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Technical SEO
SEO: How Google Reads and Renders JavaScript

July 24, 2019 • Armando Roggio

JavaScript can improve a shopper's buying experience, encourage interaction, and even bolster site performance in some cases. But where search engine optimization is concerned, JavaScript requires an extra degree of care.
B2B
Getting B2B Sales Teams to Embrace Ecommerce

July 23, 2019 • Shawn Arnold

A sales team can determine success or failure for a B2B ecommerce program. Sales personnel have the influence and trust among customers to drive ecommerce adoption. In this post, I will share a 10-step approach for getting a B2B sales team to embrace ecommerce.
SEO Tools
Using Google Trends for Ecommerce

July 23, 2019 • Bill Sebald

Google Trends reports the relative popularity of search terms across languages and regions. It's helpful for identifying when consumers start thinking about a product.
Product Pages
Why Your Mobile Shoppers Aren’t Shopping

July 22, 2019 • David Shreni

Improving mobile performance is a priority for most ecommerce executives, who often obsess over conversion metrics that are typically lower than desktop. But mobile visitors often have different goals. In this post, I'll address solutions to four common obstacles in converting visitors on mobile devices.
Amazon & Marketplaces
Amazon Prime Day 2019 Breaks Records; Other Merchants Benefit

July 19, 2019 • Marcia Kaplan

While Amazon does not provide sales data for Prime Day, it did state that during the 48-hour 2019 event on July 15 and 16, sales surpassed the 2018 Black Friday and Cyber Monday revenues combined.
Email & Text Marketing
5 Ways Artificial Intelligence Improves Email Marketing

July 18, 2019 • Carolyn Nye

Artificial intelligence is not new for email service providers. Email platforms have long recognized that AI can optimize opens and clicks while saving time and money. Here are five ways that AI can improve an email program.
Technical SEO
SEO: Optimizing Crawl Budget for Ecommerce Sites

July 17, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Optimizing an ecommerce site for crawl budget may impact how often Google's web crawler, Googlebot, visits a given page and how quickly that page appears in search results. It can also guide Googlebot to the most important content on a site, which could impact how those pages rank.
Analytics & Data
Need Data for a Key Decision? Try These 8 Sources

July 16, 2019 • Anna Kayfitz

Data drives most businesses. But what happens when you lack data to make a critical decision? How do you collect the data, and at what cost?
Business > Merchant Voice
Even online retailers need a break

July 16, 2019 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

If you own or manage a small ecommerce business, you likely want to enjoy a holiday occasionally. But, if you're like me, you worry about the implications of closing the business while away, with no deliveries.
Business
How Blockchain Is Changing Loyalty Programs

July 15, 2019 • Brandon Bidlack

Ecommerce merchants have hundreds of potential technologies and techniques to encourage customer loyalty, but blockchain technology and blockchain-based crypto tokens offer unique advantages.
Platforms & Apps
Ecommerce Product Releases: July 14, 2019

July 14, 2019 • Sig Ueland

Here is a list of product releases and updates for mid-July from companies that offer services to online merchants. There are updates on video tools, search optimization, artificial-intelligence analytics, shipping promotions, and small business loans.
SEO
Negative SEO Is Not Your Problem

July 12, 2019 • Jill Kocher Brown

Webmasters cannot prevent negative SEO. Thus it creates much fear among ecommerce owners. But that fear is overrated and possibly unnecessary.
Amazon & Marketplaces
4 Steps to Prepare for Holiday Sales on Amazon

July 11, 2019 • Phil Masiello

Selling on the Amazon Marketplace is a huge opportunity, especially for brands. The all-important holiday selling season on Amazon begins in early November. Start preparing now with the following four steps.
Shipping & Fulfillment
9 Tips to Improve the Overall Shipping Experience

July 10, 2019 • Pamela Hazelton

There is no shortage of studies that confirm the importance of free shipping. But a comprehensive shipping strategy extends beyond free. It includes other crucial elements that impact conversions and customer satisfaction.
Finance
Jumia, Revolve, Chewy among Q2 Ecommerce IPOs

July 10, 2019 • Marcia Kaplan

Some prominent ecommerce initial public stock offerings occurred in the second quarter of 2019. In this post, I'll address three of them.
SEO
The High Cost of Ignoring SEO

July 9, 2019 • Hamlet Batista

Ignoring organic search traffic can be costly. I addressed the topic last year at Edgenet Academy (now Syndigo), which helps manufacturers and retailers manage product content. I shared the story of two competitors that sell equipment for printed products.
Content Marketing
5 Content Marketing Ideas for August 2019

July 9, 2019 • Armando Roggio

In August, consider focusing your business's content marketing efforts on senior citizens, your product or brand story, technologies that were invented or patented in August, things to do during the month, and the growing interest in veganism.
Inventory
12 Ways to Lower Inventory Costs

July 8, 2019 • Viktoria Kanevsky

U.S. retailers are reportedly sitting on about $1.43 in inventory for every $1 of sales. Decreasing inventory costs should therefore be a priority for all merchants. In my experience, there are many options for reducing inventory costs. In this post, I'll review 12 of them.
Technical SEO
SEO Checklist for Website Redesigns and Replatforms

July 7, 2019 • Jill Kocher Brown

Major website redesigns and replatforms can kill organic search traffic. Use this checklist to minimize the impact.
Analytics & Data
Google Analytics: Common Mistakes from Ecommerce Merchants

July 5, 2019 • Morgan Jones

Google Analytics provides impactful data that can help ecommerce merchants. But installed incorrectly, Google Analytics can produce inaccurate reporting. In this post, I'll address common mistakes from merchants in installing Google Analytics and analyzing its data.
Inventory > Merchant Voice
My first big inventory mistake

July 3, 2019 • Peter Keller

I'll never forget my first big inventory mistake. It occurred in 2006. I was working for LivingDirect, an online appliance retailer. I thought for sure I would get fired.
Design & Dev Tools
16 New and Updated Online Video Tools

July 2, 2019 • Sig Ueland

For merchants who want to create, edit, and distribute videos, there are plenty of new innovative online tools for little or no expense. Here is a list of new and updated tools from online video platforms and social media applications. There are tools for editing, live streaming, collaboration, analytics, distribution, and video advertising.
B2B
Common B2B Mistakes, Part 4: Shipping, Returns, Inventory

July 2, 2019 • Gagan Mehra

This post is the fourth in a series in which I address common mistakes of B2B ecommerce merchants. The first post addressed mistakes related to catalog management and pricing. The second described user management and customer service failures. The third post discussed glitches from shopping carts and order management systems. For this installment, I’ll review mistakes related to shipping, returns, and inventory management.
Platforms & Apps
Ecommerce Product Releases: July 1, 2019

July 1, 2019 • Sig Ueland

Here is a list of product releases and updates from late June from companies that offer services to online merchants. There are updates on digital currencies, shipping and logistics, multichannel marketing, security, and augmented-reality advertising.
Business
June 2019 Top 10: Our Most Popular Posts

July 1, 2019 • PEC Staff

Our mission at Practical Ecommerce is to publish articles, podcasts, and seminars that help ecommerce merchants. What follows are the most popular articles that we published in June 2019, recognizing that posts published earlier in the month are more likely to make the list than later ones.
Customer Retention
Retargeting Improves Conversions from SEO

June 30, 2019 • Jill Kocher Brown

Retargeting turns visitor actions on your site or app into a second chance to capture a sale. It’s an excellent way to move top-of-funnel traffic from organic search to conversions.
SEO
The 4 SEO Priorities for Ecommerce Sites

June 28, 2019 • Bill Sebald

I can't calculate clear-cut ROI from SEO. But I can address the activities that, in my experience, typically lead to higher rankings for ecommerce merchants. It's not a stretch to suggest that 80 percent of your daily SEO activities should be connected to the four items below.
SEO
New Search Console Updates Confirm Mobile-first Indexing

June 27, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Recent changes to Google’s Search Console made it easier to identify whether a site was primarily indexed based on mobile or desktop content and identified which crawler (Googlebot Smartphone or Googlebot Desktop) was primary on a given report or chart.
Business
Ecommerce Briefs: FedEx, Amazon Spark, Jet.com, Toys’R’Us

June 26, 2019 • Marcia Kaplan

In “Ecommerce Briefs,” I address news and developments that impact online merchants. In this installment, I’ll report on FedEx severing its air-services relationship with Amazon and rolling out seven-day delivery, Amazon shuttering its social media platform Spark, Walmart folding Jet.com into its own website, and Toys "R" Us making a comeback.
Schools & Resources
Reading List: Jenna Erickson of Codal

June 26, 2019 • PEC Staff

For this installment, we corresponded with Jenna Erickson. She is marketing manager at Codal, a UX design and application development agency.