FoxyCart enables anyone to easily, securely sell online, and we’ve found in Patrick someone who similarly champions ecommerce entrepreneurs. But given our tools, how do you compete and thrive? Here’s part 2 in an occasional series… Publishing matters so […]",[867,871],{"name":226,"created_at":345,"published_at":346,"updated_at":347,"id":348,"uuid":224,"content":868,"slug":353,"full_slug":225,"sort_by_date":194,"position":354,"tag_list":869,"is_startpage":59,"parent_id":356,"meta_data":194,"group_id":357,"first_published_at":358,"release_id":194,"lang":200,"path":194,"alternates":870,"default_full_slug":194,"translated_slugs":194,"_stopResolving":162},{"_uid":350,"name":226,"component":351,"description":352},[],[],{"name":127,"created_at":872,"published_at":346,"updated_at":873,"id":874,"uuid":231,"content":875,"slug":878,"full_slug":232,"sort_by_date":194,"position":879,"tag_list":880,"is_startpage":59,"parent_id":356,"meta_data":194,"group_id":881,"first_published_at":358,"release_id":194,"lang":200,"path":194,"alternates":882,"default_full_slug":194,"translated_slugs":194,"_stopResolving":162},"2023-03-24T17:10:24.956Z","2023-03-24T17:17:34.897Z",64360,{"_uid":876,"name":127,"component":351,"description":877},"8faaa61e-938f-4b72-8af5-e7b08caa644d","Expert security advice for ecommerce websites.","security",70,[],"c5f4dc80-83de-4ee6-b247-a5d890eb60c3",[],"throw-off-the-plague-of-pci-when-choosing-a-website-platform","blog\u002Fposts\u002Fthrow-off-the-plague-of-pci-when-choosing-a-website-platform",1900,[],"99316413-f2a0-486f-9c0e-b6b0c1dd252b","2012-09-10T15:00:09.000Z",[],{"name":891,"created_at":892,"published_at":346,"updated_at":893,"id":894,"uuid":895,"content":896,"slug":1079,"full_slug":1080,"sort_by_date":194,"position":1081,"tag_list":1082,"is_startpage":59,"parent_id":620,"meta_data":194,"group_id":1083,"first_published_at":1084,"release_id":194,"lang":200,"path":194,"alternates":1085,"default_full_slug":194,"translated_slugs":194},"Is Your Shopping Cart Like the Tail Wagging the Dog?","2023-03-24T17:12:35.706Z","2023-03-24T17:21:00.643Z",64522,"1c1cd852-a10f-4cca-9dd5-7942ae41084c",{"_uid":897,"title":891,"content":898,"summary":1064,"component":331,"categories":1070},"4e52ef64-5170-4d1a-a472-75a7f690bffa",{"type":372,"content":899},[900,914,930,935,939,944,954,975,985,990,1011,1016,1033,1045,1055,1060],{"type":375,"content":901},[902,906,910],{"text":903,"type":379,"marks":904},"We invited the E-business Coach, Patrick Pitman, to explore how niche merchants thrive amongst the Internet’s biggest retailers? FoxyCart enables anyone to easily, securely sell online. We’ve found in Patrick someone who similarly champions ecommerce entrepreneurs. But given our tools, how do you compete and ",[905],{"type":384},{"text":641,"type":379,"marks":907},[908,909],{"type":384},{"type":556},{"text":911,"type":379,"marks":912},"? Here’s part 1 in an occasional series…",[913],{"type":384},{"type":375,"content":915},[916,918,922,924,928],{"text":917,"type":379},"If you’re a niche merchant, you’re selling something unusual, uncommon. Maybe you make and sell in small batches, or deliver in a way that’s not available elsewhere. What if your niche status changed how you operate your ecommerce website — even the tools with which you build it? An idea: celebrate the fact that only someone special like you could bring your products to market! Feature that special expertise when building your ecommerce website, in how shoppers learn about your selection! Tap into the passion that inspired your expertise and share this on the pages of your website! In short, cherish the specialness that can’t be found in the big box stores, online or off — and then ",{"text":919,"type":379,"marks":920},"tell website visitors and subscribers all about it",[921],{"type":556},{"text":923,"type":379},"… This is why ",{"text":925,"type":379,"marks":926},"publishing",[927],{"type":556},{"text":929,"type":379}," matters so much to the niche ecommerce merchant. Let me explain…",{"type":414,"attrs":931,"content":932},{"level":416},[933],{"text":934,"type":379},"Your story is better than ‘sale’",{"type":375,"content":936},[937],{"text":938,"type":379},"If you unconsciously emulate the unsophisticated tactics of Main Street, or the big dog retailer tactics you see on TV, you’ll likely settle for shouting ‘sale’. To shout ‘sale’ is the kind of message that fits nicely on a window sign, or in 30 second radio or TV spot. It’s a short and universally understood story. But you, as a niche ecommerce merchant, have a world of possible online buyers to draw from, unlike the desperate Main Street proprietor. And you, as a niche ecommerce merchant, ought not aim to make it up on volume with big financing; you’re unlike the big dog, mass retailers who advertise on TV. Instead, you can tell a different story, a longer story, a better story than ‘sale’.",{"type":414,"attrs":940,"content":941},{"level":416},[942],{"text":943,"type":379},"More like a ‘novel’ than an ‘ad’",{"type":375,"content":945},[946,948,952],{"text":947,"type":379},"Here’s a ",{"text":949,"type":379,"marks":950},"beautiful thing about ecommerce",[951],{"type":384},{"text":953,"type":379},": it can be a long-form message. It’s a medium that lends itself to longer (or more) stories. In an ecommerce context, you aren’t limited to shouting ‘sale’ in 30 seconds or on a sign. Instead, you can:",{"type":510,"attrs":955,"content":956},{"tight":59},[957,963,969],{"type":514,"content":958},[959],{"type":375,"content":960},[961],{"text":962,"type":379},"explain what makes you wonderfully unusual in a hundred ways; visitors can read about it, listen to it, watch it.",{"type":514,"content":964},[965],{"type":375,"content":966},[967],{"text":968,"type":379},"reel in customers over time with emails; send stories they look forward to opening.",{"type":514,"content":970},[971],{"type":375,"content":972},[973],{"text":974,"type":379},"Social media can show credibility among your customers’ peers; feature customer stories as ‘social proof’.",{"type":375,"content":976},[977,979,983],{"text":978,"type":379},"The path to profitable niche retailing online is paved not with shouting ‘sale’, but with stories. The best stories become ones we want to live out ourselves, that we want to buy into. Want a vision to aim for? Imagine customers saving up, lining up, to become part of your story, and paying full price for the privilege. Imagine how your website might be organized if that were its objective. I work with a company owner who described his retail-direct manufacturing business as an unfolding ",{"text":980,"type":379,"marks":981},"novel",[982],{"type":556},{"text":984,"type":379},". I love that, and learn from it. Any entrepreneur’s company can feel like a dramatic saga at times, as you might imagine a novel to be, but this guy was talking about the conversation he was having with customers. In essence, he’s describing himself as a story-teller.",{"type":414,"attrs":986,"content":987},{"level":416},[988],{"text":989,"type":379},"Telling stories we want to buy into",{"type":375,"content":991},[992,994,997,999,1003,1005,1009],{"text":993,"type":379},"Others might call it ‘content marketing’ to describe this company’s activities, but the owner knows none of that jargon. He just intuitively recognized the significance of spinning tales that his customers wanted to be caught up in, and holding a little back so they want more. Customers wanted to read all about it, to his chagrin. They root for his success. And when their package arrives, they open it up feeling like they know something others don’t. They buy having recognized and reached for the niche difference through stories. This merchant’s word to describe ‘it’ was ",{"text":980,"type":379,"marks":995},[996],{"type":384},{"text":998,"type":379},", but another word might be ",{"text":1000,"type":379,"marks":1001},"publisher",[1002],{"type":384},{"text":1004,"type":379},". Nevertheless, a narrative runs through all products, their origins, their manufacture, and on through customers’ experiences using them. The website, unbounded by word count or page length or printing costs, chronicles these adventures. How does it work? Prospective customers read \u002F watch \u002F listen and then save up to buy and join the story. The brand’s story, and the owner’s ability ",{"text":1006,"type":379,"marks":1007},"to deliver on its promises",[1008],{"type":384},{"text":1010,"type":379},", drives the online business to continued growth.",{"type":414,"attrs":1012,"content":1013},{"level":416},[1014],{"text":1015,"type":379},"Publishing stories comes first",{"type":375,"content":1017},[1018,1020,1024,1026,1031],{"text":1019,"type":379},"Which is where ",{"text":1021,"type":379,"marks":1022},"FoxyCart",[1023],{"type":556},{"text":1025,"type":379}," comes into perspective: it responds to VISA’s mandate for security but flexibly sits atop whatever website publishing platform suits the merchant’s story-telling needs. FoxyCart complements a content management system. The cart (in all its integrity \u002F security) is there when you need it, but doesn’t run the show. The “content is king” refrain may be something you’ve heard before but it holds true for niche merchants, too. A ",{"text":697,"type":379,"marks":1027},[1028],{"type":428,"attrs":1029},{"href":1030,"title":194},"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.e-businesscoach.com\u002Fzero-course\u002F",{"text":1032,"type":379}," blurs the distinction between merchant and publisher. Publisher? Novel? The term is no matter, but a story must play itself out on the pages of your website. WordPress’ ascendancy in the website-building world shows how people recognize the power of the publisher. We are all self-publishers now. Content really is king.",{"type":489,"content":1034},[1035],{"type":375,"content":1036},[1037,1039,1043],{"text":1038,"type":379},"And—",{"text":1040,"type":379,"marks":1041},"and this is the important part",[1042],{"type":384},{"text":1044,"type":379},"—I love the fact that you can have a secure ecommerce site with FoxyCart riding atop WordPress—or any other more suitable content management system.",{"type":375,"content":1046},[1047,1049,1053],{"text":1048,"type":379},"I love how with this arrangement of ecommerce tools, ",{"text":1050,"type":379,"marks":1051},"the dog wags the tail",[1052],{"type":556},{"text":1054,"type":379},", as it should. Too often the tail (PCI compliance, cart features, etc.) wags the dog (the story, the romance, the branding).",{"type":414,"attrs":1056,"content":1057},{"level":416},[1058],{"text":1059,"type":379},"Romance the customer, then get their card",{"type":375,"content":1061},[1062],{"text":1063,"type":379},"Security mandates can drive merchants into PCI-certified catalog and cart systems that are not oriented towards publishing. While such systems can help you choose size \u002F color and sort across categories, (and then collect a credit card securely), damned if you can get them to serve up a novel’s worth of customer-romancing stories. That’s why shopping carts must take a back seat to publishing.",{"type":372,"content":1065},[1066],{"type":375,"content":1067},[1068],{"text":1069,"type":379},"We invited the E-business Coach, Patrick Pitman, to explore how niche merchants thrive amongst the Internet’s biggest retailers? FoxyCart enables anyone to easily, securely sell online. We’ve found in Patrick someone who similarly champions ecommerce entrepreneurs. But given our tools, how do you compete and thrive? Here’s part 1 in an occasional series… If you’re […]",[1071,1075],{"name":226,"created_at":345,"published_at":346,"updated_at":347,"id":348,"uuid":224,"content":1072,"slug":353,"full_slug":225,"sort_by_date":194,"position":354,"tag_list":1073,"is_startpage":59,"parent_id":356,"meta_data":194,"group_id":357,"first_published_at":358,"release_id":194,"lang":200,"path":194,"alternates":1074,"default_full_slug":194,"translated_slugs":194,"_stopResolving":162},{"_uid":350,"name":226,"component":351,"description":352},[],[],{"name":239,"created_at":606,"published_at":346,"updated_at":607,"id":608,"uuid":237,"content":1076,"slug":612,"full_slug":238,"sort_by_date":194,"position":195,"tag_list":1077,"is_startpage":59,"parent_id":356,"meta_data":194,"group_id":614,"first_published_at":358,"release_id":194,"lang":200,"path":194,"alternates":1078,"default_full_slug":194,"translated_slugs":194,"_stopResolving":162},{"_uid":610,"name":239,"component":351,"description":611},[],[],"is-your-shopping-cart-like-the-tail-wagging-the-dog","blog\u002Fposts\u002Fis-your-shopping-cart-like-the-tail-wagging-the-dog",980,[],"9ca1d8cd-2ea1-46af-bb2f-42b6efe99aea","2012-06-29T07:18:16.000Z",[],{"name":1087,"created_at":1088,"published_at":346,"updated_at":1089,"id":1090,"uuid":1091,"content":1092,"slug":1179,"full_slug":1180,"sort_by_date":194,"position":879,"tag_list":1181,"is_startpage":59,"parent_id":620,"meta_data":194,"group_id":1182,"first_published_at":1183,"release_id":194,"lang":200,"path":194,"alternates":1184,"default_full_slug":194,"translated_slugs":194},"A Book Your Client Should Read: Avoiding a Goat Rodeo","2023-03-24T17:12:41.176Z","2023-03-24T17:21:31.053Z",64529,"677e07d4-069b-4c65-ac94-cd9265f08442",{"_uid":1093,"title":1087,"content":1094,"summary":1155,"component":331,"categories":1161},"a982dec9-49b1-43db-a08d-29baa7b95043",{"type":372,"content":1095},[1096,1107,1111,1115,1119,1130,1134,1138,1142,1146],{"type":375,"content":1097},[1098],{"type":1099,"attrs":1100,"marks":1103},"image",{"alt":1101,"src":1102,"title":194},"Avoiding a Goat Rodeo: How to get the website you want","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.foxy.io\u002Fblog\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002Fa-book-your-client-should-read-avoiding-a-goat-rodeo.jpg",[1104],{"type":428,"attrs":1105},{"href":1106,"title":194},"http:\u002F\u002Fbit.ly\u002FupoSIj",{"type":375,"content":1108},[1109],{"text":1110,"type":379},"FoxyCart was born in a conversation between friends about the horrible state of ecommerce solutions in 2005. For one client we’d rebuilt their ecommerce three times and were still unhappy with the results. For another we had fully four separate ecommerce systems; one each for donations, event registration, downloads, and books. Every new ecommerce client we got would prompt yet another multi-day long search for the perfect ecommerce system, until we realized that we should stop waiting for somebody else to build it, and build it ourselves.",{"type":375,"content":1112},[1113],{"text":1114,"type":379},"Between myself (Luke), Brett and the team we’ve developed, we have a lot of experience building websites and meeting clients’ needs. We built FoxyCart to be the best solution for developers, because we are developers ourselves. As such, things get confusing when we’re approached by merchants and designers who also love FoxyCart and want to use it, but don’t really know where to start. We quickly find ourselves back in “client mode” trying to explain 15+ years of Internet development and software best practicies. It’s a reminder how difficult it can be explaining the art form of software development to non-technical users with big needs, bigger visions, and very little experience with web development.",{"type":375,"content":1116},[1117],{"text":1118,"type":379},"We think this book can help.",{"type":375,"content":1120},[1121,1123,1128],{"text":1122,"type":379},"I recently had the pleasure of meeting and becoming friends with Cal Evans, a Nashville PHP community developer and author of the book, ",{"text":1101,"type":379,"marks":1124},[1125,1126],{"type":384},{"type":428,"attrs":1127},{"href":1106,"title":194},{"text":1129,"type":379},". I love this book. Not because it’s the most polished or the most professionally published book I’ve ever read, but because it clearly communicates a desire to serve others by explaining everything a non-technical person needs to know about successfully building their next website.",{"type":375,"content":1131},[1132],{"text":1133,"type":379},"I’ve heard many people say, “I want a website” or “I have an online business idea and need a developer” with no real understanding of what they’re asking for. That’s similar to someone wanting to start a restaurant without any food or without knowing how to cook. This book explains in simple language how to plan an application, hire the right developers, and communicate with them effectively to position the project to succeed.",{"type":375,"content":1135},[1136],{"text":1137,"type":379},"As I read this book, I constantly found myself saying, “Yes!” and thinking of friends and acquaintences who need to read it. Developers have to understand what is expected of a professional software engineer and entrepreneurs need to be educated on the process or their project will probably be over budget in time or money or it will never launch in the first place.",{"type":375,"content":1139},[1140],{"text":1141,"type":379},"If your clients buy and read this book, I believe it will be one of the most important things they do towards the success of their web application. If there’s enough room in the project budget, I’d even recommend buying your clients copies of the book and making it required reading before you begin.",{"type":375,"content":1143},[1144],{"text":1145,"type":379},"Cal isn’t paying us to post this entry, we’re doing it because we believe this book will help a lot of people and we want to get the word out. Please give it a read, buy a copy for your client, and let us know what you think.",{"type":510,"attrs":1147,"content":1148},{"tight":59},[1149],{"type":514,"content":1150},[1151],{"type":375,"content":1152},[1153],{"text":1154,"type":379},"no affiliate links were harmed or used in the making of this blog post.",{"type":372,"content":1156},[1157],{"type":375,"content":1158},[1159],{"text":1160,"type":379},"FoxyCart was born in a conversation between friends about the horrible state of ecommerce solutions in 2005. For one client we’d rebuilt their ecommerce three times and were still unhappy with the results. For another we had fully four separate ecommerce systems; one each for donations, event registration, downloads, and books. Every new ecommerce […]",[1162,1166],{"name":226,"created_at":345,"published_at":346,"updated_at":347,"id":348,"uuid":224,"content":1163,"slug":353,"full_slug":225,"sort_by_date":194,"position":354,"tag_list":1164,"is_startpage":59,"parent_id":356,"meta_data":194,"group_id":357,"first_published_at":358,"release_id":194,"lang":200,"path":194,"alternates":1165,"default_full_slug":194,"translated_slugs":194,"_stopResolving":162},{"_uid":350,"name":226,"component":351,"description":352},[],[],{"name":246,"created_at":1167,"published_at":1168,"updated_at":1169,"id":1170,"uuid":244,"content":1171,"slug":1174,"full_slug":245,"sort_by_date":194,"position":1175,"tag_list":1176,"is_startpage":59,"parent_id":356,"meta_data":194,"group_id":1177,"first_published_at":358,"release_id":194,"lang":200,"path":194,"alternates":1178,"default_full_slug":194,"translated_slugs":194,"_stopResolving":162},"2023-03-24T17:10:22.032Z","2024-07-26T15:50:52.859Z","2024-07-26T15:50:52.885Z",64356,{"_uid":1172,"name":246,"component":351,"description":1173},"f39307be-09f6-4702-8bbb-35c0d69bcc42","Foxy related information, news, and announcements.","culture",30,[],"cf417cbf-9d6f-48bb-8594-5d70c10c0a53",[],"a-book-your-client-should-read-avoiding-a-goat-rodeo","blog\u002Fposts\u002Fa-book-your-client-should-read-avoiding-a-goat-rodeo",[],"ede77fbc-9fdd-4b9a-990e-8861fa401d83","2011-12-09T05:35:00.000Z",[],{"name":1186,"created_at":1187,"published_at":346,"updated_at":1188,"id":1189,"uuid":1190,"content":1191,"slug":1313,"full_slug":1314,"sort_by_date":194,"position":1315,"tag_list":1316,"is_startpage":59,"parent_id":620,"meta_data":194,"group_id":1317,"first_published_at":1318,"release_id":194,"lang":200,"path":194,"alternates":1319,"default_full_slug":194,"translated_slugs":194},"The Importance of Copy on E-Commerce Websites","2023-03-24T17:12:48.884Z","2023-03-24T17:20:33.245Z",64539,"ae030bb6-0bfb-4a1b-961d-f2e3e3a37183",{"_uid":1192,"title":1186,"content":1193,"summary":1298,"component":331,"categories":1304},"cdf934fc-0dcf-4f44-9c1b-0306ac0a204f",{"type":372,"content":1194},[1195,1200,1204,1220,1225,1229,1241,1246,1261,1265,1271,1294],{"type":414,"attrs":1196,"content":1197},{"level":416},[1198],{"text":1199,"type":379},"What we do. What we ignore.",{"type":375,"content":1201},[1202],{"text":1203,"type":379},"As web professionals, we often focus on what we think we’re supposed to focus on. When I started as a web designer, my “supposed to” list typically included design, standards compliant HTML\u002FCSS (with knowledge of SEO), javascript, and the sort of general “help the client not make stupid decisions” (like having a Flash splash page and etc.).",{"type":375,"content":1205},[1206,1208,1212,1214,1218],{"text":1207,"type":379},"While those items are fantastic, they alone won’t help you deliver a solid product to your client. The missing pieces come from the realization that a website actually exists for a purpose. Typically this purpose is either to ",{"text":1209,"type":379,"marks":1210},"communicate",[1211],{"type":384},{"text":1213,"type":379}," a message about the product or service, or to ",{"text":1215,"type":379,"marks":1216},"sell",[1217],{"type":384},{"text":1219,"type":379}," the product or service.",{"type":414,"attrs":1221,"content":1222},{"level":416},[1223],{"text":1224,"type":379},"An exercise with your eyes closed.",{"type":375,"content":1226},[1227],{"text":1228,"type":379},"Think of the last website you built for a client. Close your eyes and visualize the homepage. Now pretend you know nothing about the client, and are looking at the homepage for the first time. What does it communicate? If you take only 5 seconds to look at it with fresh eyes, does it clearly and effectively communicate the message? Is there a clear next action, like “Add to Cart” or “Find out more”?",{"type":375,"content":1230},[1231,1233,1239],{"text":1232,"type":379},"I’ll assume that you can see room for improvement, even if you’re happy with the site. Regardless the answer, I strongly recommend getting a copy of Steve Krug’s ",{"text":1234,"type":379,"marks":1235},"Don’t Make Me Think",[1236],{"type":428,"attrs":1237},{"href":1238,"title":194},"http:\u002F\u002Fsensible.com\u002F",{"text":1240,"type":379},". It’s a quick read that may be one of the most important books you can buy as a web designer. It’s “advanced common sense”, as Krug refers to it, but it’s full of the sort of discussions and examples that you might not think about in the hustle and bustle of life as a web professional.",{"type":414,"attrs":1242,"content":1243},{"level":416},[1244],{"text":1245,"type":379},"The Importance of Good Copy.",{"type":375,"content":1247},[1248,1250,1254,1256,1259],{"text":1249,"type":379},"So back to the “supposed to” list from above. What it’s missing is an understanding of sales, marketing, and messaging. Yes, you can design a homepage, but what’s the homepage ",{"text":1251,"type":379,"marks":1252},"saying",[1253],{"type":384},{"text":1255,"type":379},"? What’s the text on the homepage? Odds are good that your client supplied it. Odds are better that if your client supplied it, you didn’t even read it (except to trim it down because they likely sent you 3 paragraphs of text where you designed a sentence to go). Odds are even better that your client hasn’t fully thought through ",{"text":398,"type":379,"marks":1257},[1258],{"type":384},{"text":1260,"type":379}," they sent you that text.",{"type":375,"content":1262},[1263],{"text":1264,"type":379},"So what to do? Call in a professional copywriter, or see who in your office or virtual team is an excellent writer, and have them handle it. Why?",{"type":489,"content":1266},[1267],{"type":375,"content":1268},[1269],{"text":1270,"type":379},"An interesting new study from Wellesley College researchers suggests that advanced language skills correlate with the ability to predict what another person is thinking:",{"type":375,"content":1272},[1273,1275,1281,1283,1286,1288,1292],{"text":1274,"type":379},"That’s from ",{"text":1276,"type":379,"marks":1277},"NeurScienceMarketing.com",[1278],{"type":428,"attrs":1279},{"href":1280,"title":194},"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.neurosciencemarketing.com\u002Fblog\u002Farticles\u002Fhire-articulate-salespeople.htm",{"text":1282,"type":379}," in a post about salespeople. But the findings are relevant once you understand that a website is a sales tool. The point of ",{"text":1234,"type":379,"marks":1284},[1285],{"type":384},{"text":1287,"type":379}," is to avoid requiring your visitor to actually ",{"text":1289,"type":379,"marks":1290},"think",[1291],{"type":384},{"text":1293,"type":379},". To do this requires careful consideration about what they want in the first place. And evidence suggests that strong language skills indicates an increased ability to anticipate the needs of the user.",{"type":375,"content":1295},[1296],{"text":1297,"type":379},"As a web designer it can be a fascinating move to start thinking in terms of sales and marketing. But even if you yourself don’t move in that direction, it’s worth getting to know some copywriters to recommend to clients. Profitable clients are happy clients, and happy clients are more likely to refer business in the future.",{"type":372,"content":1299},[1300],{"type":375,"content":1301},[1302],{"text":1303,"type":379},"What we do. What we ignore. As web professionals, we often focus on what we think we’re supposed to focus on. When I started as a web designer, my “supposed to” list typically included design, standards compliant HTML\u002FCSS (with knowledge of SEO), javascript, and the sort of general “help the client not make stupid decisions” […]",[1305,1309],{"name":226,"created_at":345,"published_at":346,"updated_at":347,"id":348,"uuid":224,"content":1306,"slug":353,"full_slug":225,"sort_by_date":194,"position":354,"tag_list":1307,"is_startpage":59,"parent_id":356,"meta_data":194,"group_id":357,"first_published_at":358,"release_id":194,"lang":200,"path":194,"alternates":1308,"default_full_slug":194,"translated_slugs":194,"_stopResolving":162},{"_uid":350,"name":226,"component":351,"description":352},[],[],{"name":239,"created_at":606,"published_at":346,"updated_at":607,"id":608,"uuid":237,"content":1310,"slug":612,"full_slug":238,"sort_by_date":194,"position":195,"tag_list":1311,"is_startpage":59,"parent_id":356,"meta_data":194,"group_id":614,"first_published_at":358,"release_id":194,"lang":200,"path":194,"alternates":1312,"default_full_slug":194,"translated_slugs":194,"_stopResolving":162},{"_uid":610,"name":239,"component":351,"description":611},[],[],"the-importance-of-copy-on-e-commerce-websites","blog\u002Fposts\u002Fthe-importance-of-copy-on-e-commerce-websites",1800,[],"aa415ff3-c87f-41c1-8b66-13c7e1a18de2","2009-12-08T12:55:00.000Z",[],{"name":1321,"created_at":1322,"published_at":346,"updated_at":1323,"id":1324,"uuid":1325,"content":1326,"slug":1372,"full_slug":1373,"sort_by_date":194,"position":1374,"tag_list":1375,"is_startpage":59,"parent_id":620,"meta_data":194,"group_id":1376,"first_published_at":1377,"release_id":194,"lang":200,"path":194,"alternates":1378,"default_full_slug":194,"translated_slugs":194},"“Add to Cart” Buttons for Inspiration","2023-03-24T17:12:49.600Z","2023-03-24T17:21:30.720Z",64540,"ee37d3e6-2c7a-431c-8e6d-c14db64a443f",{"_uid":1327,"title":1321,"content":1328,"summary":1361,"component":331,"categories":1367},"f734a248-8e2f-4d79-bde1-49db2296ae3e",{"type":372,"content":1329},[1330,1342],{"type":375,"content":1331},[1332,1334,1340],{"text":1333,"type":379},"We meant to post this a while ago, but better late than never. Here’s a list of 80 Add to Cart button designs a la ",{"text":1335,"type":379,"marks":1336},"sixrevisions.com",[1337],{"type":428,"attrs":1338},{"href":1339,"title":194},"http:\u002F\u002Fsixrevisions.com",{"text":1341,"type":379},". Enjoy!",{"type":510,"attrs":1343,"content":1344},{"tight":59},[1345],{"type":514,"content":1346},[1347],{"type":375,"content":1348},[1349,1355,1357],{"text":1350,"type":379,"marks":1351},"80 Examples of Add to Cart Buttons for Design Inspiration",[1352],{"type":428,"attrs":1353},{"href":1354,"title":194},"http:\u002F\u002Fsixrevisions.com\u002Fdesign-showcase-inspiration\u002F80-examples-of-add-to-cart-buttons-for-design-inspiration\u002F",{"text":1356,"type":379}," from ",{"text":1335,"type":379,"marks":1358},[1359],{"type":428,"attrs":1360},{"href":1339,"title":194},{"type":372,"content":1362},[1363],{"type":375,"content":1364},[1365],{"text":1366,"type":379},"We meant to post this a while ago, but better late than never. Here’s a list of 80 Add to Cart button designs a la sixrevisions.com. Enjoy! 80 Examples of Add to Cart Buttons for Design Inspiration from sixrevisions.com",[1368],{"name":226,"created_at":345,"published_at":346,"updated_at":347,"id":348,"uuid":224,"content":1369,"slug":353,"full_slug":225,"sort_by_date":194,"position":354,"tag_list":1370,"is_startpage":59,"parent_id":356,"meta_data":194,"group_id":357,"first_published_at":358,"release_id":194,"lang":200,"path":194,"alternates":1371,"default_full_slug":194,"translated_slugs":194,"_stopResolving":162},{"_uid":350,"name":226,"component":351,"description":352},[],[],"add-to-cart-buttons-for-inspiration","blog\u002Fposts\u002Fadd-to-cart-buttons-for-inspiration",80,[],"33697306-6630-4292-b6cd-70043d10562c","2009-12-01T12:00:00.000Z",[],{"name":1380,"created_at":1381,"published_at":346,"updated_at":1382,"id":1383,"uuid":1384,"content":1385,"slug":1462,"full_slug":1463,"sort_by_date":194,"position":1464,"tag_list":1465,"is_startpage":59,"parent_id":620,"meta_data":194,"group_id":1466,"first_published_at":1467,"release_id":194,"lang":200,"path":194,"alternates":1468,"default_full_slug":194,"translated_slugs":194},"Basic Analytics Tip: Filter out your own IP","2023-03-24T17:12:51.767Z","2023-03-24T17:21:29.058Z",64543,"4983503b-25c2-40ff-a3c9-581ff2366627",{"_uid":1386,"title":1380,"content":1387,"summary":1451,"component":331,"categories":1457},"aae1d4a2-f917-4b24-8312-d2a840e578c2",{"type":372,"content":1388},[1389,1407,1435,1447],{"type":375,"content":1390},[1391,1393,1399,1401],{"text":1392,"type":379},"Just a basic tip that’s often overlooked but should be added to any physical or mental checklist when setting up a site: Filter out your own IP, as well as the IPs of your clients. The ",{"text":1394,"type":379,"marks":1395},"Google Analytics",[1396],{"type":428,"attrs":1397},{"href":1398,"title":194},"http:\u002F\u002Fanalytics.blogspot.com\u002F",{"text":1400,"type":379}," blog just posted an article that’s worth reading if you’re a Google Analytics user: ",{"text":1402,"type":379,"marks":1403},"Back to Basics: Filtering out your own IP address",[1404],{"type":428,"attrs":1405},{"href":1406,"title":194},"http:\u002F\u002Fanalytics.blogspot.com\u002F2009\u002F06\u002Fback-to-basics-filtering-out-your-own.html",{"type":375,"content":1408},[1409,1411,1414,1416,1418,1420,1421,1423,1424,1426,1427,1429,1430,1432,1433],{"text":1410,"type":379},"Don’t forget to filter out ",{"text":316,"type":379,"marks":1412},[1413],{"type":384},{"text":1415,"type":379}," IP addresses that need filtering, like:",{"type":1417},"hard_break",{"text":1419,"type":379},"* Your office IP",{"type":1417},{"text":1422,"type":379},"* Your home IP",{"type":1417},{"text":1425,"type":379},"* Your co-workers’ IPs (if they’re in separate offices or home-offices)",{"type":1417},{"text":1428,"type":379},"* Your client’s office IPs",{"type":1417},{"text":1431,"type":379},"* Your client’s home IPs",{"type":1417},{"text":1434,"type":379},"* Remote office locations, such as Starbucks or co-working spaces",{"type":375,"content":1436},[1437,1439,1445],{"text":1438,"type":379},"You’ll also want to make sure you’re aware of any IPs that change, such as the average cable or DSL internet connection. If that’s the case, you may want to set a monthly reminder to check your IP and update your analytics filtering, or perhaps use a ",{"text":1440,"type":379,"marks":1441},"cookie-based filtering method",[1442],{"type":428,"attrs":1443},{"href":1444,"title":194},"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.google.com\u002Fsupport\u002Fgoogleanalytics\u002Fbin\u002Fanswer.py?hl=en&answer=55481",{"text":1446,"type":379},". The obvious disadvantage with the cookie method, however, is that most of us are constantly testing across multiple browsers and multiple computers or virtual machines. (Just for my own computers, I’d have to set cookies in probably 16 browsers spread across 6 different machines. That gets old quickly.)",{"type":375,"content":1448},[1449],{"text":1450,"type":379},"Failing to filter out your own IPs will only create frustration and confusion, particularly with low-traffic sites, or sites that are getting a lot of traffic while you’re developing and launching. While it may seem like too much trouble, the importance to an online merchant of having accurate analytics data cannot be understated.",{"type":372,"content":1452},[1453],{"type":375,"content":1454},[1455],{"text":1456,"type":379},"Just a basic tip that’s often overlooked but should be added to any physical or mental checklist when setting up a site: Filter out your own IP, as well as the IPs of your clients. The Google Analytics blog just posted an article that’s worth reading if you’re a Google Analytics user: Back to Basics: […]",[1458],{"name":226,"created_at":345,"published_at":346,"updated_at":347,"id":348,"uuid":224,"content":1459,"slug":353,"full_slug":225,"sort_by_date":194,"position":354,"tag_list":1460,"is_startpage":59,"parent_id":356,"meta_data":194,"group_id":357,"first_published_at":358,"release_id":194,"lang":200,"path":194,"alternates":1461,"default_full_slug":194,"translated_slugs":194,"_stopResolving":162},{"_uid":350,"name":226,"component":351,"description":352},[],[],"basic-analytics-tip-filter-out-your-own-ip","blog\u002Fposts\u002Fbasic-analytics-tip-filter-out-your-own-ip",130,[],"ad95e48e-b78e-452d-be59-8fb405068424","2009-06-15T02:30:00.000Z",[],{"name":1470,"created_at":1471,"published_at":346,"updated_at":1472,"id":1473,"uuid":1474,"content":1475,"slug":1590,"full_slug":1591,"sort_by_date":194,"position":1592,"tag_list":1593,"is_startpage":59,"parent_id":620,"meta_data":194,"group_id":1594,"first_published_at":1595,"release_id":194,"lang":200,"path":194,"alternates":1596,"default_full_slug":194,"translated_slugs":194},"New possibilities for typography on the web","2023-03-24T17:13:02.672Z","2023-03-24T17:20:50.954Z",64557,"8047be00-f30d-4416-a4da-3a0010cdc47d",{"_uid":1476,"title":1470,"content":1477,"summary":1579,"component":331,"categories":1585},"cf85b72a-414c-4676-87f9-453fbb2ff90c",{"type":372,"content":1478},[1479,1483,1495,1500,1520,1525,1545,1567],{"type":375,"content":1480},[1481],{"text":1482,"type":379},"Some of you that know me (Brett) may know that I’m kind of a typography nerd. 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",{"text":1505,"type":379,"marks":1506},"Ralf Herrmann",[1507],{"type":428,"attrs":1508},{"href":1509,"title":194},"http:\u002F\u002Fopentype.info\u002Fblog\u002F",{"text":1511,"type":379}," has ",{"text":1513,"type":379,"marks":1514},"a list of 10 fonts",[1515],{"type":428,"attrs":1516},{"href":1517,"title":194},"http:\u002F\u002Fopentype.info\u002Fblog\u002F2008\u002F08\u002F05\u002F10-great-free-fonts-for-font-face-embedding\u002F",{"text":1519,"type":379}," that might pique your interest, even if only to know what’s on the horizon.",{"type":414,"attrs":1521,"content":1522},{"level":540},[1523],{"text":1524,"type":379},"Facelift Image Replacement makes me happy",{"type":375,"content":1526},[1527,1529,1535,1537,1543],{"text":1528,"type":379},"I recently discovered Cory Mawhorter’s FLIR, ",{"text":1530,"type":379,"marks":1531},"Facelift Image Replacement",[1532],{"type":428,"attrs":1533},{"href":1534,"title":194},"http:\u002F\u002Ffacelift.mawhorter.net\u002F",{"text":1536,"type":379},", and I’m quite excited about some of the possibilities it opens up. While sIFR can do much of what FLIR can do, it’s always good to have options, particularly when ",{"text":1538,"type":379,"marks":1539},"they can look as good as this",[1540],{"type":428,"attrs":1541},{"href":1542,"title":194},"http:\u002F\u002Ffacelift.mawhorter.net\u002Fdoc\u002Fplugins-quickeffects",{"text":1544,"type":379},". That FLIR is built with a plugin architecture is brilliant as well, and it seems to be silly fast.",{"type":375,"content":1546},[1547,1549,1550,1552,1553,1555,1556,1558,1559,1561,1562,1564,1565],{"text":1548,"type":379},"In case you’re not tempted to check out that link, it allows:",{"type":1417},{"text":1551,"type":379},"* anti-aliasing",{"type":1417},{"text":1554,"type":379},"* transparent backgrounds (with alpha transparency, even)",{"type":1417},{"text":1557,"type":379},"* gradients in the letters (yeah, for real… I’m really excited about that)",{"type":1417},{"text":1560,"type":379},"* drop-shadows",{"type":1417},{"text":1563,"type":379},"* borders on letters",{"type":1417},{"text":1566,"type":379},"* word wrapping and blocks of text",{"type":375,"content":1568},[1569,1571,1577],{"text":1570,"type":379},"Check out the ",{"text":1572,"type":379,"marks":1573},"examples",[1574],{"type":428,"attrs":1575},{"href":1576,"title":194},"http:\u002F\u002Ffacelift.mawhorter.net\u002Fexamples\u002F",{"text":1578,"type":379},". 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