Aeolidia: Shopify Experts

Get your site in shape for BFCM! Download our rates Hi Reader, When we were teaching at the h+h americas conference, someone asked me how long a website should last. I get asked this a lot, and the answer's not too popular. A well-built ecommerce site tends to be competitive for about a year and a half to maaaybe three years before it's worth considering a redesign or major refresh. That’s not because your site is broken, but because customer expectations, available functionality, and your...

We're booking our last few summer projects!Grab our rate sheet if you have big goals in 2025. Hi Reader, To keep the excitement going for the two Mother/Founder contests, I'm sharing some thoughts on parenting while running a business today. Photo ©Momoko Fritz, who made the teens act cuddly I was chatting with a friend who said she had no idea how I manage a team of 20 at work and also take care of my teenagers at home. I gave her a flip response about neglecting the parenting part, which...

Hi Reader, I'm writing you on my way home from Toronto. I just attended Shopify Editions, their conference for developers and Shopify Partners. Here I am with their VP of Finance (kidding!): Did you know? We've been designing and developing ecommerce sites since 2004, and have been official partners with them since 2012. We are Shopify Select Partners under their new ranking system, which means we're in the top 4% of their 50,000 partners. We're working closely with the Shopify Plus team this...

My free Shopify talk is TODAY! 11am PT, 2pm ET - get the link here Hi Reader, One of our readers, Kathleen, emailed to say, "You wrote a little pep talk about how challenging it is to run your own business and I have to say it made me feel relief. I think often when I am reading through blog posts that you write or other folks with information about growing your business it can get overwhelming and one can feel they aren't doing enough. So it was nice to have your words of encouragement and...

Our product page optimization webinar's next week - RSVP here! Hi Reader, If you're a mother who's dreaming of building or expanding her business, I have a great contest for you to enter! I actually have two contests, because I'm going to add my own into the mix (and if you head down to Interesting Clickables in this email, one of our services is currently very inexpensive in an online fundraising auction). The big and amazing contest was made possible by Amanda and Jen, who put together the...

Are you a 10KSB grad? Email me about the summit in October! Hi Reader, We just returned from our favorite trade show, h+h americas, where we gave two well-received talks. In fact, there was an incident where one of our attendees had written six pages of notes from our talk and then lost them. He was distraught and asked if we could send the slides to him. Twenty minutes later, I found an Aeolidia-branded notepad propped gently against a garbage can. I picked it up and it was his notes! I saw...

Bring Aeolidia to your group or event—read on! Hi Reader, This week, Helen, our Ecommerce Strategist, and I are at one of our favorite events: h+h americas. This is a trade show and conference for craft brands that attracts the biggest names in the business: exhibitors include Bernina sewing machines, Wool & The Gang, and Liberty Fabrics. If your business is craft-related, I'd recommend looking into it. The event organizers have hired us to teach classes about Shopify and Klaviyo, and we will...

We're in Chicago next week speaking at h+h americas! Hi Reader, Whew, lots of heavy topics lately, from when and how to grow to these terrible tariffs! Let's lighten it up this week with a gentler topic: branding! I recently spoke with two branding experts who mentioned that people seem to be drawn to illustration and hand lettering again. My theory is that we've seen so much of those weird, awkward, and bland AI-generated graphics recently that we're recognizing the real value in thoughtful...

Hi Reader, I've just finished reading Predictable Success by Les McKeown. He discusses the seven different stages that businesses go through (learn a bit more about these here), and it rings so true for me. After "early struggle" comes "fun," then "whitewater," then "predictable success" (followed by the stages that kill a business). He says many businesses hit whitewater and then intentionally return to the fun stage. He believes staying in the fun stage is a valid way to run a business. So,...