In honor of the new Wombat Miva Merchant release, I've redesigned my logo and site, created a new tag line, as well as renamed the subscription levels to names that make more sense (thank you David Lasker for coming up with the new level names).

Basic, Intermediate and Advanced never really applied, since it's more about more topics, not higher level learning. For example, the Advanced tutorials have third party module topics. That's not advanced, it's just more. So here are the new level names:

• Basic is now Core
• Intermediate is now Essential
• Advanced is now Unlimited

I've created many new Wombat videos that I'm working on getting up onto the site. Right now you can see all the new Core tutorials at Miva Merchant here. Subscribers will start seeing newer videos over this weekend. If you have any topic requests, let me know, please.

Check out the new site design now!

Here's what an original, 2D, boring tutorial looked like:

And here's what the brand new amazing 3D tutorial looks like!!

Yes, it's a great new technology, worth every dime, don't you think?

As far as Merchant Tutorials is concerned, here is what is on my list for the next few weeks:

Wombat Tutorials: I'm creating a store from scratch again with Wombat, so look for dozens and dozens of new tutorials on the new stuff.

WordPress (blog software) Tutorials: Okay, there are tons of these online, but I think adding these to the Advanced tutorial area would be helpful. I know the stuff - might as well give you something you can use.

Social Media Tutorials: One thing that keeps coming up in this conference is social media. Whether it's using it for direct customer engagements, or to enhance your SEO efforts, it's something that you MUST take part in these days, or be left behind. So I'll do some tutorials about Facebook, Twitter, Twitter tools, LinkedIn and more.

"How to shop on this site" Videos: Seeing some sites at the conference, I realized that some sites are more complicated than others. Have a site that has accounts, gift certificates, order status, etc., and know your customers are not utilizing it like they should? I'm going to add a service to create videos that can be opened from a Help link or something similar on your site, that shows people how to use your site. Contact me to get more info.

Also on the list - contact the many people whom I've gotten to know a bit here at the conference, integrate the many ideas I've learned here into my site/business, and write more blog posts to share what I've learned. So come back!

First Webinar

• Date: Tuesday, August 25, 2009
• Time: 7 pm eastern

I'll be using Yuuguu, but you won't need to download anything. You'll need to dial in on a phone (or Skype or whatever) for sound, and that info will be available at the time of the conference.

If you are an Advanced Tutorials subscriber, expect an email this weekend. If you're not yet subscribed to the Advanced Tutorials, it's time to sign up or upgrade. Sign up for Advanced Tutorials here. If you're an Intermediate Subscriber, contact Miva Merchant to upgrade.

Please ignore the way I don't know what to do with my hands, a la Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights...

Go To Miva Merchant Skins Page

I have created four tutorials for the Advanced Subscribers about how to work with Skins. However, in order to help those who are thinking about purchasing a Skin or who have bought one and are struggling, I'm putting them here for everyone at no charge.

Miva Merchant Skin Install Step 1

Miva Merchant Skin Install Step 2

Miva Merchant Skin - Making Changes

Miva Merchant Skin - Failsafe - Reverting to Backup Version

Enjoy!

I created a browser toolbar that has hand-selected links to module sites, Miva Merchant related blogs, official Miva Merchant docs, as well as some cool optional features like an email notifier, To Do list, and more. What's best is it's completely unobtrusive, unlike some of the spammy junk toolbars out there. And it's free.

Your first question is, what about spyware and spam and privacy? This toolbar is certified to be free of all that junk. Check out the privacy page. It is certified by TRUSTe, too.

Of course, I have a tutorial showing how to install and some of its features.

Give it a try. If you don't like it, it's easy to uninstall. Available for Internet Explorer and FireFox only, though. Click the image to go to the download page.

If you have suggestions for links or other features, please let me know.

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I'm at the Miva Merchant User Conference 2009 through Sunday. I'll be Tweeting from @MerchantTuts if you want to follow, and blogging here. My speaking schedule is as follows:

Friday, February 27, 3:30 - 5 pm: Miva Merchant 5.5 using Skins and Dreamweaver, Room 6

Saturday, February 28, 3:30 pm - 5 pm: Using Store Morph Technology, Room 2

Sunday, March 1, 11 am - 12:30 pm: Store Morph Technology Simplified - Customizing Your Store, Room 6

Come join me! It's all hands-on so we'll be answering your questions to the best of our ability.

Be sure to find me at the back of the main conference room (where the keynotes are) at the MerchantTutorials.com booth and introduce yourself.