Growing Your Online Business

Email - Powerful Tool....Still

There is too much spam and nobody wants more email.  Well, not junk mail.  That is true.  But everyone loves a good deal and good advice.

Email marketing is still an incredibly powerful tool.  Use it.  Make it easy to subscribe.  Provide a compelling reason to subscribe: special deals, interesting news, valuable advice.  Then execute by exceeding their expectations with professional and delightful emails.

According to MarketingSherpa's Ecommerce Benchmark Guide 2007:

Customers maintain many email relationships with retail vendors:  28% have 6 to 10 relationships, 18% have 11 to 20 relationships, and a whopping 21% over 20 relationships.

78% of shoppers frequently, regularly, and occasionally subscribe to email relationships.

Given these numbers I'm sure that you have something that is compelling and interesting to many customers who are looking at your listings and website and are making purchases from you.

What Problem Do You Solve?

Last week I (and several other Infopians) traveled to Chicago for the Spring PeSA Summit.  We had the opportunity to spend nearly 3 full days talking with some of the most dedicated seller's on eBay.  It never ceases to amaze me the myriad business models, sourcing mechanisms, and challenges (of course) that these sellers bring to the table.  Overall all of the feedback from the PeSA Members, Sponsors, and guest speakers was that the event was a great success.

Two of the topics that got a ton of airtime were customer relationship management (CRM) and eCommerce 2.0 (eC20) - not just what they mean, but the tools and mindset necessary to implement meaningful strategies.  All of the conversations got my product manager gears spinning, but one question in particular stands out: What problem do you solve?  Working for a software company, I ask this question every day regarding every part of our application, whether it is new functionality or something we are trying to improve upon.  But as a retailer you can ask yourself the same question, or a slightly modified one: What need do you fulfill?  Whether it is the need to beautify one's surrounding (home & garden), the need to have the latest and greatest gadget (consumer electronics), or the need to say "I'm Sorry" (florists, who also help with "Thank You" and "I Love You") - every retailer has a need they fulfill.  Being able to answer this question helps you understand your customer - and this is what CRM is all about. 

But wait there's more!  If you can identify your customer and his/her needs, you have much of what you need to know to master eCommerce 2.0.  One of the basic tenets of eC20 is the personalized shopping experience - creating a buying environment that is comfortable, relevant, and enjoyable.  If you can identify the need and you understand the buyer, then putting together a customized experience (through reviews or recommendations or complimentary products) is easy!

So what need do you fulfill?  And how are you going to turn that answer into the next generation of your eCommerce business?

Yahoo & Paypal Checking Google Checkout

A little sunshine for your spring eCommerce gardening.

Yahoo and Paypal are teaming up to bring you a new combination service of search advertising and payment processing.  The best part about it is the aggressive promotion (in response to the penetration Google Checkout has had in the past few months in the online retailing community).

The Promotion:  Free Paypal Express Checkout and a $100 credit to Yahoo Sponsored Search.  More details and sign-up:   https://www.paypal-promo.com/searchmarketing/

The Winner:  You.  Infopia already supports Paypal Express Checkout.  Now you can give your customers the same choices you have always been able to, but pay less (nothing) in credit card processing fees.

So let the big boys slug it out and enjoy the benefits.

Quality or Quantity?

Sometimes when I go to dinner, I want something really good to eat, something that will give my taste buds a joy ride. Other times, I just want to pig out, something that will give my appetite a non-stop party.

Where am I going with this? (I’m going to weight watchers, but that’s another story.) I want to talk about links to your website, specifically quantity vs. quality.

Recently, Google changed its covert algorithm, like it often does, to prevent manipulation of its search engine results. Google’s goal is to stop people from purchasing or trading links to manipulate listings on the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages).

You may have heard of a “Google bomb” – a tactic used by pranksters to rank a less-relevant website higher on the SERPs by manipulating the links to that website. The best example is George W. Bush’s website ranking for the search term “miserable failure.” Bush’s website obviously doesn’t say anything about a “miserable failure,” but because of the sheer number of links that pointed to Bush’s site using the text “miserable failure,” it showed up number one for that search phrase.

Google disarms the “Google bomb” by focusing on the quality, not the quantity, of links pointing to a website. In other words, the new link algorithm is based on the relevancy of the websites linked to your site rather than the sheer number of sites linked to your site. Therefore, thousands of links from non-related sites: not so good. A handful of links from authoritative experts from your industry: gold!

Google’s new algorithm also devalues numerous links from a single site—that is, it values these links as one link instead of many. Therefore, it is important to focus on developing relationships with your partners and others in your industry to build inbound links to your website.  Even more important is the need to create content that people want to reference in links. Time spent developing authoritative content and quality links will rank your site much higher than money spent purchasing thousands of irrelevant links.

So remember, the quality of food going into your body is healthier than the quantity. It’s the same for your website. I wonder if there is a weight watchers program for sites with link bloat?

Jason