Startup Revolution

New Ecommerce Trends
New Ecommerce: Search For Blue Oceans is about the disruptive impact smartphones, ubiquitous connection and retailer innovation are creating in ecommerce.

• Smartphones and ubiquitous connection to the web
• Impact of videos and unboxing creating “gift box retailers”
• Social Shopping and slouching toward real-time
• Buying personas, web analytics & dynamic personalization
• Google and the New SEO where content is KING and social content QUEEN
   

 http://www.curagami.com/new-ecommerce-5-crucial-trends/?v=7516fd43adaa 

I became a testing junkie to defeat HIPPOs. We riff a Tommy Walker Shopify post sharing why SMBs & online merchants should be testing junkies too.

Web Marketing Secrets
Want to know how we made over $30M online? Read our BOOKS and contribute your favorite Internet marketing reads in our new Curagami Book Store:

http://www.curagami.com/books.html

Send your favorite reads to martin(at)Curagami.com

Amazon is a monster, but SMBs & smaller merchants can compete playing David to Amazon's Goliath. We discuss online marketing tactics to compete with Amazon.

Bitcoin, Ecommerce, Money & Value Systems
In three posts I've tried to understand how Bitcoin changes ecommerce:

Bitcoin, Money & Value Systems (on G+)
https://plus.google.com/102639884404823294558/posts/YLFe4ow4rok

Bitcoin Manifesto (on @Scoop.it)
http://sco.lt/8SkV4D

And this post about Bitcoin and #startups. Bitcoin as infrastructure could change everything from online ecommerce to how we pay for groceries and a coke from a vending machine.

Sure the infrastructure to achieve such a vision is largely lacking presently, but it wasn't that long ago we didn't have an Internet either. Here is how I'm going to tune my Bitcoin radar:

* Learn how to install Bitcoin commerce (nothing is easy now, but first movers will get huge benefits).
* Understand how and where Bitcoin could create the greatest impact such as http://www.curagami.com client http://www.moon-audio.com.
* Understand how Bitcoin's platform could connect to other major trends such as social, mobile and connection.

The reason I want to understand how to install Bitcoin commerce is 1. It Ain't Easy Now and 2. Customers with large international buying groups could benefit the most and the fastest. Moon-Audio sells their magical audio cables all over the world. What they've been lacking is an easy way to safely sell around the world.

if there is even a tiny chance Bitcoin can fill those shoes I'm interested and a student. If anyone reading this has resources about how to install Bitcoin commerce please share.

Ecommerce is full of potential costly blunders. This Curagami post and Haiku Deck explains how to avoid 5 common and easy to fix ecommerce blunders.

Why Do People LOVE & HATE Startups?
Biggest startup haters? Answer: Other Startups. To be fair the VAST majority of fellow startups at the American Tobacco Campus and American Underground are AWESOME and HELPFUL.

Some have been abusive and mean. We got to thinking about what might be making some fellow #startups so snarky and angry. We think it may be the process.

This post shares the strange WALK THIS WAY undercurrent inside the startup ecosysem and wonders if David Amerland's New Value System might "beat the dogs" less and accomplish more.

We've been down this road so many times in life. Going to football camp as a kid first thing everyone had to know was if you could get hit. The next thing everyone wanted to know was could YOU hit. So much testosterone so little time (lol).

Why do you think people love or hate startups? Share your experiences and I will curate into the post. Thanks and have a great weekend. Marty

Curagami & The Ecommerce Revolution Played Triangle Startup Factory's Pitchday today discussing how how to fix ecommerce marketing with Curagami.

Why SoundCloud Will ROCK E-commerce . SoundCloud's Social Network for Sounds Do a test with me. Look at the REI tent product page picture above for 3

Blog Stores
I'm a little more than halfway through adding a +WooCommerce store to Curagami (you can see the bones of it here: http://www.Curagami.com ). This link is to a GPlus post that shares first impressions after three days work: 
https://plus.google.com/+MartinWSmith/posts/TJKMtdDqoUj 

Curagami's needs a Chief Technical Officer because right brain marketers with no great left brainer CTO and we get lost (and vice versa). Great CTO's apply today! 

Learn more here
http://www.curagami.com/chief-technical-officer-needed/  

On “Charlie Rose,” Deena Varshavskaya, founder and chief executive officer at Wanelo. The online social media app connects millions of consumer with some of the biggest brands, as well as the tiniest of independent boutiques.

Marty Note
Listening to WaNeLo's founder discuss her experience raising money and goals for her social shopping company made me realize I was listening to the sound of a clean slate brand. Wanelo is the first salvo in the "social shopping" wars sure to erupt.

Rose asks a good question, "Why won't Twitter and Facebook follow your lead?" They will and Deeena's best defense is a good offense. I signed up for Wanelo and its an intriguing play that couldn't exist without smart phones.

There's "mobile first" and then there is a company like Wanelo who is conceived and could only be possible with mobile. When Deena mentioned that more than 80% of their traffic is mobile my heart skipped a beat and I realized how clean slate this affiliate money play really is.

By mashing up retailers and accepting affiliate money Wanelo has to create a fun and exciting interface. They are about half way there. The way you create your store with swiping is cool and a #muststeal idea, but there is little more to recommend or hold interest currently.

Rose asked all the right questions about WHY and being first is a big recommendation, but not the only thing needed to survive. The UI is worth some money and their more than a million young followers are worth a lot too. Deena correctly locates the biggest challenge in today's market - getting people to love and interact with your content NOT mining or creating some unique Intellectual Property (IP) that can be protected and held over others.

Wanelo walks into social shopping, creates a "game console" using smart phones and will probably be adding gamification soon (if they are half as smart as they seem) and there is the first mover advantage. Important interview about the future of "social shopping".

Two years ago, we published a two-part post on social media marketing safety with Internet marketer, curator, cancer survivor, entrepreneur and Friend of Paper.li, Marty Smith.

Well, guess what? Marty is back. And this time, he will share his journey and thoughts on entrepreneurship, e-commerce, social media and how his battle against cancer has shaped his thinking.

Why Content Curation Is Coming To B2C Merchants
In Curagami's 2nd guest blog post @Cendrine Marrouat - https://www.cendrinemedia.comshares 7 Content Curation Tips online merchants must know including:

• Definition of content curation.
• Why content curation?
• Benefits of content curation.
• Ideas to leverage content curation.
• Examples of content to curate.
• Tips to become a great content curator
• Some curators to follow

http://www.curagami.com/featured/content-curation-7-things-merchants-must-know/

Wiki-ization of Marketing: Moving From Brands To Communities
1,342 views

As digital marketing becomes more about communities and less about control Wiki-like meritocracy is taking over.
http://shar.es/1nMGyS

Invisible Giant: Why the new SEO Is So Hard To See
2,317 views

The new SEO is being obscured by the social / mobile web, Google changes and the rapidly changing nature of content marketing & curation.
http://shar.es/1nM6nl

Tomorrow's Ecommerce Today
1,318 views

Is it possible to design tomorrow's ecommerce website today? Yes
http://shar.es/1nM6rX

Help A Startup Over The 4th of July Holiday
If you have 15 minutes you can help a startup over the 4th. We are trying to keep this, our first, ASK to 15 minutes or less. Click 3 links and answer 3 questions and your feedback will help a startup!

Will post our landing page link as soon as we finish making it (lol). In the meantime checkout our Evolution of Web Design & Marketing infographic: http://www.Curagami.com .

Is Durham Roketbolt's conversational popunder with a Quid pro quo ask better than ubiquitous GIVE US YOUR EMAIL blasting happening now? Yes, here's why...

If after a grinding six months of work you'd told me I would be able to create an ecommerce store in 5 days for FREE (other than my time) I would have said you were crazy. Turns out I did just that over the last four sleepless nights.

The BIG lesson from launching the Story of Caner Store (every dollar raised goes to help the Story of Cancer Foundation and projects such as http://www.curecancerstarter.org) is EVERY business should have a "new ecommerce" store.

Stores provide SEO, branding and customer engagement benefits. If you can achieve ONE of those three things for little of no investment wouldn't you? Most Internet marketing teams would say YES.

I would too.

Hope you will shop the Story of Cancer Store this weekend and appreciate your support. There are some rough edges still, so comment or email MartinSelllingZoe(at)aol and I will fix.

http://storyofcancer.gostorego.com/