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This week, we have two important releases to announce: Our strategic integration with Shipwire, and the release of our free PR8 Shipment Import/Export module. Miva Merchant, Inc and Shipwire Announce Strategic Partnership, Integrated Module New partnership makes it easy for ecommerce store owners to access and use Shipwire services directly from their Miva Merchant store Admin panel. Ecommerce software and hosting company, Miva Merchant and ecommerce order fulfillment service company, Shipwire, have released a module integrating Shipwire’s services into Miva Merchant’s core software. “We are constantly searching for new ways to make the experience of running an online business effortless and more streamlined,” says Rick Wilson, Miva Merchant President and COO. “We’re excited to have the opportunity to partner with Shipwire to allow ecommerce store owners the opportunity to make the most of what our combined services have to offer.” Go here  to read the full text of the release. Free PR8 Shipment Import/Export Module Now Available We are happy to announce that a new Shipment Import/Export module for PR8 has just been released and is available to current customers as a free download from Miva Central.  This module combination is designed to allow storeowners to easily import tracking numbers from UPS WorldShip, FedEx ShipManager, Endicia, and others, as well as export label addresses and weights to shipping software. Miva Merchant customers can find out more information about the module and download it for free here.    

Can you believe that the month of April is almost over? It has gone by quickly for me, and we’ve been pretty busy here at Miva Merchant.  Here are some of our newsworthy achievements for the month of April, and if you haven’t registered for the DYMO/Endicia and USPS webinar happening tomorrow, April 24th, be sure to read more about it and follow the link to register below. Latest Miva Merchant Press Release: My Paper Shop.Com Re-Launches Miva Merchant Ecommerce Store Leading ecommerce software and hosting company, Miva Merchant, recently partnered with bulk party supply seller My Paper Shop.Com, to launch a redesigned version of their ecommerce store. “Our product base has increased over the years as our business has grown, but our current site wasn’t taking full advantage of the most updated version of the Miva Merchant software,” says Todd Theodossin, My Paper Shop.Com founder. “As a result, our site performance and conversion rates were slowing down. I went directly to the Miva Merchant Professional Services Department to have the site rebuilt and redesigned, and was very impressed and happy with the overall experience.” Go here to read the full text of the press release. DYMO/Endicia and USPS To Host Webinar Tomorrow, April 24th Miva Merchant partner DYMO Endicia, will be hosting a webinar in conjunction with USPS on April 24th, 2012.  The webinar, which will be held from 11:00 am-12:00 pm PDT, is intended to help business owners learn more about the services offered by USPS and DYMO Endicia. Go here to to read more and to learn how to register for tomorrow’s webinar. Miva Merchant 5.5 Module API Documentation Is Complete After 10-plus years in the making, we are pleased to announce that our 5.5 PR8 API Documentation is now and complete and is available for download here. This documentation provides developers with everything that they need to know to write modules for Miva Merchant, and we couldn’t be more excited and proud to finally be able to make it available.   

Effective Monday, April 9th, we will be deleting our personal profile on Facebook in an effort to consolidate and streamline our social media reach. Our Miva Merchant business profile will remain active, and we will continue to provide our fans with updates and content. Thank you for being a part of the Miva Merchant community!  

This month, the big event here at Miva Merchant was our annual conference.  During the conference, we shared some details about our latest core software update, and in conjunction with Paypal, hosted a benefit dinner for the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.  Scott Altman Photos Now Available For Download From The Miva Merchant Website Miva Merchant Conference 2012 attendees who made a donation to the ASP during the benefit dinner on Thursday, March 8th and had their photos taken with Scott Altman can now download their photos directly from the Miva Merchant Conference 2012 Page. We appreciate the support and generosity of everyone who donated both their time and money to this worthy cause. Miva Merchant 5.5 PR8 Update 5 Now Available Leading ecommerce software and ecommerce hosting provider Miva Merchant has released an update to its core software product. This update is automatically available to existing customers via the Admin panel of their Miva Merchant store. Features of the new update include integration with DYMO Endicia, which allows store owners to create USPS-approved shipping labels and tracking information, a feature previously unavailable in the Miva Merchant Admin. Also included are a module that allows for the calculation of real-time Fed-Ex international and domestic shipping rates, and a Void Shipping Labels functionality. You can read the full text of the release here.  

Thanks to all of our wonderful speakers, sponsors, and conference attendees, the 2012 Miva Merchant Conference was our best ever! We had some informative breakout sessions, inspiring keynotes, fun times networking and were fortunate enough to be able to host a charity dinner to benefit the Astronomical Society Of The Pacific, featuring special guest and conference keynote, former NASA Astronaut Scott Altman. If you attended our conference, thank you for being a part of the Miva Merchant community.  If you purchased a photo with Scott Altman and had a photo taken with him during the charity dinner, we will be uploading those videos for you to download shortly.  We will also be uploading breakout presentation slides to our Slide Share account beginning this week, so be sure to look for these as well. Last but not least, I wanted to personally say that for me, the best part of the conference was networking with all of our partners, store owners, sponsors and developers.  Also, if I collected a business card from you, I will be sending you an email in the next few days to follow up and reconnect.  Thanks again to everyone for your attendance and support!  

As you are all probably well aware, we are busy getting ready for our annual Miva Merchant Conference in just two short days.  In addition to our many hours of breakout sessions, great insights from our lineup of keynote speakers, one-on-one site reviews, and unique opportunities for networking, there will also be a special event taking place during our conference that all of our attendees will want to participate in. On Thursday, March 8th from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm, Miva Merchant, in conjunction with PayPal, will be sponsoring a dinner to benefit the Astronomical Society of The Pacific. (ASP) This dinner is free for all registered conference attendees.  During the benefit, attendees will be treated to a delicious sit-down dinner and a private showing of highlights from the movie, Hubble 3D. After the movie presentation, Miva Merchant Conference keynote speaker and former NASA Astronaut Scott Altman will share insights on the making of Hubble 3D, his career as an astronaut, and his recollections from his screen debut in the movie Top Gun. After the dinner, attendees will have the opportunity to purchase a full color poster of Scott Altman, and have it personally autographed. Each attendee that purchases a poster will also be photographed with Scott, and will be able to access their photo for free as a downloadable image shortly after the event.   Hope To See You All There!  

As part of the recent Miva Merchant and UPS Ready Provider Integration® Miva Merchant President and COO Rick Wilson and Miva Merchant Marketing Manager Jesse Ness recently toured the UPS World Headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. Miva Merchant President and COO Rick Wilson and Marketing Manager Jesse Ness pose next to the first UPS delivery truck during their tour of the UPS World Headquarters You can learn more about the Miva Merchant and UPS Integration here.

Are you at the Internet Retailer Web Design and Usability Conference 2012 (IRWD) this week? If so, then feel free to stop by Booth 209 and say hi to us! Stop by Booth 209 at IRWD and meet the Miva Merchant team! Whether you’re a current customer, or an ecommerce store owner who wants to learn more about Miva Merchant, the services that we offer, and our upcoming conference in March, we want to hear from you!  Come by and introduce yourself to our friendly Miva Merchant crew.

It’s our favorite time of the year again here at Miva Merchant—breakout sessions, many of which are taught by our very own Miva Merchant staff. 

We are also excited to have industry experts, including SEOMoz founder, Gillian Muessig, and President and CEO of Site Tuners, Tim Ash, teaching breakout sessions at our conference this year. 

Networking At The Miva Merchant 2011 Conference (Photo Courtesy Of Leslie Kirk)

Networking

Ask anyone what one of the best parts of any conference is, and they’re likely to say “networking.”  Last year was my first Miva Merchant conference, so I can say from personal experience that the opportunity to meet and connect with the Miva Merchant community was a great opportunity to make contacts and connections. 

This year, I’m looking forward to meeting store owners, discovering new stores that I can Spotlight in 2012, reconnected with storeowners, developers, and exhibitors that I met last year, and learning all of the new information that I can. 

Don’t forget to leave a comment below answering one of these two questions for your chance to win a prize:

What you are most looking forward to learning about at this year’s upcoming conference OR
What is the most important thing that you have learned at a past Miva Merchant Conference that has helped your business grow?

See you at the conference!  And yes, that is me at the conference last year. Thanks to Leslie Kirk  for the photos!

Aura Talbott At The Miva Merchant 2011 Conference (Photo Courtesy Of Leslie Kirk)

 

 

 

 

 

It’s our favorite time of the year again here at Miva Merchant—breakout sessions, many of which are taught by our very own Miva Merchant staff. 

We are also excited to have industry experts, including SEOMoz founder, Gillian Muessig, and President and CEO of Site Tuners, Tim Ash, teaching breakout sessions at our conference this year. 

Networking At The Miva Merchant 2011 Conference (Photo Courtesy Of Leslie Kirk)

Networking

Ask anyone what one of the best parts of any conference is, and they’re likely to say “networking.”  Last year was my first Miva Merchant conference, so I can say from personal experience that the opportunity to meet and connect with the Miva Merchant community was a great opportunity to make contacts and connections. 

This year, I’m looking forward to meeting store owners, discovering new stores that I can Spotlight in 2012, reconnected with storeowners, developers, and exhibitors that I met last year, and learning all of the new information that I can. 

Don’t forget to leave a comment below answering one of these two questions for your chance to win a prize:

What you are most looking forward to learning about at this year’s upcoming conference OR
What is the most important thing that you have learned at a past Miva Merchant Conference that has helped your business grow?

See you at the conference!  And yes, that is me at the conference last year. Thanks to Leslie Kirk for the photos!

Aura Talbott At The Miva Merchant 2011 Conference (Photo Courtesy Of Leslie Kirk)

 

 

 

 

 

The Hanukkah season, which begins on Tuesday, December 20,  this year, is nearly here. Keeping this in mind, we thought we’d take the time to promote some Miva Merchant stores specializing in Hanukkah-themed products.

Garden-Flags.com

Garden-Flags.com sells flags of all types, including several different flags that are perfect for decorating your garden, yard, or walkway for Hanukkah. Garden-Flags sells flags and windsocks for many other types of occasions as well.

 

The Hanukkah season, which begins on Tuesday, December 20,  this year, is nearly here. Keeping this in mind, we thought we’d take the time to promote some Miva Merchant stores specializing in Hanukkah-themed products.

Jewish Lights Publishing

Jewish Lights Publishing carries a variety of books and inspirational booklets covering many topics, including Hanukkah and Bat and Bar Mitzvah, as well as General Fiction and Science Fiction.

Judaica: Door Mezuzah: Fine Jewelry From Jerusalem

Judaica: Door Mezuzah sells many different religious-themed products, such as candelabras, challah knives, and Jewish and Hanukkah-themed jewelry.

The holiday season is upon us, and what better way to celebrate than to recognize some of the many Miva Merchant stores that specialize in holiday decor and gifts?

J And J Dog Supplies

J And J Dog Supplies specializes in unique dog supplies and gifts, including this Christmas ornament, which can be personalized with a picture of the furry friend of your choice and worn as either a necklace or hung as an ornament.

Willow Tree Store

Willow Tree Store sells angel-themed and inspirational figurines, and has many pieces that are ideal decorative accents for the holidays.

The Christmas Sleigh

The Christmas Sleigh specializes in authentic German and Austrian products, including many Advent calendars and cards, as well as German Nutcrackers, and other holiday-appropriate items.

Be sure to check back soon for more Miva Merchant holiday promos.

Miva Merchant Strategic Integration Partner, PowerReviews Express, recently released a whitepaper entitled “Five Best Practices For Growing A Business With Customer Reviews.”

The whitepaper, now available online, highlights the importance both positive and negative customer reviews for boosting sales, building buyer trust and confidence, and lending to the authority of ecommerce sites. 

Highlights of the whitepaper include tips on encouraging customer dialogue, turning negative reviews into positive reviews, and leveraging reviews across multiple marketing channels. You can read the whitepaper here.

 

Miva Merchant Announces UPS Ready Provder Integration®

Miva Merchant, Inc is now a UPS Ready® Provider through the integration of UPS services. This integration, which includes services and functionalities within the Miva Merchant 5.5 PR8 Update 4 Release, is designed to make the packing and shipping process easier and more streamlined for Miva Merchant ecommerce store owners.

“Being a UPS Ready partner is very important to us, because approximately two-thirds of our customers use UPS and this update will make their lives much easier,” says Miva Merchant President and COO, Rick Wilson.

You can read the press release in full via PRWeb here.

Merchants who utilize the talents and skills of our in-house Web Design team to help them realize their store’s design potential rely on our Account Managers to ensure that the project goes as planned.  This month, our Employee Spotlight is on one of our most valued Account Managers, Lisa Fitts. 

Account Manager Lisa Fitts

As an Account Manager for the Design Department, Lisa’s daily responsibilities range from assigning design tickets and projects to developers, overseeing project status reports, and overseeing all projects related to both Miva Merchant mobile and social commerce integrations. 

Lisa, who has worked here at Miva Merchant for a little over a year, originally grew up on a ranch in a small town, says that she is “obsessed” with Pinterest.com, that fall is her favorite time of the year. The three things that are always on her desk at work are notes to herself about design projects, plenty of water, and Chapstick.

“The best thing about working for Miva Merchant is the company culture,” says Lisa. “I have made some great friends, and there are so many talented people who work here.”

 

Last Friday, Miva Merchant hosted a webinar in conjunction with strategic integration partner, buySafe. The webinar was entitled “How Shopper Uncertainty Is Hurting Your Online Success And What You Can Do About It.”

The webinar presented some statistics about online consumer confidence, as well as a few tips for ecommerce merchants on how to increase shopper confidence in their customers, and highlighted some of buySafe’s related services.

In case you missed the webinar, you can watch the video below:

 buySAFE Miva Merchant Webinar from 11-18-11 from Rick Wilson on Vimeo.

Last week was the second week of our Fall Fan Sweepstakes, and that means that we are inching ever closer to the end of our promotion, and the Super Grand Prize—A free Miva Merchant store for a year for one lucky new Miva Merchant customer!  With this in mind, we thought we’d take some time to acknowledge last week’s winners and the merchants who helped make the second week of our promotion such a successful one.

Day Seven Winner: Dave Holben

Dave Holben won one of five bodyboards that we are giving away in our promotion from Pipeline Gear. Pipeline is synonymous with quality surf gear, including boards, apparel, hats, room decor and more.

Day Eight Winner: Dan Taggesell

Dan Taggesell of Town Square Jewelry won a seat in the Practical Ecommerce Training course, Converting Visitors To Buyers, taught by Pamela Hazelton!

Day Nine Winner: Natalie Vanderheiden was our lucky day nine winner. She won a deluxe Siesta Floating Lounge from Royal Swimming Pools! 

Day Ten Winner: Kelly Cagle

Living a healthy lifestyle involves many important choices, including choosing the right vitamins and supplements to help you feel your best. On day ten of our Sweepstakes, Kelly Cagle won a free bottle of Energy Vitality Capsules courtesy of Natural Healthy Concepts.

Day Eleven Winners: Heather Cate And Luis Garcia

On day eleven of our Sweepstakes, we had two winners. First, Heather Cate won a free seat in a Google Analytics Training Course from Practical Ecommerce.  Second, Luis Garcia won a set of 12 humorous greeting cards from Akausticcard. 

Day Twelve Winner: Reanna Reimer

On day twelve, Reanna Reimer of Pecard Leather Care won a free Tool Belt module from PCINET, a must have-module for any Miva Merchant storefront.

Congratulations To All Week Two Winners!

 

Last Friday, November 11th Miva Merchant hosted a webinar in conjunction with Altruik, entitled Increasing Revenue Organic Search And Conversions In Time For Holiday Shopping. In case you missed it, you can scroll down for a recap and a video below. Don’t forget to view the webinar slides online as well.

In this webinar, the experts from Altruik, a leading SEO software company show Miva Merchant ecommerce store owners how their automated SEO software can help merchants increase their organic search, rankings, and revenue this holiday season.  You can also view the slide presentation on Slideshare here.

 Altruik Miva Merchant Webinar – Friday November 11, 2011 from Rick Wilson on Vimeo.

With Thanksgiving nearly here and the holidays just around the corner, many people are thinking about preparing their holiday meals. Ordering gourmet food items online is an easy way to save time and money, but does require some advance notice. With this in mind, here are some great Miva Merchant stores specializing in gourmet and Thanksgiving food, dessert, and drink items.

Last week was the first week of our Fall Fan Sweepstakes, and our second week is well under way.  With this in mind, we thought we’d take some time to acknowledge last week’s winners and the merchants who helped make the first week of our promotion such a successful one.

Day One Winner: Christi Davis

Christi Davis was our first Sweepstakes winner, and she won one of five bodyboards that we are giving away in our promotion from Pipeline Gear. Pipeline is synonymous with quality surf gear, including boards, apparel, hats, room decor and more.

Day Two Winner: Suzy Zawadzke

Suzy won the first of three bags from Rainebrooke, an online store specializing in pink laptop, electronic reader, and messenger bags. 

Day Three Winner: Brent Stewart

On day three, Brent Stewart was the lucky winner of a $50 online gift card from Le Travel Store. Based in San Diego, Le Travel Store also carries a wide selection of travel gear online, including backpacks, moneybelts, and voltage converters.

Day Four Winner: Leslie Kirk

Lady Bug Gift Store is the ladybug lover’s source for themed apparel, accessories, and home decor. On day four, Leslie Kirk won a Ladybug Bird feeder, complete with six bird seed eggs!

Day Five Winner: Kathy Scott

When it comes to wooden keepsake boxes and gifts, as well as adorable baby bedding and other accessories, Ceci’s Treasures is the place to shop online.  On day five of our promotion, Kathy Scott won a $10 online gift card to use towards the purchase of her choice.

Day Six Winner: Jeff Turro

Sometimes, a sentiment can be difficult to express. For those who enjoy expressing darkly humorous, sarcastic, and caustic sentiments, Akausticcard has a card for those occasions when traditional greeting cards just can’t express certain sentiments adequately. Jeff Turro won one of the three sets of 12 cards in our promotion on day six.

Congratulations To All Week One Winners!

 

Miva Merchant 2012 Conference: Early Bird Registration

Updated: Check Out Our Updated Conference Promo Video Below

We’re happy to announce that our Early Bird registration for the