# Lifestyles & Discussion > Miscellaneous Discussion > Marketplace > Business - Online: My New Online Store

## lilymc

Hey everyone. Today I am officially launching my new online store, *coolveganthings.com*.

I realize that there aren't many vegans here, but if you are interested in cruelty-free products, or if you know any vegans or vegetarians, please come visit or pass along the link. 

I will be adding more products and I'm going to be adding a blog soon.

Thanks and I hope to see you there!

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## heavenlyboy34

YAY!!!  I like your book selection. When I have some FRNs to spare I'll probably pick up some protein cookbooks for lent and whatnot.

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## lilymc

> YAY!!!  I like your book selection. When I have some FRNs to spare I'll probably pick up some protein cookbooks for lent and whatnot.


Thank you!!!   

I actually don't have a lot of books there yet. I'm going to be continually adding good books and other products. And thanks for planning to pick one up when you can. Much appreciated.

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## heavenlyboy34

Oh! Do you use snapchat for your social media campaign? people have suggested i use it (I'm in the arts), but IDK how to make it relevant to my specific work.  ETA: I see you use instagram-advice on that is appreciated too.  ~hugs~

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## lilymc

> Oh! Do you use snapchat for your social media campaign? people have suggested i use it (I'm in the arts), but IDK how to make it relevant to my specific work.  ETA: I see you use instagram-advice on that is appreciated too.  ~hugs~


I've never used Snapchat But I really like Instagram. I'm pretty sure that the "stories" on both of those platforms are similar. 

What is your specific work?  What people do on Instagram (in addition to posting regular photos) is post short fun little vlog-style video clips or pics for the Instagram stories....  it can be anything, just for fun, or to promote one's website, YouTube channel, podcast or whatever.   

You probably already know this, but a good way to use Instagram is to use hashtags, to find like-minded people and to build your "tribe", so to speak.  Another thing is to post consistently and a lot (which I don't do, I've been posting about once a week, if that.)  

If you have good and interesting content, post consistently / often and use hashtags wisely, then you'll inevitably build your audience and do well on Instagram or similar social media networks. I hope that was somewhat helpful!

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## heavenlyboy34

> I've never used Snapchat… But I really like Instagram. I'm pretty sure that the "stories" on both of those platforms are similar. 
> 
> What is your specific work?  What people do on Instagram (in addition to posting regular photos) is post short fun little vlog-style video clips or pics for the Instagram stories....  it can be anything, just for fun, or to promote one's website, YouTube channel, podcast or whatever.   
> 
> You probably already know this, but a good way to use Instagram is to use hashtags, to find like-minded people and to build your "tribe", so to speak.  Another thing is to post consistently and a lot (which I don't do, I've been posting about once a week, if that.)  
> 
> If you have good and interesting content, post consistently / often and use hashtags wisely, then you'll inevitably build your audience and do well on Instagram or similar social media networks. I hope that was somewhat helpful!


My fields are graphic art/design(primarily illustration) and music composition/performance.Could Instagram clips be animation or do they*have*to be live action?

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## lilymc

> My fields are graphic art/design(primarily illustration) and music composition/performance.Could Instagram clips be animation or do they*have*to be live action?


No, I'm pretty sure it can be animation. Any type of video clip or image would work for Instagram stories.  If you do graphic design and illustration, then I highly recommend using Instagram (or do you already have a page?) as it is an image-based platform.

 ETA: Plus you could link to your website or wherever your music clips are hosted.

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## Jamesiv1

what is vegan leather??




> $60.00
> Matt & Nat Rubben Vintage Bifold Wallet
> This gorgeous, high-quality vegan leather wallet is by Matt & Nat, an ethically-conscious all-vegan company.

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## lilymc

> what is vegan leather??


Faux leather. I'm pretty sure there are different types, but it's all material that looks like leather but isn't.

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## donnay

> Hey everyone. Today I am officially launching my new online store, *coolveganthings.com*.
> 
> I realize that there aren't many vegans here, but if you are interested in cruelty-free products, or if you know any vegans or vegetarians, please come visit or pass along the link. 
> 
> I will be adding more products and I'm going to be adding a blog soon.
> 
> Thanks and I hope to see you there!



That is great Lily!  I will pass it along, I know a few vegetarians.

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## heavenlyboy34

> No, I'm pretty sure it can be animation. Any type of video clip or image would work for Instagram stories.  If you do graphic design and illustration, then I highly recommend using Instagram (or do you already have a page?) as it is an image-based platform.
> *
>  ETA: Plus you could link to your website or wherever your music clips are hosted*.


Mostcertainly! Listen free here (and follow) with the option to buy tracks and albums: https://matveyushka.bandcamp.com  Remember to subscribe to my facebook for updates on all my activities and endeavours: Matvei Media Arts (aka https://www.facebook.com/MatveiMediaArts/).

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## lilymc

> That is great Lily!  I will pass it along, I know a few vegetarians.


Thanks so much, Donna!   I really appreciate that.




> Mostcertainly! Listen free here (and follow) with the option to buy tracks and albums: https://matveyushka.bandcamp.com  Remember to subscribe to my facebook for updates on all my activities and endeavours: Matvei Media Arts (aka https://www.facebook.com/MatveiMediaArts/).


Cool, I'll take a look! (a listen)     I'm not actually on Facebook anymore (except for an empty placeholder account, just so I can have my website "page"s) But if you're on twitter or Instagram, lmk.

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## Origanalist

Why do the guys all have their heads chopped off?

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## William Tell

> Why do the guys all have their heads chopped off?


Don't care. Who wants to look at doods?

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## Origanalist

> Don't care. Who wants to look at doods?


Well, not me. I can go to Seattle and see all the guys dressed like that I want if I was so inclined. I was just wondering, it seems kind of strange.

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## heavenlyboy34

> Thanks so much, Donna!   I really appreciate that.
> 
> 
> 
> Cool, I'll take a look! (a listen)     I'm not actually on Facebook anymore (except for an empty placeholder account, just so I can have my website "page"s) But if you're on twitter or Instagram, lmk.


Matter of fact, I do happen to have a bizniss twitter account! @MatveiMediaArts  I just use it to post stuff I finish and updates on work related stuff. Don't do selfies or any hipster-y stuff. I have instagram (matvei_media_arts) but it's a boring feed ATM because I'm still trying to figure out how to make it really useful and practical for bizniss instead of just a dumb attention whoring platform (and I just started it yesterday).
ETA: took a picture and posted just to test it out. It seems to work.

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## lilymc

> Why do the guys all have their heads chopped off?



That was just the way the photos were, from the vendor.  It already started off like that but then I think it might've got cut off a little more when I set it as the product image because the image was too tall and narrow.   I guess their thinking was the focus is supposed to be on the clothes, not the guy's face. *shrug*





> Matter of fact, I do happen to have a bizniss twitter account! @MatveiMediaArts  I just use it to post stuff I finish and updates on work related stuff. Don't do selfies or any hipster-y stuff. I have instagram (matvei_media_arts) but it's a boring feed ATM because I'm still trying to figure out how to make it really useful and practical for bizniss instead of just a dumb attention whoring platform (and I just started it yesterday).
> ETA: took a picture and posted just to test it out. It seems to work.


I followed you on Instagram. Maybe you could look for some similar Instagram accounts to see how they use it for their business. I don't know, I'm just using my (2nd) Instagram page to post inspiring images with good quotes or scriptures.

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## heavenlyboy34

> That was just the way the photos were, from the vendor.  It already started off like that but then I think it might've got cut off a little more when I set it as the product image because the image was too tall and narrow.   I guess their thinking was the focus is supposed to be on the clothes, not the guy's face. *shrug*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I followed you on Instagram. Maybe you could look for some similar Instagram accounts to see how they use it for their business. I don't know, I'm just using my (2nd) Instagram page to post inspiring images with good quotes or scriptures.


Can you post images from your hard drive or do you have to link from photobucket, etc?

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## lilymc

> Can you post images from your hard drive or do you have to link from photobucket, etc?


I am sorry that I didn't reply to this until now. I'm pretty sure that you can't upload images from your hard drive (on a regular computer) to Instagram. It has to be from a mobile device. 

Actually, I just looked into this and apparently there is an app that lets you post from your computer... and also maybe from dropbox.com.

Good to know, because it's always kind of a hassle for me to transfer images from my computer to my phone in order to post on Instagram

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## Carlybee

Looks nice Lily..will check out more of the products when I can buy.

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## lilymc

> Looks nice Lily..will check out more of the products when I can buy.


Thanks Carlybee! I appreciate you checking it out and commenting.

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## oyarde

> what is vegan leather??


I think vegan leather is eel skin .

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## Cleaner44

> Hey everyone. Today I am officially launching my new online store, *coolveganthings.com*.
> 
> I realize that there aren't many vegans here, but if you are interested in cruelty-free products, or if you know any vegans or vegetarians, please come visit or pass along the link. 
> 
> I will be adding more products and I'm going to be adding a blog soon.
> 
> Thanks and I hope to see you there!


The site is loading very slowly. You probably need to compress your images and maybe set up caching. 

This free plugin should help:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/tiny-compress-images/

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## lilymc

> The site is loading very slowly. You probably need to compress your images and maybe set up caching. 
> 
> This free plugin should help:
> https://wordpress.org/plugins/tiny-compress-images/


Thanks so much for the feedback. One other person had mentioned that it was loading slow for him So I definitely want to do something about that. I'll check out that plugin. Thanks again!

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## lilymc

> The site is loading very slowly. You probably need to compress your images and maybe set up caching. 
> 
> This free plugin should help:
> https://wordpress.org/plugins/tiny-compress-images/


Hi. This is very weird. I tested my site loading time and it initially was 5.2 seconds (according to gtmetrix.com) as you can see here:





Then I deleted some plugins I wasn't using and got that plugin that you recommended, and now my loading time is quite a bit slower, as you can see here 




I don't know what happened. Maybe I'll try using some different testing sites.

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## lilymc

I just wanted to say that to speed things up I got a plugin for browser caching (WP Fastest Cache) and now my loading time is a lot faster. 

 



I am still getting a low score on image optimization, so I'm not sure why that isn't working.

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## Cleaner44

> Hi. This is very weird. I tested my site loading time and it initially was 5.2 seconds (according to gtmetrix.com) as you can see here:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then I deleted some plugins I wasn't using and got that plugin that you recommended, and now my loading time is quite a bit slower, as you can see here… 
> 
> 
> ...


Getting rid of unused themes and plugins is good housekeeping.

Compressing the images with that plugin required entering the key that they email to you. If you activated it, your photos should be much better and smaller files load faster. Did you complete this step?

Depending on your hosting, it might be helpful to add a caching plugin like this:
W3 Total Cache
https://wordpress.org/plugins/w3-total-cache/

There are videos that help with the configuration. 

Your website is testing a little better for me.

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## lilymc

> Getting rid of unused themes and plugins is good housekeeping.
> 
> Compressing the images with that plugin required entering the key that they email to you. If you activated it, your photos should be much better and smaller files load faster. Did you complete this step?
> 
> Depending on your hosting, it might be helpful to add a caching plugin like this:
> W3 Total Cache
> https://wordpress.org/plugins/w3-total-cache/
> 
> There are videos that help with the configuration. 
> ...


Yeah, I activated it and I'm pretty sure I went through all the steps. I think it did crunch a lot of my images but not all. After a certain number you need to go premium.

And thank you… I did get a caching plugin and it seemed to work well, because my loading time is less.  it's still not loading as fast as I'd like it to but it's better.

Thanks again!

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