Commerce Conversion - ECommerce News

Search Engine Strategies San Jose 2008

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:59:42 +0000

I’m moderating and speaking on a panel today at Search Engine Strategies. Topic (of course) is Shopping Search. Greg Hintz, Brian Mark, and Aaron Shear of Boost Search Marketing are joining me. Here’s my 1-page presentation.

Shopping Search Strategies - Upload a Document to Scribd
Read this document on Scribd: Shopping Search Strategies

Yes Virginia There Is a Santa Claus & He Searches for Free Shipping

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 13:00:09 +0000

To kick off our series on holiday SEO tips for online retailers, here’s a tip for retailers who offer free shipping on one or more products during the holidays. (My apologies to those who don’t offer free shipping, but bookmark this anyway - you may offer it down the road!)
Free shipping offers consistently top surveys of what customers want from online stores. And people do search for “free shipping,” and most often in November / December - as you would expect.

Now I’m not saying you have a hope in the North Pole of ranking for “free shipping” alone (though Amazon, Zappos, Shoes.com and Shoebuy have succeeded). The point is people really care about free shipping, even to search for it in search engines. And if you offer it, you should flaunt it when customers do searches for the products you carry — in your title tags […]

Product Search OneBox Results on the Move

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 18:48:02 +0000

As Barry Schwartz over at SEORoundtable pointed out last week, Google seems to be moving around product search results on Google.com. I’ve noticed this more and more over the last week.
Here’s a search for ‘red sweater’:

I hope this is just a test. I find this extremely confusing compared to the normal OneBox placement at the top of the search engine results page:

The Big Ecommerce Conference Contest

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:20:13 +0000

Every fall there are a ton of conferences that benefit online retailers and we want to help get you there! There are some perks that come along with being the #1 ecommerce blog in the world and we want to pass them on to you, our loyal readers.
Win FULL conferences passes to these events + Bonus prize

Event: Shop.org Annual Summit 2008
Prize: 1 Free Full conference pass
Date: Sep 15-17, Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, NV
Value: $1,725

Agenda | Register
* Jason Billingsley of Elastic Path Software is speaking at this event

Event: Online Market World
Prize: 2 Free Full conference passes
Date: Oct 1-3, Moscone West Convention Center, San Francisco, CA
Value: $650 x 2 = $1300

Agenda | Register + 20% discount (applied at end)
* Jason Billingsley of Elastic Path Software is speaking at this event

Event: Search Marketing Expo (SMX East)
Prize: 1 Free Full conference pass
Date: Oct 6-8, Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York […]

Bloggers Digest - 8/15/08

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 08:11:55 +0000

If you’re new here, welcome! And thanks for subscribing to Get Elastic. Friday is Blogger Digest day where we highlight posts from other blogs that are of value and interest to online retailers and Internet marketers.

Just a heads up, Jason and I will be away next week at Search Engine Strategies San Jose. But never fear, we’ll still be cranking out content for you every day. To run with the search engine theme, we’ll have a 4 part series next week on holiday SEO for online retailers. So stay tuned.

We love Google Analytics hacks, and Allaedin Ezzedin from E-nor.com posted a great tutorial on how to track user interaction with forms. Via Web Analytics World.

Rand Fishkin shares a link building a-ha moment: buy misspellings of your domain and redirect them to your site. If anyone links to you with the wrong spelling, you still get the link […]

2008 AWS Start-Up Tour

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 02:05:00 +0000

We’re really excited to announce our AWS Start-Up Tour again in 2008, and this year we’re adding cities to include more hotbeds of innovation. The event is focused on the interests and needs of the startup community, so if you are an entrepreneur or startup leader this is an opportunity to hear about Amazon Web Services—and hear about the real-world experiences of others who already innovate on the AWS platform.
The tour schedule is as follows, with more details at www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?node=332775011. Click Here to RSVP, and we suggest an early RSVP to avoid disappointment caused by limited seating. By the way, there is no admission cost for the event.

Silicon Valley, September 3
San Francisco, CA, September 4
Los Angeles, CA, September 9
Salt Lake City, UT, September 10
Austin, TX, September 11
Toronto, Ontario, September 16
New York, NY, September 18
Boston/Cambridge, MA, September 22
London, UK, November 4
[…]

How to Choose Ecommerce Technology & Software

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:56:53 +0000

This is a recap of Elastic Path Software and FitForCommerce’s web seminar The Art & Science of Choosing Ecommerce Technology. The on-demand version is now available along with a downloadable mp4 version (video iPod compatible) in our webinar archive.
Disclaimer The participation by FitForCommerce or Bernardine Wu is not meant as an endorsement of Elastic Path and/or its products and services. FitForCommerce received no payment, sponsorship, or other consideration for this webinar.

eCommerce Diligence - Ten Steps to Choose an eCommerce Technology
Requirements Diligence
Knowing what want and what you need

Clarify business, operational and organizational drivers
Conduct competitive and best practice analysis
Document your starting point
Determine and prioritize your requirements

Selection Diligence
Knowing what’s out there so you can make the best decision for you

Decide on the best solution model/type
Create a long list of 5-10 providers
Send an RFP and review responses
Narrow down to a short list
Final Diligence
Negotiate with finalists […]

Travel Day Today!

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 10:56:00 +0000

Getting ready to head out to the airport, so I’m not going to be blogging today and tomorrow but you can still follow me on Twitter. Of course if I hear anything of importance or get a chance I might still pop in for a post.
I will be enjoying a couple of days in the great northwest.
Just my 12%

Bridge the Gap - Build Trust in the Online Marketplace

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 20:25:07 +0000

A company must exude credibility in order to earn the trust of consumers and win their business, a particularly challenging feat in the impersonal online market. Even established e-commerce retailers must overcome widespread consumer distrust that has been propagated by online scams, unscrupulous websites and rampant identity theft.
Smaller online businesses that are not backed by […]

Trigger Email: Asking for Customer Reviews & Video Reviews

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:00:02 +0000

A while back I blogged about a Webinar I attended presented by Lauren Freedman of The Etailing Group and Power Reviews in which Power Reviews’ Jay Schaffer provided some tips and examples from retailers on how to ask for customer reviews post-purchase.
I was recently forwarded this email from Amazon calling for customer reviews - not just textual, but customer photo and video reviews.

Dear {customer},
Thank you for your recent purchase from Amazon.com.
We invite you to submit a review for the product you purchased or share an image that would benefit other customers. Your input will help customers choose the best products on Amazon.com.
It’s easy to submit a review–just click the Review this product button next to the product.
Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder, 60-Minutes (Black) (Purchased on 06/03/2008)
by Pure Digital
…or share an image.
New on Amazon! Grab your video camera or webcam and add video to your customer review. Click on ‘Review […]