Page 160 – Practical Ecommerce

Category

Payments
American Express OptBlue Program May Reduce Processing Cost

July 15, 2014 • Phil Hinke

American Express recently came out with a new program called OptBlue, where the final processing rates and fees paid by the merchant are set by the merchant account provider, not ...
Photography & Video
10 Sites Using Video Creatively to Engage Customers

July 14, 2014 • Sig Ueland

Businesses can use video to engage customers. Videos can show a product in motion and deliver helpful product information, from an expert. Here is a list of businesses using video creatively to ...
Marketing & Advertising
5 Ways to Grow your Ecommerce Business this Year

July 14, 2014 • Armando Roggio

Even though 2014 is more than half over, there is still time to grow your ecommerce business this year. There are at least five strategies you can utilize. Business growth can ...
Business > Merchant Voice
Preparing for the 2014 holiday season

July 13, 2014 • David Sasson

Many retailers, both online and brick-and-mortar, make most of their profits in the fourth quarter. Consumers in the U.S. typically think about the holiday season only after Thanksgiving. But for ...
Marketing & Advertising
Do-it-yourself SEO: Organizing a Website with Silos

July 13, 2014 • Andy Curry

My previous four articles explained basic search engine optimization. In “How to Get Traffic to your Website (via Google),” I reviewed how Google and other search engines identify content on a site. In “Do-it-yourself SEO Starts with On-page Optimization,” I explained the beginnings of optimizing a web page.
Cross-border Selling
Ecommerce in India Takes Off; Potential for U.S. Sellers

July 10, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan

While China has certainly been the star of international ecommerce, India — the second most populous country in the world — is starting to show some genuine energy. Even Alibaba,
Social Media
10 Instagram Tools and Apps for Ecommerce

July 9, 2014 • Paul Chaney

Hundreds of third-party tools and apps enable Instagram engagement. They include the ability to track analytics, promote products, and even transact sales directly through the platform. Here’s a list of ten ...
Marketing & Advertising
Ecommerce Coupon Marketing for 2014

July 9, 2014 • Armando Roggio

Retail coupons can help merchants acquire new customers, encourage regular customers to buy more, and increase average order size. But like all forms of marketing and promotion, not all coupon ...
Business > Merchant Voice
Magento Go: going going gone

July 9, 2014 • Richard Stubbings

I have always had my doubts over hosted ecommerce solutions. I have never used them. Recently I have been thinking that I was wrong and that they are a viable ...
B2B
How B2B Distributors Compete with AmazonSupply

July 9, 2014 • Dale Traxler

In “Distributors Beware of AmazonSupply.com?,” my previous article, I suggested that wholesale distributors recognize the threat presented by Amazon in the B2B marketplace and find ways to compete. This article ...
Business
How to Register a Trademark, Part 1: Determine Availability

July 8, 2014 • Elizabeth Lewis

Many people think that once they register a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office that their trademark is valid. However, this is an assumption that can end ...
Customer Service
10 Tools to Survey your Customers

July 7, 2014 • Sig Ueland

Polls and surveys are a great way to engage your customers and get feedback on your business. Survey your customers to find out what they want more of, or even ...
Marketing & Advertising
How to Manage LinkedIn Advertising, for Success

July 3, 2014 • Melih Oztalay

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by Web Marketing Today. Practical Ecommerce acquired Web Marketing Today in 2012. In 2016, we merged the two sites, leaving Practical Ecommerce as ...
Analytics & Data
Google Analytics: Using Views and Filters, to Understand Visitors

July 3, 2014 • Armando Roggio

Google Analytics reporting views offer different ways to look at the website or application traffic data, which may help online business owners and marketers better understand how to attract, retain,
Business
June 2014 Top 10: Our Most Popular Posts

July 2, 2014 • PEC Staff

Each month we compile a list of the ten most popular articles we published that month, based on the number of page views. Here are our ten most popular articles ...
Social Media
6 Reasons to Use Instagram for Ecommerce

July 2, 2014 • Paul Chaney

Online retailers use many photos and videos on their websites. With its focus on imagery, Instagram is a place where merchants can showcase their products, build their brands, and increase ...
Platforms & Apps
When to Avoid WordPress Ecommerce

July 1, 2014 • Joe Robison

With more than 600 ecommerce platforms, it can be difficult to choose the best one for your business. WordPress is a leading content management system, with popular ecommerce plugins. But ...
Content Marketing
5 Ecommerce Content Marketing Ideas for July 2014

July 1, 2014 • Armando Roggio

Fireworks, futbol, summertime projects, and even unidentified flying objects might all make good topics for an online retailer’s July 2014 content marketing. In a way, content marketing comes right out of ...
Marketing & Advertising
Using Social Media for Nonprofit Fundraising

June 30, 2014 • Cathy Qori

There are many good reasons to try fundraising with social media. And there's one important reason not to: Most of the time, it doesn’t work. A Google search reveals that while there are more than 20 million stories about fundraising with social media, there are few reports of actual campaign success.
Social Media
Reddit for Ecommerce Marketers: Dos and Don’ts

June 30, 2014 • Samantha Collier

Reddit is a thriving social community based around sharing content. With more than 113 million monthly unique users, you may think this would be the perfect place for ecommerce marketers.
Staffing
Executive Compensation at 13 Ecommerce Companies

June 30, 2014 • Sig Ueland

If you’re interested in salary levels at public ecommerce companies, you can locate compensation information at the website of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Federal securities laws require public companies to provide clear disclosure about compensation paid to CEOs, CFO
Business
Key performance indicators for ecommerce businesses

June 28, 2014 • Jordan Lindberg

“In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.” – Warren Buffett For newcomers to ecommerce, part of the learning process is coming to understand the basic ...
Business > Merchant Voice
7 ways to lose less money on shipping

June 27, 2014 • Jamie Salvatori

Shipping sucks. It’s expensive, time consuming, fraught with peril, expensive, undervalued by your customers, and did I mention that it’s getting more expensive by the day? You can thank Amazon for ...
Business
Voice Commerce Ready for Prime Time?

June 27, 2014 • Gagan Mehra

The ability to use one’s voice to shop has been tried by a number of merchants, including Amazon, Ebay, and Domino’s Pizza. But it has not, to date, gained wide ...
Social Media
Facebook’s New ‘Ad Preferences’ Could Help Users, Advertisers

June 26, 2014 • Paul Chaney

In June, Facebook announced the launch of a new feature that allows users to exert more control over the ads they see. Called “ad preferences,” it is a tool accessible ...
Business > Merchant Voice
Overcoming search-engine penalties the DIY way

June 26, 2014 • Erica Tevis

Ecommerce is a competition. No matter how well you run your operation, using white hat techniques, producing original content and sharing it on the web, ecommerce owners compete against a ...
Influencers & Affiliates
Affiliate Marketing: How to Engage Bloggers

June 26, 2014 • Carolyn Kmet

I’ve previously addressed how to recruit bloggers to your affiliate marketing program. In this article, I’ll review how to engage bloggers once you’ve recruited them. Working with bloggers takes a lot ...
Business
Will 3D Printing Disrupt Ecommerce?

June 25, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan

Invented in the mid-eighties, 3D printing was once restricted to the B-to-B market. Now as prices for 3D printers come down, the technology is making its way into the consumer ...
Email & Text Marketing
Comparing 5 Ecommerce Email Subject Lines from June 2014

June 25, 2014 • Armando Roggio

Email subject lines should capture a reader’s attention with a concise, relevant, and, perhaps, personalized appeal. Done well, email marketing can have a significant and positive impact on ecommerce sales ...
Business
Distributors Beware of AmazonSupply.com?

June 24, 2014 • Dale Traxler

As B-to-B online revenues approach $1 trillion per year, there are still many wholesale distributors who are hesitant to aggressively sell their products online. I frequently ask executives in the distribution ...