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vagueadulting-blog · 5 years ago

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Best Blogging Platform 2019 – Complete Reviews and Comparison

Since the 1990s, blogging has come along a long way. Blogging in the first instance was used as a platform where one can

share their thoughts, opinions, feelings and experiences and let it know to the whole world. But today, blogging platforms are used by millions and billions of individuals and businesses. Blogs are the simplest way to let people what you are offering and what your opinions are to the world. Today blogging has a huge benefit on businesses as a blog can improve your website’s Search Engine Optimization. Depending on your website’s content, more people will get attracted to your products and services. So if your blogs are well managed and are regular updates with relevant content, your sites’ SEO will increase and so will your business.

Are you looking for starting your blog? Well, you need to take help of a blogging platform that can make your blogging experience better and effective. Now, in this competitive market, there are a lot of blogging platforms that are offering their own sets of benefits. It’ quite a tough choice to choose the best one that matches your criteria. Also, not all blogging platforms provide what they claim. Some also have certain flaws that will not be beneficial for you.

So how will you know which one is right for? Well, we are here to make your blogging experience better by giving you reviews of the top blogging platforms of 2019. In this article, we will give you a list of top blogging platforms of 2019, what are the features these platforms offer and what are the pros and cons of each of them.

Top 5 Blogging Platforms Of 2019

This review is completely based on the features and customer thoughts about the platforms worldwide. Following are the reviews of top blogging platforms of 2019:https://cdn2.wealthyaffiliate.com/images/site_content/circle_check_green.png

#1 Wealthy Affiliate

Standing first in the list, wealthy affiliate is by far the best and most effective blogging platform we have seen in a while. Without any particular evidence, why would you believe us? You don’t have to believe what we say. We will just provide you with a clear picture of this product and you will come to know why WA stands first in the list.

Wealthy Affiliate Review

This particular platform is one of the best training and community products for new bloggers and entrepreneurs that have no idea how to build a WordPress site. There can’t be a better place for people who are completely new to this industry to get started. Here’s how your life is going to change after you join Wealthy Affiliate:

Create a free account today without paying a single buck!

Yes, you heard it right! WA is the only online blogging platform that allows free trial pack for newcomers. Well, just for your clarity this is not like you join them for free now and after seven days they will charge you automatically. As soon as you sign up you are going to get a free wealthy affiliate membership. After using the product for a long time if you feel that it’s trustworthy, you can switch to the premium pack. You won’t be billed unless you switch to the premium membership.

Also, you can keep this free membership as long as you want to. Even when you are signing up for the free membership you do not need to provide them with any payment info. You get access to a massive number of tools for free!

You are getting two websites for free

As a part of your free membership, as soon as you sign up you get absolutely free hosting for 2 different websites. This particular platform has a simple website setup procedure, in which you can easily launch a new website of yours with just five clicks. All you have to do is select a few options. Choose a design for your website and finally click the build button and you are all set to go. As a part of the free pack, you will be able to create just two websites, but when you upgrade to premium membership you can build unlimited websites.

Step by step training

WA is the only website that specializes in both blogging and blogging training. We have come through other websites as well, but no other websites provide you with beginner in-depth blogging training as WA does. If you are looking for an in-depth training program that can help you earn money easily, then this is the platform for you. Other platforms are mostly out of date, difficult and confusing to follow.

Another best part about the training lesson o WE are they keep on upgrading the training lessons as the search engine gets updated and evolved. Following up-to-date lessons helps you bring more traffic to your website thereby providing you with good income.

In the free course, you will get to know how to build a website, how to generate high-level content & how to optimize your website to bring more traffic.

Get info about any topic

When you are new to this industry, learning internet marketing can be pretty difficult. Often even after getting proper training, beginners get lost and confused. Well, WA lets you go through the lassrooms’ section, where you can find answers to all your questions regarding any topic.

Free keyword research tool

We all know that keyword tools are pretty expensive. But with WA’s free membership you will get access to free keyword tool which will help you to get success. Keyword research is an essential part to get success in online marketing. WA helps you to do so.

Interact with the supportive community and Co-founders

WA lets you interact with the community members whenever you need some moral support. Sometimes training programs are not enough. Direct communication with the co-founders and supportive members will help you overcome difficulties when you get stuck.

The only con of the platform is it mainly focuses on beginners and intermediates. It would be better if WA would come with more upgraded training sessions and features for people who are in this industry for quite a few time. If you would like a more in-depth review of Wealthy Affiliate, you can read my WA review here.

#2 Builderall

Are you looking for a platform that consists of all the tools you need for blogging and running a suitable online business which will help you to generate good income without much investment? Then Builder all is the one for you! Builderall is an all in one blogging cum marketing platform that provides you will all the tools that you need to get success in online business. The Builderall product is a great deal for both intermediate and experienced bloggers. It offers wide choices and simplicity makes it unique and useful.

Builderall Review

In the Builderall Review, we will let you know what the product offers. Here are the chief features of Builderall and how they can benefit you:

One-stop marketing tools destination

When you are looking for enhancing your online business, you need to use several marketing tools. Builderall offers all in one go. We all know how complicated it is to start a business. Starting from choosing an affiliate program to boosting the SEO, there is so much needed to be done. Builder-all lets you get started the very day. Just by paying ten dollars every month you sign up to the site ad begin designing your website. With minimum cost, you are getting access to marketing tools that are required to get success. It gives you access to twenty-six different marketing tools to enhance your business.

Super affordable

Just by paying ten dollars a month you can start taking all the benefits of the platform. What is praiseworthy is that you do not need to buy any extra themes, fonts, plug-ins to build your website. It is all included in the package. It’s a multi plugin website builder with different features and plug-ins.

It’s super-advanced

Though there are several other platforms online with advanced analytics, most of them are confusing and difficult to operate. There is so much data readily available that one easily gets confused. With Builderall that’s not a problem. You can set up tests & see your investigation in just one dashboard. This helps you to improve and upgrade your website without spending hours on multiple spreadsheets.

It is by far one of the most developed platforms as it can incorporate several applications effortlessly. Whether you need simple page content or a dynamic website with 3D photos, everything is possible here.

With access to over twenty diagrams and layouts, it allows doing whatever you want. Also, you can incorporate your choices during the checkout process including additional terms and upsells.

Some of its unique and amazing features may include:

Drag & drop site builder- One of the main highlights of its platform is it gives you the target audience you need for unique user experience. The platform is also very SEO friendly. This tool can also make resume designs, infographics, Pinterest designs, Kindle covers, Facebook Covers, Google Plus headers, Ebook covers, Blog Header designs, business cards and graphics for advertisements.

Floating Video- these unique features lets you upload videos you have made from the green screen and just shows the object in front of the background.

Design Studio- The design studio allows you to add content specific images and videos along with the text. Further, you can also upload your image or video holders and specify the screen area where you wish to add your image or video.

MailingBoss- Another highlight of the platform is it allows you to automate and create existing or new customer’s contact. Apart from making your blogging experiences beautiful, you can also send as many emails as you want from this platform to advertise your business.

The only con we see about this website is the blog feature should have more customization options. Like it is packed with a lot of features, but in the end, helping you with blogging is more important especially for beginners.

#3 Bluehost

It’s well known that WordPress is the number one content management website in the world, but managing that is not easy. You will require a web hosting service to get full control of your sites. Speaking about web hosting companies, Bluehost comes first in the list. Initially, it is one of the cheapest hosting platforms and gives you 24*7 hours of live chat experience. And also this hosting platform has a great security backup which keeps your website safe and protected. In an overall basis, the platform has got good reviews worldwide. But before believing what we say, you should check out the benefits of this platform.

Bluehost Review

In this Bluehost review, we will let you know how this platform can make your blogging experience turn better and easy. Let’s check out its benefits:

Best security features

Webhosting plays a vital role in your website security and speed. To start blogging efficiently you need to have a good hosting service. Now cheap hosting services either leads to downtime issues or makes your website easily get hacked. So when you are installing WordPress for blogging, you need to install it on an unbreakable and reliable hosting provider. Bluehost offers you with vital security features such as daily backups, SSL certificates and so on..

Enables fast speed

In a report made by Google, it has been found most mobile websites are running slow. This completely depends on the host’s page loading time. Bluehost is the fourth fastest hosting site we have gone through till now. Your host page loading time has a lot to do with your website’s success. And this is how blue host helps you out.

Affordable Introductory Price

Though for up-gradation the hosting service you need to go for higher price packages, but the starting prices of this platform are pretty affordable. The lowest-priced offered by them is $3.95 per month which is quite good. Now at this price, you get the opportunity to build your website. More or less everything is given to you to build one website starting from SSL certificate, unmetered bandwidth, 50GB SSD storage and so on.. This is by far the lowest rate we have seen till now.

Comes with different eCommerce features, Apps and Integration

Apart from giving you good security features, Bluehost also gives you different integrations and apps. You can set backups regularly. With just a single click you can install WordPress and other important CMS with Bluehost. So as you can see, it makes your blogging experience more convenient and easy.

Easy to use

One of the best things about Bluehost is, it’s super easy to use for intermediates and beginners who are new to the online marketing industry. There are several blogging platforms which provide a variety of features but are pretty confusing to use for beginners. Though Bluehost has advanced features for experienced users, it’s easy for beginners to install WordPress and use it. One can use the Bluehost website Builder site to drop in features here.

24*7 hours of customer support

Bluehost offers live chats and email ticket support for better user experience. This is helpful for beginners. Blogging and online marketing can be pretty difficult in the beginning. There are places where you might get stuck in the beginning. But worry not! You can ask questions and have a live chat with the support team. They will immediately answer you and dissolve your problem.

Offers multiple web hosting choices

Well, Bluehost offers different hosting plans at different budget. The most affordable hosting option among all is shared hosting. As a beginner, you can go for shared hosting. It’s affordable and also let you run your WordPress sites easily without creating any hassles. The basic pricing package for shared hosting is $2.95 per month.

Thirty-day money-back guarantee

Well, the best part about this platform is, they are giving you a thirty-day money-back guaranteed. This is not at all a common thing among blogging platform. You pay for a package, use it for thirty days, see for their performance and if you are still not satisfied, they are going to refund your money. Where else can you get that?

What we don’t like about the platform is that they have quite high renewal rates compared to other web hosting platforms. Though the basic package is low the renewal price is pretty high. Also, the site migrations are not free here.

#4 Hubspot

HubSpot is one of the most robust blogging platforms available to date. Here’s what it offers to the customers:

Composer– For drafting or crafting content and blog posts you will be able to use their composer to start from scratch. You can also use their blog post blueprint that is pre-made. Further, you can also integrate G-Suit Account with this blogging platform. HubSpot is free- Now you might say that several platforms are free to use but to get access to better tools and features you need to pay. Well, this is not the case for HubSpot. Though HubSpot is free, it still offers access to great tools and offers a lot of features of its own. Tracks communication- HubSpot allows you to send emails directly from their platform. Also, there is a feature that can record your phone call. When keeping track of communications active clients becomes quite difficult, HubSpot makes your work easier.

#5 Squarespace

If you want to build a fully customized, attractive beautiful blog then Squarespace is the ideal blogging platform for you. Square space is packed with customized designing templates, integration with Unsplash, Getty Images, Google AMP and lot more so that you can improve the design of your content to attract more and more audience to your website. Here are some of the key benefits of this blogging platform:

Beautiful Templates- One of the major reasons why Squarespace is famous is because of its amazing template options. Each template provides different options so that you can create a different user experience. Also, you can get new functionalities for different templates.Squarespace is mobile friendly-

As it makes your website mobile-friendly it ends up making good user experience. Another benefit for it being mobile-friendly is that Google optimizes mobile-friendly websites over the ones that are not.

Easy to manage websites- Many bloggers complain that they are unable to change the content of their websites or it’s difficult for them to make any changes in their old website. If you don’t change the content of your website frequently, your content will become outdated thereby you will end up losing the audience. Squarespace, on the other hand, is easy to manage and also you can make changes as per your requirements easily. For this, you do not need to have any web development skills. Using Squarespace is that easy! 24*7 hours of support- When you are into blogging and building a website, you might run into problems. Though the platform allows smooth website operation, you might get stuck at some point. Therefore Squarespace has a support team that is available for you twenty-four hours. If you have any questions, simply go for a live chat or email them. You will get a fast response.

Comparison among different platforms

Blogging platforms are meant to make your blogging experience more smooth and . A blogging platform should be easy to use and filled with features and tools for both beginners and experienced people.

The top five blogging platforms that are mentioned above have distinctive features. The difference is in the number of features/tools they offer and at what price they are offering. Here is a brief comparison:

Price- In terms of price Wealthy Affiliate is the best among all since, without paying a single bucks you are getting access to so many tools and features. When compared to other platforms like Builderall, it is the best deal for beginners.

Ease of use and security- Speaking about ease of use, Bluehost wins the round. It makes your whole blogging experience easy and secured. Compared to other platforms, Bluehost offers the most secure features.

Helpful for beginners- in terms of usefulness for beginners, Wealthy Affiliate wins the round. It is allowing beginners to create the first two websites for free plus it’s offering a detailed training program. No other platform does that.

Support system- In terms of a support system, here too Wealthy Affiliate wins. The reason is though Squarespace and Bluehost offer live chat with customer care; Wealthy affiliate allows you to speak to the WA community and people who have experience in this field.

Final Verdict

By looking at all the factors we feel Wealthy Affiliate is the Best Blogging Platform 2019 for beginners. But if you are experienced in this industry and is looking for advanced features and tools, then go for Builderall.

from Internet Marketing Aficionado https://internetmarketingaficionado.com/best-blogging-platform-2019/

#Internet Marketing Aficionado

0 notes

littlebeansplayhouse-blog · 5 years ago

Text

Best Blogging Platform 2019 – Complete Reviews and Comparison

Since the 1990s, blogging has come along a long way. Blogging in the first instance was used as a platform where one can

Top 5 Blogging Platforms Of 2019

#1 Wealthy Affiliate

Wealthy Affiliate Review

Create a free account today without paying a single buck!

You are getting two websites for free

Step by step training

In the free course, you will get to know how to build a website, how to generate high-level content & how to optimize your website to bring more traffic.

Get info about any topic

Free keyword research tool

Interact with the supportive community and Co-founders

#2 Builderall

Builderall Review

In the Builderall Review, we will let you know what the product offers. Here are the chief features of Builderall and how they can benefit you:

One-stop marketing tools destination

Super affordable

It’s super-advanced

With access to over twenty diagrams and layouts, it allows doing whatever you want. Also, you can incorporate your choices during the checkout process including additional terms and upsells.

Some of its unique and amazing features may include:

Floating Video- these unique features lets you upload videos you have made from the green screen and just shows the object in front of the background.

#3 Bluehost

Bluehost Review

In this Bluehost review, we will let you know how this platform can make your blogging experience turn better and easy. Let’s check out its benefits:

Best security features

Enables fast speed

Affordable Introductory Price

Comes with different eCommerce features, Apps and Integration

Easy to use

24*7 hours of customer support

Offers multiple web hosting choices

Thirty-day money-back guarantee

#4 Hubspot

HubSpot is one of the most robust blogging platforms available to date. Here’s what it offers to the customers:

#5 Squarespace

Comparison among different platforms

Blogging platforms are meant to make your blogging experience more smooth and . A blogging platform should be easy to use and filled with features and tools for both beginners and experienced people.

Final Verdict

from Internet Marketing Aficionado https://internetmarketingaficionado.com/best-blogging-platform-2019/

#Internet Marketing Aficionado

0 notes

spideynow-blog · 5 years ago

Text

Best Blogging Platform 2019 – Complete Reviews and Comparison

Since the 1990s, blogging has come along a long way. Blogging in the first instance was used as a platform where one can

Top 5 Blogging Platforms Of 2019

#1 Wealthy Affiliate

Wealthy Affiliate Review

Create a free account today without paying a single buck!

You are getting two websites for free

Step by step training

In the free course, you will get to know how to build a website, how to generate high-level content & how to optimize your website to bring more traffic.

Get info about any topic

Free keyword research tool

Interact with the supportive community and Co-founders

#2 Builderall

Builderall Review

In the Builderall Review, we will let you know what the product offers. Here are the chief features of Builderall and how they can benefit you:

One-stop marketing tools destination

Super affordable

It’s super-advanced

With access to over twenty diagrams and layouts, it allows doing whatever you want. Also, you can incorporate your choices during the checkout process including additional terms and upsells.

Some of its unique and amazing features may include:

Floating Video- these unique features lets you upload videos you have made from the green screen and just shows the object in front of the background.

#3 Bluehost

Bluehost Review

In this Bluehost review, we will let you know how this platform can make your blogging experience turn better and easy. Let’s check out its benefits:

Best security features

Enables fast speed

Affordable Introductory Price

Comes with different eCommerce features, Apps and Integration

Easy to use

24*7 hours of customer support

Offers multiple web hosting choices

Thirty-day money-back guarantee

#4 Hubspot

HubSpot is one of the most robust blogging platforms available to date. Here’s what it offers to the customers:

#5 Squarespace

Comparison among different platforms

Blogging platforms are meant to make your blogging experience more smooth and . A blogging platform should be easy to use and filled with features and tools for both beginners and experienced people.

Final Verdict

from Internet Marketing Aficionado https://internetmarketingaficionado.com/best-blogging-platform-2019/

#Internet Marketing Aficionado

0 notes

lanisews-blog · 5 years ago

Text

Best Blogging Platform 2019 – Complete Reviews and Comparison

Since the 1990s, blogging has come along a long way. Blogging in the first instance was used as a platform where one can

Top 5 Blogging Platforms Of 2019

#1 Wealthy Affiliate

Wealthy Affiliate Review

Create a free account today without paying a single buck!

You are getting two websites for free

Step by step training

In the free course, you will get to know how to build a website, how to generate high-level content & how to optimize your website to bring more traffic.

Get info about any topic

Free keyword research tool

Interact with the supportive community and Co-founders

#2 Builderall

Builderall Review

In the Builderall Review, we will let you know what the product offers. Here are the chief features of Builderall and how they can benefit you:

One-stop marketing tools destination

Super affordable

It’s super-advanced

With access to over twenty diagrams and layouts, it allows doing whatever you want. Also, you can incorporate your choices during the checkout process including additional terms and upsells.

Some of its unique and amazing features may include:

Floating Video- these unique features lets you upload videos you have made from the green screen and just shows the object in front of the background.

#3 Bluehost

Bluehost Review

In this Bluehost review, we will let you know how this platform can make your blogging experience turn better and easy. Let’s check out its benefits:

Best security features

Enables fast speed

Affordable Introductory Price

Comes with different eCommerce features, Apps and Integration

Easy to use

24*7 hours of customer support

Offers multiple web hosting choices

Thirty-day money-back guarantee

#4 Hubspot

HubSpot is one of the most robust blogging platforms available to date. Here’s what it offers to the customers:

#5 Squarespace

Comparison among different platforms

Blogging platforms are meant to make your blogging experience more smooth and . A blogging platform should be easy to use and filled with features and tools for both beginners and experienced people.

Final Verdict

from Internet Marketing Aficionado https://internetmarketingaficionado.com/best-blogging-platform-2019/

#Internet Marketing Aficionado

0 notes

comicsbeat · 7 years ago

Text

By Brian Hibbs

The solicits for August 2017 Marvel comics have finally been released – the start of “Marvel Legacy” – and I think it is now fair to ask if Marvel actually hears or heard any of the criticism of their line over the last few months.

People have complained about (among other things) the lack of “the real” Marvel characters, about over-expansion watering down the line, about tired creative teams who should be replaced, and about a reliance on gimmicks over substance. And, based purely on the solicitations, Marvel does not immediately appear to have taken virtually any of these points to heart.

Let’s take those more or less in order, starting with “the real” Marvel characters. Now I, for one, find this particular complaint pretty drastically overblown: despite the new consensus of the internet, I would argue to you that characters like Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and “original Thor” are actually really uninteresting characters who have, largely, outstayed their welcome – there’s a reason that these characters keep getting replaced with new versions again and again and again: unless you’re exclusively mining nostalgia, it’s hard to keep these characters fresh and relevant at all. Watch and see: after they come back, some creator will be trying to replace them again within five years. It happens every time.

If anything, I think Marvel’s actual mistake was having all of those characters off-stage at the same time – you look around the “Marvel Universe” and you recognize almost none of the characters… well, that’s jarring. But it isn’t true that the OG versions are inherently fascinating enough to freeze them in amber, in my considered opinon.

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Either way, that was what people are saying that they wanted: “the real” versions back. But reading these solicits, it doesn’t appear that any of the characters are back in these “Legacy” renumbered comics – yes, it looks like they’re setting up stories where they will come back eventually, but they’re not back here at the time of the actual repositioning itself. Here’s the text for, say, Invincible Iron Man #593: “THE SEARCH FOR TONY STARK Part 1 Tony Stark has vanished! The mystery deepens as Stark friends and foes must decide, finally, who will wield the power of Iron Man! All the contenders are in position, and all the armor is polished. There can only be one Armored Avenger! The path to the most startling Iron Man story ever begins here!”

This would appear to be clearly saying that while Tony is coming back, he isn’t in this comic book. I’m going to assume he’s going to show up again probably just in time for “issue #600”, because: comics. But what’s the reason for a reader who has decided he doesn’t like the current direction of “Iron Man” to jump on here at this “jump on” point? Not only is the comic seemingly not giving them what they asked for, it’s doing so under the exact same creative stewardship that has already driven them away from the book.

Think that is strong words? Well, here’s “Iron Man”’s sales arc over the last while (thank you Xavier Lancel for making the chart, and ICv2 for the numbers)

06/14 Iron Man v6 #28 – 28,027 ( -0.9%)

…

06/15 Sup. Iron Man #9 – 33,989 ( +6.2%)

…

10/15 Invincible Iron Man #1 – 279,514

10/15 Invincible Iron Man #2 – 66,664 (-76.2%)

11/15 Invincible Iron Man #3 – 59,069 (-11.4%)

12/15 Invincible Iron Man #4 – 57,639 (- 2.4%)

01/16 Invincible Iron Man #5 – 49,225 (-14.6%)

02/16 Invincible Iron Man #6 – 63,234 (+28.5%) (War Machines)

03/16 Invincible Iron Man #7 – 57,972 (War Machines)

04/16 Invincible Iron Man #8 – 46,520 (War Machines)

05/16 Invincible Iron Man #9 – 49,334 (+6.0%) (CV2)

06/16 Invincible Iron Man #10- 49,141 (- 0.4%) (CV2)

07/16 Invincible Iron Man #11- 49,439 (+0.6%) (CV2)

08/16 Invincible Iron Man #12- 50,571 (+2.3%) (CV2)

09/16 Invincible Iron Man #13- 48,394 (- 4.3%) (CV2)

10/16 Invincible Iron Man #14- 43,888 (- 9.3%) (CV2)

11/16 Invincible Iron Man # 1- 97,713

12/16 Invincible Iron Man # 2- 81,271 (-16.8%)

01/17 Invincible Iron Man # 3- 44,184 (-45.7%)

02/17 Invincible Iron Man #4- 36,600 (-17.2%)

03/17 Invincible Iron Man #5- 38,746 (+ 5.9%)

04/17 Invincible Iron Man #6- 31,561 (-18.5%)

05/17 Invincible Iron Man #7- 28,266 (-10.4%)

Those numbers look awful, the book is cratering and the audience isn’t interested in it, delivering some of the lowest “Iron Man” sales of all time – so why is this specific “legacy” iteration going to be any different?

It isn’t just “Iron Man”, of course – of the twenty-nine “Marvel Legacy” comics on the August order form, only two are entirely “new” series (“Falcon” and “Spirits of Vengeance”), and of those remaining twenty-seven, only a single one has a different writer in place (“Cable”, replacing James Robinson with Ed Brisson… in a move that seems like it was going to happen with or without “Legacy”) than it did two months before. And virtually every one of those comics has a similar sales trajectory.

Keeping the creative teams the same seems… well, strange to me. Marvel has reached a point with its publishing program that it has chased enough readers away that the don’t have a single ongoing Marvel Superhero comic that is not a first issue in the month of June that even sold 60,000 copies. If you told Jim Shooter or Tom DeFalco that, I suspect they might laugh in your face (books that sold under 100k back then got the axe!)

So, if you’re flopping on that level, why on earth would you stick with exactly the same creators in exactly the same iteration of titles? I’m not saying “get rid of X!”, but at least change up who is doing what book to bring some fresh energy in.

Here’s your kicker, for all of these new “Legacy” books, Marvel has set a target number of sales that it expects – and also that gates things like certain variant covers – and Iron Man’s reads like this: “Meet or exceed 225% of orders for Invincible Iron Man #7 [MAR171004] with orders for Invincible Iron Man #593 regular cover” Two hundred and twenty five percent, oy!

Now to be fair, Marvel does often downgrade such ambitious targets in the face of retailer incredulousness, and there are some indications that something is going to happen with these targets as well, but in all official documentation available to me today Marvel is claiming that we should more than double our orders for something that essentially the exact same product as it was the month before. The current lowest percentage for any of the “Legacy” books is 125%. The highest is 250%.

What does meeting that gate get you? Well, again, this is only for now, because Marvel has this nasty nasty habit of changing and adding permutations as we get closer to “Final Order Cutoff” (which sucks because that means as a retailer you have to do your math and calculations multiple times unless you don’t place “initial orders” [which can carry its own consequences, see below]) – but currently if you meet that gate, then you’ll be allowed to order 1) “INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #593 DAVIS LH VAR LEG” (which despite lack of that word in the actual product name is the “Lenticular Homage” Variant) 2) “INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #593 ZDARSKY HOW TO DRAW VAR LEG”, and if you “only” match 200% of your orders, then you get blessed to be able to order 3) “INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #593 TRADING CARD VAR LEG”. This doesn’t include the 1:10 and 1:50 covers. Three of these five covers don’t even yet have art for which a retailer can base a decision upon, either!

But, in short if you don’t order 225% of a previous issue of “Iron Man”, then you are not allowed to order any copies of those two variants. None at all.

Now the Lenticular covers are fairly new – in fact, originally the announced plan was to simply have a “Homage” variant for each “Legacy” book. The one for IM #593 is a call-back to IM volume 1 #150. These covers were originally announced as not being lenticular at all, and, oddly, the lenticular is a replacement and not an addition – there’s no longer a non-lenticular edition of any of them.

But the thing is: Lenticular covers (like those on DC books like the whole “Villains Month” stunt a few years back, or more recently on “The Button” storyline) are very popular with customers, to the point where it is my experience that if the lenticular is available, the vast majority of customers prefer the “fancy” one. And in the case of the Marvel “Legacy” covers, this should be even greater because the Lenticular has the same cover price as the regular edition. From a particular POV, the “regular” cover is now far far less desirable as a result.

But again, you can’t order any copies of the lenticular of “Iron Man” if you don’t order 225% of the regular one. Another problem: this kind of line-wide stunt really becomes an “all-in, or stay out” kind of program – it simply isn’t rational to think you can carry a few of the lenticular covers, but not all of them. That’s not how audience response works. If you buy-in, you have to buy-in across the board.

You’re not even a comic book retailer, and you see the conundrum, right? If you get 225% of the one you can order the other, more desirable version, but then you lose pretty much any demand for the “regular” edition in the first place, even if you can sell 300% or more of the fancy version. Literally, you are being asked to purchase comics you can’t sell, in order to gain access to comics that you can. While a small handful of people are willing or able to buy multiple copies of the same insides, the largest majority of customers just want a single version to buy.

That’s madness.

Compounding this situation, Marvel has also announced that you can not receive your regular discount on the Lenticular edition – a massive break from decades of business. Instead, your discount is capped at 50%, removing up to nine percentage points of margin from their largest accounts. That doesn’t necessarily sound like much to the lay person, but please let me assure you that those points of margin are where the actual profit (if any!) of selling comics comes from.

And let’s compound it again: Marvel is also saying that it can only guarantee orders for those covers that are placed by the Initial Order deadline of August 24 (again, these are books shipping in October) – anything placed after that date, even if it is before “Final Order Cutoff” dates in September runs the risk of being allocated. This gives very little time to figure out what you need, and, in fact, runs entirely contrary to how a significant number of retailers now do business.

When you add these things together, it’s very hard to see how a store can stock the lenticular covers in a way that is profitable, unless their intention is to mark them way up for the aftermarket. In fact, that becomes almost a self-reinforcing principle since it seems clear to me that a significant number of stores in any given market are going to opt out of stocking the lenticulars at all because of the low chance at making a profit in a non-mercenary way. This, in turn, increases the demand at the places that do have them, and nearly guarantees that these comics will be speculator-bait and chum for a frenzy as a result. At least one prominent retailer has already openly embraced such a plan, gleefully saying that he intends to sell these for double cover price to all of the customers the less ethically-challenged amongst will be turning away.

And it’s not like he doesn’t have a point – there’s a clear opportunity to profit here that becomes inherently self-reinforcing.

The question for me always becomes: what is the publisher trying to accomplish? Marvel clearly knows, has known, and probably always will know how to sell a speculator-bait launch or first issue. Look back at that “Iron Man” chart – almost two hundred and eighty thousand copies of that first issue in 2015 on the market for a book that clearly had a long-term audience of less than a quarter of that. That’s all from variants – it had a 1:15, three different 1:25 variants, and what looks like no less than four different “beat this threshold to order any” covers (it was 160% of “Old Man Logan” #1 back then) There was also a one-per-store “party” variant, and a number of store-exclusive covers as well.

So they know how to sell a first issue – and these lenticular are going to sell to the national market like a house on fire because they are speculator-bait – but how do they sell a fourth issue? Marvel kind of sucks at that.

For “Legacy” to be a success (a success that the market needs right now!), Marvel needs their lapsed readers to come back. And the problem that I see is that selling the flash and sizzle as the main selling point is sure to induce a speculator frenzy, but will do very little to bring back the lapsed. We’ve played this song before. Played it to death, and the audience doesn’t want to hear it any more.

But again: who is Marvel trying to attract? If it is speculators, they’re set. But if it is the lapsed reader, creating a speculative product that the market doesn’t have easy and equal easy and simple access to seems like entirely 100% the wrong tack to take.

It seems to me that all the talk of a new direction with “Marvel Legacy” is actually yielding very little change at all – in fact, most of the comics that are going to the same comic they were going to be before this rebranding effort was pitched. Sure, there might be certain storylines that have been pushed back or forward as a result, but there’s not the level of wholesale change that the audience appears to be demanding.

Right now “fancy” covers are trying to cover a multitude of underlying problems with the actual core product. This is not the first time such a thing has been tried, and I wish I can remember who it was, but I remember talking to a retailer who told me they had built a literal chair out of the leftover copies of “Adventures of Superman #500” they had; with similar stories about just how many unsold and unsalable copies of “Turok” #1 were left over. Those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it, and while I’m hopefully we’ve wised up as a class to not fall down that same rabbit hole again, when I see Marvel’s August plans, added to DC’s August books with foil covers (three), Lenticulars (two) and even a glow-in-the-dark cover I think “Damn, we’re there again, where greed and glitz has overwhelmed common sense”

That time of the crash and the few years after it was dire for comics, and this time is likely to be significantly worse, as we don’t have a core of books selling at 100k or more to keep things propped up.

I think it will be great for them if Marvel sells a bunch of dollars of comics in October thanks to manipulative processes designed to get the greedy moving – but it won’t mean a damn thing if come January “Iron Man” is back to selling under 40k again because speculator bait never ever has led to stable long-term growing sales.

Until Marvel is willing to think about the long-term steps needed to right their ship they’re going to remain in danger of collapsing the entire market; and there is literally nothing they’ve shown us from “Marvel Legacy” so far that doesn’t literally feel like rearranging the deck chair on the Titanic.

I hope to god I’m wrong; otherwise 2018 is going to suck.

**************************

Brian Hibbs has owned and operated Comix Experience in San Francisco since 1989, was a founding member of the Board of Directors of ComicsPRO, has sat on the Board of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, and has been an Eisner Award judge. Feel free to e-mail him with any comments. You can purchase two collections of the first Tilting at Windmills (originally serialized in Comics Retailer magazine) published by IDW Publishing, as well as find an archive of pre-CBR installments right here. Brian is also available to consult for your publishing or retailing program.

Tilting at Windmills #261: Marvel Comics and The Deck Chairs of the Titanic By Brian Hibbs The solicits for August 2017 Marvel comics have finally been released – the start of “Marvel Legacy” – and I think it is now fair to ask if Marvel actually hears or heard any of the criticism of their line over the last few months.

#Marvel #Brian Hibbs #Marvel Legacy #Sales #tilting at windmills

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thearticulatesk · 7 years ago

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Pop Culture Conventions are still pretty new to me. In my 4 years as a published author I’ve been to exactly 4 of them, though technically you could say that I’ve been to the same one four times because I’ve only ever tried representing myself at the Sugar City Con right here in Mackay.

My first convention was all about having fun and learning 🙂

Obviously I’d love to go to an actual writing convention because I’d be more likely to find my target audience, but the SCC is still a very new thing here in Mackay and I am still very much an ingenue when it comes to the publishing world, so this is definitely one of those “Think globally, act locally,” events for me.

I’m glad to say that I’ve been with the SCC since their inception back in 2014, and I am very thrilled to say that I’ve learned a lot in those four years- perhaps even enough to warrant me passing my advice along becuase I myself have been frustrated when it comes to researching how best to navigate these events, especially as an author.

My first ever Convention set-up. Not very attention grabbing, is it? It looks like the booth of a beauty sales consultant.

The start of my convention evolution was a little bit embarrassing. I’d only been self-published for just over a year and all I had to offer potential readers was links to e-books and some brochures, which I tried hawking over a plastic-coated foldable table. I managed to raffle off a Kindle E-Reader that first year which at least gave some people a reason to come hang near my booth and jot down their e-mail addresses for me, but I’m not very good with being the pushy sales chick and I never actually used those e-mail addresses for anything so in the end, the most I got out of that event was a teeny tiny bit of promotion.

Second year’s booth- hit the ground running 🙂

My second year was a little bit better. By then I had one book in paperback and I ordered in a lot of copies, in addition to getting business cards and better brochures, and I went to a lot more trouble with my booth. I made fancy decorations out of old books, had posters printed up to blow up my various book covers so that they could be pinned to my backing panel behind me, and actually took along my computer so I’d have something to do other than sit and stare at the people passing me by. That was a much better year, but the entire event was a lot bigger and better in general so it was pretty hard to steal attention away from the other vendors. I sold a lot of copies of my novels, but I chose my solitary YA title to print (because it was the smallest) and that definitely limited my reach because I am first and foremost an adult paranormal fantasy writer. I also printed out lots of samples of my other books and had a demo of a second novel ready to place orders for, which did generate a lot of sales. I was learning but I was learning too slowly and I knew that I needed to plan well in advance the following year if I was going to have a hope of getting my name and my work truly out there.

I’m still very proud of these home made decorations

This was how I packaged the ordered copies when they came in. Sah cute, yeah?

Next came 2016, which was definitely my best year. The convention had grown into its larger venue and the crowd was twice the size of the year before thanks to the fact that we had some fantastically talented people front up for the SCC, including a well-known actor and an incredibly talented young writer, Will Kostakis. I was asked to appear on a panel that year, along with Will Kostakis and another local author, Sharon Johnston to talk about how we got into writing- Will being the award-winner, Sharon the one that had official representation and me- the poor man’s Indie. That was lot of fun and a great experience, and although I don’t know if that got a lot more people heading my way, it certainly attracted the attention of one or two. I was much better prepared that year- I’d just produced my first original play so I spliced footage from that with my book trailers and played it on repeat on my computer so I had better visual aids, and by then I had 4 different paperbacks to sell and I happily almost sold out. I’d upgraded my brochures yet again, added in some book marks and printed out 18 posters while running a free promotion for several of my other novels on Kindle at the same time, so if there was anything that anyone wanted to read, they had the option of buying it then and there in paperback, or downloading it free.

Me with star guest Tony Amendola 2017

Me on the writer’s panel with Sharon Johsnton and Will Kostakis

My 2017 booth- simple with lots of titles for sale!

Yes 2016 was definitly a successful year but like I said, the SCC was growing so by then there were 6 other writers present, so it was a good thing that I’d gone in prepared because it was much harder to stand out in that sea of faces.

I’ve just done my 4th SCC and although it probably should have been my best year yet, I found that it was pretty hard to top 2016. Not only because an economic downturn led to the event being down-sized in general, but because I didn’t actually make the decision to attend until 2 weeks before so I was grossly underprepared. I ended up having to order books at the last minute in bulk from Create Space which means the postage for each book cost as much as the titles themselves (and literally arrived the afternoon beforehand!), and I didn’t think of anything new to do with my booth so it was a lot simpler than it had been before. In fact, the highlight of this event for me was the fact that I finally got into the Cosplay spirit!

There were no other authors this year, but I didn’t rate that as being an advantage because it meant that the people that came were mostly drawn in by all of the sci-fi and cosplay stuff. I sold quite a lot of books still and managed to generate some great publicity for my upcoming shows and a collection of local ghost stories that I’m writing, but I definitely wish that I’d been better prepared and had had something new to offer people. That’s definitely the issue with being a small-town writer; if you don’t keep evolving, you go stale.

So here are my personal tips and tricks for representing yourself as an author at a convention- especially if you’re not attending an author-only convention and are competing with the special guest artists and cosplayers that the atendees are lining up for:

Go to some effort with your booth. You’ll likely be supplied with one table, one chair and a backing panel just like everyone else, so be prepared to make it all it can be. Table covers, covers for backing panels, posters, props- make the space look eye-catching. Please try to theme it or keep the colours simple though, because people do judge books- and authors- by their covers.

Find out if you have power and use it accordingly. I definitely wish I’d upgraded my PC display this year because I’ve found that it gives potential customers the chance to drift your way without being forced to have to look or speak to you if they don’t want to. All of the vendors are selling something and selling hard, and most atendees will do their best to maintain a safe distance between themselves and the desperate sales person eyeballing them until they’re as interested as you’d like them to be. A lot of people would advise you to call out to each one or do the ‘hard sell’ but I wouldn’t recommend it. When it comes to books someone is either a reader or they’re not, and readers know what they like to read. If your cover doesn’t hook them, then trying to talk them into it will scare them off more quickly. In fact whenever anyone drifts my way and starts eyeing my book covers I always test the waters first by saying: ‘Are you a reader?’ If the answer is no, then I know to tread carefully and offer them a pretty book mark. If the answer is yes, I ask them what genre they like. If it’s not something I write, I’ll talk to them about what they’re interested in instead and let them decide if they want to know more about me. Once again, I’m not going to waste my time or anyone else’s trying to convince a hard-core fantasy reader to buy a book about zombies.

Keep yourself occupied without actually going too far and making yourself look unapproachable. I take notebooks to doodle in because I can get a lot done without shutting myself off or getting overly distracted by technology.

Have things to sell or give away- I cannot stress this enough. Running a bunch of free books on Kindle might seem like a great idea, but a lot of people won’t go to the trouble of looking you up once they get home if left to their own devices. And be prepared to sell too: have a lot of copies on hand, change, bags, bookmarks and I would highly reccommend that you have one of those personal eftpos machines or at least have your internet banking details, a means to connect to the internet and an invoice book on hand. This year the thing that handicapped me the most was the money thing: the venue had one ATM that died in the first hour, leaving people with only the cash they had and their ATM cards. I’d learned from 2015 to get a portable card reader so I had that as back up but unfortunately, the signal on my phone was too weak to hook the thing up with the app and so I lost a lot of sales that way, as did all of the vendors. Next year when I go back I’ll take a portable wi-fi device to be safe.

Have something to give away to keep you in people’s minds, but if you can’t afford to go big, don’t. Giving away a Kindle loaded with my books was a great idea, but that only really appealed to e-book readers and in a town like mine, that cuts out 70% of your potential customers. Giving away an iPad is expensive and not likely to pay off for you because everyone will enter into that, so you could waste your time trying to hook the attention of people that want the iPad so they can use Instagram, not so they can read off it. If money is no option then by all mens, raffle off an elephant if you’re so inclined, but I’ve discovered that personalised bookmarks are the best way to go. They’re cheap, they’re relevant to the sutomers you want to make a connection with and a lot less likely to be thrown out than a glossy brochure will be.

Link your social media to your event- run competitions using your pen name as a hashtag and get yourself some authentic likes. This year I did a few things- I used my booth to take ticket bookings for my next play, offered a special discount off my next book for people that pre-ordered it before midnight, and tied my appearance at the Con to a cover reveal for my next book online. Just be careful to walk that fine line between self-promotion and spamming, whatever you do.

And last but not least, get into the spirit of things! Pop culture conventions are all about the cosplay, so find something to wear that’ll make it clear that you’re there not only as a vendor but as a fan of the experience in general. I’ve heard some authors say that they rate dressing up as a character from their own books, but mine aren’t really distinctive enough for that yet, so I decided to dress as Ariel, given that I have three books out about mermaids. It meant that I had to get up a lot earlier and was a lot less comfortable than I had been the prior years, but it was a lot of fun!

So here I am, hoping that 2018 is gonna be the year that I get it right, so if you have any tips for me, please share away!

To convention or not to convention? That is the question. Pop Culture Conventions are still pretty new to me. In my 4 years as a published author I've been to exactly 4 of them, though technically you could say that I've been to the same one four times because I've only ever tried representing myself at the Sugar City Con right here in Mackay.

#ariel #Convention #Indie Writer #pop culture #S.K Munt #Sugar city con #the little mermaid #Tony Amendola #will kostakis

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silvino32mills · 6 years ago

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How to Get Products to Review on Your Blog

The post How to Get Products to Review on Your Blog appeared first on ProBlogger.

This post is based on Episode 178 of the ProBlogger podcast.

Whether your blog is all about reviewing products or you want to review them occasionally, it’s not always easy to get your hands on them.

I faced this problem in my early blogging days when I ran a camera review blog.

Back then I used seven strategies to get products to review. Some might seem fairly obvious, but others may well be things you haven’t considered.

I’ll come onto those in a moment. But first, let’s take a look at why you might want to write reviews.

Why it’s a Great Idea to Write Reviews on Your Blog

I started my camera review blog by accident when I posted a 300-word review of a camera I was using. I didn’t expect much from that particular post. But I quickly learned that reviews are fantastic.

People search for reviews to get advice on purchases they’re making. People find them useful – they’re grateful for them. I used to get emails from people saying, “Thank you for the review you wrote on this particular camera”. And those people often became long-term readers.

Of course, reviews can also be monetised if you use affiliate links. (And affiliate links in a review tend to convert quite well.)

Reviews are also great for getting conversations going. When you put your opinion of a product out there, other people respond – either to agree with you or to offer a different opinion.

So how do you actually get products to review? This can be a challenge when you’re just starting out, especially if you want to do a lot of reviews.

#1: Start With What You Already Have

I know this is obvious, but begin with the products or resources you’ve already purchased for yourself.

My first review was of my first (and at the time only) digital camera. After that, whenever I bought a new piece of gear I’d review it – a lens, a flash, an SD card, a memory card or something else.

#2: Borrow Products from Friends or Contacts

In those early days, any time a friend bought a new camera I’d ask if I could borrow it for a day or two.

It was amazing how many people not only agreed, but also started coming to me with their new gear because the word got out I was reviewing. Friends wanted to put their new piece of equipment in my hands so I could review it. They were interested in my opinion.

I was also part of a photography club, which opened up all sorts of possibilities for camera and gear to review. Could you join something similar for your own niche?

#3: Try Stores or Rental Places

When I was reviewing cameras back in 2004 and 2005 , manufacturers would send them out only to journalists – not bloggers.

So I asked myself, “Who has the cameras I want to review?” An obvious place was camera stores. I’d go in, introduce myself, and ask if I could borrow a camera to review in return for helping them build their online profile.

A lot of stores were really interested (and I suspect even more would be today). Lots of them let me take cameras away and review them, keeping my driver’s license or some other form of ID.

In my review, I’d link to them and write something like, “This camera was provided by Michael’s Camera Store, which is a Melbourn camera store.”

Who has the type of thing you want to review? It might be a store, or even a rental place. Later on we found a camera rental company that was willing to send cameras to us to review in return for a link on our blog.

#4: Pitch the Manufacturer or Distributor of the Product

Even if you don’t think you’ve got a big profile, you might be surprised how many manufacturers have review units they’ll happily lend you providing your audience is on topic for them.

Try going to trade shows or similar. In Australia, I went to trade shows for the photographic industry and meet the manufacturers or distributors. That was another way we were lent cameras to review.

When you pitch manufacturers, don’t just talk about how many readers you have. Talk about the type of readers you have. A targeted audience can be much more valuable than a big one.

#5: Consider Buying or Renting the Product You Want to Review

Because photography gear is expensive, I only bought products outright a few times. I did it with items that were coming out that:

I knew would be really popular

I was fairly confident I could make enough from the affiliate links to cover the purchase.

The option I used more often was to rent a camera for a week from a rental company. While there was still some cost involved, I could make that money back from the affiliate links.

#6: Ask Someone Else to Write a Review For You

I often emailed other bloggers to say, “Hey, I notice you’re using this particular camera. Would you mind writing 500 words on what you think about it?”

It’s amazing how many bloggers were willing to do that in exchange for some exposure.

A couple of times, friends who were hesitant to lend me their camera (see #2) offered to write a review from their own perspective.

I also found a journalist who wrote short reviews of cameras in a weekly supplement in one of our newspapers. He was happy to write two versions of each review and send us one to publish on our blog.

We also had some camera stores and rental companies write reviews for us.

Some people won’t want to write a post for you, but be more than willing to talk to you. For instance, one car blogger I knew had a blog about exotic cards. It was hard for him to get manufacturers to lend him cars to review. So he’d find people who already owned those cars, take his camera out and interview them in person.

#7: Aggregate Other People’s Reviews

I also looked at reviews other people were writing and aggregate some of them. I’d quote from their articles and link to them from my site.

I’d write a post called something like “The Canon Powershot A60: Reviews”. Then I’d list the key features, include a picture from the manufacturer of the camera, and write my thoughts about the features (who the camera might suit, what features might be missing, etc.)

Underneath that, I’d quote other reviewers. I only took one or two sentences from their review, and made it very clear it was a quote. I’d also link to the source of the quote.

Normally, I’d use two or three reviews of the camera and sum up the post with my own thoughts, picking up some of the themes of those reviews.

These days, you could also embed reviews from YouTube, which wasn’t an option back in 2005. For practically any product you can think of there’s a review on YouTube. And the creators are happy for you to embed their video on your site because it gives them more views and raises their profile.

Here’s a recap of the seven things you can try:

#1: Review the stuff you already own #2: Review stuff you can borrow from your friends or network #3: Look for places that will let you borrow the products you want to review #4: Pitch the manufacturers and distributors #5: Buy the product yourself #6: Ask other people to write reviews for you (or interview them) #7: Aggregate what other people are doing

If you’d like some help with actually writing the review itself, check out episode 140 of the ProBlogger podcast: How to Create a Review Post.

I’d love to hear your own thoughts on this, whether you write reviews regularly or just occasionally. How do you get products to review? What types of products do you focus on? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

The post How to Get Products to Review on Your Blog appeared first on ProBlogger.

from ProBlogger http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ProbloggerHelpingBloggersEarnMoney/~3/yx0wn49vDoI/

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preciousmetals0 · 5 years ago

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Who Needs Jobs?; Uber Eats $3 Billion Loss; Roku’s Still Boss

Who Needs Jobs?; Uber Eats $3 Billion Loss; Roku’s Still Boss:

Friday Four Play: The ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Edition

It’s official. The U.S. economy is in tatters … and Wall Street doesn’t seem to mind.

According to the Labor Department, the U.S. lost a record 20.5 million jobs in April. That’s roughly 25 times more lost jobs than in the worst month of the 2008 financial crisis.

Furthermore, the unemployment rate skyrocketed to 14.7% — the highest such reading since the Great Depression.

In short, the U.S. economy went from the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years to the worst in 50 years … in less than two months.

And what about that grand discussion that CNBC’s Jim Cramer said we would have today?

You know, how the report would be so bad that we’d debate “whether we’re in a serious recession or a depression?”

Yeah … that discussion ain’t happening, at least on Wall Street.

The market rallied in the face of today’s horrific jobs data. I think we can officially throw out any notion that Wall Street is in any way tied to the economy.

Great Stuff’s advice remains the same despite the market’s insanity: Hold gold, hold bonds and hold currencies with the majority of your investment capital.

After that, use what you can afford to lose to speculate on this insane market rally. There are opportunities to be had, but the market is in unprecedented territory right now. It’s a house of cards built on unfounded optimism that could tumble down at any moment.

However, you still have time to come out of this mess stronger than before. Experts like Matt Badiali have helped people just like you navigate irrational times and bear markets alike.

Click here to learn what he recommends you do before all else.

You have been warned.

And now for something completely different … here’s your Friday Four Play:

No. 1: Overreaction Opportunity

Roku Inc. (Nasdaq: ROKU) is up more than 40% since Great Stuff first recommended the shares roughly a year ago. Compared to the rest of the market, that’s a big win. But, if you missed the boat last year, don’t worry … the market has handed you an opportunity today!

Last night, Roku reported revenue and earnings that beat Wall Street’s expectations. The number of new Roku accounts surged 70% year over year, and streaming hours rose 48%. The company now sports nearly 40 million active accounts.

Looking ahead, Roku said it expects to report “substantial” ad revenue growth for fiscal 2020. However, the company warned that it saw “higher-than-normal cancellations as overall advertising budgets have declined.”

Mr. Wall Street decided to focus on that tidbit of info to send ROKU plummeting, giving you an opportunity for profit.

You see, ad companies are having trouble adjusting to the new cord cutting paradigm. They’re used to spending on traditional TV ads, and they’re pulling back ads without major blockbuster events, such as the NCAA tournament.

Once ad agencies realize their audience has migrated to streaming, ROKU will be front and center for their ad dollars. To put it another way, print media advertising went through a similar ordeal back in 2008. That ad money moved online as newspapers and magazines were finally pushed out in favor of online publications.

ROKU is doing the same thing to traditional TV, and it will pay off big for investors. So, if you haven’t taken a look at buying in (or adding to your stake) over the past year, today’s as good a time as any to shoot your shot.

No. 2: Uber Eats a $3 Billion Loss

OK, so it wasn’t exactly $3 billion. It was more like $2.9 billion, but potato, potahto … you get the point.

Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER) had more than a few “sins” to get off its chest in the earnings confessional last night.

The first was that $2.9 billion loss, which breaks down into $1.70 per share on an adjusted basis. It more than doubled Wall Street’s expected loss of $0.84 per share.

The next sin was that revenue came up $30 million short of the consensus estimate. Finally, gross bookings fell 5% at Uber’s ride-sharing unit, coming in below expectations at $10.87 billion.

So why did Uber stock rally today? Because of Uber Eats. The food delivery unit saw revenue surge 52% to $4.68 billion, beating analysts’ targets. Additionally, investors were keen on Uber’s cost-cutting measures, which include job cuts.

“We will not shy away from making short-term financial sacrifices where we see clear long-term benefits,” said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. (Say his name three times fast, I dare you.)

Wait a minute … where have I heard this before? Ah, right: This line has been one of Dara’s faves, word for word, ever since Uber first went public.

Editor’s Note: Investing in innovative IPOs? That has Paul Mampilly written all over it! Click here to see how Paul finds the perfect IPO.

No. 3: Cloud City Rich

For the longest time, Box Inc. (NYSE: BOX) and Dropbox Inc. (Nasdaq: DBX) were the two reigning cloud-storage kings. Typically, office workers and freelancers alike rely on Box and Dropbox to access work files easily from at home, the office or — bad habit alert — on vacation.

With the stay-at-home market, remote workers can now conveniently access all their data and projects from the living room, the kitchen, the shed out back … my, this truly is the work-from-anywhere revolution.

So, Mr. Worldwide, what’s up with Dropbox?

Today, Dropbox dropped, while Box barely dropped. Dropbox’s drop shows us that, even when you outbox Box, you can still get boxed in.

Dropbox posted its first ever quarterly profit. Earnings came in at $0.17 per share, beating analysts’ consensus estimate for $0.14 per share. The company brought in $455 million for the quarter, just squeezing by the projection for $452.2 million.

Better still, it still expects to turn a profit for the full year!

And what does Dropbox get for its dashing results? A 2% aftermarket rally that today’s trading almost immediately erased.

So what gives?

Dropbox even provided second-quarter guidance at a time when guidance is rare. The thing is, it didn’t meet Wall Street’s wishful thinking projections.

CEO Drew Houston still gave some much-needed optimism, though: “Certainly, a huge percentage of the world is being forced into a remote work state for the first time, but I think the effects of it will persist well beyond when we typically go back into the office.”

No. 4: Glasses Meet Camera

Now, with a mixed medley of earnings messes behind us, let’s have a quick tech talk.

Vuzix Corp. (Nasdaq: VUZI) is augmenting reality where reality was never augmented before.

Think of the geeky-looking privacy disaster that Google’s smart glasses turned out to be. But, instead of the bright scrolling news feed an inch from your eye (that no one asked for), Vuzix’s M400 Smart Glasses have joined the COVID-19 fight’s many front lines.

This week, news came out that health care workers can now use a version of Zoom specific for “telemedicine videoconferencing.” And here I thought the Jetsons had futuristic tech!

Even better, doctors and hospital workers are also using Vuzix’s glasses at Johns Hopkins Hospital’s intensive care ward to remotely carry out their rounds for quarantined COVID-19 patients. Doctors also said the glasses would help out with training and other hands-free patient monitoring.

VUZI shares are up big … relatively that is. Today’s 19% surge puts VUZI roughly 188% above its mid-March lows. You want to talk pre-crash levels? Psshh … before today, VUZI shares hadn’t traded past the $3 mark since the balmy days of July 2019.

And if you’ve never heard of Vuxiz before, I don’t blame you. Heck, Ian Dyer is the only other Banyan Hill analyst who I’ve seen cover the stock.

Vuzix is far from a household name, and it’s tiny. (How tiny is it?!) Today’s surge put the company’s entire market cap at just over $85 million.

A Great Stuff crowdfund could buy out the dang thing … I mean, in theory. Who wouldn’t want to own an augmented reality company? It’s sure more interesting than whatever else Snapchat is doing with augmented reality. Because the world really needs more puppy dog selfies…

Great Stuff: Weekend Rabble-Rousing

That just about wraps things up for this week of Great Stuff.

How are you holding up out there, dear reader?

How has the Great Reopening affected (or not affected) your neck of the world? Are you keeping yourself occupied?

If you’ve got a hankering to spin your story, write to us anytime at [email protected].

We always love hearing from you!

You can always hear more from us on Facebook and Twitter too.

Until next time, be Great!

Joseph Hargett

Editor, Great Stuff

0 notes

goldira01 · 5 years ago

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