2008-05-21T15:17:39-07:00 Practical Ecommerce info@practicalecommerce.com http://www.practicalecommerce.com/ Copyright 2007 Confluence Publishing DBA Practical Ecommerce http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/740/Blogs-and-Email-A-One-Two-Marketing-Punch 2008-05-21T15:17:39-07:00

I have long been an advocate of using blogs and email as complementary online marketing strategies. Blogs serve a customer acquisition function, while email serves a customer retention role. That belief was recently reinforced when I attended a webinar jointly sponsored by a new company, Compendium Blogware, and well-known email reputation service provider, Habeas. It's generally accepted that the two most widely engaged in online activities are search and email. Chris Baggott, Compendium's co-founder and CEO, stated during the webinar that as much as 80 percent of all web-related activities begin with search. That's where blogs make their mark, as search engine magnets. It's not that Google knows a blog when it sees one, it's that blogs contain the very elements that make a search engine salivate. According to Baggott they include: 1. Titles 2. Keywords 3. Recent Content 4. Lots of Content 5. Links 6. Relevance Titles Something magical happens when a blogger...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/724/A-Social-Media-Symphony 2008-04-28T16:39:48-07:00

How often do you find a classical musician who is not only a virtuoso on his or her appointed instrument, but who demonstrates Internet marketing virtuosity as well? Allow me to introduce you to classical pianist Grace Nikae (Gracenikae.com). From looking at her website, it's obvious the piano is not the only keyboard Grace spends time on. Her site is a convergence of standard web content, social media and ecommerce. Blog/email newsletter: a two-part invention I've long been a fan of using a blog in concert (yes, pun intended) with email, a more traditional form of marketing. The combination works as well together as two skilled hands playing two parts on a Bach composition. Grace utilizes this approach on her site. While I've yet to receive a newsletter to determine whether it's simply repurposed blog content (think Feedblitz) or something else altogether, the fact that she offers two forms of media to appeal to different audiences is a communications strategy worth...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/719/Online-Reputation-Management 2008-04-17T16:40:32-07:00

Like it or not, people are talking about you online. They're talking about your brand, your products, industry and competition. Do you know what they are saying? If not, why not? Can you afford not to listen? There is a relatively new industry burgeoning on the Internet. It's called Online Reputation Management. This is the practice of monitoring the conversation going on about you or your brand via the various forms of social media, such as blogs, instant messaging, social networks, forums, ranking and review sites, or anywhere people have the opportunity to express their opinion. According to Wikipedia, a complete reputation management strategy involves three components: 1. Maximizing the appearances of positive online references for a person or company. 2. Building an online identity in the event the web presence is minimal or nonexistent. 3. Solving online reputation problems. Monitoring the conversation that's taking place is a fundamental part of this...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/696/Social-Networking-Build-Your-Own-Community 2008-03-17T12:30:21-07:00

There is not a day that goes by that I don't reflect on how to leverage social media, including social networks, for marketing purposes. I have tried a number of approaches, some of which have been successful and some of which have not. This month, I want to share an idea that I think has genuine potential. I call it "getting a table of your own." A basic rule of thumb in social media marketing is that, in order to gain influence, you must actively participate in the communities of which you are a member. That means commenting on blogs, participating in forums and message boards, joining fan groups at major social networks like MySpace or Facebook, and dialoging via online chat on sites like Twitter. Participation in social shopping sites such as Judy's Book, Kaboodle or ThisNext is a good thing as well, and essential to any effective marketing strategy. However, I liken all of these activities to getting a seat at someone else's table. How much better would it be to get your...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/639/Social-Media-As-A-Marketing-Strategy-in-2008 2008-01-02T10:54:37-07:00

2007 was a good year for holiday shopping. comScore reported that online shopping totaled nearly $28 billion, up 19 percent from 2006. Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday all had record traffic compared to previous years, according to Hitwise. Hopefully, your business experienced similar results. But that was then. This is now. As you look forward to 2008, what marketing tactics are you deploying that will improve your bottom line even more? Is the use of social media a consideration? If not, it should be. According to MediaPost, one out of every four Internet users visit sites such as MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr at least once a month. And as social networks become more commonplace, the percentage is only going to increase in both the number of visitors as well as frequency of visits. What does this portend for you? To answer that, let me refer to a long-held mantra: “Markets are conversations. Participation is marketing.” If your...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/621/Social-Media-Comes-Of-Age 2007-12-03T14:58:03-07:00

Seemingly, everywhere you look these days, people are talking about social media online technologies and websites that people use to share content, opinions, insights and experiences. It's Facebook this or MySpace that, and those are only two of the myriad of such sites that comprise the social media landscape. The question that must be asked, though, is whether these various types of participatory environments can be used for marketing purposes? The answer, if not a resounding "yes," is certainly a definite “maybe.” Only a couple of years ago, the same question was being asked about the forerunner of the social media movement blogs. Today, companies, large and small, are using them not only for public relations and thought leadership purposes, but in direct marketing as well. Take, for example, jewelry retailer Ice.com. Its SparkleLikeTheStars.com blog contains links to products offered in its ecommerce site. In what ways are online retailers using social media? ...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/269/Nine-Things-to-Consider-Before-You-Blog 2006-08-20T10:38:41-07:00

You’ve heard a lot about web logs or blogs. That’s because during the past six years blogs have evolved from a highly personal form of communication on the Internet to a powerful new medium for business. Not since Procter & Gamble invented branding back in 1931 has there been so much excitement about a fresh model for doing business. It’s working for ecommerce sites as well. More than a few e-retailers have jumped on the blog bandwagon. But, should you start a blog? The answer is yes if you want a low-cost, high-results tool for competitive differentiation, marketing, customer relations management, media contacts, and sales. Plus, the software platform is much simpler than what’s required for websites, so any business can afford to set up and maintain a blog. There are some things to consider, however, before engaging in this exciting new marketing model. Here is a checklist: First, you need to understand why you want to use a blog. Don't do it because it's...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/195/RSS-Basics 2006-05-01T12:00:00-07:00

Want more traffic to your ecommerce site? Need an easy way to distribute news and updates? An RSS feed may be your answer. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and is a format for syndicating website content such as might be found on major news sites like CNN, as well as on blogs. In fact, blogs are the most common type of site to utilize RSS, but any website that has routinely updated content can and should be RSS-enabled. You have likely seen a small orange button on many websites with the term RSS or XML, which is the technology used to facilitate content syndication. That button has become an industry standard and identifies the site as RSS-enabled. If you click on the button (sometimes it’s a text link), you may see nothing more than a page of code. RSS in and of itself is not useful to humans. It is designed for software programs called RSS readers or aggregators. These programs, of which there are many, interpret this code enabling the reader to see the...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/174/Email-Marketing-Tips-for-Success 2006-04-01T12:00:00-07:00

MAKE THE INTEGRITY OF YOUR LIST YOUR NUMBER ONE GOAL. "If you are serious about wanting to do email professionally, you need to be diligent in how you sign up contacts, using double opt-in techniques. Otherwise, you're building a list that will never perform at maximum levels," says Jim Kukral with KowaBunga! Technologies, an affiliate marketing company. Double opt-in (also known as confirmed opt-in) is the practice of sending a confirmation email to the subscriber allowing them to verify their desire to join your list. THE SUBJECT LINE IS KEY. Thanks to spam and overcrowded inboxes, you have about two seconds to get the attention of the subscriber. Not only that, you have to consider what words will attract the reader but not attract spam filters. While words like “sex” and "pharmacy" are obvious candidates for spam filters. Even use of the word “free” will often get your message blocked. You have to find words and phrases that will get the user to take...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/154/Bullish-on-Blogging 2006-03-01T12:00:00-07:00

A few years ago the investment firm Merrill Lynch coined the term “We’re Bullish.” It became the company’s corporate mantra of sorts. In stock trade terminology, being bullish represents a rise in value. I’m bullish on blogging, and for a number of reasons. I think it is a technology tool that provides business with great value. Blogging provides a company with the ability to set itself apart from the competition, positions the business owner or entrepreneur as an expert in her field, and affords media and public relations opportunities. Chief among the panoply of blogging benefits is the ability to attract search engine attention, an absolute necessity in today’s marketplace. Quite simply, blogs are search engine magnets and provide their own unique form of search engine marketing. Let me outline a number of reasons to support that claim. Blogs are frequently updated Search engines are ravenous creatures, constantly spidering the Internet for new information to...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/138/Blogs-and-Affiliate-Marketing 2006-02-01T12:00:00-07:00

Blogs have typically not been thought of as direct response sales tools. In their brief history, blogs have morphed from being “personal online journals and diaries” to vital tools for business, but the focus has been more on using them for relational marketing or purely informational purposes. That is beginning to change. Take, for example, the Australian blogger Darren Rowse, who is known as the “Six-Figure Blogger”. Through a network of highly trafficked blogs, like his popular Digital Photography Blog (livingroom.org.au/photolog), Rowse made over $100,000 last year in referral and affiliate commissions using blogs as the sales mechanism. What started as a hobby in 2002 has developed into his full-time profession. Simply, Rowse blogs for a living! Though much of Rowse’s revenue comes from Google Adsense ads, a healthy part of it comes from affiliate marketing programs to which he has subscribed. One of the most popular and long-standing such programs is the Amazon...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/126/Successful-Blogging-Utilize-the-Four 2006-01-01T12:00:00-07:00

Everyone remembers the three “R’s” from your school days: Reading, ‘Riting, and ‘Rithmetic. These three areas are considered essential to building a good educational foundation. Similarly, there are also some basic essentials to strategic blogging. I would like to present the four “R’s” for successful blogging. READING To keep your blog fresh and timely, it is important to stay in touch with what others in your niche are saying. That’s where a technology called RSS is a godsend. RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is a format for syndicating website content using specialized XML files. RSS created what are known as “feeds”, which can be accessed by RSS readers. Blogs incorporate RSS technology as part of the platform. If you take a moment to review some of your favorite blogs, including your own, you will often find a small orange button with the letters RSS or XML in it. That is just one way that a feed is represented. For example, Typepad blogs often...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/109/eCommerce-Marketing-Use-Email-Blogs-and-RSS-Together 2005-12-01T12:00:00-07:00

Think of things that just naturally go together and what comes to mind? Peanut butter and jelly for one, ham and cheese for another. How about a hammer and nails or a table and chairs? In terms of online marketing, two strategies go together equally as well: email and blogs. Email is the tried-and-true, while blogs, though unproven, are gaining wide acceptance as an adjunct channel for marketing communications. In this article, I will discuss some methods to use the two in a complimentary fashion, and introduce a third application known as “Really Simple Syndication”, or RSS. There was a time when I predicted email would go the way of the albatross in terms of its usefulness as a marketing tool. After all, with the increasing prevalence of spam and spam filters (that often catch valid emails), I wondered how email could continue to be effective as a marketing tool. I've since moderated my stance. Despite its troubles, email marketing still tends to be a proven performer...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/91/Blogs-Are-One-Way-to-Get-Consumers 2005-11-01T12:00:00-07:00

Are you “stuck on style?” If so, you may already be a fan of online retailer Bluefly.com’s blog, Flypaper. Those three words describe the audience Bluefly, a discount women’s apparel e-tailer, is attempting to attract via the blog: women who care about fashionable clothing but who do not want to pay high designer prices. Many online retailers are finding the phrase “stuck on” represents the appeal blogs have with customers when used as an adjunct marketing channel. Simply stated, blogs serve as a mechanism to attract people who are passionate about what the retailer has to offer, whether it is fashion clothing, video games, or even flowers. As to why Bluefly made the decision to deploy a blog, CEO Melissa Paynor says Flypaper reflects “the company's firmer resolve to cater to women who cared about what was currently fashionable, instead of selling discounted clothes that might or might not still be in vogue.” The blog "encourages them to visit often to check...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/76/Blog-Platforms-Choose-One-that-Fits-Your-Need 2005-10-01T12:00:00-07:00

You have bitten the bullet and decided to add a blog to your ecommerce site and make it a part of your marketing mix. You made the strategic decision of why you want to blog, determined what your core message will be and the audience you wish to target. Now, you have to make some tactical decisions, the most important being the choice of a blog platform. There are more than 60 such platforms on the market today. Most provide similar functionalities and many could serve you well. Some require more technical expertise than others and, as such, it is important you find one that provides the best fit based on your technical skills and budget. In this article, I will review several of the most popular blog platforms and detail their advantages and disadvantages. BloggerTM (blogger.com) Blogger was one of the earliest blog platforms to be developed and has been credited with being the one that really helped to bring blogging to the masses. It is without question the most popular...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/67/Ten-Things-to-Consider-Before-You-Blog 2005-09-01T12:00:00-07:00

You’ve heard a lot about web logs or blogs. That’s because during the past six years blogs have evolved from a highly personal form of communication on the Internet to a powerful new medium for business. Not since Procter & Gamble invented branding back in 1931 has there been so much excitement about a fresh model for doing business. It’s working for ecommerce sites as well. More than a few e-retailers have jumped on the blog bandwagon. But, should you start a blog? The answer is yes if you want a low-cost, high-results tool for competitive differentiation, marketing, customer relations management, media contacts, and sales. Plus, the software platform is much simpler than what’s required for websites, so any business can afford to set up and maintain a blog. There are some things to consider, however, before engaging in this exciting new marketing model. Here is a “top 10” checklist: First, you need to understand why you want to use a blog. Don't do it...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/56/Blogging-Your-Kids-Do-It-and-Your-Business-Should-Too 2005-08-01T12:00:00-07:00

Doubtless, you have heard the term, ‘blog.’ Bloggers, as they are called, have been credited with bringing down key political and media figures like former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and CBS news anchor Dan Rather. Your teenager might use a blog as a way to chronicle his or her daily activities. You might have even heard about high-profile celebrities who blog about their career and personal lives. Nevertheless, can these "personal online journals and diaries" really be used as a marketing tool for your ecommerce business? You bet they can, if you know how to use them. What is a blog? From a technical standpoint, a blog is really just an easy-to-use Webbased content management system (CMS). It is software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain content. The activity of updating a blog is known as ‘blogging,’ while someone who keeps a blog is a "blogger." Entries written to the blog, called posts, are arranged in reverse...