You have the great idea, you have the enthusiasm, you even have the money to get started, but you still have more questions than answers when it comes to starting and sustaining your ecommerce website. To help address the issues all ebusinesses face, we've compiled this list of frequently asked questions. We'll continue to add to the listing, so keep FAQ checking.
See the full story at: http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/essentials/ebiz/index.php
What Is Adobe's SEO Technology Center?
The center goes beyond just Flash and refers to rich Internet applications (RIAs) when talking about optimizing for SEO. Along with Adobe Flash, RIAs encompass a variety of other technologies and platforms, including Ajax, Curl, JavaFX, and Microsoft Silverlight.
While the technology center is primarily intended for developers, it's written in a way that resonates with marketers as well. Although marketers may not understand all the technical jargon, they can interpret enough to take action and provide direction to their development teams.
What Does the Technology Center Offer?
The center is made up of a series of articles that provide actionable tips and tricks and step-by steps guides for developers to follow. While the amount of content is a bit lean at the moment -- having just launched this month.
See the full story at: http://www.clickz.com/clickz_email_experts/search/results/newsletter
What Is Adobe's SEO Technology Center?
The center goes beyond just Flash and refers to rich Internet applications (RIAs) when talking about optimizing for SEO. Along with Adobe Flash, RIAs encompass a variety of other technologies and platforms, including Ajax, Curl, JavaFX, and Microsoft Silverlight.
While the technology center is primarily intended for developers, it's written in a way that resonates with marketers as well. Although marketers may not understand all the technical jargon, they can interpret enough to take action and provide direction to their development teams.
What Does the Technology Center Offer?
The center is made up of a series of articles that provide actionable tips and tricks and step-by steps guides for developers to follow. While the amount of content is a bit lean at the moment -- having just launched this month.
See the full story at: http://www.clickz.com/clickz_email_experts/search/results/newsletter
It's said that the only constant is change. As you look around the world of marketing, you can certainly see significant change happening.
Retailers are moving away from short-term dramatic discounts and moving toward value pricing for the long haul. Technology companies are steering away from marketing technological advances, instead embracing sustainability. Even in e-mail, we're seeing changes come from a strategic perspective.
One of the most exciting changes coming down the road for e-mail is how we look at segments in our e-mail databases. Historically, segments have consisted of your tried-and-true responders and non-responders. From there, sub-segments have often included new customers, high-value customers, high-transaction customers, and so on. The approach to e-mail segmentation has typically followed standard direct-marketing practices.
See the full story at: http://www.clickz.com/3633087
The issue of Flash and SEO is a never-ending one. It's an ongoing struggle between designers and SEO experts to find a solution that offers the bells and whistles that Flash Web sites deliver, while avoiding the potential SEO pitfalls that come along.
See the full story at: http://www.clickz.com/3633078
Like business blogs (b-blogs) and social networking profiles, sites such as Twitter offer businesses a new way to market products, promote sales and boost revenue -- if you tweet right, that is.
Microblogging -- a type of social media Web service that has grown in popularity over the past year -- lets you publish short message updates to a blog or microblog service. On some social networking sites, these short updates are called microposts (or status updates on Facebook). On Twitter they are called tweets and can be up to 140 characters in length.
See the full story at: http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/solutions/advertising/article.php/3810796
Yes, the first day of Spring - perhaps that's why we managed to publish one post yesterday. Spring is not just on our minds, though Yahoo has kindly provided a few tips about spring cleaning for your paid search account. It's a great reminder to revisit and perhaps rethink your paid search campaigns at all the pay per click providers you use (or perhaps should be using).
Perhaps the best general PPC spring cleaning tip from Yahoo! Search Marketing is related to account structure. Organizing your campaign the same way your website is structured and creating distinct campaigns for each product make it easer to manage and maintain. Advertisers may also want to further organize campaings into ad groups. Doing so makes the ads in each ad group much more relevant, since they only need to support a small number of related keywords.
See the full story: http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2009/03/20/ppc-spring-cleaning-tips-from-ysm.aspx
For as long as I can remember, Flash and search engine optimization have gone together like oil and water - but that is definitely changing. In an effort to make SWF files a first-class citizen in the world of searchable Web results, Adobe has been recently working with search engines to make SWF content more searchable. The information resource released may help some designers overcome the inherent challenges with flash and SEO immediately.
Adobe has provided Flash Player technology to Google and Yahoo! that allows their search spiders to navigate through a live SWF application - almost as if they were virtual users. The Flash Player technology runs a SWF file in a similar way the file would run in Adobe Flash Player in the browser. It returns all of the text and links that occur at any state of the application back to the search spider, which then appears in search results to the end user.
See the full story at: http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2009/03/17/flash-amp-seo-together-at-last-sort-of.aspx
Last month on the international email marketing at the Email Experience Council's Email Evolution Conference in San Diego marketers think about sending e-mail internationally, localization is obviously one of the first issues that come up. The discussion then often moves to the questions of translation and infrastructure support for "foreign" languages. In effect, localization is often equated with translation.
What struck most during the panel was the consensus that translation isn't localization. The panelists all agreed that localization is vital to international campaigns' success, and they weren't talking about translation.
Localization, effectively, is a form of segmentation. When sending e-mail within a single country with a mostly common language and culture, we know there are significant differences between audiences. We also know that speaking to these audiences individually (segmenting) substantially lifts results. Clearly the same will hold true when sending to multiple countries, each with its own language, culture, and social mores.
See the full story at: http://www.clickz.com/3633065
What is the return on investment of search, social marketing, or digital marketing or advertising in general? To me, ROI had always been calculated from sales. And I was curious why advertisers and marketers were not constantly asking for ROI for television, print, and radio campaigns while they kept harping on it with digital and social marketing. Then, it occurred to me that advertisers and marketers could have very different definitions for the term ROI. Perhaps there is indeed a way to reach common ground on the definition of ROI and use it to compare campaigns that run in different media or channels.
The ROI of Traditional Media? You Kidding Me? To some, return on investment meant the reach and frequency they achieved (e.g. on television); to others it was the number of impressions of display ads that were delivered; to others it meant the number of clicks through to a Web site, unique visitors per month, time spent on-site, or even number of fans on their Facebook page. And they would perceive that they got a better ROI if subsequent campaigns achieved greater reach and frequency, impressions, unique visitors, etc. or they achieved the same level at lower cost.
See the full story at: http://www.clickz.com/3633054
Recently in e-commerce search engine marketing and analytics news:
• iPerceptions and Web analytics guru Avinash Kaushik announce an upgrade to their free online survey service.
• Logic361 announces its "SEM Opportunity Dashboard" designed to maximize pay-per-click campaigns.
• Plus, Yahoo's testing of rich media ads in paid search listings show promise for prosperity. • Finally, we provide links to a Google Analytics guide and Website Optimizer's new YouTube channel.
Ask and Ye Shall Receive: Online Survey Segmentation
Beginning this week, e-commerce site owners can use 4Q to capture visitor feedback on "path-to-site" and visit frequency, gaining the ability to segment responses by visitor group and type. 4Q users can cross-tabulate these data points with the core 4Q insights on task completion and site satisfaction to gain a clearer understanding of how well their sites are catering to the needs of their diverse visitor segments, according to the company.
See the full story at: http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/solutions/advertising/article.php/3806396
It's easy to complain about customer service departments: they always seem to suck. But with so many companies struggling to keep hold of customers, I'm left wondering if they realize their customer service departments are a huge part of the problem. In this economy, you must put your best feet forward on all customer-facing fronts. Today we'll look at some best practices for customer service, along with some good and bad examples.
Make Your Contact Information Easy to Find
Some companies make it notoriously difficult for users to find their contact information. Don't be afraid of your customers: make your customer service phone number easy to find.
See the full story at: http://www.clickz.com/3633004
In "Keyword Analysis Exercise," we took a deep dive into answering questions about the role keyword density plays in search engine results.
Using one of my favorite tools to answer the question, we determined there's no magic equation that can be factored into producing better results. However, we determined that if you want a Web page to be found for a particular keyword phrase, you better put the words on the page. While this seems like a no-brainer to most of the folks in the SEO industry, it's a concept many people fail to grasp.
Let's start looking at some of the other signals that Web pages send to the search engines that help determine the overall relevance of the content to the query. Namely, inbound links.
See the full story at: http://www.clickz.com/3633048
Communication is any process by which information is exchanged. When you say "communication" to digital marketers, most automatically think e-mail. Well, that's not the case anymore. With e email marketing overload and limited time, consumers are often more receptive to other forms of communication that can reduce e-mail use. Therefore, marketers must think more broadly about their digital communication strategy.
Five Forms of Digital Dialogue
As digital communications evolve, so have the forms of engaging with your target market:
• E-mail. As the most mature digital communications channel, e-mail can be accessed via a variety of devices. It's most effective for providing a broad range of content, including promotional, behaviorally triggered, and newsletters. It can also be used as a digital identifier and driver for many forms of social media. While most e-mail communications move one way -- from companies to individuals -- it also should enable consumers to respond.
• Mobile. Mobile offers a variety of information formats, including SMS, e-mail, picture messages, video messages, social networking, and, of course, voice. Further, it provides purchase choices via mobile search, maps, and widgets as well as delivery alternatives, such as scanner-friendly tickets, mobile content, and entertainment (including games). Mobile also facilitates immediate responses from consumers. It's particularly useful for reaching teens.
• RSS. RSS provides an alternative for content distribution, especially for time-sensitive information in a user-controlled environment. It can extend relationships and build lead generation through use of private feeds to distribute tailored, trackable information.
• Chat. Is mainly focused on providing one-to-one cost-effective pre- and post-purchase customer support. It's also an alternative channel for consumers to communicate with each other and share information.
• Social media. Social media enables dialogue because consumer and marketer can post messages to each other. While social media gives users and brands an environment in which to connect and interact, marketers should exercise care and participate in a transparent manner. To preserve credibility, their communications shouldn't be promotional in any obvious way.
See the full story at: http://www.clickz.com/clickz_email_experts/crm/actionable_analysis/newsletter
Seven is a magic number. Why? Because there are seven simple strategies every small business can employ to jump on the social marketing bandwagon. The best part: most require only a moderate investment of time and/or money.
1.Start Blogging - Blogging is old news to many. Not quite the distant past, but still not the future...sort of a Web 1.5. Is blogging what's 'hot' at the moment? Well, no. It certainly doesn't compare with chasing a link from the front page of Digg. But blogging is alive and well! It continues to be a great way to get interactively connected with your customers. 'Dialoguing' is the reason social marketing exists. How much time you invest in your blog is up to you, but you'll get out what you put in. You don't have to drive yourself crazy putting in daily entries, but you should establish a regular schedule for your blog updates. Otherwise, when people check your blog they'll see the same-old/same-old so often that they'll stop visiting your site...which is the whole reason you started the blog! So don't shoot yourself in the foot by creating a blog that's a visitor-repellent rather than a visitor-magnet.
See the full story at: http://www.site-reference.com/articles/General/7-Things-You-Can-Do-Now-To-Cash-in-On-Social-Marketing.html
For several years, search engine optimizationconsultants and agencies have faced one major challenge, beyond keeping up with ever-changing organic ranking algorithms: lack of implemented recommendations. What causes this "implementation paralysis"? The answer is typically grouped into three areas:
1. Technology barriers.
2. The approval process.
3. Ownership issues within the site's organization.
Let's look at some examples of each of these results-paralyzing factors, and some ways to avoid or mitigate them.
Technology Barriers to SEO Implementations
Working with an organization that produces both HTML Web sites and major e-commerce platforms with IBM and Microsoft technologies on a regular basis has allowed me to observe and help overcome technology roadblocks frequently over the past few years. Having an internal team of more than 200 e-commerce engineers and dozens of Web designers who are eager to work with us (the search and media practice and specifically our SEO teams) in developing search-friendly sites and platforms streamlines the SEO process when it comes to dealing with technology issues.
See the full story at: http://searchenginewatch.com/sew_email/experts/sem_crossfire
If you haven't added a blog to your online store, given the state of the economy, now is a good time to consider doing so, as they can be an affordable way to market your ecommerce web site.
For some Web shop owners, it is the perfect forum for offering insider tips and sharing your expertise, while for others, it's a great way to involve customers in the buying experience by either discussing products or topics pertinent to your business or by simply keeping them updated on company news in a more personal way.
To help you decide if blogging will add value to your online store I'll explain what blogs are, how to integrate one into your site and explain what a blog can do to help you build your brand.
Understanding Blogs
A blog is different from a traditional Web site in that it is more like an online diary where the blog owner posts short messages on a semi-regular basis. These blog posts are organized chronologically with the most recent post at the top so a visitor can browse down the page to read earlier posts. This chronological layout is very different to the hierarchical layout use for most online stores. While it makes for easy reading, it isn't optimized for finding things quickly so you wouldn't use a blog to sell product, for example. What you will use a blog for is to stay in contact with your customers and to communicate with them about your business and products.
See the full story at: http://www.ecommerce-guide.com//article.php/3808866
Mismatched photos are the bane of website designers. You've probably already encountered the scenario where you have some product images for your ecommerce web sitethat don't match the look of the photos elsewhere on your site or that have ugly backgrounds. It might be that you've taken a product photograph using a different background than the one you used elsewhere, or, the photos might have been provided by different manufacturers and so differ in appearance in regard to backgrounds.
Regardless of how they got there, photos with either distracting or differing backgrounds backfire in terms of enticing shoppers. Instead of making the merchandise compelling, it turns off potential customers, and in some cases, will cause you to lose sales. So, how to address the issue? Fortunately, there are a number of techniques in Photoshop that you can use to edit product photos to minimize -- if not fix -- the problem. In this article I'll have a look at some of the approaches that you can take, depending on your specific needs.
See the full story at: http://www.ecommerce-guide.com//article.php/3807911
