Page 181 – Practical Ecommerce

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Marketing & Advertising
How to Remove Ripoff Report Pages Via SEO

May 1, 2013 • Chris Silver Smith

Companies and individuals are becoming increasingly aware that their reputations are dependent on the first page of results when people search for their names on Google and Bing. Unfortunately, sites like RipoffReport.com and others often leap abruptly into visibility for name searches, embarrassing those affected and even harming business or individual's chances of employment.
Shipping & Fulfillment
7 Ways to Improve a Customer’s Shipping Experience

April 30, 2013 • Armando Roggio

Shipping can be one of the most stressful parts of an online transaction. The customer has already paid for a product, but does not actually have it in hand. And the retailer — devoted to excellent customer service — has no control over the carrier. In spite of this, there are some co...
Business
April 2013 Top 10: Our Most Popular Posts

April 30, 2013 • 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 for April 2013, recognizing that articles we published earlier in the month are more likely to make the list than later ones. ...
Social Media
Facebook Changes Layout of Mobile App

April 29, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Facebook recently changed the Pages layout in its Apple iOS mobile app. The reason for the change, according to Facebook, is that roughly 50 percent of Page visits come from mobile devices. A new Android version is coming soon, Facebook announced. "We've developed a new mobile Pages l...
Design & Development
3 Important Mobile Commerce Trends

April 26, 2013 • Armando Roggio

Tablet-based purchases, an explosion in video watching, and shopping activity of men are among the hottest mobile commerce trends that could impact how online retailers market and sell. Mobile commerce — mcommerce — is the fastest growing retail segment as more shoppers make purchases...
Business > Merchant Voice
Internet Sales Tax Isn’t About Fairness

April 26, 2013 • Jamie Salvatori

If you listened to the politicians tell it, the story of main street retailers needing online stores to charge and collect sales tax is all about fairness. To again quote McEnroe, “You cannot be serious!” Here’s the “argument” presented by stupid politicians as proxy for the main stree...
Business
How to Monitor, Prevent Fulfillment Errors

April 26, 2013 • Dale Traxler

Ecommerce companies typically focus on acquiring traffic and selling a wide range of products that shoppers will actually buy. Many ecommerce firms track key performance indicators like new visitors, conversion rates, and average order values. But for many ecommerce companies, especia...
Schools & Resources
Reading List: Rama Ramakrishnan of CQuotient

April 25, 2013 • PEC Staff

In “Reading List,” we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their favorite books and blogs, and tell us why they read them. For this installment, we corresponded with Rama ...
Conversion
6 Small-business Personalization Strategies

April 24, 2013 • Jerry Jao

A personalized shopping experience can increase conversions. There are many sophisticated personalization platforms that help with this. But there are also simple, inexpensive personalization strategies that most any merchant can use. This article profiles six examples of effective p...
Social Media
10 Ideas for Facebook’s New Cover Images

April 23, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Facebook recently changed its policy on cover images for business pages. The 20 percent text overlay rule is still in effect, but other restrictions have been dismissed. The new guidelines provide much greater flexibility in what owners can do with their pages, stating, "All covers ar...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Marketplaces: How to Sell More in 2013

April 23, 2013 • Armando Roggio

Online marketplaces like Etsy, eBay, and Amazon offer retailers profitable, high-volume sales channels that can significantly improve the bottom line. But as more businesses discover and use these marketplaces, competition increases, meaning businesses need to market well in these chann...
Social Media
13 Inspiring Brands on Pinterest

April 22, 2013 • Sig Ueland

Pinterest is a place for inspiration. Successful brands use it not only to show off a product, but also to inspire people with the ideas, moods, and images behind the brand. Here is a list of brands that inspire on Pinterest. Their boards are filled with beautiful images and amazing d...
Social Media
25 Tips for Successful Twitter Engagement

April 22, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Many ecommerce merchants use Twitter to connect with customers, build personal relationships, and influence conversations to meet business objectives. Merchants can learn what customers have to say about their brands and products, provide proactive customer service, and create promoti...
Design & Dev Tools
11 Free Screencasting Tools

April 22, 2013 • Kevin Webster

Screencasts are an effective way to promote your products or services. As a video tutorial, a product demonstration, or for reviewing the strengths of your company, screencasts offer substantial benefits.
Marketing & Advertising
‘Integrated Marketing’ Latest Buzzword, Critical Ecommerce Activity

April 19, 2013 • Dale Traxler

Seemingly, when I become comfortable with a widely used technology term, someone creates another version. That's frustrating. But having been around technology for roughly 30 years, I’ve grown used to it. I may have even contributed to it as a marketing professional and author. A quick...
Email & Text Marketing
Applying Data to Improve your Email Communications

April 19, 2013 • Carolyn Nye

With so much information available about your customers and prospects, how do you apply that information to your email communications? In this article, I'll address steps to apply the right data to improve your email-marketing program. What Data Do You Have? This question is not alwa...
Payments
Bitcoins: 3 Things Online Merchants Must Know

April 18, 2013 • Armando Roggio

Bitcoin is a mostly anonymous, peer-to-peer electronic payment system that could allow online retailers to accept cash-like payments from anyone, potentially, opening up new market segments and reaching new customers. But bitcoin is not without risks. Earlier this month, a single bitco...
Social Media
Using Twitter Hashtags for Ecommerce Marketing

April 17, 2013 • Paul Chaney

By some accounts, as many as 75 percent of Twitter users include hashtags in their tweets. While hashtags are popular, from a marketing perspective it helps to understand why and how to use them. This article outlines 10 ways merchants can use hashtags, along with guidelines for their u...
Photography & Video
12 How-to and DIY Video Sites

April 16, 2013 • Sig Ueland

Adding videos to your website can be a terrific way to inform consumers on your product expertise, add value to their shopping experience, and set your site apart from your competitors. A video can be produced with little or no expense. And there are plenty of how-to videos available on...
Analytics & Data
Using Analytics to Adapt and Learn

April 16, 2013 • Tim Wilson

Everyone wants to be data-driven these days. But, what does that really mean? Using the classic “people, process, technology” triangle, it is tempting to see technology as the most critical ...
Business
The Importance of Ecommerce Strategy

April 15, 2013 • Dale Traxler

One thing I learned running my ecommerce jewelry business for 10 years was that I was never done. There was seemingly always something new I should be working on. I suspect many other merchants feel similarly. But it's important to ask if you are working on the right things. Are you i...
Platforms & Apps
25 Apps for Dropbox

April 15, 2013 • Sig Ueland

Dropbox is a cloud-storage service. Similar to Google Drive and SkyDrive, Dropbox lets you access and sync files across all your devices. While Dropbox only offers 2GB of initial free storage — Google Drive offers 5GB, SkyDrive offers 7GB — it expands free storage for completing a few s...
Conversion
4 Key Ecommerce Metrics that Determine Success

April 12, 2013 • Jaime Brugueras

There are four key ecommerce metrics that determine success. They are: Understanding lifetime value of a customer; Monitoring customer satisfaction; Measuring your sales funnel; Determining marketing ROI. The most successful ecommerce brands incorporate these elements whether they r...
Social Media
Facebook Changes Ads Manager to Improve Tracking

April 12, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Facebook recently made several changes to Ads Manager to make it easier for advertisers to track performance against goals and to better measure the return on investment. Ads Manager Changes Advertising goals highlighted. Ads Manager now shows the most relevant actions for your adver...
Business > Merchant Voice
10 ways that launching a website is like planning a wedding

April 12, 2013 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

I'm getting married this year and one of the things I've noticed is how many parallels there are between the process of planning a wedding and planning a website launch as I've just relaunched my own website. Just like a wedding, it doesn't matter if it's your first, second or third (w...
Payments
Merchants Using Interchange-Plus Pricing Continue to Overpay

April 11, 2013 • Phil Hinke

Editor's Note: Contributor Phil Hinke is a veteran of the credit card processing industry. He now consults with merchants to help lower their processing costs, believing the credit card industry is often unfair to them. His latest article, below, addresses misconceptions with interchang...
Amazon & Marketplaces
How to Start Selling on the Amazon Marketplace

April 10, 2013 • Armando Roggio

Amazon allows other retailers to sell products on its marketplace, where millions of interested shoppers visit daily. This creates an opportunity for sellers — large and small. It is possible to start selling on the Amazon Marketplace in a matter of hours; the barrier to entry is very l...
Finance
5 Reasons for an Ecommerce Business Plan

April 10, 2013 • Marcia Kaplan

Does an ecommerce company need a business plan? Yes, almost any business can benefit from developing a business plan. While many companies prepare a plan solely to secure outside funding, a business plan can also help you focus on what you want your business to be in the future and pro...
Design & Development
How to Choose Colors for Your Ecommerce Site

April 9, 2013 • Ezra Firestone

I often ask ecommerce owners about the color choices for their stores. Most say, “I like these colors and thought they would look nice,” or “My designer came up with it.”
Conversion
Using Omni-channel Personalization for Ecommerce

April 9, 2013 • Gagan Mehra

Many online retail sites use personalization features that are bundled with their ecommerce platforms or are enabled by integrating with a third-party vendor. These features often do the basic segmentation and targeting but do not incorporate data from all consumer interactions, such ...