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eCommerce Fundamentals
"Blocking and Tackling" - A quick take a some eCommerce
fundamentals
eCommerce can be VERY complex. To offer a world class customer
experience, retailers must incorporate technologies and
functionality that exceeds rising customer...
Ecommerce Store Owners : Want Visitors? Here’s How. . .
Have you recently opened an online store, and waiting for those customers to drop by and start shopping? In cyberworld - unlike the real world - you just can’t pick a good location and rely on passing trade. You’ve got to work hard to get visitors...
How to set up the ecommerce shopping cart software tools to handle your transactions and how to do in smart, efficient and cost effective way.
Utilizing a ecommerce shopping cart software solution frees
you of the burden of setting up and managing your shopping car,
credit card processing and sales management functions so you can
concentrate on what you do best, providing products and...
Is eCommerce Right For Our Business
If your business features products or services for sale, undoubtedly the topic of eCommerce has come up. What is eCommerce? Literally defined as "the conduct of financial transactions by electronic means," it refers to purchases made over the...
Search Engine Optimization in an eCommerce World
Before one can fully understand the importance and necessity of implementing a search engine optimization program into their marketing mix, it is important to look first at the phenomenal statistics regarding Internet use. For example: There...
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Blogs, Podcasting and RSS | eCommerce Impact
Blogs, Podcasting, and RSS Overview You probably have heard all
these terms an awful lot lately. You wonder about what these
technologies do? What value to they provide? If you aren't up to
speed on these new applications and how they are impacting
online interactions then read this brief further. Will these
technologies impact you? To be honest, it's too early to tell -
but awareness will drive innovation and maybe your team will
develop an idea/application that utilizes these technologies to
enhance a portion of your eCommerce business.
Here's the rundown: Blogs What they are: Probably the most well
known of the three, blogs allow everyday people to quickly
develop a website presence and distribute any type of content
that they desire. Look at the metrics relating to blog
penetration. * 7% of the 120 million U.S. adults who use the
internet say they have created a blog or web-based diary. That
represents more than 8 million people. * 27% of internet users
say they read blogs. * Only 38% of all internet users know what
a blog is. The rest are not sure what the term "blog" means.
What a "blog" actually means is weblog. In basic terminology,
it's the ability for someone to update web content directly
though the Internet, using a web browser as the publishing
mechanism. This makes the creation of content easy and many
people are using blogs to establish authority sites within
unique business and hobby/interest niches. Where blogs impact
online retail most is within these targeted online communities.
Certain blog authors develop a large base of specific visitors,
hence the site becomes a potential target market for viral
marketing efforts. Many web entrepreneurs us this functionality
to develop affiliate hubs within niche markets, and use search
popularity to beat out larger retailers within corresponding
natural search results.
By integrating your brand image within the site experience at
that SPECIFIC blog, you as an online marketer are able to
segment your marketing PRIOR to converting someone as a
customer. It is a place to communicate with current and
potential customers about current offerings/promos while
boosting the credibility of the brand. Should you care: If you
have a very unique value proposition, or sell to a very specific
or high-value customer segment, blogs can be a great way to
increase overall brand awareness. You can better connect with
your customers and provide detail into the current happening
within the business (ex. Current sales on XBOX 360).
Potentially, one person within your organization should own the
monitoring of blogs within
your vertical and look to post new
content to meet the needs within the unique blog community.
Podcasting What it is: Pocasting should be just called mobile
video broadcasting. However, Apple's marketing/development team
did a great job with branding their device to a type of emerging
media - hence the term podcasting! Similar to traditional radio
and television, mobile video broadcasting delivers branded
content in either a paid/free environment, on someone's mobile
media player (Apple only does video currently, but that will
change shortly). Retailers can potentially use this
communication channel to deliver targeted content to their
customer base, while integrating advertising within the video
content.
Should you care: Not really. Until video podcasting penetration
increases, it's still a limited channel for advertising. The
best application available right now would be an online audio
content segment that is digitally delivered to an opt-in list.
As technology advances, you can potentially do this from your
current opt-in page on your website and not from Apple's iTunes
platform.
RSS RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication and is a method for
electronic content distribution. RSS is transmitted via the
internet, but what makes it unique is that no downloading
efforts are needed by the end receiver of the content. The
content streams instateneously within a webpage.
Advanced consumers have RSS news readers on their computers,
either integrated into an email client, or utilize an aggregated
web application such as News Gator. This essentially saves them
time in aggregating all new and updated content that meets their
interests. Already gaining steam in the travel industry and
within comparison shopping engines, RSS seems to be a valuable
way to push news and time sensitive offers to customers. Travel
companies are able to provide a streaming supply of last minute
airfare offers to their customer segments, without that customer
having to open an email or visit a webpage.
Should you care: It completely depends on the nature of your
business. Do you consistently offer new prices? Do you obtain
new products to your assortment consistently? Do you have a
customer base that is extremely loyal that you want to reach out
to with messaging? If so, RSS may another channel to help build
your brand. Call us today to learn more about these technologies
and the potential impact they can have in reaching your
customers with targeted messaging and fresh content.
About the author:
http://www.trinityinsight.com
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| E-Commerce Times: Because E-Business Means Business |
| Everything you need to know about doing business on the Internet. Information for C-Level executives and small-to-mid-sized business managers. |
| www.ecommercetimes.com |
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| ECommerce-Guide to News, Reviews and Technology Solutions |
| ECommerce-Guide provides ecommerce business owners with e-commerce news, hardware and software reviews and tutorials, technology solutions and information ... |
| www.ecommerce-guide.com |
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| Electronic commerce - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| Electronic commerce (also referred to as EC, e-commerce or ecommerce) ... Even in product categories suitable for e-commerce, electronic shopping has ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
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| E-Commerce News for IT Managers |
| Daily e-commerce news for managers of business covering marketing, transaction processing, security, retailing and service delivered over the Web. |
| www.internetnews.com |
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| New Zealand Government E-Commerce |
| Resource containing information on electronic commerce, including law, trade, tax, privacy, consumer protection, and help for businesses. |
| www.ecommerce.govt.nz |
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| eCommerce Guidebook for web hosting |
| The eCommerce Guidebook provides many resources, including a directory of online transaction providers, a tutorial, and many other resources. |
| www.online-commerce.com |
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| ClickZ Internet Marketing Solutions for Marketers |
| Includes columns with commentary and analysis on a wide variety of internet marketing subjects ranging from B2B marketing to search engine marketing. |
| www.clickz.com |
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| Shopping cart software for Dreamweaver, Frontpage, CSS ecommerce ... |
| Shopping cart software integrated into Frontpage, Dreamweaver, CSS and Golive ecommerce software templates. |
| www.ecommercetemplates.com |
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| E-Commerce & the Internet |
| Information from the FTC on E-commerce and the Internet. Includes anti-fraud tips. |
| www.ftc.gov |
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| Economy & Work: eBusiness | Europa - Information Society |
| The e-business concept goes well beyond e-commerce (buying and selling ... A pilot study on E-commerce and the Internet in European businesses (2002) was ... |
| ec.europa.eu |
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| Online Business |
| If your e-commerce site currently accepts online payments, and is really, really, ... They are looking for entries from ugly e-commerce sites to win a new ... |
| onlinebusiness.about.com |
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| eCommerce Info Center- ONE-STOP for eCommerce info, services ... |
| eCommerce Info Center, created and maintained by Slim Baltagi, will make it easier and faster for you to find out relevant eCommerce information, ... |
| www.ecominfocenter.com |
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| eCommerce Innovation Centre |
| Practical resources for small business involved in or considering eCommerce implemetations. Expert Advice and Assistance. |
| www.ecommerce.ac.uk |
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| Web Marketing Today -- E-Commerce, E-Mail, Internet Marketing, and ... |
| Articles, tips and advice on e-commerce and effective Internet marketing strategies. |
| www.wilsonweb.com |
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| Web Marketing Today Research Room for E-Commerce |
| The largest collection of annotated links to web marketing and ecommerce articles and resources to be found at any single place on the planet. |
| www.wilsonweb.com |
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| The 2005 E-commerce Awards - Welcome |
| The UK national E-commerce awards organised by the DTI and Interforum. |
| www.ecommerce-awards.co.uk |
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| Mal's e-commerce |
| Mal's e-commerce ... Customize the look and feel of your store; No scripts or applications to install; Build as large an e-commerce site as you want ... |
| www.mals-e.com |
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| Howstuffworks "How E-commerce Works" |
| E-commerce has exploded in the last 10 years. Find out how e-commerce works and how you can harness the potential of e-commerce, from affiliate programs to ... |
| www.howstuffworks.com |
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| Ecommerce Guide - Terms You Need to Know to Do Business on the ... |
| An online computer dictionary and internet search engine for internet terms and techincal support. |
| e-comm.webopedia.com |
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| Shopping Cart Software Ecommerce Solutions |
| Ecommerce solutions by Volusion will take your business to new heights. Volusion offers the best prices in the industry for a complete ecommerce web ... |
| www.volusion.com |
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