Making Youtube videos bend to your will

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clever youtube plugin

My friend Tony over at Clever Gizmos keeps building tools to use on his own websites. He sees an issue, looks for a solution, and then if one doesn’t exist – he builds it himself.

Note: I have zero problem being an affiliate – I do affiliate sales on this and other websites.
But I am not an affiliate for this product. I just think this plugin kicks ass, and I’m putting this post up for my readers.

The Clever Youtube Plugin kicks ass. So much so that I use it on this site, and on ALL of my WordPress sites. It generates a shortcode that you paste into your post or page to display the video. So what’s the big deal?

  • First, check out the sentence below -” This is a custom video caption”
  • Now hit the little plus sign – nice
  • Now look at the text overlay on the video – “Check out the Clever Youtube Plugin in just 1:45″
  • Go ahead and watch the video

This is a custom video caption

Check out the Clever Youtube Plugin in just 1:45

It does all the above and more. And it does it flawlessy. Really clean design, and integrated my favorite way – on a post by post basis, with  a collapsible menu so it is out of the way when you don’t need it.

Tony kicks ass, and so do his products. If you want to see how your videos can kick ass, head over to his site and get more information…

Ecommerce Update – March 8th, 2013

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Twenty-Thirteen Theme Header

Welcome to another edition of Ecommerce Update. Here’s what we have for you this time:

  • We’ll peek under the hood of WordPress 3.6 and jump over to the demo site to oogle all the goodies.
  • We have the motherload of ecommerce infographics for you. I love these things – forget the debate on whether or not they are good marketing, or if the links they generate will be deprecated. I just like the way they cram so much information in small spaces.
  • Finally, we’ll peek under the hood of a working ecommerce site re-design. This one is big – take notes, because this guy knows his stuff, and isn’t afraid to share it.

WordPress 3.6 launching in April 2013 – take a peek!

Wordpress 3.6Image: WPMU.org

We have some exciting news for those of you that like to use WordPress for your sites: WordPress 3.6 Elvin! Take a look at the image above – they have finally made Post Formats part of the posting process, instead of a pain in the ass. Other notable updates:

  • Enhancement of the post revisions feature make it simpler to go back to earlier versions
  • Auto-Save (duh, finally)
  • Post Locking

And as always, a new WordPress Theme – 2013. The focus with 2013 is personal blogging. Makes sense considering the kinds of updates they did. Click here to go to the 2013 demo site.

Eyecandy: The Ultimate Ecommerce Infographic Collection

Sherrie Rohde from sweettoothrewards.com has put together a really nice resource here. Kudos to Sherrie – I know this took a while.

ecommerce infographics

An Ecommerce Site Design Done Right

Next up – a fantastic redesign report via Andrew over at EcommerceFuel. Andrew took one of his stores apart and rebuilt it with simplicity, user engagement, and real customer service at the forefront of the design. The result?

Conversion Rate: Increased 48.0%
Avg. Order Value: Increased 32.3%

Avg. Time on Site: Increased 29.1%
Bounce Rate: Decreased by 10.7%

ecommercefuel Category Pages

Do yourself a favor and pop over to EcommerceFuel and learn how to make more money from the traffic you already have.  This is what it’s really about – actual marketing, not SEO tricks, and not the latest website bells and whistles.

5 Essential Tips for Using Email Marketing to Increase your Ecommerce Store Revenue

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email marketing to increase store sales

Should I really email my customers? Isn’t it just spam? Is it worth the time? Too many eCommerce stores don’t take full advantage of email marketing; butif you’re only sending the occasional email newsletter, you’re missing a major opportunity for your store and an opportunity to improve your customers’experiences. Based on my work at Klaviyo [...] Read more »

Friday Night TV

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SEOmoz SEO guide

We’ll start with a visit to a basic SEO page on SEOmoz. Rand Fishkin gives us a pretty decent overview and that’s nice – but the real gold lies in what is under the video. We’ve got a lot of resources there, including: Beginner’s Guide to SEO SEO Web Directory List The Web Developer’s SEO [...] Read more »

A DIY Standing Desk the Grabapple Way

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multi-monitor standing desk

If you are any kind of a tech reader, you’ve seen the numerous studies lately pointing out how sitting all day leads to premature death. While there are indications that this can ameliorated to some extent with exercise, why not take the extra step and stop sitting so damn much? I n my case, I have to get up and move [...] Read more »

Friday Night TV – a mix of work and fun

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retro-television

Reggie Watts disorients you in the most entertaining way Reggie Watts’ beats defy boxes. Unplug your logic board and watch as he blends poetry and crosses musical genres in this larger-than-life performance. TEDxBlue – Angela Lee Duckworth, Ph.D – 10/18/09 True Grit: Can Perseverance be Taught? Dr. Angela Lee Duckworth is an Assistant Professor of [...] Read more »

Ecommerce Update – Feb 22nd 2013

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Melanie Duncan

In this week’s update, we take a look at Zappo’s attempt to deal with a store that is just too freaking big, we pick up some free icons for our ecommerce sites, and  we listen in on a chat with Melanie Duncan, one of a new breed of businesswomen online who is crushing it. Glance Is Zappos’s [...] Read more »