***** Managed large ecommerce sites for more than 12 years and agree with everything here and boy is that rare :). Marty Conversion expert Sherice explains how to de-clutter your website and improve conversion rates in 5 simple steps. 1 – Plan Your Website Backwards To achieve this, plan your website around the result you want to achieve, rather than throwing text and images on the page without a concrete idea of the end goal. One tool that can help with this process is wire-framing software. Although typically used by web designers to lay out and determine the functionality of a site before a single pixel is pushed, wire-framing programs can help you easily determine what “must have” elements of your site go first, and can help you eliminate clutter.
***** The value of a store can't be overstated. Stores help with every SEO aspect and they teach a critical rhythm. Yet another great find from Robin as this great value means anyone can have a store and, as a long time merchant, I would encourage even the most remote B2B play to think about having a little store since the lessons learned there can help every aspect of Internet marketing. TY to Robin once again. Marty Robin Good: Flying Cart is a web service which allows you to easily set-up an online store with the minimum fuss and lots of good features.
Key features include: - Ready-made shop themes - Upload your logos and graphics or use custom CSS - Store customers Fan Club feature - Use High-Quality, Zoomable Photos - Built-in links for Facebook, Twitter, Digg, and other social networking sites. - Custom Domain option
- Hosting and unlimited bandwidth - Support for all credit cards through PayPal and Google Checkout - Coupons - Inventory tracking - Orders management - Customer newsletter service - No Contracts, No Fees
The basic account (Glider) costs $9.99/month and includes 25 Products, Custom Domain, Theme Editor, SSL Security and Custom CSS. More expensive plans allow for more products, add inventory management and email support among other things.
Store examples: http://flyingcart.com/stores.php
Pricing info: http://flyingcart.com/pricing.php
More info: http://flyingcart.com/
**** Pretty soon we will be talkign "pcommerce". Marty
There's no doubt that Pinterest continues to gain traction in for users who enjoy creating collections of things to share with others. We know that businesses are seeing tons of traffic ... Here's what caught my attention: The difference between sharing things on Twitter and Pinterest **people get to see exactly what the item is before they click on it. **If businesses make sure that they’re posting great photographs of their items online, the sky is the limit for what Pinterest can do for them. ** Pinterest people aren’t just clicking, they’re buying. **Out of the people who were surveyed who had an account on the site, an astonishing **The most popular products fall in line with the interests I told you about above. That means that people are buying cooking utensils, things to make arts and crafts, and of course clothing. Selected by Jan Gordon covering "Pinterest Watch" Read full article here: [http://tnw.co/HIVQAm]
If you’re an e-commerce marketer and you’re not already on the Pinterest bandwagon, you need to hop on it as soon as you can. ... K, I'm there. Marty
If you liken app stores to race horses, Apple is the biggest, baddest thoroughbred in town. Google Play is a fine specimen with some distinct qualities but has ...
**** I keep wondering if we arecll going to have app stores soon. Marty
A new report from Reuters claims a host of companies are betting big on e-commerce for the world's largest social network, and they think it could be huge. Read this blog post by Don Reisinger on Digital Media. **** My vote is for ecommerce future. Marty
Gideon Shoes makes handcrafted hip-hop sneakers inspired, designed and marketed by young people at a youth center in a tough suburb of Sydney. **** Cool. Marty
Enhance your Facebook Pages with these timeline ready apps. A total of 25 facebook apps to choose from, including BONUS app suggestions to improve fans engagement.
For page managers who know how to work with Facebook apps, the new Timeline layout for Pages is a great opportunity to highlight their application tab for maximum visibility and increase click through rates. But for those who aren’t, finding those timeline ready apps can be a massive headache.
Before adding any facebook applications to your Timeline (layout) page, there are a few things you should know:
- NOT all facebook applications are suitable for your Page
- NOT all facebook applications are free
- Understand the use of each app before installing
- Understand each approved facebook app WILL HAVE access to a certain amount of your personal data on Facebook
- Facebook app is an ADDED advantage to achieve a particular purpose you have for your brand (get leads, customer contact info) but certainly NOT a compulsory
- It’s OK to NOT install any third party apps on your page if you don’t feel like it
Top news curated by You Brand, Inc.(RT @fondalo: 26 Elements of a Gamification Marketing Strategy http://t.co/EVWPK5mz via @YouBrandInc...)... **** Games are changing everything. Marty
REI Names New Senior ExecutivesMarketWatch (press release)"Bill and Brad's promotions recognize the strategic importance of the Information Technology and eCommerce divisions to provide the infrastructure required to support REI's growth over the ...
**** Some of the best ecommerce on the planet is done in Seattle by REI. Marty
Flash-Sales Web Site Is a New Outlet for Madonna's AlbumNew York Times (blog)By BEN SISARIO Fab.com, a fast-growing flash-sales Web site that specializes in art and design, has joined iTunes and Amazon in selling music online, and its first artist,...
F-commerce is a form of e-commerce that involves buying and selling things via Facebook- that ever popular social networking site that has been growing, not only in popularity, but also in the range of its uses, ever since it was first launched...
**** I agree and am writing about platforms for SMBs (small to medium size businesses) right now. The key to platform-y-ness for SMBs is to use someone other scaled platform and the most scaled one out there is Facebook. I've seen stats that place Facebook in the middle of as much as 50% ecommerce by 2015. I think on a "touch" status that is probably correct. Touch being some influence in the conversion funnel somewhere. Whether Facebook is the actual cash register or not is anyone's guess. Marty
As Professor Barry Schwartz pointed out in a 2005 TED talk, “The Paradox of Choice,” the overabundance of options often leads to disappointment. Wantful, a new online startup, might have had these ideas in mind when it launched its site in 2011. The site asks a gift-giver to answer a series of questions about the intended recipient. Next, it generates a list of 10 possible gifts that is bound, printed and sent to the gift recipent as a high quality catalogue. When the catalogue arrives, the recipient simply chooses which of the 10 items she prefers. read full article: http://blog.newscred.com/?p=1815
check out also it: https://wantful.com
Lulu.com's soon to be available ecommerce APIs (Application Programmer Interfaces) enables businesses and publishers to build Lulu.com and Elastic Path's ecommerce tools into their own branded websites, absolutely free ...
**** Cool, have used fellow Raleigh based LuLu to publish books and experience and sounds like just got much better. Marty
The French novelist Jean Giraudoux said “The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you’ve got it made.” So, how do individuals and organizations establish what is sincere and what is fake. What voices should they listen to? How do they sort the sincere and authentic wheat from marketing chaff and PR flim-flam? Understanding who the key decision makers are and how to reach them is marketing gold. Read More: http://blogs.wsj.com/tech-europe/2012/03/16/sentiment-analysis-aims-to-sort-marketing-truths/?mod=google_news_blog **** The reasons I love sentiment analysis have to do with Plato. It feels like we are in Plato's cave looking at flat analytics that easily mislead. One of my favorite sayings is, "using that data we will fly the plane into the ground and feel good about it all the way in." I love the turn of a dramatic metaphor, but the point is valid. Context is the hardest thing to fully create, reproduce or SEE and FEEL online because sentiment is the missng element. I think this missing sentiment is why web sites are so cold and emails get you in trouble. We "warm up" sites with graphics and design, but bridging the sentiment gap is impossible. If web 2.0 is about can opening sites to social 3.0 is going to be about making sites that feel like the things we are pitching, sharing and curaing. Marty
RT @LikeableMedia: Word Of Mouth Has Continuously Proven To Be Dominant In Social Media http://t.co/kHRutwyK...
Don't normally link to agencies and vendors, but this one gets it and looks cool. Marty
If you were one of the many folks at SXSW who weren’t able to get into the room to view Sunday’s SXSW panel, How Brain Science Turns Browsers into Buyers, or if you weren’t at SXSW at all, here’s a...
WISH I was at SxSW.....Marty
The 10 digital commerce trends changing the retail sectorSmartCompany.com.auFor years now, even large department stores have publicly blamed weak financial results on everything from the rise in international ecommerce sites and the strong Aussie...
**** Agree with 8 of 10 of these. Marty
Can you add one of yours?top 100 ecommerce tips (Top 100 Ecommerce Tips http://t.co/ensB81rT #ecommerce #ebay #amazon #onlinestore #onlineshop...)... ***** Great run down of current best ecommerce practices. Marty
Content marketing is an increasingly hot topic these days. More and more people are starting to realize the potent role that high quality content plays in creating visibility for your brand on the Internet.
**** Agree and content created by branded gurus is better yet as Amazon proves every minute of every day. Marty
How has our economy evolved in the past five years? Which industries are shrinking or growing through these challenging economic times? These are some of the questions that the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) delves into each February in the “Economic Report of the President” (ERP). This year, the CEA worked with us to glean further insights into industry trends both during the recent recession and after its end in June 2009. With the data and methodology in hand, we calculated the growth rates in industry size between 2007 and 2011.
**** Thought about this walking through a 30% blank mall last night. Even the food court had holes, now that is a recession. I'm an ecommerce guy at heart so brick and mortar pain, and there is more ahead, doesn't distress. But still..... Marty
I selected this article from copyblogger because it delivers, it's simple, straightforward and right on the money! Here's an excerpt: "I believe a story can potentially carry the entire sale for your product, even if everything else is technically “wrong” in your ads ** no clear call to action **lame bullets **weak offer For example: "Nothing in the movie "Top Gun" told you to buy Maverick’s brand of sunglasses or join The US Navy. Yet, the movie “sold” both products to hordes of people. **So, how do you apply this to your marketing? 1. The personal story
This is one of the most common landing page stories. **This one is simple — you just “walk” people (step-by-step) through a painful problem you went through and how you achieved the result your readers are looking for. 2. The historical story **This kind of story is extremely persuasive, contains nothing even remotely resembling “hype,” and can persuade people to buy things they otherwise might ignore. 3. The “meet the guru” story
**This one is related to the personal story, but it’s got more “pop” due the built-in credibility it gives you. **These suggestions have proven to produce results, he gives more examples...... Curated by Jan Gordon covering "Storytelling, Social Media and Beyond" Read full article here: [http://bit.ly/yVmlNV]
**** Recently appalled at how little copy was on maor ecommerce sites I was reviewing this articles seems prescient and important. Marty
An effective SEO strategy involves much more than content strategy. However, the content strategy takes the center place of the overall SEO strategy and makes up the major factor of SEO success. In this article, you will find important tips to maximize the effectiveness of your content and to ensure the SEO success in return.
Its becoming increasingly clear that Social Shares http://goo.gl/BLwXF is having a major impact on SEO and Marketers who adopt this new model will enjoy a significant increase in visitor Traffic so as they...
It’s All About Making It Easier for the Customer to Buy
OK, I’ll admit it. I not the primary grocery shopper in the family. But, I’m always happy to hop over to Publix, Fresh Market, Whole Foods or SweetBay to buy stuff. Since I’m not a grocery aisle guru, it usually takes me way too much time to find the items I have been entrusted to buy and bring home. Occasionally, that makes me a little cranky.
SweetBay Shopping Carts Saved My Day
But, Sweetbay has achieved the equivalent of a user-friendly e-commerce interface with its shopping cart. In a move that is as brilliant as it is inexpensive to design and deploy, they have equipped each shopping cart with a sheet that lists major grocery items alphabetically and shows the aisle in which they can be found.
**** Great idea, simple ones often best. Marty
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