Page 222 – Practical Ecommerce

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Platforms & Apps
Managing Pop-Ups in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome

October 22, 2010 • Armando Roggio

Ecommerce professionals spend many hours each day online. They monitor their businesses, check email, market products, post to social media sites, watch the competition, or otherwise do any one of a hundred business-related activities. Into the midst of this online experience come pop-ups — ads, forms, controls, whatever.
Conversion
Ecommerce News Around the Web for October 22, 2010

October 22, 2010 • Kate Monteith

Ecommerce News Around the Web for October 22, 2010 "Ecommerce News Around the Web" is our weekly review of articles, blog posts and other news items that could interest ecommerce merchants. Etsy’s Coral Stance Upsets Sellers - AuctionBytes A recent blog posted by auction site Etsy a...
Design & Development
Interview: Subscription Revenues Can Supplement Ecommerce Sales

October 21, 2010 • PEC Staff

The notion of adding additional revenue to an ecommerce business presumably appeals to merchants. And, increasingly, one way to do that is with the use of subscriptions. Amazon Prime may be the best example of a merchant selling subscriptions, but there are many ways smaller merchants c...
Shipping & Fulfillment
Tips for Improving Drop Shipping and Inventory Management

October 21, 2010 • PEC Staff

Autumn provides a not-so-subtle reminder that the holiday season is in swing. I recently moderated "Manage Inventory and Drop Shipping for the Holiday Rush," a Practical eCommerce webinar, on this very subject. It featured Anne Pingree, senior sales engineer with Infopia, the hosted s...
SEO
Ask an Expert: Subdomains, Subdirectories and SEO Implications

October 20, 2010 • PEC Staff

"Ask an Expert" is an occasional feature where we ask ecommerce experts questions from online merchants. For this installment, we address a series of questions on the proper use of subdomains. For the answers, we turn to Michael Stearns, CEO of the Internet marketing and design company...
Marketing & Advertising
Facebook Privacy ‘Breach’ Versus Public Information

October 20, 2010 • PEC Staff

"Facebook in Privacy Breach" is the title of the recent Wall Street Journal article. It describes the transfer of Facebook user IDs from Facebook application providers to data gathering companies. But Facebook user IDs are public and are otherwise embedded in the URLs of Facebook acco...
Social Media
5 Timesaving Social Networking Tools

October 19, 2010 • Paul Chaney

A concern I often hear from those new to social networking is the amount of time it takes to manage engagement activities, such as tweeting or posting status updates to Facebook and LinkedIn. While there's no cost to use these channels, time is valuable and, therefore, the more efficien...
Business
Internet Explorer 9: Managing Cookies and Cache

October 19, 2010 • Armando Roggio

From managing cookies to clearing your browser cache, there are essential tasks that every web surfer needs to know. Think of it this way. Many professionals and entrepreneurs use a web browser like Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) to access web-based email, conduct research, or even...
Business
Legal: Privacy Lessons from the Twitter Breach

October 18, 2010 • Jeff Jacobson, Jd, Llm

Earlier this year the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) settled a case with Twitter regarding, in the opinion of the FTC, lax electronic administration of Twitter's website. This case provides insight into what is required in privacy policies and what administrative controls are required....
Analytics & Data
The PEC Review: Website Grader, for Benchmarking Your Ecommerce Site

October 18, 2010 • Armando Roggio

A successful ecommerce business is an dynamic blend of products, pricing, operations management, customer service, marketing, and web technology. And an ecommerce entrepreneur or manager must monitor each and every ...
Design & Development
Language Translation for Ecommerce Video

October 15, 2010 • Christian Arno

Editor's Note: We welcome Christian Arno as our new language-translation contributor. Arno is a professional linguist, and the founder of Lingo24, a translation and localization firm with translators located worldwide. With the advent of the digital age, borders have become blurred. Wh...
On-page SEO
Shopping Cart FAQ: How to Evaluate SEO Effectiveness

October 14, 2010 • Jon Hos

Editor's Note: We are excited to debut "Shopping Cart FAQ," our monthly column aimed at merchants who are evaluating shopping carts. Merchants frequently have different priorities for their carts. Some may seek specialized merchandizing features, others may seek customized shipping inte...
Checkout Tactics
Usability Report Card: OldWillKnottScales.com

October 14, 2010 • Pamela Hazelton

“Go ahead… hurt my feelings.” That was the subject of the message request by online store director Will Knott. He obviously understands my no-holds-barred approach, as his message concluded, “Punch me in the eye and bloody my nose…” Well, Will, I’m not that abrupt (at least, I don’t t...
Business
Lessons Learned: TheUncommonDog.com, Uncommonly Successful

October 13, 2010 • PEC Staff

“Lessons Learned” is a series where we ask ecommerce business owners to share their experiences. For this installment, we spoke with Greg Jerum. He is the CEO of TheUncommonDog.com, a ...
Design & Dev Tools
Google Apps: Free Business Tools, Plus Collaboration Services

October 13, 2010 • Brendan Gibbons

As Google expands the number of tools and services it offers, it also seeks to package those services so they can be linked with each other and between the main user and other collaborators. This is the idea behind Google Apps, a suite of productivity and collaboration tools. Google l...
Social Media
The 4-Step Twitter Strategy

October 12, 2010 • Paul Chaney

Twitter is the "Swiss Army knife" of social networking because it is a simple tool that can be used in many ways. Businesses are utilizing Twitter for such things as brand reputation monitoring, product promotion, customer service, and sales. The key to maximizing Twitter's value, how...
Platforms & Apps
8 Keyboard Shortcuts for Internet Explorer 9

October 12, 2010 • Armando Roggio

Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 is a modern, fast, and efficient web browser that will speed up the web for its users. But, if you really want to get the most out of this new and vastly improved web browser, you've got to take advantage of keyboard shortcuts. Every browser has keyboar...
Checkout Tactics
Convert Visitors by Engaging Them: 6 Ways

October 11, 2010 • Pamela Hazelton

Converting visitors into customers is about more than just supplying great product information. It's about more than a great design, simple navigation and customer service links. The basics–such as page design and content presentation–are certainly necessary. But if you want to grow a l...
Social Media
The PEC Review: The ‘New’ Twitter

October 11, 2010 • Armando Roggio

For nearly a month, microblogging powerhouse Twitter has been rolling out a new user interface aimed at making the service the "best way to discover what's new in your world." Twitter is already one of the most popular social media sites with more than 165 million registered users, acc...
Conversion
Ecommerce News Around the Web for October 8, 2010

October 8, 2010 • Kate Monteith

"Ecommerce News Around the Web" is our weekly review of articles, blog posts and other news items that could interest ecommerce merchants. eBay Exec Explains Buyer Protection - AuctionBytes Online auction house eBay published a letter on its home page this week written by its CEO Joh...
Design & Development
Preparing for Mobile Devices: Commonly Asked Questions

October 8, 2010 • PEC Staff

The shift to a mobile web has many ecommerce merchants wondering what their options are. Should they develop a mobile-optimized site that can be displayed by common web browsers? Or, should they develop platform-specific applications for iPhone and Android devices? And, importantly, how...
Conversion
Top 10 Converting Websites: The 3 Common Strategies

October 7, 2010 • Charles Nicholls

This is the third article in my analysis of the top 10 converting ecommerce sites. The first installment, "Debunking Myths from the Top 10 Converting Websites," discussed seemingly unconventional conversion tactics that these sites use. The second installment, "Top 10 Converting Website...
Email & Text Marketing
5 Keys to Transactional Emails; The Yankee Candle Example

October 7, 2010 • Carolyn Nye

Transactional emails, by definition, are sent automatically after a customer places an order. Every transactional email is an opportunity to connect with your customer at a point where he or she is fully engaged. But how can you optimize transactional emails to encourage customer inte...
Conversion
Conversion Tip: Calculate Your ‘Free Shipping’ Break-even

October 6, 2010 • Charles Nicholls

Editor’s Note: We continue our “Conversion Tip” series from Charles Nicholls, founder and chief strategy officer of SeeWhy, a conversion and abandonment-recovery firm. For this week’s installment, Nicholls addresses the "free-shipping break-even" concept. If you’ve driven down your shi...
Social Media
‘Deal-of-the-Day’ Coupons Help Merchants Attract Customers; 4 Tips

October 6, 2010 • Paul Chaney

The deal of the day group coupon-buying concept has taken the Internet by storm. Forbes magazine called Groupon, the leading deal-of-the-day site, the "fastest growing company ever." The concept appeals mostly to local brick-and-mortar retailers and large retail brands. But ecommerce ...
Platforms & Apps
5 Essential Firefox Add-ons

October 5, 2010 • Armando Roggio

Mozilla's Firefox web browser helped pioneer the concept of browser add-ons and extensions, making custom web surfing experiences and tools possible. The Firefox Add-on directory includes more than 13,000 browser extensions. According to Mozilla, the browser's various add-ons have be...
Business
September 2010 Top Ten: Our Most Popular Posts

October 5, 2010 • Kate Monteith

Each month, we compile a list of the ten most popular articles we published at Practical eCommerce that month, based on the number of page views. Here are our ten most popular articles for September 2010. Google Instant Search: The Impact for Ecommerce Site Owners In September, Google...
SEO
SEO Report Card: AxisLabs.net

October 4, 2010 • Stephan Spencer

In this month's “SEO Report Card,” I'll look at the website for Axis Labs, a company that produces and sells nutritional supplements. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, this private company went international in 2006 and now distributes to six of the seven continents. Axis Labs curren...
Photography & Video
The PEC Review: Canon Vixia HF R10 Camcorder for Product Videos, More

October 4, 2010 • Armando Roggio

Product videos, how-to demonstration, and entertainment marketing are just three examples of how ecommerce marketers are using the Internet's broadcasting power to engage customers. Examples of each sort of video are abundant. Magellan's Travel Supplies and Swimwear Boutique use profes...
Conversion
Ten Great Ecommerce Ideas for October 2010

October 1, 2010 • 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 October 2010 installment of "Ten Great Ecommerce Ideas." How to Leverage Promotion Codes “Make sure your promotion...