Cyberwalker Blog

Best WordPress hosting? Take a look at Convesio

Convesio is worth a look for web entrepreneurs

If you’re looking for extremely good WordPress hosting, you have a lot of web hosts to pick from. You could try some standard-issue hosts, but honestly, most people who review the various web hosts for speed, reliability, and value will reasonably choose Convesio.

To start you can deploy Convesio’s scalable, high-speed infrastructure in under a minute and you don’t need to pay a server administrator to get it done for you. That is because Conversio’s is an award-winning high-performance and managed WordPress platform that is well priced, well managed, and offers unparalleled support.

Why Convesio?

If you run a website with WordPress, you know that you need so basics from your webhosting to be successful. Here are thee reasons why Convesio will fit the bill.

1) No slow website: A slow website never gets ranked by Google. So hosting your WordPress site with Conversio means you can expect a speedy response. You won’t have to spend money with a technical webmaster to get your site to perform to Google specifications. Convesio is a web host that will deliver on that basic webmaster requirement.

2) Easy to deploy: Webmasters know that when your site runs on a slow performance web hosting service that you can save a bunch of money by then you spend it again with your technical webmaster to optimize your site for speed. Convesio provides the tools to eliminate the need to have a technical expert adjust the site for speed and performance.

3) Scalability: When your site has to respond to a surge in traffic as your business grows you want it to stay live and not crash because of your success. This stability is a critical feature that needs to be provided by your web host. Convesio hits the mark on this as well.

Click here to learn more about Convesio

4 ways to drastically improve email open rates

If you poke around you’ll find average email marketing rates run 10% to 15% on average. You might think it would be hard to adjust your strategy to get higher rates of say 20% to 25%. What if I told you you could improve email open rates and get 40% to 50%? Here are four tips to drastically improve your open email open rates.

1) Use Provocative Titles: Write a subject line that asks a question, suggests an opportunity or causes curiosity. Like: “The most common mistake that hurts your business” or “The one thing even professionals sometimes miss” or “Are you making this revenue-killing mistake?” Just make sure that the title fits the content in the email otherwise you’ll train your subscribers not to trust the content you put out.

2) Be Generous and Give Value: Give your subscribers maximum value in your email by providing them with information assets or downloadable that make them excited to receive your emails. Selling is taking, so give more than your sell.

3) Personalize Your Emails: Email is an intimate exchange so address your subscribers by their first name where possible and make them feel you are talking to them and not a massive group of subscribers.

4) Purge your inactive subscribers Use your email platform to check to see if a person has opened your emails in the previous 3-6 months, if they haven’t put them on a re-engagement funnel and if they do not respond take them off your list. This email list sanitization process will keep the list active and your engagement levels high.

Find a machine learning icon

As a marketing agency (Cyberwalker Digital), we often find ourself on the front end of new and emerging businesses helping them establish their brands, their content marketing, and their digital marketing strategy. But when a client is in a relatively new product or service space, as the machine learning consultant Bitstrapped.com is, sometimes it can be challenging to help them find content and art that is royalty free. So it was when we went looking for machine learning icons. We wanted a simple monochrome icon that was immediately recognizable.

Which machine learning icons to use?

There are a lot of stock services out there that offer icons. Our first stop is almost always BigStock.com, which is one of the more affordable stock image agencies online. The have a number of usable machine learnng icons at https://www.bigstockphoto.com/search/machine-learning-icon/

The feature image on this post above is from BigStock.com. Here is one one we we like below. It has been modified by us from the original (which is found here). BigStock charges a month fee for royalty-free use of its images and icons.

machine learning icon 500px x 520 px
machine learning icon JPEG 500px x 520 px


Free machine learning icons and images

There are several free to use stock image sites that contain machine learning images. Some require attrbution so be sure to check the rules before you download any icons or images.

Pixabay.com

Pixabay.com is perhaps the best stock image site that has useable machine learning icons and some free high quality images that relate to machine learning. There are few circuits in brains type icons that are highly usable. Click here. Here is an example from Pixabay. If you choose to use these be sure to get them directly from Pixabay (images below are linked to Pixabay) and follow any rules for usage that the site requires.

This Pixabay brain image that contains circuits is a machine learning icon (vector) and can be found here and is free for commercial use and does not require attribution.

Image from Pixabay – JPEG – circuits in brain

This Pixabay image below can be found here and is free for commercial use and does not require attribution.

Pixabay machine learning image
Pixabay machine learning image PNG – – blue background

Pexels.com

Pexels.com is a stock image site that has an enormous amount of free high-quality images and some icons that could be used in a machine learning context. Click here

Unsplash.com

Unslplash.com is like the other free stock image sites has an enormous amount of free high-quality images that could be useful on a site that needs machine learning images. Not any real icon collections though. Click here

Rev.com’s speech to text services put to the test

Review: We had Rev.com convert Peter Gabriel’s Games Without Frontiers music video using speech to text; here is what we got back

If you’re a savvy content marketer–or writer of any kind for that matter–who creates great content for your websites or publications, then you’re likely to be looking for super-efficient ways to cut down on writing time. One way to do that is to use an automated transcription service to convert voice to text files.

We often use Rev.com in our writing work. There are more services out there (Temi.com, Otter.ai, etc) Rev.com is what our household uses in our businesses usually. My wife Kay Walker is a personal growth book ghostwriter and I’m a writer, producing books and blogs, and digital marketing strategist among other things.

The speech-to-text candidate I used on Rev.com for this review was the audio from a music video of Peter Gabriel’s 1980s hit Games Without Frontiers.

No the chorus is not ‘She’s so popular‘

I chose that video because primarily when I heard it years ago during the 1980s I thought the chorus, sung by Kate Bush, was: She’s so pop-u-lar. Nope. Kate is singing “Jeux sans frontieres”, the French translation of the lyric “games without frontiers”. The audio is also nice and clean. For speech to text translation purposes there are two speakers in the audio: Bush sings the falsetto chorus and Gabriel sing-talks the verses. So it seems like a fairly straightforward job with some quirks.

For the record, here is the video, and below it is the actual accurate lyrics as provided by MusixMatch:

Hans plays with Lotte, Lotte plays with Jane
Jane plays with Willi, Willi is happy again
Suki plays with Leo, Sacha plays with Britt
Adolf builts a bonfire, Enrico plays with it
It's a knockout
If looks could kill, they probably will
In games without frontiers-war without tears
Games without frontiers-war without tears
Jeux sans frontieres
Jeux sans frontieres
Jeux sans frontieres
Andre has a red flag, Chiang Ching's is blue
They all have hills to fly them on except for Lin Tai Yu
Dressing up in costumes, playing silly games
Hiding out in tree-tops shouting out rude names
It's a knockout
If looks could kill they probably will
In games without frontiers-wars without tears
If looks could kill they probably will
In games without frontiers-war without tears
Games without frontiers-war without tears
Jeux sans frontieres
Jeux sans frontieres
Jeux sans frontiere

How Rev.com fared in our Games Without Frontiers Speech to Text showdown

Rev.com’s automated speech-to-text service produced a dismal translation, which the human service as pretty darn good.

  • Compared to the MusixMatch standard, the automation missed about half the words and produced a lot of “inaudible” annonations, mostly Kate Bush’s French-worded chorus.
  • The cost for the 4:02 minute video using automation-only speech to text conversion was $1.25 USD for 5 minutes or $025 USD per minute.
  • The service rounded up to the next minute so even thought the original file was 4:02 minutes, we were charged for 5 minutes, which seems a bit greedy.

Have a look at the output below:

Rev.com automated speech to text translation of Games Without Frontiers

Speaker 1 (00:34):
[inaudible]

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Plays with Jane really, really is happy. Again. Suki plays with Sasha raised with Brit and plays with it.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
[inaudible]

Speaker 2 (01:18):
If it looks good In games without frontiers wall, without games, without or without

Speaker 1 (01:59):
[inaudible]

Speaker 2 (01:59):
Andre hazardous flag, Cheyenne blue, they all have Hills to fly them all. Except for dressing up in costumes, playing city games out in the tree tops, shouting out rude names.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
[inaudible]

Speaker 2 (02:42):
It looks good in games without Raul without two years In games without about two years.

Rev.com’s human speech to text service:

When I upgraded Rev.com’s human speech to text service ($6.25 for 5 minutes) it (he/she?) did a very good job of translating Gabriel’s Games Without Frontiers with only a couple of missing words in the final transcript. Primarily the word “with” was missing in a few lines of the song. An example? See below, in red.

Hans plays with Lotte, Lotte plays [with] Jane.

On this version, we told the service ahead of time (because it asked) that the primary speaker was Peter Gabriel up front, and it guessed (or researched) Kate Bush as the second speaker. Impressive!

And, it successfully interpreted the falsetto French chorus by Bush as “jeux sans frontieres” beating our own teenage interpretation of “she’s so popular“.

Take a look:

Rev.com’s human-assisted speech to text translation of Games Without Frontiers

Kate Bush:
Jeux sans frontieres. Jeux sans frontieres. Jeux sans frontieres. Jeux sans frontieres.

Peter Gabriel:
Hans plays with Lotte, Lotte plays Jane. Jane plays with Willi, Willi is happy again. Suki plays Leo. Sacha plays with Britt. Adolf builds a bonfire. Enrico plays with it.

Peter Gabriel:
Whistling tunes, we hide in the dunes by the seaside.

Peter Gabriel:
Whistling tunes, we're kissing baboons in the jungle. It's a knockout.

Peter Gabriel:
If looks could kill, they probably will, in games without frontiers, war without tears. If looks could kill, they probably will, in games without frontiers, war without tears. Games without frontiers, war without tears.

Kate Bush:
Jeux sans frontieres. Jeux sans frontieres. Jeux sans frontieres.

Peter Gabriel:
Andre has a red flag, Chiang Ching's is blue. They all have hills to fly them on except for Lin Tai Yu. Dressing up in costumes, playing silly games. Hiding out in treetops, shouting out rude names.

Peter Gabriel:
Whistling tunes, we hide in the dunes by the seaside.

Peter Gabriel:
Whistling tunes, we piss on the goons in the jungle. It's a knockout.

Peter Gabriel:
If looks could kill, they probably will, in games without frontiers, war without tears. If looks could kill, they probably will, in games without frontiers, war without tears. Games without frontiers, war without tears.

Kate Bush:
Jeux sans frontieres. Jeux sans frontieres. Jeux sans frontieres. Jeux sans frontieres. Jeux sans frontieres. Jeux sans frontieres. Jeux sans frontieres. Jeux sans frontieres. Jeux sans frontieres. Jeux sans frontieres. Jeux sans frontieres.

TL;DR (Too long; Didn’t read)

The bottom line:

  • Rev.com automated speech-to-text translation did a dismal job of outputting Peter Gabriel’s music video Games Without Frontiers from speech to text.
  • The company’s human transcription service did a far better job, but at five times the price.
  • Overall we’ll keep using the service, but will be looking at others to compare.

Try Rev.com for yourself: Click here

What is Shopify?

If you have been hearing about Shopify and wondering what it is, then here’s your answer:

We’ve answered as many questions as we can about the ecommerce platform, and we are adding more answers each week. Read on to get your question answered about Shopify. Or ask your own question about using the resources in this post.

What is Shopify?

Shopify is a cloud-based ecommerce store platform used by businesses (and many entrepreneurs) to set up online shops that can sell almost anything. You can visit the company using this link.

Where can I get an online demo of Shopify?

You can register for a free 14-day trial of Shopify to test it for yourself using this link.

How did the company get started?

Shopify was a privately owned Canada-based ecommerce company located in Ottawa, Ontario (in eastern Canada), that developed and maintained software to make it easy for online stores owners to sell their products on the web and via retail point-of-sale systems.

According to Wikipedia, the company was founded in 2004 by Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand, and Scott Lake after attempting to open a store they called Snowdevil. The online shop was initially based on software written by the company founders and became the basis for Shopify. The company says it has 1,700,000 businesses in approximately 175 countries using its platform as of May 2021.

Shopify went public on May 21, 2015 and is trades on the NYSE with the ticker symbol SHOP (info) and on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE) with the symbol SH.

Who is Shopify designed for?

Shopify’s market ranges from SOHO entrepreneurs to major businesses that want to operate online stores. It is versatile enough to build a quick store from a template through to a highly customized multi-national, multi-lingual platform enterprise ecommerce operation.

What are Shopify’s strengths?

Here is a series of great features offered on the Shopify platform:

  • Shopify is cloud-based so it can be run from any web browser connected to the Internet.
  • The ecommerce platform has a robust easy to use tools that helps a store owner  quickly set up a web site that can sell anything with minimal effort.
  • It has integrations with many of the top marketing tools.
  • It offers vendors an easy way to set up a credit card clearing system through Shopify without the complexity once suffered by anyone that wanted to accept credit cards. This system is called Shopify payments.
  • A Shopify store is driven by templates that are preformatted for a variety of store styles. A template can also be built by a digital marketing company like Cyberwalker to provide a store operator with an ultra  customized store design.
  • The platform can be operated from anywhere there is a web connection.
  • It is based on the language LIQUID, which is known as a fairly simple high-level development language that most programmers familiar with HTML, CSS and javascript can learn quickly.
  • It uses third plug-ins to extend and customize online store functionality.
  • Shopify handles all the security issues so store owners can focus on selling.
  • The ecommerce platform has a huge community of users that help and support each other.
  • The company has very good customer support resources.
  • You can use your Shopify account to run charges on your iPhone for in-person retail transactions.

What are Shopify’s weaknesses?

  • Despite being highly customizable there are areas of the store that are not editable even by developers such as the checkout page, without using an expensive top end subscription called Shopify Plus.
  • Plug-ins by third party developers require subscriptions and rarely are available for a one time fee, so this can drastically escalate the cost of operating your store.
  • To get higher end reporting you need to pay for one of the mid-tier plans.
  • You cannot own and operate multiple stores under one account. Late in 2017, the company said that feature may be introduced by late 2018 or 2019.
  • Selling virtual or downloadable goods is possible but requires a little more expertise to setup.
  • Shopify on-page SEO controls are not in one cohesive place.
  • Shopify has a free app to help vendors store and deliver digital assets such as videos, images, etc.

What does Shopify cost and what fees will I have to pay?

Shopify fees are based on a subscription model. Prices start at around $10 per month for a small store with a limited inventory, but they can be as high as several hundred dollars per month. The enterprise-level subscription, called Shopify Plus, costs thousands of dollars per month.

Most customers opt for the $29 or $79 per month subscription. If you use Shopify Payments to offer credit card payments (recommend) then there is a fee assessed of 2.9% for each transaction, plus a flat fee of $0.30 per transaction. This drops to 2.4% (plus $0.30 per sale) if you choose a more expensive monthly plan.

What products can I sell on Shopify? And what products are prohibited?

You can sell pretty much anything. Both physical goods as well as digital products such as software, videos, audio files, courses, and more. We have built or consulted on Shopify stores that sell:

The limitations on what you cannot sell using the Shopify Payments gateway include:

  • Pharmaceuticals (which include supplements or anything that makes a health improvement claim ie pseudo pharmaceuticals),
  • Products that infringe on intellectual property,
  • Gambling related products including lottery tickets.
  • Marijuana
  • Alcohol
  • Adult content and services (porn, sex toys, sex services, etc.).

For a full list of prohibited products via Shopify Payments visit this page and scroll down or search for the heading “IP Infringement, regulated or illegal products and services”.

However, you can navigate around this issue…

How to get around prohibited product limitations

Integration of a third-party gateway will allow these items to be sold via a Shopify store. Note: Shopify actively promotes its platform to wineries.

Can I install the platform on my computer?

It is not installable on a computer, because it is cloud-based. You interact with Shopify via a web browser connected to a broadband Internet connection.

Does it work with WordPress?

Shopify has “buy now”  buttons that can be integrated into a WordPress website. That said, the ecommerce technology resides on its own hosted platform. It is separate from a WordPress site. Integrations between the platforms, that appear seamless, are possible. Webmasters do not integrate the core Shopify technologies into WordPress as they would with a plug-in product. Unlike WooCommerce, which has tight integration with WordPress, Shopify is not a plug-in.

Can my store have its own web address?

When you first setup your Shopify store its address is https://somename.myshopify.com – where “somename” is the store name you specify. There is a tool to connect your store to your own web address (web domain) in the store controls.

Is Shopify Mac software or Windows software?

Shopify is not installed onto your desktop or laptop computer. It is an Internet cloud application, which means it runs on the Internet and can be accessed via any web browser. As a result, it works on both Windows and MacOS and any mobile device.

The platform’s ecommerce and setup tools work in any modern web browser. These include Google Chrome, Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.  Shopify can also be managed using a free mobile app on a smartphone or tablet.

What kind of computer do I need to run it?

Any relatively modern computer that has a broadband Internet connection. If you can access and view videos on Youtube with relative ease, then Shopify will work well on your computer, however, computers or mobile devices with faster Internet connections provide a much better experience.

Is Shopify difficult to learn?

No, you can learn the basics of setting up an online store in Shopify in about 30 minutes. The company has gone to great lengths in recent years to provide decent a support library and good phone support.

Does a store on the Shopify platform require programming experience to operate?

Non-technical people can easily setup and run a Shopify ecommerce store. Understanding basic web technologies like HTML and CSS will give you a huge advantage as a store owner.  However, this knowledge is not necessary or mandatory, but it is useful if you want to hyper-customize your Shopify online store. Store owners will find it very useful if they understand the aforementioned technologies, plus the LIQUID language.

Can I sell in my country’s currency?

Shopify can be setup to sell products in almost any currency, however, each country’s financial regulations dictate some credit card clearing features. Shopify Payments, for example, is not available in all jurisdictions.

Does Shopify work with Paypal?

Yes, Shopify can be setup to include payments through Paypal or using Paypal and credit cards.

Who can help me setup a Shopify store for my business?

There are many third party businesses that will help you set up your Shopify store. We have an active Shopify consulting practice at Cyberwalker Digital.

Who are Shopify’s competitors?

Shopify competes with other cloud-based ecommerce platforms and companies such as Volusion, BigCommerce, and Square. The company’s Shopify Plus offering also competes with Magento, an eBay ecommerce technology spin-off, in the enterprise space, which is installable on your company’s own web server, but  is a better fit for large-scale retailers and building high-end ecommerce websites. Shopify also competes with the WordPress plug-in WooCommerce.

What does Shopify look like*?

Our company built this Shopify store. Here’s another Shopify store we created for a forklift expert in California.

What do the backend tools and dashboard look like on the platform:

Here you can browse screen grabs of the Shopify editor and publishing tools:

Which programming technology was used to build Shopify?

Shopify’s core technology is built on a developer technology called Ruby on Rails. Shopify is also based on a huge suite of additional technologies. There’s a good Quora article on that here.

Does Shopify have an entry on Wikipedia?

Yes, you can see what Wikipedia has to say about Shopify here.

I have an question not answered here, who can I ask?

We’ve done our best here to answer the question: What is Shopify. However, if we have not answered your specific question, you can email us at info@cyberwalker.com.  We will do our best to answer any Shopify questions you have. Please note that turnaround on answers may be a few days.

What is Shopify?

Find a machine learning icon

As a marketing agency (Cyberwalker Digital), we often find ourself on the front end of new and emerging businesses helping them establish their brands, their content marketing, and their digital marketing strategy. But when a client is in a relatively new product or service space, as the machine learning consultant Bitstrapped.com is, sometimes it can …

Continue reading “Find a machine learning icon”

What is Shopify?

If you have been hearing about Shopify and wondering what it is, then here’s your answer: We’ve answered as many questions as we can about the ecommerce platform, and we are adding more answers each week. Read on to get your question answered about Shopify. Or ask your own question about using the resources in this …

Continue reading “What is Shopify?”

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