Welcome back to this week’s Side Income Roundup, Monday, July 27.
This week is about matching the tool to the job instead of always reaching for the shiny new thing. A few smart choices with what you’ve already got will move the needle more than another upgrade.
🛠 A drops toolkit for easy urgency, plus a loyalty program that runs itself
⚡ Amazon’s new title limit and TikTok Shop’s rebuilt orders page
📝 The 10-minute check that tells you if AI can even see your business
🤖 Google’s new AI ad rule that quietly affects anyone using AI creative
Let’s get into it.
THIS WEEK’S BIG IDEA
📢 The texting mistake that’s quietly costing stores sales
The newer RCS texting format looks like an upgrade over plain SMS, with images, buttons, and rich cards built in, so it’s tempting to switch everything over. But this can end up hurting the messages that were working fine.
Best is to match the format to the job. Plain SMS still wins for urgent texts like order confirmations and reminders (people just want the info fast). Save richer RCS for moments where a product image helps close the sale.
Our Take: Pull up your last few text campaigns today. Keep plain SMS for order updates and reminders, and save the richer RCS format only for cart-recovery texts.
TOOLS OF THE WEEK
🛠 Squarespace Limited-Release & Drops Tools
A new suite for running product drops, with low-stock badges, pre-launch email campaigns, a reserved cart with a countdown timer, and pay links that let you sell straight from a text, social post, or QR code.
🛠 Dotdigital Loyalty
A loyalty program (Shopify first) that hands out points for purchases and for actions like reviews, social follows, and sign-ups
Our Take: Try Squarespace’s new drops toolkit this week. Even one limited release with a low-stock badge and a countdown cart trains your buyers to act now instead of waiting for your next discount.
TODAY’S QUICK WINS
⚡ Amazon caps product titles at 75 characters
Amazon limits product titles to 75 characters and adds a new searchable “Item Highlights” field for the keywords and specs that no longer fit up top. Sort it yourself before Amazon’s AI rewrites your titles for you.
⚡ TikTok Shop rebuilds its Manage Orders page
Every US seller now gets a redesigned orders screen with a “Pending Action” board that flags urgent issues, bulk fulfillment, and search for up to 100 orders at once.
Our Take: Spend twenty minutes trimming your Amazon titles and filling the new Item Highlights field, then clear your next TikTok Shop orders through the rebuilt Manage Orders page.
FROM OMC
📝 Is Your Business Invisible to AI? The 10-Minute Check
More people now ask an AI assistant for recommendations before they ever hit Google. Here’s a quick 10-minute check to find out if you’re invisible to your buyers and what to fix first.
Our Take: Run the 10-minute check this week to make sure AI can actually find and recommend you.
AI SPOTLIGHT
🤖 Google now makes you disclose AI-made ad creative
Google requires advertisers to disclose when ad assets are created or edited with generative AI across Search, YouTube, and Discover. Its own tools label themselves automatically, but anything you make with outside AI images, scripts, or voiceovers has to be flagged by hand.
Our Take: If you use AI to spin up product images or ad copy, start a simple log of which tools you use now. Clean records keep your Google campaigns compliant and running.
UNTIL NEXT WEEK…
Here’s your move this week:
✅ Match your texts to the job: plain SMS for updates, RCS for cart recovery
✅ Run one limited release with Squarespace’s new drops tools
✅ Trim your Amazon titles to 75 characters before the deadline
✅ Run the 10-minute check to see if AI can find your business
The sellers pulling ahead this summer aren’t chasing every new upgrade. They’re picking the right tool for each job and getting more out of what they already run.
Talk soon,
Aidan
P.S. If that 10-minute AI check turns up gaps, don’t panic. Most of them are quick fixes, and the post walks you through exactly where to start.
