Page 216 – Practical Ecommerce

Category

Conversion
Non-English Languages Less Competitive, Says Globalization Expert

March 10, 2011 • PEC Staff

There are many countries with fast-growing economies and fast-growing Internet audiences that are not native English speakers. Ecommerce merchants can reach those countries and consumers through translation and localization. We talked about it recently with Christian Arno, the founder o...
Code
5 CSS-Generating Tools To Help with Small Code Tasks

March 10, 2011 • PEC Staff

Merchants know that the code and script languages that power ecommerce sites are difficult to learn and are best left to developers. But the do-it-yourself ethos is at the heart of ecommerce. For that occasional small code adjustment — where hiring a developer is too expensive — code-ge...
Platforms & Apps
Magento Releases Hosted, SaaS Version

March 9, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Magento, the open-source ecommerce platform, officially launched a hosted, software-as-a-service (SaaS) version. The Magento platform — in my view — is one of the most robust and effective ecommerce solutions available. If, in fact, Magento has any drawbacks or weaknesses, it is that ...
Business
Do Group Coupons Help Ecommerce Merchants?

March 8, 2011 • PEC Staff

Group-coupon offers from companies like Groupon and LivingSocial are becoming very popular. But, is it a marketing approach that is right for every small business, especially those that lack a brick-and-mortar presence? A number of pure-play ecommerce companies are beginning to tap in...
SEO
Google’s ‘Farmer’ Algorithm and What It Means for Ecommerce SEO

March 8, 2011 • Armando Roggio

A massive change to Google's search engine ranking algorithm has recently improved query results, while having a negative effect on businesses that had been "gaming" the system or reusing others' content. The so-called "Farmer" algorithm update went into effect in late February and aff...
Social Media
10 Tips for Marketing on Redesigned Facebook

March 7, 2011 • Paul Chaney

Now that Facebook has made a number of changes to its platform, such as the new design, new layout and the use of iframes to create custom tabs, an updated list of Facebook marketing tips could be helpful. This follows from my three-part explanatory series of those changes, at: "Part...
Business
Lessons Learned: Luis Hernandez, Jr. with The Motor Book Store

March 7, 2011 • PEC Staff

“Lessons Learned” is a series where we ask ecommerce business owners to share their experiences and advice. For this installment, we interviewed Luis Hernandez, Jr., CEO and owner of The ...
Business
Ask an Expert: Digital Rights Management for eBooks

March 4, 2011 • PEC Staff

“Ask an Expert” is an occasional feature where we ask ecommerce experts questions from online merchants. For this installment, we address a question about tracking website trends, cost comparisons, competitors products and inventory. The question comes from Bonnie Leigh, owner of Avant...
SEO
How to Waste Time on SEO Activities

March 4, 2011 • Stephan Spencer

As a general rule, search engine optimization consultants are activity-focused. They typically suggest a huge laundry list of various activities to perform. Perhaps the list is prioritized, but nonetheless it is frequently chock full of action items. Unfortunately, many of these activit...
Design & Development
Google Translate Launches iPhone App; Machine Translations Improve

March 3, 2011 • Jeff Muendel

Google has recently released a Google Translate app for iPhone. The real-time language translation app was previously available as a browser-based app, and as an Android app, but now it is available as a native iPhone app. It is condensed from the full, desktop version of Translate, and...
Marketing & Advertising
How To Feature Your Products on Group-Buying Sites

March 3, 2011 • PEC Staff

Group shopping can increase revenue and introduce your brand to potential customers. But all group-buying sites are not equal. Merchants must select the right group-buying platform that best benefits their businesses — especially small business owners unable to mark products down enoug...
Business
Ask an Expert: Tools for Tracking Sales, Search Results, Competitors?

March 2, 2011 • PEC Staff

“Ask an Expert” is an occasional feature where we ask ecommerce experts questions from online merchants. For this installment, we address a question about tracking website trends, cost comparisons, competitors ...
Google Ads
Comparing Facebook Ads to Search-Based Advertising

March 2, 2011 • Scott Smigler

Could Facebook Ads become a viable alternative to traditional search-based pay-per-click advertising? Facebook’s investors seem to think so, given its reported $50 billion valuation. So far, however, Facebook Ads have not proven to be a scalable, controllable, or profitable source of ad...
Marketing & Advertising
41 Google Blogs for Online Businesses

March 1, 2011 • PEC Staff

Google provides products and services that impact ecommerce businesses and, oftentimes, help those businesses run better, faster and more profitably. Google's employees blog about many of these products and services, offering free tips and tricks to get the most out of running a busines...
Fraud Prevention
Radical Ideas to Make Credit Card Payments More Secure

March 1, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Credit cards approvals are not completely secure because the information those approvals rely on — cardholder names, card numbers and expiration dates — is static and relatively easy to gather. Focusing on making payment approvals less vulnerable may be more effective than asking cons...
Social Media
How Facebook Changes Impact Ecommerce Merchants, Part 3: Sponsored Stories Ad Units

February 28, 2011 • Paul Chaney

Editor's Note: This is "Part 3" of a three-part series describing the recent changes Facebook made to its platform, and how those changes affect smaller companies. The series has ran in the following order. Part 1: Page Redesign Part 2: From FBML to iFrames In this "Part 3" instal...
Platforms & Apps
New Firefox 4 Mobile Released

February 28, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Last week, Mozilla released a new version of its Firefox 4 Beta for Android and Nokia Maemo-based mobile devices that is reported to be more than twice as fast as the devices' native web browsers. Earlier versions of Firefox for mobile have had some challenges with stability and perfor...
Conversion
Ten Great Ecommerce Ideas for March 2011

February 25, 2011 • Kate Monteith

Practical eCommerce asks industry insiders each month to share a great, innovative idea that could help an ecommerce company. Here’s what ten of them had to say for the March 2011 installment of "Ten Great Ecommerce Ideas." Get Some Free Press “One of the best things an entrepreneur c...
Marketing & Advertising
Customizing Blog Themes for WordPress and Blogger

February 25, 2011 • PEC Staff

Coming up with compelling content that readers will come back for is only half the battle of a great blog. The other half is all in the presentation and style. For a unique design, avoid the pre-made themes for your blog platform and instead customize your own theme. There are tools th...
Email & Text Marketing
Using Email for Customer Acquisition

February 24, 2011 • Carolyn Nye

Email is a proven marketing channel for many online retailers. It's relatively easy to implement, and inexpensive. Return on investment tends to be high when marketing to your opt-in subscriber file or to visitors on your website. But can email be used to prospect and acquire new custom...
Checkout Tactics
10 Ecommerce Checkout Strategies

February 24, 2011 • Pamela Hazelton

When we hear the word “conversion” we often think landing pages, category and product page layouts and overall navigation. Let’s not forget the final point of conversion: the checkout process. The checkout page(s) are your last chance to seal the deal and complete a sale. The process i...
Schools & Resources
Reading List: Cleverbridge CEO Christian Blume

February 23, 2011 • PEC Staff

In “Reading List,” we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their recent books and blogs and tell us why they read them. In this installment, we corresponded with Christian ...
Social Media
How Facebook Changes Impact Ecommerce Merchants, Part 2: From FBML to iFrames

February 22, 2011 • Paul Chaney

Editor's Note: Facebook recently announced significant changes to its platform that impacts small-business marketing efforts. In response, Practical eCommerce will publish "How Facebook Changes Impact Ecommerce Merchants," a three-part series aimed at addressing each of these changes. T...
User Experience
10 Effective Mobile Ecommerce Designs

February 22, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Smart phones are everywhere. And — for many ecommerce merchants — it is not enough to have just an ecommerce website. They want an ecommerce mobile site, too. In this article, I have collected ten examples of what I believe are effectively designed mobile ecommerce designs, as viewed f...
Marketing & Advertising
Social Media Survey Results: Few Sales Coming from Social Media Efforts

February 21, 2011 • Kate Monteith

Many social media platforms have evolved to integrate marketing, advertising and commerce. This got us wondering how many companies use social media for business purposes and how effective it has been. A recent survey conducted by Practical eCommerce polled our readers about the current...
Business
4 Ideas to Cut Costs on Your Ecommerce Business

February 21, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Reducing unnecessary spending will help your ecommerce business become more efficient and could increase its profits. But how do you cut costs right now without harming your business's future? Here are four suggestions for cutting costs now. Not every one of these will be applicable to...
Design & Development
12 Website Design Decisions Your Business or Organization Will Need to Make

February 19, 2011 • Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

You may be on your first website. But more likely you're faced with redesigning a website that isn't functioning as well as it should. I see 12 vital decisions involved with developing a website, and I want to explain them with you in mind:
Business
Internet Sales Tax Impacts Amazon’s Affiliates

February 18, 2011 • Jeff Jacobson, Jd, Llm

The battle continues among large Internet retailers and the states over charging sales tax for purchases over the Internet. This is especially the case where the retailer has no “nexus” or presence in the state in which the consumer is located. As I discussed in "Internet Sales Tax: Ye...
Conversion
Managing Google Product Feeds in Google Merchant Center

February 17, 2011 • Michael Stearns

Google Product Search — formerly known as Froogle and Google Base, and sometimes known as Google Shopping — has grown in importance as a key source of orders and revenue for ecommerce businesses. Don't let the "beta" label on the Google Product Search main page fool you; this is a prim...
Business
How To Save Money On Shipping and Fulfillment

February 17, 2011 • PEC Staff

Merchants know that the effort it takes to fulfill and ship out orders can be very time consuming. Oftentimes, because of this, cost is the last thing to be taken into consideration. For many merchants, third-party order management software helps expedite the shipping process. Others r...