Kevin Hamano - imported from kevinhamano.com https://www.kevinhamano.com/feed en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Sweetcron 2dxhai@gmail.com What's the Best Etsy Keyword Tool Out there? https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7666/whats-the-best-etsy-keyword-tool-out-there

For many popular platforms online, tools are a dime a dozen. Putting aside how beneficial tools can be to things like product discovery and search engine optimization, oftentimes, the hardest part in using a tool is figuring out the best one to go with.

For the past few months, I've been working on developing out Etsy shops. I've learned a lot in the process. I wanted to share my thoughts on Etsy keyword tools, in case anyone is looking to up their game (and not waste the same amount of time I did).

For Etsy, there are really three big players out there: Marmalead, eRank, and Seller Tools.

Seller Tools

Paid with a free option

From the outside, Seller Tools looks like a robust platform:

Seller Tools website

Much like top SaaS apps out there, there are listings of features users, etc.

Looks like your typical SaaS

Under the hood though, the UI tells a different story:

Very simple UI

Much of the Etsy keyword tool is barebones. The most useful part of Seller Tools is probably the keyword tool, but even then, both tools below incorporate these functions and do a better job at presenting them.

Clean graphs

Table with Etsy keyword data

There are a few notable aspects of Seller Tools:

  • It includes an option to backup your shop
  • The market research tool is interesting, if in just the way of visualizing, from afar, what is going on with a given competitor
  • You can view renewals stats fairly easily

After using both of the tools below, I kept on wanting more visually, more information, more color, more something from Seller Tools. Some of the stats derived aren't actually true (for instance, showing an item as never being sold even though it was purchased and just renewed).

I have yet to really figure out a reason to really use this Etsy tool, but maybe one will come up in the future.

Marmalead

Paid with a free trial available

Hearing about Marmalead from numerous ecommerce podcasts out there, I was excited to try out this platform. Much like Seller Tools, the Etsy keyword tool looks robust from the outside:

Large hero image of a woman creating

Looks like any other SaaS tool

Inside, things are much more sparse (although less so than Seller Tools).

Inside the Marmalead tool

An arrow prompts you to start your first keyword search. The data that comes up is rather nicely presented. In fact, of all the three tools mentioned in this post, the Marmalead user interface is probably the nicest to look at.

The Marmalead UI is so pretty

Marmalead has a section called Storm which is used to brainstorm new ideas. It's interesting, but for the products that I was looking at, it wasn't that useful.

Marmalead Storm

Here are a few cool things about Marmalead:

  • It focuses a bit more on photos, even providing a photo score for your cover photo
  • The tool measures sentiment and translates that into writing more appealing titles/tags
  • It does some calculation of shipping to find out if your competitors are covering or charging extra for shipping
  • The grading tool is pretty cool. It helps visualize where and how to get your listings up to a point where they should be getting more traffic.

Marmalead figuring out shipping best practices

All in all, Marmalead definitely has more going for it than Seller Tools. I just wish there was more to this tool though. Where it ranks high in terms of UI/UX, it ranks lower than eRank in terms of robustness.

When buying into any subscription tool, you want one that's going to cover most, if not all your bases. For this, I would check out the next tool.

eRank

Paid

At first glance, I noticed that the hero image was one from a free stock photo site.

Hero image uses a stock photo

Not a good sign.

Hero image uses a stock photo

The images under are interesting and do a good job at relaying the value of the tool. Still, I have to admit, not hearing too much about eRank, I was skeptical. Still, I wanted to be able to check out the tool and write about my experience, so I paid for eRank.

fun images on the website

When I finally got into the tool, I was pleasantly surprised by the breadth and depth of the tool.

so much delicious data

With this tool, I was able to switch out low-performing tags with higher performing ones. I was also able to greatly increase my overall visibility score and increase the number of sales coming in on a week to week basis.

With dozens of functions focused on Etsy best practices, there are so many different ways to use eRank to boost your Etsy business. Perhaps the best part of eRank is the Etsy keyword tool:

the eRank Etsy keyword tool is so comprehensive

In addition to top listings, a price graph, synonyms, and a trend chart, eRank shows related keyword volume for Etsy and Google. It also does a great job at showing which keywords are better to go for than others.

Here are a few notable aspects of eRank:

  • Color-coded system shows you what to attack first
  • The competitor tool allows you to easily see where it is that you stack up against them
  • Provide data on trends and what is currently being searched for

And the Winner?

Without a doubt, eRank is my favorite tool out of all the ones available. Compared to other tools out there, it may not be as flashy, but it definitely does the job. If you're looking to start your own Etsy business, don't hesitate to give eRank a try.

Need help with your Etsy business?

Reach out to me. Would love to help get you off the ground and running.

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Tue, 20 Aug 2019 21:55:57 +0000 https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7666/whats-the-best-etsy-keyword-tool-out-there
Liquor Making: a Lesson in Patience and Trust https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7415/liquor-making-a-lesson-in-patience-and-trust

One of the things I love about late spring, other than the occasional rain shower, is fruit picking. I recently had the chance to pick cherries, peaches, apricots, and loquat in nearby Brentwood.

If you know anything about loquat, you will know that they are quite delicate and don't last that long. With more loquat than I could enjoy in a week, I decided to make liquor out of the fruit.

The finished product ready for waiting.

Borrowing from recipes used to make umeshu, I set out to create loquat liquor.

The loquat variety I picked was called Big Jim. The name aptly fits as these loquat were around 2 inches in length. For this recipe, I used:

  • 6 giant loquat
  • 1/4 cup of rock sugar
  • 750 mL bottle of Jinro Soju

Basically, I washed the loquat as well as I could with water, placed the loquat in a glass container, gently added in the rock sugar (so that it was nestled in between the loquat), poured in the soju, sealed the glass container, and placed it in the refrigerator.

close up of the loquat

What follows is a month of waiting.

Time passed by relatively quickly, but I did wonder how my liquor was doing and if it would even be palatable.

Around a month and two weeks later, I brought out the liquor to share with friends. The taste was nice and subtle with the loquat being present with the soju flavor. I added the liquor to ice and lemon soda to make for a nice summer refresher. The infusion was quite the crowd pleaser.

I definitely think I will give this recipe a try again, perhaps in higher volume and with alcohol that is a little more tasteless.

Have you made a liquor infusion before? How was it?

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Fri, 03 Aug 2018 17:15:02 +0000 https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7415/liquor-making-a-lesson-in-patience-and-trust
Random Things I Learned https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7380/random-things-i-learned

Going to expand on this as the number of random learnings grows. To start, I offer this tidbit from Chipotle:

Chipotle will only allow you to use one electronic gift card at a time when processing an online order. This means that you can't pay the difference with another card if your total exceeds the amount left on the card. This small amount has to be used within the Chipotle app, within store, for you to extract the remaining value out of the card.

Car batteries come in different sizes. Even if a site says that a battery will work for your car, that doesn't mean that it may fit perfectly. My previous car battery was larger than the one I recently bought. This meant that there was more likelihood that the battery would move around if it wasn't properly secured. Before changing out batteries, take care to make sure that the number is correct.

Some Verizon Wireless plans allow you to use your existing plan in Canada and Mexico without changing SIM cards. I was just told to switch the "International CDMA" option in Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options > Roaming to off.

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Fri, 13 Jul 2018 17:06:23 +0000 https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7380/random-things-i-learned
Why It's Better to Bring on a Specialist than Doing it Yourself https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7342/why-its-better-to-bring-on-a-specialist-than-doing-it-yourself

get the most out of a platform

There are many tools out there, especially in the online marketing space, trying to onboard new customers with promises of ease and efficiency. Of course, no platform or tool allows for both of these benefits. Methods that are easy to use, mostly, barely scratch the surface of what should be done. Of particular interest are tools that can be effective to use, express ease, but are really quite complex underneath the hood.

Sophisticated tools like AdWords for advertising or Mixpanel for analytics are great in terms of how much can be done with them. Where they fall short on this ease-efficacy dichotomy is the ability to easily extract more value from the utility. Out of the box, tools can work well. They can meet minimum requirements like brining on new customers or tracking site visits. True value extraction comes out of a deeper understanding of how to work around the limitations of the tool.

Take, for instance, AdWords again. One can pretty easily set up a campaign with ad groups, keywords, and ads. Perhaps one begins with twenty keywords to start. Depending on the ad, time of day, amount spent, landing page, match type, etc... one may receive a potential sale or lead. More likely than not, one's efforts will fall short and/or one will spend more than they should to acquire a target customer.

Just because one can set up and use a tool doesn't mean that they should run it.

Specialists are great in this capacity, as they efficiently extract additional value. Thought about in another manner, you can hand squeeze oranges into orange juice, but a specialist will act as a juicing tool (or even electric juicer) getting more out of those oranges that were just juiced by hand.

When one has spent a lot of time learning and working with a tool, one begins to uncover its unique strengths, ways to do things more effectively, and methods for working around limitations. Value extraction is a huge benefit afforded by people who really know a platform that can take a 5% margin for a business and turn it into 25%. What's potentially more value is the ability for these individuals to mold a tool for and around existing infrastructure. One who understands the in's and out's of online advertising tools can see the linkages between platforms. Installing a Facebook pixel for remarketing on a site that has traffic driven by AdWords is a good example of this enhanced understanding.

Tools are meant to make work easier so that we can focus our time on more valuable activities. Many of these methods promise ease and efficacy when in reality there is much more complexity than meets the eye. Instead of focusing on minimal value extraction, brining on someone who fully understands a platform can help take the actual usage of a tool to that next level.

Next time a tool comes your way or you think you need one, think about how someone specialized in using that tool might be able to add value and, overall, do more with less.

Have you ever relied on a specialist before? What was your experience?

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Tue, 05 Jun 2018 04:48:53 +0000 https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7342/why-its-better-to-bring-on-a-specialist-than-doing-it-yourself
10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Getting into Marketing https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7324/10-things-i-wish-i-knew-before-getting-into-marketing

career lessons learned

Recently, I've gotten to thinking it would be fun to go to a middle school or high school career fair and share my experiences. Not sure what's to account for this, given that, for the longest time, I didn't want to have anything to do with high school.

In lieu of speaking at a career fair, for now, I thought it would be good to create a list of the top 10 things I wish I knew before I got into marketing. Most of this can also be applied broadly regardless of career.

1. You Don't Need to Wait for Others to Give You Experience

Nothing says you're a go-getter like creating your own internship or building something that people can understand/appreciate. Just because people won't call you back or pay you, doesn't mean opportunities are not there.

2. Don't be Afraid to Try Something New

If you never try, then you'll never fully know. The best you can ever do is assume. Trying allows you to determine with more surety what you like and don't like much more easily.

3. Any Job is Made More Fun When it's Turned into a Game

A job that's just a series of actions is not much different in principle than a pushing cubes around in a board game. What makes the two different is mindset. Turning a job into a game with specific goals and outcomes can make even the most tedious of tasks fun.

4. Don't Settle for Less

People will try to get you to settle for less. Know your worth and never settle.

5. Learn How You Learn Best

Sitting in a classroom is not for everyone. I learn best by getting my hands dirty—questioning and trying new things. Some people learn best by wrote memorization. Discover how you learn best and reap the benefits of efficient learning.

6. Boast a Little

As an Asian American, this can be a little hard to do, but living in a culture that strongly promotes those who stick out, boasting a little can go a long way.

7. Learn What Makes Someone Tick First, Not Their Title

Titles mean much less than getting to know someone. If you can introduce someone via what they do and what they're interested in, others are much more likely to remember and appreciate that introduction.

8. Understand That Your Skills Can be Used for Evil

Marketing is like Star Wars with a dark and light side. Understand the dark, but gravitate towards the light.

9. Give Theater a Whirl

I used to be so shy. Pushing myself out of my comfort zone at Cal by being a part of Theatre Rice, I was able to become much more able to speak confidently in front of others. It's probably one of the skills that's served me the most in my career.

10. Take a Career Assessment Test

Last but not least, this is a good one because it gave me a better understanding of where I was coming from. It told me, in more concrete terms, what I thought I wanted to do in life. Sometimes, all we need is a little definition to understand where to go next.

What are your thoughts on these lessons learned?

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Wed, 30 May 2018 00:31:54 +0000 https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7324/10-things-i-wish-i-knew-before-getting-into-marketing
How I Got More Votes for My Candidate Than a Berkeley City Election https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7321/how-i-got-more-votes-for-my-candidate-than-a-berkeley-city-election

UC Berkeley Campanile

In high school, I never really wanted to have anything to do with the associated student body (ASB)—our student led organization that put on school dances and assemblies. I was more than content leading the various volunteer and academic organizations I was a part of.

Fast forward to my third year at Cal, I was building a coalition to get one of my best friends elected to one of the top positions within the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC)—Cal's ASB. In the end, this friend won with a number of votes higher than most of that year's city council races.

Here's how I got there.

When my friend first approached me about the idea of running, I paused. I knew there was a lot of work ahead of us. At the same time, I was excited about the prospect of applying many of the lessons learned studying political science and business. Under the influence of a shot of tequila and feeling the warmth of the nearby fireplace, I dedicated myself to getting my friend elected.

We first started with a goal—get 10%of the undergraduate population to vote for my friend.

The undergraduate population at Cal is around 30,000. This meant we were aiming to get 3,000 votes (out of an otherwise apathetic voting population).

Having been involved within leadership in the residence halls and having been involved in various on-campus organizations, I knew that for us to achieve victory, we would have to build an excited coalition of voters that extended multiple connections out.

The first steps centered around finding movers and shakers within our own network. Fairly shortly, we were able to create a campaign staff that represented various aspects of the campus. From the College of Engineering to the College of Letters and Sciences, cultural activity to student activist groups, we went through an iterative process of further identifying students with influence who would see value in supporting my friend.

I remember nights spent figuring out how to introduce my friend to various organizations on campus. At one time, his Google Calendar was pretty much dictated—with the exception of classes—by his campaign staff. Meeting after meeting, introduction by introduction led to a pool of voters more informed about how my friend would help improve their experience on campus.

The second phase of this campaign focused on getting undecided votes. We knew that we already had probably 8% of the vote in the bag. Out of the total population there's already a good number of students who skip the ASUC elections—we couldn't do too much about this beyond getting them excited to vote. On the flip side, there's a set of students that would vote simply by slate—in the same way that many in US elections vote across party lines. Focusing on undecided voters would allow us to get the incremental votes needed to surpass other strong voting blocks.

To sway undecided voters, we made it a point to come down to their level, to understand them on a personal level and to communicate platforms in a way that was relatable. This approach took a lot of time an effort to pursue but, whereas, many other elections had left students uninspired, I found many students pumped up to play their part by voting.

The last aspect of the campaign focused on driving the message across 10x. If a student heard that the ASUC election was on a specific day, they probably heard it at least nine other times so that they would know, without a doubt, when they should vote for my friend. 10x might be a bit of an exaggeration. However, I borrowed the idea that you need to show your message multiple times before a customer acts. Effectively we tried to make it known to people 1. what the ASUC was, 2. who my friend was, 3. why they should care and vote, 4. how to vote in the election, and 5. where the election was.

After months of campaigning, it was election results day. Nervously I stared at the screen. Wave after wave came in my friend's party favor. Eventually it was time for the election results for the Academic Affairs Vice President (AAVP) to be announced.

My friend had won with not even 10% of the votes. He had won with 25% of the student population. This put the vote count at around 7,500—almost double the number of votes for a Berkeley city council spot that year. A majority of these votes came from people who we managed to inspire along the way. Whereas many other elections and candidates had narrowly focused on subsets of the student population—to the effect of ignoring others—our coalition was able to speak personally, inspire, and engage.

I'm not sure I'll ever get to do this again, but it was a very rewarding experience that highlighted the benefits of understanding and speaking with people on a more personal level. People are people—not numbers or enemies. The more that we can remember this, the more that we can move on and actually start making progress on some really cool things.

What are your thoughts about this?

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Mon, 21 May 2018 18:47:46 +0000 https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7321/how-i-got-more-votes-for-my-candidate-than-a-berkeley-city-election
How Fishing and Blue Skies Help Guide my AdWords Advertising https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7318/how-fishing-and-blue-skies-help-guide-my-adwords-advertising

fishing under blue skies

Online advertising is built in such a way that it seems simple enough—at face value. Set up a couple of parameters here, create an ad there and you're off to the races. Like an iceberg though, a whole lot of value lies under the surface. When approaching AdWords in particular, I have my own method for revealing this iceberg.

I go through a sequence of two phases—blue sky and fishing.

Blue Sky loosely relates to the Walt Disney Imagineering concept of ideation without constraints. Budgets and keyword categories aren't really considered in favor of being able to create a huge net that can be used to bring in more potential customers. Fishing, meanwhile, is pretty self explanatory. To extend the analogy, fishing is the process of iterating on catching (successful conversions), figuring out what type of bait works well (parameters that lead to a conversion), and fine tuning my net (adding keyword negatives) for more successful catches.

Ultimately, these two phases result in a higher number of more qualified customers on a day to day basis.

Let's five more into phase 1, Blue Sky.

Regardless of whether or not a campaign exists, in this phase, I first go through the process of ideation. With existing activity, I will often take what has worked and come up with a litany of ideas and related keywords to expand into. For new accounts, I'll rely on expertise and knowledge available to create a starting point for keyword expansion.

For a boba shop in SF looking to start advertising on AdWords, for instance, initial keyword development might look like the following:

boba san francisco
boba guys san francisco
bubble tea san francisco
boba tea san francisco
milk tea san francisco
best bubble tea san francisco
tpumps san francisco
purple kow san francisco
milk tea in san francisco

The second step entails figuring out how to group keywords in effective ad groups. Good ad groups are ones that narrowly group related keywords together. An ad group made with the above keywords would not be as splitting up these keywords into different ad groups:

boba guys san francisco
tpumps san francisco
purple kow san francisco

bubble tea san francisco
best bubble tea san francisco

boba san francisco
boba tea san francisco

milk tea san francisco
milk tea in san francisco

When an ad is applied, any singular ad created won't be as relevant to customers when there are many different keywords. Focus allows for ad to be generated that will almost always work for specific types of keywords. Take for instance, the last grouping where people are specifically searching for milk tea.

Milk tea drinkers might not want boba in their drinks, but they still would (most likely) need to go to a boba shop to get such a drink. Ads for this grouping would be able to use "milk tea" in the description for more efficacy.

These ad groups are finally added to dedicated campaigns based on loose groupings of related concepts.

  • Competitor Campaign
  • Matcha Drinkers
  • Location-Based Campaign

With the account broadly expanded upon, I go into the second phase of this process—fishing.

One of the biggest problems I see in many AdWord campaigns is a lack of maintenance. Thinking of maintenance as a daily fishing outing makes the process seem less tedious and even fun.

Fishing is an iterative activity that happens on a daily basis. It includes activities that alters my wide-cast net, making it a more efficient and effective fish (customer) catching engine.

Some of these activities include expanding keywords based on new searches, adding negatives based on performance, tweaking ads to extract more value, and pausing keywords or ads that may not be currently relevant.

Without these activities, potential customers can easily come and go without regards to the amount of time and effort you're spending on advertising. A fine-tuned net can be the difference between a high output growth engine and one that sputters on by.

How have you developed your AdWords account?

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Mon, 14 May 2018 19:24:59 +0000 https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7318/how-fishing-and-blue-skies-help-guide-my-adwords-advertising
Lessons Learned from my Parents https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7313/lessons-learned-from-my-parents

mother lifting a child up

With Mother's Day and Father's Day coming up soon in the US, I thought I would take this time to reflect on things I learned from my parents. It took a while to come up with this brain dump as there are so many things I take for granted knowing. Some of these lessons learned are trivial but many more are profound and have played a large role in shaping who I am today.

Here goes nothing.

Respect Your Elders

Growing up, I learned to respect the knowledge and experiences that older people had. Even if they were just a few months older, this deference has allowed me to become more compassionate and spurred my willingness to go out of my way to learn new things from new people.

Try What You Think You Want to Learn

I was never pressured into learning the piano, learning a language, or even doing a sport. Though in retrospect, I think this would have been a good thing to have experienced, this alternative way of parenting taught me to follow my passions and experience new things for the sake of learning what I do and do not like.

You'll Never be Alone

Family has always been a big part of my life. I spent the lion's share of my time with both my immediate and extended family growing up—so much so that I learned even though I may be physically alone, I would always have someone there to back me up. This sentiment has strengthened through the various friendships I now have, many whom I consider family even.

Be Okay with What You Have

Growing up with siblings, except for the latest gaming console, we didn't have the latest or flashiest things. Having to spend more time with things I possessed, I learned to become more than okay with what I had. I still remember spending endless hours trying to make my theme park the best in Rollercoaster Tycoon or trying multiple campaigns over and over again in Rise of Empires.

Find the Fun in Little Things

Speaking of being okay with what I had, I learned pretty early on to find fun in small things. For instance, camping in Mammoth and spending hours, while fishing, searching for loose lures and unique flowers, fishing was not boring to me. It was an opportunity to explore, learn, and find beauty in the little things.

Care About Others

Having siblings and cousins, I learned to care about them and others. This sense of caring extended as I took on more leadership roles in middle school and high school.

Knowledge is Power

In lieu of playing an instrument or sport, I learned to appreciate knowledge and learning as a powerful means of self-improvement. I became curious about most things, asked a bunch of questions, reflected and used this insight to further improve outcomes.

Laughter Makes Things Better

Our family makes jokes and laughs a lot. This led me to believe that laughter can help make even the smallest of problems a little better. A little social lubricant that can go a long way in getting people to work together towards a common goal.

Show Thank You

I never really picked up on this concept until after Cal. Apparently, there is a strong sense of showing thank you in my family. If you've done something for me, I probably will show thank you more than just saying it. Actions matter to me more than mere words in this instance.

Time Spent with Others Matters, a Lot

Sometimes, going out of your way to spend time with someone is the best way to show you care.

And just for fun...

Don't Chew with Your Mouth Open

Thanks Dad.

Don't Write in Books

Thanks Mom. This somehow still haunts me, when I'm told to make notes in guides.

As you can see there are lots of lessons learned (though I'm sure there are many more that I'm forgetting.

I'm so proud to have loving parents who have supported me in the various decisions I've made, allowing me to become the person I am today. Love you Mom and Dad!

What's the biggest lesson you've learned from your parents?

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Mon, 07 May 2018 19:28:31 +0000 https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7313/lessons-learned-from-my-parents
How to Use Standard Convention to Get More Clicks https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7311/how-to-use-standard-convention-to-get-more-clicks

Planning for clicks

Through the years, social platforms have come and gone. From Myspace to Facebook, Xanga to Medium, and everything in between; what's persisted are artifacts of interaction. The hashtag and @ tag are just two examples of conventions that have seen usage across the years.

There are two Internet usage patterns in particular that I wanted to bring to light in this post. The first involves the arrow button (most commonly associated with video playing), and the text "GIF."

Since the earliest days of the Internet a solid arrow button in the middle of an image has meant that clicking it will make a video play. With video today being some of the most promoted, consumed, and shared content on the top social web, it's no surprise that not clicking is hard to do.

Recently, GIF's have also exploded in popularity with their presence being felt in messaging platforms, email newsletters, and social media sites like Facebook. One convention, related to the arrow, is the presence of the text "GIF." Nowadays, when people see this text, they can expect that a looping or (at least ) animated image will be uncovered.

Both of these methods have seen an increase in usage as more marketers focus on bringing eyes to content, sometimes to the detriment of users.

In particular, using an arrow or GIF text overlay, when content is just a static image, people will click content at a higher rate than images without the overlay. People click the content, thinking that they will see a video or animated image, but instead get redirected to other content. These tactics represent a darker side of marketing.

Using standard convention within marketing does not always have to be a bad thing though. Focusing on the unique formats of a particular platform can drive clicks in a way that general posts can't. For instance, using the UI of a platform within a video add can be a way for users to break out of their normal habit of scrolling past content.

Here's an example of an advertising campaign that's making use of Facebook's side by side images:

good Facebook carousel example

Photo from AdLibbing

Marketing somethings earns a bad rap in how it gets people to do things they otherwise might not do. There is a light side to most marketing that can stand out amongst the shadows. Success is oftentimes a matter of better understanding the platform while balancing the good will of customers. It's this customer-helping focus, that will ultimately benefit both customers and businesses in the end.

How do you make the most of standard conventions within platforms?

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Sun, 29 Apr 2018 16:13:13 +0000 https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7311/how-to-use-standard-convention-to-get-more-clicks
Thoughts on Gone and Ephemeralness in Applications https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7308/thoughts-on-gone-and-ephemeralness-in-applications

ephemeral applications like Gone

I recently stumbled upon Gone, an application that uses ephemeralness to get users to complete their tasks. Tasks added to a to-do list disappear within 24 hours of adding them, making this productivity app not one for those who heavily procrastinate.

Although I haven't had too much time using it, I appreciate how it nearly mimics my method of writing to-do's on small pieces of paper than can easily be recycled. It's amazing how much you can accomplish when you're looking at both a small task list and tasks that are more easily digestible. Perhaps the part that's still missing from my analog solution is that my notes don't instantly disappear after 24 hours—that would be interesting to see though.

Gone is one of many apps that I've recently seen using ephemeralness. Snapchat is arguably one of the biggest players out there in this space, but there are dozens , if not hundreds of other apps using limited timeframes to incentivize users. From time sensitive deals to limited-view posts, time has a way of getting people to act that—in its absence—a simple messaging app, product, or to-do list item might not be able to accomplish. Much of this behavior may stem from people's aversion to loss.

People have an inherent tendency to want to avoid loss. If you are about to soon lose something, not only will you likely pay more attention to it, but do what you can to make sure that thing doesn't go away.

Until we're able to tease apart more internal behaviors with external requests, we will continue to be affected by the ephemeral nature of so many marketing campaigns and applications. In the meantime, we can use the ephemeral nature of productivity apps like Gone to our advantage—to purposefully accomplish our to-do's.

What are your thoughts on ephemeral apps?

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Sun, 22 Apr 2018 01:44:10 +0000 https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7308/thoughts-on-gone-and-ephemeralness-in-applications
Why I Didn’t Want to Ride Radiator Spring’s Racers https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7291/why-i-didnt-want-to-ride-radiator-springs-racers

Riding Radiator Springs Racers

How many times have you heard of sports fans who never change their underwear when their team is doing well or gamblers who insist on playing only on their favorite machines?

Our brain has an interesting way of linking things we do with externalities.

We think that, because we haven't changed our team underwear, our team will continue to win; or that our slot machine will reward our patronage with a higher rate of return.

I recently had an experience that, though I knew it wasn't rational, I couldn't shake. It has to do with Radiator Springs Racers at Disney California Adventure. To preface, I'm a pretty big Disney fan so this experience was even more intriguing.

For the uninitiated, Radiator Springs Racers is a thrill ride, set in Cars Land, that has riders going through Ornament Valley meeting familiar faces including Lightning McQueen, Mater, and Luigi. Without spoiling too much, there is a race that happens within the ride (hence the ride name).

I had previously been on an attraction in Walt Disney World that used a similar ride system, Test Track. Consequently, I was excited to see how Disney California Adventure would take this system to the next level.

When I first experienced Radiator Springs Racers, after an hour wait, I was wowed. So many intricate details, sounds, and lighting effects led me to believe that, at least for a few moments, I was in the world of Cars--racing with the best of them.

Best of all, my car won the race.

I couldn't quite believe that we had won, especially since it looked like our car was lagging behind at the end. The taste of victory was satisfying though. I could have been content with never riding the ride again, but I knew there was a point in the middle of Racers where I could experience a subset of the story. I wanted to experience it.

On a second occasion, I got to experience the other part of the story... oh, and my car also won.

By this point, I was already feeling as though I didn't need to experience the attraction anymore. I had won the race twice and experienced the complete story. Every time I would go to Disney California Adventure with new people though, they would inevitably coerce me into riding Radiator Springs Racers.

For the next six times, I continued to win race after race.

By the third, I began to wonder if there was ever really any chance of losing (obviously there was). By the fifth, I began to question whether it was me that was causing a win to happen.

On my eighth ride, I very reluctantly rode Radiator Springs Racers. When starting the race, I had a deep suspicion that I would lose. A few seconds later, the race was over... my car had indeed lost. While others in the car were dejected, I was somehow quite elated over the fact that my win streak was over and they I could ride Radiator Springs Racers without concern for holding up a streak.

This experience just goes to show how strong habits can become, what superstitions can do to people, and how liberating it can be when we aren't beholden to these behaviors.

Speaking of habits, I really recommend others check out Charles Duhigg's book, The Power of Habit. It does a really good job at exploring habits, how they shape us, and what we can do to both change (less desirable) habits and use them to our advantage.

Have you ever had a situation like this? What happened to you?

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Sun, 15 Apr 2018 17:23:30 +0000 https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7291/why-i-didnt-want-to-ride-radiator-springs-racers
Why it's Good to Revisit Software You Install https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7289/why-its-good-to-revisit-software-you-install

checklist

A few years ago, I came upon Smashing Magazine's list of items to check before releasing a site. I adapted it into my development process to create a solid foundation for new sites I develop. With many checklists out there, there is an inherent assumption that once you go through it, you never have to look at the checklist again. As I found out recently, it's good to do a quarterly review of software installations to make sure that everything is in working order.

With code, it's so easy for one little mistype or configuration to wreak havoc on the rest of your system. Recently, I lost out on a lot of valuable search data. Specifically, I installed a bit of code which allowed me to which allowed me to make Google Analytics smaller and cacheable. It also broke the validation I had for Google Search Console, as I had previously validated my site through Google Analytics tracking.

For a good two months, this connection was broken. It wasn't until running a keyword search report that I found data missing and knew something was up.

This also speaks to why it's good to timestamp changes you make to websites and to do regular backups.

Personally, I would recommend Jesse's solution to speed up Google Analytics. If you do install this code, just be cognizant of how it may impact other site configurations that you have by going back to those checklists to make sure that everything is in good, working order.

Have you ever installed anything that worked well, but caused other aspects of your site to break?

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Sat, 07 Apr 2018 19:40:26 +0000 https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7289/why-its-good-to-revisit-software-you-install
Iterating on Web Design Components https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7285/iterating-on-web-design-components

When developing my latest site, Break Out Geek, I thought I knew how best display posts on the main and category pages.

We all love our darlings.

After discussing the format with others, it became clear that more work should be done.

Sadly, some darlings aren’t perceived by others the same way.

I went through a series of iterations that I illustrated. I later incorporated some of my top choices to figure out which one I liked best.

I wanted to list these formats here. Perhaps they will serve as inspiration for your own design.

breakout geek site componentsbreakout geek site components

In case you’re curious, check out my site to see what I ended up going with and sign up to learn when I launch my podcast.

Have you used any of these formats before? What other ones would you add?

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Sat, 31 Mar 2018 20:54:28 +0000 https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7285/iterating-on-web-design-components
Getting Personal Online With Your Own Site https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7268/getting-personal-online

I've had this website since 2007. I was building out this site mostly because I thought it would be novel of me to have a website. Since then, times have changed and having a a presence on the web means, more or less, that you exist in the world. From job application to dating and everything in between, having a personal presence online is one of the most efficient and effective ways to up your game.

building an online presence

Why Do I Want One?

With 7.6 billion people in the world and growing, it's becoming harder to stand out naturally. If you have a unique name and someone searches for you, it can be easy for prospective employers, clients, dates, etc. to find you and understand who you are. For individuals with more common names though, having a personalized landing page can be that leg up that makes you stand out against a see of people not doing anything.

Controlling online presence can be the difference between someone thinking a convict with the same name is you, and them understanding you for who you want to be. In a world of quick assumptions and short attention spans, its important, more than ever, to be in charge of the conversation as it relates to you and how you want to be perceived.

How to Develop a Presence Online

Developing a persona online can be as involved as one would like it to be. Previously, I had gone into ways to quickly manage your presence online. These services can be a quick and easy way to start developing out a persona online. Where they fall short, however, is in the amount of depth that you can go. Sure you can write up a huge bio and add social media accounts, but you largely can't do much customization beyond the confines of various templates they have.

Such a page is just that, a page.

Personalized websites can contain various pages of content on a given person, while landing page services are drips in a larger bucket of potential searches. Such a page will only rise to the top if your name is relatively uncommon.

If your goal is to stand out even more, or if your name is more common, creating your own personal website can be a great alternative.

DIY or Not, That is the Question

Doing anything yourself, especially if the process is new, can be a time consuming endeavor. That said, there are a bunch of platforms out there with the goal of making building your own personal website easier.

Services like Wix.com, Wordpress, (Weebly)[https://www.weebly.com/], and (Squarespace)[https://www.squarespace.com/] all fit in the category of website builders. These are services specifically designed to require little to no coding. They often feature the ability to choose templates that can be manipulated with text and images to portray what you want to show off.

Though these sites maybe easier to use, they often only serve up to a certain point. Should your site require more customization, especially on the backend; or you want to have more control over performance, you'll find these services lacking. Because of the nature in which they make developing a website easier for the DIYer, they remove much of the ability to fully customize beyond the point of what an average consumer would need.

If you have the resources to have someone create your own website, paying for development is probably the easiest and most customizable way to get your online persona off of the ground. Perhaps the hardest part of development, in this manner, is figuring out exactly what you want the website to look like and using specs to create a plan. Even if you don't really have an idea, a website can still be developed (but note that typically more back and forth results in higher costs).

I tend to recommend others sketch out the way they want the website to look, to use a simple program like Powerpoint, or even hire a web designer to have a starting point for development. Any developer or designer out there should be able to answer questions you have related to developing out your own personal website, so don't hesitate to ask the questions that need to be asked.

Are you online? Do you have an online persona?

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Sat, 03 Feb 2018 21:04:10 +0000 https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7268/getting-personal-online
Behind the Curtain with 3D Printing https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7266/behind-the-curtain-with-3d-printing

It’s been almost a year since I received my 3D printer. Since then, I’ve printed dozens of 3D models and designed many more. Over the span of time, I’ve come to realize that 3D printing and, specifically, modeling is a lot harder than it looks. Sure, before jumping into Autodesk Fusion 360, I was designing mobile and web UI’s using 2D design tools. This helped me get into the software and figure out, loosely, what I wanted to do. It didn’t get me thinking about how or why I should design something until much later in the process though. As I think about it, designing in 2D is thinking about a handful of problems. Modeling in 3D, especially for 3D printing, is easily multiplying the number of considerations to be made, threefold.

3D printing lessons

I wanted to use this opportunity to address three things I’ve learned about 3D printing.

  1. There are dozens of ways to design.

When 3D modeling, it’s relatively easy to figure out how to design something. The process may take a few steps to get there, but you’ll get there. Thinking longer about how to design a model, and especially knowing more about what the software can do, can drastically decrease the number of steps a 3D model takes to completion. Many of my models used to take over 30 steps to create. Nowadays, the same models might take a third of that amount.

  1. Replacements won’t always look the same.

One of the cool things about 3D printing is that you can find hundreds of replacement parts for on-demand printing. Moreover, if it’s not out there, you can also just design it. I recently designed a Christmas tree leg, pretty much to the T. It had just the right curves and clearance. It looked great on screen—problem is though it wouldn’t print correctly.

When 3D modeling and printing, you quickly come to understand the impacts of gravity and the occasional need for supports. Because the replacement tree leg would have required supports to print (and mostly because additional software would not add the requisite supports), I had to rework my model. The tweaked 3D model didn’t require supports, printed just fine, and now supports the small tree I have. Sure, it doesn’t look like the other legs but sometimes you have to be okay with that.

  1. Most things can be printed, but at what cost?

Many of the models I have, I’ve placed on sites like Shapeways for sale for to people without 3D printers to buy. In printing 3D models on services like this, you quickly begin to understand more how expensive 3D printing can be. What was haphazardly designed might print on a personal 3D printer or an on-demand printing site. What’s missing from this equation though are considerations of time and the amount of material used to create the model. Designs that used to cost well over $80 to produce could be reduced in cost by half many times simply by reducing the thickness of outside walls or making the design hollow, for instance.

Most of these things, you would never know initially. Hopefully some of these insights help in your own 3D printing journey. If you have any questions about 3D printing or modeling don’t be afraid to ask.

What have you learned as a result of 3D printing?

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Mon, 29 Jan 2018 02:59:03 +0000 https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7266/behind-the-curtain-with-3d-printing
Making It Shine: Getting Customers to Stick with Packaging https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7262/making-it-shine-making-customers-stick-with-packaging

When you receive a package or present addressed to you, especially an unexpected one, you get a little warm inside. Even if you know what it is, the unknown fills you with glee. You feel special. You feel at ease.

It’s this moment of heightened emotion that many marketers seem to look over. It’s this moment though that can turn the average consumer into an advocate.

First let’s take a step back.

So much of marketing is focused on numbers and the digital space. Nothing is wrong with pay per click or content marketing—I’ve personally realized much success with them. What is missing is intent.

Just because everyone is lining up for the hottest brunch place doesn’t mean it’s good.

People have different tastes and preference.

Following the crowd is lining up just because others are doing so. Intent is saying I’m going to go to this restaurant to have brunch because I want to be able to judge it against the other brunch options available in the city.

A similar sentiment can be shared for marketing. So much money is spent because platforms are just thought of as ones to go to. Some of the best return on investment can be realized though when thinking more critically about customers.

Is your customer online? If so, where would they spend most of their time. What are they interested in?

Asking these questions, like an anteater overturning a rock covering an ant hive, I was able to find a veritable nest of real estate clients on Facebook. All I had to do, with intent, was follow where agents customer’s might spend a lot of time.

Going back to packages and presents, product packaging represents a missed opportunity to capture the imagination of customers. For anyone who does ecommerce, this type of marketing can be a great way of developing one-time customers into repeat customers (or even evangelists). At the very least, while most other companies are chasing the next untapped marketing outlet this one remains largely explored.

There are more considerations that go into packaging than can be covered in a single post, but one of the biggest considerations should be the experience that it creates.

I recently received a rather odd shaped package. In it, I found Bears vs. Babies. Even though I had supported Elan and Matt’s Kickstarter, I was still filled with excitement as I opened the package. This excitement was amplified as I discovered a box covered in fur and bright letters.

box covered in fur

A box covered in fur—that’s strange enough, but wait, there’s more!

thank you note

Opening the box, I found a personalized thank you note. I felt super special.

thank you card

Although I tend to favor more strategic games, I wouldn’t hesitate to support and recommend this company now because of the experience they provided in this moment.

Not everyone can take advantage of a personalized thank you within their box (as I imagine the cost for this to be pretty high), but one can at least improve on their unboxing experience. Perhaps this simply includes a little business card that acts as a thank you. Adding a personal touch, however small, can go a long way in keeping customers around.

fooled note

I actually received a package from eBay at the same time as Bears vs. Babies and found this card. I felt a sense of delight that quickly made me realize I was the wrong audience.

back of fooled note

There are, quite possibly, ways to do packaging wrong.

With the right combination of creativity and intent, you can turn the experience of first using the product into one that will continue to boost the bottom line for months to come.

What are your thoughts on unboxing and packaging? What companies have hit this out of the park?

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Sun, 21 Jan 2018 07:09:19 +0000 https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7262/making-it-shine-making-customers-stick-with-packaging
How to Earn Cash Back From Purchases on Autopilot https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7261/how-to-earn-cash-back-from-purchases-on-autopilot

In a previous post, I took a dive into the problem of spending too much time figuring out what to buy. Recently, I encountered search cost again when determining the perfect gifts to give to friends and family. No doubt there's some extra value derived from finding the perfect gift (although the opposite is not necessarily true).

Earny app

One service that I've used that has helped in the buying process is Earny. Earny takes advantage of credit card price protection to ensure that you're almost always buying items at the lowest possible price.

For the uninitiated, credit card price protections are policies that allow you, the consumer, to get a refund back if the price of a product drops within a specified time.

For many cards and banks, this time frame spans 90 to 120 days—which makes these policies particularly beneficial for the price sensitive customer. Specific agreements vary from one policy to the next but, generally speaking, once a price drop is found, a customer can initiate a review.

This can be a particularly tedious process—keeping track of price drops and filling out requests.

This is where Earny comes into play. Earny uses your purchase receipts to keep track of the price of items purchased. If there is a price drop, it will file for a refund on your behalf.

Best part of this is that the amount you pay (25%) comes directly out of the money you save—meaning you don't pay anything more than a small percentage of what you would have otherwise not had.

With help from Earny, I've earned over $61 back from various purchases I've made since last December. The most I received was $7.18 for a phone holder. Along with tools like Paribus, I can rest a little easier knowing that my time is being better spent.

Ready to set your credit card protection on autopilot?

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Tue, 16 Jan 2018 20:22:32 +0000 https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7261/how-to-earn-cash-back-from-purchases-on-autopilot
WDYWT.net, a Breakdown https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7257/wdywtnet-a-breakdown

One of the first sites I ever developed was a fashion website called WDYWT.net. WDYWT referred to the acronym "What Did You Wear Today" and featured daily postings of people's outfits. In its heyday, I had a couple dozen people sharing their outfits day in and day out. Over time, interest in the project faded and I eventually let the domain expire. What follows is a series of insights and learnings about the website.

wdywt

At a time when I didn't care much about fashion, it was a bit odd to create a site dedicated to just this. Seeing that WDYWT's was a subculture that was developing at the time, though, and seeing that these types of posts were just relegated to forums, I thought creating a more dedicated space would allow the project to take off.

On WDYWT.net, anyone could come onto the site and sign up as a member. Members could then vote on other member posts as well as post their own outfits. At a time when smartphone camera's were still just okay, most of the photos posted to the website were from DSLR's and pretty well orchestrated—one has to imagine that anyone posting to the fashion website would have their photos to look the best.

The site was loosely modeled off of the Digg format of upvoting and downvoting posts. It used Pligg as the main software to make these interactions happen. As documentation was a bit fragmented at the time, I learned a lot in terms of using a content management system and tweaking the platform to fit my needs. Fitting Pligg (a square peg) into my design (a circle), provided some of the foundation for my diligence in development today, to say to the least.

Once the site was developed, I released it to friends and encouraged them to join. I also reached out to many people posting wdywt's on forums and brought them over to the site.

Although it was fun seeing new outfits posted to the site everyday, the number of users and visitors was not quite enough for me to justify keeping the site up and running. I did learn a lot from the experience though.

First and foremost, I learned that if you build it, they will not come, at least on the Internet. It's only getting harder to garner the attention of people online. Even a useful site and promises of self promotion can only take a website so far before more brute-force marketing has to happen. An site should still go through the process of market validation to figure out how great the idea is.

Another lesson learned is that if it's not broken, it doesn't (necessarily) have to be fixed. For many people, the existence of a platform, touting a better experience was not reason enough to move away from an older way of doing things—in this case posting daily wdywt's to forums. If the site really was something that solved a problem, then it might have had more success. Instead, because it generally duplicated a forum, there wasn't much added value. Moreover, because visitors would have to go through the hurdle of signing up for an account to vote, the site was—in a sense—less valuable to the same person already carrying out duplicate actions on another site.

What problem does the average wdywt poster and audience have? It's this question that should have dictated the site's development.

The last lesson I learned is align project goals with passion. Though it was fun soliciting new users, initially, because I didn't enjoy fashion that much, I eventually found the process more arduous and uninspiring. By the second month, there wasn't much about the website that was appealing to me beyond checking out daily analytics to see how well WDYWT.net was doing. Having more passion for fashion, I believe, would have allowed me to engage more with users and figure out ways to make the site even better.

Through the experience of creating WDYWT.net, I learned a lot. Nowadays, I'm able to develop more robust sites that speak towards the needs of end-users. All it took was a little question, "What did you wear today?"

Any thoughts on all this? I'd love to hear them.

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Sun, 07 Jan 2018 05:24:39 +0000 https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7257/wdywtnet-a-breakdown
Behind the Curtain: How I Relax After a Long Day https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7248/behind-the-curtain-how-i-relax-after-a-long-day

We all have those days that just seem a little longer than normal.

Not the kind that's technically longer because of summer, the kind of day that would make many people want to crawl into bed after stuffing themselves with pad thai.

Maybe it's because a friend came into town and you were out later than normal or, perhaps, the light rail got stopped by a crossing car that coincidentally got a flat on the track. There's a litany of reasons, but we all know the feeling. Because I find enjoyment in focused work, I tend to relax a little differently.

pouring tea

For me, winding down after a long day typically consists of boiling up a nice pot of tea, putting on some driving EDM, and working on something.

Tea-wise, my taste is pretty plain with my tea pot mostly rotating through genmaicha, jasmine, oolong, barley, and matcha tea.

The type of music that I listen to varies somewhat but I tend to play tropical house, progressive house, future bass, and chillhop. The music I play largely depends on the work that I'm doing with higher cognitive tastes gravitating towards less lyrics.

tools for making

In terms of work, the type of activities also varies but I'm almost always doing something different than what I've done during the day. For instance, if I've been optimizing marketing campaigns or developing out landing pages during most of the day, I will typically want to relax with activities like cleaning the house, developing out a tabletop game, or designing a 3D model.

If you have a hard time relaxing and you're anything like me, this process might help. Regardless, don't forget to find the time to relax and appreciate the little things in life.

What do you do to relax after a long day?

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Tue, 19 Dec 2017 00:13:14 +0000 https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7248/behind-the-curtain-how-i-relax-after-a-long-day
Why Facing Away from the Customer Can be Great https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7245/why-facing-away-from-the-customer-can-be-great

When I'm waiting for my meal to come, I often find myself looking around, observing random ongoings. One thing that I've noticed many establishments have is chefs with their backs to customers. In closed kitchen, this isn't really an issue, but as more kitchens become open, this presents and excellent opportunity to do more.

restaurant uniforms

Photo from Pinterest

Especially for more casual establishments where, perhaps, wearing a t-shirt is acceptable, the back of an employee can be an opportunity to engage.

A nicely designed shirt back can be a way to interact with customers where there would otherwise be little to no interaction. This, of course, can increase the likelihood that a customer will come back as they see a business that is warm and inviting.

One company that uses the backs of its workers well is Chipotle. Even while workers are cooking up a storm, customers can look at them and engage with messages emblazoned on their back.

Little things like this can make a huge difference on the bottom line, causing customers to come back time and time again.

Have you seen any good back-of-shirt designs?

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Mon, 11 Dec 2017 22:03:46 +0000 https://www.kevinhamano.com/items/view/7245/why-facing-away-from-the-customer-can-be-great