We have designed our Voice Search with small businesses and makers in mind giving them complete control over keywords.

We returned to the Voice basics instead of some of the more grandiose thoughts we had when we started this company. As The Dead sang, "What a long strange trip it's been."

I called Yelp and asked to removed Shop Vocal from their business directory. They wouldn't. It is forever part of the Yelp Business Directory. They own our data.

Is your business having a gluten-free tasting coming up next weekend? Customers will know by asking for gluten-free options through the Shop Vocal skill.

We take beta testing seriously at Shop Vocal. We can sit around and pontificate what features merchants and customers, but we won't know until we ask.

Review pollution, review inflation, and reputation damage are all real. If you were to pick two similar pizza places, would you order from the shop with five stars or only two stars?  This is where Shop Vocal can help.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Lesley Keegan for my most recent Small Business Stories podcast on Amazon Alexa and as we discussed business life during Covid I think she was surprised by the sheer amount of work and development she did during the pandemic on her own small business. She used Covid as an opportunity to launch her e-commerce site, take professional photos, grow her wholesale business and add new products. Oh and did I mention, starting a creator market to help other small businesses sell their wares @mills58peabody ? Her business has flourished as a result and it’s no surprise, her items are beautiful!

Check out her website serenitysage.com and Follow her @serenitysagemelrose on Instagram and Facebook!

Make your business discoverable on Voice to new customers with a small investment of time for the free features and a little money with the enhanced features while deepening your relationship with your regulars.

77% of women-led Voice tech companies that started in 2017 are still going strong.

As a team, we are divided on Amazon Sidewalk. Half the team feels that it is a shady practice as you need to opt out of the service. The other half is less concerned about the situation, although there are some security concerns.