The Site Formerly Known as Bonanzle

One of the benefits of being a card-carrying insomniac is that I tend to find out things that happen in the middle of the night sooner than a lot of people.  Conversely, if something happens in the morning, I tend to be the last one to know.  Late last night was definitely one of the perks, when I went to the discussion boards on bonanzle.com and found that the site's name had been changed along with a spiffy site re-design.  We will now be known as BONANZA.

We did get a mysterious 'heads-up' by Mr. Bill a day or two ago about a big announcement coming any day now, and a major press release that would follow.  So it wasn't any surprise that there was a big announcement. But no one was prepared for the magnitude of the change that was coming.  This is huge.  This is total re-branding of a site that's two years old.  This is going to be a lot of work.

Now the big question is how do I 'undo' over a year of my own branding...dropping backlinks everywhere all over the internet, email signatures, social media site profiles, blogs, networks, groups, advertising...it's mind-boggling the work that will be involved.  While we all work at chipping away at that project, the old URLs for the site and our booths will redirect to bonanza.com, so that's a relief.  But geez, I just got my Silkworm craft booth banner, two car door magnets, and biz cards that are all obsolete now.  Crossing my fingers that one of those free Vista Print emails is in my inbox tomorrow!

The benefit of the name change is obvious.  Bonanza is a common word, a real word.  Bonanzle was just too hard to get across to the folks.  Spelling it correctly was a challenge for many.  It was hard to remember.   Eventually this will be a very good thing.

Here's a link to, and an excerpt from, the announcement by Bill Harding, the big Kahuna at 'the site formerly known as Bonanzle'.  (Hey!  I wonder if Prince is using that pretty symbol now that he's done being 'the artist formerly known as Prince'?  Maybe we can have it as our new logo?!)


A Source of Great Wealth - A Spectacular Windfall 


>>>>>"Today is a big day in Bonanza history.  Bonanza?  Don’t you mean Bonanzle?  Actually, no. Today we changed our name!   Check out the new URL at www.bonanza.com and keep an eye out tomorrow morning for the press release on the newly designed site!
On one hand this is a big deal.  We changed our name!  That’s huge!  On the other hand we really just swapped a vowel and dropped a consonant.  Both are true. Why change the name after two years?  We’re one of the fastest growing marketplaces already – why mess with a good thing?  While I’m proud of our growth, I’m also far from satisfied.  I want Bonanzle (wait, Bonanza – this is going to take a while) to be a household name.  Two years in and my grandparents still get the name of the company wrong (hi grandma! hi grandpa!); pretty much everyone does.  And guess where they settle after giving up?  You guessed it.

So, when Bonanza became available we had to go for it.  First, it’s a real name.  When I was running the company out of my apartment on a shoestring I could only hope to have a real name.  Second, it’s clearly what I based the company name off of in the first place.  I can’t think of a better way to describe the social sales experience we’ve created than a ‘source of great and sudden wealth; a spectactular windfall’  Third, being the sort to rely on data, we even did some consumer recall testing on Mechanical Turk (tips hat to Amazon).  Guess which name is easier to recall after a one second flash of the company name?  It wasn't even close.

Most of all I want to provide more sales for our fantastic selling community.  And a name that customers can remember and spell will help...

...one more announcement.  We recently acquired 1000 Markets and are happy to welcome their merchants into the Bonanza family.  Many of you are likely familiar with their site already and may have items listed there.  They share a number of our values and know first-hand how hard it is to start a marketplace.  Please join me in welcoming them to the fold.  1000 Markets items will soon be listed on the site and their URL will redirect to our own."<<<<<

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Well, that's it then.  A lot of changes coming during the holiday season, they say.  Here's hoping that all will transition smoothly during the biggest sales season of the year.  No glitches, please.


And now, goodbye Bonanzle...hello BONANZA.

Silk

Never Forget

So much already said today about the day nine years ago when everything changed.  It would be difficult to add much to the conversation that is new, or hasn't already been said so eloquently by so many today.  So, I'll just post this beautiful poem instead:

One
by Cheryl Sawyer

As the soot and dirt and ash rained down,
We became one color.
As we carried each other down the stairs of the burning building
We became one class.
As we lit candles of waiting and hope
We became one generation.
As the firefighters and police officers fought their way into the inferno
We became one gender.
As we fell to our knees in prayer for strength,
We became one faith.
As we whispered or shouted words of encouragement,
We spoke one language.
As we gave our blood in lines a mile long,
We became one body.
As we mourned together the great loss
We became one family.
As we cried tears of grief and loss
We became one soul.
As we retell with pride of the sacrifice of heros
We become one people.

We are
One color
One class
One generation
One gender
One faith
One language
One body
One family
One soul
One people

We are The Power of One.
We are United.
We are America.
————-
Cheryl Sawyer is a professor at UH Clear Lake in the counseling department.

SilkSpeak, Day One

Today I got pulled, kicking and screaming, into the twenty-first century.  I started a blog.  I'm a blogger.  I will be blogging.

Anyone who knows me will tell you I'm not one who is ever at a loss for words.  I'm not the timid sort, and thus not easily intimidated.  I seldom have trouble getting a point across.  I talk, I write, I love words, and would generally consider myself well-equipped to put thoughts to paper.  I've done it a million times, and I've done it well.  You might say I'd be the perfect candidate for blogging.

Until today.

Until this blank box labeled "post" appeared on my screen, and every interesting idea, every clever turn of phrase, every pearl of wisdom I ever thought about memorializing in print just quietly tiptoed out of my brain while I wasn't looking.

Where to start?  I'm known online as "Silk", short for Silkworm.  My blog is named "SilkSpeak".  I'm almost certain that any who venture in will naturally see this as a clue that I had planned to be speaking.  Somehow, I just know this.

But what to say?  Should I speak up or speak out?  Speak from experience, or off the cuff?  Or should I just plain speak my mind?  I'm not sure yet, maybe all of the above.  I know me, so I'm confident I won't be tongue-tied for long.

Have I piqued your interest?  I hope you'll stay tuned.  It'll be worth it, I promise.