Well, I've been back for over a week from Search Engine Strategies in San Jose, CA and I haven't been in my office for even a half day yet. I've been working on OrderMotion for GDS which rocks when it works and bites when it doesn't. (More on that when I'm done...)
I would have to say that SES2006 was the best week of my career. SES San Jose always sets the tone for the next year or so, but this year was just a little bit more for me, anyway...
First, I got a last minute invitation to the GooglePlex in Mountainview, CA, to be one of 16 folks at the first Google Webmaster Roundtable. I met some really cool Googlers, gave them blunt feedback about what I liked and didn't like, and I learned a whole bunch of cool stuff I can't blog or write about, but you'll find out REALLY soon!
Next, I ended up with a last minute speaking gig at SES in the P!MP MY SITE session. Holy Cow! Did I mention it was last minute? Like 30 minutes notice. And I got to wear a purple pimp outfit!
Embarrassing pictures of me are available at Mike Whitaker's blog. See his Yahoo! Store Blog - Pimp my Site post. (Thanks Mike & Jean!)
I got to share the SEW stage with fellow pimps including moderator Elisabeth Osmeloski, who is the Managing Editor, Search Engine Watch. Speakers included Jennifer Laycock of Search Engine Guide, Dax Herrera of WebGuerrilla, Heather Lloyd-Martin SuccessWorks, and Todd Friesen, a.k.a Oilman, of Range Online Media.
Featured in our PIMP MY SITE review was a very, very braveYahoo Store Owner , Peggy Li, who sells handmade jewelry, earrings, necklaces and unique beaded gemstone jewelry "as seen in Lucky Magazine."
My P!MP appearance turned into a stand-up presentation without the benefits of preparation or Powerpoint, but I think I did a good job representing Y! considering we covered Yahoo! Store for almost 30 minutes of the PIMP MY SITE presentation.
Finally, I had a great time in Sunnyvale, CA at the Yahoo! Store Developers Meeting. Special thanks to Mike & Jenny for accomodating all of us. Again, I signed this NDA so I can't reveal lots of cool, new stuff coming soon, but I think you'll like.
Ultimately, I think the folks at Yahoo understand that retailers need a strong developer base to help them sell more stuff because merchants are too busy selling to do their own development. And everyone wins when Yahoo! Small Business helps us help merchants sell more merchandise.
My take? Store developers need more marketing resources and specific help from Yahoo!, especially those of us out there beating the drum and promoting the Yahoo! Store platform to retailers and marketers on a national level.
I see ten or so folks out there pushing the Store product through DVDs, eBooks, webinars, seminars, speaking engagements, blogs, 3rd party software integration, feed services, (and even Dummies books) and we need help (yes, even more help!) from the big purple 25th letter of the alphabet.
End of rant. Give me a week or so, and I'll be back in full swing blogging, emailing, and calling folks back! Thanks, y'all!
Rob
Rob,
I saw your note about retailers needing a strong developer base to build tools to help them grow. Totally agree.
I wanted to bring another solution to merchant growth to your attention and hopefully get a conversation going with you.
Shipwire offers a U.S. and International Storage (warehouse) and Shipping (order fulfillment)solution for Yahoo! Stores.
We've found that many merchants are spending a huge amount of their time just doing order fulfillment and not focusing on sales, PPC and general business growth. There are reasonably priced options to completely outsource the hassle of order fulfillment.
Shipwire is just one option. To toot our horn a bit, I think we're a good option because:
1) Fully integrated with Yahoo! stores so merchants don't have to spend their time doing developement.
2) We offer multiple U.S. warehouses and help merchants with freight movement to geographically move inventory closer to the end buyer = HUGE shipping savings. Our blog has more on that.
3) We offer Canadian warehouses so that merchants can move inventory to Canada, clear customs in bulk and fulfill orders in Canada as if they were a local merchant.
4) Free Trial, No contracts and up front pricing that is very cost effective. http://www.shipwire.com/pricing
5) We have a partner program so that Yahoo! developers and designers can benefit from Shipwire as well http://www.shipwire.com/partners
I would be really interested in speaking with you further about your thoughts on merchant growth and what other tools you think Shipwire can offer to help merchants grow.
888-Shipwire (ask for Nate)
Thanks for the great blog content. Great to follow. Sorry to hear about your house!!!
Nate
Complete list of storage and shipping features for Yahoo! Store. http://help.shipwire.com/real-time-order-fulfillment-for-yahoo-stores-merchant-services/
Posted by: nate | Thursday, January 24, 2008 at 02:10 PM