Page 208 – Practical Ecommerce

Category

Photography & Video
Google’s New WebP Image Format Could Improve Load Times

September 5, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Web graphics, particularly photos, are beginning to evolve. But more change is needed as the requirements for both speed and beautiful design intensify. A new, royalty-free format hopes to provide ...
Business
Lessons Learned: Computer Retailer Suffers Heavy Losses, Rebounds

September 2, 2011 • PEC Staff

"Lessons Learned" is a series where we ask ecommerce owners to share their experiences, good and bad. For this installment, we corresponded with Elchonon Hellinger, founder of Miami, Florida-based Thrifty Computer, a retailer of new and refurbished computers, cell phones and electronic...
Schools & Resources
Reading List: Steven Nash of Open Study College

September 2, 2011 • PEC Staff

In “Reading List,” we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their favorite recent books and blogs and tell us why they read them. For this installment, we corresponded with ...
Schools & Resources
25 Top-Selling Ecommerce Books in August 2011

September 1, 2011 • Sig Ueland

A new school year is just around the corner. Time to hit the ecommerce books. Here is a list of Amazon's top-selling ecommerce books in August. There are several books on using social media to help your business. And there are books on creating dynamic content for your site. There are ...
Marketing & Advertising
Podcasting Engages Shoppers; Steps for Getting Started

September 1, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Podcasting can be an effective way to engage shoppers and encourage brand or site loyalty, resulting in more sales. What's more, podcasting is relatively easy and inexpensive for businesses small and large. Nearly any marketer can start podcasting almost immediately. If one needs more ...
Social Media
Google’s +1 Expansion Boosts Search and Social

August 31, 2011 • Jill Kocher Brown

The Google +1 button now plays a much more visible role in promoting content in search and social marketing. Much like Facebook's Like button, Google's +1 button allows — as of last week — Google+ users to share a comment, an image, a headline and a snippet of text when +1'ing a page. C...
Schools & Resources
9 Mobile Apps for Business Training

August 31, 2011 • Sig Ueland

A small business owner must continually learn new skills to address challenges. Mobile training apps provide an inexpensive and convenient way to train yourself as you run your changing business. Here is a list of mobile apps for business training and education. Some of the apps are st...
Schools & Resources
4 Free Photoshop Alternatives: Sources to Learn

August 30, 2011 • Drew Coffin

My suggestions for free Photoshop alternatives we published earlier this month, in “4 Free Photoshop Alternatives for Image Editing.” I described four free Photoshop alternatives — GIMP, Paint.NET, Aviary, and ...
Social Media
Understanding EdgeRank, Facebook’s ‘Quality Score’ for Wall Posts

August 30, 2011 • Paul Chaney

Just because you post a status update to your Facebook Wall doesn't mean it gets syndicated to each of your Fans. Last year, Facebook created an algorithm called EdgeRank that determines which posts get shown to whom in the Newsfeed. Thanks to EdgeRank, every post that gets published ...
Google Ads
10 Pay-Per-Click Details You Cannot Delegate

August 29, 2011 • Scott Smigler

Many ecommerce merchants manage their own pay-per-click advertising campaigns. Others use in-house PPC managers, or outsource to PPC consulting firms. Regardless of how pay-per-click advertising is managed, there are some aspects of it that need direct involvement from merchants — or t...
Social Media
6 Tools to Manage Your Social Media Marketing

August 29, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Social media marketing is one of the most-discussed marketing tactics in the ecommerce industry. Many companies are devoting a greater percentage of resources and effort into engaging customers and prospects ...
Finance
How to Choose a Business Credit Card, Part Two

August 26, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

In “Part 1” of this two-part series, I provided some tips for choosing a business credit card. In this “Part 2” installment, I provide details on specific cards as evaluated ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
The New USPS.com: 5 Sections, Free Stuff

August 26, 2011 • Sig Ueland

The U.S. Postal Service has redesigned USPS.com to make it faster and easier to do business. The site is organized into five sections: Ship a Package, Send Mail, Manage Your Mail, Shop, and Business Solutions. Each section is organized by what you want to do and features a Quick Tools m...
Social Media
10 Tips for Integrating Email and Social Media

August 25, 2011 • Paul Chaney

Is social media diluting email marketing? For many ecommerce merchants, email marketing remains a staple. In a recent interview with Practical eCommerce, Listrak CEO Ross Kramer said, "We just came back from Etail [trade show] this week, and from the retailers that I was talking to up...
Finance
How to Choose a Business Credit Card, Part 1

August 25, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

Unhappy with your current business credit card? Cheer up. As a business owner you have many choices. But a card that is right for one business may not be advantageous for another. Cash flow, credit rating, and the amount of business travel can influence your choice of cards. This is "...
Email & Text Marketing
3 Tips to Boost Email Conversion Rates

August 24, 2011 • Armando Roggio

According to published reports, some 92 percent of American adults use email. Many of them are subscribers to one or more email newsletters or product alerts. So it is little ...
Keyword Research
SEO: Automating Keyword Selection with AdWords API

August 23, 2011 • Jill Kocher Brown

Optimizing a website around highly searched keyword terms can materially increase traffic from search engines. But identifying those keywords takes time. Few SEO managers relish the tedium of slogging through thousands of keyword variations — as critical as that process is to a search-e...
Business
Types of eCommerce Business Buyers

August 23, 2011 • Manish Shah

Different buyers pay different Prices. Buyers can be categorized into four broad groups. It is very important to understand the differences between them, how they think and how to identify them to have a successful Exit Strategy. If you carefully study these buyer types, you will find ...
Conversion
How Larger Retailers Integrate Physical Stores with Ecommerce Sites

August 23, 2011 • Gagan Mehra

Most large retailers I work with have brick-and-mortar stores in addition to ecommerce sites. Better integration between these two channels is always one of their goals. Though the integrations vary for every retailer, a few key strategies are consistent. I will describe them in this ar...
Email & Text Marketing
Create RSS-to-Email Campaigns with MailChimp

August 22, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Email is one of the most potent tactics in the ecommerce marketer's toolbox. Recent studies — which I addressed last week — indicate that email is a favorite activity for adult American Internet users. MailChimp, a leading email-marketing service provider, has a terrific feature that a...
Social Media
Facebook’s Business Playbook: 4 Educational Portals

August 22, 2011 • Paul Chaney

Facebook has assembled four educational portals to help businesses manage their use of the platform. The portals cover topics such as creating Facebook pages, advertising on Facebook, selling products on Facebook, and using Facebook for marketing. I'll review each of the portals in t...
Business > Merchant Voice
How to Make Your Customer Service Shine

August 19, 2011 • Jamie Salvatori

As a small e-commerce store, you can’t compete against the big boys in many arenas. However, one arena where you can outduel them in is customer service. By definition, you are a specialist in your product category and therefore should be an expert in all things that you sell. You can...
Email & Text Marketing
How to Calculate the Value of an Email Subscriber

August 19, 2011 • Carolyn Nye

Many merchants rely on email marketing to drive sales. Increasing the number email subscribers can drive sales even more. By establishing and understanding the value of an email subscriber, merchants can decide how much money and effort to spend growing their lists. This article will...
Finance
Will the S&P Downgrade Affect Smaller Ecommerce Businesses?

August 18, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

The downgrading of U.S. creditworthiness from AAA to AA+ by Standard and Poor's has dominated the news over the past two weeks. Since 1941, the U.S. credit rating has been AAA — the highest rating — denoting a safe investment. While S&P's action will doubtless have repercussions,...
Email & Text Marketing
Listrak CEO on Email Versus Social Media; Segmentation Strategies

August 18, 2011 • PEC Staff

Email remains among the most popular marketing vehicles for ecommerce merchants. But the email marketing business is changing, with new auto response tools and customer acquisition strategies — and social media alternatives. To address the use of email for ecommerce merchants, we spoke ...
Payments
21 Bitcoin Currency Resources

August 17, 2011 • Sig Ueland

Bitcoin is the first decentralized digital currency. Unlike other virtual currencies—like Facebook credits, for instance—it is not run by a company or organization, nor pegged to another currency. Bitcoins are digital coins you can send through the Internet, without using a bank or cl...
Email & Text Marketing
Email and Search Still Top User Activities, Study Shows

August 17, 2011 • Armando Roggio

American adults are more likely to email and search than any other online activities, according to the results of a recently released survey. The Pew Internet & American Life Project has been monitoring online behavior for nearly a decade. Most recently, Pew Internet found that ema...
Business
5 Planning Tips for Physical Retailers to Migrate Online

August 16, 2011 • PEC Staff

As physical, brick-and-mortar retailers contemplate the online marketplace, they should consider their online stores in the same sense as if they were building another physical location. While it probably won’t be nearly as expensive to begin selling online as it is to build another phy...
Social Media
Social Networking for Solo Entrepreneurs; 7 Suggestions

August 16, 2011 • Paul Chaney

Solo entrepreneurs wear many hats when it comes to running a business. One of these “hats” includes managing social media activities. To reach a point where social media engagement produces meaningful ...
Platforms & Apps
15 Productivity Apps for Your Google Chromebook

August 15, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Google Chromebook and its browser-as-operating-system approach to computing have put the spotlight on web-based applications. The Chromebook's Chrome OS represents a completely new approach to computing. On a traditional Mac or Windows-based computer, there is the operating system on t...