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Content Marketing
How to Generate High-traffic Article Topics

May 31, 2019 • Armando Roggio

I have to come up with lots of article ideas. I have a few methods, including reading industry-specific posts and following links in them. This morning, I was sitting in ...
Business
May 2019 Top 10: Our Most Popular Posts

May 31, 2019 • PEC Staff

The mission of Practical Ecommerce is to publish independent content — articles, podcasts, seminars — that helps ecommerce merchants. What follows are the most popular articles that we published in May 2019, recognizing that posts published earlier in the month are more likely to make the list than later ones.
Link Building
Can Ecommerce Sites Generate Organic Search Traffic without Backlinks?

May 30, 2019 • Hamlet Batista

Can an ecommerce site launch in 2019 and receive organic search traffic without backlinks? Most search optimizers believe it's not possible. I used to think the same. But I keep seeing evidence of the contrary.
Business
Direct-to-consumer Brands Gaining Customers and Clout

May 30, 2019 • Marcia Kaplan

Watch out traditional retailers. Digitally native direct-to-consumer brands are stealing your thunder, and more of them are popping up. DTC companies manufacture and ship their products directly to customers, retaining ...
Schools & Resources
Reading List: Jeff Hunt of Snap36

May 29, 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 they read them. For this installment, we corresponded with Jeff Hunt. He is the CEO and founder of Snap36, a provider of interactive 360-degree product images.
Marketing & Advertising
A Disciplined Approach to Marketing an Ecommerce Business

May 28, 2019 • Armando Roggio

The means and methods of driving ecommerce site traffic and conversions are clear. Marketers at mid-sized ecommerce and omnichannel retail businesses know the tactics to employ. Thus the challenge to grow a business is often discipline — not knowledge.
Content Marketing
20 Tools for Content Marketing

May 28, 2019 • Sig Ueland

Here is a list of tools to assist in your content marketing efforts. There are idea generators, language tools, stock-element libraries, content analysis apps, distribution platforms, and more. Most of these tools are free or have a free plan.
Technical SEO
SEO: Can Ecommerce Sites Win the Answer Box?

May 26, 2019 • Jill Kocher Brown

The "answer box" is Google’s way of responding to questions directly from the top of the search results page. Can ecommerce sites win the answer box? Absolutely. But winning the answer box for their own brand searches is not as straightforward as it may seem.
Conversion
A 7-step Cart Recovery Program for Luxury Brands (That Actually Works)

May 24, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Imagine a company selling high-end products that cost thousands of dollars each. A few abandoned ecommerce shopping carts could add up to a small fortune. The recovery series described below has generated as much as $40,000 in a few hours.
Analytics & Data
Using Attribution Modeling in Google Analytics

May 24, 2019 • Anna Kayfitz

Marketing attribution is the process of identifying sources or channels that led to a desired outcome, such as a sale or a subscription. Google Analytics offers attribution modeling at Conversions > Attribution > Model Comparison Tool. There are a handful of models to select from.
Google Ads
How Google Collects Data to Personalize Ads

May 23, 2019 • Robert Brady

Google does most of its tracking through a user's account. If you’re logged in on your phone or browser, Google is accumulating a lot of data. And it's willing to show you. To see what Google believes you’re interested in, navigate to Ad Settings.
Product Pages
The Bare Essentials for High-converting Ecommerce Sites

May 22, 2019 • Pamela Hazelton

Driving traffic to your online store is one thing. Turning a decent percentage of visitors into buyers is another. That’s why businesses should always make sure the site is shoppable before spending a dime on advertising. A conversion-worthy website focuses on key elements that work together. Call them "essentials."
B2B
Live Chat Is Critical for B2B Ecommerce

May 22, 2019 • Shawn Arnold

Live chat is arguably more important for B2B sites than for B2C. The B2B purchasing process is typically complex. Buyers frequently have questions. Increasingly, they expect a live-chat function for real-time conversations. In this article, I will review the basics of building a successful live chat program.
Business
4 Steps to Discover an Ecommerce Product Niche

May 21, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Amazon sells everything, seemingly, as does Walmart. And they do it well. But for most ecommerce businesses, attempting to sell everything to everyone can lead to failure. A niche with fewer competitors can have a better chance at success.
Local Business
Physical Stores Can Bolster Online Sales, for a Price

May 21, 2019 • Alex Berg

Opening a physical store was an anathema for early-day, pure-play ecommerce merchants. Why take on the financial burden of leases, construction costs, and staff? But the ecommerce landscape has changed.
Business
Building an Ecommerce Business, Part 17: Growing a Community

May 20, 2019 • Eric Bandholz

An engaged, passionate community around an ecommerce business can drive referrals, loyalty, and repeat sales. But developing that community is not always easy. This is episode 17 in my series on building an ecommerce business from the ground up. For this installment, I spoke with Andrew Youderian, the founder of EcommerceFuel, a popular community of ecommerce merchants.
Social Media
15 Top Brands on Instagram, for Inspiration

May 20, 2019 • Sig Ueland

Studying prominent brands on Instagram can help merchants generate ideas for their own marketing campaigns. Here is a list of the top brands on Instagram ranked by followers. To attract followers, the brands use behind-the-scenes and do-it-yourself content and inspiring images and videos.
On-page SEO
SEO: 4 Signs Your ‘Optimized’ Content Could Be Spam

May 19, 2019 • Jill Kocher Brown

In this post, I'll address four signs that your content could be over-optimized, risking a penalty or a rankings hit. Think about how your content could look to a human, not a search engine.
Email & Text Marketing
Minor Tweaks to Marketing Emails Can Greatly Boost Conversions

May 17, 2019 • Carolyn Nye

The purpose of email marketing is to generate revenue. Opens and clicks are meaningful only if they produce, at some point, orders. In my experience, tweaking just a few areas ...
Business
Use Pre-orders to Gauge Demand, Generate Cash

May 17, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Pre-orders have dual advantages for product makers and for retailers selling online or in a brick-and-mortar store. First, pre-orders can be a good indicator of demand. Second, pre-orders can generate cash ahead of a product's release.
Platforms & Apps
Ecommerce Product Releases: May 16, 2019

May 16, 2019 • Sig Ueland

Here is a list of product releases and updates for mid-May from companies that offer services to online merchants. There are updates on subscription platforms, help desk ticketing, inventory management, selling on Amazon, and selling on Instagram.
Conversion
Building an Ecommerce Business, Part 16: Custom Manufacturing

May 15, 2019 • Eric Bandholz

Selling manufactured goods directly to consumers, with no retail middlemen, has exploded on the internet. For this episode 16, I spoke with Jimmy Hayes, the co-founder of Minaal, a manufacturer of "bags and gear for life on the move."
Business
3 Immediate Blockchain Uses for Ecommerce Companies

May 14, 2019 • Brandon Bidlack

Blockchain technology offers much potential for ecommerce businesses. Payments, supply chain, and decentralized marketplaces are the three main uses, currently. But many more applications are in the works.
B2B
Common B2B Mistakes, Part 3: Shopping Carts, Order Management

May 14, 2019 • Gagan Mehra

This post is the third in a series in which I address common mistakes of B2B ecommerce merchants. For this installment, I’ll discuss mistakes related to shopping carts, checkout, and order management.
Content Marketing
5 Ways to Recruit Content Creators for Your Business

May 13, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Content marketing is not a one-and-done tactic. It is a commitment. But you don’t have to do it alone. Recruit other people to create content for you. Here is a list of five ways to do just that.
Platforms & Apps
15 Plugins to Improve WordPress Search

May 13, 2019 • Sig Ueland

WordPress is a flexible content management system, but its default site search doesn’t support taxonomies, custom post types, or custom fields. Here is a list of plugins to improve the internal search on your WordPress site.
SEO
13 SEO Takeaways from Google’s 2019 State of the Union Address

May 12, 2019 • Jill Kocher Brown

Every year at the “State of the Union” address, representatives from Google Search announce new features, drop tips, and give hints to the things that matter to the company. What follows are my 13 takeaways from the 2019 address, which occurred last week.
Amazon & Marketplaces > Merchant Voice
A seller is never bulletproof on Amazon

May 10, 2019 • Richard Stubbings

Relying on one or two platforms for ecommerce revenue is risky. It is relatively easy to build a business on Amazon and eBay. Both marketplaces can present your merchandise to millions of potential customers. But the tradeoff is becoming vulnerable to their foibles.
Analytics & Data
Use Market Basket Analysis to Boost Cross-sales, Average Order Values

May 9, 2019 • Anna Kayfitz

Market basket analysis is based on the idea that a customer who buys product A is likely to buy product B, too. The model seeks to find relationships among purchases — a customer who buys pasta likely needs pasta sauce. The model applies at an item level or to a group of items or categories.
Finance
Direct Public Offerings: Unconventional but Gaining Traction

May 9, 2019 • Marcia Kaplan

The initial public offering has a challenger. Known as a direct public offering or direct listing, this technique avoids involvement from investment bank underwriters that buy shares at a set price in an IPO and then sell them to their clients. In a DPO, a private company lists itself on a stock exchange but does not raise money.