Setting up your own eCommerce site

I stumbled across this useful article from ArsTechnica on how to build your own eCommerce site as an alternative for users wanting to avoid eBay. The process of building your own site for selling products may seem daunting at first, but by following this simple tutorial by Ars (which makes use of the PayPal system), you can create your own custom eCommerce site with relative ease and not that much pre-know-how.

But making your own e-commerce site is a huge pain and easy to screw up, isn't it? Well, yes and no. To build an entire system from the ground up might require more time and resources than you currently have, but you can easily fake it by creating a site to hawk your wares and by using PayPal as a payment processing back-end—and your buyers don't even have to have a PayPal account to buy from you. Here's a simple tutorial for setting up your own site to sell stuff with the help of PayPal.

(via ArsTechnica)

On the importance of maintaining your Twitter page.

If you're a public figure looking to maintain a positive image, take a page out of the "Sarah Palin Fail" book and DON'T create a twitter account until (1) You actually have thoughts to post and (2) You figure out how to make a not-atrocious background page splash.

Because this is just a mess. (via True/Slant)

New Yesterday (b/c I posted after midnight)! Google commerce search.

Google introduced a search tool today for holiday shoppers to make the online shopping experience just a little bit easier (<3 Google, more and more, everyday). The tool is specifically designed for large e-commerce sites with a search bar featuring spell check and synonym recognition which will make finding products all the more easier.

Online retailers interested in being featured on Google Commerce Search are looking at prices beginning at $50 000 a year-- a cost which Google is targeting at the top 1000 online retailers in each country where Google operates.

How does it work? Retailers will have access to Google Merchant Center, where catalog data can be submitted and where it will be crawled by Google. Products will then appear on the Google Product search site: Google Product is similar to sites such as ShopZilla.com.

For shoppers, finding the specific products will be easy: data can be sorted by category, price, brand or any other attribute. Marketing and advertising is also easier for retailers as special attention can be drawn to specific products to draw consumers.

With the holiday season fast approaching, I can see shoppers taking advantage of this tool to find the right gifts... and I can see online retailers making a fortune as more shoppers see the benefit of shopping online. This tool definitely breaks down one of the daunting barriers for newbies to online shopping: the wide array of products out there certainly makes it difficult to find what you're looking for, unless you know the right search terms. Google seems to overcome this barrier by enabling a smarter and more intuitive search query so consumers can more easily find what they're looking for without having to think too hard about what they want.

And, oh, what a beautiful thing that is... the act of not having to think too hard.

Google: you rock.

Infographic: The Boom of Social Media Sites

I stumbled across this infographic while procrastinating on Digg. I scoff anytime anyone tries to denounce the growing popularity of social media sites by stating that they're all passing trends and will soon face the snuffer to their fiery popularity. I firmly believe-- without a doubt-- that social media sites are shaping a new world of interconnectedness: this is our future and being socially connected to others via technology will become more commonplace as more technologies develop that integrate and facilitate the use of social media. Smart businesses are the ones to exploit this trend and take advantage of the ever-increasing popularity of social media. The reach is enormous and the business possibilities (and PROFIT possibilities) are not to be underestimated.

Mashable: Best social media tools for entrepreneurs

Mashable is a great blog on social media with fantastic advice for effective use of social media.

Article of e-business interest today: 10 of the Best Social Media Tools for Entrepreneurs

Breaking news: social media is making you LESS productive! [Shakes head. Facepalm]

According to a UK article, over £1bn could be lost a year through work-time use of Facebook and Twitter.

As much of an advocate as I am for use of social media to improve business relations and benefit e-business in general, it is not news that most of users' time spent on Facebook is for personal reasons. Let's be honest: you don't log onto Facebook to make contacts, find clients, or publicize the company you work for. You go on FB to see who has broken up this week, or to untag sloppy photos of yourself from the bar the night before; you go on Facebook to find out if that guy you met is a womanizing douche or if that girl in your class has a boyfriend; you go on Facebook to stay in touch with friends and to stay in the social loop. For these reasons and many others, FB is a tool that has become an extension of people's lives... it consumes you and you become so involved with the site that you literally check it in 10min intervals (you KNOW nothing has changed in the past 10 minutes, but you just.. have.. to... facebook...gahhhhh).

SO.. it should come as no surprise that employees are using social networking sites during the working day for personal resaons. A consultancy firm polled over 1 400 office workers and found that 57% use social networking sites during the day.

I'm surprised that number isn't higher.

Regardless of these unsurprising facts and figures, there is still reason for businesses to take advantage of the reach social media has. Sure, employees' productivity has decreased... but the point is, the marketing, advertising, and publicity potential these sites have cannot be ignored. E-business can only benefit in the long-run from social media: it's just a matter of knowing how to use it to your advantage.

Exploit employees' interests in the sites and provide incentive to get them to i.e. publicize your company. Create fan pages, spread news ... Create a Twitter account and provide fun updates on your company's activities. For start-up companies, there's no better way to get the word out about your new business than calling in your Facebook friends and spreading word about your name through extended networks.

Facebook = still awesome in all areas of life. Facebook = huge potential for awesomeness for employers and companies. It's just a matter of knowing how to use it.

Advertising embedded on your Mac OS. O Noes.

Two days ago, Apple filed a patent for technology that would embed advertising into your Mac OS. When opening your Apple device, an advertisement would appear along with a "response" button to ensure that you've actually watched the ad before using the device.

Meaning: you might be forced to watch an ad in order to use your MacBook, your iPod, your iPhone, or whatever Apple device that catches your fancy.

This technology does NOT catch my fancy, nor would it be popular with users. Apple should anticipate enormous backlash if they follow through with implementing this technology.

Granted, from a business standpoint, this idea is pretty brilliant. In recent years, Apple products have become increasingly popular. (An aside: I'm proud to say that I'm apart of this new wave and I have much Apple-love. I <3 Apple and everything Apple does for my life. If Apple was a man, I would want him to be my hubby. And no one else would compare. And he would be the hubby of my dreams.) The reach of ads would be huge if they were embedded into new Mac OSes. In addition, requiring users to click a button upon viewing the ad in order to continue using their device is a surefire way of ensuring that an ad is watched and mentally received by the user. This ad technology opens a whole new world of marketing options for businesses and contributes to the expanding world of e-business. It's taking online advertising to a new and very personal level, albeit moderately invasive.

As beneficial as this may be to e-business however, there is no doubt in my mind (speaking from the perspective of an average consumer) that this will most definitely not be well-received. It is invasive: forcing you to watch an ad before using your own device is just ... wrong. You purchased the device; you purchased the OS-- you should owe nothing more to Apple other than your consumer loyalty, assuming you are satisfied with the capabilities of your device. Why you should be required to watch an ad when you've already paid your debt to Apple (in that you legally purchased your device) is beyond me.

If this software is implemented, I might just start using linux.