I’m still working hard (very hard – sleep? What’s that?) on my new Magento site. The new programmer is all I hoped and more. It makes a WORLD of difference having a great programmer. Just yesterday I found a significant requirement which I’d missed in my specs. I was kicking myself. Most of my products are very simple, but my content manager just spotted a few products where there are variations – choose a color. Fortunately, my programmer didn’t blink, and is sorting it out as I type. Shouldn’t be more than 1 day lost, probably less. Also, a key supplier had some major problems in their data feed. I’d asked them to look at changing their API but that stuff normally takes weeks/months at most companies. After spending hours with the programmer trying to find a way around it, I got an email a day later from the supplier saying “oh yeah, that is a bit silly, it’s fixed and live!”. Major relief. Makes it way easier to handle stock management on the backend.

Overall I’m on track to go live in a few weeks. The biggest hold up at this point might be some issues related to business/financial structure (beyond the scope of this blog). Overall the site is looking great and I’m really pleased.

Categories: Uncategorized | Date: Jan 10th, 2012 | Author: Mark | No Comments

Successful ecommerce site owners know that happy online shoppers are shoppers who are confident that the information that they transmit is secure, and that the sites they purchase from have developed clear and easy-to-understand terms and conditions; designed to safeguard the safety and interests of both storeowners and consumers.

If you’re an ecommerce store owner, you owe it to yourself and your customers to take the time to spell out your TOS (terms of service) clearly and in writing on your site. If you’re not sure how to get started, here are some important things to include and keep in mind:

Liabilities And Warranties

Take a look at some of the TOS of other ecommerce sites. They likely include a statement to the affect that the owners of the site make no express or implied warranties, guaranties, statements or representations about the site.

If you scroll down a little further, you’ll also likely see what is known as a liability disclaimer, which basically says that the site owner can’t be held responsible for any type of liability or personal injury that occurs as a result of consumers accessing the site, or because of any information contained within the site itself.

Site Information And General Use

Your terms of service need to be easy to understand, and should inform your customers about what to expect (and what not to expect) from your site. This includes the most up-to-date information possible about your services, products, and your business as a whole.

It is also important to include a statement to the affect that you, either as an individual or acting as a representative of a company, legally own the website and the domain associated with it, and have the legal authority to use the site for the purposes outlined in your TOS.

Need more tips and information? Visit the official FTC (Federal Trade Commission) website for information on their policies and guidelines. http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus28-advertising-and-marketing-internet-rules-road

Aura Talbott is the SEO Writer and Lead Blogger at Miva Merchant, an ecommerce software and hosting company. You can read more of her blog posts and learn more about Miva Merchant at http://www.mivamerchant.com/blog.

Categories: Uncategorized | Date: Jan 10th, 2012 | Author: Mark | No Comments

I had the privilege of having a chat with Matt Serralta, the COO of Prestashop. Matt has a background as a merchant using Prestashop and loved it so much he joined the company!

Have a listen to Matt tell us about how a small business can succeed online, how people fail and how to avoid that, and of course hear a bit about Prestashop.

Matt Serralta: Prestashop Interview

Categories: Uncategorized | Date: Dec 21st, 2011 | Author: Mark | No Comments

Here’s a great infographic breaking down how people spend their money, and importantly, how much of that goes online.

Click for full size:

Via http://www.permuto.com/blog/2010/02/27/what-are-people-really-buying-online/

Categories: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 9th, 2011 | Author: Mark | No Comments

Magento is an ecommerce platform based on the open platform software principle designed to assist online merchants in the removal of common procedural barriers involved in online business. Though Magento has not existed as long as some competing platforms, it boasts some of largest online retailers as its clientele. Best of all, in addition to several premium packages, it offers numerous competitive packages completely free of charge.

The greatest advantage that Magento offers potential users is the complete customization afforded by its open source nature. Users can create plug-ins, add-ons, and develop a host of other features designed specifically for their personal ecommerce needs. With a reported number of downloads exceeding one million world-wide, an exceedingly large number of user created modifications exists for download and implementation.

Unfortunately, for users looking for a completely free platform, the only technical support available is from other users through the Magento forums. While the overall knowledge of the community is obviously vast, users lacking a great deal of inherent technical ability will often struggle asking the correct questions or interpreting answers offered by the community at large.

For users seeking additional support and revenue sharing capabilities, Magento offers a professional addition. However, though this package offers full support from the company with regards to technical issues, it starts at $2,995 a year. This is simply not manageable for many smaller companies. The Enterprise Edition functions at a step above even the Professional Edition with regards to support and added functionality, though the price is determined by Magento on an individual basis based on individual business needs.

Price and package options aside, will Magento offer enough ecommerce options and increased functionality to make wading through its complicated nature worth it for most online retailers? In a nutshell, yes.

Magento operates, at the open source level, on a theme based structure. I find this extremely similar to the basic structure of WordPress as far as basic design structure goes. Though initially challenging, managing the theme based structure allows for storefront customization and easily repeatable across multiple ventures. This in itself is a huge plus when compared to basic content management systems or ecommerce interfaces that operate on a theme-less structure.

Factoring in the ability to manage multiple storefronts from one control panel, and a plethora of SEO based optimization tools built-in, and I think Magento is clearly a great option for any online retailer.

This guest post is by Marc McDermott of Merchant Express.  Merchant express offers merchant accounts and various credit card processing technologies to small and medium-sized businesses. Marc also runs his own online shop – running Magento!

Categories: Uncategorized | Date: Aug 7th, 2011 | Author: Mark | No Comments

Shopify is one of the most popular easy hosted solutions out there. For literally today only, you can get 6 months on the business plan, normally $99/month, for $99 total – and with Appsumo’s their “100% money back guarantee! For any reason Anytime before you die” guarantee! This is via Appsumo, deals for internet marketers, who I personally really like. Better act fast!

Categories: Uncategorized | Date: Jul 22nd, 2011 | Author: Mark | No Comments

I found this great presentation on slide share called “Lessons Learned From The Top 10 Converting Websites”. There’s some great stuff on there.

I did my own analysis of the wireframes of top converting sites earlier this year. It also adds weight to my long held suspicion of one page checkouts – I’ve long believed that in most cases they reduce, not increase, conversions. Slide 6 adds weight to these suspicions.

Enjoy!

Categories: Uncategorized | Date: Jul 20th, 2011 | Author: Mark | No Comments

Ok, I’m totally ashamed at myself for not noticing this rather huge announcement earlier – it was a month ago! *hangs head in shame*. Anyway, Ebay has purchase Magento!

Here is the official announcement from Roy Rubin, CEO of Magento.

Categories: Uncategorized | Date: Jul 11th, 2011 | Author: Mark | 1 Comment

Think you have what it takes to be an ecommerce SEO expert? Or want to learn more? Take our short ecommerce SEO quiz and find out! Share your score, thoughts, and any SEO questions in the comments.

Categories: Uncategorized | Date: Feb 26th, 2011 | Author: Mark | 2 Comments

This site has been up for almost 10 years now (wow!) and in that time I’ve had some unusual and interesting emails. However, this is possibly a first. While I’ve had many many conversations with owners of shopping cart companies, this is the first time I’ve been contacted by the owner of a shopping cart company. So, uhh, on with the review?

The “EG-1001″ shopping cart is made by NewSky Tech. They appear to be based in China. The EG-1001 seems to be a relatively unconventional design, unusually deep and not like the flatter bed shopping carts I have used in the past at my weekly grocery run.

While I didn’t have the opportunity to use the EG-1001 in person, the picture provided does seem a little flimsy. While the rear wheel is a well proportioned 9 inches, it does seem weak and I’d be concerned about putting too many melons and canned goods in the trolley less the wheel should collapse.

Overall, based on the photo, I wouldn’t recommend it except for light shoppers and those with healthy backs.

(I swear I’m not making this up! I really did get the email and all facts above are extracted directly from it.)

Categories: Uncategorized | Date: Feb 25th, 2011 | Author: Mark | No Comments