#(and its text tool is abysmal)

[greypetrel]

I saved a work project in jpg to show the client. It's in CMYK, I don't want to bother convenrting it in RGB back again (thank you CSP for not working in print quality) just for that.

On Photoshop the colours are nice, I check the flat image on my pc before sending, everything looks all right.

Opening the image on Whatsapp:

[imaginepostingonsideblogs]

THE OFFICIAL (WELL, UNTIL I NO DOUBT ALTER ALL OF THIS COMPLETELY) GUIDE TO WRITING CASTIEL TOWNSEND BOFA TOWNSEND(????)

alright :) so.

first of all, i refer to him quite frequently as ‘cas’ in this. technically, its not a good move on my part, that, considering every iteration of castiel technically has a name that shortens to ‘cas’, and so if i go around taking about ‘cas’, i could mean, basically, uh… anyone. but through this guide alone, every reference to an entity called ‘cas’ is the one and only ‘castiel townsend(???)’ from the title of the text. that’s the guy in question. got that? great!

this focuses primarily on his dialogue and actions during said dialogue, in five sections ive labelled 'vocabulary', 'amount said', 'accompaniment', 'style', and 'tone', but that's just because he talks a whole bunch. anything additional about how he thinks and acts is in a last section called 'additional' (self explanatory name, innit) but i will probably add to that bit as we go!

so. without further ado, because this is already long enough:

VOCABULARY

cas's vocabulary is... like i've said, a weird mix between normal, comprehensible, though millennial-esque slang and more archaic or nonstandard terms and words. he's a big fan of 'remiss' and 'brogue', but will in exactly the same breath, call someone a boomer. the archaic side of his vocabulary leans more to the shakesperian, but anything poe-esque is absolutely not off the table. just go ham. sprinkle the longest and most complicated words you know into his vocabulary, and you'll be set. don't even worry about using them correctly.

he also uses lines like 'the jig's up' and then immediately gets bullied for it. as he should honestly.

he is also...frequent with his amount of pop culture references. basically, anything you know, you're absolutely entitled to make him know too. go wild. bonus points if it's a shit piece of media. books, films, tv shows-- whatever! go for it.

oh that's another thing. frequent user of 'whatever'. 'whatever' traditionally means 'this thing is impacting me but i can shrug it off enough to ignore it'. he's 'whatever'd murders. and the existence of the compound. basically, unless it causes him to break down on the spot, it's 'whatever'.

you can never use it too much. go wild.

he also uses a LOT of british terms. he's not a 'luv' kind of a man- he's not reached that far- but 'lawks' (exclamation of surprise? ish? somewhere between surprise and oh god) and 'git' and 'goit' and 'wanker' (all insults. we brits are an contentious bunch.) are very much on the table lmaoo

honestly anything goes! he is actively abusing these terms, so don't worry abt getting anything wrong you got this!

AMOUNT SAID

a lot. all of the time.

cas talks like its an olympic sport and he's going for gold. if you're ever sitting there thinking 'is this enough castiel dialogue??' the answer is no. write more. he rambles, he elaborates, he doubles back, he goes off on tangents- and it's ten times worse whenever he's nervous, which is more than he usually lets on. nervous? him? he'd never be nervous. not at all. honestly, it's ridiculous you'd think that. why would he be nervous? what would that possibly be about? don't be silly. he's never been scared a day in his life. except for that one time. with the crocodile. and that had really just been a log, so that one didn't count. <- like that. but ten times more.

oh, that's the other thing! he frequently trails into random stories about his past that have just. never come up before and never will again. make those up as you will. be wild! his backstory up to the age of 18 will never be fully ironed out i think, so you have total free rein.

cas will and does abruptly switch to very...clipped dialogue- like, 1-2 words max. this is a powerful tool, because its an indication that something is Very Very Horrifically Terribly Wrong. this is when he's terrified out his mind, or exhausted beyond reason, or has been through something absolutely abysmal. it is traditionally very rare, and a Very Bad Sign. unless you're trying to get him to do what you want, in which case this is the ultimate way of indicating that you're well on the way there.

this is the reason why fully docile compound cases will maybe say 1-2 words a year if they're feeling particularly chatty-- and the reason why that's a very big thing.

ACCOMPANIMENT

castiel is a man who cannot and will not stay still for long, particularly when talking. sometimes he paces, sometimes he gestures, sometimes he unscrews things or tries flipping items (books, knives, pens- anything in reach really) with varying levels of success. sometimes (if hes behaving or acting more nonchalant) he'll just go 'okay whatever' and go on tumblr mid-conversation. point is, even if you tied him to a chair, he's not staying still, particularly with his hands. go for it. make him do whatever. i will cheer you for it.

STYLE

when I said that 'he elaborates, he doubles back, he goes off on tangents', i meant he often does so m- i mean- thaaaat he often stops himself partway through a word or an idea just to start a new one. or he'll stop mid sentence just to-- just to reconsider the sentence and then continue going with it.

his mouth moves faster than his brain, and so often he'll say something like a lie or a comment or an analogy and have to decide whether or not to try and go back on it or stick with it to the end.

as i described it once to my good friend @heshemikey, 'if he's in a situation where he needs to not joke or not lie he'll often joke or lie and then immediately double back on it he can't ?? not say things? if you get what i mean??'

which is basically. just. cas in his purest form tbh.

TONE

i left this one til last because its the most(??) variable of the lot?

there is constantly a nonchalance, a lack of caring, a projection of being in control to what he says. he's not scared, he knows what he's doing, he's in charge. those kind of vibes. even though its highly unlikely any of the three are true, especially all at once. but depending on where he is in the timeline- where he is in his life, even- the actual terms of that can differ quite a bit. early cas- pre wbg cas-- honestly, pre OVER cas-- does this by acting like a little bit of an arsehole. he's not exactly a touchy-feely guy, he's not exactly open with his affections (though he does have them, and does show them. in his own ways.) and tends to act anywhere from a manipulative asshole to just a dude who Does Not Give A Shit Abt What You're Saying.

as my dearly beloved friend @felixcosm (expert of the early stages of cas) points out, when i say hes 'acting like a little bit of an arsehole', what i mean to say is that he is an extremely bratty, petulant kind of guy. he is…very frustrated, at w.bg, at his husband, at himself, and everything he says mirrors that. the manipulation he exerts is his own attempts to grasp some kind of control over his situation. though when that is inevitably not enough, or it slips through his fingers, he's prone to being a pissy little bastard about it <3

he argues frequently with a wide variety of people (particularly his husband, though anyone who opposes him is probably going to get an earful)- a little hot-headed, a little overconfident, and a lot in denial about it all.

i can feel him in the back of my brain denying it right now. that's how in denial he is. he's constantly in denial and he never stops– at any point in his life, really. if in doubt: make him in denial. great trick. works every time.

through OVER (which is where he's actually quite awkward, especially around people who're nice to him, like hunter) and experiences with the compound, and the flinchites- this begins to transition into the other end of the scale. which is a part of his life i call the pw era. pw era cas is... completely opposing. he's smug, he's amused, he's constantly finding things that Are Not Funny to be funny. he doesn't take anything- or anyone- very seriously.

he's also very, very touchy. he frequently puts his arm around people's shoulders, or pats them on the back, or offers to keep them warm at night, or basically anything that could border on being annoying or discomforting. that's the other thing- he- pw era, especially- delights in causing people discomfort. not horrific amounts, but anywhere from annoyance to pure upset is somewhere he's willing to stoop to. if he thinks something is going to hurt someone's feelings, he'll say it. there's a possibility, depending on their reaction, that he might double back and apologise, but first and foremost he's going to come out with the smugly snide comment in question

i think he's constantly trying to get under people's skin? if he causes them to have a flat-out breakdown, then he'll tune his annoyance levels down quite a bit, but his main goal is still always to get under the skin of the person he's addressing, and he'll stop at nothing to succeed.

ADDITIONAL (yayyy!)

so. this is a little about how he behaves, a little how he thinks and acts. ive been reading through how i write him and realising i really? do not dwell on those much? but let's see what we can do here :)

okay. so.

one of the first things you're ever going to know about cas is that he has a crap marriage. this is never not true, and he will never not bring it up if he finds an opening- honestly, no matter what point in his life he's at.

it gets to the point where he will follow various comments- 'they were not exactly being punctual', and 'the fact he might have been lying didn't once occur to me' are the two i can think off the top of my head, but it's a frequent occurrence- with 'story of my marriage', or something of the sort. sorry. that was dialogue again. point is, he's never not really thinking abt his marriage and how crap it was. you can ALWAYS make it abt his marriage. yippee. no matter how wild the line previous is, chances are he'll compare anything to his husband. he's like a character from a boomer comic but slightly less divorced. not by want of trying, though.

certain details of said marriage are things i still need to iron out but uhh. come to me for more on that baby. or ask felix. whatever you will.

in the same vein, he regularly fidgets with his wedding ring. never takes it off, no matter what- no, he'd sooner lose the whole hand than the ring itself- but he's a constant fidgeter. all of the time. he probably does it in his sleep to be honest.

that being said: VERY deep sleeper. usually goes to bed at a stupid hour of the morning and can't actually be woken until. noonish?

and i mean, like. deep. deeeppp. capable of sleeping through an entire tornado kinda deep.

he also drools :). funfact. probably snores too. loser.

OH! also. pw era cas especially has…weird levels of what he considers a friend (or, for that matter, a romantic partner). like. if you converse with him civilly for about three seconds, you're his best friend and he'd die for you. if you're someone who's skin he wants to get under (whether he succeeds or not), its about on the same level as a marriage proposal. that, and a few other factors. he's once offered to marry enigma simply because he didn't murder castiel in his sleep- the bar is like On The Floor Here.

he also defines marriage as a platonic ideal too. like he's fully capable of having a platonic relationship with someone and being like hey we're married now actually <3

basically? you have free rein on that one too. i don't know the exact standards of how he develops this relationship or why or what the difference is between who he considers a friend and who he considers a Possible Spouse. uh.

go nuts. show nuts. whatever. don't show nuts, actually. put your nuts away.

thank you. now, continuing.

has a knife on him. at all times. always.

okay, he doesn't have a knife on him at certain points, but we don't count those. just presume he has a knife on him. amazing. i keep presuming he has a knife on him and then realising he probably doesn't and having to hope nobody notices my mistake. so really you should be all good.

does not frequently shower. sorry. he's a bit of a greasy mess at any given moment. somewhere between it not being his top priority and not having enough money to pay for the water bill involved. SAD!

actually i will bribe you; whoevers reading this? please god make a fic in which he gets forced to shower. he won't listen to me and someone needs to get his ass in line here.

please. i'll give you my lifes savings. a whole twenty pence.

on that note (there's been a LOT of notes, hasn't there? sozzles.) he will do pretty much anything for money. if you can pay him a living wage, he'll stick with you. whether that involves the risk of bear attacks or, like, human experimentation or whatever, just offer him a couple of quid an hour and he'll probably go along with it.

there's rent to pay, man. you gotta.

sorely lacking in the moral compass department. freaks out about killing people, freaks out while killing people, but acts like he's totally fine with and good at murder- almost well enough for it to be convincing. the freakouts are more about the act of having to watch someone die over the implications it has on his moral standing, anyway.

okay, hes not sorely lacking. he's actually kind of a morally upright guy, if you ignore the murder and the being an asshole.

he doesn't steal, he doesn't, like– what's another crime? he doesn't do a lot of crime. that's the point.

he doesn't care, he's not morally impacted by any choice he makes, but he doesn't do illegal shit without a real, actual, genuine reason about it.

likes kids. unironically. he's a little awkward around them, but he's kind of a little awkward around everyone. definitely the kind of guy who speaks to and treats kids like they're just adult human beings, and honestly doesn't do too bad a job of it either.

he's actually never interacted with a child in canon yet. goddamn. right, another twenty pence for whoevers willing to do that. oo and it's a lovely shiny twenty pence too ooooooooo

he's canonically good at sleight of hand! mostly it's just stupid little tricks he's taught himself when bored- like vanishing coins, or cards, or anything small enough to realistically do that with- but he's proud of himself for getting so good at it, and honestly? so am i. maybe someday he'll learn how to do a whole magic trick. we can only imagine.

EXAMPLES:

i lied.

extra section, boys and girls. extra section. let’s goo!

basically, i'm realizing i've written an imposing amount of stuff to remember- none of which is really necessary, mostly just small details!- and it’s kind of going to feel like a right task now to put it all together.

not to fear though, because my most amazing companion tumblr user @heshemikey (who I constructed this guide at the behest of, though they know how to write castiel technically better than myself and do an amazing job of it (and are generally just a wonderfully cool dude!)) has been so kind as to provide me with examples of their depictions of pw era cas, which i’ve been able to annotate with comments about how much i love their ocs- er, i mean, pull apart to show some of these qualities i’ve been discussing and how it all fits together.

note the colour coding :). now. i am a lil colourblind, so you might have to correct me if i get any of these wrong, but let’s see…

orange is a quality i didn’t bring up yet, which is his tendency to place emphasis on more words than technically necessary– to make his words sound a little more dramatic, or flourishing, or emotional.

or, particuarly in the early days, to get a point across (fig 1. & 2.)

astounding. shut up, castiel.

moving on! light?? blue???? you’d call that a light blue, right?

that’s actions specifically to do with body and limbs– because castiel is very expressive with those, frequently when speaking- usually, almost more notably than he actually is facially. he isn’t a man to do anything by halves, yknow? he doesn’t stay still often, and he makes a point of the fact.

green is his weird, nonstandard terminology, or extended vernacular. like heshemikey says, he’s the kind of dude who ‘knows a lot of super obscure fancy words that he uses in normal conversation’, which is honestly so true. look up a list of fancy words and just sprinkle em in and you’re set.

PINK! pink is blatant denial of emotions. it’s not a pw cas fic without it! basically, every time he feels an emotion that isn’t ‘being a smug bastard’, he’s actually never felt that feeling before, never will again, and frankly, is not feeling right now. emotions? he doesn’t do emotions, babeyy.

teal is for his ramblings, his tangents, his going off-on-a-little-spree-iness. if you’re not sitting there writing his dialogue and going oh my GOD castiel shut the HELL UP!! then you’re probably missing a tangent or two down the line. they’re fun to write! they’re just also A Lot.

gray-bluey-purple is ‘whatever’. if someone ever writes castiel dialogue and uses the word ‘whatever’ i let out a little whoop whenever i read it! like YEAH thats his thing!! its a very important word x3

red is also something i haven’t brought up before, which is his habit? occasional frequent practice? of asking questions- whether that’s at the other person, himself, or the universe in general. he’s, uh, basically a big fan!

i WOULD pull apart a piece of text from his pre-wbg, pre-pw days, but alas i don’t have a snippet quite big enough or right enough to do this with– trust me, i’ve checked x(

i plan to keep this document up to date though so if i do get anything adequate enough ill give it its own little section and colour-coded notes and everything too! mUAHAHAHA. anyway. gnight. sleep well. good luck.

[tokinanpa]

Alright, Long Rant Incoming:

there is NOTHING about Linux that is inherently (inherently) harder to learn than Windows.

this is part of the problem!!

Windows also has a command line. Windows also uses and depends on the BIOS. Windows is also a pain to install if it wasn't already on your machine. Windows is also crammed full of confusing and hard to understand subsystems!

(and for that last point, at least Linux's confusing subsystems are well-designed. most Windows users would never survive contact with the Windows registry...)

as someone who regularly uses both Windows and all sorts of Linux distros, I (at least personally) don't see any real difference in complexity. so if that's not the problem, then what is?

well, there's a few different causes of this:

Windows is the primary branch of an extremely powerful oligopoly, and so the vast majority of tech resources are based around it. every non-Apple computer you buy is going to have an OEM copy of Windows on it. every computer science class you attend will use Windows. most online tutorials assume you're using Windows. (This isn't even touching on software support, which is a related but different issue.)

computer literacy classes don't teach how to use text-based interfaces. this is a problem! just because microsoft doesn't want you to acknowledge the existence of the command prompt doesn't mean it isn't a key feature, and this is, in fact, a major source of Windows's design problems. (even Microsoft themselves seem to have realized this when they added a truly abysmal text-based package manager in Windows 10.)

the average contemporary consumer of tech hasn't been taught how to expect more from their machines than what they advertise on the surface level. this isn't to deride or shame those consumers; the blame lies with the corporations that are designing the interfaces they use. the tools I mentioned above do exist on Windows, but only out of obligation - if they could get away with it, Microsoft would happily lock those features entirely out of the hands of end users, just as mobile phone OSes have done for more than a decade. Linux, on the other hand, has no reason to hide its capabilities, and so it fully exposes them in a way that is jarring to those unaccustomed to it. the solution is, as always, more education.

Microsoft and Windows are just as guilty of causing the modern stagnation of tech literacy as Google and Apple. if there is ever a future where people can truly trust the tech that supports their lives, it will be using software that is free and open.

We need to lay more blame for "Kids don't know how computers work" at the feet of the people responsible: Google.

Google set out about a decade ago to push their (relatively unpopular) chromebooks by supplying them below-cost to schools for students, explicitly marketing them as being easy to restrict to certain activities, and in the offing, kids have now grown up in walled gardens, on glorified tablets that are designed to monetize and restrict every movement to maximize profit for one of the biggest companies in the world.

Tech literacy didn't mysteriously vanish, it was fucking murdered for profit.

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT ECOMMERCE NEWS (INCLUDING ETSY), LATE APRIL 2024

Welcome to my Etsy and ecommerce news & resource update for late April 2024. There are lots of Etsy bugs to keep track of...

I now provide these updates at least twice a week to paying members of my Patreon, along with many other useful benefits. Please check it out!

Want to get these Tumblr updates plus my website blog posts via email? You can sign up here.

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

Some Etsy Messages continue to be sent to the spam folder for no apparent reason, and the site has finally taken action on the resulting damage to Star Seller status. The problem itself is not necessarily over, but Etsy is “working to improve the accuracy of these measures.”

If you have an Etsy shop that has been “inactive” for 4 or more years, be aware that Etsy is planning on closing those shops permanently if the owners do not log in to the shop in the next few months (post by me on LinkedIn).  

A really good reminder that correlation is not causation: just because your views or sales dropped at the same time something else happened does not mean that the event in question harmed your traffic and sales. That applies to Google Core Updates as well as Etsy’s Gift Mode. 

ETSY NEWS 

Etsy is testing new SEO tools that will change the listing titles shown in Etsy search and Offsite Ads. I have the full text of the opt-in explanation from Etsy, plus my thoughts. TL;DR: I wouldn't opt in. Sellers cannot control which listings get changed, nor can they see the changes. Etsy's AI track record is too abysmal to try this.

Gift recipients can now contact the seller, and sellers can issue replacements without any contact with the buyer/gift giver. “However, only the original buyer of a gift can request a refund, return, or exchange—depending on your shop policies. Gift recipients won’t be able to request a return or file a case. Messages you receive from gift recipients will be identified with a badge so you know who you’re messaging with.”

Canadian sellers should check their tax IDs on Etsy, as one seller had hers removed from her account without notice, meaning Etsy is now charging her Canadian customers GST/HST, despite it already being included in the item price. Chat told her it was linked to an inability to verify the ID number, but of course no one told the seller, and the issue can’t currently be fixed. 

Some sellers in France report they are being told they must remove “Other” from shipping profiles (as a shipping upgrade only) and choose a carrier option that Etsy provides. While there has been no official announcement, this may be the first step in an expansion of the removal of “Other” in the US and the UK, which I wrote about last year. 

If your items seem to be due to ship later than you might expect, that could be a bug. [short post by me with forum links]

The official Etsy legal policies for sellers changed a bit on April 9, with some words switched regarding “off-platform transactions”. There is a side-by-side comparison here. Both the seller policy and the new “off-platform transactions” page also forbid the use of QR codes to take users off of Etsy. 

Etsy had a major outage on April 19, and from some reports this took an hour to fix. That usually means some major software changes coming…

Etsy released a Spring/Summer Trend Guide, now done as a pdf file of slides as well as a blog post. Searches for “handmade gifts” are up 238% in the first 3 months of the year compared to 2023 [so yes, you should use the word handmade in your tags or titles.] You can also now see Etsy's curated trends on the Trends Page, filled with Editors’ Picks for the different topics. 

Some US sellers did not receive their deposits on April 15, but staff now claim the problem is resolved. A few sellers disagree. 

Modern Retail interviewed Etsy sellers unhappy with the platform and comparing it to Amazon. [ModernRetail; soft paywall] “Etsy only permits the resale of vintage goods and crafts supplies, per its policy. But Modern Retail found listings on the platform for fast-fashion blazers, shirts and jackets from retailers like H&M and Shein. Those listings were taken down after Modern Retail flagged them to Etsy’s team.” The article misses the fact that 95% of takedowns for handmade violations are actually errors, as I covered last year. 

Etsy’s first quarter 2024 results come out May 1. If the company is planning big changes any time soon, they would likely be announced on or before that date, but they have surprised us before, so no guarantees. (Large changes such as the subscription tiers they surveyed sellers on earlier this year take a lot of programming work, so that could delay announcements.)

The Etsy “strike” happened 2 years ago this month, but the organizations that grew out of the movement continue to strive for better conditions for small makers and curators who sell online. 

If Etsy has removed one of your items under the handmade policy but it appears to be an issue with other sites stealing your photos, this Reddit user has a great approach for tackling Etsy Support’s usual slow reaction time. If you can’t access call backs due to your country not being on the list, try the same approach with live chat. If that doesn’t work, go public. Etsy tends to fix things more quickly when the company is being called out. 

Those involved in “closed” Teams in the Etsy Community should be aware that these teams were open to anyone logged in for a few weeks; outsiders could read, subscribe, and even post. [Yes, I did all of these things just to test.] Etsy now claims the issue is fixed. 

ECOMMERCE NEWS (minus social media)

Amazon

Changes to return processing fees for Fulfilled by Amazon items kick in June 1. “Amazon will introduce a returns processing fee for high return rate products in all categories, excluding apparel and shoes, to address the operational costs of returns and reduce waste. The fee will only apply to products that have return rates above a threshold specific to each category.”

According to the Wall Street Journal [paywall], Amazon has sold its items on other marketplaces such as Walmart and eBay. The goal? Spying on those other marketplaces and collecting info about how they operated.  

By the end of 2024, Amazon will be responsible for 40% of ecommerce sales in the US. Note that Walmart is growing faster than Amazon but is way behind. 

Amazon is using more automation in its facilities, and just opened a huge facility with Amazon-designed robots in Massachusetts. 

eBay

Starting April 20th, some eBay orders are being cancelled due to a “systems issue”, even if the orders had already shipped. Some sellers were not aware until their buyers asked why the order was cancelled, even though eBay was supposed to send emails. 

eBay sellers with open orders between April 7 and now should verify the addresses, as eBay admits it has been providing incorrect addresses for some orders.  

Sellers that use calculated shipping on eBay will now see the default shipping price be the discounted eBay label one as of May 15, unless they opt out by May 13. 

eBay seller feedback now includes the requirement to leave a product review as well.  

For everyone following the new hot trend of not charging seller fees, eBay UK is eliminating transaction fees (listing, final value and regulatory) on pre-owned clothing sales by private sellers. [For those who missed it, Depop did this for UK sellers in March, but like Mercari, will be charging buyer fees in at least some cases. eBay has not announced charges for buyers.] 

eBay owns TCGPlayer, which sells collectible cards, and is now selling cards on eBay through TCGPlayer. Is this an undeclared conflict of interest? “Suspiciously, nothing on the main profile page or the listings discloses to buyers that they are purchasing directly from an eBay-owned subsidiary - though it does assure potential buyers that TCGPlayer (eBay) is "one of eBay's most reputable sellers…eBay has graciously granted themselves the "Direct From Brand" badging even though TCGPlayer is not the manufacturer of these cards and arguably has no "brand" rights to Magic The Gathering, Metazoo or any other products they are selling."

Other Marketplaces

Depop recently removed all transaction/selling fees for UK sellers, and is now advertising this on the street and on YouTube. The preloved clothing market is expected to continue to grow over the next few years. “Our research with UK consumers shows that 18-35 year olds are already making an average of £350 a year by selling unused clothing, and saving an average of £185 annually by buying secondhand.”

Apparently Mercari has listing limits for some sellers. 

US businesses who want to sell on Shein can join a webinar on April 25 to learn more about their options. 

Website Builders

WooCommerce’s decision to change the website to Woo.com did not go well, so they changed back to WooCommerce.com on April 9. This was largely an SEO issue, which should make anyone reconsider SEO advice from Woo in the future. 

Shipping 

USPS delays continue countrywide, and there are lots of complaints. "Nationwide, 87% of first class, two-day mail arrived on time during the last three months of 2023, a 2.5 percentage-point decrease from the same period a year earlier, according to data published by the Postal Service inspector general. For mail intended to take three to five days, just 70% arrived on time, a decrease of 11 percentage points…Delays have been the most significant in some of the first regions to roll out the new regional distribution system, including Richmond, Virginia, Houston and the metro Atlanta area.” The problems are so widespread that eBay issued a statement that estimated delivery dates are being changed to reflect the issues. 

Canadians who use Canada Post's oversized lettermail for domestic orders will be paying more as of May 6. Envelopes up to 100g will now cost $2.09 per stamp (plus GST/HST), up from $1.94. Other lettermail and international non-package letterpost are also going up, including single letter forever stamps, but remember you can’t use those to ship product anyway.

Canada Post will be making other changes for business accounts in early September.

[riridontneedya]

Tonitribus 

Pairing: Draco Malfoy x Female reader

Summary: Draco and female reader have been lifelong friends, however one day after a usual walk thinks take a turn for Draco and readers relationship as all is revealed when he comforts her during a thunderstorm .

A personal request from the absolute darling @frannybear I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it Angel

Word count : 4,900 (long read , apologies I got carried away)

A/Ns: no warnings its very endearing and fluffy if I don't say so myself. Enjoy! feel free to scroll and read others, feedback and requests welcome :) xx

Dismal, dingy , dark .. grey. These where just a few of the many words that could be used to describe the abysmal weather that day. ‘So much for summer’ tutted Draco and with a loud huff he rose from his chair and proceeded to gaze out the window. God knows what there was to actually look at. He could just about make out the outline of a building had it not been for the hazy dull lights barley penetrating the thick grey smog. Dracos office was the top floor of a high rise building centred in London City. Now on an actual summers day he would be able to see for miles watching the hoards of people London churned out on a daily basis. Watching the comings and goings of people had became a much loved hobby of Draco’s,  he gave them names and stories and went into great detail . It was a terrific tool to break up the long working day , but today ..today that had to be postponed . He had no knowledge of what was going on in the world beneath him and it was nowhere near as fun just making it up so he sat back down disappointedly, encased in his grey cloud. 

Gently taping the mousepad of his laptop he skilfully glossed over the copious email notifications and peered in the upper right hand corner. ‘Only quarter to twelve..christ’. Draco could’ve sworn it was almost 2 and alas not even midday. The endless supply of disappointments the day had to offer appeared to be bountiful and Draco was far from impressed.  He swiftly snapped down the laptop lid  and sunk down further into his chair letting out another huff .. this one louder than the last.  Draco was itching to look at his phone … he could almost feel it start to sear a hole in his pocket .. he so desperately wanted to text y/n . He wanted to gush over every last detail about her first day in her new job , but having it not even be midway he didn’t want to appear over zealous as he did text her good luck and that he was there for if she needed it that morning. To make matters worse her building should have been visible to Draco.. that would have put him more at ease. He could've at least gazed at the building and much like his people watching game conjured up y/n’s day making every aspect as perfect as her. 

If Draco believed in a God he would’ve surely began to sing his praises because It was just then his phone chimed 

Y/N <3: Hope your days not as shit as the weather! ,  you free for lunch at say 12? Xxx 

Draco wasted no time scripting his reply.

Draco: It was but your message brightened up my day xxx

Draco: Haha jk, yeah I'm free for lunch ..cant wait to hear all about your first day xx 

Haha , JK , fucking JK what was that! Draco internally cringed at himself for acting as if a giddy adolescence with a crush.. he wasn’t one to lose his composure especially not at something so simplistic like texting where one could easily disguise their emotion. But then again y/n had that effect on him. 

Y/N <3: haha stop you’ll make me blush! Good cause I'm on my way over to your building see you soon xx 

Phew ! At least she took it in good jest so he thought and immediately began to hoist on his blazer , then followed by his  jacket. Gathering  his wallet and keys. He took a quick glance at himself in the reflective surface of his phone and whisked his blonde locks out of his face, making sure to tune any unruly hairs. Sloping it back into his pocket he made his way to the door vacating the office. Head down he made a beeline to the elevator, just as he thought he was in the clear a familiar voice boomed “Hey ! Hey Mr Malfoy , just the man I was looking for” ‘fuck’ Draco muttered under his breathe. Glancing at his Breitling it was now minutes past12. Knowing her office was essentially a stone throw away she would be there by now.. he had no desire to chitter chatter and especially not if it meant keeping y/n waiting.

“Oh hello Matthew.. something came up I'm just off to lunch I shall catch up with you straight after” Matthew looked perplexed “lunch .. its just shy of 12 Dray .. I wanted to go over the notes with you .. you know were due in court this afternoon .. this case is rather important what could be so urgent. Draco scrambled to think up of some half baked excuse as to what Matthew would deem as more important to get him off his back. Somehow my lifelong friend whom I suddenly have a desire to always be around and has occupied my mind�� for weeks on end is downstairs  … wouldn’t suffice in this instance. Noticing he was now following him into the elevator he had to act fast “ its my… wife… umm she’s downstairs she called rather distressed.. and I can’t possibly go on with my day if she wasn’t ok”. Now there was an element of truth to his rather elaborate lie .. because if in fact y/n was distressed Draco wouldn’t rest until he knew she was happy. Mathews mouth hung agape “You have a wife ..” Really is that all he took away from this conversation. In fairness Draco couldn’t care less he was just watching the numbers descend on the elevator .. ensuring to smile and nod , make the occasional sounds of agreement  when Matthew went on a spiel about how important loved ones are and how he’d do the same for his Mrs. 

As the elevator pinged Draco shot out the door his eyes darting trying to locate y/n. It wasn’t a matter of seconds until he clasped eyes on her. There she was looking simply exquisite in her new formal attire ,a rich plum red dress clung to her flawless frame ,accentuating each and every  curve , her decedent neckline adorned in jewels. Peering up from her phone she caught his eye and instantly began to smile beaming from ear to ear. Dracos heart leapt , she  had looks that books took  pages to tell.. a face to make you fall to your knees but it was nothing compared to that smile.. that smile it could warm the hearts of a thousand of the worlds most mean and cruellest. Taking the quickest route he could once he got there he instantly embraced her. Her scent .. it was intoxicating to Draco how could she possibly smell just as delectable as she looked. The hug entranced him his body against hers just felt perfect in every sense and he  instantly felt comforted. Like being wrapped in warm fluffy towel after a bath or that first sip off an ice cold lemonade on a hot summers day.

“Y/n , theres a gentleman in the grey suit, his name is Mathew and he’s about to ask a series of questions I don’t have time to explain but can you do me a favour and just go with it”. Y/ns head peeled away from Draco's shoulder to meet his gaze with a look of excitement glimmering in her eyes “oh absolutely” she smiled, “Thats my girl, also try and look a bit sad if possible” whispered Draco as he turned around his arm now secured around her waist. Just as Draco predicted Matthew approached rather tentatively , with a pathetic cheesy grin plastered across his face.

‘Errr hello so sorry to disturb you .. I just had to see for myself ..Mrs Malfoy is it ?” Smiled Matthew extending his open palm towards y/n”. without missing a beat “ Ah, yes y/n , y/n Malfoy its a pleasure to finally meet you Mathew” said y/n shaking his hand. Mrs Y/N Malfoy ,hmm  Draco loved how that sounded it flowed nicely of the tongue. Y/n was very dedicated to her new role as the new Mrs Malfoy because she now was tucked into Draco and her hand  across his midsection. He could immediately feel his core tighten against her touch , unable to help himself he he delicately placed a kiss on the crown of her head..he attempted to convince himself it was for that extra conviction but he knew better. “Well Matthew we need to get going now” said Draco with a tight smile .. ‘ah yes we must’ nodded y/n in agreement. “ Oh dear yes sorry I'll let you go ” Matthew smiled apologetically. With his arm still around y/n he steered her promptly to the exit. 

Once a respectful distance from the building y/n let out a raucous laugh. ‘Mrs Malfoy , really hahaha well you better start explaining yourself Dray. Draco himself couldn’t help but let out a chuckle himself. “Look I panicked ok .. I tried to leave unannounced but Matthew ambushed me , I knew you’d be downstairs so I had to come up with something plausible” .. “haha well you've created a new slew of problems for yourself now you know that’ laughed y/n. ‘What , how come!’ said Draco tossing her a muddled look. “ Dray you're a barrister aren’t you not? .. I'm a solicitor .. our offices are within shouting distance I'm bound to have run ins with you .. and what do I say if I'm addressed as Mrs Malfoy and documents say otherwise … y/n was right Draco hadn’t thought of these new implications he pondered for a second. ‘ hmm well I'm afraid you're just going to have to marry me y/n…  for continuity reasons of course” Draco sniggered. “Im free Wednesday if that helps’ giggled y/n. The pair chuckled as they headed in the direction of the park still linked at the waist. Despite it being an obvious joke deep down Draco though that if for some unorthodox reason on a random Wednesday y/n decided to marry him it would make him a very happy man. 

Lunchtime walks in the park… just one of the many rituals of Draco and y/n. From school days right up to adulthood, they would always find a park at the halfway point of one another and enjoy a stroll, they must’ve ticked off a fair chunk of parks London had to offer. Wether they chatted for the duration or simply  in silence enjoying one another company it was what Draco looked forward to most . Since it was Y/ns first day he anticipated todays conversation to be absolutely riveting. Y/n shivered as the breeze spliced through her .. prompting her to now fasten her once agape jacket. Noticing this he asked  “Hot drink? , there’s a terrific stall we just passed I can pop back and grab us one , then you can tell me all about your day so far. Y/ns eyes lit up “ooo yes please” . Just as Draco was about to make his way she called out .. “wait don’t you want to get my order” .

Draco swivelled back around sporting a look of bemusement. “Why would I want that y/n … Lady Grey .. slash of milk 2 brown sugars on the side .. because ultimately you will umm and aww about it  but give it about 3 sips in then you give in and use it ..” “Am I wrong” his head tilted to one side with an element of smugness in his grin. A smile crept up on y/ns face “No.. but god am I that predictable she tittered bashfully. “Never .. you just know what you like” Draco winked leaving to retrieve the drinks. In spite of the icy breeze y/n felt a sudden warmth surge within her. Friends know things about one another .. its a common theme  however there was something about him knowing those little intricate details that made her swoon.

 Draco could write a book when it came to knowing all the intricate details  about y/n. He knew many things like , she quite enjoyed a fruit pot to go along with with her lady grey, so he always bought one to accompany it. Making sure to  remove the grapes .. she utterly detested grapes .. oh and kiwis .. but kiwis that was because she was somewhat allergic to them. Guava is her favourite fruit .. an oddly specific fruit and rather hard to source in the uk so unbeknownst to y/n Draco always pre orders them paying a small fortune at a rather swanky greengrocers. It would always bring her joy spying them in his fruit bowl .. whilst he always insists he just stumbles across them in the local supermarket . This is always was tricky to upkeep on a Wednesday when they would do a midweek food shop. She was art form and  he was keen to learn as she enriched his everyday life. 

As they walked they were engrossed in conversation about y/ns first day. Draco always admired y/ns passion when she spoke. He always knew she’d make an excellent solicitor because of said passion and she never stood for injustice. She had always been bold and outspoken. In uni days he secretly relished watching her Tuesday afternoon debate clubs .. he knew her opponent stood no chance she would effortlessly floor them  with fact and evidence to back it up. Had she decided to use her power for something somewhat more sinister like a creepy cult leader Draco knew she could easily mass a large following and do some damage .. to hell he’d even contemplate joining. He could always tell how she really felt about something by her eyes .. her smile would always translate to her eyes and made it all the more radiant. Her eyes a warm earthy rich brown a contrast from Dracos pale blue. He often found himself lost in  those brown eyes. Those brown eyes that shimmered in the sun like pools of honey he wanted to dive into and loose himself . 

 Draco watched on in admiration as y/n was telling him about all the antics she had jammed packed into such a small portion of the day . Her arms flailing everywhere.. she was always so animated when absorbed into a story. The story was jovial and harmless but the introduction of this “Hugo” character deemed the office flirt made his teeth go on edge. Y/n noticed his sudden shift in emotion. “Don’t worry I have absolutely no interest in him” laughed y/n … “You can be interested in whoever you please y/n .. its nothing to do with me” his jaw was clenched and his face told a complete different story from what had actually come from his mouth.

There was a small silence “I know but it's just…” “when are you due back y/n?” There was almost an audible grinding of gears as Draco changed the subject. “Umm in like 10 mins I believe” muttered y/n.  Glancing at his watch “Ok , I think we should head back round i'll walk you back to your office”. Draco hadn’t meant to be so abrupt but he often despised the topics of partners especially when it came to y/n. To merit the age old saying “ what you don’t know can’t hurt you” and he liked to keep it that way .. he learnt his lesson one time where had the displeasure of knowing all the intricate details of an ex .. Draco couldn’t help but notice how vastly different he was from him. It made no difference if he harboured similarities or not they were friends …but Draco often found himself agonising over wether he would be deemed as y/ns  desired “type”  confused and hurt he  decided it best to steer clear of the subject entirely.  

“Well, thats you back safe and sound can’t wait to hear the rest of todays adventure Ms y/l/n” announced Draco smiling gently at y/n. “ Thank you kindly Dray ,  sorry for the change of plan  you sure I can’t convince you out for one?’ Cooed y/n batting her eyelashes.  It was Friday and on the list of y/n Draco rituals that meant a takeaway and movies at hers . However in this instance a few of the office girls had invited her out for drinks. “Thank you but absolutely not , you enjoy yourself darling text me once your back safe and i'll see you Sunday for dinner anyways”. “Fine” pouted y/n “ and wait ms y/l/n … I thought today I was Mrs Malfoy.

His eyes narrowed as he looked down at y/n a smile etching at the corner of his mouth “oh I do apologise Mrs Malfoy .. my darling counterfeit wife” looking into those eyes he couldn’t help but dive in .. deeper and deeper he went until he finally lost himself .  A moment of madness overcame him as he scooped her towards him. Their faces inches apart . Noses oh so lightly caressing neither of them moving . Breath hitched.  It took every ounce of strength in Draco to pull away from that moment it was as if it were all in slow motion as all the emotion came flooding to the surface at once making him feel almost nauseous. It made perfect sense now all the unexplained feeling all that time was in fact him starting to fall in love with y/n , never in that moment had he been so compelled to kiss her with an unsuitable hunger. He didn’t dare though. As far as he knew this was one sided .. what would a seemingly unprompted stunt like this do to the parameters of their friendship.

Both visibly flustered Draco scratched the back of his neck “ Was that the husband goodbye package” y/n questioned with a coy smile. Y/n always had a great knack for that deflecting things with humour. Thankful for her breaking the tension Draco chimed up “ oh yes, you know continuity purposes and that ..  and incase Matthew isn’t lurking in a bush with a pair of binoculars.” The pair looked at each other and then burst out laughing. “Right well I best be off I'm in trouble as it is ..have a good rest of your day” said Draco as he placed a quick peck on her cheek .. a more fitting gesture that was in line with their usual bouts of affection. “Good luck with Matt” she called out. Draco grimaced. He couldn’t be arsed spending the next few hours playing 21 questions with  Matt the twat . The very apt nickname he had acclaimed in  office , though no-one dared call it to his face. 

As to be expected the remainder of the day dragged and there was an endless slew of questions aimed at Draco. Tactfully he avoided most of them and luckily the work load for the day didn’t leave much time for constant probing on Matthews part or time to replay that afternoons situation..… Draco was never one to lolly gag but when the work day drew to a close he couldn’t be prompter when it came to his departure. Matthew attempted to lure him to stay under the guise of drinks on him, but he knew it was simply a boobytrap so to speak so off he bolted to his car .. he’d find some how to put an end to it but that was Mondays problem and for now it was the weekend. Draco sat in his car in silence left alone with his thoughts.. today had been a whirl wind and left him with a great revelation … he must’ve looked delirious from an outside perspective just grinning to himself in his car. The feeling of love made him feel weightless and airy .. but he soon came hurtling down to the ground at full speed when the gravity of the situation dawned on him. Taking out his phone he typed out a text 

‘enjoy your Night y/n. Stay safe . I love you xx’

God no ! What was he thinking .. erasing the last little confession of his text he hit send, cranked up the radio and pulled out of the parking garage. 

Clutching a takeaway in one hand whilst a bottle of wine was perched under his arm and the other hand gripping a stack of files , Draco fumbled attempting to open his front door. This would be a great time for Pebbles to have the ability to open them .. but that wasn’t happening anytime soon. Finally making his way in he was greeted by the pitter patter of little paws tip tapping against the title. There she was little Pebbles. Dracos pride and joy a miniature speckled Dachshund the only girl he ever really loved .. well until now. Despite his outwardly stern stiff exterior it was Pebbles who saw the mushier side to him. ‘Hello my darling girl how are you today ! Have you missed me ?? I missed you! Who's a good girl is it you .. is it you .. yesssss ! Come give daddy a hug ! Awww thats my girl .. its just you and me tonight buts ok. Your auntie y/n is out . Upon hearing y/ns name pebbles tail wagging speed trebled making her whole teeny body shake. “Ohhh you love auntie y/n don’t you .. well that makes two of us Pebbles” sighed Draco. Changing out of his work clothes he threw on a t-shirt and boxers, pouring himself a glass of wine he nestled up on the couch with pebbles in tow and began  flickering through the channels. There was a gentle ping. 

Y/n <3: Will do :), you too! Ps thanks for being such a Goood husband ;) xxxx . Draco chuckled, gah if only she knew. 

Dracos eyes suddenly snapped open … “what time is it” he muttered to himself drearily rubbing his eyes. Besides him lay a curled up Pebbles body rising and falling with each delicate snore. Glancing at the clock mounted on the wall it read quarter to one. Draco scratched his head assessing his surroundings his food and wine remained untouched .. and the tv now showing one of those late night obscure telemarketing commercials. He remained stationed at the couch continuing to vacantly stare out the window watching as the sheets of rain came down. Just then there was a sudden flash , shortly followed by a deafening roar.

“Shit ! It's a thunderstorm” Draco spoke aloud. He frantically began to search for his phone amongst the cushions. Whilst he knew many a facts about y/n.. there was one crucial fact and that was that she was absolutely  petrified of thunderstorms. Draco vividly remembers the nights he spent in her  dorm calming her down, lulling her to sleep reassuring her it will soon pass and he will be there come morning time.  Upon finding it he quickly hit the call icon beside her name .. the phone rang and rang continuously until it finally went to voicemail. He immediately felt uneasy .. trying not to other think it he hit redial.. same again voicemail…. How unusual . Draco couldn’t think of the last time there had been a thunderstorm .. he hated the idea of her being alone cowered in bed terrified .. since he was unable to confirm if she had in fact made it home from her night out he thought it best he pop round and make sure she was ok. 

Hoisting his leg into his trousers and tackling on a jumper , he grabbed his car keys and the spare keys to y/ns flat that he kept in a bowl on the mantelpiece. With a gentle goodbye kiss placed on pebbles little forehead , he charged outside attempting to quickly sprint to his car avoiding the rain.  Lightening whipped and crackled illuminating the night sky, followed by ferocious rumbles of thunder. The drive to y/n was usually rather straight forward but tonight it was all the more difficult. Once he arrived it was another mad dash as he tried to get to the door without being soaked. Draco fiddled with keys in general so when it came to y/ns door it was no different. He tried all 3 keys whilst attempting to shield himself  from the onslaught of rain, finally he made it. Wiping the water from he face he climbed the stairs to until he reached her apartment door. He knocked a few times in order not to startle her incase she was in fact home. With his ear pressed to the door he listened for movement. Still nothing . He decided to use the key and gain entry. Slowly peering around the door he called out “y/n , y/n are home , I just wanted to make sure you were ok”.

“ its me by the way..” . Draco noticed a slither of light under the crack of her bedroom door in an otherwise very dark  flat. Moving slowly he knocked on the bedroom door awaiting a response. After not hearing anything he called out “y/n look Im coming in”. He swung open the door to find y/n cocooned in her duvet , headphones on visibly distressed eyes and lips puffy from where she had been crying. “Hey hey hey angel its ok I'm here” upon seeing Draco her eyes began to  well back up and she flung her arms around him. With quivering lips she began to speak “Im sorry, Im sorry”. Placing his finger under her chin he made her meet his gaze “don’t you dare apologise for anything , I'm just glad you're alright” he said firmly. Taking the back of his index finger he delicately wiped away at her tears. “Come on let's get you to bed, do you want me to join you until it passes” y/n nodded frantically in agreement . Still soaking from the downpour Draco reluctantly had to strip down to his boxers before joining y/n 

Standing rather sheepishly he looked at y/n trying to gauge her reaction “Sorry its absolutely belting it outside my clothes are soaked through I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable” . Y/n scanned up and down Draco's rather tremendously sculpted figure. Of course she’d seen him shirtless a handful of times but his half naked toned frame,  glistening with water droplets was a sight to behold. “This is where I tell you not to apologise for anything ,I'm just grateful you're here ..  besides isn’t this all just part of my husband package” said y/n with a nervous chuckle. With a deliberately exaggerated roll off the eyes Draco let out a laugh “ As you wish Mrs Malfoy”. Pulling back the duvet that Y/n unfurled from herself he lowered himself into bed. Y/n extended his arm welcoming y/n to come nuzzle in. Draco cozied up in bed with Y/n tucked in the alcove of his chest and armpit , whilst his hand played in her hair. The pair were quietly chattered until Draco asked a questioned and received no response. This was the indication she had finally fallen asleep. Giving her one last squeeze he whispered “Goodnight darling’. It was then he heard y/n mutter “I love you Draco”. Did his ears deceive him, possibly not he couldn’t deny what he had just heard having been so close when she said it. Overcome with emotion he gently placed a kiss on her forehead “I Love you too y/n”. 

The sunlight streamed through y/ns curtain , beaming down onto Draco causing him to stir. He rubbed at his eyes and began to sit up. He noticed y/n was still curled by his side looking etherial as she basked in the morning sunshine. As she peeled herself from the bed she locked eyes onto Draco. “Good morning, how’d you sleep ?” He smiled . Y/n drew her legs to her chest and cradled them against her body, she fiddled with her nails chipping away at the polish. Draco noticed this and delving into his catalogue of intricate detail regarding y/n he knew that she did this when she was rather nervous or apprehensive about saying something. His mind shot back to last nights confession and he instantly froze up.

Had he misheard and ultimately startled y/n with his deceleration . The silence resonated between them. Y/n now crawled over to Draco's side of the bed and was face to face with him displaying a rather serious expression. “Did you mean it? I need to know the truth did you mean it when you said you loved me too”. Dracos heart jolted. Thoughts now galloping at hundreds of miles per hour . As y/ns eyes bore into his he simply couldn’t lie. With a shallow breathe he uttered a simple “Yes”. Y/n crashed her lips into Dracos, once over the initial shock of  y/n thrusting herself at him he tossed his around her waist and drew her closer to him. A passion fuelled kissed eliciting the sensation of thousands of butterflies released in Dracos stomach. He could only dream of a moment like this and it was everything he ever imagined and more. Y/n withdrew from Dracos lips her arms now looped around Dracos neck perched on his lap , her rich brown eyes fixated on Dracos pale blues.. 

“I love you Draco”. “I Love you too Y/N , I love you too.”  

[iamcinema]

IAC Reviews #012: Traces of Death (1993)

Warning: Traces of Death is NSFW/NSFL and this review will go into topics about graphic violence, death media, and other issues that might be upsetting to some readers/viewers. However, this review won’t contain any such imagrey and is marked as safe. If you do want to check it out, then proceed with caution and take the opening [EXTREME WARNING] as your notice if you should leave or not. ________________________________________

In a recent post I made, I mentioned being stumped on what to do next since, as of writing this, I have close to 330 titles on my list to explore and cross off from a wide range of styles and categories; from relatively obscure found footage movies to the most utterly disappointing and abysmal trash that SOV has to offer. Given the explicit or just completely rare nature of some of these, I don’t expect all of these to stay around long. So, it’s probably wise to start from there and branch out to titles that are more accessible to come across in the wild. This means we’re taking another trip back to the world of mondo death media, which I don’t think we’ll be seeing for a while after this one - or at least I can only hope so.

Today, we’re taking a look into one of the most notorious shockumentary films out there, that being the first Traces of Death film; a brutal start in a five part series that marked a turning point within the already niche and controversial subgenre with the birth of the Internet and the dawning of the new millenium.

With the opening, we’re met with a text crawl notice stating that the makers planned on having a series of beeps before the start of the most explicit clips to act as a warning for viewers to look away in the event they see something they’d rather not have. However, this changed and the tones were omitted altogether because this would have meant having tones and beeps before every sequence. That’s a weird flex, but okay. The cold opening also tells us that because of the shocking nature of the film (and soon to be series) containing 100% authentic footage, this would make it the first “true” shockumentary.

I mean...

Yeah, I guess, you aren’t exactly wrong. It’s more authentic than Faces of Death by a landslide for sure and other questionable films around the same time like True Gore. That's something I won’t argue Damon Fox or Darrin Ramage on. However, to call it the first “true” shockumentary is a stretch because Death Scenes came out four years prior to this in 1989, and those photos were authentic. However, if we’re talking about just non-stop death media and imagrey one after the other, then that’s still a really questionable hot take.

It’s been a damn long time since I’ve seen this 13 some odd years ago, so let’s see where this takes us yet again. And yes, I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop when the mods decide that me talking about this is not safe for work and it inevitably gets shadowbanned. ________________________________________

Traces of Death in One Gif:

I probably should have saved this gif for when I reviewed Extreme Life & Death, but even now I don’t know if I’m impressed by it or not. But, even here I’m not too sure how I completely feel.

As I said in before, there’s a saying that once you’ve seen one shockumentary, then you’ve seen all of them with their rinse, lather, repeat method of punching you back-to-back with random acts of violence caught on film. Just like its decrepit brothers and sisters before it, this is no different, even if it likes to beat it’s chest about being the new alpha of the pack to lead us into the next generation of shocking content. So, what is it about Traces of Death that has made it have the lasting impact or brutish reputation that it has if everything is at the end of the day “all the same”.

Well, let’s go into that. ________________________________________

The disclaimer and marketing for it helped for sure, solidifying everything that made some people feel cheated by Faces of Death with - that being the authenticity factor.

At this moment in time, Faces of Death IV had come out barely three years ago and the series was taking a bit of a nosedive with what was being pushed out. While there was still a fair amount of authentic footage, there was still a pitiful amount of staged and recreated material that looked very amaturish compared to the series’ hayday back in the late 1970s. It was clear what the gorehounds wanted and it was not only more death, but truly real death that could only be matched by the more obscure shockumentaries that either had yet to come out; like Death File, Death Press, Banned! in America, and MDPOPE, or had been spoken of in whispers and have faded into obscurity to the point of becoming rare and non-existent to the sands of time.

With the Internet being in its young infancy, you now had the power to be connected to others across the world in an instant and the need to seek out the taboo and forbidden was much closer to your fingertips than ever before. This new, booming demand to see and experience death wouldn’t truly be met until the birth of Rotten.com in 1996, oddly enough with the departure of Faces of Death the same year - a sort of sad way of the old days dying with a whimper, rather than the bang it had such high expectations for. If you weren’t able to find the raw carnage you anticipated with the Internet, then you had Traces of Death to curb your appetite until you could - no matter what the topic was.

For me, shockumentaries have at least two schools of thought with their presentation; a narrative style where everything is presented in an organized manner to designate different chapters, such as plane crashes, autopsies, animal death, and so on, or it’s more chaotic and disorganized in nature and you get hit left to right with whatever they can find. Traces of Death follows the more chaotic line of thinking. While it does make an attempt at some kind to figure out what it wants to do, a lot of it jumps around from one subject matter to the next, so you never really know what’s going to happen next. It’s pretty easy to go from a trucking accident one moment to a graphic surgery the next, if that makes sense.

This, in question, is where I sort of have a conflicting problem with whether or not this is the first “true” shockumentary or not. _______________________________________

As I stated previously, there have been other shockumentaries before this one that hone in on death in all its various forms, and is just as authentic as Traces of Death with the media presented. Once again, Death Scenes comes to mind. If the qualifications for it to be a true shockumentary is having an emphasis on death and dying, this helps Death Scenes and it’s case of being the one of, if not the first, genuinely true shockumentary with 100% unaltered media. So, what lead to Traces of Death taking the crown instead is purely anyone’s guess. I’d assume it was because of the in-name connection to Faces of Death and sheer bizarre access they had to so much footage with little to no money tied to the budget, which IMDb says was estimated to be $18 (at least $32.13USD as of March 2020 with an inflation rate of 2.5%).

That’s still absolute chump change compared to the unused news footage the Faces of Death team had access to back in the day, particularly with smuggled footage from overseas that wouldn’t really be seen anywhere else until other shockumentaries like Executions and the Banned! films would be unleashed. Speaking of which, what can we expect with this one in particular? Just like with the films before it, you can expect to see much of the same; graphic animal cruelty, animal attacks, road and sporting accidents, plane crashes, crime scene photos, autopsies, and surgery footage. The Wikipedia page for the series goes into greater detail about other sequences that been traced to other mondo films like True Gore and Ultime grida dalla savana, which makes one of the final sequences showing the death of tourist Pit Dernitz all the more interesting, as there’s been conflicting information about whether or not it was staged. While there’s sources out there that say it was authentic, if it turned out that this was in fake, then it completely damages the film’s reputation of being 100% real.

One thing the series does deviate from, at least as far as this one goes, is the narration as a storytelling tool. While we do get quips here and there from our edgy narrator, Damon Fox, it doesn’t completely guide us in the same manner as Faces of Death, Death Scenes, Executions, and many others would. The scenes mostly speak for themselves, something which Extreme Life & Death couldn’t make up it’s mind on given how it used a copy-and-paste method with stringing stuff along. This may have been to the series’ advantage though, as Damon said later on in an interview that he was told viewers hated the narration and accompanying instrumental soundtrack, and would just watch the movie(s) on mute while blasting their brutal death metal albums. This, in turn, lead to the series taking a big change with Traces of Death II (1994), as the soundtrack switched to showcase and promote metal and grindcore artists - and bands could have wrote in to have their own music featured if they wanted. This lead to artists like Gorefest, Macabre, End of Green, Grave, Dreadful Shadows, Hypocrasy, Meshuggah, and Sinister to be added to the impressive disography list for something with next to no budget, forever helping to change the voice of the series to help it stand out among the big dogs of its ilk. ________________________________________ 

If I had to name something that seriously hurts this, it’s that some scenes drag out for way too long and the shock and horror behind what’s in front of you begins to lose it’s luster after a while. In one way, it’s definetly tied into the saying where once you’ve seen say, one cranial examination, you’ve seen them all. In another, it’s also becoming somewhat unfazed after lingering on a certain image a bit too long - even if it’s bleak beyond words.  One scene in particular goes on for over ten minutes, and while it’s heavy for sure, it does subside a bit after some time...unless that’s just more telling about what kind of person I am. If you’re particuarly sensitive to gruesome content and it makes you uncomfortable, then this will have an entirely different affect on you. However, if you’re like me and you’ve seen, for example, a lot of medical and crime related violence, this won’t exactly be uncharted waters for you. It’s interesting to note though that Japan had a different edit of the film, removing some sequence and adding their own - but the more finer details on what kind of adjustments they made with photo or video evidence is alien to me.

There’s also the issue of the narration, which I feel detracts from the material and can feel annoying and cringy in the same ways that Faces of Gore does with the tasteless jokes and edgelord humor. When I re-examined this, I absolutely get why some viewers tuned out whenever any form of narration came up, since it didn’t do much of anything to push things along from a storytelling standpoint like Faces of Death did. I would have done the same thing as well, and it almost felt unnessary with how sparse it was in general because in the scenes where some form of backstory could have helped make sense of what was going on, nothing happened. It’s nothing particularly special, so whether or not you choose to press mute is up to you since you won’t be missing much if you don’t really care for such pressing matters. ________________________________________ So, what’s there left to say about Traces of Death, at least as far as the first one goes?

Well, I feel like I need to give credit where it’s due in that it was one of the earliest entries in the shockumentary/mondo/exploitation genre to do what it set out to accomplish fairly well. It’s bite was as strong as it’s bark when it came to wanting to stand out in a sea of death and destruction in an era full of pretenders and cash-ins, which this technically is, no doubt. I’m also thoroughly impressed by what it was able to do for an actual shoestring budget that likely helped to pave the way for Banned! from Television and mixtapes like Fist Pig and MDPOPE for being a bizarre collection of violence, sadism, and hardcore NSFW material that could only be found in the grimiest corners of the web or someone’s crawlspace. It’s an impressive collection, I’ll give it that much.

But, when you strip all that away and you take it all at face value, does it hold up? Ehh...sort of, at least to me.

The quality isn’t too great in some areas, but given that this had next to no budget, I shouldn’t expect miracles with scans and film stock transfers. When it comes to being held to the ranks of it’s elder siblings, I feel that it showed what it can do and that it has the staying power that it has. If it didn’t, I don’t think it would have had earned the same amount of controversy it did over the years, going as far as to get banned from Australian Customs and being rejected by the BBFC in 2005 where it still sits today in March 2020 alongside other films like Mikey, Silent Night, Deadly Night 2, Hate Crime, Murder-Set-Pieces, and Bumfights to name a few.

If you’re new to death related media, this one might be a tough pill to swallow, and all the more jarring and annoying with the narration. If you choose to embark on this one, you won’t really be missing much at all if you choose to mute it and add your own music and go off the Wikipedia descriptions to keep up with what’s going on. However, if death related media is your cup of tea and you think this is a total waste of time, then you also won’t be missing much of anything either. I’m pretty sure the vast majority of these sequences can be found online if you look hard enough, even if it means cycling through other shockumentaries and mondo films that this sampled from or sample from this.

At the end of the day, it’s almost all the same, right?

RATING: 4.9/10

[qm-vox]

Sigilverse Fanfic - Death Warmed Over

Author’s Note: Guess who has professional obligations he’s fucking procrastinating on? That’s right this guy. A continuation of my ongoing Sigilverse fanfic, taking place after What You Think Of Death & In It To The Death. The Sigilverse continues to be provided by @periakman.

Content Warnings include, as before, child abuse, suicide and mentions of suicide, violence, and imprisonment. Do as thou wilt.

Vellkill Island, Grevelt. Early Autumn

Voices, at some level of volume. Monika’s ears were telling her brain ‘normal speaking voice’ but her throbbing skull was reporting ‘shouts fit to crack the dome of the sky and rain its pieces down on the wretched kingdoms of Man’. The teen groaned and rolled over so she could clap half the pillow over her head; the sound interrupted the voices, praise be to the Prism.

For all of half a second; Ysabelle’s voice came from right next to the damn bed. “What happened?” the healer demanded, full of accusation.

Monika groaned, rolled onto her back, and opened her eyes. Sasha, Deirdre, and Ysabelle were gathered around the bed; Monika pointed at her soldier friend. “They ask the questions,” the girl said. “And I hit my head on accident.”

Ysabelle’s face colored slightly; she opened her mouth, saw Monika flinch from the sound she knew was coming, and pointed wordlessly at Sasha instead. The mute greyshade’s fingers moved in slow sign language to make it easier on her hurt friend: |You’re certain it was an accident?|

“Yeah I’m certain,” Monika snapped. “We were trying to unlock my affinity and I flipped ass-over-teakettle out of nowhere.”

Deirdre cleared her throat (ow fuck why) and spoke up in her softest murmur. “Not out of nowhere. You’ve got a kind of telekinesis. When you started tapping your foot and your affinity unlocked it just...continued the motion.”

Ysabelle thrust her hand in Deirdre’s face. “You do not get a say here, Silencer!”

“If you think -”

Monika hit something only vaguely familiar inside her head; both women were opening their mouths to shout, and both of them were yanked down by the jaw like some invisible person had grabbed their chins. Deirdre caught herself on the foot of the bed and stopped the healer from hitting the floor by getting a fistful of Ysabelle’s shirt.

“My head hurts,” Monika said, a bit sheepishly. “Please be quiet.”

Deirdre looked at Ysabelle and when she was sure the healer was steady, let go of her shirt. The two warlocks stood up and dusted themselves up, the healer looking mollified, the Silencer proud.

|You hit your head pretty hard, but you should be fine| Sasha signed, attracting the attention of the other two. |You should spend a few days in bed around Ysabelle and then rest a further week.|

Deirdre nodded and signed herself, her motions somewhat stiffer and more forced than Sasha’s easy fluidity: |I’ve brought you some new books. We’re going to have to be careful with your affinity while you’re training. I need to talk to the Colonel, get you an appointment with my -| she made a sign Monika hadn’t seen before. The apprentice tilted her head and repeated it.

“Wife,” Deirdre explained, as softly as she could. Distant pain brought her dead green gaze to something like life. “...My wife. Here.” Monika’s master gingerly set a stack of books on the bed next to her apprentice’s head before sweeping out of the room, ignoring her student’s call to come back.

|She was very worried| Sasha signed. |Ysabelle thought -|

Monika waved Sasha’s explanation off and set her head back down on the pillow. “She wouldn’t,” the teenager said. “...Not like that. If Deirdre wanted to kick my ass she’d do it in front of everyone.”

“Hardly reassuring,” Ysabelle murmured in acid tones.

“Would you like an award for that amazing discovery?” Monika snapped; she winced at the sound of her own voice. “I’m going back to sleep now.”

*

On the one hand, Deirdre’s stack of books had been sizeable and included several new ones by Elma Rule, Monika’s favorite author. On the other, Monika read fast and with three days to do nothing but tear through them and antagonize Ysabelle she quickly ran out of things to do and ended up putzing around the infirmary, assisting with light chores and occasionally reading medical texts. The apprentice’s relationship with Ysabelle might have been strained on the best of days, but the two of them could talk first aid and medical trivia like they were old friends. It was...warm, in a way.

Still boring, but warm.

Sasha came in as they could, but with their nose well on the way to recovery there was no rest for the greyshade soldier and certainly no extra time to spend with a teenager they barely knew. So it was that Monika’s release from the infirmary was met with great impatience. Lee met her just outside the medical facility.

“Deirdre has had to attend on orders from the Colonel,” the factotum explained. “She should return soon, but your audience with Raquel, the Armorer, has been granted. We should attend upon it with all haste.”

Monika hesitated. “Is Deirdre in trouble?”

Lee shook his head. “She pays a high price for any contact with her wife, even through indirect channels. You will understand when you meet Raquel. Come with me, please.”

Monika was taken to a tower of the fort across from Deirdre’s rooms and struck with the impression that she was going to the very top. That impression wasn’t wrong; Lee mounted the stairs with a look as long-suffering as Monika felt at that moment, with the apprentice trailing behind him.

Lee spoke up as they walked, his professional tone undercut by something - well, something else. “Raquel, as you have gathered, is a warlock of a particular specialty. She does not receive many visitors. Feel empowered to speak freely to her, but keep your opinions on the Colonel and the military either positive or to yourself. You could cause great harm to her, or to Deirdre. Do you understand?”

Monika swallowed. “I understand.”

The stairs didn’t let out at a door into a normal room; instead they came up to a landing where two guards stood at attention in front of the bars to a cell. It was abysmally hot up there, and the reason why soon became apparent: behind the bars was a workshop like Monika had never seen before. A small forge dominated one corner, situated near an anvil and an array of smithing tools - hammers, tongs, files, buckets and more - but the rest of the room was hardly empty. Various shelves were full of vials (all with tiny labels, some filled with liquid, others with powder), though one groaned instead beneath the weight of thick-spined books. A workbench took up almost an entire wall and was littered with half-finished projects all in grey-black iron, the color reminding Monika so much of Deirdre that it sent a stabbing pang through the apprentice’s chest.

There was a cot in the corner, right up against the edge of the work bench, with a dark-skinned woman sitting up on it with a book in her hand; Monika realized with a certain amount of ‘heh, neat’ that they both had their frizzy hair tied back - Monika for fighting, this other woman for her forge-work if the teen was any judge. Something seemed to be wrong with her left leg, though.

Then the woman in the cell marked her place in the book, set it aside, and retrieved a crutch from up against the workbench. What was wrong became quite clear when she stood slowly, revealing no left leg whatsoever.

The prisoner’s voice was bright and clear, though, not happy but optimistic in its own way: “You must be Monika. Deirdre writes a lot about you.” She made her way over to the bars of the cell and stuck one calloused hand out, which Monika shook. “Raquel, the Armorer. It’s nice to meet you at last.”

Monika managed a smile in return. “I’m glad to meet you too. I wish I could say Deirdre’s told me a lot about you...”

Raquel shook her head. “Don’t worry too much about it. You’re cleared to come in once I get away from the bars. I’m going to be sizing you up for something.”

“Something?” Monika asked.

“Something,” Raquel agreed. “I won’t know until after I size you up.” She made her way over to the anvil and sat, heavily; one guard unlocked the cell door and ushered Monika inside before shutting and locking it once more. “It’s my affinity, you see. I make tools that work with the affinities of others. My products can do quite a bit, but it all has to be custom work. The flowers I made for Deirdre wouldn’t do a thing for you.”

Raquel got back up from her cot and hobbled over to Monika. The teen got an odd feeling - not bad, but a lot like when Ysabelle sized up her injuries or conducted a checkup - and stood still. After a moment, Monika folded her hands together in front of herself.

Raquel spoke up to break the awkward silence, her voice gentle: “I don’t bite, I’m just...working. Paperwork on the appointment says you’re from Westkill. Tell me about that?”

Monika blinked in surprise. “Paperwork? Why would you have -”

The Armorer laughed and shook her head. “I still get paid. It’s funny, isn’t it? I can’t leave this room or go out to buy anything, but I still get paid. An attorney who’s never seen my face manages my funds. I’m told it’s quite a large amount by now. I need to touch you now.”

Monika held quite still, but nothing more than Raquel’s finger lifting her chin happened. The contact tingled, like her skin was on the verge of going numb. “Why iron?” she asked after a second.

“Part of the deal, I’m afraid.” Raquel laughed again, her voice still gentle, almost airy. “It’s funny. I knew a guy who could command a single kind of fish. Trout, specifically. There was a three year to-do when his power suggested that a species had been wrongly classified. But then you get people who can mimic affinities, or manipulate fire, or teleport. I make iron tools for others, and somehow it’s one of the most valuable talents the world thinks I have to offer.”

Raquel took her hand back and went to the work bench, motioning with her head for Monika to follow. She settled into a high chair in front of it and pulled down sheets of paper and pencils to draft with.

“What would you do, if you could stop doing this?” Monika asked, watching the Armorer begin to sketch in quick lines.

Raquel shrugged. “Paint, maybe. Or write. Some days I think I could run a factory but after all of this I’m not sure I want to manage another forge. This one’s been quite enough.”

“What about your affinity?”

That earned Monika a curious look from the Armorer. “When Deirdre offered you an apprenticeship, did she ask about your affinity? About your magic?”

Tell me what you think of death.

“No,” Monika answered. “She says it doesn’t matter for her work. That she’s happy to plan around whatever I have because the important things are the skills.”

Raquel nodded; she turned her chair to face Monika fully, to look the teen in the eyes. “I don’t really care for or about my affinity. I don’t consider it part of my identity. Other warlocks feel differently, and that’s their right. But I didn’t ask for this, and I did not ask for society to judge me on a skill set I’ve come to resent. You have a curious kind of telekinesis. Is that who you are? Will Monika of Westkill be changed forever because of it?”

Monika looked away. “You two both know how to ask questions that make a girl feel like shit.”

“We do that, but for what little it’s worth I don’t mean to belittle you. It’s not often I get to talk with someone who cares to listen to me. There’s no need to have a debate if you’d prefer to talk about something else.” Raquel turned back to the workbench. “I did mention writing,” she offered.

“...If being a warlock’s not an important part of who we are, why’s it all set up like this? Aside from...you know...the odd kid that explodes.” Monika winced through that last sentence. “It’s what we all have in common.”

“Is it though?” Raquel asked. “What makes your power like mine? What about mine like Deirdre’s? You and the Reaper, what do you have in common? How about the Reaper with an empath? We finally have a point of comparison with Deirdre and the empath but even then they’re opposites.” The Armorer shook her head. “...No, it doesn’t matter at all. Not really. Everything else about you is so much more important. Or it would be, if people weren’t dead set on being strange about it. You can go, if you’d like. I need some time to confer with Deirdre, once she returns, and plan out a tool.”

Monika shifted in her place. “What if I wouldn’t like? You did say something about writing.”

Raquel gave the girl a stunning smile. “There’s some samples of my work on that shelf there, if you’re curious. Deirdre’s the only one that reads them and her feedback’s a little suspect, given that she adores me.”

“Is...is it...is it bad that I literally cannot envision what that looks like?”

The captive warlock snorted at her workbench, her pencil jagging a line across the paper. “That sounds like the Deirdre experience all right. She likes you a lot, you know. She thought you’d be a lot different. Do you like her?”

“She’s cruel,” Monika admitted, while she searched the shelf, taking down small sheafs of paper full of handwritten stories with titles in huge, flowery text. “To almost everyone. Even the people she loves, like Lee. She’s angry, and scary, and hurtful.”

“But do you like her?”

Monika sighed. “...Yeah. That’s bad, isn’t it?”

“I married her, so...” Raquel shrugged. “Your call.”

*

Well-reasoned arguments (”I’m going stir crazy and I swear on the fucking Prism that I will make it your problem.”) broke down Sasha and Lee’s resistance to starting Monika’s new physical training regimen early. Unfortunately, there were Complications.

“They’re really just not hitting me, huh,” Monika noted, watching yet another sandbag bounce from a collision course to swing around her on the end of its rope. This portion of Lee’s carefully constructed obstacle course (isolated postings and bored soldiers make a good combination when you need something done) had been filled with swinging sandbags operated by enthusiastic soldiers, most of whom had been on the receiving end of Monika’s combat training. The teen watched in vague fascination as Sasha hurled her bag directly at Monika only for it to get blown around by some invisible force that made the apprentice’s head flex somehow.

“Get out of the gauntlet,” Lee called, from the very end of his patience. “You’re going to hurt yourself!”

Monika gestured wordlessly at the sandbags.

“Magic takes energy, remember? You’re gonna pass out if you hit your limits.”

Oh, right, that. Monika walked out the side of the gauntlet and high-fived Sasha on her way past towards Lee and, more importantly, water. She caught a canteen from the factotum and took several small sips before finding a spot of wall to lean against.

“Wish I could do that on purpose,” Monika confided. “...Guess that’s what Deirdre’s for. Well...I mean...”

“It’s in her job description, yes,” Lee agreed. “And now Sasha and I need to revise our design. And after all that hard work. Miss Monika, I know that Deirdre drives you hard, but you really must take more care of yourself. Your master would be furious if you managed to hurt yourself to no profit.”

“No profit, huh.”

Sasha punched Monika on the arm; the greyshade caught a spot of wall next to their friend and flicked their hands in rapid sign. |Training hurts. Hurt isn’t training. I know you’re not dumb.|

Monika covered up the look on her face by taking a swig from her canteen, at least until a commotion from the start of the obstacle course as soldiers scrambled to attention. Monika and her friends turned their heads and caught Deirdre dragging herself through the suddenly but extremely disciplined ranks.

“I know I put you on rest for a week,” Deirdre said in a flat voice. One eye had a dark circle beneath it; the other was bruised. “But here you are, not resting.”

“You look like death warmed over,” Monika said, avoiding the topic entirely. She reached out, gingerly touching her master’s face. “Are you okay?”

Deirdre snorted. “I’m dead. It’s bad for your health. What happened here?”

“It’s faster if I just show you.” Monika stepped back into the center of the gauntlet and whistled sharply. The soldiers present looked to Deirdre, who nodded, and then hurled their sandbags with all of their might. The twisting paths they took around the young apprentice sent two crashing into each other in bursts of sand and tattered cloth.

“I can’t seem to make it stop,” Monika admitted, feeling a touch of heat rising in her cheeks.

Deirdre nodded to herself. “Lee, you and I need to get more food in this girl until she’s got a handle on her shit. Sasha, you win the paperwork prize, and just so you know I’m deliberately not looking at you because I really do not give a shit about the objections I know you’re about to make. Monika?”

“Yes ma’am,” the apprentice answered, standing at reflexive attention.

“Good fight. But now you’re going on rest for your assigned time or I’m going to take you to every landmark on this island and whip your ass while I enjoy the view. You catch me?”

“Yes ma’am!”

[arcticlong]

Photosheet review

Photosheet review full version#

Photosheet review professional#

Photosheet review full version#

The tools which are actually present are powerful, particularly when it comes to working with layers, where Photoshop for iPad comes very close to fulfilling Adobe’s eye-popping claim that it’s the full version of its flagship software, but on a tablet. It could hold a chair or lamp without having to do any weird maneuvering to get it to fit. Measuring just under 3 feet on each side, this box is large enough for any kind of shooting you might have to do. There are bits we like: overall the app runs really smoothly, the occasional crash notwithstanding. The Foistan photo box is our favorite lightbox on the list and it's also the largest. Compared to its alternatives – Affinity Photo looms large – there's such a paucity of tools available here that you’ll be constantly running up against brick walls in terms of what you can actually do. If you’re thinking of signing up for Creative Cloud in order to get your hands on Photoshop for iPad, don’t. No kerning, no line spacing, no tracking, no sub-script or super-script. Text support, meanwhile, is little short of abysmal: you can choose a font, and its size and weight, as well as paragraph alignment, and… that’s it. There's also no support for Adobe Camera Raw, which means photographers with new images to work on will want to put them through Lightroom before opening them in Photoshop. No filters or smart filters (the latter has a placeholder menu, but although it’s probably safe to say it’s on its way, it isn't here yet). There's no Dodge or Burn tool (although as in the desktop version of Photoshop you can make localized exposure adjustments using adjustment layers). The implementation of layers in Photoshop for iPad is pretty full-on: in addition to creating new layers duplicating layers you can create adjustment layers (called 'clipped adjustments' here) and layer masks, and adjust layer opacity and blending modes, as well as performing layer management tasks such as merging layers or flattening images.Įlsewhere, 'sparse' barely begins to cover the tool selection.

Photosheet review professional#

The big inclusion here is support for layered PSD files – there can’t be many, if any, professional Photoshop users who don’t use layers in more or less every file they work on. Yongnuo YN560 MK IV Review and Photoshoot Yongnuo YN560 MK IV Review and Photoshoot To mark the launch of the new Speedlite by Yongnuo I thought I would. Files can then be sent via Messages or Mail, saved to your camera roll, or sent to other services such as Files or Dropbox, depending on what you have installed. Tap what most will consider the 'Share' button at the top of the screen and you can opt to create PNG, JPEG, PSD or TIFF files, with various options for quality and compression available for each. There are also plenty of options for getting your images out of Photoshop. This works well, and Photoshop for iPad saves as you go. Getting your images into Photoshop for iPad is straightforward – you can import from your iPad’s camera roll or take a picture using the onboard camera, but professionals will most likely load work from their Creative Cloud storage.

[greypetrel]

Would anyone be interested in a post of me explaining why you should NOT have just Clip Studio Paint if you plan on either making comics or printing your art?

I'm seeing so many lists of alternatives to the Adobe Suite, and tho I'm happily making do with Affinity for vectors instead of paying Illustrator...

Each of those lists suggests softwares in alternative to Photoshop that are not good alternatives if you don't use them to JUST make illustrations without text that won't be printed. (I used krita for a while, great brushes but not so many other tools. CSP is a great tool but it's nonsensical that it can't work in printing colour mode, and its text tool is abysmal. Gimp too.)

I can add some tips and tricks on how to prepare your work for printing in order to have the most faithful result, if anyone's interested? Just: please please take out a level of stress from your printing due to using the wrong software. It does change things!

[brainitworkstechnology15]

The Ultimate Guide to GIAC Certified Enterprise Defender (GCED)

Getting a grip on applied sciences from tech giants is among the choicest easy methods to stay forward of the ambit, redefine your career, and help accomplish you a star worker. Microsoft certifications are a method to achieve this and it will also be profitable for you and your organization. GIAC Certified Enterprise Defender (GCED) Certification Exam is very helpful.

 Microsoft remains on the forefront of the IT industry and its applied sciences, from the cloud, to id and authentication, cybersecurity, ERP, and CRM. windows desktops and servers will continue to be extensively deployed for the accountable future.

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 it s a. fundamentals acceptance aimed toward americans who ve abstruse and non-abstruse backgrounds but who have some adventure in programming. despite the fact, information science and software engineering event is never a prerequisite.

 The certification demands members can realise AI workloads, akin to admiration them, recognizing elements of aberration detection, and deciding on workloads in key areas of AI, including laptop imaginative and prescient, natural accent processing NLP, and communicative AI.

 contributors will also should familiarize themselves with web chat bots, as well as key NLP workloads similar to key phrase abstraction, sentiment evaluation, speech consciousness, and adaptation.

 participants will also deserve to be capable of explain key concepts of Microsoft s ideas for. dependable AI, which include fairness, believability and safeguard, privacy and safety, amplitude, transparency, and accountability.

 the fundamentals certification combines instructor-led practicing with on-line materials on the Microsoft be trained belvedere. there s a free on-line coaching path, and an teacher-led one.

 The modules are damaged bottomward into short, bite-sized chapters that consume text and video to clarify concepts, akin to what s machine gaining knowledge of?

 The certificate exam -- exam AI-: Microsoft azure AI Fundamentals -- fees $ninety nine in the US, however pricing varies counting on the nation the place the exam is proctored.

 There are dozens of certifications geared towards the Microsoft portfolio, but one that stands out presently is the certificates called,Microsoft certified: teams support architect associate.

 groups has turn into a a must have tool for hosting video conferences for remote workers all through the communicable and may continue to be so as hybrid assignment arrangements appear for corporations with hundreds of employees -- some of whom should be alive remotely while others application abroad in the office.  

 This Microsoft Certificated affiliate exam is aimed for help engineers and admins who make the wheels flip for huge Microsoft groups environments.

 contributors in the exam need to have had tremendous exposure to the field of unified communications and on-the-ground event with groups. other crucial prerequisites include azure networking capabilities and event with telephony, PowerShell, data storage, app security, authentication and authorization, protection, compliance, debugging, and performance affability and ecology.    

 To complete this exam, candidates need to accept completed the examination MS-: Troubleshooting Microsoft teams beta.

 principal give chain hacks like that of SolarWinds and advancing state-sponsored cyberattacks accept put a brand new experience of coercion on bolstering security operations for many agencies.

 enterprise Microsoft IT retail outlets are most likely using equipment like Microsoft s billow-primarily based SIEM product azure bouncer, azure apostle, and Microsoft apostle.

 The Microsoft licensed: safety Operations Analyst associate might aid make defenders useful back a cyberattack is taking part in out, and afterwards, too, all the way through adventure acknowledgment, triage, and forensic investigations.

 The certification is aimed toward security engineers and protection operations analysts, so or not it s for pro defenders.

 The examination costs $one hundred sixty five. there s a chargeless online studying pathway to prepare for the route, and a paid alternative for those that need an teacher to steer the route cloth.  

 here s a well-centered certification with multi-bore Microsoft getting to know course classes to complete for attempting the exam. The modules consist of the way to beat again threats using Microsoft defender for Endpoint previously ATP, Microsoft defender, azure defender, and distinctive facets of the use of bouncer SIEM.    

 Microsoft is betting large on energy belvedere being a low-cipher hit and recently launched energy Fx, a brand new programming language for the belvedere.

 Microsoft positions power belvedere as its answer to a scarcity of developers because it lets company clients rapidly build internet or smartphone apps related to backend databases.

 if you sharpen your talents in vigor platform, you have the opportunity to help the enterprise clear up developer potential shortages and company suggestions-sharing challenges. This certificates is rarely for novices. individuals are expected to have as a minimum three years of adventure as a power belvedere artist or as much as years of experience as a senior advisor with abysmal expertise of the power belvedere architecture.

 applicants should have accomplished both the Microsoft licensed: vigor platform functional consultant affiliate or the Microsoft licensed: vigor belvedere Developer associate acceptance.  

 members need to have functional and abstruse abilities of power belvedere, Dynamics consumer engagement apps, Microsoft cloud options, and third-party applied sciences.

 This acceptance is for builders with a watch on the cash, and for those that assignment with IT consultants and architects who depend on Dynamics .

 It charges $ within the US and requires developers to plot structure and answer design, observe developer tools, develop and verify code, implement advertisement, integrate and manipulate data solutions, and put into effect protection and optimize efficiency.

 The course is aimed at pro developers who be aware of the ins and outs of Dynamics development and accept actual-world adventure building functions for accounts and operations.

 To buy this path, candidates should accept passed the exam MB-: Microsoft Dynamics : amount accounts and Operations and the exam MB-: Microsoft Dynamics : core finance and Operations. it s not for everyone in IT, but it surely can be a bonus for those who ve specialized in IT for accounts departments.

 With Microsoft learn, tech specialists can discover free and cocky-paced, or paid teacher-led learning paths to prepare for certifications. Microsoft often updates content material, allowing people to buy the newest modules to reside up so far with up to date know-how.

 role-primarily based practising and certifications are created to assist people enhance fundamental expertise and journey to develop in an accelerated and billow-based mostly world.  

The Microsoft certified: azure Fundamentals page outlines the expertise abstinent and how to put together for the examination with free cocky-paced learning paths online by the use of Microsoft gain knowledge of, or with paid instructor-led practising offered by Microsoft learning partners and delivered with the aid of Microsoft licensed Trainers.

Microsoft s key acceptance categories encompass developer, administrator, answer artist, facts architect, information scientist, AI engineer, DevOps engineer, protection engineer, and purposeful advisor.

 here are some key facts from Microsoft about Microsoft be trained, the studying route platform that users can assume to replace advantage through Microsoft certifications and tests.

[jimmyjohnsmnm]

An Introduction to Yelp Ads for Local and e-Commerce Businesses

If you own a business, you know word of mouth is vital to your success.

A glowing review from a handful of customers, or even just one influential somebody, can put your business on the map. And a bad review? Well, that can ruin your reputation. Or at least put a good dent in it.

Before you worry about good or bad, you first need a place to get those reviews.

Here are a few questions to ponder:

How can you, as a local business, stand out among your competitors?

How can you attract the customer base you want, while also collecting reviews and ratings in one place?

Most importantly, how can you interact with consumer reviews to put your business in the best possible light?

Let’s take a closer look at Yelp Ads, Yelp’s various other services, and how they may help.

What is Yelp?

A crowd-sourced business review platform for consumers, Yelp is also an excellent place for businesses to be found online.

Yelp prides itself on being the leading social network for consumer ratings and reviews. 

In its earlier days, the platform was solely consumer-focused. It was a place for customers to leave their reviews without any expectation of a business’s response. 

Yelp has expanded its platform in recent years with Yelp for Business, which gives business owners like you greater control over your listings and consumer interactions. These features go beyond the free page listing that any business can claim.

Yelp for Business Options

Yelp for Business offers two options: self-service and a contract plan.

Self-service is an à la carte offering that allows you to choose from Yelp’s premium business tools. These include:

Yelp Ads

Yelp Deals

Yelp Reservations

Business Highlights

Profile upgrades

If you choose the contract plan, you’ll work with a Yelp sales representative to create an advertising program that fits your business’s needs. You pay a monthly fee for all the services included in your plan.

Why Yelp for Business May Be Right for Your Business

There’s no doubt that Yelp’s higher-than-average cost per click (CPC) and cost per mille (CPM) have garnered some negative press.

So why might you consider Yelp as part of your overall marketing strategy? 

Yelp users are at a later stage in the buying cycle than those on Google or Bing. Consumers on Yelp are no longer looking for information about a service or product; they’re narrowing their focus to local businesses to make a purchase.

According to a Nielsen study, a whopping 82 percent of Yelp users intend to buy a service or product. So even if only a few hundred consumers per month see your ad, the likelihood of your ad being displayed to a potential customer is high.

Let’s look more closely at one of Yelp for Business’s key offerings: Yelp Ads.

What is Yelp Ads?

An advertising service exclusively targeting Yelp users, this feature displays advertisements to consumers on the platform’s search results pages and business pages, via desktop and mobile. 

How Does Yelp Ads Work?

You can create standard or custom ads linked to your business listing.

The standard ad looks like any search result on Yelp. The difference is it will appear at the top of search page results and on competitors’ profiles:

With custom ads, you can add text snippets, choose a photo, and select the customer review you’d like to feature:

You can also add value propositions to the bottom of your advertisements, such as sale and deal details or average response time. These are called Business Highlights, and they may be included in your Yelp for Business package or purchased separately.

Don’t forget your call to action (CTA). With this add-on feature, you can customize the CTA buttons on your listing page and at the bottom of your search result listings. This allows you to link directly to a relevant page or form on your website.

Like Google or Bing, your ads will display based on search terms, location, and other parameters determined by Yelp’s ranking algorithm.

Your ads can appear on relevant search result pages or competitor business pages across all Yelp platforms. These include the desktop site, the mobile site, and the mobile application (available on iOS and Android).

How to Get Started with Yelp Ads

Do you think Yelp Ads might be right for your business? Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Claim Your Free Business Listing

If your business is well established, the odds are good that a listing already exists. To claim an existing listing, follow Yelp’s step-by-step instructions.

If your business doesn’t have a listing, it’s easy to register. 

Step 2: Improve Your Profile

Your profile, also known as a Business Page, is your way to provide accurate information about your business to local consumers. Available fields include business hours, address, phone number, and a list of services and products.

The more accurate your profile is, the greater your chances of converting consumers who find your listing. 

Step 3: Moderate Ratings and Reviews

As a verified business owner, you can respond to ratings and reviews publicly or privately. While you may be tempted to ignore a negative review, this can have a detrimental effect on how consumers view your business.

If you want to keep your business’s online reputation positive, promptly respond to reviews—both positive and negative. 

With 71 percent of consumers saying they’re more likely to do business with a company that has responded to reviews, you can’t afford to miss out on this opportunity.

Step 4: Reach Out to a Yelp Sales Representative

When you choose the self-service option, you can immediately begin using Yelp Ads and other premium features. If you’d prefer a customized plan, you’ll need to work with a sales representative.

How to Optimize Yelp Ads for Your Local e-Commerce Business

In its early years, Yelp gained popularity in the restaurant industry. But as of June 2020, restaurants make up just 18 percent of businesses on the platform. Shopping isn’t too far behind, with 16 percent of companies categorized as such.

As a local e-commerce business, you, too, can benefit from Yelp’s various features. 

Run Location-Targeted Advertisements

If you’re not reaching the right audience, what’s the point?

With Yelp Ads, you can run targeted ads based on consumer location.

As a local business, why might you want to target non-local as well as local consumers? I’m glad you asked!

Let’s say you own a hybrid business, online and in-store. Your physical storefront is in Connecticut, but your dropship warehouse is in Texas. 

Instead of mentioning delivery times, a local Connecticut ad might focus on customers’ ability to purchase online and pick up in-store:

Order online. Pick up in-store today.

But a local Texas ad aimed at customers within a few hundred miles of your warehouse location may read:

Delivery within two business days. Guaranteed.

The same can apply to local businesses like florists and bookstores. Even if you don’t ship to locations outside your local area, you can still appeal to non-local consumers with services you do offer.

Let’s say you’re a florist who offers local delivery services in Albany, NY. Your ads to non-local consumers may look something like this:

Call now for free, next-day delivery within Albany, NY.

But how can you advertise to the right audience?

Target larger metropolitan areas around your locale, or use existing customer data to determine the most likely locations for your non-local consumers. 

Keep Your Business Page Updated

With full control over your business page,  include as much relevant information as possible. 

What does this look like?

Did your business hours change? Or maybe you’re running a sale over the next week. This insight is the kind of information potential customers want to know.

Don’t have a physical storefront? You still have plenty of opportunities to flesh out your profile. For example, you can update your business’s:

customer service hours

refund and replacement policy

quality guarantee; or

shipping and handling timeframes.

Your customers will appreciate the transparency.

Tweak Your Strategy As Needed

Whether your business is brick-and-mortar or online, adaptability is crucial to success. How are you adapting to the results from your latest Yelp Ads campaign?

You may already use analytics software such as Google Analytics on your website. As a Yelp Ads user, you also have insight into campaign metrics, including:

user views

customer leads

mobile calls

CTA clicks

directions and map views

clicks to your website.

Keep track of campaign metrics, and use that data to adjust your ads and overall strategy. The key is to take a solutions-based approach to your advertising campaign. Here are a few examples.

Low Conversion Rate

You’ve started a new targeted campaign for a nearby metropolitan area. The CTA clicks are the highest you’ve ever seen on a campaign, but the conversion rate is abysmal.

The good news? Your campaign is sending people to your website. The bad news? The likely culprit is the landing page itself. You have three options:

tweak the CTA text to reflect the information on your landing page more accurately

link to a more relevant landing page on your website

rewrite the copy on your landing page to encourage more conversions

Remember that Yelp Ads is just one step on your journey toward conversions. 

Targeted ads can help drive relevant traffic to your website, but if your website is lacking, you’re more likely to lose the conversion.

Low Customer Lead Rate

Now let’s say user views are high, but customer leads are low. What’s the deal? 

First, rule out the usual suspects such as out-of-date profile information and poor ratings or reviews.

Next, consider that your potential customers may be drawn away by sponsored ads on your business profile.

One way to combat this is to purchase a package that enables you to remove sponsored ads from your business page. You may also want to place additional value propositions and CTAs higher on your page, so users are more likely to interact with your website before they even see the sponsored ads below.

Conclusion

For many consumers, Yelp is more than just a ratings and reviews platform. It’s the search engine of choice when it comes to finding a local business for their needs.

You may be thinking, “It’s too late in the game to rank anywhere near the first page in Yelp local results. What’s the point?”

But that’s the beauty of Yelp Ads!

You can ensure your listing is at the top of the search page results every time. And you can experiment with the content in custom ads to see how leads respond. And if you need help setting up paid ad campaigns, set up an initial consulting call.

Even if you don’t intend to use Yelp’s premium services, you can get control of your business page and interact with consumers just by claiming your free business listing.

That leaves me with just one question: 

Have you taken advantage of your free Yelp business listing yet?

The post An Introduction to Yelp Ads for Local and e-Commerce Businesses appeared first on Neil Patel.

Original content source: https://ift.tt/3k9aQBm via https://neilpatel.com The post, An Introduction to Yelp Ads for Local and e-Commerce Businesses, has been shared from https://ift.tt/2ZulxGK via https://ift.tt/2r0Go64

[marketingcomcaio]

An Introduction to Yelp Ads for Local and e-Commerce Businesses

If you own a business, you know word of mouth is vital to your success.

A glowing review from a handful of customers, or even just one influential somebody, can put your business on the map. And a bad review? Well, that can ruin your reputation. Or at least put a good dent in it.

Before you worry about good or bad, you first need a place to get those reviews.

Here are a few questions to ponder:

How can you, as a local business, stand out among your competitors?

How can you attract the customer base you want, while also collecting reviews and ratings in one place?

Most importantly, how can you interact with consumer reviews to put your business in the best possible light?

Let’s take a closer look at Yelp Ads, Yelp’s various other services, and how they may help.

What is Yelp?

A crowd-sourced business review platform for consumers, Yelp is also an excellent place for businesses to be found online.

Yelp prides itself on being the leading social network for consumer ratings and reviews. 

In its earlier days, the platform was solely consumer-focused. It was a place for customers to leave their reviews without any expectation of a business’s response. 

Yelp has expanded its platform in recent years with Yelp for Business, which gives business owners like you greater control over your listings and consumer interactions. These features go beyond the free page listing that any business can claim.

Yelp for Business Options

Yelp for Business offers two options: self-service and a contract plan.

Self-service is an à la carte offering that allows you to choose from Yelp’s premium business tools. These include:

Yelp Ads

Yelp Deals

Yelp Reservations

Business Highlights

Profile upgrades

If you choose the contract plan, you’ll work with a Yelp sales representative to create an advertising program that fits your business’s needs. You pay a monthly fee for all the services included in your plan.

Why Yelp for Business May Be Right for Your Business

There’s no doubt that Yelp’s higher-than-average cost per click (CPC) and cost per mille (CPM) have garnered some negative press.

So why might you consider Yelp as part of your overall marketing strategy? 

Yelp users are at a later stage in the buying cycle than those on Google or Bing. Consumers on Yelp are no longer looking for information about a service or product; they’re narrowing their focus to local businesses to make a purchase.

According to a Nielsen study, a whopping 82 percent of Yelp users intend to buy a service or product. So even if only a few hundred consumers per month see your ad, the likelihood of your ad being displayed to a potential customer is high.

Let’s look more closely at one of Yelp for Business’s key offerings: Yelp Ads.

What is Yelp Ads?

An advertising service exclusively targeting Yelp users, this feature displays advertisements to consumers on the platform’s search results pages and business pages, via desktop and mobile. 

How Does Yelp Ads Work?

You can create standard or custom ads linked to your business listing.

The standard ad looks like any search result on Yelp. The difference is it will appear at the top of search page results and on competitors’ profiles:

With custom ads, you can add text snippets, choose a photo, and select the customer review you’d like to feature:

You can also add value propositions to the bottom of your advertisements, such as sale and deal details or average response time. These are called Business Highlights, and they may be included in your Yelp for Business package or purchased separately.

Don’t forget your call to action (CTA). With this add-on feature, you can customize the CTA buttons on your listing page and at the bottom of your search result listings. This allows you to link directly to a relevant page or form on your website.

Like Google or Bing, your ads will display based on search terms, location, and other parameters determined by Yelp’s ranking algorithm.

Your ads can appear on relevant search result pages or competitor business pages across all Yelp platforms. These include the desktop site, the mobile site, and the mobile application (available on iOS and Android).

How to Get Started with Yelp Ads

Do you think Yelp Ads might be right for your business? Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Claim Your Free Business Listing

If your business is well established, the odds are good that a listing already exists. To claim an existing listing, follow Yelp’s step-by-step instructions.

If your business doesn’t have a listing, it’s easy to register. 

Step 2: Improve Your Profile

Your profile, also known as a Business Page, is your way to provide accurate information about your business to local consumers. Available fields include business hours, address, phone number, and a list of services and products.

The more accurate your profile is, the greater your chances of converting consumers who find your listing. 

Step 3: Moderate Ratings and Reviews

As a verified business owner, you can respond to ratings and reviews publicly or privately. While you may be tempted to ignore a negative review, this can have a detrimental effect on how consumers view your business.

If you want to keep your business’s online reputation positive, promptly respond to reviews—both positive and negative. 

With 71 percent of consumers saying they’re more likely to do business with a company that has responded to reviews, you can’t afford to miss out on this opportunity.

Step 4: Reach Out to a Yelp Sales Representative

When you choose the self-service option, you can immediately begin using Yelp Ads and other premium features. If you’d prefer a customized plan, you’ll need to work with a sales representative.

How to Optimize Yelp Ads for Your Local e-Commerce Business

In its early years, Yelp gained popularity in the restaurant industry. But as of June 2020, restaurants make up just 18 percent of businesses on the platform. Shopping isn’t too far behind, with 16 percent of companies categorized as such.

As a local e-commerce business, you, too, can benefit from Yelp’s various features. 

Run Location-Targeted Advertisements

If you’re not reaching the right audience, what’s the point?

With Yelp Ads, you can run targeted ads based on consumer location.

As a local business, why might you want to target non-local as well as local consumers? I’m glad you asked!

Let’s say you own a hybrid business, online and in-store. Your physical storefront is in Connecticut, but your dropship warehouse is in Texas. 

Instead of mentioning delivery times, a local Connecticut ad might focus on customers’ ability to purchase online and pick up in-store:

Order online. Pick up in-store today.

But a local Texas ad aimed at customers within a few hundred miles of your warehouse location may read:

Delivery within two business days. Guaranteed.

The same can apply to local businesses like florists and bookstores. Even if you don’t ship to locations outside your local area, you can still appeal to non-local consumers with services you do offer.

Let’s say you’re a florist who offers local delivery services in Albany, NY. Your ads to non-local consumers may look something like this:

Call now for free, next-day delivery within Albany, NY.

But how can you advertise to the right audience?

Target larger metropolitan areas around your locale, or use existing customer data to determine the most likely locations for your non-local consumers. 

Keep Your Business Page Updated

With full control over your business page,  include as much relevant information as possible. 

What does this look like?

Did your business hours change? Or maybe you’re running a sale over the next week. This insight is the kind of information potential customers want to know.

Don’t have a physical storefront? You still have plenty of opportunities to flesh out your profile. For example, you can update your business’s:

customer service hours

refund and replacement policy

quality guarantee; or

shipping and handling timeframes.

Your customers will appreciate the transparency.

Tweak Your Strategy As Needed

Whether your business is brick-and-mortar or online, adaptability is crucial to success. How are you adapting to the results from your latest Yelp Ads campaign?

You may already use analytics software such as Google Analytics on your website. As a Yelp Ads user, you also have insight into campaign metrics, including:

user views

customer leads

mobile calls

CTA clicks

directions and map views

clicks to your website.

Keep track of campaign metrics, and use that data to adjust your ads and overall strategy. The key is to take a solutions-based approach to your advertising campaign. Here are a few examples.

Low Conversion Rate

You’ve started a new targeted campaign for a nearby metropolitan area. The CTA clicks are the highest you’ve ever seen on a campaign, but the conversion rate is abysmal.

The good news? Your campaign is sending people to your website. The bad news? The likely culprit is the landing page itself. You have three options:

tweak the CTA text to reflect the information on your landing page more accurately

link to a more relevant landing page on your website

rewrite the copy on your landing page to encourage more conversions

Remember that Yelp Ads is just one step on your journey toward conversions. 

Targeted ads can help drive relevant traffic to your website, but if your website is lacking, you’re more likely to lose the conversion.

Low Customer Lead Rate

Now let’s say user views are high, but customer leads are low. What’s the deal? 

First, rule out the usual suspects such as out-of-date profile information and poor ratings or reviews.

Next, consider that your potential customers may be drawn away by sponsored ads on your business profile.

One way to combat this is to purchase a package that enables you to remove sponsored ads from your business page. You may also want to place additional value propositions and CTAs higher on your page, so users are more likely to interact with your website before they even see the sponsored ads below.

Conclusion

For many consumers, Yelp is more than just a ratings and reviews platform. It’s the search engine of choice when it comes to finding a local business for their needs.

You may be thinking, “It’s too late in the game to rank anywhere near the first page in Yelp local results. What’s the point?”

But that’s the beauty of Yelp Ads!

You can ensure your listing is at the top of the search page results every time. And you can experiment with the content in custom ads to see how leads respond. And if you need help setting up paid ad campaigns, set up an initial consulting call.

Even if you don’t intend to use Yelp’s premium services, you can get control of your business page and interact with consumers just by claiming your free business listing.

That leaves me with just one question: 

Have you taken advantage of your free Yelp business listing yet?

The post An Introduction to Yelp Ads for Local and e-Commerce Businesses appeared first on Neil Patel.

An Introduction to Yelp Ads for Local and e-Commerce Businesses Publicado primeiro em https://neilpatel.com

[remelitalia]

An Introduction to Yelp Ads for Local and e-Commerce Businesses

If you own a business, you know word of mouth is vital to your success.

A glowing review from a handful of customers, or even just one influential somebody, can put your business on the map. And a bad review? Well, that can ruin your reputation. Or at least put a good dent in it.

Before you worry about good or bad, you first need a place to get those reviews.

Here are a few questions to ponder:

How can you, as a local business, stand out among your competitors?

How can you attract the customer base you want, while also collecting reviews and ratings in one place?

Most importantly, how can you interact with consumer reviews to put your business in the best possible light?

Let’s take a closer look at Yelp Ads, Yelp’s various other services, and how they may help.

What is Yelp?

A crowd-sourced business review platform for consumers, Yelp is also an excellent place for businesses to be found online.

Yelp prides itself on being the leading social network for consumer ratings and reviews. 

In its earlier days, the platform was solely consumer-focused. It was a place for customers to leave their reviews without any expectation of a business’s response. 

Yelp has expanded its platform in recent years with Yelp for Business, which gives business owners like you greater control over your listings and consumer interactions. These features go beyond the free page listing that any business can claim.

Yelp for Business Options

Yelp for Business offers two options: self-service and a contract plan.

Self-service is an à la carte offering that allows you to choose from Yelp’s premium business tools. These include:

Yelp Ads

Yelp Deals

Yelp Reservations

Business Highlights

Profile upgrades

If you choose the contract plan, you’ll work with a Yelp sales representative to create an advertising program that fits your business’s needs. You pay a monthly fee for all the services included in your plan.

Why Yelp for Business May Be Right for Your Business

There’s no doubt that Yelp’s higher-than-average cost per click (CPC) and cost per mille (CPM) have garnered some negative press.

So why might you consider Yelp as part of your overall marketing strategy? 

Yelp users are at a later stage in the buying cycle than those on Google or Bing. Consumers on Yelp are no longer looking for information about a service or product; they’re narrowing their focus to local businesses to make a purchase.

According to a Nielsen study, a whopping 82 percent of Yelp users intend to buy a service or product. So even if only a few hundred consumers per month see your ad, the likelihood of your ad being displayed to a potential customer is high.

Let’s look more closely at one of Yelp for Business’s key offerings: Yelp Ads.

What is Yelp Ads?

An advertising service exclusively targeting Yelp users, this feature displays advertisements to consumers on the platform’s search results pages and business pages, via desktop and mobile. 

How Does Yelp Ads Work?

You can create standard or custom ads linked to your business listing.

The standard ad looks like any search result on Yelp. The difference is it will appear at the top of search page results and on competitors’ profiles:

With custom ads, you can add text snippets, choose a photo, and select the customer review you’d like to feature:

You can also add value propositions to the bottom of your advertisements, such as sale and deal details or average response time. These are called Business Highlights, and they may be included in your Yelp for Business package or purchased separately.

Don’t forget your call to action (CTA). With this add-on feature, you can customize the CTA buttons on your listing page and at the bottom of your search result listings. This allows you to link directly to a relevant page or form on your website.

Like Google or Bing, your ads will display based on search terms, location, and other parameters determined by Yelp’s ranking algorithm.

Your ads can appear on relevant search result pages or competitor business pages across all Yelp platforms. These include the desktop site, the mobile site, and the mobile application (available on iOS and Android).

How to Get Started with Yelp Ads

Do you think Yelp Ads might be right for your business? Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Claim Your Free Business Listing

If your business is well established, the odds are good that a listing already exists. To claim an existing listing, follow Yelp’s step-by-step instructions.

If your business doesn’t have a listing, it’s easy to register. 

Step 2: Improve Your Profile

Your profile, also known as a Business Page, is your way to provide accurate information about your business to local consumers. Available fields include business hours, address, phone number, and a list of services and products.

The more accurate your profile is, the greater your chances of converting consumers who find your listing. 

Step 3: Moderate Ratings and Reviews

As a verified business owner, you can respond to ratings and reviews publicly or privately. While you may be tempted to ignore a negative review, this can have a detrimental effect on how consumers view your business.

If you want to keep your business’s online reputation positive, promptly respond to reviews—both positive and negative. 

With 71 percent of consumers saying they’re more likely to do business with a company that has responded to reviews, you can’t afford to miss out on this opportunity.

Step 4: Reach Out to a Yelp Sales Representative

When you choose the self-service option, you can immediately begin using Yelp Ads and other premium features. If you’d prefer a customized plan, you’ll need to work with a sales representative.

How to Optimize Yelp Ads for Your Local e-Commerce Business

In its early years, Yelp gained popularity in the restaurant industry. But as of June 2020, restaurants make up just 18 percent of businesses on the platform. Shopping isn’t too far behind, with 16 percent of companies categorized as such.

As a local e-commerce business, you, too, can benefit from Yelp’s various features. 

Run Location-Targeted Advertisements

If you’re not reaching the right audience, what’s the point?

With Yelp Ads, you can run targeted ads based on consumer location.

As a local business, why might you want to target non-local as well as local consumers? I’m glad you asked!

Let’s say you own a hybrid business, online and in-store. Your physical storefront is in Connecticut, but your dropship warehouse is in Texas. 

Instead of mentioning delivery times, a local Connecticut ad might focus on customers’ ability to purchase online and pick up in-store:

Order online. Pick up in-store today.

But a local Texas ad aimed at customers within a few hundred miles of your warehouse location may read:

Delivery within two business days. Guaranteed.

The same can apply to local businesses like florists and bookstores. Even if you don’t ship to locations outside your local area, you can still appeal to non-local consumers with services you do offer.

Let’s say you’re a florist who offers local delivery services in Albany, NY. Your ads to non-local consumers may look something like this:

Call now for free, next-day delivery within Albany, NY.

But how can you advertise to the right audience?

Target larger metropolitan areas around your locale, or use existing customer data to determine the most likely locations for your non-local consumers. 

Keep Your Business Page Updated

With full control over your business page,  include as much relevant information as possible. 

What does this look like?

Did your business hours change? Or maybe you’re running a sale over the next week. This insight is the kind of information potential customers want to know.

Don’t have a physical storefront? You still have plenty of opportunities to flesh out your profile. For example, you can update your business’s:

customer service hours

refund and replacement policy

quality guarantee; or

shipping and handling timeframes.

Your customers will appreciate the transparency.

Tweak Your Strategy As Needed

Whether your business is brick-and-mortar or online, adaptability is crucial to success. How are you adapting to the results from your latest Yelp Ads campaign?

You may already use analytics software such as Google Analytics on your website. As a Yelp Ads user, you also have insight into campaign metrics, including:

user views

customer leads

mobile calls

CTA clicks

directions and map views

clicks to your website.

Keep track of campaign metrics, and use that data to adjust your ads and overall strategy. The key is to take a solutions-based approach to your advertising campaign. Here are a few examples.

Low Conversion Rate

You’ve started a new targeted campaign for a nearby metropolitan area. The CTA clicks are the highest you’ve ever seen on a campaign, but the conversion rate is abysmal.

The good news? Your campaign is sending people to your website. The bad news? The likely culprit is the landing page itself. You have three options:

tweak the CTA text to reflect the information on your landing page more accurately

link to a more relevant landing page on your website

rewrite the copy on your landing page to encourage more conversions

Remember that Yelp Ads is just one step on your journey toward conversions. 

Targeted ads can help drive relevant traffic to your website, but if your website is lacking, you’re more likely to lose the conversion.

Low Customer Lead Rate

Now let’s say user views are high, but customer leads are low. What’s the deal? 

First, rule out the usual suspects such as out-of-date profile information and poor ratings or reviews.

Next, consider that your potential customers may be drawn away by sponsored ads on your business profile.

One way to combat this is to purchase a package that enables you to remove sponsored ads from your business page. You may also want to place additional value propositions and CTAs higher on your page, so users are more likely to interact with your website before they even see the sponsored ads below.

Conclusion

For many consumers, Yelp is more than just a ratings and reviews platform. It’s the search engine of choice when it comes to finding a local business for their needs.

You may be thinking, “It’s too late in the game to rank anywhere near the first page in Yelp local results. What’s the point?”

But that’s the beauty of Yelp Ads!

You can ensure your listing is at the top of the search page results every time. And you can experiment with the content in custom ads to see how leads respond. And if you need help setting up paid ad campaigns, set up an initial consulting call.

Even if you don’t intend to use Yelp’s premium services, you can get control of your business page and interact with consumers just by claiming your free business listing.

That leaves me with just one question: 

Have you taken advantage of your free Yelp business listing yet?

The post An Introduction to Yelp Ads for Local and e-Commerce Businesses appeared first on Neil Patel.

Original content source: https://neilpatel.com/blog/yelp-ads/ via https://neilpatel.com

See the original post, An Introduction to Yelp Ads for Local and e-Commerce Businesses that is shared from https://imtrainingparadise.weebly.com/home/an-introduction-to-yelp-ads-for-local-and-e-commerce-businesses via https://imtrainingparadise.weebly.com/home

[marketingmane]

Preface

Another day, another guidepost from Kodework. Today’s post will cover some of the most commonly asked questions about mobile app design. We, at Kodework truly believe in educating our readers, so that you understand the basics of mobile app development, through this mobile app design guide.

We are able to post a mobile app guide like this because we work with reputable clients around the world. Whether you are a beginner or an expert, this guide benefits everyone.

Looking for a smart re-branded website design to attract more leads? What about user-friendly mobile app design? Call +91 750 620 3013 or write to support@kodework.com, to get in touch with our team of experienced web developers.

1. Introduction

Mobile app design involves the interaction between the user and a mobile device. Being a mobile development company, we are obliged to cover topics ranging from mobile UI design, basic steps when designing a mobile app, best practices for mobile app design and a look at different mobile screens.

This post won’t cover queries such as,

“What does a mobile app design agency do?”

“What are the types of mobile app design templates?”

“Which is the best mobile app design tool?”

“What is the meaning of motion UI design?”,

We will cover all the above-mentioned questions on Kodework’s subsequent posts.

We would love to gain some feedback from you as to how we can make this post even better.

Feel free to communicate with us in the comment box below. We are a bunch of passionate mobile and software professionals who build interactive and compelling mobile apps. We want to learn and teach.

2. What is the meaning of mobile UI design?

When you swipe through your smartphone, checking out apps that you probably can’t interact without, you are technically paying homage to a UI UX designer somewhere who visualized you doing just that.

Mobile UI design focuses on how a user can interact with a smartphone or tablet’s mobile applications. It tries to lay in order all the content, features and functions. Mobile UI design is different from web UI design. To better understand web UI design, check out this guide to web UI design.

Mobile UI design is bounded to touch screen controls and smaller screen sizes. This means that every mobile UI designer needs to work under these constraints to ensure consistency, readability, and usability.

Controls are usually hidden until acted upon to be revealed. Symbols are used more as there is not enough space to display text labels. Mobile UI design

Even if your mobile UI is great, an abysmal UX can reduce a mobile application to a decent one. Mobile users nowadays expect a mobile app with quick-loading, easy usage, and smooth interaction.

3. What are the best practices for mobile UI design?

Adopting the best practices for effective mobile designs is every mobile app designer’s objective. Some practices that work best are:

Ensure the content window size is maximized. The user interface should not dominate the small screen size. Remember, that content and apps need to be facilitated foremost.

The mobile app layout, its commands, content should all be suited to the mobile operating system’s colours, composition, and placement. Consistency is key, as the user should not be wasting time in understanding the interface.

Commands or controls within the design should not overwhelm the user. The content displayed on the app must be clear for viewing or interacting. Likewise, click points cannot be too narrow or small. This can lead to unwanted clicking of neighbouring elements.

Mobile UI Design Tutorial by Tuts+

4. What are some tips to keep in mind when designing a mobile app?

A question that gets asked repeatedly. Designing a mobile application involves more than simply deciding what colours or font go into the app.

Here are some general steps that UI and UX designers need to follow are:

Mobile app developers need to understand who will be using the app. Understanding users is the first step. This research will include studying the target audience.

Is the app solving any problems? Is the mobile app improving the user’s lifestyle in any way? What are the app’s technical capabilities?

Next, look at the app features. Which features would suit a particular set of users? The app must be a useful tool instead of an application that promises but doesn’t deliver.

“If it’s not an iOS app, then Android app design works best”. Don’t think like that. Find out if there are enough users within your target user base with Android smartphones.

Understand the different operating system versions. Understand the app specifics and device types.

A mobile app that does not abide by strong mobile app design principles will fail. The competition is fierce for any product app. Avoid any UI feature surprises. Ensure the UI is user-friendly, responsive and intuitive.

Make sure the app takes advantage of the complete screen space. Position the elements within a natural hierarchy. Keep in mind user navigation and place only relevant elements. Think how would a right-handed user operate? Are the elements within reach of their respective thumbs?

Make sure you take in to account usability and readability when deciding on colours, styles, icons, buttons, and fonts. Are the fonts visible over different resolutions? Keep colours contrasting to differentiate one element from another. Avoid clutter, always.

Most users are already familiar with how mobile apps function. Avoid confronting them with UI elements that don’t behave the way they expect it to. Whenever possible, make use of built-in devices and standard controls.

Also remember device constraints such as screen size, memory, storage, processor speed, battery life. Not all handsets possess the same specs. For enterprise mobile apps, data is the priority. Understand how push notifications work. Allow users to rate the app.

The content should be user-focused and clear. If an element is not intuitive, provide simple instructions.

Consider data management within the app carefully. Will user data be made available as an online service? How will the app connect to WiFi? How will it react to a lack of connectivity?

What steps are being taken to safeguard the user’s data? How will the app address security issues such as authorization and authentication? Turn to virtual private networks, TLS and SSL encryption, to ensure security mechanisms are in place.

Test your app well. Appreciate user feedback and work on it to improve your application’s flaws.

Kodework tip 1: Keep market needs in mind

5. Which are the different types of mobile screens?

A top mobile app development service must be willing to deep dive into understanding the practicality of the mobile app design. The 7 essential mobile app screens are:

1. Splash Screen

A mobile app splash screen is the mobile app’s first impression of a new user. It is an app screen that loads the moment a user opens the mobile app. As a result, the mobile app design needs to be minimalistic for a splash screen.

The name of the app, the mobile app logo, and the app slogan are what one sees over the splash screen. To ensure that the splash screen does what it does best, any top mobile app design agency will place the elements in the middle of the screen.

The screen appears for a maximum of 8 seconds. The app loading progress bar keeps impatient users informed of the impending app launch happening soon.

2. Home Screen

The mobile app home screen is an important part of any mobile application. It is the user interaction screen usually containing the most options of the handy mobile app.

They are designed based on the type of product and purpose. Sometimes mobile apps are built with the main screen wherein a search field is provided. This allows users to easily search, and navigate towards the content they want to reach.

Home screens are generally the starting point to a user’s journey, as a result, navigation elements are placed here.

3. Onboarding Screen

The app onboarding tutorial screens are a set of screens that help users learn about the mobile app’s navigation system, benefits, and features. First-time launchers of the app are oriented with features that could be unfamiliar to them.

The structure of every app is different, but despite this, there are common mobile UI design elements among various onboarding screens. One familiar feature is that of custom illustrations.

These illustrations portray a specific benefit in an easy-to-understand way. A mascot (for setting an emotional bond with users) is quite common among different mobile banking apps.

4. Login Screen

Almost every mobile app allows users to create their personal accounts. This means every app design agency in India or anywhere, must know how to work with login screens. These login screens are minimalistic and to the point.

Two fields – Name and Password, are provided with a singular ‘Confirmation’ button. For first time users of the app, there must also be a sign-up option.

5. Stats Screen

Mobile apps with user engagement involving competitions or contests are provided with a stats screen. The mobile app template can get complex if there’s a high amount of data present on the app.

Therefore, good mobile app testing helps compress as much key data on the screen, while not making it look too cluttered. Stats screen requires clean typography so that the data can be read clearly.

6. Ecommerce App Screens

Ecommerce mobile apps are built with a ‘catalogue screen’. Mobile UI design for Ecommerce apps must focus on selling a product. A catalogue screen is created based on grabbing the user/consumer’s attention, encouraging him/her to buy the product.

A vertical scroll allows the user to view the product categories. The width of the screen determines the number of products to be placed in a row. High-quality images let the user see what he/she is buying. A CTA (call-to-action) button, allows users to add products to their cart.

The ‘product card screen’ allows users to know what they are buying. The card screen displays key information about the product, thus helping the user to make a decision. The product image is placed at the centre, under which, the product description is mentioned.

The checkout screen lets users make purchases in-app via smartphones. As a result, mobile UI designing needs to make this process convenient.

The final step is checkout. Visual elements must be cleverly added here to let the user know that his/her shared information (such as name, contact number, card details, etc.) is secure.

7. Feed Screen

The ‘feed screen’ is a constantly updating list of news that is followed by users. Users usually scan through the list quickly, preferring to open only those links which they want to read.

As a result, mobile UI design is paramount. The overloading of visual details is a big no. A great tip would be to partially show the next piece of news.

Kodework tip 2: Be Visual

6. What’s the difference between web apps and native apps?

You can differentiate a good app from a bad one is through its user experience (UX). A good UX can separate the good ones from the excellent ones.

Mobile users expect a lot from an app. Faster load time, easy usage, and engaging interaction elements; all make for a successful mobile app.

This doesn’t mean that a web app needs to be less intuitive. Web apps are different from websites. A website usually offers more information. Web apps condense website content to improve the app’s functionality.

A web app loads in browsers such as Safari, Firefox, and Chrome. They need not be downloaded from native mobile app stores. Web apps also don’t take up too much storage space on the user’s device.

A web app lets you offer mobile-friendly content to wider user audiences. Web applications are cost-effective. Users nowadays expect a high-level of functionality standards and user-experience.

Web apps fall short in this regard. Slow load times, tiny images and network un-availability can hinder web app performance.

6.1. How can we build a web app?

Web apps are built in HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS within a web browser. There is no software development kit that developers use here. Web app templates are developed, that is straightforward. A native app trumps in features and functionality, compared to a web app.

6.2. What are the advantages of web apps?

Web apps are easy to maintain. They use a base of common code that works across multiple mobile platforms. Web apps are built for all platforms, as long as they run in the appropriate web browser. Web apps are inexpensive to build, as compared to native apps.

Web apps don’t adhere to operating system protocols. They also, don’t need any app marketplace approval. They can be released at any time, in any format. Updates to web applications don’t go through an app store. This means a user doesn’t need to manage updates manually. A newer version always loads when a user opens a web app.

6.3. What are the disadvantages of web apps?

Web apps are restricted by the smaller scope for leveraging device hardware. A browser is needed to run a web app. Users interact with multiple web browsers, and hence, performance metrics are hard to collate. A user needs to go through more steps to search a page or access a URL. This complicates the UX.

Web apps are slower and less responsive, as compared to native apps.

They are less interactive and less intuitive.

Web apps allow fewer branding opportunities.

6.4. What are native mobile apps?

Native mobile apps are the commonly used ones. They are developed for specific platforms and written in platform-specific languages. If its Objective-C for native iOS apps, then it is Kotlin and Java for Android mobile apps. Native apps are built for the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for select operating systems.

Both Google and Apple provide native app developers with their custom development kit. This kit also includes a custom SDK and tools. The benefits offered by native apps far supersede those of other app types.

6.5. What are the advantages of native apps?

Native apps deliver great performance in all three development approaches. This is because:

Native apps receive strong support from app stores marketplaces

Native apps are interactive and run smoothly

They allow developers access to a full feature set

The UX of native apps is superior to hybrid or web apps

6.6. What are the disadvantages of native apps?

The biggest disadvantage is the cost of developing native mobile apps. Although, they offer a personalized product, higher conversion rates, and longer customer loyalty; their cost balloons.

Native apps make use of complex programming languages

Their expenses are costly and upfront as compared to web apps

They are not the best option for simpler applications

6.7. What is a progressive web app?

A Progressive Web App (PWA) is a hybrid between a native app and a web app. Web apps do not come with native app functionalities such as offline mode or push notifications.

PWAs leverages the features of native apps and allow web apps to send push notifications, engage using touch gestures and access device hardware.

Surprisingly, PWAs are only compatible with Google Chrome. iOS users can’t avail the benefits of PWAs.

7. Which are some of the most popular mobile apps in India?

Tata Sky Mobile App

SBI Mobile App

My Mobile App

Shareit Mobile App

Mobile Tracker App

Axis Bank App

IRCTC Rail Connect App

Voter Helpline App

All-in-one Recharge App

ICICI Bank i-mobile App

Canara Bank CANDI App

HDFC Banking App

PUBG App

Hotstar App

BHIM UPI App

About

Kodework

Kodework is India’s top UI UX design company. Our team of experienced UI/UX designers work with clients all over the world to simplify human-screen interactions. We pride ourselves on delivering seamless user interface design, user experience design, mobile UI design, dashboard design and web design.

When it comes to employing the best UI UX designers in the country, Kodework leads the way. We are the top company for career growth. For our clients, we deliver business growth & brand building via UX UI prototyping tools, design techniques, adopting the latest UI/UX trends and turning UI/UX needs to successful case studies.

The Kodework UI UX blog covers topics, such as UI UX prototyping, usability, architecture, interaction, process, research, styles, news, trends, tips, strategies, successful case studies etc.

Kodework works with Nordic Intent, Creometric, Ninestack and Fathamster Studio to serve B2B, B2C and B2E customers’ needs.

Tags

Mobile App

Mobile App Builder

Mobile App Developer

Mobile App Development

Mobile App Icon

Mobile App Template

Mobile App Testing

Mobile Recharge App

Mobile Tracker App

[un-enfant-immature]

Podium rolls out payments for its customer-focused local business SaaS service

Podium, a Utah-based SaaS company focused on small business customer interactions, added payments technology to its product suite today. The move accretes a new income stream to the company’s quickly growing annual recurring revenue (ARR).

While I tend to stay away from product news, Podium’s decision to add payment technology to its service hit a number of themes that we’ve recently explored, like the rise of payments technology players (Finix, for example) and how it is increasingly common to see fintech and finservices solutions find their way into new places.

And Podium is one of SaaS’s fastest growing companies. Cribbing from some prior reporting, Podium’s ARR grew reached roughly $30 million at the end of 2017. It expected to reach $60 million by the end of 2018, and had $100 million in its sights for 2019. Those figures, collected in November, are now decidedly out of date. But they illustrate how quickly Podium was growing before it added payments to its arsenal.

I wanted to dig into the news, so I emailed with Eric Rea, the company’s CEO. What follows is an email exchange (due to scheduling difficulties). We’ll chat after about what was said.

Context

TechCrunch: Did Podium build out its own payments tech or does it employ third-party tech like Finix?

Podium: Podium has a great relationship with Stripe, a fellow Y Combinator company, which was partnered with our own technology to make it work best for our customers. This was key in order to create a payment tool that actually works in the kinds of businesses we work with. [The] majority of businesses who operate from a physical location, from dentist offices and home services companies to larger retail stores, have very specific needs that haven’t been met by traditional card present or POS systems. As a result, many of them rely on mailing paper invoices or awkward conversations where someone gives their card info over the phone. Putting Podium’s platform technology alongside Stripe’s best-in-class processing tech was able to finally meet this need for the companies that create roughly a third of the US non-farming GDP.

TechCrunch: Does the majority of the economics (profit/margin) from the payments product accrue to the Podium client, or Podium itself?

Podium: The genius behind this product is just how immense the economic impact is for these companies. For many of them, they are able to create a whole new convenient way to serve their customers through conversational commerce, and in doing so, they are able to be more successful.

One of our major furniture retailers that participated in the beta of Payments told me about how there has been a completely new selling motion that has opened up for their stores through this product. One of their biggest leaks was when customers would come in and look at a couch or dresser, but didn’t know if dimensions would work in their home. Once they left, there was a steep drop off getting them back into the store to actually make the purchase.

Now, with Payments, they are able to give all the info to their customer, have them check it out in their home and then text them if it works or not. They can then use Payments to collect payment in the very same text conversation and the delivery crew can complete the purchase all in the same day without having the customer return to the store. So it’s not just shifting where they are processing their payments, but opening up new revenue that they would never have had before they started using Payments.

Then consider the ancient process that businesses are still using who invoice for services, like a dentist or a home services provider. Majority are still using mailed statements and invoices or phone conversations. Believe it or not, the expenses for these are immense. Not only that, but the turnaround and success rates are abysmal, meaning these businesses have to wait weeks to months in order to receive payment, if at all. With Payments, it is as quick as a seamless text.

In our beta, Payments tripled the conversion rates over invoices and reduced employee workload related to payment by 80%. In healthcare, for example, 40% of customers send payment within 48 hours. To get that same level through their legacy operations, it would take 14 days to get to that point. The economic impact on that speed and completion is astounding for these businesses.

On the processing, Podium sees the profit on the transaction cost.

TechCrunch: Does Podium anticipate that payments will provide material revenue over the next 18 months? 36?

Podium: Yes. We see this as being the second major phase of the Podium platform. We have been proud to have created one of the fastest growing SaaS companies in history through our existing products. We have 43,000 businesses currently using Podium, and one of the biggest things they have all been telling us is how much they need a tool like this. Just in our existing customer base and verticals, they are creating more than $100B in gross processing volume annually in payments that are better suited to be done through this tool.

TechCrunch: How long did it take to build out the tech?

Podium: This product actually took the longest of all of our products to develop, given the unique expectations and requirements it took on the technology side. This product has been about a year in the making. When it comes to the business of making money and us being the facilitator of that, we take it very seriously to ensure the tool is secure and stable.

TechCrunch: What percent of Podium customers are good candidates to use the tech?

Podium: Almost universal. We gave a lot of intention behind making this a tool that would work across market verticals so that our customers could provide a better experience for their customers and get paid faster at the same time.

TechCrunch: What is the fee and cost structure?

Podium: We charge a flat rate for processing, which is intentional to allow transparency and consistency in their fees.

So what?

It’s not a surprise that Podium is taking the economics of the payment processing (with Stripe doing well at the same time). This means that Podium’s business itself will grow thanks to its addition.

At the same time, the clients using Podium’s platform also do well. If the feature can assist as many companies as Podium expects, then it could help a host of small, local firms boost their sales by improving their respective close rates. Even merely faster payments could help smaller shops better manage their cash flow.

So this feels a bit like a win-win. And it goes to show that the addition of payments to other bits of tech is more than hype (Finix will like that). Instead, it feels like adding the ability for transactions to flow directly through one’s platform is going to rise in popularity. Podium is not the first to the trend, and it won’t be the last. But it is a company that could accelerate the trend thanks to its scale and, so far at least, success.

What we’d love to see, frankly, is an S-1 from Podium this year; that would allow us to better dissect its business. Now at least we’ll have one more thing to look for when we do get the document.

[magzoso-tech]

Podium rolls out payments for its customer-focused local business SaaS service

New Post has been published on https://magzoso.com/tech/podium-rolls-out-payments-for-its-customer-focused-local-business-saas-service/

Podium rolls out payments for its customer-focused local business SaaS service

Podium, a Utah-based SaaS company focused on small business customer interactions, added payments technology to its product suite today. The move accretes a new income stream to the company’s quickly growing annual recurring revenue (ARR).

While I tend to stay away from product news, Podium’s decision to add payment technology to its service hit a number of themes that we’ve recently explored, like the rise of payments technology players (Finix, for example) and how it is increasingly common to see fintech and finservices solutions find their way into new places.

And Podium is one of SaaS’s fastest growing companies. Cribbing from some prior reporting, Podium’s ARR grew reached roughly $30 million at the end of 2017. It expected to reach $60 million by the end of 2018, and had $100 million in its sights for 2019. Those figures, collected in November, are now decidedly out of date. But they illustrate how quickly Podium was growing before it added payments to its arsenal.

Update: Adding a little clarification here. The addition of payments to Podium’s tech allows its customers (the companies using its software) to collect payments from their own customers. This gives Podium customers the ability charge folks for their goods and services in a manner that is integrated into the rest of the software company’s service. 

I wanted to dig into the news, so I emailed with Eric Rea, the company’s CEO. What follows is an email exchange (due to scheduling difficulties). We’ll chat after about what was said.

Context

TechCrunch: Did Podium build out its own payments tech or does it employ third-party tech like Finix?

Podium: Podium has a great relationship with Stripe, a fellow Y Combinator company, which was partnered with our own technology to make it work best for our customers. This was key in order to create a payment tool that actually works in the kinds of businesses we work with. [The] majority of businesses who operate from a physical location, from dentist offices and home services companies to larger retail stores, have very specific needs that haven’t been met by traditional card present or POS systems. As a result, many of them rely on mailing paper invoices or awkward conversations where someone gives their card info over the phone. Putting Podium’s platform technology alongside Stripe’s best-in-class processing tech was able to finally meet this need for the companies that create roughly a third of the US non-farming GDP.

TechCrunch: Does the majority of the economics (profit/margin) from the payments product accrue to the Podium client, or Podium itself?

Podium: The genius behind this product is just how immense the economic impact is for these companies. For many of them, they are able to create a whole new convenient way to serve their customers through conversational commerce, and in doing so, they are able to be more successful.

One of our major furniture retailers that participated in the beta of Payments told me about how there has been a completely new selling motion that has opened up for their stores through this product. One of their biggest leaks was when customers would come in and look at a couch or dresser, but didn’t know if dimensions would work in their home. Once they left, there was a steep drop off getting them back into the store to actually make the purchase.

Now, with Payments, they are able to give all the info to their customer, have them check it out in their home and then text them if it works or not. They can then use Payments to collect payment in the very same text conversation and the delivery crew can complete the purchase all in the same day without having the customer return to the store. So it’s not just shifting where they are processing their payments, but opening up new revenue that they would never have had before they started using Payments.

Then consider the ancient process that businesses are still using who invoice for services, like a dentist or a home services provider. Majority are still using mailed statements and invoices or phone conversations. Believe it or not, the expenses for these are immense. Not only that, but the turnaround and success rates are abysmal, meaning these businesses have to wait weeks to months in order to receive payment, if at all. With Payments, it is as quick as a seamless text.

In our beta, Payments tripled the conversion rates over invoices and reduced employee workload related to payment by 80%. In healthcare, for example, 40% of customers send payment within 48 hours. To get that same level through their legacy operations, it would take 14 days to get to that point. The economic impact on that speed and completion is astounding for these businesses.

On the processing, Podium sees the profit on the transaction cost.

TechCrunch: Does Podium anticipate that payments will provide material revenue over the next 18 months? 36?

Podium: Yes. We see this as being the second major phase of the Podium platform. We have been proud to have created one of the fastest growing SaaS companies in history through our existing products. We have 43,000 businesses currently using Podium, and one of the biggest things they have all been telling us is how much they need a tool like this. Just in our existing customer base and verticals, they are creating more than $100B in gross processing volume annually in payments that are better suited to be done through this tool.

TechCrunch: How long did it take to build out the tech?

Podium: This product actually took the longest of all of our products to develop, given the unique expectations and requirements it took on the technology side. This product has been about a year in the making. When it comes to the business of making money and us being the facilitator of that, we take it very seriously to ensure the tool is secure and stable.

TechCrunch: What percent of Podium customers are good candidates to use the tech?

Podium: Almost universal. We gave a lot of intention behind making this a tool that would work across market verticals so that our customers could provide a better experience for their customers and get paid faster at the same time.

TechCrunch: What is the fee and cost structure?

Podium: We charge a flat rate for processing, which is intentional to allow transparency and consistency in their fees.

So what?

It’s not a surprise that Podium is taking the economics of the payment processing (with Stripe doing well at the same time). This means that Podium’s business itself will grow thanks to its addition.

At the same time, the clients using Podium’s platform also do well. If the feature can assist as many companies as Podium expects, then it could help a host of small, local firms boost their sales by improving their respective close rates. Even merely faster payments could help smaller shops better manage their cash flow.

So this feels a bit like a win-win. And it goes to show that the addition of payments to other bits of tech is more than hype (Finix will like that). Instead, it feels like adding the ability for transactions to flow directly through one’s platform is going to rise in popularity. Podium is not the first to the trend, and it won’t be the last. But it is a company that could accelerate the trend thanks to its scale and, so far at least, success.

What we’d love to see, frankly, is an S-1 from Podium this year; that would allow us to better dissect its business. Now at least we’ll have one more thing to look for when we do get the document.