Page 183 – Practical Ecommerce

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Technical SEO
SEO Audits: What to Expect

March 15, 2013 • Jill Kocher Brown

One of the challenges that plagues the search marketing industry is a lack of standards around the quality and scope of work. Different agencies and consultants will use similar words to describe very different deliverables and processes. One of the most abused of these is the SEO Audit...
Schools & Resources
10 Examples of Storytelling in Web Design

March 15, 2013 • Drew Coffin

In "Storytelling in Web Design," I explained the three most basic aspects of storytelling — character, setting, and action — and offered ways to begin including storytelling in web design using basic design elements. In this article, I will examine ten sites that use storytelling and list the character, setting, and action found in each story.
Amazon & Marketplaces
Google’s ‘Merchant Quality Score’ Could Make Marketplaces More Attractive

March 14, 2013 • Armando Roggio

A possible change to the way Google ranks merchants on its results pages might make multi-channel selling on marketplaces or comparison shopping engines important. During a recent panel discussion at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference and Festival, Matt Cutts, who is the head of ...
Social Media
Facebook Changes News Feed; Implications for Merchants

March 14, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Facebook announced in a press conference last Thursday that it has drastically revamped the all-important News Feed, turning it into a “personalized newspaper” that emphasizes what friends are sharing.
Business
Lessons Learned: Making Online Bed Shopping a Dream

March 13, 2013 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

When Sara Shikhman was 10 years old, she left communist Ukraine with her parents on a one-way ticket across the Atlantic Ocean, and $5,000 hidden in a set of screwdrivers,
Payments
Credit Card Processing: How to React to a Rate Increase

March 13, 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 how merchants should react to ...
Analytics & Data
4 Ways Big Data Can Help Ecommerce Merchants

March 12, 2013 • Marcia Kaplan

In "Understanding Big Data For Ecommerce," I provided a general overview of how online merchants can use Big Data. In this article I will describe in more detail how Big Data — i.e., large amounts of seemingly random data from many sources — can be used to create competitive advantages....
Conversion
5 Ecommerce Landing Pages: Good and Bad

March 12, 2013 • Dale Traxler

A key component of an ecommerce marketing strategy is to develop unique landing pages for online ads and email promotions. Many retailers assume the best place to link ads is their home pages. After all, that is where prospects will find all the products for sale, and it is generally ...
Social Media
Understanding Google+ Design Changes

March 11, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Google+ recently made several design changes. The most prominent is to the cover image, which is now much larger. Google+ also changed the "About" page, and a "Local" tab was added to the left-column menu. The About page now consists of separate "cards" — such as Story, Places, Work, an...
Platforms & Apps
22 New Ecommerce Themes for WordPress

March 11, 2013 • Sig Ueland

WordPress is a content management system that’s popular for blogging. But with an ecommerce theme, you can use WordPress to launch a storefront. Here is a list of new ecommerce themes for WordPress. There are free and premium themes, loaded with features to customize your site. Many o...
Business > Merchant Voice
The Dreaded Bedroom seller and how to beat them

March 8, 2013 • Richard Stubbings

. With the rise and rise of Ebay and Amazon, comes the “bedroom” seller. It may be more accurate to call them hobby sellers. All Ecommerce retailers know them. They are the sellers who undercut you and sell at cost or less. They appear, hang around for a few months, and then vanish. In...
Conversion
For Ecommerce Branding, Use Videos

March 8, 2013 • PEC Staff

In today’s social climate, it is more important than ever to create a recognizable brand for your store. Vital to that effort is building a relationship between your store and your customers that exceeds the usual search-click-buy interaction. Most storeowners think about two things: ...
Business
Personalizing the Online Shopping Experience

March 7, 2013 • PEC Staff

Retailers increasingly use data to personalize an online shopping experience. Geo location, shopping and browsing history, weather — all can impact how products are presented to online shoppers. Among the leaders in personalization technology is Monetate. Its co-founder and CEO, David...
Customer Retention
How to Earn Loyal, Repeat Ecommerce Customers

March 7, 2013 • Armando Roggio

Loyal, repeat shoppers convert easily, spend more, cost less to service, and help spread the word about good online shopping experiences. Earning long-term customers can significantly improve an ecommerce business. Loyal shoppers demonstrate conversion rates 5-to-9 times greater than f...
Social Media
How to Use Google+ Hangouts; Benefits to Merchants

March 6, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Hangouts is a popular component in the Google+ platform. Hangouts enables live video chats with up to 10 people using Google+, your website, and mobile apps for Android and iPhone. With Hangouts you can: Host live, face-to-face conference calls with customers, suppliers, affiliates ...
Business > Merchant Voice
Book review: The Insider’s Guide to Ecommerce: 440 Business Insights For The Ambitious Online Retailer

March 6, 2013 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

When was the last time you had a pencil and pad at the ready, stopping to take notes as you read a business-related book? When was the last time you kept interrupting yourself: thinking out-loud, researching the points raised, and logging in to check your statstics? When was the last ...
Schools & Resources
Reading List: Tinyme’s Ben Liau

March 5, 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 Ben ...
Business
How to Research your Ecommerce Competitors

March 5, 2013 • Dale Traxler

Many ecommerce business owners have told me that they pay little attention to their competitors. Most said that they did not have time, or that their competitors’ tactics did not matter to them. But you should regularly monitor your competitors' businesses, for the following reasons. ...
Marketing & Advertising
How to Monitor Yelp, Other Review Sites

March 5, 2013 • Ryan Welton

In "Monitoring your Online Reputation in 2013," contributor Micah Buchdahl described the need to closely monitor what others say about your company online. Firms like Reputation.com have turned digital perception into a successful business, helping individuals and businesses manage how they are perceived online.
Google Ads
Surviving Google AdWords’ New Enhanced Campaigns

March 4, 2013 • Scott Smigler

In "Cheaper Clicks from AdWords Coming?," my article from Feb. 2012, I questioned whether the then unprecedented decline in cost-per-click rates would be a blip or a trend. One year later, Google apparently thinks it's a trend, as Google is requiring all advertisers to adopt its new Enh...
Technical SEO
SEO: Impact of Ecommerce Catalog Structure

March 1, 2013 • Jill Kocher Brown

Information architecture and search engine optimization are both critical aspects of developing an ecommerce site. During the process, early decisions made about the structure of a site and its product catalog can have surprising ramifications for SEO. Which product types and attribute...
Conversion
10 Slideshare Presentations for Marketers, Designers

March 1, 2013 • Kevin Webster

Slide presentations provide an excellent opportunity to learn something new about marketing at your own pace. Here are 10 quality slide presentations on web marketing and design.
Business
Feb. 2013 Top 10: Our Most Popular Posts

February 28, 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 February 2013, recognizing that articles we published earlier in the month are more likely to make the list than later one...
Social Media
Hashtag Your Products on Instagram

February 28, 2013 • Jason Lawrence

Instagram is a massive social network built around a beautifully designed — and addictive — mobile photography app. As of September 2012, Instagram reportedly had 11 million active users. It was famously bought by Facebook for $1 billion in April 2012. Instagram is creating new and exc...
Conversion
4 Good Reasons to Sell Online

February 27, 2013 • Armando Roggio

Ecommerce sales are growing. Online sales topped $1 trillion worldwide for the first time last year and there are good reasons you should consider selling online now to start getting your share. There are really two kinds of businesses or entrepreneurs that should be considering ecomme...
Influencers & Affiliates
Online Coupons: Pros and Cons

February 27, 2013 • Carolyn Kmet

Using coupon codes to entice online consumers is a long-running debate. The pros are (a) easy to implement, (b) easy to track, and (c) consistent increase in conversion. The cons are (a) uncontrollable distribution, (b) tendency to drive non-loyal discount shoppers, and (c) reduction of...
Social Media
6 Key Twitter Practices for Smaller Businesses

February 26, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Many small business owners have told me they understand how Facebook is a good fit for business, but have difficulty drawing a similar conclusion when it comes to Twitter. According to a report from GlobalWebIndex, an analysis firm, Twitter increased its user base by more than 288 mil...
Customer Retention
5 Social CRM Tools for Small Business

February 25, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Customer relationship management tools have existed for years. Businesses use them to manage customer interactions across channels and departments, including marketing, sales, customer service, and technical support. One area where traditional CRM systems fall short is their inability...
Schools & Resources
8 Ecommerce Galleries

February 25, 2013 • Sig Ueland

Looking for ecommerce design ideas? Browse through website galleries that showcase ecommerce sites. Find examples of beautiful websites and site elements from both new and established ecommerce stores. Here is a list of inspirational galleries that showcase ecommerce sites. There are ...
Social Media
10 Blog Topics for Online Retailers

February 22, 2013 • Paul Chaney

One of the best ways for an ecommerce site to rank highly in Google search results is through blogging. Most blog platforms are search engine friendly, and easy to use. But merchants sometimes struggle with what topics to write about. Here are 10 post types to spark writing ideas that...