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Analytics & Data
Ecommerce Know-How: Four Ways to Measure Print Advertising Effectiveness
April 28, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Print advertising is a waning media vehicle. It has become less effective in the post-interruption era. However, in spite of this decline, printed display advertising and classifieds can still provide a solid return on investment (ROI) for some ecommerce merchants willing and able to me...
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Google Ads
The PeC Review: Google’s Search-Based Keyword Tool Lets You See What Spiders See
April 24, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Google’s Search-Based Keyword Tool can help ecommerce merchants find pertinent keywords specific to a given URL, potentially improving search-engine-optimization and pay-per-click-advertising campaigns. Using URLs from your AdWords account, the Search Based Keyword Tool (SKTool) "dis...
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Code
Web Design Tips: Converting an Older Table-Based Email Template To CSS
April 23, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Many email templates were developed using older table-based layouts that "break" easily and are very complicated to maintain. Tables in HTML are fantastic for displaying tabular data. But as a layout tool they interfere with some dynamic and rich media elements, cause accessibility cha...
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Business
Ecommerce Know-How: Self-Employment Tax Requirements
April 22, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Ecommerce businesses that operate as sole proprietorships, partnerships, and even limited liability companies frequently pass tax liability from the company to the owners and contractors of the business. These owners and contractors must then pay self-employment tax, which is typically ...
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Platforms & Apps
The PeC Review: “Remember the Milk” A Helpful Organizing Tool
April 20, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Ecommerce entrepreneurs are busy people who manage suppliers, web marketing, merchandising, accounting, and more. Many of these entrepreneurs keep lists on legal pads or stick dozens of yellow Post-it notes to the sides of their monitors like a mane on a lion. Australia-based Remem...
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Email Marketing
PeC Traffic Report: Six Measurements to Improve Email Performance
April 16, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Good ecommerce merchants know that email campaigns built around opt-in lists are an effective way to reach potential customers. But more than 18 percent of email marketers in the U.S. either don't or cannot measure the return on investment for their email campaigns, according to a new s...
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Customer Retention
Ecommerce Know-How: Developing a Postcard Campaign
April 15, 2009 • Armando Roggio
A postcard marketing campaign can be inexpensive, and it could increase your store's sales next month. Almost every weekday at about 2 p.m., I trot out to my mailbox, wave at the retired Marine smoking cigarettes on his porch across the street, and collect my U.S. mail. I sort out the...
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Conversion
Survey: Ecommerce Merchants Report Extremes in Sales Growth
April 13, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Online shopkeepers willing to indicate how their sales were doing in 2009 generally reported extremes, with sales either rising or falling by more than 10 percent, according to a new Practical eCommerce survey. Practical eCommerce asked a group of its readers how their 2009 sales had f...
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Fraud Prevention
The PeC Review: Yahoo! Alerts Can Send You Text Messages
April 10, 2009 • Armando Roggio
While there are many online tools that can help ecommerce proprietors keep track of their businesses' reputations and reviews, Yahoo! Alerts, a free notification service, is one of the few that can send those alerts as text messages to a mobile phone, or via Yahoo! Messenger, as a stand...
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Analytics & Data
Ecommerce Know-how: Setting SMART Goals and Measuring Success
April 8, 2009 • Armando Roggio
To really get the most from web measurements, online business owners need a clear understanding of exactly what they want to accomplish and how they will measure those accomplishments. No matter how objective the reporting of analytics software, the meaning divined from its numbers and...
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User Experience
The Shopping Experience: Source 1 Medical Offers Easy Navigation, Good Service
April 7, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Each month, Practical eCommerce sends me shopping. I make a purchase from a real online merchant and create both an article and a video of the shopping experience. My goal is to report back to you about the overall checkout process, customer service experience, website aesthetics, and d...
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Design & Dev Tools
Web Design Tips: Configuring Templates, Adding a Product Grid in Magento
April 1, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Adding a dynamic product grid or list to any static page in Magento is as easy as adding a few lines of code. The challenge is knowing which lines to add and where to put them. Magento is a popular open-source ecommerce platform that has been downloaded more than 750,000 times, accordi...
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Staffing
Ecommerce Know-How: Selecting a Web Designer or Developer
March 31, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Often with ecommerce sites success is not a matter of how good you are but rather how good you look. Consumers often judge how professional and how trustworthy an online store is by nothing more than its aesthetics. While many online retailers are experts in their field (i.e., apparel,...
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Fraud Prevention
The PeC Review: Google Alerts Helps With Reputation Management
March 30, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Google Alerts is a free service that sends users an email or RSS alert when the search engine indexes new material related to a specific keyword phrase. Although the service is still described as a beta, it has been available for years and many a savvy businessperson has used the servi...
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Marketing & Advertising
The PeC Review: The SOC Exchange Offers A New, Inexpensive Selling Channel
March 24, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Selling online can take many forms and merchants can use several channels to market and sell their wares. The SOC Exchange is a new online storefront that lets merchants post and sell products for as little as $10 per year with no hidden fees. The site allows ecommerce businesses to ...
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Checkout Tactics
Ecommerce Know-How: Using a Variable Pricing Model
March 20, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Selling downloadable products online presents a number of special problems for ecommerce businesses, not the least of which is demonstrating the value of an intangible product that has no physical form and no glossy packaging. Certainly, software vendors and popular sites like iTunes ha...
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Customer Service
The Shopping Experience: SportsRCool Offers Exceptional Customer Service
March 19, 2009 • Armando Roggio
If you visit the "About Us" section on the SportsRCool website, you'll find a simple promise to offer the best possible products and customer service at the lowest available prices. And the company certainly delivers where customer service is concerned. Each month, Practical eCommerc...
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Inventory
Ecommerce Know-How: Alternative Sources to Acquire Inventory
March 18, 2009 • Armando Roggio
While many ecommerce businesses trade only in new merchandise, there is a booming market for used, refurbished, and surplus items. Savvy ecommerce merchants can identify niche markets and use public auctions, websites, and classified ads to source valuable inventory for resale. In thi...
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Social Media
The PeC Review: Elgg Lets Any Business Create an Online Community
March 17, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Elgg is an open source platform to power any kind of social media community, and it is a tool that online merchants can use to help develop a loyal flow of site traffic. Social media communities similar to Facebook and MySpace are extremely popular. For example, eMarketer, a marketin...
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Cross-border Selling
The PeC Traffic Report: Asian Survey Provides Insight Into Search Habits
March 13, 2009 • Armando Roggio
From time to time it is useful to take a look at other industries to see how they are doing business and to glean tips for boosting web traffic to your own ecommerce site. In this edition of The PeC Traffic Report we'll take a look at an interesting new survey of electrical engineers i...
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Business
Ecommerce Know-How: Seven Steps to Starting Your eBusiness in a Recession
March 11, 2009 • Armando Roggio
The United States and much of the world is experiencing a large and deep recession that many economists believe is far from hitting bottom. But in spite of economic uncertainty, some entrepreneurs will find the current recession an opportune time to start their own ecommerce business. ...
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Platforms & Apps
Web Design Tips: Compatibility with Older Browsers
March 9, 2009 • Armando Roggio
As web technology advances and development standards evolve some web browsers are falling behind. Many lack the ability to support new technologies and file types or even provide the best available user experience. These lagging browsers put ecommerce businesses in something of a quanda...
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Platforms & Apps
Shopping Carts: Survey of Merchants Confirms Fractured Market
March 5, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Respondents to a February 2009 Practical eCommerce survey collectively use more than 30 different shopping carts, an indication that there is no clear and decisive leader in the ecommerce shopping cart segment. 14.1 percent of respondents to the survey said that they use Go Daddy's Qu...
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Influencers & Affiliates
The PeC Review: Google Affiliate Network is an Effective Marketing Tool
March 3, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Affiliate network marketing offers online retailers an effective, performance-based advertising channel with good conversion rates and a propensity to boosts sales. Like many affiliate programs, the Google Affiliate Network connects merchants with a network of website publishers. Aff...
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Customer Retention
PeC Traffic Report: The Direct Mail Solution
March 2, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Direct mail marketing is one of the oldest forms of modern promotion, but don't let its age deceive. Mailing coupons or even catalogs to potential customers can significantly improve site traffic and sales conversions. While the exact origins of direct mail marketing are in question, t...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Ecommerce Know-How: Amazon Can Sell Your Products and Advertise Them, Too
February 26, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Although many ecommerce merchants consider Amazon to be tough competitor, some online shopkeepers can boost sales and send traffic back to their own site using two of Amazon's ecommerce services. Selling on Amazon and Product Ads on Amazon are two Amazon services that many retail ecomm...
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Photography & Video
The PeC Review: Zoomify Adds Product Image Details
February 24, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Zoomify is a simple to use and easy to implement tool that adds an effective zoom-and-pan feature to product images, allowing customers to see high-resolution details, potentially boosting conversion rates for online merchants. Online shopkeepers have stiff competition from tradition...
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Social Media
Ecommerce Know-How: Use Facebook, LinkedIn to Promote Your Store
February 23, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Online communities like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Tangle allow members to join groups, post content, and respond to other's activity. While some marketers have tried to exploit the media, there are positive ways for online merchants to participate in linking networks and build stronger re...
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Payments
Ecommerce Know-How: Understanding Your Payment Processing Statement
February 18, 2009 • Armando Roggio
While online shopkeepers are experts in their industries, they might not be expert at understanding their payment processing service or its statement, which can include adjustments, interchange charges, service charges, fees, and chargebacks. At its heart, ecommerce is about the exchan...
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Code
Web Design Tips: Use CSS to Adjust Opacity
February 17, 2009 • Armando Roggio
The CSS opacity property lets web designers define how particular page elements will blend, adding both style and emphasis to important page sections. Essentially, this property allows you to adjust an element's translucency, changing the amount of diffused virtual light that seems to ...