Marketing & Advertising
The marketing of an ecommerce business is paramount to its success. Our coverage includes insights on email marketing, content marketing, pay-per-click advertising, social media marketing — Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest — affiliate marketing, video advertising, and much more.
Content Marketing | Email & Text Marketing | Google Ads | Influencers & Affiliates | Social Media-
Content Marketing
5 Content Marketing Ideas for February 2016
January 25, 2016 • Armando Roggio
February may be the shortest month of the year, but it is filled with events and holidays that are opportunities for content marketers. Content marketing is the act of creating, publishing,
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Social Media
Why and How to Use Instagram for Advertising
January 21, 2016 • Kristine Wirth
Instagram recently opened its advertising platform to all users, giving companies large and small yet another way to get their message in front of a bigger, more diverse audience.
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Marketing & Advertising
The 3 Most Important Social Commerce Functions Explained
January 20, 2016 • Richard Sexton
Ecommerce merchants are engaged a constant battle for the attention of fickle consumers. It is now generally accepted that Americans spend about 25 percent of their online time, across devices,
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Social Media
Facebook: Save Money with New Audience Overlap Ad Tool
January 19, 2016 • Michael Stancil
A few weeks ago, everyone should have received access to a new Facebook advertising feature that could become pretty useful: Audience Overlap. It’s a feature Facebook reps have had for some ...
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Email & Text Marketing
4 Ways to Invest in Email Marketing, for 2016
January 18, 2016 • Carolyn Nye
Marketers have heard for years that email is dead. However, just the opposite is true. The importance of email has never been greater, and there is still no better way ...
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Social Media
Using Social Networks for Long-form Content: Pros, Cons
January 18, 2016 • Paul Chaney
One marketing trend growing in popularity is the use of social networks to publish long-form content, not unlike what you would see on a blog. That's particularly true of Facebook and LinkedIn, each of which has developed platforms to facilitate such activity, and there is even talk of Twitter changing its model to accommodate longer content, believe it or not.
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Google Ads
Ecommerce Pay-per-click Ad Trends for 2016
January 12, 2016 • Robert Brady
Each year I review my previous year’s trend predictions for pay-per-click ecommerce advertising. In last year’s post, I predicted three trends: the rise of Google Shopping campaigns, the growth of ...
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Social Media
25 Ways to Use Twitter for Marketing
January 11, 2016 • Paul Chaney
Although marketing through social media is the norm, Twitter is still an enigma for many. I can't recount just how many times I have heard business owners and marketers tell me, "I just don't get Twitter."
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Email & Text Marketing
19 Free Email-marketing Tools, to Improve Results
January 10, 2016 • Sig Ueland
Email marketing continues to be an effective way to reach customers and prospects. And there are a variety of free online tools available to help you enhance your email campaigns. Here is ...
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Email & Text Marketing
6 Ecommerce Email Marketing Campaigns for Q1 2016
January 8, 2016 • Armando Roggio
From a January inventory reduction sale to Easter Sunday, there are at least six good opportunities for online sellers to send meaningful and (hopefully) effective marketing emails in the first ...
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Social Media
7 Social Media Marketing Trends for 2016
January 8, 2016 • Kristine Wirth
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by Web Marketing Today. Practical Ecommerce acquired Web Marketing Today in 2012. In 2016, we merged the two sites, leaving Practical Ecommerce as ...
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Social Media
Google Maps: A ‘Social Network’ in Disguise
January 4, 2016 • Paul Chaney
Gone are the days when Google Plus was the epicenter for local business information. Google My Business now owns that domain, for the business owner. For users, Google Maps has become a replacement for Google Plus Local and is somewhat of a social network in disguise.
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Social Media
Tips, Tricks to Optimize a YouTube Channel
January 4, 2016 • Samantha Collier
Using YouTube for your business is easy. Simply set up a channel and start uploading videos. But as your investment in video grows, so does the pressure to make sure ...
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Social Media
Advertising Options to Test (and Expand) in 2016, for Ecommerce
December 31, 2015 • Michael Stancil
With the new year, advertisers can put mistakes behind them, take note of what worked, and try something new. At Tailor Brands, my employer, we include marketing tests in every monthly ...
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Social Media
Changes to Google Plus: What You Need to Know
December 31, 2015 • Rodney Hess
Google has had many failed experiments in the past, such as Buzz, Wave, and, more recently, Google Glass. However, the search giant shows no signs of giving up on its attempt to compete in the social networking sphere, via Google Plus.
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Content Marketing
5 Content Marketing Ideas for January 2016
December 30, 2015 • Armando Roggio
In January 2016, attract new customers and engage current ones with a podcast based on existing blog posts; produce content that focuses on culture; tell stories on Instagram; celebrate service;
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Influencers & Affiliates
Notable Affiliate Marketing Events in 2016
December 29, 2015 • Carolyn Kmet
The following are leading affiliate marketing events in 2016. All are worthwhile to attend, but their benefits and specialties vary. Some are focused on the affiliate marketing industry in general;
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Marketing & Advertising
Content Marketing Lessons from ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’
December 28, 2015 • Armando Roggio
The most recent Star Wars film can teach content marketers a lesson or two about how to make content successful, including reusing good material, answering and encouraging questions, and making ...
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Marketing & Advertising
Content Marketing: Build Your Story to Engage Prospects
December 23, 2015 • Armando Roggio
Storytelling is an important part of modern content marketing. But writing good stories that engage prospects is an art that challenges some small business marketers. How do you write a good ...
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Email & Text Marketing
3 Ways to Increase Email Clicks, for Ecommerce
December 16, 2015 • Carolyn Nye
A marketing email from an ecommerce merchant will often result in a sale if the recipient clicks to the merchant’s website. But behavior patterns of email recipients are changing dramatically due ...
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Social Media
Creating 1-day Facebook, Twitter Ad Campaigns
December 15, 2015 • Michael Stancil
Do you have a single-day sale planned for your ecommerce business? One day is plenty of time to create and execute a successful social media campaign. Say it’s 7:00 a.m. on ...
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Social Media
11 Stand-out Social Media Campaigns from 2015
December 13, 2015 • Sig Ueland
Brands used new tools in 2015 to create compelling social content, with much attention on three innovations: live-streaming video, smartwatches, and emojis. Here is a list of stand-out social media in ...
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Marketing & Advertising
5 Ecommerce Content Marketing Trends for 2016
December 7, 2015 • Armando Roggio
Trends in organizational structure, machine generated content, and video content could drive changes in ecommerce marketing next year, as small and mid-sized retailers increase their content creation efforts. Content marketing is ...
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Google Ads
Yahoo’s New Product Ads a Good Opportunity?
December 6, 2015 • Robert Brady
Product ads have populated search engine results pages since 2010, when Google added them to the AdWords platform. Bing followed suit in 2014. Even Facebook added product-focused ad units earlier ...
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Influencers & Affiliates
5 Ways to Engage Affiliates for Final Holiday Sales
December 4, 2015 • Carolyn Kmet
Before you close the books Black Friday and Cyber Monday, there are a few more ways to maximize affiliate revenue through the rest of the year. Here are five ideas to keep your ...
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Marketing & Advertising
20 Platforms to Build Dynamic, User-generated Content
December 2, 2015 • Richard Sexton
With more than 300 million photos reportedly uploaded to social media every day, there is much user-generated content to be optimized and leveraged by digital marketers. And it’s not just photos. It is reviews, comments, videos, purchase sharing, contest entries, and more.
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Social Media
Using the New Twitter Polls for Ecommerce
December 1, 2015 • Samantha Collier
Twitter announced its new polling feature in October and quickly rolled it out across the desktop site, mobile site, and mobile app. Here is Twitter’s announcement video. Coming soon! We’re rolling out the ability for everyone ...
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Email & Text Marketing
2015 Thanksgiving, Black Friday Email Trends
November 29, 2015 • Armando Roggio
The Thanksgiving holiday weekend is one of the most important times of the year for many online retailers, with as much as 20 percent of a company’s annual sales at ...
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Content Marketing
5 Content Marketing Ideas for December 2015
November 25, 2015 • Armando Roggio
Although 2015 is rapidly coming to an end, there are still plenty of marketing opportunities for ecommerce content creators. One could try publishing last-minute Christmas gift ideas, how-to holiday preparation,
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Marketing & Advertising
9 Holiday Marketing Campaigns from Large Retailers
November 23, 2015 • Sig Ueland
Following the holiday campaigns of large retail brands can be a helpful and entertaining way to generate holiday marketing ideas for your own business. Here is a list of holiday campaigns ...