“Four seconds is the maximum length of time an average online shopper will wait for a Web page to load before potentially abandoning a retail site.”

What does this mean to you? It means for selling online, your product isn’t what initially grabs your customer, it’s your website. It’s how long it takes your website to load. It’s what they see first, before they ever scroll down. It’s what pops up on their screen first. You banner, you welcome text, any graphics, photos, text or links. What you see on the screen before you ever scroll down is the most important part of your website.

Based on the feedback of 1,058 online shoppers that were surveyed during the first half of 2006, JupiterResearch offers the following analysis:

• The consequences for an online retailer whose site underperforms include diminished goodwill, negative brand perception, and, most important, significant loss in overall sales.
• Online shopper loyalty is contingent upon quick page loading, especially for high-spending shoppers and those with greater tenure.

Screen Shot BCB homepage

KISS: Keep it short and simple on the home page. If you host your own site and have the luxury of completely designing the layout, text, photos and placement, keep your home page as short as possible. Ideally, your home page wouldn’t even have a scroll. Take all that extra info you have on your homepage and put it on other pages, like about us, contact us, terms and conditions or our mission. Put on your homepage, just the info you would want a buyer to know if they walked into a B&M sore and you had 5 seconds to tell them something to make them stay and look around.

The report ranked poor site performance as second only to high product prices and shipping costs as leading factors for dissatisfaction among online shoppers.

Screen Shot BCB Etsy

KISS: Keep it short and simple on the Etsy shop announcement. A long announcement means all your potential customer sees when they come to your shop is your banner and a bunch of boring black text on a gray background. Keep it to 3-4 lines and put all that other jazz in your profile or policies or in the listing description.

Additional findings in the report show that more than one-third of shoppers with a poor experience abandoned the site entirely, while 75 percent were likely not to shop on that site again. These results demonstrate that a poorly performing website can be damaging to a company’s reputation; according to the survey, nearly 30 percent of dissatisfied customers will either develop a negative perception of the company or tell their friends and family about the experience.

KISS: Keep it short and simple on the extras. Flash intros, music, slide shows, animation, flashy items, large photos. While all these things seem fun when you put them on YOUR website, they can make a customer close out your site before it fully loads. Remember many internet users are still on dialup.

Roughly half of “mature” online shoppers – those with either two or more years tenure shopping online or that spend more than $1,500 annually – identify page loading time as one of their top priorities for online sites

Sixty-five percent indicated they are likely to return to a site that is easy to navigate, particularly during the registration, log-in and checkout processes

Forty-six percent of online shoppers insist on a rapid checkout process, with 55 percent of shoppers spending $1,500 or more demanding the same

KISS: Keep it short and simple on the personal info. There is a place for this in your profile or about us page. But, as a general rule, unless you sell pet items, your customers don’t really care to see a photo of your precious rex, spot, fluffy or socks on every page. Keep your photos, graphics and text relevant.

-report by Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), commissioned through JupiterResearch, that examines consumer reaction to a poor online shopping experience.

I’m the class clown

You are the Class Clown. This means you wear grease paint and have a big, red nose…

I really need to stop thinking so literally…

Anyway, I MEANT to say that you are the Class Clown, and this means that you are extroverted, mean, and arrogant. You are not very rational, so you gravitate towards things that produce feelings or emotions over thoughts (like fart jokes or spitballs, for instance). You are also an extrovert and rather full of yourself, so of course you want constant attention for yourself and think you are somehow better than others. (Upon hearing the expression “you are full of yourself”, you probably also slyly feel the need to ask women if they would like to be “full of yourself” too. I am assuming you have a penis. I often make that assumption, being fond of the penis.) You can also be a bit mean-spirited, and like a class clown you wouldn’t hesitate to make a joke at someone else’s expense, no matter how terrible it would make them feel. A lot of people probably find your antics annoying, sophomoric, and desperately histrionic. Like some sort of crack-taking hyperactive monkey, you’d do anything, mock anyone, just to get someone to pay attention to you for five seconds. So your personality defects are that you have to be the center of attention, that you don’t care about others, and that you are rather irrational and motivated by intuitions. Now stop walking around with those books on your head and sit down this instant! Or else I’ll be forced to stand here, hands on my hips, doing nothing once again!

What are you? Take the test…if you can take it

Often times people new to selling online don’t know how to use all five photos that Etsy allows, for simple items that don’t have a lot of detail.

You can ALWAYS fit 5 photos of any item in if you do certain things.

• Alter your perspective
• Get a close up
• Use a model
• Show product in use
• Use props

Most new shop owners have mostly shots that are taken straight on. Shots are taken with the camera at the eye level of the photographer and the products where ever you have them.

Handmade Tags from a different perspective

Completely changing the angle that you shoot from can give your photos a real artsy, wow factor.

Get up high and shoot down on your product or get the camera “eye level” with the product. Get ont he ground and photo a model from down looking up.

Either way the customer will be seeing your product from a different angle that is bound to create interest in your product.

Items featured will be changed throughout the day.

Come check it out.

http://butterflychic.etsy.com

By Deborah Markus, from Secular Homeschooling, Issue #1, Fall 2007

1 Please stop asking us if it’s legal. If it is — and it is — it’s insulting to imply that we’re criminals. And if we were criminals, would we admit it?

2 Learn what the words “socialize” and “socialization” mean, and use the one you really mean instead of mixing them up the way you do now. Socializing means hanging out with other people for fun. Socialization means having acquired the skills necessary to do so successfully and pleasantly. If you’re talking to me and my kids, that means that we do in fact go outside now and then to visit the other human beings on the planet, and you can safely assume that we’ve got a decent grasp of both concepts.

3 Quit interrupting my kid at her dance lesson, scout meeting, choir practice, baseball game, art class, field trip, park day, music class, 4H club, or soccer lesson to ask her if as a homeschooler she ever gets to socialize.

4 Don’t assume that every homeschooler you meet is homeschooling for the same reasons and in the same way as that one homeschooler you know.

5 If that homeschooler you know is actually someone you saw on TV, either on the news or on a “reality” show, the above goes double.

6 Please stop telling us horror stories about the homeschoolers you know, know of, or think you might know who ruined their lives by homeschooling. You’re probably the same little bluebird of happiness whose hobby is running up to pregnant women and inducing premature labor by telling them every ghastly birth story you’ve ever heard. We all hate you, so please go away.

7 We don’t look horrified and start quizzing your kids when we hear they’re in public school. Please stop drilling our children like potential oil fields to see if we’re doing what you consider an adequate job of homeschooling.

8 Stop assuming all homeschoolers are religious.

9 Stop assuming that if we’re religious, we must be homeschooling for religious reasons.

10 We didn’t go through all the reading, learning, thinking, weighing of options, experimenting, and worrying that goes into homeschooling just to annoy you. Really. This was a deeply personal decision, tailored to the specifics of our family. Stop taking the bare fact of our being homeschoolers as either an affront or a judgment about your own educational decisions.

11 Please stop questioning my competency and demanding to see my credentials. I didn’t have to complete a course in catering to successfully cook dinner for my family; I don’t need a degree in teaching to educate my children. If spending at least twelve years in the kind of chew-it-up-and-spit-it-out educational facility we call public school left me with so little information in my memory banks that I can’t teach the basics of an elementary education to my nearest and dearest, maybe there’s a reason I’m so reluctant to send my child to school.

12 If my kid’s only six and you ask me with a straight face how I can possibly teach him what he’d learn in school, please understand that you’re calling me an idiot. Don’t act shocked if I decide to respond in kind.

13 Stop assuming that because the word “home” is right there in “homeschool,” we never leave the house. We’re the ones who go to the amusement parks, museums, and zoos in the middle of the week and in the off-season and laugh at you because you have to go on weekends and holidays when it’s crowded and icky.

14 Stop assuming that because the word “school” is right there in homeschool, we must sit around at a desk for six or eight hours every day, just like your kid does. Even if we’re into the “school” side of education — and many of us prefer a more organic approach — we can burn through a lot of material a lot more efficiently, because we don’t have to gear our lessons to the lowest common denominator.

15 Stop asking, “But what about the Prom?” Even if the idea that my kid might not be able to indulge in a night of over-hyped, over-priced revelry was enough to break my heart, plenty of kids who do go to school don’t get to go to the Prom. For all you know, I’m one of them. I might still be bitter about it. So go be shallow somewhere else.

16 Don’t ask my kid if she wouldn’t rather go to school unless you don’t mind if I ask your kid if he wouldn’t rather stay home and get some sleep now and then.

17 Stop saying, “Oh, I could never homeschool!” Even if you think it’s some kind of compliment, it sounds more like you’re horrified. One of these days, I won’t bother disagreeing with you any more.

18 If you can remember anything from chemistry or calculus class, you’re allowed to ask how we’ll teach these subjects to our kids. If you can’t, thank you for the reassurance that we couldn’t possibly do a worse job than your teachers did, and might even do a better one.

19 Stop asking about how hard it must be to be my child’s teacher as well as her parent. I don’t see much difference between bossing my kid around academically and bossing him around the way I do about everything else.

20 Stop saying that my kid is shy, outgoing, aggressive, anxious, quiet, boisterous, argumentative, pouty, fidgety, chatty, whiny, or loud because he’s homeschooled. It’s not fair that all the kids who go to school can be as annoying as they want to without being branded as representative of anything but childhood.

21 Quit assuming that my kid must be some kind of prodigy because she’s homeschooled.

22 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of prodigy because I homeschool my kids.

23 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of saint because I homeschool my kids.

24 Stop talking about all the great childhood memories my kids won’t get because they don’t go to school, unless you want me to start asking about all the not-so-great childhood memories you have because you went to school.

25 Here’s a thought: If you can’t say something nice about homeschooling, shut up!

Not your average earring! This is some unique, beautiful ear jewelry right here!

Check out the blog here http://thyme2dream.blogspot.com/

Arteypico award

This evening I got home and checked my convos and was so excited to see a convo from The Cozy Loft, informing me she had chosen me for the Arte y Pico award!

I am honored to be chosen and thank her very much for her kind words about my blog. You can see the other blogs she chose by visiting her blog.

You can read about this award here: http://arteypico.blogspot.com/ (written in spanish).

It is so nice to know my readers apperchiate all the hard work I put into my blog (although not so much hard work as of late!! Must get back on top of that!!)

The Arte y Pico award was originally started by Esey. This award is awarded to bloggers who inspire others with their creative energy and their talents – writing or artwork in all media’s. When you receive this award, you should consider it a “special honor”.

Now, I am super excited to choose 5 blogs to award this honor to. Excited, but a very difficult choice!

1. http://88words.typepad.com/ Chelsea is a jewelry maker who has a way with words. I swear I could read anything this woman writes! She could make an article about cow poop interesting.
2. http://www.xiane.org/ Christiane is a lovely, very friendly lady. I  love her blog. I can relate to her battle with depression and it’s great to read about her having a good day :0)
3. http://little-people.blogspot.com/ Always makes me smile :0)
4. http://wakeuptiger.blogspot.com/ Thought provoking blog I just adore!
5. http://whatnottocrochet.wordpress.com/ and my most recently discovered blog that is a laugh a minute. I love crochet…I had no idea it could be so bad!!!

• The Arte y Pico Award is meant to be paid forward to bloggers whom you think are deserving of it. Use the rules below when you select who you wish to award the Arte y Pico.
• 1) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award. Criteria for choosing winners includes creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogger community in any language.
• 2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
• 3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
• 4) Award winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte y pico” blog , so everyone will know the origin of this award.
• 5) To show these rules.

Tonights sale is…..
25% off all graphics

10% off all paper products

Put ‘BLOG 628′ in the message to seller box at checkout and please specify whether you would like a PayPal or RME invoice.

John T. Unger

Where can people find you online?

http://www.johntunger.com
http://www.emoodicon.com
http://www.johntunger.etsy.com
http://www.typepadhacks.org
http://twitter.com/johntunger
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johntunger/http://www.typepadhacks.org
http://johntunger.tumblr.com/
http://www.cafepress.com/johntunger

or searching google for “john t unger” which will bring up a bunch more places to find me.

How did you come up with your shop name/tag line or any unique product names?

Naming products is often the hardest part for me. It took me all of a nanosecond to envision the design of the Great Bowl O Fire but I spent three days naming it. Three *whole* days!

What types of crafts do you make?

My recycled steel fire pits are the biggest seller, but I do a wide variety of work in many media: Sculpture, gates, fences, furniture in steel (with accent bits of copper, bronze, aluminum, stone, glass, etc.). Also mosaics in glass, marble, tile, stone, and bottle caps. I’ve done some pretty cool jewelry in the past and have just started a new company designing jewelry that I’m having manufactured for me. On top of all that, I write code for the web and do consulting on user experience and interface design, which could be regarded as a craft or art when done right.

How did you get into making art?

Really, I had much more expensive taste in art than I could afford… So I started making my own work based on the art that I liked (at that time mostly African and Haitian religious work). After a while, there was too much of it around and I began selling it to make room for more.

What is your favorite thing about making steel sculpture?

I find steel to be very easy to work with because “we understand each other.” All materials have certain ways they want to behave… steel happens to naturally act just the way I want it to. For instance, when I’m bending rod, the curves that are most natural to the material happen to be the same kind of curves I would draw.

What is your least favorite thing about it?

The materials and consumables are both toxic and messy. Lots of smoke, dirt, heavy metals etc. And I hate when I break expensive tools, which happens a lot.

What is your favorite item currently for sale? Why?

The Emoodicon ring is my current fave. You can get one here: http://www.emoodicon.com/

It’s my fave in part because I always love the new thing the most. But really, the process of making this a reality was really interesting. I worked with people in five different countries (US, Canada, Sweden, Taiwan, India) to make an idea into a real product. The story is online here
http://www.emoodicon.com/emoodicon-origin-story.html
and here
http://www.emoodicon.com/the-emoodicon-crew.html

I have so many more ideas than I have time to actually pursue. By bringing in other people to help, I see the possibility of making many more of my ideas actually come to pass. That’s VERY exciting!

What inspires you?

Other artists, materials, textures, pattern, music, color, science, literature, etc. A lot of my best ideas come from willful misinterpretation… I like to look at things backwards, upside down, inside out or just mis-seen or mis-heard.

What do you like to do besides crafting?

Reading, writing, business, marketing, spending time with friends and my girlfriend, traveling.

What advice would you give someone wanting to get into making sculpture?

Spend your money on tools and materials rather than training. Studio gear will get you farther than art school. You can learn from other artists, books, art in museums and galleries and trial and error.

Finish this sentence. “If I weren’t making art I would have been an”

industrial designer

What is the WORST job you have ever had?

All of them. I like working for myself. But the absolute worst was a guy I did construction work and demolition for. Low points included digging a foundation for a trailer that had already been put on site (I literally had to crawl under and dig holes with a spoon, no kidding, because there was only about 8 inches of clearance) and removing windows he had sold from a building that was being torn down with a back hoe *while I was in it*!

What is your favorite Etsy shop?

zephyrsart.etsy.com

Anything you’d like to share about your personal life?

I’m in love with the most amazing girl in the world and she’s crazy about me.

Would you rather be rich or famous? Why?

Famous, because A) it can lead to wealth and B) I’m actually not in it for the money. I like the money, but the experience is the most important part, being fully alive, all the time. If you rock hard enough, long enough and loud enough, fame is really just a byproduct of having a damn good time.

What piece of advise would you give someone wanting to start their own business?

Don’t be afraid. Don’t do it just for the money. find something you would pay to do, do it a lot, do it all the time (or in little bits if you have to), keep doing it. Document what you’ve accomplished. Do it more. Tell everyone what you’re doing and why. Use the web as a tool to get the word out (90% of my business comes in over the web from out of state or out of the country even). Read seth Godin, Hugh MacLeod, Tim Ferris and Brian Clark. Try something that hasn’t been done. Do something impossible. Do some more. Never, ever give up. Don’t listen to people who tell you it can’t be done (laughing at them is okay). If it fails, start over. If you run into a wall, go around, under, over or through it. There’s always a way to do things if you want it. There is no “no.”

I tell people, “it’s only life or death.” We’re all mortal, and we don’t know when we’re gonna get hit by a bus or whatever. So don’t waste time doing things you don’t care about. Get other people to do those things and find what really drives you and push it way, way over the red line. That’ll get you there.

Register your own domain. Use an email attached to that domain. Always be aware of how well your internet presence can be maintained if you switch providers or services (ie: some services create URLs that can’t be imported to other services. That will lose you all your inbound links if you have to move).