2008-03-26T19:07:05-07:00 Practical Ecommerce info@practicalecommerce.com http://www.practicalecommerce.com/ Copyright 2007 Confluence Publishing DBA Practical Ecommerce http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/703/Interview-ICANN-Official-On-The-Domain-Name-Infrastructure 2008-03-26T19:07:05-07:00

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Name and Numbers, or ICANN, coordinates the domain name system globally. ICANN was created in 1998 to perform various Internet administrative tasks previously done by a range of bodies including universities, private companies and the U.S. government. These tasks involve ensuring the domain name system functions properly and that individuals and companies can easily obtain and use domain names for their lawful purposes. We asked Jason Keenan, Media Advisor with ICANN, how it all works. PeC: How is it that someone located in, say, Asia types Practicalecommerce.com in a web browser and our site appears? Keenan: Well, your website resides on a specific computer that is attached to the Internet. That computer is automatically assigned a unique number, called an Internet Protocol or IP address. Someone in Asia, or anywhere else, could type your IP address in the browser and your site would appear. But, the fact is that Practicalecommerce.com is...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/623/Green-Commerce-Is-Good-Commerce 2007-12-05T14:56:02-07:00

There are a lot of reasons why online retailers should start seeing green in a whole new way: Conserving energy and supplying environmentally sound products and services is good for the environment and the bottom line. Large retailers like Target, Wal-Mart and The Home Depot naturally use a lot of energy and produce a lot of waste. However, they’re taking steps to reduce both by building energy efficient storefronts and reducing waste through aggressive recycling programs. For example, Target is reducing the environmental impact of its buildings by following the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (Usgbc.org) benchmarks for design, construction and operation. Target also claims it has reduced waste through recycling and reuse by 70 percent. Wal-Mart claims it is cooperatively working with suppliers on products including the Charmin 6 Mega Roll pack. The product enables Wal-Mart to ship 42 percent more units on its trucks,...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/576/Video-SEO-Update 2007-11-08T17:15:09-07:00

In February 2006, Contributor Stephan Spencer, founder and CEO of search-firm Netconcepts, critiqued the search engine optimization efforts of Discountflies.com, following a request from that company. In this SEO Report Card critique, Spencer issued a C- for an overall SEO grade. In September 2007, Spencer revisited the SEO progress of Discountflies.com, and reports his findings in the video tutorial below. This video tutorial requires Flash Player version 8 or above. Please forward us your ideas for additional video tutorials, via our Contact Us form. Click the image below to launch the tutorial.

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/577/Video--SEO-Website-Update 2007-10-29T12:18:31-07:00

In January 2006, Contributor Stephan Spencer, founder and CEO of search-firm Netconcepts, critiqued the search engine optimization efforts of Balancedlifeproducts.com, following a request from that company. In this "SEO Report Card" critique, Spencer issued a D+ for an overall SEO grade. In September 2007, Spencer revisited the SEO progress of Balancedlifeproducts.com, and reports his findings in the video tutorial below. Click the image below to launch the tutorial. This video tutorial requires Flash Player version 8 or above. Please forward us your ideas for additional video tutorials, via our Contact Us form.

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/570/Video-Tutorial-Scriptaculous-Effects 2007-10-18T06:04:06-07:00

Script.aculo.us is a JavaScript framework that is built upon the wildly successful Prototype JavaScript libraries. Script.aculo.us allows web designers to create engaging user interfaces quickly and easily, due in part to the animation effects it is famous for. In this tutorial, we will look at a few of the more useful Script.aculo.us animation effects and how website designers can easily use them in their websites. We'll take a look at the ubiquitous "highlight" effect, various methods of making content appear and disappear and finally create a simple JavaScript that will combine effects to create advanced user interface possibilities. Software Used: TextMate Additional Files: tabs_tutorial_2.zip Click the image below to launch the tutorial. This video tutorial requires Flash Player version 8 or above. Please forward us your ideas for additional video tutorials, via our Contact Us form.

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/569/Video-Tutorial-Tabbed-Content---Part-2 2007-10-11T06:45:27-07:00

Tabbed content appears more and more frequently in web pages, and is an interesting way to simultaneously save page space and effectively present information. In part two of this two-part tutorial on creating tabbed content, Practical eCommerce's online director Brian Getting illustrates how to utilize JavaScript to get our tabbed effect working (Click here to view Part 1). Software Used: TextMate Additional Files: tabs_tutorial_2.zip Click the image below to launch the tutorial. This video tutorial requires Flash Player version 8 or above. Please forward us your ideas for additional video tutorials, via our Contact Us form.

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/581/Holiday-Book-Ideas-For-Etailers 2007-10-07T09:11:52-07:00

As the holiday season draws near, it seems a fitting time to share some book ideas — ones for your own reading pleasure or as gifts for your favorite etailer. While there wasn’t any scientific method for choosing these books, they all share some important qualities. I’ve enjoyed reading these books and find myself referring back to them in both my personal and professional life. These books have also found a home on the bookshelves of many of my colleagues in the industry. I’ve placed these books into two general categories — those that are fun to read with good general business advice and those with very factual ecommerce execution information. For me, the balance between the two provides a sustainable level of learning and reading enjoyment. General Business Advice Books "The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)" by Seth Godin In high school I had a football coach who, in hindsight, seemed a bit silly. His philosophy was that...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/568/Video-Tutorial-Tabbed-Content 2007-10-04T06:41:24-07:00

Tabbed content appears more and more frequently in web pages, and is an interesting way to simultaneously save page space and effectively present information. In part one of this two-part tutorial on creating tabbed content, Practical eCommerce's online director Brian Getting illustrates how to create an XHTML/CSS based page layout that will work for tabbed content. Software Used: TextMate Additional Files: tabs_tutorial_1.zip Click the image below to launch the tutorial. This video tutorial requires Flash Player version 8 or above. Please forward us your ideas for additional video tutorials, via our Contact Us form.

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/567/Video-Tutorial-JavaScript-Tooltips 2007-09-27T06:36:29-07:00

You've probably seen those useful "tooltips" text boxes that are displayed on some websites when you roll over a specific link or graphic. These typically serve several purposes. Most likely, your customers or visitors could benefit from additional information that doesn't warrant an entire page or even another trip to the server. Or perhaps you are developer creating a complicated application, and some simple tool tips and help icons, strategically placed, would improve the usability. This simple tutorial illustrates how to use the ToolTips script available from ger-tentler.de. Software Used: TextMate Additional Files: tooltip_tutorial.zip Click the image below to launch the tutorial. This video tutorial requires Flash Player version 8 or above. Please forward us your ideas for additional video tutorials, via our Contact Us form.

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/538/Video-Tutorial-Validating-A-Form-With-JavaScript 2007-09-20T06:15:08-07:00

In form validation two common questions often arise. The first is how do you ensure once you've asked for an email address on an online form, you actually get one? The second is how do you make sure your customers include a name and phone number when they contact you from your website? The answer lies in form validation, or checking a form's data before it is submitted, and JavaScript is particularly useful for client-side validation. In this tutorial, we will create an online contact form our visitors could use to send us an email message. To guarantee they include their name, email address and a short message when they submit the form, we will use a simple JavaScript function to illustrate how validation works. By checking our form data before we submit the form, we will eliminate the potential of receiving a blank email from JavaScript enabled users. Software Used: TextMate Additional Files: form_validation.zip Click the image below to launch the tutorial. This...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/536/Conventional-Wisdom-The-Best-Pay-Per-Click-Seminars 2007-08-08T11:01:18-07:00

One fortunate thing about being in the pay-per-click industry today is that there is easy access to a lot of useful and high-quality information. Whether it is magazines (such as this one), blogs, websites, and conferences and tradeshows — all are meant to help you grow your business through online marketing. Conferences and in-person events are a terrific learning opportunity. But, there are so many events throughout the year that it becomes difficult to decide which ones to attend. So to help you with that decision, I am including a breakdown of the best events for those interested in pay-per-click advertising. PPC Summit (Ppcsummit.com) — A series of small, two-day events programmed and developed by past Yahoo! Search Marketing executives. These events take place throughout the year in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and London and are small enough (about 150-250 attendees) that every attendee gets personalized attention from the speakers. High Rankings...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/526/Earn-An-Ecommerce-Degree 2007-07-22T11:02:46-07:00

Many online entrepreneurs may feel like they have earned an ecommerce degree from the school of hard knocks. However, for those interested in a more traditional education experience, there are degree programs specializing in ebusiness. Bachelor and master's degrees in ecommerce are available at a select group of institutions, but there aren't as many universities offering ecommerce degree programs as there once were. The Internet business frenzy of the late 1990s also swept through various colleges and universities by prompting educational institutions to develop programs that focused on ebusiness. After the dot com bust in 2000, many ecommerce degree programs lost their luster and were quietly dropped from course catalogs. The degree program at Champlain College in Vermont is one that survived, and it offers a bachelor of science degree in ebusiness management. It offers online courses for students throughout the United States, and it also offers a more traditional college...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/515/Learning-Bookkeeping-Basics 2007-07-12T14:48:13-07:00

Poor financial management is one key contributor to why more than 50 percent of small businesses fail in the first five years of existence, according to the Small Business Administration. Because ecommerce has such low barriers to entry — a few bucks for a hosted shopping cart and a few products are all one needs — entrepreneur-minded people frequently leap to launch a web-based businesses with little thought given to the financial backbone needed to operate a business. Merchants often think they are going to be “free and independent” when self-employed, said John Day, owner of Real Life Accounting. “They may figure, ‘Since I have the knowledge and skill, I might as well set up my own business and keep all the profits.’ What they don't realize is that if not planned out properly, their dream can turn into their worst nightmare.” Though marketing, inventory management and sales are all important factors to online success, if a merchant doesn't sufficiently...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/514/Boosting-Your-Programming-Skills 2007-07-04T09:35:17-07:00

If you're tired of calling your web design firm every time you want to make a minor tweak to your site, there are online courses you can take to boost your knowledge in HTML, JavaScript, cascading style sheets and more. In fact, there are so many online options to improve programming skills — for beginners and skilled pros — that it may be difficult to wade through the options and choose just one resource. There are courses that provide an instructor-led environment, while others feature a do-it-on-your-own-schedule, self-paced structure. eClasses.org offers more than 50 online instructor-led courses in web design, web programming and ecommerce. Richard Brinegar, executive director at eClasses.org, says the site has around 10,000 students each year. Instructors for each class, at a minimum, are required to have a bachelor's degree in information technology or a related field and a minimum of three years recent work experience in IT or a related field. Free HTML...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/510/Video-Tutorial-Rounded-Corners-with-CSS 2007-07-02T22:17:15-07:00

Rounded corners present a unique challenge to website designers, particularly when using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to create layouts that are search engine friendly and scalable. In an attempt to de-mystify some of the techniques used to create visual effects, such as rounded corners, Practical eCommerce's online director Brian Getting illustrates one method creating layouts with rounded corners. In a slightly more advanced tutorial, we start by creating the image assets we will need to create rounded corners in Photoshop. By first exploring the limitations of transparent GIF's, we then take advantage of transparency in the GIF format to achieve our effect. Once our images are created, we move on to tackling the CSS needed to render our effect in a browser. Once finished, we will have created an HTML page element with rounded corners and a background image, giving us the tools we need to created complex website layouts using CSS. Please feel free to download and review the...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/505/Video-Tutorial-CSS-Design-Part-Two 2007-06-20T11:38:31-07:00

In the conclusion of our two-part video tutorial on CSS layout and design, we will take the layout we created in the beginning of this tutorial and begin to apply graphics and other visual stylings to it, in order to achieve the look we are going for. In Part Two, we will be looking at how to identify the basic graphic elements we need. From slicing the images out of our original Photoshop document to optimizing the images in Photoshop to applying the images correctly to our page, we do it all in this tutorial. We start by breaking our Photoshop document down into the basic graphic elements we need to achieve our design goals, and then proceed to optimize each graphic element. Once created, we apply graphics to our page using a variety of CSS techniques that can be intimidating to designers. By the end of this tutorial, we will have quickly made a basic web page using HTML and CSS that almost exactly matches our original Photoshop document. Please feel free to download and...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/504/Video-Tutorial-CSS-Design-Part-One 2007-06-19T06:33:59-07:00

Designing search engine friendly websites can be intimidating, particularly for designers who are just learning how to use CSS formatting. One of the most intimidating aspects to learning CSS design is creating page layouts that do not rely on tables. In the first of a two-part video tutorial by Practical eCommerce's online director Brian Getting, we will look at some of tricks and techniques used to create flawless CSS page layouts. In Part One, starting with a Photoshop layout, we will look at how to markup an HTML document based on our design needs, and create the proper code we will need to get the results we are looking for. Once we have our markup in place, we finish Part One by using CSS to create a formatted two-column page layout that does not rely on tables or other non-compliant code. Once we achieve a lean, efficient layout, we will find ourselves ready for Part Two, where we will learn how to apply graphics and visual styling to our layout in order to match it up...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/470/Video-Tutorial-Choosing-the-Right-Image-Format 2007-05-02T13:25:07-07:00

Choosing the right image format for publishing images on the web can be tricky. After all, you don't want to spend hours and hours cleaning up a product image and making it look irresistable to your customers, only to have it distorted and ruined when you save it in a web format. More importantly, you want to make sure that your image file sizes are not too large, causing long download delays and potentially turning away customers. For the most part, the image formats used for web publishing are JPG, GIF, and PNG, with each format having its own strengths and weaknesses. For example, images in the PNG format will usually have a larger file size than their JPEG or GIF counterparts. However, PNG images offer enhanced transparency support that are not available with the other formats. Conversely, the JPG format does not offer any transparency support at all, yet offers the best compression option for complex images such as photography. Images with limited colors and complexity...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/467/Video-Tutorial-Removing-Backgrounds-from-Product-Images 2007-04-23T15:49:37-07:00

Look, we aren't all great photographers, and even those out there that do manage to take spectacular photos still need to clean up their images a bit before putting them online. Product images can be one of the most important factors influencing whether or not potential customers make a purchase from an online store. In an ideal world, we would all have access to a small photo studio with backdrops, lighting, and everthing else needed to take great photos. But this is the real world, and the reality is that product images often need to be cleaned up in Photoshop before they can be used online. Running and online store is not terribly conducive to mastering Photoshop and other image editing software, particularly since these are immensely powerful applications that have a steep learning curve. In this tutorial, we will be looking at some techniques for removing unwanted backgrounds from a product photo, and also a few quick tricks for making your images stand out. As anyone...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/82/Tutorial-Gaining-Control-of-Search-Engine-Spiders 2007-02-12T04:00:00-07:00

Most of us are familiar with the term “search engine spider” and at least understand that they have something to do with how search engines index websites. The purpose of this article is to help you make your web pages more accessible to spiders. After all, spiders are our friends. It is accurate to think of a spider as an automated web browser. It will access websites and work through all the pages, indexing the content and following links. A good search engine optimization strategy will ensure the spider can easily navigate to each page of your website, as well as the content of your website. This is many times easier said than done, however in this tutorial we will outline a simple technique using basic HTML and CSS to gain control over how spiders navigate the individual pages of a website. Our goal is to create links that will guide the spider through our site, but not be visible to our visitors or mess with our website design. Before getting into the mechanics of...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/408/Does-A-Proxy-Server-Keep-Me-Anonymous-On-The-Internet 2007-02-07T08:05:39-07:00

No. And that is that. Unless you are a very talented hacker, there is no such thing as anonymity on the Internet. A common misconception about anonymous proxy servers is that they allow you to surf the Internet and do whatever you want without anyone being able to trace you. Again, this is a misconception. "Anonymous" takes on various levels of meaning when it comes to the Internet. A proxy server is a server that retrieves Web pages for you, providing only its own identity to the sites it visits. Examples of proxy servers are Ninjaproxy.com, Proxyblind.org, and Proxify.com. Most proxy servers that are available for public use simply allow you to surf websites on the Internet without having your browser type, IP address and other header information sent to the website you are viewing. Please don't mistake this to mean that there is not a link between you and that website. It simply means the website itself does not receive this information because the proxy server blocks it....

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/409/How-Is-An-Atom-Feed-Different-From-An-RSS-Feed 2007-02-07T07:19:08-07:00

An Atom feed is very similar to an RSS feed in that it is a lightweight XML format allowing for easy syndication of web content. In fact, most RSS readers and news aggregators will be able to read Atom feeds just fine, as it is becoming a widely-used alternative to RSS feeds. For those who are unfamiliar with syndication feeds (such as an Atom feed, an RSS feed or an RDF feed), they are small text files that provide information about content on websites. When content is updated, the feed text file is also updated, either manually or programatically. Applications called "readers" or "aggregators" can then check these small text files and notify someone when new content is available. If you already have an RSS feed, creating an Atom feed is extremely easy. The primary difference between the two formats (from a developer's standpoint) is the XML tags that are used. You can refer to Atomenabled.org/developers/syndication/ for more information about the Atom specification and for...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/406/Google-Analytics-Security-Warnings 2007-02-05T11:49:01-07:00

The subject of security warnings with Google Analytics is one that has been frequently brought up by our readers, and was something that I ran into when I launched the last Practical eCommerce website. The issue is that occasionally someone will install Google Analytics on their site only to find that users are getting errors about "both secure and unsecure" information on the page. Whether you understand that or not, it is not conducive to making an online sale. When installing Google Analytics, someone needs to place two small pieces of JavaScript code on each page of the site they want to track. The first downloads a library of JavaScript functions that are used, and the second contains unique information about your Google account and calls some tracking functions. The error is generated by the first script, which accesses the server "Google-analytics.com" for the JavaScript library. You will notice that this server is not secure, and is the one to blame for security...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/405/What-Can-Diggcom-Do-For-My-Online-Business 2007-02-05T11:30:29-07:00

Digg.com is probably best called a social networking news site. The idea behind Digg.com, and other sites like it, is that users submit web pages they have bookmarked or "dugg." After a certain number of people "digg" the same web page, it is moved to the top of the index, which is on Digg.com's home page. Once this happens, the user-submitted web page begins to receive a lot of traffic due to the exposure on the home page of Digg.com, and usually, that in turn drives even more visitors to "digg" the page. Of course, new articles are constantly submitted, and some work their way to the top of the home page. This pushes the original page down — and so on — until it is moved to another page, and finally into some archives, never to be clicked again. The result, however, is a surge in online exposure and therefore web traffic for a short period (usually a day or two) after a new web page is put up. For a business, Digg.com can create short-term surges in traffic and exposure if...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/394/Video-Tutorial-Eliminating-Dynamic-URLs-with-ModRewrite 2007-01-28T12:26:03-07:00

Get started using Mod_Rewrite to clean up your website's dynamic URLs with this video tutorial presented by Practical eCommerce's online director Brian Getting. We'll look at using simple Mod_Rewrite commands in an .htaccess file to get rid of those ugly dynamic URLs that look like this: http://www.sample-website.com/index.php?id=435&type=ugly%20urls&why=I%20do%20not%20know By the end of this tutorial, you'll have a better understanding of what it takes to make an ugly, dynamic URL like the one above into a clean, search engine friendly URL like this: http://www.sample-website.com/435/nice/clean/url We start by creating a simple PHP script that will gather variables from the URL string and output them, which will allow us to verify that our Mod_Rewrite changes are working properly. From there we move on to re-mapping URLs using Mod-Rewrite directives in our .htaccess file. This tutorial is intended for website developers that are hosting websites on servers running...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/393/Video-Tutorial-Creating-an-RSS-Feed 2007-01-10T10:03:06-07:00

Learn how to create a simple RSS feed in this tutorial by Practical eCommerce's Online Director Brian Getting. Walk through creating the XML file needed to establish a syndicated feed, and a look at the minimum tags, or feed elements, required to have a meaningful feed. No explanations of technologies, no theories, just a straight-forward example of an RSS feed that you can have up and running on your site in minutes, or use as a template for creating more advanced feeds. This tutorial is intended for website developers that are beginning with RSS feeds. A basic understanding of markup languages, XML and website file management are assumed. Please submit any questions or comments to this tutorial in the "comments" section below. This is the first video tutorial from Practical eCommerce, and we're interested in your feedback on the helpfulness of this feature, and we welcome suggestions on future video tutorials. Software Used: Adobe Dreamweaver 8 Sample Files: RSS 2.0 Feed...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/380/Welcome-to-the-New-Practical-eCommerce 2007-01-01T12:39:22-07:00

Practical eCommerce is changing, growing and improving. Our new website is bigger, more interactive and completely free. This follows from user recommendations and from dynamic changes in the media marketplace generally. Readers can now post comments to each article. Our new ecommerce glossary encourages submissions and comments from readers, who can also post entries to our ecommerce events calendar and ecommerce press releases. We've added new ecommerce-related blogs, a store to purchase back issues (in print or as a digital download) and enhanced RSS feeds. Our new enewsletter, EcommerceNotes, will publish twice-weekly. Our podcasts, which are popular at both iTunes and at our own website, will continue to grow, as will our online community forum. We've redesigned our printed magazine, which will shift to a bi-monthly (six times per year) schedule. Each printed issue will have more features, more departments and more useful, down-to-earth content. We continue to...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/365/How-to-Waste-4000 2006-12-01T00:01:01-07:00

How do you waste $4,000 in a few weeks? Patrick Coughlin knows. In fact, most ecommerce owners can attest to mistakes they made during the early phases of launching their new business. Coughlin has owned and operated American Diamond Importers, an independent brick-and-mortar jewelry store in St. Clair, Mich., for almost 15 years. When he discovered he won an eBay ProStore's contest, he quickly began implementing the steps necessary to revolutionize his traditional business model into one that included an online business and a global audience. Coughlin's goal to generate $1 million in sales from his online business within the first year is dependent upon his advertising and marketing success. Coughlin kicked off his pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns at Google and Yahoo! about four weeks ago. His new website remains a work in progress, and his team continues to revise, relocate and create web pages. What costly mistake was made? Even though web pages were being added and...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/359/Need-a-Stocking-Stuffer 2006-12-01T00:00:06-07:00

If you're anything like me, your focus dwindles over the holidays. So instead of providing you with tips that you don't have the energy to use, I thought that I'd briefly review some of the books that have shaped how I think about the web. Feel free to copy down this list and use it when you sit on Santa's knee to tell him what you'd like in your stocking this year: Permission Marketing, Seth Godin "Permission Marketing" was for me the snowball that started the avalanche. In an extremely engaging way, Godin breaks paradigms and describes how and why "interruption marketing" is dead, and what it means to be in the era of "permission." First published in 1999, Permission Marketing isn't a "how-to" book, and is not specifically directed at the web. It's more of a book about mind-set - a paradigm, a philosophy - but it provides an excellent foundation of understanding of why things work (or don't work) in marketing. Godin's explanation of why marketing is like dating is...

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/347/Get-To-Know-Your-htaccess-File 2006-11-01T16:45:45-07:00

A valuable tool many web developers either don't understand or aren't aware of is the .htaccess file. The file is available only to websites hosted on servers running the Apache web server, which is the overwhelming majority of hosting servers. An .htaccess file is a small, plain-text file residing in any directory of a website, and can contain directives to adjust the way the Apache web server reacts. The configuration changes apply to the directory that the .htaccess file is saved in, and to any directories that it might contain. To better understand them, let's take a look at some of the things web developers can do using .htaccess files. Probably one of the most common directives in an .htaccess file is one preventing "directory indexes." A directory index occurs when a website visitor types in the URL of a directory on a website, and that directory also has no index file. Without anything to send out, the Apache web server will then send the visitor an index, or itemized...