Armando Roggio

Articles by: Armando Roggio

Armando Roggio

Armando Roggio is the longtime senior contributor to Practical Ecommerce. He's a global ecommerce authority and a practicing merchant, developer, and journalist.

Since 2008 he's written over 1,300 articles for Practical Ecommerce addressing all matters of ecommerce and presented dozens of webinars.

His previous positions include director of ecommerce for a regional retail chain and marketing publications manager at Micron Technology, a publicly-traded computer-chip manufacturer. He holds a B.A. in English Writing and Journalism from The University of Pittsburgh.

Contact Armando via email or LinkedIn. Follow his ecommerce tweets at @ecommerceboy.

Content Marketing
Essential Social Media Metrics for Content Marketing

June 5, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Social media sites can be powerful tools for distributing content and driving engagement. But, like much of marketing, long-term social media success requires constant improvement. In this article, I'll suggest the primary social media metrics to track as part of your company's content marketing efforts.
Content Marketing
How to Generate High-traffic Article Topics

May 31, 2019 • Armando Roggio

I have to come up with lots of article ideas. I have a few methods, including reading industry-specific posts and following links in them. This morning, I was sitting in ...
Marketing & Advertising
A Disciplined Approach to Marketing an Ecommerce Business

May 28, 2019 • Armando Roggio

The means and methods of driving ecommerce site traffic and conversions are clear. Marketers at mid-sized ecommerce and omnichannel retail businesses know the tactics to employ. Thus the challenge to grow a business is often discipline — not knowledge.
Conversion
A 7-step Cart Recovery Program for Luxury Brands (That Actually Works)

May 24, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Imagine a company selling high-end products that cost thousands of dollars each. A few abandoned ecommerce shopping carts could add up to a small fortune. The recovery series described below has generated as much as $40,000 in a few hours.
Business
4 Steps to Discover an Ecommerce Product Niche

May 21, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Amazon sells everything, seemingly, as does Walmart. And they do it well. But for most ecommerce businesses, attempting to sell everything to everyone can lead to failure. A niche with fewer competitors can have a better chance at success.
Business
Use Pre-orders to Gauge Demand, Generate Cash

May 17, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Pre-orders have dual advantages for product makers and for retailers selling online or in a brick-and-mortar store. First, pre-orders can be a good indicator of demand. Second, pre-orders can generate cash ahead of a product's release.
Content Marketing
5 Ways to Recruit Content Creators for Your Business

May 13, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Content marketing is not a one-and-done tactic. It is a commitment. But you don’t have to do it alone. Recruit other people to create content for you. Here is a list of five ways to do just that.
Email & Text Marketing
Boost Profits with a Win-back Email Campaign

May 7, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Sometimes customer relationships fade. A shopper may have made several purchases, but then, over time his orders become less frequent until finally, you don't hear from him. But your business can re-engage at least a few lapsed customers and win them back with email marketing automation.
Content Marketing
5 Content Marketing Ideas for June 2019

May 3, 2019 • Armando Roggio

In June 2019, content marketers should have no shortage of potential topics to attract, engage, and retain customers. In much of North America, the weather will be grand. That is why my first two suggestions on this month's list of content marketing ideas have to do with the outdoors.
Email & Text Marketing
Need More from Email Marketing? Learn from Competitors

April 29, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Email marketing provides a strong return on investment, requires very little money, and helps even fledgling businesses drive sales. The question, then, for most companies is not whether they should use email marketing, but how. One strategy is to monitor successful competitors.
Business
How to Respond to a Copyright Infringement Notice

April 25, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Copyright infringement is a serious issue that could cost a business as much as $150,000 per instance. If your business receives an infringement notice, take it seriously. Aim to settle if, in fact, infringement occurred.
Design & Development
Moving Data May Become Software’s Best Feature

April 22, 2019 • Armando Roggio

The commerce technology stack is changing. And the ability to move information from one system or platform to another is, perhaps, the essential feature mid-sized or enterprise businesses should look for in software providers.
Photography & Video
How to Make Images Load Faster

April 16, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Images impact the load time of a website. The faster the site, the better the user experience, leading to conversions and profits. In this piece, I'll offer suggestions for optimizing images. The goal is to create an attractive experience without bogging down performance.
Design & Development
The Case for Optimizing Image Performance

April 12, 2019 • Armando Roggio

For ecommerce, pictures can showcase products, inspire customers, and boost conversion rates. For web performance, however, pictures can hurt page load times and, thereby, the user experience. In March 2019, the ...
Platforms & Apps
7 Reasons to Consider a Headless CMS

April 9, 2019 • Armando Roggio

There are many reasons for a business to consider a headless content management system. Among them are a need to use content in multiple channels, a desire for improved customization, and relief from a cluttered, conventional platform.
Marketing & Advertising
How to Measure Customer Acquisition Cost

April 7, 2019 • Armando Roggio

How does an ecommerce company decide which marketing tactics work the best? Customer acquisition cost helps to answer this question. CAC is a key performance indicator for ecommerce marketing. It estimates how much to invest to attract one new customer.
Content Marketing
5 Content Marketing Ideas for May 2019

April 2, 2019 • Armando Roggio

From science fiction to education to research, there are plenty of ways to connect with consumers through content marketing in May 2019. What follows are five content ideas for your business to try in May 2019.
Marketing & Advertising
4 Marketing Tactics to Get the Next Ecommerce Sale

March 29, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Online retailers have the opportunity to transform every new visitor into a long-term, loyal customer who makes dozens or even hundreds of purchases over several years. What follows are four inexpensive marketing ideas to help your ecommerce company make the next sale and earn more profit from existing customers.
Customer Retention
Analyzing the Impact of Customer Retention on Profits

March 26, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Customer retention is a good indicator of an ecommerce business’s potential for long-term growth and success. With this in mind, ecommerce owners and managers should consider making customer retention a ...
Conversion
The Many Benefits of Live Chat for Ecommerce

March 21, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Live chat may be one of the best ways to answer questions, overcome the barriers to an online sale, and even discover where your website needs improvement. And these are just some of the benefits.
Code
How to Stop Sniply and Similar Services from Framing Your Content

March 19, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Social sharing tools such as Sniply, Backly, and similar put other companies' ads right on top of your popular and well-prepared content. But you don't have to let it happen. There are ways to stop these services from "framing" your content.
Google Ads
Boost Google Ads’ Quality Score for PPC Success

March 14, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Google Ads' quality score is a bid multiplier that can make purchasing ads on the popular pay-per-click advertising platform less expensive. A high quality score is also a strong indicator of PPC success, so boosting an ad's quality score could lead to more interactions and sales.
Google Ads
How to Structure Google Ads Text Campaigns for Ecommerce

March 11, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Text-based, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a fundamental part of promoting an ecommerce business. These seemingly simple ads can appear higher on a search results page than organic listings and they can target potential customers actively seeking the products your business sells.
SEO
SEO: Tell Google Which Pages Not to Crawl

March 7, 2019 • Armando Roggio

The typical goal of search engine optimization is to have your site's pages show up on a Google results page in answer to a query. But there are pages that should not be included in search results. Removing them from Google's index might actually increase search engine traffic.
Content Marketing
5 Content Marketing Ideas for April 2019

March 5, 2019 • Armando Roggio

In April 2019, content marketers could pitch spring gift ideas, write about important political issues, play a prank or two, offer tax help, and recognize China's contributions.
Keyword Research
How to Find Seed Keywords and Explore Topic Clusters

February 28, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Creating a short list of seed keywords is fundamental to search engine optimization, content marketing, and pay-per-click advertising. But for some marketers, the task of identifying seed keywords isn't clear.
Content Marketing
5 Content Marketing Ideas for March 2019

February 19, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Content marketing is meant to help your business connect with potential customers, building long-term relationships. The goal is to attract, engage, and retain those prospects with content that your business creates or curates, publishes, and distributes. In this post, I will discuss five content marketing ideas your business could try in March 2019.
Marketing & Advertising
The Power of Customer Testimonials for Ecommerce

February 12, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Customer testimonials can be a powerful, conversion-boosting, profit-driving tool for ecommerce companies. You just need to collect and share them. There are many surveys and reports touting the impact customer reviews and testimonials.
SEO
How Does Google Find and Index Web Pages?

February 6, 2019 • Armando Roggio

When a potential customer enters a query on Google, searching for the products your business sells, she is not actually searching the live internet. Rather, she is looking up web pages on Google's index of the internet. In a sense, this consumer is searching the recent, known web rather than the real-time, live web.
Business
6 Leading Ecommerce Business Models Explained

February 1, 2019 • Armando Roggio

In this article, I will briefly explain six ecommerce business models. When you think of ecommerce, you probably think of the B2C business model. It is simply retail sales made from a business entity to an individual. Much of Amazon.com uses this business model.