Robert Blaise

How To Photograph Your Product to Enhance Your Online Sales in 4 Easy Steps

I found this great article that I thought would be very useful to anyone that has an ecommerce website and has actually had to take product pictures for thier website.Natalie Norton of digital photographyschool.com does a great job providing  4 simple that are sure to enhance your product images:

1.    Turn Off the Flash
2.    Remove Distracting Elements
3.    Utilize Simple Staging.
4.    Employ Creative Use of Depth of Field to Highlight Product Detail

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Twitter Tools Likely Choice to Build Revenue

Twitter is working on various ways to make money from its fast-growing microblogging service, but advertising is an option that is not currently being considered.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said on Monday that the company is developing various add-on tools and services for the businesses and professional users of Twitter, which could create a revenue stream for the company. He said Twitter plans to introduce some of these tools by year end.

But Stone dismissed the notion of selling advertisements on the popular service at this time, even though ad revenue is the main way most Web start-ups manage to stay in business while keeping their service free for consumers.

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS TWITTERING

Now you can get the most current updates from Miami-Dade County schools via Twitter. So who’s next to get on board? Will it be your Church that send “you inspirations tweet to help you stay on the right path”?  How about your local restaurant offering up “the soup of the day tweet”?  The possibilities are endless if you are participating in this revolution.

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Message sent - 5/22/2009

M-DCPS on Twitter

As another means of helping parents and the public keep informed about school district news and events, Miami-Dade County Public Schools has initiated a Twitter page.

Twitter is a social networking service that allows users to send and receive information and updates from other Twitter users by email and cell phone. The District will use the service to keep Twitter users informed about the developments and progress of the school district, through news releases and short informational postings.

Follow M-DCPS at twitter.com/MDCPS to get the latest updates from the District.

Facebook vs. the Fortune 500

By Steve Tobak

Do you think your company will need to transform its management practices in order to attract and motivate the Facebook Generation? Management expert Gary Hamel thinks so, and while he presents an interesting argument, I wouldn’t overhaul your entire corporate structure just yet.

Here’s the premise, the experience of growing up online will profoundly shape the workplace expectations of [Generation F]. If your company hopes to attract the most creative and energetic members of Gen F, it will need to understand these Internet-derived expectations, and then reinvent its management practices accordingly.

With that in mind, I compiled a list of 12 work-relevant characteristics of online life. These features of Web-based life are written into the social DNA of Generation F - and mostly missing from the managerial DNA of the average Fortune 500 company.

Having “grown up” in the tech industry, I’ve seen many aspects (but not all, mind you) of the “coming changes” Hamel refers to already in practice. They’re entrepreneurial characteristics that have been part of high-tech America for some time, brought to us by the likes of Cisco, Dell, Google, Intel, and Microsoft.

hese companies and they’re innovative entrepreneurs and managers have already been transforming the Fortune 500 for at least one generation, if not two. Moreover, the change has been and will continue to be more evolutionary than revolutionary. As such, I don’t see Gen F making or necessitating transformational changes to management practices; they’re already in progress.

Anyway, that’s what I think. Take a look at Hamel’s 12 characteristics and let us know what you think. Here’s a list, but the entire post is here: The Facebook Generation vs. the Fortune 500.

1. All ideas compete on an equal footing.
2. Contribution counts for more than credentials.
3. Hierarchies are natural, not prescribed.
4. Leaders serve rather than preside.
5. Tasks are chosen, not assigned.
6. Groups are self-defining and -organizing.
7. Resources get attracted, not allocated.
8. Power comes from sharing information, not hoarding it.
9. Opinions compound and decisions are peer-reviewed.
10. Users can veto most policy decisions.
11. Intrinsic rewards matter most.
12. Hackers are heroes.

Is Hamel right? Will the Facebook Generation transform corporate America, or is that work already in progress courtesy of the technology industry? And what do you think of these characteristics? While I believe some (1, 2, 8, 11) are positive and in progress, others (6, 9, 10, 12) are pretty radical.

What is Magento Commerce?

If you are asking this question, you must have heard of the magnificent open source ecommerce platform that makes it easy for manufacturers and buyers to meet each other’s requirements.  Magento platform offers flexibility and control.  Flexibility and control benefits both the products source and the consumer in many ways.

How is Magento eCommerce Platform beneficial to the storeowner?

Magento ecommerce platform offers an advanced catalog and shopping cart price rule system.  It allows the storeowners to customize the storefront and all other features including pricing, colors options, and offers right in one screen.

The storeowner may likewise manage the storefront to meet international markets.  Changing the storefront into different languages, and customizing it to cater to different nationalities is done in only a few clicks.

The catalog is designable in whatever way the storeowner pleases.

Magento eCommerce Platform likewise offer SEO features that will help storeowners to edit metadata and search engine optimization easily.  Social shopping tools including reviews and product-related contents are easy to create with the built-in features of Magento.

To top it all, Magento offers an easy to navigate Admin Dashboard to help you check reports with ease.  You control how the storefront will look, how it will be easy for customers to navigate and ensure social marketing is in place.

Creativity is your only limit, but of course, if you do not feel creative, you can always take advantage of the templates available in the Magento system.

How is Magento platform beneficial to the customer?

Magento platform offers a single page checkout that enables customers to view and edit their orders easily.

There is also a multiple shipping address option where the customer need not make other transaction for shipment to different addresses.  Simply click the multiple address option and type in the address and you are ready to ship the products you need.

Navigation is easy and therefore purchasing products will be less tedious.  Customers can make use of their time in other more important tasks, rather than for multiple transactions as compare with other open source platforms.

Pricing is easily changeable to meet currency requirement with just a few clicks of the mouse.

Catalog browsing is likewise a breeze in this system.  Consumers do not see products alone, or products and price alone, they will be able to see it complete with reviews and contents that will help them compare products.  They can therefore buy the best easily.

Magento is an open source ecommerce platform that promises to revolutionize the industry.  They are delivering this promise and more.  Thus, if you have products to sell in the World Wide Web, Magento eCommerce is for you.

Tags: Shopping Cart, Solutions