Welcome to Simple Helix

WordPress 3.0 Has Arrived

• June 17th, 2010
• Posted in News, WordPress

WordPress 3.0 has just arrived on the scene — the thirteenth major release of the popular blogging software. It’s the result of six months of work from a total of 218 different contributors. You can download it now or upgrade from within your WordPress dashboard.

Finding Your Voice

• March 16th, 2010
• Posted in eCommerce, Magento, Tips

So we’ve talked before about the stigma that The Borg has created and how people are either hesitant to believe human contact now or they’re absolutely starving for it and can’t get enough of it.

But what does that mean to you, the business owner? The shop keeper?

Well, that depends.

We’ve come to realize, as we get a bit more seasoned in this industry, the positive aspects of a direct line of communication far outweigh the negatives. And, frankly, even the negative aspects provide us valuable learning tools and way to improve ourselves.

I ran across a great step-by-step today from ChaseSagum.com that helps you set-up a blog inside your Magento store. Now a blog and a store may be two different things in the mind of the average shop owner, but in reality? If you can stand the upkeep, it’s a GREAT enhancement.

I’ll show you what I’m talking about: go take a look at Superhero designs. Simple, clean, and direct, their site gives you two options: you can quickly access the Store and view the merchandise, or you can take a look at the behind-the-scenes goings-on in the Blog. And the best part of it .. your customers, who are NATURALLY thrilled with your product, can add your blog to their feed reader. And most feed readers today? Allow you to share links with your friends.

Let’s say that Superhero Designs decides that they’re prototyping a new piece of jewelry. They can put up some photos of designs in the blog, talk about how they came up with the new concept, and maybe even sponsor a giveaway. Customers who have subscribed to their RSS feed find out that day about the new piece. They share it with other friends, through Twitter or Google Reader or Facebook, and BAM! .. within a week of the blog post, Superhero Designs could conceivably have a new design on backorder before they’ve even got a prototype out.

I did mention the upkeep earlier, and that’s the ONLY consideration that may make you take pause before jumping in. It’s incredibly easy to let a blog sit stale because you don’t have an essay-long post drafted out yet. But that doesn’t have to .. and really, shouldn’t be .. the case. Your readers aren’t necessarily expecting a book every time you post; just a little reminder that you’re still there and you care that they’re reading will suffice.

And before you jump to any conclusions, Superhero Designs has no affiliation with us. I know about them because their blog was shared through a link in a feed reader, and I clicked through and fell in love with their jewelry. I’m living proof that a blog can lead to a sale.

So don’t be scared to have a voice. In most cases, it’s much quieter than you imagine out there, and it doesn’t take a yell to get noticed.