• Google Lighthouse: Monitor Site Performance, SEO, Accessibility

  

  May 8, 2018 • Armando Roggio

  Lighthouse is Google’s free, open source, and automated site monitoring tool. It can help ecommerce businesses track site load times, accessibility, and search engine optimization. Lighthouse is available in a few... Read More »

• 14 Video Editing Apps for Smartphones

  

  May 7, 2018 • Sig Ueland

  No longer are content creators chained to their desktops. With full-featured video editing apps available for smartphones, create polished layers of content on-the-go for your website or for your favorite... Read More »

• WompMobile CEO on PWAs and AMPs

  

  May 2, 2018 • Armando Roggio

  Not long ago mobile optimization could provide a competitive advantage. But as the mobile internet has grown, responsive websites are no longer optional. They are essential to doing business online. WompMobile... Read More »

• Pointers on Backing Up Ecommerce Data

  

  April 29, 2018 • Eric Davis

  Backups are an insurance policy for your ecommerce store that you hope never to use. Unfortunately, many backups aren’t adequate. The purpose of a backup is to recover the code and... Read More »

• 16 Tools for Website Accessibility

  

  April 23, 2018 • Sig Ueland

  "Web accessibility" refers to content designed so that people with disabilities can access it. Accessibility involves a wide range of disabilities, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, language, learning, and neurological.... Read More »

• 11 Free WordPress Ecommerce Themes for 2018

  

  April 9, 2018 • Sig Ueland

  The world’s most popular content management system, WordPress, has a lot to offer anyone who wants to open an online store. There’s a constant stream of new themes, many of... Read More »

• Are PWAs the Future of Mobile Commerce?

  

  March 29, 2018 • Armando Roggio

  Compared to a typical, mobile-optimized web page, progressive web apps may give mobile shoppers a better browsing and buying experience while helping online sellers earn more sales and profit. It... Read More »

• 3-part Plan to Minimize the Impact of Site Outages

  

  March 26, 2018 • Eric Davis

  “The site is down.” Few things worry developers as much as outages, especially on ecommerce sites where every minute represents lost revenue. But outages happen. To minimize their impact, plan for them.... Read More »

• 6 Plugins to Automate a WooCommerce Store

  

  March 20, 2018 • Curtis McHale

  There is so much to manage with an ecommerce store. You need to maintain adequate stock. You have customer issues, server and hosting issues, and software bugs. A store owner... Read More »

• Gzip Compression Could Make Your Site 90-percent Faster

  

  March 16, 2018 • Armando Roggio

  Not using gzip on your web server? Your company should be. Enabling gzip compression could improve initial page load times by as much as 90 percent. Your business's faster web... Read More »

• How to Quickly Drop Seconds from a Site’s Load Time

  

  March 13, 2018 • Hamlet Batista

  There are good reasons to improve your online store’s page speed, especially for mobile. However, I’ve found that improving speed can require a lot of expensive developer work. usually following standard... Read More »

• Enable HTTP/2 for Happier Customers, Better SEO

  

  March 12, 2018 • Armando Roggio

  Enabling your company's website to use HTTP/2 could result in better performance, happier customers, and improved rankings on search engines. All of that, in turn, could help your site generate... Read More »

• 19 Free Web Design Tools from Winter 2018

  

  March 12, 2018 • Sig Ueland

  Utilizing free resources from the design community is a good way to add value to your website. Here is a list of new web tools and design elements from winter... Read More »

• Crisis Communications Checklist for Retail Businesses

  

  March 7, 2018 • Armando Roggio

  Has your business committed a social media faux pas? An employee, perhaps, did something embarrassing, or maybe your entire industry is getting bad press. How your company communicates through a... Read More »

• How to Automate Customer Recognition

  

  March 6, 2018 • Curtis McHale

  Consumers who interact with ecommerce companies have many milestones. They spend their first $100. They purchase their 10th product. They spend the 1 millionth dollar with your store. How do... Read More »

• Use Status Pages to Evaluate Cloud-based Vendors

  

  February 27, 2018 • Eric Davis

  Evaluating the performance of cloud-based vendors can be tricky. You can read reviews, but it's sometimes difficult to find unbiased opinions. One little-known method of evaluating cloud platforms is to... Read More »

• 15 Quality Themes for BigCommerce

  

  February 25, 2018 • Sig Ueland

  BigCommerce is a leading ecommerce platform, hosting more than 55,000 online stores, including prominent brands such as Martha Stewart and Toyota. With a large selection of high quality, premium themes,... Read More »

• 15 Popular Themes for Shopify

  

  February 20, 2018 • Sig Ueland

  With over 100 free and premium ecommerce themes, the Shopify Theme Store gives businesses a wide range of starting points to develop the right site and build a brand. Here... Read More »

• 13 Social Media Plugins for WordPress

  

  February 12, 2018 • Sig Ueland

  Here is a list of social media plugins for WordPress. There are sharing plugins to connect your website to a wide selection of social networks. There are also plugins with... Read More »

• 13 Tools for Responsive Web Design

  

  February 5, 2018 • Sig Ueland

  Responsive web design ensures a site renders well on different devices and screens. Use responsive design tools to make sure your users have an optimal viewing experience. Here is a... Read More »

• Optimizing Checkout Flow in WooCommerce

  

  January 31, 2018 • Curtis McHale

  Abandoned shopping carts are a hurdle for online merchants. Optimizing your checkout process will lower abandonment rates, and increase sales. In this post, I'll review methods to streamline and simplify a... Read More »

• 3 Steps to Minimize Technology Risks for an Ecommerce Store

  

  January 24, 2018 • Eric Davis

  Every business has risks. Part of what makes a business successful is how it eliminates or reduces those risks while still serving customers. The hardware and software that power your... Read More »

• Pros and Cons of Hosted Ecommerce Platforms

  

  December 19, 2017 • Eric Davis

  I’ve addressed different options to host the code for your ecommerce site. In “Don’t Self-host an Ecommerce Store,” I addressed the risk and expense of owning and managing web servers.... Read More »

• 10 Tools to Improve Online User Experiences

  

  December 18, 2017 • Sig Ueland

  User experience design is the process of improving the interaction between a consumer and a product. For online merchants, UX design tools can help get early feedback on a website... Read More »

• 20 Free Web Design Tools for Fall 2017

  

  December 4, 2017 • Sig Ueland

  Utilizing free resources from the design community is a good way to add value to your website. Here is a list of new web tools and design elements from fall 2017.... Read More »

• Cloud Hosting the Best Option for Stores that Own Code

  

  November 28, 2017 • Eric Davis

  The concept of cloud hosting can be confusing. “We’re moving to the cloud.” “The cloud can scale this.” Or my favorite, from Microsoft about Windows 7: “To the cloud.” Cloud hosting... Read More »

• 5 Ecommerce Site Design Trends for 2018

  

  November 23, 2017 • Armando Roggio

  New techniques, technologies, and user behaviors drive ecommerce website and application design every year. In 2018, expect ecommerce sites to employ the CSS Grid Layout, use mobile-friendly full-screen modal windows,... Read More »

• 15 Tools and Resources for Color Design

  

  November 20, 2017 • Sig Ueland

  Color is an integral element of design. Choosing the right color palette for your website can make or break its appeal with potential customers. Here is a list of tools and... Read More »

• 17 Tools and Resources for Logo Design

  

  November 13, 2017 • Sig Ueland

  A good logo conveys the message and essential truth of a brand. Whether you’re interested in creating your own logo or finding the right designer, there are a variety of... Read More »

• 14 Free Ebooks on Web Design, to Inspire

  

  October 29, 2017 • Sig Ueland

  Online merchants could always use some free expert advice from the design community. There is a wide variety of free ebooks available to help. Here is a list of helpful ebooks... Read More »