#id have to tweak my persona

[anccaku]

Maybe I could try drawing Mahito and myself (or a Y/N). I used to draw myself and my OCs with my fave characters a lot, but eventually I stopped because of cringe culture. Like when I think about doing that I just go “but I guess that’s cringe…” and I then don’t even try.

Ugh. I don’t know.

[starmoongalaxysystem]

DID/OSDD System

SYSTEM INTRODUCTION

Hai! We're the Starmoon Galaxy System. We tend to go by Techie collectively (cute nickname referring to our prowess with the Minecraft mod known as ComputerCraft or it's descendant, CC: Tweaked) and we use they/them pronouns.

MEMBER INTRODUCTION

My name is Aster. I'm the main Host. I'm about 17-19 years old. I'm non-binary and asexual and use they/them pronouns. Typically, most posts/comments will have my "tag" or signature on them. This will appear as "~Aster" or "~⍟".

Heya folks! Name's Raven. I'm about 13-16 years old! I'm a cis girl, bi-curious and I use she/her pronouns. My "tag" is typically "~Raven", "~Rave", or "~𓄿".

Greetings. My sound-call is "Rogue Syn". I'm unsure about my age and my gender. I currently use she/her and they/them tags and have no procreation drive/intent/desire. My "tags" are "~Rogue Syn", "~Rogue", and "~ʚɞ".

[Text ID: "Greetings. My sound-call is "Rogue Syn". I'm unsure about my age and my gender. I currently use she/her and they/them tags and have no procreation drive/intent/desire. My "tags" are "~Rogue Syn", "~Rogue" and "~ʚɞ".]

Erm, hi? I guess? My name is Silver. I'm roughly 16-18 years old. I'm not sure what label I'd use for my gender, but I know I'm definitely masc, so use he/him when referring to me please. My tag is typically "~Silver", "~S", "~Silv" or "~📖".

Hewo!!! My name is Kia!!! I is onwee abouts... 5-10 years old!!! If I talk at alls on heres, it'll be using da tags "~Kia" or "~🍭". Hehe byeeeeessss!!!

WHAT IS DID?

DID, full name Dissociative Identity Disorder, (formerly Multiple Personality Disorder or Split Personality Disorder) is a disorder where you have multiple "personas" within your mind. This "personas" are called "alters" or "headmates" (headmates is more community-coined, while alters is more medically-coined). Each alter has their own past, character traits, likes and dislikes.

You can have as little as 2 alters within a single system or you can have more than 2,000 alters within a system. Different alters will "front" (become the main personality) during different times. Some alters may be triggered to front if the threat of abuse arises, or they may front to help get a specific task done.

DID AMNESIA

Majority of DID systems will experience some form of amnesia. There are 6 types of amnesia: localised, selective, continuous, systematised, generalised, and dissociative fugue.

Localised amnesia is best described as forgetting a specific event or series of events. This could be anything from a single traumatic event to a time period in which abuse occured.

Selective amnesia is best described as forgetting parts of a specific event or series of events. This could be anything from specific details being forgotten or general details being forgotten while the specifics stay intact.

Continuous amnesia is best described as forgetting constantly. There can be a trigger for this type of amnesia, but there isn't always a trigger.

Systematised amnesia is best described as forgetting memories of a particular category or person. For example, a system may forget all memories of a specific person or concerning a specific subject.

Generalised amnesia is best described as an individual forgetting themselves entirely. Well established skills can be lost, as well as smaller memories (what you ate for lunch, who you talked to 5 minutes ago, etc). This form of amnesia is considered rare.

Dissociative fugue is extremely rare, only affecting 0.2% of the population. During an episode of dissociative fugue, the victim may wander around confused and bewildered. They may experience memory loss and an inability to recognise people they know. This type of amnesiac episode can last a few hours or even months. During the episode, the victim will act relatively normal, but once it recedes, they may be left in a confusing situation (perhaps they got a new job or a new home and now the victim has no idea what is going on).

CAUSES OF DID

The believed cause of DID is severe, prolonged exposure to abuse in childhood. This could be a specific abuse type or general abuse.

TREATMENT FOR DID

The most common treatment for DID is psychotherapy (talk therapy). Some systems may attempt integration or fusion. Integration is basically "combining" two or more alters. This means the personality, trauma, quirks and everything else that makes the alters integrated becomes a part of a "new" alter, one that is a combination of the alters. Fusion, on the other hand, is when alters come so close together that they act as one person, with thoughts intermingling and seemingly coming from one personality. This is not always the best thing for a system. Sometimes functional multiplicity is a better goal.

Functional Multiplicity is when a system works towards being able to work together more effectively. This means working on reducing arguments and bad blood between alters, enhancing internal communication, positive bonds between alters and the alters helping each other.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE DID

Seek out a medical diagnosis. Only a medical professional can correctly diagnose you. Yes, you can take note of symptoms and bring them up with your doctor, but only they know the criteria needed to get a diagnosis.

DISCLAIMER: This Tumblr is not ran by a medical professional. Any information concerning DID or any other medical condition is a collection of what the Starmoon Galaxy system has both researched and experienced personally. Please, do not take our word as law here. We are merely detailing our own personal journey and what we as a system have experienced. EVERY DID system is different. There is no normal for DID. There is only common.

SOURCES Center Stone article Cleveland Clinic article AAMFT article Power To The Plurals article Blog post about fusion Kinhost article

[pluralsword]

From a conversation about writing involving our pal @synthetic-witch​ and our headmates yesterday regarding when to stop rewriting a work. We later talked about how one can still have a perfectionism streak which we related to, and she said she admired our coordination on what we said to which our Hot Rod headmate replied: “ aw thanks. the magic of cofronting gestalts and pluralistic variations on trans aesthetic cosmopolitanist philosophy.”

ID: Discord text messages. The first does not have the username or full message shown, and reads:

i should probably move this to my 'finished' folder i doubt i'll redraft it at this point

i'm no good at finishing things because it can always be tweaked

that's the problem, because you can get feedback from lots of people and they'll all have their own thoughts

hard to know when to call something done

The second message is from Collossoi (she/they) (that’s us btw): ty!! (vivi was sharing a link to her writing that’s what we were thanking her for)

The third message is from a pluralkit proxy of Arcee, with not all of the details shown do to mobile compression, her pronouns (she/xey) are displayed (in full they are she/xey/they). Her message reads: our editor once said you sometimes just have to decide it.

Another pluralkit proxy, of Lug (she/elli) follows up with: precisely because writing is never ‘done’ since...

Anode (she/elli): in a way it’s non-linear, because it’s aesthetics, because it’s a story

Windblade (she/they/xyr): today in trans your literature /lighthearted /genuine

All four of the headmate’s proxies have symbols regarding their persona, the one all four have in common is the trans symbol ⚧ .

End ID.

[n444mi]

A Begining at the End.

The end of the year is a time for reflection, and as I sit down with myself and think of who I was and how i felt and acted, I see that I’ve lost some of myself. I did some thngs im not too proud of and didnt try my best to excel in all aspects of life, but namely school. Looking at my grades was a bittersweet expirience because at first glance, I did great, but i know i couldve done even better had I put in a tiny bit more effort. I stopped behaving with intention and was kind of just floating for a long time. Especially at the begining of the year. January to May was a really dark period for me. I didn’t care about life, but i wanted to work hard during it so once i got out of that state i wouldnt face a lot of draw back, but its hard to work for a future you dont really care to be a part of. I thank God that I made it out, but not nearly enough as I should and i regret that. I dont have many major regrets, but its the small ones that hurt the most. Things that couldve turned out a certain way had one small thing been tweaked. Those regrets are harder to accept. Next year i hope to not have regrets such as those. 

In 2023 Id like to return back to my path of becoming the woman I want to be. I feel like I was outside looking in for a while but now its time to break that window and enter. Work to become her. Today I deleted my tumblr and im taking this as an opportunity to rebuild and absorb what was there. I would look at the pictures and the inspiration without working towards it. Now I want to make sure this time I come back every few days to be reminded of what life and persona im working towards. 2023 is the year of elevation and consistancy. I wont lie, one thing that has stopped me from being a girl about getting money has been how vapid it sounds in my head. But lets be honest here, you cant go anywhere in life without it. The things that i want, require it. Im not in a family that is offering me handouts. I have to work for what I want. These are simply the cards that I was delt and now its time for me to work with what I have. 

Here are things Id like to adopt in 2023:

Good Finacial Habits

Real Study Habits

Good Skin

An Improved Wardrobe

An Excersise Regimin

A Better Diet

Strong Nails

Healty and Long Hair

I am happy with who I am, but that doesnt mean ill ever stop trying to improve.

[frankendykes-monster]

Its about on par with the first film, not significantly worse or better in any way that warrants mention. Sure its more comedy focused, but more gags made me laugh so it plays out.

Other than the complete abscene of Casey Jones, it feels like a healthy follow-up to the first film. The Foot Clan are a shadow of their former glory, the Turtles' origins are explored as they search for a new lair, Shredder becomes obsessed with vengeance as he ups the stakes by creating new mutants, its almost all accounted for.

The animatronics are a slight improvement over the first film, so Donatello no longer looks like the leftovers from behind-the-scenes. He also gets a new, much more naturally sounding voice actor, and his persona of "the brains of the bunch!" is actually present here, though his knowledge with regards to science and technology is obviously limited. Donatello has never been my favorite Turtle because most versions of him are a walking deus ex machina, capable of solving any issue because he has virtually no limits to his knowledge, so I prefer his skills be limited. Him being the one that has something of an existential crisis upon learning that their existence is because of a fluke is interesting because in the Mirage comics that's usually Raphael's role. Though it is a prelude to how he'd be defined by being skeptically minded in the IDW series and go head-to-head with Leonardo (Leo is the only Turtle old enough to remember their past lives and Donatello doesnt believe in reincarnation).

The Turtles's origins here are a bit anticlimactic if only because this is only major version of the property where aliens dont exist. No Krang. No utroms. So where there is room for more spectacle and worldbuilding, this film leaves it a vacuum. I dont know if there was an earlier draft that did feature those elements or if it just wasnt in the budget, its such a bummer. Im of the mind that the best origin for the Turtles was the one introduced in the IDW comics, wherein they and Splinter are reincarnations of Hamato Yoshi and his actual sons, but that's 20 years out from this film's initial release.

Keno could have done more, but I like Raphael taking on a student so to speak of his own. It preludes the Mirage comics involving Raphael becoming the Shredder for a while and then later being the mentor of April/Casey's daughter Shadow.

April doesnt get much to do here, but its an issue with most Turtles media where she isnt all that interesting after she's first introduced. Shredder conversely is plenty more interesting, the design tweaks they gave him make him look less comical and his ambitions of wanting the Turtles dead and gone make him more of a menacing presence. Him becoming Super Shredder at the end is a "thanks but no thanks" type of thing, it happens too late in the film to be of much interest. Super Shredder, like most aspects of the Turtles mythos, would be made much more useful in the Nickelodeon series.

Tokka and Rahzar only exist because this film couldnt get the rights to use Bebop and Rocksteady from the Fred Wolf animated series, and their relative non-existence in most Turtles media confirms it. Tokka is in a bad spot because in terms of evil Mutant Turtles, the position was already filled by Slash. Rahzar's only decent incarnation is the one from the Nickelodeon series, where he's not even his own character. He's the second mutation of Chris Bradford, a Chuck Norris parody that works for Shredder. Chris had already been mutated once into Dogpound, but eventually found his body too cumbersome and wanted to reverse his mutation, but a second exposure to mutagen fucked everything up. Admittedly the skeletal ninja design for Rahzar sells it for me.

Id be remiss to not mention the musical number by Vanilla Ice. "Go Ninja Go" is the only song of his Ive heard aside from "Ice Ice Baby". Vanilla Ice would preform the song again in 2014 in a commercial for TMNT Kraft macaroni and cheese, so its ~nice~ that his contribution to the franchise wasnt a ome off deal.

Starting up Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of The Ooze (1991) and it opens up with "In Memory of Jim Henson".

[wickedbananas]

Easy Marketing Investments to Improve Your E-Commerce Store

Posted by KaneJamison

At least once or twice per month, I talk to a small e-commerce store owner who wants to invest in content marketing. Often times, I have to break it to them that they’re not ready for content marketing.

You see, before you spend a bunch of time generating traffic from your target audience, it’s important to make sure those visitors get the best experience possible while browsing your store.

So, in this post, I want to give store owners and e-commerce newbies a clear idea of where they can invest their time before investing in more paid and organic traffic to their sites. Many of these can be accomplished for less than $1,000 or a few hours of your time.

With a few small-scale investments you can help drive performance on conversions, SEO, and more.

So what are they?

Rewrite Your Weak Product Descriptions

Take Better Product Photography

Build Lookbooks & Product Collections

Start Adding Product Videos

Upgrade Your Review Software & Process

Let’s look at these opportunities in detail, and better yet, show you some actual examples of what your site could look like.

Rewrite your weak product descriptions

From product details to features and benefits, product descriptions must pack a lot of information in a short format. You may have overlooked some missed opportunities.

If you answer “yes” to any of the following questions, consider investing in improved product descriptions.

1 - Does your current product page copy speak only to your ideal customer?

If you’ve built buyer personas for your brand, make sure the copy addresses the appropriate persona’s unique pain points and concerns. Bland descriptions meant to appeal to everyone — or just bots — aren’t as effective.

This high chair example from 4moms.com focuses on the three things that matter to their audience: single-handed adjustments, spilt-food prevention, and easy cleanup.

2 - Does your copy focus on benefits rather than features?

You can list features all day long, but customers really want to know how your product will make their life better.

The Amazon Echo sales page does a great job of focusing less on the technical features of the product, and more on the cool things you can do with it.

3 - Are you describing your product with the same words that your customers use?

Using the same language that your customers do will help you better communicate with your target audience in a way that sounds natural for them and touches on their pain points.

A simple way to find these words is to do some reverse engineering. Start by looking at customer reviews and feedback you’ve collected (and those of your main competitors as well) to pick out common words and phrases that satisfied customers are using. From here, you can tie that customer language back into your own descriptions.

I was shopping for a new tent last week and saw this awesome reviewer on Amazon drive home a point that the copywriters had missed. If you read that entire review, the phrase “family tent” is mentioned about 13 times.

But if you read the product description, "family tent" only shows up once. The description fails to mention many of the benefits covered by the reviewer: lots of pockets, sleeping arrangements, ability to catch a breeze but keep the doors closed, etc.

There’s an opportunity here for a competitor in the tent or outdoor space to improve their own product descriptions for the same tent (or even put together a larger guide to family tents).

4 - Are you telling your product’s story?

The folks over at Rogue Brewing understand that the people buying gifts from their website are probably passionate about well-made products, not just well-made beer. Here’s a great example from their site that tells the story of their 28-year search for a decent beer shucker (bottle opener):

Take better product photography

Photography matters. Research from BigCommerce suggests that 67% of consumers consider image quality “very important” when making a purchase online.

Good product photos do more than just show shoppers what you’re selling — they provide context and help customers visualize using your products. Plus, high-quality photos will reduce product returns that happen due to misleading images.

So what can you do to upgrade your product photos?

Smartphones aren't going to cut it

Use a DSLR camera, not your smartphone. Although modern smartphone cameras can take higher resolution photos than ever before, you’ll get better results from a DSLR. Lower-end models start at around $500 — try finding a used body online and spending more money on a better & cost-effective fixed lens that can handle video, too.

Build a cheap lightbox

Create a lightbox for well-lit photos with a solid white background. For less than $10, you can build your own lightbox that will vastly improve the quality of your product images.

Use creative angles

Shoot products from multiple angles. Be sure to include several images on every product page. The more perspectives and viewpoints you have, the better customers will be able to judge your product.

It's OK to tweak & process your images to make them pop

Process your images with filters that enhance color and overall image quality. Photo filters resolve poor lighting or color issues and vastly improve your product photos. Just try not to get carried away with dramatic filters that distort the color of your products, as this can be misleading for the buyer. Here’s a good example from ABeautifulMess.com showing the difference before and after image edits:

If you don’t have time or the inclination to take your own photography, outsource it to a professional. No matter what route you go, know that upgrading your product page photography is well worth the investment.

Build lookbooks & product collections

You can also provide more context for your products through lookbooks, which showcase your products in use. The term “lookbook” is mostly common in the fashion industry, but the concept can be extended to a variety of industries.

The photos in the lookbook for Fitbit’s Alta model of fitness tracker help shoppers envision themselves wearing them. Fitbit’s lookbook also establishes a brand lifestyle promise — impossible with product photos alone. Even better? The various photos are clickable and take you to the product page for that color/style of wristband:

Product collections are another great variation on this strategy. In this “Mediterranean Collection” page on Coastal.com, shoppers get an opportunity to shop by “style,” and to see examples of the glasses on actual faces instead of just a white background:

As I alluded to before, this isn’t just an opportunity for fashion sites. The trick is to make sure you're showing your products in action.

Plenty of other retailers have an opportunity to show off their product in use, like these photos from the Klipsch website showing off their soundbars in various settings:

Car accessories? Same thing.

Heck, even office furniture is easier to purchase when you see how it looks in a workspace.

Start adding product videos

Adding video to product pages is another relatively low-budget improvement you can make, yet it has extreme value for shoppers and your bottom line.

Why? Because video’s ability to quickly educate shoppers is a powerful conversion tool. Eyeview Digital reported that including video on landing pages can improve conversions by as much as 80%, and ComScore indicated that online shoppers are 64% more likely to buy after watching a video.

So how can you put video to work on your product pages?

Whether you’re demonstrating a how-to or simply showcasing a product and outlining product details, adding video on your product pages provides a whole new experience for online shoppers that helps overcome purchase objections and answers their questions.

Video also allows you to give shoppers a more complete overview of the product and to go beyond static pictures with a story element. These engaging visuals can help shoppers envision themselves using your products in a way that photography alone simply can’t.

Zappos is well known for including videos on what seems like every listing, but what’s more impressive to me is how much personality and brand voice they show off. While shopping for boots recently, I have to say Joe was my favorite video personality:

Click image to open product video in a new window.

If you’re up for taking this on with a DIY approach, it’s reasonably easy to create your own product videos at home with the right equipment. Or, outsource this project to a local professional or videographer for hire.

Upgrade your customer reviews software & process

In the current e-commerce landscape, competition is fierce — and there’s always someone willing to deliver cheaper and faster.

That’s why social proof is more important than ever before. Research from eConsultancy shows that 61% of consumers indicate they look to product reviews before making a purchase, and that product reviews are 12x more trusted than product descriptions from companies.

Customer reviews make your product pages more effective, allowing shoppers to evaluate the product based on real customer opinions — and can help you spot product issues.

I’m listing a few common platforms here, but you should really check out Everett Sizemore’s guide to product review software, which has some great insights on the performance of the entire marketplace of product review software options, including technical SEO concerns:

BazaarVoice

Yotpo

Trustpilot

PowerReviews

Traditional product reviews may not be right for all stores...

The best option for you will depend on the tool’s ability to integrate with your store, your preferred functionality, and your budget. Sometimes, traditional product reviews won’t be the best choice for your product or store.

In this example from ThinkGeek, they’ve opted to just let people leave Facebook comments rather than any product reviews at all. Which makes sense, because they’re Star Trek garden gnomes, and it’s not like you need to tell people whether they were the right size or not. Even better than Facebook comments, they also solicit product photos via social media on their #geekfamous hashtag.

Here’s another example where my favorite wallet company, SlimFold, simply highlights great product reviews that they received from press and customer emails. While it makes it harder for them to solicit new reviews, they only have a handful of products, and this format allows them to put more emphasis on specific reviews.

There are many different tools that will allow you to showcase elements of social proof like ratings and reviews, so take your time carefully reviewing different options to see which is the best fit for your needs and budget, and if normal product reviews aren’t the right fit, feel free to take a different approach.

Make enough of these small investments and you should see big improvements over the long term.

Tackling these small investments — as your schedule and budget allows — will dramatically improve the overall user experience and the effectiveness of your e-commerce store.

Consider which aspects are the most important to complete first, and then start doing your research and put together a strategy for how you’ll prioritize these site upgrades. With a well-thought-out plan of action, you can focus on the projects that will drive the best results for your business, rather than trying too many different tactics all at once.

Looking for more ideas? Take a look at our guides on product page optimization, category page optimization, and conversion rate improvements for e-commerce.

This is by no means the complete guide to investing in your e-commerce store, so in the discussion below, I’d like to hear from you. What creative ways have you improved your e-commerce site content in the past that boosted conversions or organic search?

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[carolcooks2]

Welcome to Saturday Snippets were anything goes…whatever catches my eye or my imagination could be on this post…something for everyone…I hope so…so whatever your timezone grab a coffee or a glass of wine and enjoy!

Everyone knows how I love to cook and I am pretty good now at cooking Asian food I have had a few years practise and practise makes perfect…Fried Rice …all the chefs are making fried rice some better than others…my grandson showed me this video and although there are a few foofs in it it is funny…so just a little warning there are a few profanities personally I  am not given to profanities myself but I found this very funny…I give you Uncle Roger reviewing for want of a better word Jamie Olivers Fried Rice…

Personally, I will never eat fried rice for a while without thinking of Uncle Roger…

How many boys ask for a metal detector I know Aston did as did my sons they took them to the beach, the local woods and parks and unearthed a few things but mostly nothing of any worth…This young Irish lad however like my boys started out with a dream and that dream became a reality when he unearthed a Historic Irish Sword as he was prospecting along a local river bank…How often does that happen?

Sadly Johnny Cash passed away on September 12th 2003…he was an American Singer and Songwriter who fired up country and western music…raised in the rural South he grew up listening to songs of work and lament, hymns and folk ballads it wasn’t until he joined the army that he learnt to play the guitar and write songs when he reti=urned from his military service in Germany he settled in Memphis, Tennessee with the aim of pursuing a career in music…He sang at county fairs and local events until he was signed up after auditioning with Sam Phillips of Sun Records, who signed Cash in 1955. Such songs as “Cry, Cry, Cry,” “Hey, Porter,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” and “I Walk the Line” brought him considerable attention, and by 1957 Cash was the top recording artist in the country and western field. His music was noted for its stripped-down sound and focus on the working poor and social and political issues. Cash, who typically wore black clothes and had a rebellious persona, became known as the “Man in Black.”

Did you know?

Elizabeth Barrett eloped with Robert Browing on September 12, 1846.

Barrett was already a respected poet who had published literary criticism and Greek translations in addition to poetry. Her first volume of poetry, The Seraphim and Other Poems appeared in 1838, followed by Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Barrett (1844). Born in 1806 near Durham, England, at her father’s 20-bedroom mansion, she enjoyed wealth and position, but suffered from weak lungs and tended to be reclusive in her youth. She became even more so after the death of her beloved brother in 1840.

Recycling is high on my agenda and especially circular recycling especially when the artist produces something like these …

I think they are spectacular I just wish I had a talent like that…Awesome use of scraps of wood…

Wellness Corner by Sally Cronin…Liver health and the Milk Thistle.

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2020/09/10/smorgasbord-health-column-the-medicine-womans-treasure-chest-herbal-medicine-liver-health-and-milk-thistle/

This week I have been soup making...Carrot Soup normally I stick to chicken, mushroom or tomato but this week it has been carrot soup..which was really nice very orange but a soup I would make again it needs a few tweaks and then the recipe will be in my cookbook …

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sauteed carrots

Carrot Soup

But I will as I promised to give you the recipe for foraged wild mushroom soup…

Here in the northeast of Thailand, there are various kinds of tasty mushrooms (hed), all filled with nutrition. Three favourites are hed kay, hed tub-tao and hed ra-ngok. In the villages, these mushrooms are often prepared in a soup along with bai yangang juice (Tiliacora Triandra), sweet basil and pla-ra ( fermented) fish which is often added to the soup…

I have adapted the recipe as you would most probably not be able to get some of the ingredients or want to use them like the Pla-ra…

Ingredients:

2 cups various kinds of mushrooms

2 stalks lemongrass, lower tender portions, cut into 2-inch pieces and slightly crushed

5 – 7 each chillies, slightly crushed

3 – 5 each red shallots, slightly crushed

2 stalks spring onion, cut into 1-inch pieces

2 tbsp pla-ra juice (liquid of pickled fish) (optional)

1 tbsp fish sauce

2 cups of water

4 – 5 sprigs Thai basil leaves

Let’s Cook!

Pour the water into a pot over the high heat. When it begins a boil, add lemongrass, chilies and shallots. Then follow by adding the mushrooms. Let simmer briefly until cooked. Season with the fish sauce and pla-ra liquid. Add  basil and spring onion. Remove from the heat.

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wild mushrooms

wild mushroom soup

Serve in a bowl.

Thais would also add some local vegetable called Cha-om which is a vegetable native to here… It has a particular fragrance that may seem unpleasant at first to the unaccustomed, but when it’s cooked up, it’s so tasty that most people can’t stop eating it and the aroma is just part of the package and soon becomes quite likeable.

Many Northern Thai dishes use quite sour tasting vegetables and of course Phla the fermented fish…it is a taste our western palates are not used to but if you eat it enough your taste changes and it becomes quite palatable.

Now for some music…I have selected “Million Dollar Quartet” which is a recording of an impromptu jam session with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash …recorded on December 4th 1956 in the Sun Record Studios in Memphis Tennessee…

Impromptu jam sessions are one of my favourite kinds of music…

How young is Elvis there he must have been star struck…

That’s all for today’s Saturday Snippets I hope you have enjoyed it…xx

About Carol Taylor: 

Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.

I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and wellbeing.

Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!

Thank you once again for reading this post I hope you all have a fabulous week and stay safe these are troubling times xx

Saturday Snippets…12th September 2020…

Welcome to Saturday Snippets were anything goes…whatever catches my eye or my imagination could be on this post…something for everyone…I hope so…so whatever your timezone grab a coffee or a glass of wine and enjoy!

Saturday Snippets…12th September 2020… Welcome to Saturday Snippets were anything goes...whatever catches my eye or my imagination could be on this post...something for everyone...I hope so...so whatever your timezone grab a coffee or a glass of wine and enjoy!

[moonchildmaesonme]

Kin List Time

Find the full document of my info click here

MAIN ID: 

My biggest kins, these I identify with/as 100% of the time regardless of my current shift. I connect with each life extremely strongly.

The Narrator/Jack Moore - Fight Club (Novel/Movie) 🐧

Clint Barton/Hawkeye - Marvel/MCU (with a pinch of Avengers Assemble) 🏹

Nicolas Howard/Dr. Neuro - OC/Sourceless ⚖️

Alexander “AJ” Hamilton Jr. -  OC/Hamilton (Noncanon) 🎹

Sam Roth - The Wolves of Mercy Falls (The Shiver Trilogy) 🐺

PRIMARY KIN:

Higher kins that are more shift dependent. These kins I shift to more frequently than others lower than it. Typically a strong sense of connection to each life as well. 

Bruce Banner/Hulk - (X2) MCU, and MCU/616 (divergent) 👓

Stanford Pines - Gravity Falls🤚

Balthazar T. Cavendish - Milo Murphy's Law ⏳

Darkiplier/Damian & Celine - Markiplier Ego  (Youtube Ego)🌸 

Scott Lang/Ant-Man - Marvel Cinematic Universe 🐜

Alec Lightwood - The Shadowhunter Chronicles (Books/TV series) ⛪️

Stevonnie - Steven Universe 💞

Tweek Tweak - South Park ☕️

Alice Williams/YK500 - Detroit: Become Human 👩‍👧

Casey Hartley - Night in the Woods 😼

Andi Mack - Andi Mack 🌎

SECONDARY KIN:

The “middle grounds” for my kins. Still commonly shifted to, but less so than ones above it. Also about moderate in my connection to the lives.

Connor/RK-800 - Detroit: Become Human 🐶

Ava Starr/Ghost - Marvel Cinematic Universe (AMatW) 👻

Adam Maitland - Beetlejuice (Musical) 👶

Nebula - Marvel Cinematic Universe ⚔

Lynn "Evelyn” Neville - Evelyn, Evelyn 🐘

Lydia Deetz - Beetlejuice (Musical) 🐛

Minato Arisato/Protagonist - Persona 3 🦋

Monty - Kindergarten (½) 💵

Celia Facilier - Disney's Descendants (Movies)🔮

Dirk Strider - Homestuck 🕶

Nagito Komaeda - Danganronpa 2 🍀

Lars Barriga - Steven Universe 🚀

Jackson Jekyll/Holt Hyde - Monster High 🎧 

TERTIARY KIN:

My lowest tier of kins. These ones are rarely shifted or simply a distant connection to the associated lives.

 Todd Morrison - Sally Face 🏚

Ozzy - Kindergarten 2 🤖

Thomas Jefferson - 1776 (Movie/Musical) 🎻

Stanley - The Stanley Parable 🔚

Luna Lovegood - Harry Potter  ✨

Casey - Slime Rancher 💖

Luna Loud - The Loud House 🎸

Perry (The Platypus) Flynn-Fletcher - Phineas & Ferb 🇦🇺

Victoria - Fran Bow 🕰

Olive Daphne Doyle - A.N.T. Farm 📚

Joseph Christiansen - Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator ⚓️

Renesmee Carlie Cullen - Twilight Saga (BD Pt. 2/Book 3) 🌨

Mae Borowski - Night in the Woods 👁

Shuichi Saihara - Danganronpa V3 🔎

OTHERKIN:

Kins I have that refer less to specific fictional characters, and rather to other things. While in the future this may include factual things like animals, for me it only seems to refer to mythical species thus far. Though each of these do have a life, sort of like an OC in fictionkin would, the difference is that my connection to it isn’t related to any known universe of mine or anyone else’s. Simply a life that existed SOMEWHERE.

 Alienkin/Spacekin 👽

Mermaid  🏝

Ghostkin 👗

KINSIDERING/QUESTIONING:

Characters/Things I may or may not kin. This is also called Q-Kinning (or just QKin).I haven’t figured it out yet so they’re on this list.  I try to keep it as short as I can.

Abe Portman - The Peculiar Children 🗺

Azazel - Mystic Misfits (girlfriend's OC) 👼🏻

Wednesday Addams - The Addams Family (all/any) 💀

SYNPATH: 

Character I do NOT kin, but rather relate to heavily and feel a sense of softer connection to. Rather than living a life as these characters, they simply resonate with me emotionally and feel similar to me in this life.

Vinnie Dakota - Milo Murphy's Law ⌛️

“Multiple” Mike - Total Drama Franchise (TDRI, TDAS) 👕

Candace Flynn - Phineas & Ferb 👩‍👦‍👦

Clara Bulhalmet - Fran Bow ♊️

Christine Canigula - Be More Chill (Musical) 🎭

Matilda Wormwood - Matilda (Movie/Musical)

 📖- Touko Fukawa - Danganronpa ✂️

Napstablook - Undertale 💤

Ms. Jennifer Honey - Matilda (Movie/Musical)🏫

Yusuke Kitagawa - Persona 5 🎨

Kenny McCormick - South Park 🐀

Kankri Vantas - Homestuck ♋️

Kin Count: 43

With Otherkin: 46

With Kinsidering: 49

Fictionkin Count: 40

Pseudo-Factkin Count: 3

Otherkin Count: 3

Kinsidering Count: 3 Synpath Count: 12

Total Kins and Synpath: 61

[theconservativebrief]

Nora Lum, a.k.a. Awkwafina — the YouTube viral sensation turned star in this year’s Ocean’s 8 and Crazy Rich Asians and this week’s Saturday Night Live host — is having a very good 2018.

Her movies are doing well: Crazy Rich Asians is on track to be one of the biggest success stories of 2018; Oceans 8 has outearned all the other Oceans movies. And Awkwafina herself is being hailed as part of an immensely likable ensemble in Oceans 8, and as the breakout star of Crazy Rich Asians.

Rolling Stone called her Crazy Rich Asians performance “a singular, unforgettable take on the often-forgettable BFF part.” She’s “on the cusp of a movie star moment,” wrote Refinery 29. Newsweek declared 2018 “her year.”

“This is what Hollywood is built on,” gossip expert Elaine Lui told the Washington Post of Awkwafina’s current moment: “the moment a star arrives.”

But when Lum talks about her current star-making moment, she doesn’t seem to fully associate it with herself. That’s because she talks about Nora and Awkwafina as two different people.

She talks about leaving her office job for show business as going off “in pursuit of Awkwafina.” She switches between the first and third person when she talks about her persona. “You can put as much makeup [on me as you want] and put me in dance classes, but she’ll never be mainstream,” she told GQ, referring to herself and her persona (italics added). “It’s just not going to happen.”

“Awkwafina is someone who never grew up, who never had to bear the brunt of all the insecurities and overthinking that come with adulthood. Awkwafina is the girl I was in high school — who did not give a shit,” she explained to the Guardian in June. “Nora is neurotic and an overthinker and could never perform in front of an audience of hecklers.”

It’s a classic Norma Jean versus Marilyn Monroe split, and it’s laying some important groundwork for how Awkwafina’s career might develop.

Right now, Awkwafina is celebrated for her raunch; she’s America’s new favorite unruly woman. She’s doing the Melissa McCarthy/Tiffany Haddish maneuver, and doing it exceptionally well. She’s even got the SNL hosting gig to prove it, right on schedule: McCarthy hosted SNL for the first time six months after Bridesmaids premiered, and Haddish hosted four months after Girls Trip; Awkwafina’s outing comes four months after Ocean’s 8 and two months after Crazy Rich Asians.

That means that Awkwafina is currently on track to emulate the career path modeled by McCarthy and Haddish before her. But because she’s developed the Awkwafina/Nora split, she’s also left herself an escape route.

An unruly woman is a woman who transgresses the boundaries in which women are supposed to live their lives, and preferably one who does it gleefully, laughing all the time. She is the opposite of what we are taught a woman is supposed to be: She might be fat, or she might straightforwardly pursue sex, or she might just genuinely like herself without apology.

In her book The Unruly Woman, film scholar Kathleen Rowe names Miss Piggy — with her “overpowering” size and affection and her penchant for karate chops — one of the greatest unruly women on the American screen. The unruly woman breaks the rules of femininity, and she makes us love her for it.

When Melissa McCarthy exploded onto the screen in 2011’s Bridesmaids — stealing dogs and shitting in sinks with glee and abandon — she was breaking the rules on a new level. Bridesmaids was a whole movie about women who got to be gross and funny, and McCarthy was the grossest and funniest one of all.

GQ called her performance “the bravest, most batshit, most balls-out, and hilarious performance of the year,” and devoted an oral history to it. McCarthy “lit up the screen like a 500-watt bulb,” said Rolling Stone.

“Most of us remember the first time we realized that McCarthy was the funniest thing since really funny sliced bread,” recalled E Online five years later. “Some Bridesmaids fans cite the engagement scene when she pledges to ‘Climb that like a tree,’ others prefer the sight gag of her driving down the highway while wrangling a litter of puppies.”

McCarthy’s performance was so compelling that it effectively redirected her career. Before Bridesmaids, she was best known for being bubbly and sweet on shows Gilmore Girls and Mike and Molly; post-Bridesmaids, McCarthy would be best known for starring in a string of raunch comedies, some of them directed by Bridesmaids’s Paul Feig, and Mike and Molly would be tweaked to give McCarthy and her slapstick acumen more attention.

Six years later, Girls Trip premiered and it was Tiffany Haddish’s turn to take the Unruly Woman crown. Girls Trip, like Bridesmaids before it, was a raunchy sex comedy, and Haddish, like McCarthy before her, was the raunchiest one in the cast.

Over the course of the movie, Haddish gleefully scores absinthe, demonstrates her blowjob technique, and pees on a crowd while hanging from a zip line. The critics adored her. “It’s Haddish who brings all the hardest laughs,” opined Vanity Fair. USA Today called her “comedy gold.” “Tiffany Haddish steals the entire film,” concluded Caroline Framke for Vox.

What was shocking and exciting about these two performances was that McCarthy and Haddish were breaking all the rules of femininity — and they were doing it with incredible warmth and self-possession. (“I just love anybody who’s that comfortable in her own skin,” McCarthy confessed to GQ.) McCarthy and Haddish were utterly unruly and they loved themselves, and that made the rest of us love them too.

Moreover, they were breaking those rules in an extremely specific context. Part of what made Haddish and McCarthy’s performances so compelling is that they were playing the most unruly women in a group of women who were already pretty unruly. They were there to establish the outer limits in each movie’s Overton Window of raunch: next to McCarthy shitting in the sink, Kristen Wigg projectile vomiting doesn’t seem so bad. Jada Pinkett Smith pees onto a crowd while hanging from a zip line, too, but she does it accidentally, while whimpering with shame; when Haddish follows suit, she does it with both intention and glee.

Both Bridesmaids and Girl’s Trip are id-driven movies, and McCarthy and Haddish provide the bulk of the id. That frees up the rest of the cast to be grownups while they get to have all the fun.

As a culture, we seem to need to pick a woman every few years who is allowed to be bigger and brasher and louder and grosser than everyone around her, who is able to be unruly and who forces us to love her anyway. We want someone who is willing to break the rules, and to make the argument through the sheer force of their charisma that the rules are there to be broken. And this year, it’s Awkwafina’s turn.

[embedded content]

Awkwafina emerged into public consciousness primed to take the crown as America’s next favorite unruly woman. Her first viral hit was her YouTube rap “My Vag,” which sees her pulling a violin out of an off-camera vagina and boasting, “My vag speaks five different languages, and told your vag, ‘Go make me a sandwich.’” Her first movie role was a small part in the raunch-comedy Neighbors 2, which saw her flinging used tampons at a house.

Her big breakout movie came with Crazy Rich Asians, which doesn’t have the raunch of a Bridesmaids or a Girls Trip: it’s a conventional romantic comedy with no jokes about bodily fluids. But within the confines of a classic romcom, Awkwafina shines with her own kind of unruliness, one that’s calibrated to stand out against the film’s more traditionally comedic tone.

Critics have drawn the connection to her immediate predecessor in unruliness. Awkwafina “Tiffany Haddishes away with this film in a big old way,” said Glen Weldon on NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour. “You’re going to get tired of people telling you” about her.

Awkwafina is playing Peik Lin, the main character’s best friend, and it’s her blonde-wigged brashness that powers the movie through its funniest scenes. She feels like she’s in a different, slightly coarser movie than everyone else, in a good way.

Awkwafina is the id monster of this movie in the same way that McCarthy and Haddish were the id monsters of their respective breakouts, and it’s the over-the-top new money crassness of her character Peik Lin that allows Constance Wu’s Americanized Rachel Chu to feel comparatively well-behaved. Peik Lin has set the outer limit of the Overton Window of unruliness in this world.

In the sweet, mannered, Austenian universe of Crazy Rich Asians, when Peik Lin says, “Bawk, bawk, bitch,” or tiptoes through a lavish house party in designer pajamas, she’s being about as unruly as anyone could manage. She’s the only person in the whole movie who gets to say fuck.

“In a romantic comedy, you get very earnest,” director John Chu told Rolling Stone, “and you need someone who can pop it, who feels confident and different, not the same old sidekick.” That’s where brash, bold Awkwafina comes in. But it’s not where careful, considering Nora Lum comes in.

Which is not to say that Awkwafina hasn’t incorporated Nora Lum into her acting at all. “I don’t know which one I turn on for acting,” she told GQ, before suggesting that she might rely on both: “Lum is the calculating, thoughtful preparation,” the article summarizes. “Awkwafina is the chaos.” But it’s the chaotic glee of Awkwafina that’s powering her rise to movie stardom right now, and Awkwafina’s unruliness that critics are lauding.

But by separating Awkwafina from Nora, Lum has also built an alternative future for herself. She has essentially replicated the work that the unruly woman traditionally does in a comedy within her own persona: Awkwafina sets the outer limits of the Overton Window of raunch the way Peik Lin does in Crazy Rich Asians, so that beside her Nora Lum looks comparatively more conventional, the way Rachel Chu does next to Peik Lin. Awkwafina is the id monster, and Nora Lum the grownup.

And that duality gives Awkwafina the possibility for enormous freedom in her future career. She can be both the unruly woman and the ingenue, because she’s laid the groundwork for audiences to see her as both. She’s built her very own personal foil.

Original Source -> How Awkwafina rode the unruly woman trope to stardom

via The Conservative Brief

[musicaldefiance]

Hello. I am interested in requesting a commission for a Persona 5 Confidant Page and Chat ID Icons. However, I was curious if it would also be possible to replace Joker on the Confidant Page with someone else. Of course, I would be willing to pay extra for that additional touch. Please let me know if you might be willing to accept such a commission, or if only the listed items on your page are available. Thank you.

Hey there! Thank you so much for asking!

To do something like what you’re requesting would be pretty tricky, but not necessarily impossible. For the confidant pages, I use an image ripped from the game itself and place characters I draw on top of that with plenty of tweaks and edits, so essentially to complete your request I’m going to have to replace almost all of the background elements and recreate them myself. Again, not impossible by any means, but certainly a lot of work! So to do something like that would be a pretty significant upcharge, to which I think about $30 is fair. I hate to make it such a leap, but I’d definitely have my work cut out for me!

If you do actually want to commit to that though, I’m more than happy to do what I can and give it a shot! I would just need references of the other character you’d like me to draw. If not, my regular confidant pages are still the same format listed on my commission sheet, and I’ll simply need your reference information and the  information you’d like displayed on your page. Same goes for my Chat ID Icons. Just let me know what you’d like to do!

Thank you so much again for inquiring about these and I hope I can make something for you to love! Feel free to ask me more questions if you feel the need!

[nothingman]

The Instagram interface is changing so quickly and subtly all at once. For one, the app store on my iPhone constantly invites me to manually update my Instagram app in order to make those unsightly red notification bubbles go away. But the design tweaks and new features that are introduced each time come in small, user-friendly batches that I also learn to keep up and adapt.

In fact, although I was among the earliest adopters of Instagram in Singapore, where I have been conducting research on Influencers and internet celebrities since 2010, I don’t even recall what the original Instagram interface looked like. Do you? But perhaps the most logical explanation for the seamless uptake of each Instagram update is that the platform is merely institutionalizing into officialdom practices that have been creatively innovated and adapted by its users. The latest of these is Instagram’s multiple account prompt.

As someone who studies social media for a living, I have multiple accounts for different purposes on most dominant social media (if you’re really curious, that means 5 Instagram accounts including my pet project @thetravelingpingu). I used to manually log in and out of each account with its own specific email address and password, until February 2016 when Instagram enabled users to link two or more accounts under a single drop down menu.

I also used to painstakingly @reply brief thanks to each comment on every photo, but in December 2016 Instagram modeled after Twitter and Facebook and enabled a ‘heart icon’ as a new way of acknowledging comments on posts. The December 2016 also introduced a new feature allowing users to remove unwanted followers and delete comments, giving the impression of greater user autonomy and privacy.

In April 2017, the app introduced a new direct messaging update that now allows users to send “disappearing photos & videos along with texts & reshares” coherently in the Direct Message function. This encouraged dyadic and group messaging chats that further honed the illusion of seemingly private spaces in the otherwise public-facing, attention-grabbing, heart-hungry terrain of Instagram.

June 2017’s update gave users the opportunity to hide photos through the “archive feature”, reiterating the notion that privacy can be selectively assigned to content and exercised by users at their agency.

Last month, when I logged into my Instagram account, I noticed an intriguing in-app prompt. On my home page where I would usually scroll through my own pictures, a drop down banner read:

“Share a Different Side of Yourself Create a private account to share photos and videos with a close group of followers”

As it turned out, Instagram’s latest project was to drive up their consumer base by encouraging users to create multiple accounts. And there are three main takeaways from this.

1) Instagram’s multiple account prompt borrows from the discourse of Finstagrams

By now encouraging multiple accounts through their new affordances and direction prompts, Instagram is bringing into officialdom the practice of Finstagramming. Finstagrams (Fake Instagrams, as opposed to Rinstagrams or Real instagrams) have long been proliferate among young users. Of the dozens of popular media articles reporting on Finstas, there are three emergent themes:

Firstly, Finstas allow young users to construct continuums of privacy by segregating their audiences. For instance, Finstas are where young people “hide their real lives from the prying eyes of parents and teachers”, or curate an “employable social media front”.

Secondly, Finstas allow users the freedom to curate several digital personae without the need for brand coherence. Young people may use Finstas to post “random streams of screenshots, memes and ugly selfies”, and dump content that is not congruent with their primary account so as to “protect [their] personal Instabrand”. In other words, this is “splintering as self-preservation”.

Thirdly, Finstas are a backlash against the picture-perfect pristine ecology of Instagram normativity, undoubtedly popularized by social media Influencers. Such separate, distinct, and unlinked accounts thus allows them to escape “the pressure to create a beautifully curated Instagram account”, rebel against the “overly stylized content shared by celebs and so-called influencers”, and expose the “artifice of normal social media”.

Multiple Instagram accounts are thus an overt signifier to young users that what once began as a subculture of subversive use has now moved into the mainstream, co-opted, promoted, and monetized by the platform itself.

*

2) Instagram’s multiple account prompt contradicts its parent company Facebook’s single account policy and real name policy

Facebook asserts that it is “against the Facebook Community Standards to maintain more than one personal account” since the social network is “a community where people use their authentic identities”. Shared or joint accounts are not allowed so users will “always know who [they are] connecting with”. Facebook also has a “real name policy”, which initially fixated on the notion that all users had a singular official/legal identity and are to use their “birth names” to register on the social network.

But amidst the difficulty of verifying third party photo IDs, and the backlash from queer communities and other marginalized groups for whom digital pseudonymity is paramount for personal safety and self-actualization, the company responded to criticism and relaxed its policy to allow users to use “the name they go by in everyday life” to “keep our community safe”.

Where parent company Facebook is adamant and imposing about the singularity and coherence of its consumers’ the digital personae, it encourages its app Instagram to diverge and splinter at the opposite end of the singular-identity spectrum by encouraging users to play with self-presentation and selective audiencing. But why is this so? The singularity of Facebook profiles serves as self-documentation for the company’s database of users. A “real identity”, “real name”, “real life” policy ensures that Facebook is able to facilitate messages and ads from its clients efficiently and effectively to its targeted audience as appropriate.

On Instagram, however, the primary motivation for the network appears to be less the archival of membership and more the generation of digital content, no doubt stimulated by the free labour of its users. While Instagram does not legally own any content posted, its terms of use grants them the “non-exclusive, fully paid and royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to use the Content that you post on or through the Service”. Multiple Instagram accounts per user thus generate more free digital content for the network’s commercial use.

*

3) Instagram’s multiple account prompt verifies the rise of calibrated amateurism

In its drop down bar prompt, Instagram’s strategically worded key phrases “different side”, “private account” and “close group” suggest that users have long been practising strategies of self-presentation on digital media, in spite of its “authenticity rhetoric” on parent company and platform Facebook. It supports the need for scholarship on digital identity to go beyond simplistic dichotomies that the “online” is “fake” and the “offline” more “authentic”, given that all self-presentation in digital and physical spaces is curated.

In fact, in the age of picture-perfect, luxury-oriented, hyper-feminine Instagram Influencers who have dominated the Instagram economy thus far, authenticity has become less of a static quality and more of a performative ecology and parasocial strategy with its own bona fide genre and self-presentation elements. I have studied the rise of such performative authenticity as “calibrated amateurism”, which I define as a “practice and aesthetic in which actors in an attention economy labour specifically over crafting contrived authenticity that portrays the raw aesthetic of an amateur, whether or not they really are amateurs by status or practice, by relying on the performance ecology of appropriate platforms, affordances, tools, cultural vernacular, and social capital”.

Calibrated amateurism is a modern adaptation of Erving Goffman’s (1956) theory of scheduling and Dean MacCannell’s (1973) theory of staged authenticity.

Goffman argues that on stage as in everyday life, performers may engage in “scheduling” to segregate different audiences from each other. This is so that only one aspect of a persona is presented as required. Performers may also obscure the “routine character” of their act and stress its spontaneity so as to foster the impression that this act is unique and specially tailored to whoever is watching. In this space, there may be some “informalit[ies]” and “limitations” in “decorum,” which Goffman defines as “the way in which the performer comports himself while in visual or aural range of the audience but not necessarily engaged in talk with them”. However, this “backstage” is seldom as spontaneous as it postures to be but is instead a deliberate effort to manufacture a “back region.”

MacCannell studied tourist settings in similar back regions and describes tourists’ pursuit of authenticity as complicit in the actual manufacturing of a backstage that does not exist. He writes that “[j]ust having a back region generates the belief that there is something more than meets the eye; even where no secrets are actually kept, back regions are still the places where it is popularly believed the secrets are… An unexplored aspect of back regions is how their mere existence, and the possibility of their violation, functions to sustain the commonsense polarity of social life into what is taken to be intimate and ‘real’ and what is thought to be ‘show’”.

Combining these two classical theories for a contemporary digital phenomenon, internet users today also partake in deliberately curated and intentionally public forms of backchanneling through Finstas and multiple Instas. Multiple accounts encourage followers and viewers to engage in cross-platform hopping, watching, and matching. They imply that we all have backstages and hidden secrets on display on parallel platforms, if only our audience knows where to look and how to look for these easter eggs. Thus emerges a new game in the attention economy where the pursuit is no longer some semblance of authentic disclosure, but a competitive investigation into and comparison of the different strands of selfhood that a single user may put out on multiple platforms through multiple through multiple usernames promoting multiple personae.

In short, Instagram’s multiple account prompt is essentially the antithesis of Facebook, where digital identities are fragmented rather than singular, diffuse rather than collective, and playful rather than static. So how many Instagram accounts do you have?

Dr Crystal Abidin’s new research on “calibrated amateurism” is open access on Social Media + Society, which you can download in full here.

*

Dr Crystal Abidin is an anthropologist and ethnographer who studies young people’s relationships with internet celebrity, self-curation, and vulnerability. Reach her at wishcrys.com and @wishcrys.

via The Society Pages

[pelaanthony-blog]

☾Extended Project: The Progress of the Project (January) ☾

10th January 2017

I create t-shirts for a site called Redbubble so I brought the idea up to the marketing team that we could design and wear some at the exhibition and maybe sell some as merchandise to raise money to fund the project. Evidence Below. Everyone approved of this idea but then I was worried about class members paying towards the t-shirts or even if they would all wear them. To overcome this, I came up idea of fundraising the money through bake sales or exhibition ticket sales or even using badges instead as they are cheaper and people are more likely to wear something smaller. Problem Solving. 

Email sent to Lizzy about T-shirt Idea

Reply from Lizzy about T-shirt Idea

I had also asked my art group to practice the Tim Burton art style we had decided on to help them improve their skills with that art style and help build their confidence as they were concerned on how they would be able to develop their own art styles. I set them to practice over Christmas if they have time and wanted to get a better understanding of the way Tim Burton draws. Evidence Below. Problem Solving. Lauren, the other Art Director, and I also discussed our leadership tactics and decided straight away that all the art needs to be of a constant style to keep the game flowing and looking professional. Evidence Below. Problem Solving.

Lauren and I Discussing Work Set Over Christmas and How Important Consistency Is

11th January 2017

Today I spent the lesson looking in-depth into audience theory. I actually found it quite hard to find relevant information as a lot of information applied to a different age bracket, gender or even country. To solve this problem, I planned to do some primary research, such as a questionnaire to find the information from my target audience. Problem Solving.

Our primary target audience is 13 to 17 so it was fairly hard to find relevant products to analyse as ‘13′ is seen as young and ‘17′ is seen as an adult. However, while doing research, I found that the BBFC, a company that regulates age ratings, knows only parents know their individual children so now there is an age rating of a 12A. This helped me as I could then find more relevant information for my target audience, although a 12A certificate is only used for films instead of games. Being 13+ is an odd age when a lot of children like to act older, wanting to play games that are for an older age range to seem ‘cooler’ and fit in. They may see pop culture references, such as YouTube videos that talk about Call of Duty for example, which is an 18. Due to older influences they therefore may want to play a game that is above their age rating so I will look at older rated games that are popular for my target audience. 

12th January 2017

I spent the lesson looking into narrative stories and ‘choices’ which was presented on a PowerPoint by Lizzy. This information gave us, as a class, the option to add ‘choices’ to our game and decide on a narrative flow. In the end, we decided that our story for the game, Eliza, should be fairly linear as to not confuse the younger audience. 

I had also collected all of the artist’s work together on their concept ides for the main character Eliza. I wrote down independently to begin with about what was good or bad about each design, notes I would later show to Lauren to come up with a final design of our protagonist. That evening, I created my own ‘final concept’ of Eliza, trying to incorporate the best ideas from each drawing as to make all the artists feel as if they have contributed and to not upset anyone. Evidence Blow. Problem Solving.

Initial Eliza Concept

Final Design Concept

13th January 2017

I had a meeting this morning with Lauren, Jon and Josh to go over what limitations we had when it came to the art we were creating and what we wanted to see in the game. We also had the chance to talk about the next main character, the ShadowMan. I gave an example of using ideas of the ShadowMan from the Disney film The Princess and The Frog. I thought, from the descriptions the writers had given us, taking inspiration from that film would be a good starting place for the artists to work off of and understand the creative direction we were going in with this particular character. It will also help all the artists understand a basic idea of what they need to draw and then have freedom to evolve and develop the concept. Problem Solving. 

Throughout the meeting, I was slightly worried that Jon and Josh were taking over the art style and concepts so, after a meeting with Lizzy to check I was justified in how I felt, I messaged them later on Facebook to let them know any final decisions will be made by me and Lauren. Evidence Below.

Message to Jon and Josh that Lauren and I are in Charge of Art

Lauren and I will be having a final meeting on Tuesday about what the main character, Eliza, will look like. I will show her the notes I made about everyone’s concepts and the final concept idea I had.

Later on during the day, we had a whole class meeting where we went over what music and animation were doing. I found it very helpful to touch base and communicate what was happening in each group. However, a lot of people didn't get involved in the discussion and seemed against or negative towards the project. To combat this, I spoke to my art group privately after the meeting to go through what all the leaders had discussed and get their opinions on the topics, letting them bring up any issues they have in a quieter and calmer environment. Problem Solving.

After speaking with Lauren, Lizzy and the writing team, we have added some extra creatures for students who aren't confident with their drawing abilities and would like to stick closer within their comfort zone. Evidence Below. Problem Solving.

Conversation with Lizzy and Lauren Discussing the Adding of Extra Characters

17th January 2017

Today, I was able to create the main character, Eliza, involving as many designs from the other artists that would be appropriate for this character. There were still a few aspects of the design Lauren and I were unsure about so I decided to create a survey which we will hand out to our target audience. The survey will include different hair colours, different eye shapes, etc. that the target audience must pick between as a multiple choice. Problem Solving. I looked into detail about different eye shapes as I thought they were an extremely important part of the character as they express the most emotion. I also looked and different hair colours for the protagonist, really thinking closely at what best would suit the character. Evidence Below.

Concept for Eliza's Eyes

Concept for Eliza's Hair

I then organised with Lauren to create a note of all the characters, locations and extra assets needed to get it clear in our minds what needed to be done and who should be doing it. In the meantime, we set all the artists to create concept art for the other main characters, a cat called Marbles and the ShadowMan, which they will present on Thursday when Lauren and I present the final design of Eliza and the delegated tasks for each artist.

18th January 2017

Today, I had drawn all my cat design concepts for Marbles after reading the character brief from the writers. I came up with a few different ideas so everyone could see Marbles being represented differently each time and then see which one represented the character the writers had created best. Evidence Below.

Marble Concepts

Because of the unsureness of what final tweaks needed to be made to the Eliza drawing, I had created a survey for my target audience to feel involved in the final design and actually create something appropriate that they would like. The main concept of the protagonist had been decided; I just needed to locate the final details to be made to her. Evidence Below. Problem Solving.

Survey Given to Target Audience

Job roles have also been delegated with me, Lauren, Kelton and Ryan doing main characters; Nathan and Taylor doing locations; and Harry, Liane, Nick and Aaron doing extra characters in the game. This sectioning off of tasks means work flow is quicker because everyone is focusing on their individual aspect of the game. It also means that there will be less confusion with what artists need to do as they already have their assigned job. There are also some strong personalities in the group so it’s important that ALL the artists get heard with their opinions, by everyone having an individual part to work on, no one needs to be involved in someone else’s work and the quieter students will get heard. Problem Solving.

20th January 2017

After looking at the results of the survey, I was able to create a design of Eliza that the whole group was happy with. The bow was the most popular shape chosen by the target audience; dark violet hair was most voted; the big ‘pretty’ eyes were also most chosen however I edited the eyebrows slightly so they referenced back to the original Tim Burton art style inspiration. Even the skirt colour and pattern was chosen, with red tartan being the highest voted. All other colours I took from Lauren’s original Eliza drawing as I thought they fitted the character persona perfectly, a great blend of girly and gothic that fits with the ironic humor present throughout the game. Evidence Below. 

Final Eliza Design

I had caught up with most of my work so I was then able to carry on with the Specialist Essay, part of unit 12. At the end of the lesson, we had another whole class meeting to discuss our target audience as it was concerning a lot of people and causing confusion as it was not truly defined. We first decided that our target audience should be boys and girls between the ages of 13 to 17, however Lizzy still felt we needed to be more specific in our target audience to help us create a game that truly aims at our demographic and makes it easier on us to do so. We therefore decided that our primary audience would be 12 year old girls and our secondary audience would be 13 to 17 year old boys and girls. This means, we are aiming the game for our primary audience, however we do still need to keep into consideration about our secondary audience. Problem Solving. After this meeting, to help us better understand our primary target audience, we must create a target audience profile where we need to research into things about the audience such as, what are their favourite books, where do they like to eat etc. 

21st January 2017

I was able to finish the target audience profile as I felt we couldn’t move forward before we truly understood who the game was aimed for. Because of this, even after the spider diagram I did of the target audience, I went into great detail about what the target audience liked, what social medias they liked and information along those lines. Evidence Below and in 'Audience’ Blog Post.

Audience Theory Profile

I also decided that we should create an Instagram for our art group to start bringing in viewers and people interested in what we are doing. Evidence Below.

Art Group A Instagram Page

I assigned days on when people should post relevant art work, with me doing Mondays, Ryan doing Tuesdays, Nathan doing Wednesday, Kelton is doing Thursday and Taylor doing Friday. Evidence Below.

Delegated Instagram Uploading Days

I felt that not a lot of outsiders knew the project we had underway so creating an Instagram of our art would help bring free advertisement. Instagram was also the best social media option for us as it’s about posting pictures with a simple caption underneath. As we are showing off art, a site focusing on photos would be more effective for us to draw in the audience and also, with no age rating, 12 year olds would be on the social media platform which is our target audience. Problem Solving.

24th January 2017

After creating the final Eliza design, Jon needed an image plane for Eliza. Evidence Below. I found this task very hard to do as I had never created image planes before and I struggled turning my 2D drawings into a 3D perspective. Callum said he could use my image planes but next time I would need to take my characters out of a ‘pose’ and have their arms straight out so they are easier to model.

Eliza Image Planes

25th January 2017

Today I had the task of creating my team schedule, proposal and individual schedule. After final discussion with Lauren to verify the job roles, we had decided that me, her, Kelton and Ryan should do main characters; Nathan and Taylor should so locations, and Aarron, Nick, Harry and Liane should do any extra background characters. I noticed very early on that both art teams were working at different speeds so I planned with Lauren that we would have separate art group schedules to enable us to work at our own speed and levels of work. This however has brought up a number of issues already. A couple of times, duplicates of work have been made due to artists in group B working on work set for artists in group A. This caused an issue as group B artists then felt let down that their work wouldn’t be included in the game. We also had the issue of not the correct work being produced, where people who don’t attend college a lot, hadn’t understood their brief so had drawn the incorrect thing. This held us back from producing artwork in time as concept art had to then be re-drawn. Finally, there was a concern that group A was doing more work than group B as the attendance is group B hasn’t been good. To counteract this and encourage people to come in, I gave the artists who came to lesson more frequently, the jobs they wanted on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. Problem Solving.

To also solve the problem of duplication of work and incorrect art being drawn, me and Lauren made sure we met up regularly to check what everyone was doing and creating weekly in-depth schedules to make sure everyone knew what they needed to be working on. Problem Solving.

26th January 2017

I was able to finish my proposal, individual schedule and one sheet today which was really good as I have become ahead in my work so I feel a lot less stressed about the work load I had. In the afternoon, I created a PowerPoint to show to both classes of all the cat and ShadowMan concept art so they are up to date with what the artists are creating and are in the loop on what we are doing. Evidence Below.

ShadowMan Concept Art

27th January 2017

Today was focusing on making sure all future proof work was finished for evaluation on Tuesday. As all my work was up-to-date and everything stated in the assignment brief was done, I set up a meeting with Lauren to go over what her, me, Ryan and Kelton should do when it came to the main characters. After great discussion we decided that I should focus on Eliza as I designed her so it would help keep continuity if I continued drawing her. We then decided that Lauren should do the ShadowMan as, even though the final design hadn’t been decided, her sketch was the most popular when we showed our concepts to the rest of the class. Ryan was then delegated to draw Marbles as he showed an array of different cat concepts so we thought he would be best suited to focus on Marbles. Finally, we had to decided on what Kelton would do. We didn’t know who he should draw as no other characters had been decided by the writers so instead, he focused on his written work. Nathan and Taylor also told me they were up-to-date on their blog work so I got them started on locations with Nathan doing the orphanage and Taylor doing the sewers as they were the first two levels of our game.

31st January 2017

First up today was setting up a meeting with my team and touching base as I was worried that they wee confuse about their goal and what they needed to do. Fortunately, everyone was positive and felt confident in what they needed to produce towards the project.

Next, I had another meeting but this time it was with Jamie and Jon as Jon wanted to change the gameplay on some levels but wanted to make sure this was paired with the story and art already created towards the game. Throughout the meeting, I became quite worried and stressed as the plans kept changing between groups. They meeting still didn’t end with a definite direction so I should have stood my ground more with what the artists were doing and could or couldn’t be changed. In the future, I have decided that I should stand up for what the artists are doing as it is mine and Lauren’s choice and we are their voice in this project as we are the Art Directors. Because of this, I have started to begin researching into a final art style we should use for the look and feel for the levels and the world in the game. My main idea was to focus towards an Art Deco and Steampunk look as the styles are glamourous but in a gothic and mechanical way so I messaged Lauren on Facebook o get her opinion on my idea. Evidence Below. Problem Solving.

Message to Lauren about Art Style

[lawrenceseitz22]

Easy Marketing Investments to Improve Your E-Commerce Store

Posted by KaneJamison

At least once or twice per month, I talk to a small e-commerce store owner who wants to invest in content marketing. Often times, I have to break it to them that they’re not ready for content marketing.

You see, before you spend a bunch of time generating traffic from your target audience, it’s important to make sure those visitors get the best experience possible while browsing your store.

So, in this post, I want to give store owners and e-commerce newbies a clear idea of where they can invest their time before investing in more paid and organic traffic to their sites. Many of these can be accomplished for less than $1,000 or a few hours of your time.

With a few small-scale investments you can help drive performance on conversions, SEO, and more.

So what are they?

Rewrite Your Weak Product Descriptions

Take Better Product Photography

Build Lookbooks & Product Collections

Start Adding Product Videos

Upgrade Your Review Software & Process

Let’s look at these opportunities in detail, and better yet, show you some actual examples of what your site could look like.

Rewrite your weak product descriptions

From product details to features and benefits, product descriptions must pack a lot of information in a short format. You may have overlooked some missed opportunities.

If you answer “yes” to any of the following questions, consider investing in improved product descriptions.

1 - Does your current product page copy speak only to your ideal customer?

If you’ve built buyer personas for your brand, make sure the copy addresses the appropriate persona’s unique pain points and concerns. Bland descriptions meant to appeal to everyone — or just bots — aren’t as effective.

This high chair example from 4moms.com focuses on the three things that matter to their audience: single-handed adjustments, spilt-food prevention, and easy cleanup.

2 - Does your copy focus on benefits rather than features?

You can list features all day long, but customers really want to know how your product will make their life better.

The Amazon Echo sales page does a great job of focusing less on the technical features of the product, and more on the cool things you can do with it.

3 - Are you describing your product with the same words that your customers use?

Using the same language that your customers do will help you better communicate with your target audience in a way that sounds natural for them and touches on their pain points.

A simple way to find these words is to do some reverse engineering. Start by looking at customer reviews and feedback you’ve collected (and those of your main competitors as well) to pick out common words and phrases that satisfied customers are using. From here, you can tie that customer language back into your own descriptions.

I was shopping for a new tent last week and saw this awesome reviewer on Amazon drive home a point that the copywriters had missed. If you read that entire review, the phrase “family tent” is mentioned about 13 times.

But if you read the product description, "family tent" only shows up once. The description fails to mention many of the benefits covered by the reviewer: lots of pockets, sleeping arrangements, ability to catch a breeze but keep the doors closed, etc.

There’s an opportunity here for a competitor in the tent or outdoor space to improve their own product descriptions for the same tent (or even put together a larger guide to family tents).

4 - Are you telling your product’s story?

The folks over at Rogue Brewing understand that the people buying gifts from their website are probably passionate about well-made products, not just well-made beer. Here’s a great example from their site that tells the story of their 28-year search for a decent beer shucker (bottle opener):

Take better product photography

Photography matters. Research from BigCommerce suggests that 67% of consumers consider image quality “very important” when making a purchase online.

Good product photos do more than just show shoppers what you’re selling — they provide context and help customers visualize using your products. Plus, high-quality photos will reduce product returns that happen due to misleading images.

So what can you do to upgrade your product photos?

Smartphones aren't going to cut it

Use a DSLR camera, not your smartphone. Although modern smartphone cameras can take higher resolution photos than ever before, you’ll get better results from a DSLR. Lower-end models start at around $500 — try finding a used body online and spending more money on a better & cost-effective fixed lens that can handle video, too.

Build a cheap lightbox

Create a lightbox for well-lit photos with a solid white background. For less than $10, you can build your own lightbox that will vastly improve the quality of your product images.

Use creative angles

Shoot products from multiple angles. Be sure to include several images on every product page. The more perspectives and viewpoints you have, the better customers will be able to judge your product.

It's OK to tweak & process your images to make them pop

Process your images with filters that enhance color and overall image quality. Photo filters resolve poor lighting or color issues and vastly improve your product photos. Just try not to get carried away with dramatic filters that distort the color of your products, as this can be misleading for the buyer. Here’s a good example from ABeautifulMess.com showing the difference before and after image edits:

If you don’t have time or the inclination to take your own photography, outsource it to a professional. No matter what route you go, know that upgrading your product page photography is well worth the investment.

Build lookbooks & product collections

You can also provide more context for your products through lookbooks, which showcase your products in use. The term “lookbook” is mostly common in the fashion industry, but the concept can be extended to a variety of industries.

The photos in the lookbook for Fitbit’s Alta model of fitness tracker help shoppers envision themselves wearing them. Fitbit’s lookbook also establishes a brand lifestyle promise — impossible with product photos alone. Even better? The various photos are clickable and take you to the product page for that color/style of wristband:

Product collections are another great variation on this strategy. In this “Mediterranean Collection” page on Coastal.com, shoppers get an opportunity to shop by “style,” and to see examples of the glasses on actual faces instead of just a white background:

As I alluded to before, this isn’t just an opportunity for fashion sites. The trick is to make sure you're showing your products in action.

Plenty of other retailers have an opportunity to show off their product in use, like these photos from the Klipsch website showing off their soundbars in various settings:

Car accessories? Same thing.

Heck, even office furniture is easier to purchase when you see how it looks in a workspace.

Start adding product videos

Adding video to product pages is another relatively low-budget improvement you can make, yet it has extreme value for shoppers and your bottom line.

Why? Because video’s ability to quickly educate shoppers is a powerful conversion tool. Eyeview Digital reported that including video on landing pages can improve conversions by as much as 80%, and ComScore indicated that online shoppers are 64% more likely to buy after watching a video.

So how can you put video to work on your product pages?

Whether you’re demonstrating a how-to or simply showcasing a product and outlining product details, adding video on your product pages provides a whole new experience for online shoppers that helps overcome purchase objections and answers their questions.

Video also allows you to give shoppers a more complete overview of the product and to go beyond static pictures with a story element. These engaging visuals can help shoppers envision themselves using your products in a way that photography alone simply can’t.

Zappos is well known for including videos on what seems like every listing, but what’s more impressive to me is how much personality and brand voice they show off. While shopping for boots recently, I have to say Joe was my favorite video personality:

Click image to open product video in a new window.

If you’re up for taking this on with a DIY approach, it’s reasonably easy to create your own product videos at home with the right equipment. Or, outsource this project to a local professional or videographer for hire.

Upgrade your customer reviews software & process

In the current e-commerce landscape, competition is fierce — and there’s always someone willing to deliver cheaper and faster.

That’s why social proof is more important than ever before. Research from eConsultancy shows that 61% of consumers indicate they look to product reviews before making a purchase, and that product reviews are 12x more trusted than product descriptions from companies.

Customer reviews make your product pages more effective, allowing shoppers to evaluate the product based on real customer opinions — and can help you spot product issues.

I’m listing a few common platforms here, but you should really check out Everett Sizemore’s guide to product review software, which has some great insights on the performance of the entire marketplace of product review software options, including technical SEO concerns:

BazaarVoice

Yotpo

Trustpilot

PowerReviews

Traditional product reviews may not be right for all stores...

The best option for you will depend on the tool’s ability to integrate with your store, your preferred functionality, and your budget. Sometimes, traditional product reviews won’t be the best choice for your product or store.

In this example from ThinkGeek, they’ve opted to just let people leave Facebook comments rather than any product reviews at all. Which makes sense, because they’re Star Trek garden gnomes, and it’s not like you need to tell people whether they were the right size or not. Even better than Facebook comments, they also solicit product photos via social media on their #geekfamous hashtag.

Here’s another example where my favorite wallet company, SlimFold, simply highlights great product reviews that they received from press and customer emails. While it makes it harder for them to solicit new reviews, they only have a handful of products, and this format allows them to put more emphasis on specific reviews.

There are many different tools that will allow you to showcase elements of social proof like ratings and reviews, so take your time carefully reviewing different options to see which is the best fit for your needs and budget, and if normal product reviews aren’t the right fit, feel free to take a different approach.

Make enough of these small investments and you should see big improvements over the long term.

Tackling these small investments — as your schedule and budget allows — will dramatically improve the overall user experience and the effectiveness of your e-commerce store.

Consider which aspects are the most important to complete first, and then start doing your research and put together a strategy for how you’ll prioritize these site upgrades. With a well-thought-out plan of action, you can focus on the projects that will drive the best results for your business, rather than trying too many different tactics all at once.

Looking for more ideas? Take a look at our guides on product page optimization, category page optimization, and conversion rate improvements for e-commerce.

This is by no means the complete guide to investing in your e-commerce store, so in the discussion below, I’d like to hear from you. What creative ways have you improved your e-commerce site content in the past that boosted conversions or organic search?

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

from Blogger http://ift.tt/2j4dRId via IFTTT

[tracisimpson]

Easy Marketing Investments to Improve Your E-Commerce Store

Posted by KaneJamison

At least once or twice per month, I talk to a small e-commerce store owner who wants to invest in content marketing. Often times, I have to break it to them that they’re not ready for content marketing.

You see, before you spend a bunch of time generating traffic from your target audience, it’s important to make sure those visitors get the best experience possible while browsing your store.

So, in this post, I want to give store owners and e-commerce newbies a clear idea of where they can invest their time before investing in more paid and organic traffic to their sites. Many of these can be accomplished for less than $1,000 or a few hours of your time.

With a few small-scale investments you can help drive performance on conversions, SEO, and more.

So what are they?

Rewrite Your Weak Product Descriptions

Take Better Product Photography

Build Lookbooks & Product Collections

Start Adding Product Videos

Upgrade Your Review Software & Process

Let’s look at these opportunities in detail, and better yet, show you some actual examples of what your site could look like.

Rewrite your weak product descriptions

From product details to features and benefits, product descriptions must pack a lot of information in a short format. You may have overlooked some missed opportunities.

If you answer “yes” to any of the following questions, consider investing in improved product descriptions.

1 - Does your current product page copy speak only to your ideal customer?

If you’ve built buyer personas for your brand, make sure the copy addresses the appropriate persona’s unique pain points and concerns. Bland descriptions meant to appeal to everyone — or just bots — aren’t as effective.

This high chair example from 4moms.com focuses on the three things that matter to their audience: single-handed adjustments, spilt-food prevention, and easy cleanup.

2 - Does your copy focus on benefits rather than features?

You can list features all day long, but customers really want to know how your product will make their life better.

The Amazon Echo sales page does a great job of focusing less on the technical features of the product, and more on the cool things you can do with it.

3 - Are you describing your product with the same words that your customers use?

Using the same language that your customers do will help you better communicate with your target audience in a way that sounds natural for them and touches on their pain points.

A simple way to find these words is to do some reverse engineering. Start by looking at customer reviews and feedback you’ve collected (and those of your main competitors as well) to pick out common words and phrases that satisfied customers are using. From here, you can tie that customer language back into your own descriptions.

I was shopping for a new tent last week and saw this awesome reviewer on Amazon drive home a point that the copywriters had missed. If you read that entire review, the phrase “family tent” is mentioned about 13 times.

But if you read the product description, "family tent" only shows up once. The description fails to mention many of the benefits covered by the reviewer: lots of pockets, sleeping arrangements, ability to catch a breeze but keep the doors closed, etc.

There’s an opportunity here for a competitor in the tent or outdoor space to improve their own product descriptions for the same tent (or even put together a larger guide to family tents).

4 - Are you telling your product’s story?

The folks over at Rogue Brewing understand that the people buying gifts from their website are probably passionate about well-made products, not just well-made beer. Here’s a great example from their site that tells the story of their 28-year search for a decent beer shucker (bottle opener):

Take better product photography

Photography matters. Research from BigCommerce suggests that 67% of consumers consider image quality “very important” when making a purchase online.

Good product photos do more than just show shoppers what you’re selling — they provide context and help customers visualize using your products. Plus, high-quality photos will reduce product returns that happen due to misleading images.

So what can you do to upgrade your product photos?

Smartphones aren't going to cut it

Use a DSLR camera, not your smartphone. Although modern smartphone cameras can take higher resolution photos than ever before, you’ll get better results from a DSLR. Lower-end models start at around $500 — try finding a used body online and spending more money on a better & cost-effective fixed lens that can handle video, too.

Build a cheap lightbox

Create a lightbox for well-lit photos with a solid white background. For less than $10, you can build your own lightbox that will vastly improve the quality of your product images.

Use creative angles

Shoot products from multiple angles. Be sure to include several images on every product page. The more perspectives and viewpoints you have, the better customers will be able to judge your product.

It's OK to tweak & process your images to make them pop

Process your images with filters that enhance color and overall image quality. Photo filters resolve poor lighting or color issues and vastly improve your product photos. Just try not to get carried away with dramatic filters that distort the color of your products, as this can be misleading for the buyer. Here’s a good example from ABeautifulMess.com showing the difference before and after image edits:

If you don’t have time or the inclination to take your own photography, outsource it to a professional. No matter what route you go, know that upgrading your product page photography is well worth the investment.

Build lookbooks & product collections

You can also provide more context for your products through lookbooks, which showcase your products in use. The term “lookbook” is mostly common in the fashion industry, but the concept can be extended to a variety of industries.

The photos in the lookbook for Fitbit’s Alta model of fitness tracker help shoppers envision themselves wearing them. Fitbit’s lookbook also establishes a brand lifestyle promise — impossible with product photos alone. Even better? The various photos are clickable and take you to the product page for that color/style of wristband:

Product collections are another great variation on this strategy. In this “Mediterranean Collection” page on Coastal.com, shoppers get an opportunity to shop by “style,” and to see examples of the glasses on actual faces instead of just a white background:

As I alluded to before, this isn’t just an opportunity for fashion sites. The trick is to make sure you're showing your products in action.

Plenty of other retailers have an opportunity to show off their product in use, like these photos from the Klipsch website showing off their soundbars in various settings:

Car accessories? Same thing.

Heck, even office furniture is easier to purchase when you see how it looks in a workspace.

Start adding product videos

Adding video to product pages is another relatively low-budget improvement you can make, yet it has extreme value for shoppers and your bottom line.

Why? Because video’s ability to quickly educate shoppers is a powerful conversion tool. Eyeview Digital reported that including video on landing pages can improve conversions by as much as 80%, and ComScore indicated that online shoppers are 64% more likely to buy after watching a video.

So how can you put video to work on your product pages?

Whether you’re demonstrating a how-to or simply showcasing a product and outlining product details, adding video on your product pages provides a whole new experience for online shoppers that helps overcome purchase objections and answers their questions.

Video also allows you to give shoppers a more complete overview of the product and to go beyond static pictures with a story element. These engaging visuals can help shoppers envision themselves using your products in a way that photography alone simply can’t.

Zappos is well known for including videos on what seems like every listing, but what’s more impressive to me is how much personality and brand voice they show off. While shopping for boots recently, I have to say Joe was my favorite video personality:

Click image to open product video in a new window.

If you’re up for taking this on with a DIY approach, it’s reasonably easy to create your own product videos at home with the right equipment. Or, outsource this project to a local professional or videographer for hire.

Upgrade your customer reviews software & process

In the current e-commerce landscape, competition is fierce — and there’s always someone willing to deliver cheaper and faster.

That’s why social proof is more important than ever before. Research from eConsultancy shows that 61% of consumers indicate they look to product reviews before making a purchase, and that product reviews are 12x more trusted than product descriptions from companies.

Customer reviews make your product pages more effective, allowing shoppers to evaluate the product based on real customer opinions — and can help you spot product issues.

I’m listing a few common platforms here, but you should really check out Everett Sizemore’s guide to product review software, which has some great insights on the performance of the entire marketplace of product review software options, including technical SEO concerns:

BazaarVoice

Yotpo

Trustpilot

PowerReviews

Traditional product reviews may not be right for all stores...

The best option for you will depend on the tool’s ability to integrate with your store, your preferred functionality, and your budget. Sometimes, traditional product reviews won’t be the best choice for your product or store.

In this example from ThinkGeek, they’ve opted to just let people leave Facebook comments rather than any product reviews at all. Which makes sense, because they’re Star Trek garden gnomes, and it’s not like you need to tell people whether they were the right size or not. Even better than Facebook comments, they also solicit product photos via social media on their #geekfamous hashtag.

Here’s another example where my favorite wallet company, SlimFold, simply highlights great product reviews that they received from press and customer emails. While it makes it harder for them to solicit new reviews, they only have a handful of products, and this format allows them to put more emphasis on specific reviews.

There are many different tools that will allow you to showcase elements of social proof like ratings and reviews, so take your time carefully reviewing different options to see which is the best fit for your needs and budget, and if normal product reviews aren’t the right fit, feel free to take a different approach.

Make enough of these small investments and you should see big improvements over the long term.

Tackling these small investments — as your schedule and budget allows — will dramatically improve the overall user experience and the effectiveness of your e-commerce store.

Consider which aspects are the most important to complete first, and then start doing your research and put together a strategy for how you’ll prioritize these site upgrades. With a well-thought-out plan of action, you can focus on the projects that will drive the best results for your business, rather than trying too many different tactics all at once.

Looking for more ideas? Take a look at our guides on product page optimization, category page optimization, and conversion rate improvements for e-commerce.

This is by no means the complete guide to investing in your e-commerce store, so in the discussion below, I’d like to hear from you. What creative ways have you improved your e-commerce site content in the past that boosted conversions or organic search?

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

[repwinpril9y0a1]

Easy Marketing Investments to Improve Your E-Commerce Store

Posted by KaneJamison

At least once or twice per month, I talk to a small e-commerce store owner who wants to invest in content marketing. Often times, I have to break it to them that they’re not ready for content marketing.

You see, before you spend a bunch of time generating traffic from your target audience, it’s important to make sure those visitors get the best experience possible while browsing your store.

So, in this post, I want to give store owners and e-commerce newbies a clear idea of where they can invest their time before investing in more paid and organic traffic to their sites. Many of these can be accomplished for less than $1,000 or a few hours of your time.

With a few small-scale investments you can help drive performance on conversions, SEO, and more.

So what are they?

Rewrite Your Weak Product Descriptions

Take Better Product Photography

Build Lookbooks & Product Collections

Start Adding Product Videos

Upgrade Your Review Software & Process

Let’s look at these opportunities in detail, and better yet, show you some actual examples of what your site could look like.

Rewrite your weak product descriptions

From product details to features and benefits, product descriptions must pack a lot of information in a short format. You may have overlooked some missed opportunities.

If you answer “yes” to any of the following questions, consider investing in improved product descriptions.

1 - Does your current product page copy speak only to your ideal customer?

If you’ve built buyer personas for your brand, make sure the copy addresses the appropriate persona’s unique pain points and concerns. Bland descriptions meant to appeal to everyone — or just bots — aren’t as effective.

This high chair example from 4moms.com focuses on the three things that matter to their audience: single-handed adjustments, spilt-food prevention, and easy cleanup.

2 - Does your copy focus on benefits rather than features?

You can list features all day long, but customers really want to know how your product will make their life better.

The Amazon Echo sales page does a great job of focusing less on the technical features of the product, and more on the cool things you can do with it.

3 - Are you describing your product with the same words that your customers use?

Using the same language that your customers do will help you better communicate with your target audience in a way that sounds natural for them and touches on their pain points.

A simple way to find these words is to do some reverse engineering. Start by looking at customer reviews and feedback you’ve collected (and those of your main competitors as well) to pick out common words and phrases that satisfied customers are using. From here, you can tie that customer language back into your own descriptions.

I was shopping for a new tent last week and saw this awesome reviewer on Amazon drive home a point that the copywriters had missed. If you read that entire review, the phrase “family tent” is mentioned about 13 times.

But if you read the product description, "family tent" only shows up once. The description fails to mention many of the benefits covered by the reviewer: lots of pockets, sleeping arrangements, ability to catch a breeze but keep the doors closed, etc.

There’s an opportunity here for a competitor in the tent or outdoor space to improve their own product descriptions for the same tent (or even put together a larger guide to family tents).

4 - Are you telling your product’s story?

The folks over at Rogue Brewing understand that the people buying gifts from their website are probably passionate about well-made products, not just well-made beer. Here’s a great example from their site that tells the story of their 28-year search for a decent beer shucker (bottle opener):

Take better product photography

Photography matters. Research from BigCommerce suggests that 67% of consumers consider image quality “very important” when making a purchase online.

Good product photos do more than just show shoppers what you’re selling — they provide context and help customers visualize using your products. Plus, high-quality photos will reduce product returns that happen due to misleading images.

So what can you do to upgrade your product photos?

Smartphones aren't going to cut it

Use a DSLR camera, not your smartphone. Although modern smartphone cameras can take higher resolution photos than ever before, you’ll get better results from a DSLR. Lower-end models start at around $500 — try finding a used body online and spending more money on a better & cost-effective fixed lens that can handle video, too.

Build a cheap lightbox

Create a lightbox for well-lit photos with a solid white background. For less than $10, you can build your own lightbox that will vastly improve the quality of your product images.

Use creative angles

Shoot products from multiple angles. Be sure to include several images on every product page. The more perspectives and viewpoints you have, the better customers will be able to judge your product.

It's OK to tweak & process your images to make them pop

Process your images with filters that enhance color and overall image quality. Photo filters resolve poor lighting or color issues and vastly improve your product photos. Just try not to get carried away with dramatic filters that distort the color of your products, as this can be misleading for the buyer. Here’s a good example from ABeautifulMess.com showing the difference before and after image edits:

If you don’t have time or the inclination to take your own photography, outsource it to a professional. No matter what route you go, know that upgrading your product page photography is well worth the investment.

Build lookbooks & product collections

You can also provide more context for your products through lookbooks, which showcase your products in use. The term “lookbook” is mostly common in the fashion industry, but the concept can be extended to a variety of industries.

The photos in the lookbook for Fitbit’s Alta model of fitness tracker help shoppers envision themselves wearing them. Fitbit’s lookbook also establishes a brand lifestyle promise — impossible with product photos alone. Even better? The various photos are clickable and take you to the product page for that color/style of wristband:

Product collections are another great variation on this strategy. In this “Mediterranean Collection” page on Coastal.com, shoppers get an opportunity to shop by “style,” and to see examples of the glasses on actual faces instead of just a white background:

As I alluded to before, this isn’t just an opportunity for fashion sites. The trick is to make sure you're showing your products in action.

Plenty of other retailers have an opportunity to show off their product in use, like these photos from the Klipsch website showing off their soundbars in various settings:

Car accessories? Same thing.

Heck, even office furniture is easier to purchase when you see how it looks in a workspace.

Start adding product videos

Adding video to product pages is another relatively low-budget improvement you can make, yet it has extreme value for shoppers and your bottom line.

Why? Because video’s ability to quickly educate shoppers is a powerful conversion tool. Eyeview Digital reported that including video on landing pages can improve conversions by as much as 80%, and ComScore indicated that online shoppers are 64% more likely to buy after watching a video.

So how can you put video to work on your product pages?

Whether you’re demonstrating a how-to or simply showcasing a product and outlining product details, adding video on your product pages provides a whole new experience for online shoppers that helps overcome purchase objections and answers their questions.

Video also allows you to give shoppers a more complete overview of the product and to go beyond static pictures with a story element. These engaging visuals can help shoppers envision themselves using your products in a way that photography alone simply can’t.

Zappos is well known for including videos on what seems like every listing, but what’s more impressive to me is how much personality and brand voice they show off. While shopping for boots recently, I have to say Joe was my favorite video personality:

Click image to open product video in a new window.

If you’re up for taking this on with a DIY approach, it’s reasonably easy to create your own product videos at home with the right equipment. Or, outsource this project to a local professional or videographer for hire.

Upgrade your customer reviews software & process

In the current e-commerce landscape, competition is fierce — and there’s always someone willing to deliver cheaper and faster.

That’s why social proof is more important than ever before. Research from eConsultancy shows that 61% of consumers indicate they look to product reviews before making a purchase, and that product reviews are 12x more trusted than product descriptions from companies.

Customer reviews make your product pages more effective, allowing shoppers to evaluate the product based on real customer opinions — and can help you spot product issues.

I’m listing a few common platforms here, but you should really check out Everett Sizemore’s guide to product review software, which has some great insights on the performance of the entire marketplace of product review software options, including technical SEO concerns:

BazaarVoice

Yotpo

Trustpilot

PowerReviews

Traditional product reviews may not be right for all stores...

The best option for you will depend on the tool’s ability to integrate with your store, your preferred functionality, and your budget. Sometimes, traditional product reviews won’t be the best choice for your product or store.

In this example from ThinkGeek, they’ve opted to just let people leave Facebook comments rather than any product reviews at all. Which makes sense, because they’re Star Trek garden gnomes, and it’s not like you need to tell people whether they were the right size or not. Even better than Facebook comments, they also solicit product photos via social media on their #geekfamous hashtag.

Here’s another example where my favorite wallet company, SlimFold, simply highlights great product reviews that they received from press and customer emails. While it makes it harder for them to solicit new reviews, they only have a handful of products, and this format allows them to put more emphasis on specific reviews.

There are many different tools that will allow you to showcase elements of social proof like ratings and reviews, so take your time carefully reviewing different options to see which is the best fit for your needs and budget, and if normal product reviews aren’t the right fit, feel free to take a different approach.

Make enough of these small investments and you should see big improvements over the long term.

Tackling these small investments — as your schedule and budget allows — will dramatically improve the overall user experience and the effectiveness of your e-commerce store.

Consider which aspects are the most important to complete first, and then start doing your research and put together a strategy for how you’ll prioritize these site upgrades. With a well-thought-out plan of action, you can focus on the projects that will drive the best results for your business, rather than trying too many different tactics all at once.

Looking for more ideas? Take a look at our guides on product page optimization, category page optimization, and conversion rate improvements for e-commerce.

This is by no means the complete guide to investing in your e-commerce store, so in the discussion below, I’d like to hear from you. What creative ways have you improved your e-commerce site content in the past that boosted conversions or organic search?

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2jQbsxO

[goldieseoservices]

Easy Marketing Investments to Improve Your E-Commerce Store

Posted by KaneJamison

At least once or twice per month, I talk to a small e-commerce store owner who wants to invest in content marketing. Often times, I have to break it to them that they’re not ready for content marketing.

You see, before you spend a bunch of time generating traffic from your target audience, it’s important to make sure those visitors get the best experience possible while browsing your store.

So, in this post, I want to give store owners and e-commerce newbies a clear idea of where they can invest their time before investing in more paid and organic traffic to their sites. Many of these can be accomplished for less than $1,000 or a few hours of your time.

With a few small-scale investments you can help drive performance on conversions, SEO, and more.

So what are they?

Rewrite Your Weak Product Descriptions

Take Better Product Photography

Build Lookbooks & Product Collections

Start Adding Product Videos

Upgrade Your Review Software & Process

Let’s look at these opportunities in detail, and better yet, show you some actual examples of what your site could look like.

Rewrite your weak product descriptions

From product details to features and benefits, product descriptions must pack a lot of information in a short format. You may have overlooked some missed opportunities.

If you answer “yes” to any of the following questions, consider investing in improved product descriptions.

1 - Does your current product page copy speak only to your ideal customer?

If you’ve built buyer personas for your brand, make sure the copy addresses the appropriate persona’s unique pain points and concerns. Bland descriptions meant to appeal to everyone — or just bots — aren’t as effective.

This high chair example from 4moms.com focuses on the three things that matter to their audience: single-handed adjustments, spilt-food prevention, and easy cleanup.

2 - Does your copy focus on benefits rather than features?

You can list features all day long, but customers really want to know how your product will make their life better.

The Amazon Echo sales page does a great job of focusing less on the technical features of the product, and more on the cool things you can do with it.

3 - Are you describing your product with the same words that your customers use?

Using the same language that your customers do will help you better communicate with your target audience in a way that sounds natural for them and touches on their pain points.

A simple way to find these words is to do some reverse engineering. Start by looking at customer reviews and feedback you’ve collected (and those of your main competitors as well) to pick out common words and phrases that satisfied customers are using. From here, you can tie that customer language back into your own descriptions.

I was shopping for a new tent last week and saw this awesome reviewer on Amazon drive home a point that the copywriters had missed. If you read that entire review, the phrase “family tent” is mentioned about 13 times.

But if you read the product description, "family tent" only shows up once. The description fails to mention many of the benefits covered by the reviewer: lots of pockets, sleeping arrangements, ability to catch a breeze but keep the doors closed, etc.

There’s an opportunity here for a competitor in the tent or outdoor space to improve their own product descriptions for the same tent (or even put together a larger guide to family tents).

4 - Are you telling your product’s story?

The folks over at Rogue Brewing understand that the people buying gifts from their website are probably passionate about well-made products, not just well-made beer. Here’s a great example from their site that tells the story of their 28-year search for a decent beer shucker (bottle opener):

Take better product photography

Photography matters. Research from BigCommerce suggests that 67% of consumers consider image quality “very important” when making a purchase online.

Good product photos do more than just show shoppers what you’re selling — they provide context and help customers visualize using your products. Plus, high-quality photos will reduce product returns that happen due to misleading images.

So what can you do to upgrade your product photos?

Smartphones aren't going to cut it

Use a DSLR camera, not your smartphone. Although modern smartphone cameras can take higher resolution photos than ever before, you’ll get better results from a DSLR. Lower-end models start at around $500 — try finding a used body online and spending more money on a better & cost-effective fixed lens that can handle video, too.

Build a cheap lightbox

Create a lightbox for well-lit photos with a solid white background. For less than $10, you can build your own lightbox that will vastly improve the quality of your product images.

Use creative angles

Shoot products from multiple angles. Be sure to include several images on every product page. The more perspectives and viewpoints you have, the better customers will be able to judge your product.

It's OK to tweak & process your images to make them pop

Process your images with filters that enhance color and overall image quality. Photo filters resolve poor lighting or color issues and vastly improve your product photos. Just try not to get carried away with dramatic filters that distort the color of your products, as this can be misleading for the buyer. Here’s a good example from ABeautifulMess.com showing the difference before and after image edits:

If you don’t have time or the inclination to take your own photography, outsource it to a professional. No matter what route you go, know that upgrading your product page photography is well worth the investment.

Build lookbooks & product collections

You can also provide more context for your products through lookbooks, which showcase your products in use. The term “lookbook” is mostly common in the fashion industry, but the concept can be extended to a variety of industries.

The photos in the lookbook for Fitbit’s Alta model of fitness tracker help shoppers envision themselves wearing them. Fitbit’s lookbook also establishes a brand lifestyle promise — impossible with product photos alone. Even better? The various photos are clickable and take you to the product page for that color/style of wristband:

Product collections are another great variation on this strategy. In this “Mediterranean Collection” page on Coastal.com, shoppers get an opportunity to shop by “style,” and to see examples of the glasses on actual faces instead of just a white background:

As I alluded to before, this isn’t just an opportunity for fashion sites. The trick is to make sure you're showing your products in action.

Plenty of other retailers have an opportunity to show off their product in use, like these photos from the Klipsch website showing off their soundbars in various settings:

Car accessories? Same thing.

Heck, even office furniture is easier to purchase when you see how it looks in a workspace.

Start adding product videos

Adding video to product pages is another relatively low-budget improvement you can make, yet it has extreme value for shoppers and your bottom line.

Why? Because video’s ability to quickly educate shoppers is a powerful conversion tool. Eyeview Digital reported that including video on landing pages can improve conversions by as much as 80%, and ComScore indicated that online shoppers are 64% more likely to buy after watching a video.

So how can you put video to work on your product pages?

Whether you’re demonstrating a how-to or simply showcasing a product and outlining product details, adding video on your product pages provides a whole new experience for online shoppers that helps overcome purchase objections and answers their questions.

Video also allows you to give shoppers a more complete overview of the product and to go beyond static pictures with a story element. These engaging visuals can help shoppers envision themselves using your products in a way that photography alone simply can’t.

Zappos is well known for including videos on what seems like every listing, but what’s more impressive to me is how much personality and brand voice they show off. While shopping for boots recently, I have to say Joe was my favorite video personality:

Click image to open product video in a new window.

If you’re up for taking this on with a DIY approach, it’s reasonably easy to create your own product videos at home with the right equipment. Or, outsource this project to a local professional or videographer for hire.

Upgrade your customer reviews software & process

In the current e-commerce landscape, competition is fierce — and there’s always someone willing to deliver cheaper and faster.

That’s why social proof is more important than ever before. Research from eConsultancy shows that 61% of consumers indicate they look to product reviews before making a purchase, and that product reviews are 12x more trusted than product descriptions from companies.

Customer reviews make your product pages more effective, allowing shoppers to evaluate the product based on real customer opinions — and can help you spot product issues.

I’m listing a few common platforms here, but you should really check out Everett Sizemore’s guide to product review software, which has some great insights on the performance of the entire marketplace of product review software options, including technical SEO concerns:

BazaarVoice

Yotpo

Trustpilot

PowerReviews

Traditional product reviews may not be right for all stores...

The best option for you will depend on the tool’s ability to integrate with your store, your preferred functionality, and your budget. Sometimes, traditional product reviews won’t be the best choice for your product or store.

In this example from ThinkGeek, they’ve opted to just let people leave Facebook comments rather than any product reviews at all. Which makes sense, because they’re Star Trek garden gnomes, and it’s not like you need to tell people whether they were the right size or not. Even better than Facebook comments, they also solicit product photos via social media on their #geekfamous hashtag.

Here’s another example where my favorite wallet company, SlimFold, simply highlights great product reviews that they received from press and customer emails. While it makes it harder for them to solicit new reviews, they only have a handful of products, and this format allows them to put more emphasis on specific reviews.

There are many different tools that will allow you to showcase elements of social proof like ratings and reviews, so take your time carefully reviewing different options to see which is the best fit for your needs and budget, and if normal product reviews aren’t the right fit, feel free to take a different approach.

Make enough of these small investments and you should see big improvements over the long term.

Tackling these small investments — as your schedule and budget allows — will dramatically improve the overall user experience and the effectiveness of your e-commerce store.

Consider which aspects are the most important to complete first, and then start doing your research and put together a strategy for how you’ll prioritize these site upgrades. With a well-thought-out plan of action, you can focus on the projects that will drive the best results for your business, rather than trying too many different tactics all at once.

Looking for more ideas? Take a look at our guides on product page optimization, category page optimization, and conversion rate improvements for e-commerce.

This is by no means the complete guide to investing in your e-commerce store, so in the discussion below, I’d like to hear from you. What creative ways have you improved your e-commerce site content in the past that boosted conversions or organic search?

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2jQbsxO