Wednesday, September 20, 2023
I continue to research a new business idea, WiredCreators. Earlier this year I registered the domain wiredcreators.com, created Facebook and Instagram accounts using the same name and began thinking about how to make the idea unique.
I continue to think MarylandBloggers.com should have worked, however decided the naming convention may have been limiting and not reflective of the type of content now being created. I wanted content creators from Maryland not just bloggers.
How am I trying to make WiredCreators unique? The business areas my plan covers.
- Promotion
- Creators
- Related Service Areas
- Service Areas Include
- Video Production
- Photography
- Writers
- Digital Editing Experts (Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, Lightroom, Active Presenter, etc.)
- Unique Content Ideas For Specific Clients
- Worldwide Base
This evening I was playing around with PowerPoint and put together a draft business plan for WiredCreators. I exported the plan as an animated gif.
I am looking at the numbers and researching quite a bit for this project. I think I have a plan that can work. I need to find experts and professionals in some of these areas however, I do tend to generate a lot of notice.
Areas I can cover, software for a searchable database of service related experts. Competent individuals that can really go in and look at what makes a client unique and marketable, seems a little hard right now. Sometimes it seems people are being told who they are. This business needs to ask who you are. What makes you different? Does anyone do that anymore?
Monday, September 18, 2023
On Friday, September 15, 2023, I noticed for the first time that the New York Times Hardcover Bestsellers lists on the WiredPages Libraries page were out of sync.
For some reason, I thought the New York Times updated their hardcover bestsellers list late Saturdays to be ready for the Sunday edition. It turns out the new bestsellers are released each week on Wednesdays at 5:00 PM.
Why, had I never looked this up before last Friday? Because I am a programmer who relied solely on API feeds for the real time dynamic information used on most areas of the WiredPages News Service.
Why can I no longer rely on those real time API feeds? Though I can rely on the New York Times API (the list in the sidebar without the book cover images), Amazon's Associate resources for programmers have undergone many changes- restricting a lot of the access programmers using those resources once had.
So why did I update my Amazon Affiliate Links Database for the NY Times Bestsellers a moment ago and provide the updated information here...
For the week of: 9/18/2023
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As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
... in this blog post and not the WiredPages Libraries page? Because over the weekend, I decided I was not happy about my site visitation numbers in a number of areas and thought I would stop thinking about it and watch movies instead (also watched a little football, cooked, etc.).
I thought these movies (all new to me) great for the weekend distraction I wanted.
- Deadfall
- Headhunters (I loved the subtitles for this Norwegian thriller).
- Eastern Promises
Okay, where was I? My last post touches on some of the issues that seem to be at odds with my visitation data and I am frustrated. Visitation data impacts my access to the Amazon Product Advertising API (real time Amazon Products data) and the ads I run.
I cannot explain why the numbers are not syncing up. I would love for DOJ to respond.
P.S. I will update the WiredPages Libraries page on Wedenesday, after 5:00 PM and each Wednesday after that, with the new release of bestsellers- until my access to the Amazon Product Advertising API is restored.
Friday, September 15, 2023
Recently, I think because of an uptick in blog posts- I noticed the numbers from the header bidding resource I integrated on areas of qisoftware.com in October 2018 began to show an increase.
Based on the information in this IAB Tech Lab discussion Why the ‘OWNERDOMAIN’ & ‘MANAGERDOMAIN’ fields are important
additions to ADS.TXT...
... I added (late September 13, 2023) the following lines to my ads.txt file as illustrated below.
My sellers.json file was left unchanged.
After updating the qisoftware.com ads.txt file the analysis resource offered by sellers.guide for my domain, qisoftware.com changed as noted below.
Just for information, how my Google Adsense and header bidding resource
(UAM) accounts report my seller
information...
On September 14, 2023, my header bidding numbers decreased to ZERO and today, though still early, the numbers appear to be headed in the same direction (ZERO).
My header bidding numbers are now zero after updating my ads.txt file. It also appears someone else is selling my ad space. Maybe I should not have done all of my site's ad integrations, however it seemed pretty straight forward after lots of research. What am I missing?
Reference discussions about QiSoftware advertising resources and integrations:
Sunday, September 10, 2023
When it comes to graphics for content creation, sites, or presentations I have to rely on my own non artistic abilities.
That said, I developed Graphical User Interfaces for programs using C and the X-Window platform on Unix and DEC systems. This allowed me to screengrab program interfaces and incorporate the captured images in my user's guides and software product specifications.
Today, I continue to use a lot of screengrabs when creating content, however mainly because I think graphics explain more easily what I wish to convey.
In addition to screengrabs, I use fonts to try to assist with graphics I
need for my sites. For instance, the following illustration shows two graphics
files I created using only fonts.
When I do need to use a graphic, I use several versions of old software called Corel Gallery. I like this software because it offers vector data files for most of the elements in each package. Vector data allows for easier manipulation of the graphics files. Bit map graphics are like GIF, PNG, or Jpeg files. Vector graphics are transformed and un-grouped if the need arises without losing data. Examples of vector graphics files are Windows metafiles (WMF) and Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM).
In addition, especially with the technological advancements of digital cameras, I take and use a lot of photos.
What else do I use for graphics and content creation? Latest releases of Microsoft Office products and an older Microsoft product called ImageComposer.
Now- we come to why I am posting. In my opinion, ImageComposer is so powerful, I thought I did need anything else for graphics except PowerPoint to manipulate vector graphics files. That said, the program is older and it only supports bit map or raster graphics files (not vector graphics files).
Then I noticed several Instagram reels showing tricks for PowerPoint and I decided to start playing around. I can do a lot of the tricks with ImageComposer, and really do not have the time to play a lot with graphics, however, I do think these tricks are useful. If like me- you do all of your own graphics work- you may want to play around with an office copy of PowerPoint (a copy you can check out, do not want you to get in trouble).
I created a new video showing some of the neat things PowerPoint offers.
Tuesday, September 05, 2023
Yesterday, while researching for the WiredCreators project I noticed two videos I thought interesting so I decided to share.
The first video, an Instagram reel- demonstrates a useful PowerPoint trick that I think is handy for content creators.
I tested this trick and found I had to make a small adjustment to handle
irregular spacing with the original proportional font I used, instead using a
fixed width font. The results of my test...
The second video, is about a DoorDash delivery guy who is using an electric
e-bike for the first time to make his deliveries.
The guy is funny, however what I really liked was his e-bike. So much so, that I researched and found a lighter, folding version by the same brand and added it to my Just Want store. The e-bike was rated so well- that I also added it to the Gift Ideas store.
Items discussed in this post (showing the entire Microsoft Professional Suite of Office Tools which includes PowerPoint):
Friday, September 01, 2023
When I first decided (September 2021) to go online with my own ecommerce shop WiredShops I was very excited about the prospect. The entry I posted as a new shop owner.
I had several limiting factors:
- Website cost
- Domain Registration Costs
- Hosting
- Custom Site Design
- Listing Products
- Inventory Costs
- Time Available For This New Business Activity
I cannot say this online shop is a failure, because I love the fact I own it and my cost to own is/was very low.
The time it took to populate the shop was expensive and I use the API service offered by my drop shipper which is not as straight forward as I would like. I did not use a service like Shopify, which in most cases has an associated cost, whereas the API does not- other than my time. Coming up to speed on the OpenCart software was not as time consuming.
That said, I have only had one sale and that- because I asked a relative to ensure my cart/payment hookups were working. They are.
I also tested with the Paypal sandbox cart however, sometimes the results seemed to vary, the reason I tested with an actual sale. I believe there is unlawful interference with this business venture. I have asked DOJ to look into this.
- I registered the wired-shops.com for about $10 a year. wiredshops.com was available, however a lot more expensive.
- I installed the custom OpenCart site design myself.
- I decided drop shipping- at the time, was a more cost effective solution.
- The actual inventory acquisition costs were low.
So why have I decided to revisit my efforts in this area?
Lately, I have made a lot of garden salads and decided I needed a salad spinner.
I checked with my drop shipper and found a spinner I thought would also be
perfect for my online shop. Now, keep in mind, I have done some research since
the pandemic and knew shipping costs had been affected by the global issue and
then more recently- inflation rates. So I was sort of prepared for the new
shipping rates. Are you, if you are thinking about opening a shop?
