Page 237 – Practical Ecommerce

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User Experience
The PeC Review: MyBuys Personal Recommendations

November 6, 2009 • Armando Roggio

Offering shoppers personalized product recommendations can increase conversion rates and profits while fending off shopping cart abandonment. Onsite product merchandising—the idea of cross-, up-, and down-selling to shoppers—is a potent tool for ecommerce marketers that often takes th...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: AdVantShop.NET

November 6, 2009 • Kate Monteith

There are more than 350 online shopping carts. And each week we feature one, interviewing both the cart's developer and a customer. "Cart of the Week" is not a review or an evaluation, but rather an opportunity to learn about a shopping cart from the people who build it and use it. Thi...
Conversion
Payments-R-Us and Page Mage Introduced; MailChimp Announces New Features

November 5, 2009 • Kevin Patrick Allen

MailChimp, the self-service email marketing firm, has announced new features to its platform. Page Mage, a third-party eBay listing service, has just launched, as has Payments-R-Us.com, an informational site to help merchants choose between thousands of credit card merchant account pro...
Business
Lessons Learned: Will Seippel of GoAntiques

November 5, 2009 • Ankush Agarwal

"Lessons Learned" is a series where we ask ecommerce business owners to share their experiences and advice. For this installment, we interviewed William (Will) Seippel, CEO and chairman of WorthPoint, the parent company of GoAntiques, a subscription-based information service for antique...
Business
Quick Query: NearbyNow Retools for the Recession

November 4, 2009 • PEC Staff

Running a business is challenging in the best of economic climates, but during a recession it can be especially trying. Scott Dunlap, CEO of NearbyNow, understands that. NearbyNow was founded in 2005 to simplify shopping for consumers who browse online but buy in physical stores. The...
Conversion
Using Ning to Boost Word-of-Mouth Marketing

November 3, 2009 • Sarah Worsham

Social networks allow consumers to obtain information about a company or product straight from other consumers. These conversations are powerful drivers in marketing since consumers are more likely to listen to what another consumer (especially a friend or colleague) says than what a c...
Design & Development
How to Choose Effective Website Photos and Images. Part 1

November 3, 2009 • Sandra Niehaus

Not all images are created equal. The right image on a web page can capture attention, inform, and even persuade your site visitors. The right image can communicate who you and your company are more quickly and powerfully than words alone can do.
Conversion
Conversion: 15 Reasons Why Consumers Will Leave Your eCommerce Site

November 3, 2009 • Darpan Munjal

Editor's Note: We welcome Darpan Munjal as our newest contributor. Munjal is president of Chicago-based LeapMatrix, which consults small and large ecommerce firms on conversion and usability matters. He also writes CommerceWiki, a blog aimed at helping ecommerce merchants improve their ...
Conversion
Forums: Still Useful to eCommerce Merchants

November 2, 2009 • Jeff Muendel

The term "web forums" conjures-up visions of an outdated Internet. I remember the first time that I got “on line” it was done by dialing directly (by way of a 14.4 kbps modem) into an electronic bulletin board which was, essentially, a stand-alone forum. But we’ve never really stopped ...
Conversion
Ten Great Ecommerce Ideas for November 2009

November 2, 2009 • Ankush Agarwal

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 November 2009 installment. Localize Site Content "Your ecommerce site should be as localized as your physical stores...
User Experience
The PeC Review: SLI Offers Superior Search

October 30, 2009 • Armando Roggio

Research indicates that as many as 60 percent of online shoppers use a merchant's search feature to navigate the website. With so many potential customers typing keywords rather than using a site's navigation hierarchy, advanced search features are not just nice to have. They are a comp...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: Cartfly

October 30, 2009 • Kate Monteith

There are more than 350 online shopping carts. And each week we feature one, interviewing both the cart's developer and a customer. "Cart of the Week" is not a review or an evaluation, but rather an opportunity to learn about a shopping cart from the people who build it and use it. Thi...
Design & Development
Spree Upgrades Its Open-source Platform; Amazon Launches PayPhrase

October 29, 2009 • Kevin Patrick Allen

Spree, the open source ecommerce shopping cart, and Amazon.com have both announced new products in time for the holiday shopping season. Spree is an ecommerce platform using the Ruby on Rails programming language. New features include coupon and discount support and an improved system...
Business
Lessons Learned: Lori Karmel of We Take The Cake

October 29, 2009 • Ankush Agarwal

"Lessons Learned" is a series where we ask ecommerce business owners to share their experiences and advice. For this installment, we interviewed Lori Karmel, owner of We Take The Cake, a bakery located in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. We Take The Cake's gourmet creations have been featured on F...
Conversion
Holiday Sales: Four Ways to Capture the Budget-driven Consumer

October 28, 2009 • Lisa Wehr

The marketplace has been changed by the recession. Consumers have become increasingly frugal and they're probing for the best deals they can find. Ecommerce merchants need to adjust accordingly. Retail sales took a hit in 2008, even though online traffic rose 10 percent. That's presum...
Conversion
Pay-per-click Advertising: Seven Pointers for Smaller Campaigns

October 27, 2009 • Greg Laptevsky

Managing small-budget pay-per-click campaigns (under $3,000 per month) is typically more difficult than managing campaigns with higher spend levels. Lack of “workable” data in smaller accounts often pushes campaign managers to make decisions based on incomplete or inaccurate information...
Shipping & Fulfillment
Fulfillment: Guidelines for Outsourcing

October 27, 2009 • John Lindberg

As the owner of a fulfillment company, I’ve gathered a number of tips and discovered an assortment of traps over the years. If you’re thinking about outsourcing your warehousing, shipping, and returns processing, let me suggest that you follow these guidelines. They will help you find a...
Design & Development
Quick Query: Comparison-shopping for Credit Card Processors

October 26, 2009 • PEC Staff

The merchant account business is confusing for many ecommerce merchants. Many of them simply use the merchant account and payment gateway providers offered by their hosted solutions without much questioning whether the fees and rates are competitive. PCI compliance is another confusin...
Schools & Resources
Booklist: Braintree CEO Bryan Johnson

October 26, 2009 • PEC Staff

In "Booklist," we ask Internet professionals to name books they believe are useful resources for ecommerce merchants. For this installment, we asked Bryan Johnson, the CEO and founder of Braintree Payment Solutions. Braintree provides online credit card payment processing and PCI compl...
Amazon & Marketplaces
PeC Review: Sellit Makes Marketplaces Social

October 23, 2009 • Armando Roggio

A new "self-promotion" tool lets merchants selling on Yahoo!, CafePress, Etsy, or Cartfly promote their products on leading social media sites, access a social media advertising network, and post a Flash-based widget on their blog or other sites. Sellit is a "bolt-on" solution that pr...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: SEOshop

October 23, 2009 • Kate Monteith

There are more than 350 online shopping carts. And each week we feature one, interviewing both the cart's developer and a customer. "Cart of the Week" is not a review or an evaluation, but rather an opportunity to learn about a shopping cart from the people who build it and use it. Thi...
Business
Ecommerce Know-How: Sole Proprietorship, S Corporation or LLC?

October 22, 2009 • Kevin Patrick Allen

Launching an ecommerce business can be confusing. An entrepreneur must choose a shopping cart and find sources for inventory. And, there are questions regarding accounting, liability, and filing regulatory documents. Those questions can create enough confusion to halt the journey befor...
Business
Lessons Learned: Enstrom Candies Co-owner Jamee Simons

October 22, 2009 • Ankush Agarwal

“Lessons Learned” is a series where we ask ecommerce business owners to share their experiences and advice. For this installment, we interviewed Jamee Simons, co-owner of Enstrom Candies Inc., a ...
Business
Yahoo! Reports Third Quarter Earnings, Proclaims “Economy Starting to Loosen Up”

October 21, 2009 • Kevin Patrick Allen

Yahoo! Inc. reported third quarter earnings yesterday that beat Wall Street expectations but didn’t put to rest lingering questions about the health of the display advertising market, which generates a large portion of Yahoo!’s revenue. Reliance on Display Ads Yahoo! reported revenue ...
SEO
SEO Report Card: Moodswingsonthenet.com Offers Retro Fashion, Retro SEO

October 21, 2009 • Stephan Spencer

Our "SEO Report Card" for this month is Moodswingsonthenet.com. The CEO of Moodswings, Elizabeth Bighorse, requested this review, and she told us that the company has just finished a re-launch of its "multiple sales channel" site. Moodswings focuses on urban, rockabilly, tattoo and alt...
Business
Quick Query: Attorney Explains New FTC Blogging Guidelines

October 20, 2009 • PEC Staff

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has updated its rules concerning endorsements and testimonials in advertising. Beginning December 1st, the FTC will require bloggers and other reviewers to disclose any payments or free products they receive from advertisers. Julie O'Neill, with the W...
Schools & Resources
Booklist: MailChimp Co-founder Ben Chestnut

October 20, 2009 • PEC Staff

In Booklist we ask ecommerce personalities about the books they read and what they like about them. For this list we asked Ben Chestnut, co-founder of MailChimp, a self-service email marketing firm. As the MailChimp website explains, the company was built on the pragmatic notion tha...
Conversion
Google Analytics “Inaccurate,” Expert Says

October 19, 2009 • PEC Staff

Many ecommerce merchants use Google Analytics to track visitor activity on their websites. But there are other analytics firms, too, that offer services to merchants. One of them is ClickTale, an Israel-based firm with over 35,000 clients, according to its co-founder. That co-founder i...
Platforms & Apps
The PeC Review: TrialPay Creates Additional Revenue

October 16, 2009 • Armando Roggio

A payment and promotion platform originally built to boost conversion rates for merchants selling downloadable software may also help all types of online retailers increase sales. If your typical affiliate marketing program had a hip big brother, his name would be TrialPay. Aimed at cu...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: ClearCart

October 16, 2009 • Kate Monteith

There are more than 350 online shopping carts. And each week we feature one, interviewing both the cart's developer and a customer. "Cart of the Week" is not a review or an evaluation, but rather an opportunity to learn about a shopping cart from the people who build it and use it. Thi...