Startup Revolution

Telling Holiday Ecom Stories
Why do most online merchants shy away from stories in the 4th quarter? Time to make the donuts doesn't mean stories don't matter. Shout less, listen more and telling better stories means your online commerce website wins this holiday season. Here are our 5 Holiday Ecommerce Storytelling Tips: 

* Create Umbrella Themes

* Tell Price, Shipping, and Guarantee Stories

* Share Brand Relevant Customer Stories

* Tell Seasonal VISUAL Stories

* ASK FOR HELP

Discover more 4Q storytelling tips for online merchants:

http://www.curagami.com/ecommerce-holiday-5-storytelling-tips/?v=7516fd43adaa

I became a testing junkie to defeat HIPPOs. We riff a Tommy Walker Shopify post sharing why SMBs & online merchants should be testing junkies too.

I'm discussing Ask For Help: the New Collaborative, Curated and Community based Ecommerce at the FedEx Ecom Summit in Atlantic on 4.16.

Two years ago, we published a two-part post on social media marketing safety with Internet marketer, curator, cancer survivor, entrepreneur and Friend of Paper.li, Marty Smith.

Well, guess what? Marty is back. And this time, he will share his journey and thoughts on entrepreneurship, e-commerce, social media and how his battle against cancer has shaped his thinking.

Ecommerce is full of potential costly blunders. This Curagami post and Haiku Deck explains how to avoid 5 common and easy to fix ecommerce blunders.

If after a grinding six months of work you'd told me I would be able to create an ecommerce store in 5 days for FREE (other than my time) I would have said you were crazy. Turns out I did just that over the last four sleepless nights.

The BIG lesson from launching the Story of Caner Store (every dollar raised goes to help the Story of Cancer Foundation and projects such as http://www.curecancerstarter.org) is EVERY business should have a "new ecommerce" store.

Stores provide SEO, branding and customer engagement benefits. If you can achieve ONE of those three things for little of no investment wouldn't you? Most Internet marketing teams would say YES.

I would too.

Hope you will shop the Story of Cancer Store this weekend and appreciate your support. There are some rough edges still, so comment or email MartinSelllingZoe(at)aol and I will fix.

http://storyofcancer.gostorego.com/

New Ecommerce Trends
New Ecommerce: Search For Blue Oceans is about the disruptive impact smartphones, ubiquitous connection and retailer innovation are creating in ecommerce.

• Smartphones and ubiquitous connection to the web
• Impact of videos and unboxing creating “gift box retailers”
• Social Shopping and slouching toward real-time
• Buying personas, web analytics & dynamic personalization
• Google and the New SEO where content is KING and social content QUEEN
   

 http://www.curagami.com/new-ecommerce-5-crucial-trends/?v=7516fd43adaa 

On “Charlie Rose,” Deena Varshavskaya, founder and chief executive officer at Wanelo. The online social media app connects millions of consumer with some of the biggest brands, as well as the tiniest of independent boutiques.

Marty Note
Listening to WaNeLo's founder discuss her experience raising money and goals for her social shopping company made me realize I was listening to the sound of a clean slate brand. Wanelo is the first salvo in the "social shopping" wars sure to erupt.

Rose asks a good question, "Why won't Twitter and Facebook follow your lead?" They will and Deeena's best defense is a good offense. I signed up for Wanelo and its an intriguing play that couldn't exist without smart phones.

There's "mobile first" and then there is a company like Wanelo who is conceived and could only be possible with mobile. When Deena mentioned that more than 80% of their traffic is mobile my heart skipped a beat and I realized how clean slate this affiliate money play really is.

By mashing up retailers and accepting affiliate money Wanelo has to create a fun and exciting interface. They are about half way there. The way you create your store with swiping is cool and a #muststeal idea, but there is little more to recommend or hold interest currently.

Rose asked all the right questions about WHY and being first is a big recommendation, but not the only thing needed to survive. The UI is worth some money and their more than a million young followers are worth a lot too. Deena correctly locates the biggest challenge in today's market - getting people to love and interact with your content NOT mining or creating some unique Intellectual Property (IP) that can be protected and held over others.

Wanelo walks into social shopping, creates a "game console" using smart phones and will probably be adding gamification soon (if they are half as smart as they seem) and there is the first mover advantage. Important interview about the future of "social shopping".

Why Content Curation Is Coming To B2C Merchants
In Curagami's 2nd guest blog post @Cendrine Marrouat - https://www.cendrinemedia.comshares 7 Content Curation Tips online merchants must know including:

• Definition of content curation.
• Why content curation?
• Benefits of content curation.
• Ideas to leverage content curation.
• Examples of content to curate.
• Tips to become a great content curator
• Some curators to follow

http://www.curagami.com/featured/content-curation-7-things-merchants-must-know/

Wiki-ization of Marketing: Moving From Brands To Communities
1,342 views

As digital marketing becomes more about communities and less about control Wiki-like meritocracy is taking over.
http://shar.es/1nMGyS

Invisible Giant: Why the new SEO Is So Hard To See
2,317 views

The new SEO is being obscured by the social / mobile web, Google changes and the rapidly changing nature of content marketing & curation.
http://shar.es/1nM6nl

Tomorrow's Ecommerce Today
1,318 views

Is it possible to design tomorrow's ecommerce website today? Yes
http://shar.es/1nM6rX

Why SoundCloud Will ROCK E-commerce . SoundCloud's Social Network for Sounds Do a test with me. Look at the REI tent product page picture above for 3