Posted October 29th, 2010
by Pablo
For one reason or another, you’ll surely find a 404 error page on your website which is due to a page on your website being broken. This can be for a number of reasons but many online retailers don’t often check to see the status of their pages. Some 404 pages may actually have some good link power (always call it LINK JUICE) and that link juice is going to waste being pointed at a website that is ‘broken.’
What is a 404 error code on your page?
-The 404 or Not Found error message is a HTTP standard response code indicating that the client was able to communicate with the server, but the server could not find what was requested. 404 errors should not be confused with “server not found” or similar errors, in which a connection to the destination server could not be made at all. A 404 error indicates that the requested resource may be available again in the future.
What is a 301 re-direct?
-The HTTP response status code 301 Moved Permanently is used for permanent redirection.
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Posted in SEO for eCommerce
Posted October 28th, 2010
by Rafael Solorzano
See what you can expect in the 2010 holiday season for eCommerce. While the state of the economy is still rocky, eCommerce in 2010 for the holidays is expected to grow 10-15% over 2009.
Internet retailers wait all year for our big season and that of course is the holiday season. Quarter 4 is where we tend to really focus big on our marketing efforts and try to take the most market share from our competitors by offering competitive promotions, coupons, etc. Are you hopeful for a good holiday season this year? Well…it seems many are optimist in what we’re in for in 2010 and it should be better than last years holiday season.
Plumbersurplus.com posted a great article titled, “eCommerce Sites Gear Up for a Holiday Shopping Season,” which while I was reading it though had great statistics regarding what we’re going to be expecting. “Colin Sebastian of Lazard Capital Markets agrees estimating 10-15% growth in sales in 2010’s fourth quarter over last year’s holiday season.” While that may not be a big number, nevertheless, it is a positive sign of where were going into 2011 as well.
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Posted in Ecommerce Essentials & Tips
Posted October 26th, 2010
by Roger McGershen
In a post in 2009, we talked about the importance of add to cart buttons in design optimization. A lot of internet retailers still leave the custom add to cart buttons that come with standard templates but it is very important you experiment with this element in the design of your website. At the end of the day, it is that button that begins the transaction for a customer so it has to be an important element of your website.
The inspiration of this particular blog post came from a very nice read from a post on WebsiteMagazine.com titled, “Boost Sales with Better Buttons.” It goes on to explain the five fundamental elements for the design of a call to action button are size, color, shape, text and placement.
It is a fact that the largest online retailers spend a lot of resources researching these elements because conversions are everything in eCommerce. You can benefit from this research and studies by going to the largest online retailers websites and looking at their product design page and what type of buttons they are using. Great examples are Amazon, Flowers.com, and all large internet retailers.
SIZE: “Most conversion experts agree that the bigger the button, the more attention it will command – but there is a limit to that theory. Banner blindness is a legitimate affliction, so the button has to be big enough to grab the user’s eye but not so big that it resembles a banner ad. Ironically, being too subtle or refined with your button can be an even bigger mistake, so to err on the larger side is probably the safer bet. More important than the actual dimensions of the button is how it compares to the other elements on the page, from which it should stand out clearly. Here is one example of a generously sized button from Overstock.com that leaves no doubt about the call to action.”
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Posted in Ecommerce Essentials & Tips
Posted October 25th, 2010
by Pablo
As an online retailer, consumers sharing your content on the internet is one of the most important action they can take in your benefit. Social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter have become goldmines for online businesses to spread the word about their brands and for content to get distributed through user sharing.
While sharing on social media websites increases (as you see many blogs with share buttons, etc.) a study reveals that users still share the most using email.
“According to Chadwick Martin Bailey, three-quarters of web users say they are likely to share pieces of content with their friends and family, an activity brands are watching closely in their attempts to leverage the influence of brand advocates.
In a statistic that has been backed up by other studies, including the August one by CMB, SocialTwist reported email was the most common channel used to share content via the company’s Tell-a-Friend widget, accounting for more than half of all referrals. Social networks made up fewer than a quarter of shares.”
A key finding by this study was also that email shares had a lower click through rate than items content shared through Facebook and Twitter BUT email shares led to more engagement,” reports eMarketer.
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Posted in Online Marketing Strategies
Posted October 23rd, 2010
by Roger McGershen
eCommerce holiday marketing is one if not the most important time of the year to ramp up your online marketing efforts and give your website a big push to boost sales and brand exposure. We list 5 marketing strategies for the holiday season.
As the holidays near by, it’s never too early to start planning your marketing strategy for the holidays when it comes to ecommerce. Many online retailers wait a bit too long to start really pushing and promoting holiday’s specials. There are many things you can do to promote and push your brand and products during the holiday season which is what most internet retailers wait for all year.
There are online retailers that wait all year just for the months of November and December to make up for lost sales during the year but of course this all comes with a nice marketing push and trying to get as much exposure and best possible deals. Do you have to change your business model during the holidays or change things drastically on your website for holiday success? No. But it is important that you do try to give your online marketing efforts a push a bit prior to the holidays to start ramping up exposure and sales.
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Posted in Ecommerce Essentials & Tips
Posted October 22nd, 2010
by Roger McGershen
Question: Are Bookmarking Websites Good for SEO and Link Building?
Answer: When we talk about bookmarking websites, we are talking about two types that ARE GOOD for search engine optimization purposes. These social bookmarking websites are sites that allow you to save websites on pages that allow you to create a profile but also social bookmarking websites which allow you to share news with a community. Some of these websites are really good for SEO for two reasons. ONE, it does give you a link pointing to the URL you submit and TWO, if the content you submit is liked by the community, it will grow to the homepage of these websites and once it gets to the first page, can get you A LOT of links from sources that look to these pages for stories and really do link to them quite often.
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Posted in Q&A
Posted October 20th, 2010
by Rafael Solorzano
Without a marketing plan, your ecommerce website is doom for failure. Sure, some may get lucky with some keywords ranking organically but for the most part, as the web keeps getting more and more competitive, it is very important to you put together a game plan to get your website as much exposure as possible.
So, what can you do to put an ecommerce marketing plan together? Well…let’s go over some of the online marketing strategies used by all internet retailers to get maximum exposure to their websites.
The vast landscape of the internet holds a mass of information when it comes to online marketing today. You can find great blog post in regards to search engine optimization, pay-per-click marketing, social media and much more to put a solid marketing plan together. Nevertheless, the best way to get things started and learning is to actually put what you learn to practice. Try to find case studies and research articles that hold great data in terms of marketing online. This is a great first step to get a good idea of where you want to go and how you want to structure your marketing plan to move forward.
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Posted in Ecommerce Essentials & Tips
Posted October 19th, 2010
by Pablo
The first step towards starting an e-Commerce website is make sure you choose your shopping cart software. From there, you can start implementing and creating your website. You should take your time with this first process as your eCommerce platform will be a huge part of your eCommerce business and how it develops over time. We, of course, recommend you use Fortune3.
Once you’ve selected your shopping cart software, (and hopefully you’ve done your research on your competitors,) you should gather the best possible images of your products and really design a blue print of how you want to structure your website in terms of categories and break your products down from there.
It is very important that you do keyword research to know what keywords are going to be your main traffic drivers and how viable it is to market for those keywords in both paid search and organic search.
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Posted in Q&A
Posted October 18th, 2010
by Rafael Solorzano
In eCommerce, we have the option to accept different payment methods for consumers to purchase from our website. Even today, 2010, you’ll see ecommerce websites accepting only PayPal as a payment option. You have to realize that accepting only one payment method can really hinder sales and affect conversion rates greatly.
How many different types of eCommerce payment methods are there? We’ll list the most important and you definitely don’t need to accept all of them, but it is surely ecommerce best practice to accept more than one payment method such as PayPal.
DIRECT CREDIT CARD MERCHANTS: You should find a credit card processor who can allow you to accept all major credit cards directly for consumers to input that information. With this method, you will need a gateway which is how the information of the credit card is transferred through the internet.
PAYPAL: I talked about this in the opening paragraph and remains one of the most popular payment gateways today along with the first method of directly accepting credit card on your website. PayPal offers both individual accounts as well as business accounts and it is easy to use.
GOOGLE CHECKOUT: Google Checkout is fairly new in the market but it gained some market share as many consumers have Google accounts. Google accounts include any Gmail accounts, Feedburner services, marketing services, etc. The reach is vast and we’re seeing more and more consumers use Google Checkout as a payment method.
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Posted in Ecommerce Essentials & Tips
Posted October 18th, 2010
by Pablo
I think many small/medium size business struggles to really find out where to put more marketing resources when it comes to trying to market on Facebook and Twitter. While both social media giants are great for advertising and branding your business, many shorthand companies have time to really focus on one or the other or do both on a half-need basis.
Many companies have tried to put a value on these fans so they can allocate their advertising dollars. About two years ago, Burger King put a value of .37 cents on each of their Facebook fans or they valued YOUR Facebook friends at .37 cents to acquire.
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Posted in Social Media For eCommerce
