Amazon Gives Bullet Points the Rope-a-Dope!

New Guidelines for Bullet Points on Amazon

Just when we thought it was safe to leave our tactfully-placed, detail page--optimized to within an inch of their life--bullet points alone, Amazon changes the rules of the game.

Fortunately, added limitations and "out of bounds" rulings may provide some sellers the much needed structure that's been missing in the goal of page supremacy.

Here's a run down of the basics to ensure retail-readiness by the deadline for implementation, September 15. (This also coincides with the guesstimated date for Prime Big Deal Days, but that's another blog.)

• Avoid special characters: Do not use symbols like *&^%$#@! or emojis.
• Limit promotional language: Avoid phrases like "free shipping," "best seller," or "limited time offer."
• Be concise: Each bullet point should ideally be one or two sentences long. Certainly under the 255 character-limit!
• Focus on key features and benefits: Highlight what makes your product unique and valuable to customers.
• Avoid redundancy: Don't repeat information that is already included in the product title or description.
• Use proper grammar and punctuation: Ensure your bullet points are well-written and easy to read.
• Don't include refund guarantees: This information should be in your return policy.
• Avoid excessive capitalization: Use capitalization only where appropriate (e.g., proper nouns).
• Use bullet points consistently: Maintain a consistent format throughout your listing.

Quite the list. But by adhering to these new rules, sellers can expect to improve listing visibility, simplify identification of benefits, and attract new customers. Until the next update!

Statement

 I am not dead. I was merely resting for the eventuality.

don't call it a comeback

The news out of New York Fashion Week is a return to the square toe.


The news out of Milan Fashion Week is a return to the plague, this time known as coronavirus. Everything Thomas Mann is new again.


The halls of this dormant account have not been darkened by literary shadow in say, over three years entirely through fault of my own. Can I still write? Do I have something to say? Is there enough oxygen in the room? Can you start and stop and start again?


As Dorothy Parker famously quipped, "someone was using the pencil." Or more accurately, to paraphrase Judy Garland, perhaps "I never left."


At some point telling the tale of not telling becomes the point; missed opportunities, missed vantage points, torn pages from a journal never to be recovered. Blame the inauspicious return on harrowing times as we head into a possible dystopian future that somehow needs accounting. The fall must be accounted. 


So here I sit cavalierly sipping coffee and ruminating on the Oxford comma when I should instead be actively following up on multiple digital applications in the corporate world far removed from the safe confines of these word-filled halls. Similarly, resumes quite like blogging are simple auditions; attempts at acceptance, connection, persuasion. Any role in the chorus will do.


It appears the royal "We" are here at this place again. I cannot promise to be faithful, a fear of commitment also extends to preventing bumper stickers on my car. But unlike the hermetically capped correspondence between Eudora Welty and William Maxwell, 'What There Is to Say We Have Said,' there is always another last word.

is this seat taken?

Not sure blogging is still a thing, whatever a 'thing' is. To skip four months of writing is to be remiss; to skip four years is simply to be missing. 

Much time has elapsed since my last entry and there aren't any guarantees we won't be revisiting this topic again in 2021.

However, do not post my milk carton obituary just yet. After all, a large segment of the population remains lactose-intolerant and won't see it anyway. 

Going forward, I shall endeavor to use this space in the manner to which it is accustomed, writing for the common good; joy, illumination, and insight. Every sentence on its page, every chair in its place.

obamacare, the city on seven million hills

Rome wasn't built in a day. It took 25 hours.


Actually, this sprawling, ancient Gotham, birthplace to Caesar and Da Vinci and Sinatra, was 750 years in the making and is a textbook example of a “work-in-progress.”


Speaking of ObamaCare.


Admittedly, there is no bigger fan than me of the much debated, litigated, legislated and re-litigated insurance industry reform bill passed by the current administration. If you weren't already sick to death of partisan bickering before hearing all the hoo-hah and hosannas about the sky falling from Republicans, you certainly are by now. Good thing pre-existing conditions won't exclude you from coverage.


So, yes my dears. As the early adopter that I am, I found myself marching to healthcare.gov on the first day of open enrollment only to find an error message telling me in unceremonious tones to come back later, no room at the inn.


Enduring a long history with Facebook and Twitter, I have built up an acceptance for the things I cannot control; refusal of service I believe it is commonly referred to.


I made a mental note to revisit the site at some other more opportune time and grab a drink in the interim to wait it out like any other sensible person.


Three weeks later, I'm still drinking.


Not that I've given up hope (or Change for that matter) but after four separate visits to the site I am still unable to even create an account let alone view specific plans or policies. Granted, I have been able to view preliminary rates and subsidies based on my household income and have to admit the pricing is extremely competitive, less than half what I currently pay.


With 7 million people still to register in the next six months, something akin to Noah loading the ark when it starts to sprinkle, I am cautiously optimistic that the internet gremlins and web snafus will dissipate with the autumn only to bear fruit in the spring.



If not, the next sound you hear may be violins playing while Rome burns.

boom.

If contractions were blog posts mine would be spaced eight months apart; not so much pregnant pauses as false labor.

I'm afraid it may take a shot of whiskey, clean towels, a midwife and forceps to pull out the next entry.

This is not due to a lack of material. Just the opposite.

What with Twitter and Facebook and Reddit and Friendster and MySpace -- scratch those last two -- I am overwhelmed by the opportunities to get my point across on multiple platforms. In the old days there was one soap box, now there are twelve.

Certainly you can see right through this ruse about writing about writing. I am merely marking time, dog-paddling, creating a digital placeholder to give the illusion that I am actually contributing something, anything, to my literary canon.

It is all smoke.

homestretch marks

I survived this election and all I got was defriended .

 Okay, so perhaps social media is not the best place to have spirited political discourse given the paltry 140 characters allotted to espouse views accrued over a lifetime. One might argue that Facebook and Twitter have become our generation's collective town square, the 60-watt bulb in that beacon on the hill, but many find it off-putting, intolerable, maddening when someone in their close-knit circle posts something out-of-step with their own reckoning.

 Keep typing the good type, I say.

 Isn't that precisely what distinguishes the United States from, say Saudi Arabia? Freedom of expression, even when it doesn't agree with your own circumscribed beliefs, is one of the most prized and valuable assets we possess. This is a country founded on both dissent and tolerance.

 It is the reason young men and women have bravely given their lives to fight far-flung wars to preserve our right to even criticize the very battles in which they are engaged. Remember Vietnam?

Now as we enter the final 30 days of this presidential election – which can't end soon enough, in my humble opinion – emotions have reached a fever pitch, as they always do. Trust me, the fever will break come November 7. Until then, bear with all the hand-wringing and commentary and second-guessing and prognostication and yes, defriending.

 Once this all over we can go back to complaining about that Facebook timeline thingy again.