Our monthly “Top Ten Posts” helps us learn what is uppermost on your minds and which articles you are sharing with others. Following is a list of the ten most popular articles we published at Practical eCommerce in March 2011, based on the number of page views. Articles that we published at the end of the month are less likely to appear on the list.
3 Tools to Create New Facebook iFrame Pages
The month of March marked a big change for Facebook Page owners. The social platform upgraded Pages to a new layout and replaced its custom-tab-creation code with iframes, which requires Page owners to learn how to create compatible Facebook apps. To the rescue have come developers with free, easy-to-use interfaces to make iframe app creation simpler. This article profiles three of them.
36 Productivity Apps for iPad, Android and BlackBerry Tablet PCs
Ecommerce productivity apps can transform tablet PCs into real business tools. Contributing Editor Matt Ferner reviewed the top 100 ecommerce-related apps for Apple’s iPad, Research in Motion’s BlackBerry PlayBook, and Android Tablets. From that, he assembled this list of the 36 most highly rated and popular productivity apps for each tablet device.
Google’s ‘Farmer’ Algorithm and What It Means for Ecommerce SEO
Google moved recently to a new algorithm that will spell trouble for sites that have been aggregating — or duplicating — content from other sites. The change can affect ecommerce merchants. Here is a breakdown of how the “Farmer” algorithm could impact your search marketing and what you can do to improve your overall SEO.
How to Write Product Descriptions that Sell, Boost SEO Efforts
Unique product descriptions can attract positive search engine attention. And, with Google’s Farmer algorithm now in effect, original content is more important than ever. Here are a few practical methods for writing unique product descriptions that appeal both to search engines and shoppers.
10 Tips for Marketing on Redesigned Facebook
Facebook was on the minds of ecommerce merchants in a big way last month due to a major upgrade in its platform. In response to the Facebook redesign, here are ten valuable tips for developing a marketing campaign on its new platform.
48 Facebook Pages for Businesses
Marketing inspiration is often found by emulating the actions of other companies. If you ever wondered what makes a great Facebook page for marketing, here are the top 48 business pages on Facebook, including the top ten brands, the most popular ecommerce stores, and more.
The Zappos Effect: 5 Great Customer Service Ideas for Smaller Businesses
Retailing giant Zappos has one of the most liberal and consumer-oriented customer service policies of any online business. Smaller ecommerce merchants can glean some useful customer care ideas from Zappos’ example.
5 New-Media Ecommerce Marketing Tactics
Merchants are finding creative ways to harness the new-media devices. Learn new marketing tactics that embrace mobile devices, video platforms, advertising apps, online broadcasting, and blogging as an “ecosystem.”
SEO Case Study: One Store’s Struggle with Google Updates
Search-engine-optimization expert Jill Kocher tackles a real-life case study of one ecommerce store’s efforts to readjust its site to suit Google’s new Farmer algorithm. Learn how the Google update can decrease organic search traffic and what merchants can do about it.
Note: The following two articles tied for tenth place in March 2011.
41 Google Blogs for Online Businesses
Google itself provides a number of blogs that describe platform updates, new developers’ tricks and important technical information. Here are 41 of the most interesting and helpful Google blogs for ecommerce merchants.
5 Free SEO Tools for Do-It-Yourself Analysis
Issues with search engine optimization are not always obvious, especially when Google’s playing field changes. There are a number of free tools, however, to help website owners find out how well their sites are appealing to search engines and how their SEO efforts may be improved. This article lists five of the best do-it-yourself SEO tools for businesses.