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Technical SEO
7 Coding Barriers to SEO Success

October 6, 2019 • Jill Kocher Brown

Googlebot obeys only certain commands, ignores forms and cookies, and crawls only the links coded with a proper anchor tag and href. What follows are seven items that block Googlebot and other search engine bots from crawling (and indexing) all of your web pages.
Schools & Resources
Reading List: Ben Houston of ThreeKit

October 4, 2019 • PEC Staff

“Reading List” is an occasional series where we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their favorite books and blogs and tell us why. For this installment, we corresponded with Ben Houston, chief technology officer of ThreeKit.
SEO > Merchant Voice
My experience with SEO

October 4, 2019 • Richard Stubbings

Relying on organic search traffic is risky for small ecommerce businesses in my experience. Other marketing channels, such as Facebook, could generate a better return on investment. Traditional methods of ...
Content Marketing
5 Content Marketing Ideas for November 2019

October 3, 2019 • Armando Roggio

In all of its forms, content marketing is one of the best ways to engage customers and create a bond that could lead to repeat sales. What follows are five content marketing ideas your ecommerce business could try in November 2019.
Business
3 Quick Fixes for Greener Ecommerce

October 3, 2019 • Charles Nicholls

Ecommerce is not very eco. It’s frequently the opposite. A next-day delivery — where a driver travels 45 minutes each way for a $7 item in a single-use plastic package — makes no sense for the planet. Here are three quick fixes.
Business > Merchant Voice
Sales training starts with The Dummy Curve

October 2, 2019 • Peter Keller

Say you are good at something, and you want to get even better. You study, practice, and work at it. But, instead of getting better, you get worse. It's what happens with many of the salespeople we hire at FringeSport.
Google Ads
Do Responsive Search Ads Improve Performance?

October 1, 2019 • Matthew Umbro

The principal benefit of responsive search ads is efficiency. Advertisers can input many messages, and the platform (Google or Bing) will find the winning combinations. The drawbacks are a loss of control and transparency.
Platforms & Apps
Ecommerce Product Releases: October 1, 2019

October 1, 2019 • Sig Ueland

Here is a list of product releases and updates for late-September from companies that offer services to online merchants. There are updates on payment platforms, shipping applications, social media advertising tools, online marketplaces, mobile marketing, and artificial intelligence services for Amazon.
Business
September 2019 Top 10: Our Most Popular Posts

September 30, 2019 • PEC Staff

The mission of Practical Ecommerce is to publish articles, seminars, and podcasts to help ecommerce merchants. What follows are the 10 most popular articles (based on page views) that we published in September 2019.
Design & Dev Tools
13 Prototyping Tools to Create Web and Mobile Apps

September 30, 2019 • Sig Ueland

Prototyping tools can help create a website or app with little cost and relative ease — from a rough design idea to a finished product. Here is a list of prototyping tools to build sites and apps for desktop and mobile devices.
Content Marketing
SEO Critique of 3 Ecommerce Blogs

September 29, 2019 • Jill Kocher Brown

Quality blog content can drive organic search traffic. Ecommerce marketers who reject blogging — or give up after a couple of months — miss out. In this post, I'll critique three ecommerce blogs for their SEO benefits.
Business > Merchant Voice
The power of an ecommerce blog

September 27, 2019 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

I used to post to my blog weekly. But now it's every three weeks as my business has grown and I have less time to write. I began to wonder whether I should continue posting. The answer is "yes." Here’s why.
Amazon & Marketplaces
Copywriting Tips for Amazon Product Pages

September 27, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Well written product detail pages can convince an Amazon shopper to buy your business's mattress topper, omega-3 supplement, or wooden bocce set — instead of your competitors'. Here are some tips to improve your company's Amazon product pages.
Amazon & Marketplaces
Amazon Alters Small-business Strategy; Competitors Take Advantage

September 26, 2019 • Marcia Kaplan

Amazon has told many small merchants that it would no longer accept bulk wholesale orders from them for its Vendor Central program. Several companies have seized on this change and are trying to attract smaller merchants who may be looking for alternatives.
B2B
How to Prosper as a B2B Distributor

September 26, 2019 • Lori McDonald

Distributors are easily replaced in the digital landscape. But many are prospering by emphasizing their expertise and by offering unique, value-add services. Here are a few ideas and examples.
Content Marketing
Here’s Why Your Content Marketing Is Failing

September 25, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Done well, content marketing can be an important and effective promotional channel. If content marketing is not performing for your company, one of the following reasons could be the culprit.
Technical SEO
Is Google’s Nofollow Change a Peek into SEO’s Future?

September 25, 2019 • Bill Sebald

Once again, we are faced with a change from Google. In a Sept. 10 post on its Webmaster Central Blog, Google stated that the nofollow attribute is now a hint instead of a directive. Here's the backstory.
Analytics & Data
How to Choose KPIs for Your Ecommerce Business

September 24, 2019 • Anna Kayfitz

Key performance indicators apply to many aspects of an ecommerce business. Examples include marketing KPIs to track, say, coupon redemptions or return on investment from advertising. In this post, I'll offer tips for building your ultimate KPI dashboard.
Conversion
6 Live Chat Practices to Drive Sales, Leads, Efficiency

September 23, 2019 • Shawn Arnold

Live chat can generate sales leads and drive conversions for B2B and B2C merchants. However, the real value comes from optimizing its use. In this post, I will share six practices that can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of your live chat program.
Schools & Resources
12 New Ecommerce Books for Fall 2019

September 23, 2019 • Sig Ueland

For your autumn reading list, here is a batch of new ecommerce books. There are titles on website design, dropshipping, marketing and sales strategies, the Amazon economy, and testing business ideas.
SEO
Google Muzzles ‘Self-serving’ Review Snippets

September 22, 2019 • Jill Kocher Brown

With a new algorithm, Google is determined to remove "self-serving" reviews from rich snippets in search results. Thankfully for ecommerce companies, traditional product reviews on product pages shouldn’t be affected.
Business > Merchant Voice
What’s the best ecommerce platform for your business?

September 20, 2019 • Richard Stubbings

I recently read arguments in forums regarding the best ecommerce platform. Two self-appointed “experts” stood out. One argued passionately for custom, bespoke coding for producing the most efficient system.
Social Media
An Ecommerce Social Media Plan for the Holidays

September 19, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Social media posts can play an important role in a retailer's holiday promotions by engaging, informing, and encouraging potential shoppers. Social media is typically most effective when marketers plan and schedule well in advance. For your company's holiday social media campaigns, consider the following questions.
Influencers & Affiliates
Opening Up Influencer Marketing with Blockchain

September 19, 2019 • Brandon Bidlack

Influencer marketing has become a meaningful customer acquisition channel for many brands. The channel is not foolproof, however. It has challenges for both advertisers and influencers. Fortunately, blockchain can help overcome these obstacles.
Design & Development
Helpful Tips for Improving Your Mobile Ecommerce Site

September 18, 2019 • David Shreni

My first suggestion for optimizing your website for mobile devices is to visit your local smartphone store. Target, Best Buy, Walmart, AT&T — you name it — your local phone store is the one place you can quickly experience your own site across the myriad of devices.
Email & Text Marketing
8 Conversion Boosters for Holiday Email Marketing

September 17, 2019 • Carolyn Nye

Now is the time to plan holiday email marketing. For most ecommerce merchants, email is crucial for generating traffic and sales. What follows are eight tips to get the most from your holiday email marketing efforts.
Shipping & Fulfillment
Will Drone Delivery Help Ecommerce?

September 17, 2019 • Gagan Mehra

Drones are already used for delivering products in Iceland and medical supplies in Tanzania and Rwanda. Denmark, France, and The Netherlands are soon to follow.
Design & Dev Tools
22 Free Web Design Tools from Summer 2019

September 16, 2019 • Sig Ueland

Here is a list of new web tools and design elements from summer 2019. There are designer and developer apps, coding resources, color tools, fonts, and more. All are free.
Customer Retention
6 Customer Retention Ideas for the Holidays

September 16, 2019 • Armando Roggio

The holiday shopping season from October to December is a boom time for most retailers. Sales are up. New customers are plentiful. What follows are six ideas to retain holiday shoppers after the busy season.
Platforms & Apps
Ecommerce Product Releases: September 15, 2019

September 15, 2019 • Sig Ueland

Here is a list of product releases and updates for mid-September from companies that offer services to online merchants. There are updates on shipping, warehousing, fulfillment, cross-channel marketing, last-mile delivery, and visual search.