Yahoo Store Blog -

Yahoo Store Radio Show - Overcoming Cart Abandonment & Social Networking

2008-08-18T14:28:00.002-04:00

01 Overcoming Cart Abandonment - Glenn Russell and Chris Wampler

In a recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive and Elance.com, 70% of the people surveyed said that hiring a virtual assistant would give them more time and reduce stress in their lives. Store owners could certainly use a lot less stress and more time for yourself,Are you losing too many sales from cart abandonment? www.upsellit.com

Listen Now

02 Social Networking with Michael Vorel

Everyday we hear more and more about social networking. How much do you understand about the new tools available that can help you increase your sales and get to know your customers? Michael Vorel discusses social networking tools such as Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed, and more PLUS show you how you can use social networking to build your brand. One more bit of great news, all these tools are FREE! www.vastplanet.com

Listen Now

Web 2.0 for Affiliates from Affiliate Summit

2008-08-18T14:14:00.002-04:00

Ernie St. Gelais, CTO of LinkConnector.com

You will quickly be left behind if Web 2.0 strategies are not part of your overall marketing blueprint.

“Web 2.0 has been called the “participatory web” that involves consumer action, not just reaction to your website or message. “

Web 1.0 Traditional Ads included text links, images, email, flash, product feeds, RSS feeds, and coupon feeds.

Web 2.0 creative’s include widgets and gadgets, video ads, and in-text ads.

“A widget is a small application that runs on your desktop or in a web page.”

Web 2.0 in-text ads uses javascript, which scans a web page for keywords to convert into hyperlinks that direct users to advertiser websites.

Web 2.0 video ad provides are Google Adsense, WebVideoZone.com and soon…everyone

**FROM SHAWNA**

Check out Webware top 100 web 2.0 applications for 2008

http://news.cnet.com/html/ww/100/2008/winners.html

SEO Secrets from Affiliate Summit

2008-08-18T14:01:00.002-04:00

My SEO Secrets Presented by Will Reynolds, Founder, SEER Interactive

How Google Knol is killing your content is king strategy

Mostly impacts content heavy sites
You Must watch out for these rankings in your space
Use Aaron Walls Rank Checker for your key terms and
Knoll.google.com as the damain
http://tools.seobook.com/firefox/rank-checker/
Impacts “how to” and hot content

Prepare for it by:
NOT BY WRITING
Watch hot trends(google.com/trends) and write about them quickly
Edit regularly, promote the heck out of them you’ll need a following, links, traffic to the page
Create a contest around adding to your Knol (Aaron Wall)
Don’t close it to editing(guess)
Watching, reading, commenting, voting
People are sharing in the Adsense revenue, if these pages start ranking well someone is going to get PAID better be you!

Tools to help you know what you are up against in SEO

One of the biggest mistakes made by people who are doing their own SEO or hiring an SEO is not properly assessing the competitiveness of their landscape against and honestly assessing their skills.

Depending on your industry you should know that David vs. Goliath is getting much harder to pull off – everyone has search in their marketing plans

How to spot low hanging fruit opportunities that require basic SEO

Fun a tool like SEO spyglass (paid) or linkdiagnosis (free) to get the spread of links to a competing site. Are most links low PR, how many do they have? How do you stack up (in the dame tool).

Are mostly homepages ranked well or do you see many pages ranking with pages that are 2-3 levels away from the homepage?
Look for links from authority sites, PR 7 and higher
Are those rankings well household names?
Search news sites are competitors getting a lot of press, are they partnering with big household names
Search Google News + archive
USE SEOQUAKE to get averages on PR, Links, etc

Don’t be a victim. Beware of the SEO MYTH!! Every site ranks well for SOMETHING!!

Linkdiagnosis

What I get from this tool for my top competitors:

High value backlinks
What are the REAL odds that I’ll be able to get some similar ones?
How many raw links do they have?
What is the anchor text of the top high value links? How does your PR distribution compare to theirs? How do we compare on deep links?

2 THINGS I LIKE about this tool:
- Sortable columns
- Exportable to CSV for real manipulation (MACROS)

Be Careful
It doesn’t do any interpretation on focus / these of site
You’ll see Wikipedia / Amazon in the top of search results and you can bump them for stuff that is LONG tail for them but in your wheelhouse.

SEOQuake

What I get from this tool for my top competitors:

Pagelinks (gives an idea on deeplinks)
Domain links (domain link power) Indexed Pages.
Add in Gov Links, Stumbleupon, Digg Google Trends Data, etc = Platform

2 THINGS I LIKE about this tool:
- Sortable SERPS
- Exportable to CSV for real manipulation (MACROS)

Be Careful
You can get blocked out of Google
Sometimes to get the best out of the dataset change your search prefs to 50 results this is likely to get you the best overall idea of what you are up against.

Now that you know the competitiveness of the landscape your next steps are to make choices about what kinds of terms you can win with

Press Release Success from Affiliate Summit

2008-08-18T13:30:00.001-04:00

Jay Berkowitz, CEO of TenGoldenRules.com

86.9 million American get their news online. 98% of journalists go online daily.

92% for article research
76% to find new sources and experts
73% to find press releases

Tips for Success

1. Keyword Research
2. Select 3 Phrases
3. Add keywords to Headline and Subhead
4. Add keyword phrases to first paragraph, middle, and end
5. Add Release to Site
6. Add Meta Tags
7. Blog release to ensure pick up in directories
8. Ping release in MyGoogle, MyYahoo, Digg etc
9. Add release to PR Web
10. Check Results

The Ten Hottest Strategies for Internet Marketing from Affiliate Summit

2008-08-18T13:22:00.002-04:00

Jay Berkowitz, CEO of TenGoldenRules.com

1. Micro Communications - The players are Twitter, YouTube, Blog Subscriptions. Sites to watch are Qik and Seesmic. Business applications YouTube product videos, subscriptions, twitter for business. Advanced strategies include viral traffic and build your personal subscriptions.

2. Reviews and Recommendations – TripAdvisor, Google, CNET, Amazon. Sites to watch are Yelp! and Angie’s List. Business applications include Ask for Ratings, Get Listed, Maps, So-So-Ro-Bo. Advanced strategies include build great products, great customer service, and community ratings is the product.

3. Customer Service is the new Marketing Department – The players are Richard at Dell, Amazon, Zappos. Sites to watch include Technorati, Blog Search, and Apple. Business applications include Monitor your Brand Message and Join the Conversation. Advanced strategies include be genuine, be transparent, and experiment.

4. Personal Branding – The players are Blogs, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Friend Feed is the site to watch. Business applications include LinkedIn, Facebook Groups, and video. Advanced strategies include Facebook Pages and YouTube Channels.

5. Great Content – 68% of people are searching on Google. The players are Google, Wordtracker, and KeywordDiscovery. Site to watch is Blended Search. Business applications include words on the page, links to your site, and meta tags and code. Advanced strategies include an apple a day, video content, social media content, and second click.

6. Everybody is Famous – LEARN NEW TRICKS AND TIPS BEFORE YOUR COMPETITORS. The players include ITunes, Blogger, WordPress, and PodioBooks. Make sure to watch ITunes Video. Business applications include You Are What You Publish, Blog 3-4 times per week, set schedule, 10GR Podcast 13. Advanced strategies include podcasting and conferences.

7. Open Architecture and Widgets – The players include Linux, MAC, Facebook, Amazon, and eBay. Sites to watch are Widgetbox and Iphone. Business applications include Create a Widget – straight to desktop. Advanced strategies include Facebook applications and straight to the iphone.

8. Payments – The players include PayPal, Bill Me Later, and Amazon. Sites to watch are Bill Me Later, National Payment Card, and Google Checkout. Business applications include trust, easy and familiarity. Advanced strategies include test for conversion.

9. Direct to Consumer PR – The players include PR Web and Business Wire. Sites to watch are NewsForce and business application is Direct to Google.

10. FREE – The players are Google and SEO Quake. Sites to watch are Compete, SpyFu, SEODigger, and Syntryx. Business applications include analytics, optimizer, and trends.

Update on Monitus Issue

2008-08-15T14:15:00.001-04:00

It appears as of 2:15 ET the problem has been resolved. However, there is no way of knowing for sure until we hear back from Monitus directly.

If you would still like the code removed, we can do so until you receive further notice from Monitus

http://www.1choice4yourstore.com/remove-monitus-code.html

Urgent For ALL Monitus Customers

2008-08-15T13:32:00.003-04:00

Many Yahoo Stores right now are having their site not showing up in Internet Explorer. We have learned this is due to the tracking code provided by Monitus Software.

In order to fix the problem immediately, you will need to remove all scripting that Monitus has provided you. This will be within your store editor as well as your check out manager.

Most likely you will find these codes listed in the variables as well as remove the code from your Global Settings in Checkout Manager.

If you are experiencing this problem and you need this removed immediately and do not feel comfortable doing it yourself, you can have us remove the code for you free of charge.

Place your order for the service here:

http://www.1choice4yourstore.com/remove-monitus-code.html

Make sure to give us your URL/URLs in the comments section of your order and give access to ystore_seo

To give us access, under site settings in store manager click on access and put our name in.

Again, we will get this done for you as soon as possible. We will be working late and all weekend to assist clients with this issue.

There is NO charge for this whatsoever and we will try to have it completed within a hour from your order if ordered before 10pm ET

Affiliate Summit Boston 08

2008-08-11T20:44:00.002-04:00

Affiliate Summit has been filled with some really great information! We are still putting it all together and will bring it to you very soon.

We are also working on ABC's of Affiliate Marketing Part 2.

ABC's of Affiliate Marketing Part 1 explains some keys terms, have you sign up with a few networks, and learn your way around.

In Part 2, we will discuss choosing the right programs, how to add them to your Yahoo Store, and what to look for.

Stay tuned for more details!

Update on McAfee and Help with Abandoned Carts

2008-08-11T17:08:00.003-04:00

McAfee has stopped redirecting traffic to their shopping portal from your link.

However, the yahoo shopping cart is still showing as yellow (warning).

Remember, in order to see this for yourself on your website, you have to first install the software.

I have checked over 20 of our customers websites and have found ALL of them still have this warning. This has really gone on far too long.

In an effort to assist you increase your sales, we are interviewing this evening UpSellIt.com who will be providing Yahoo Store owners information on abandoned cart issues.

Join us live at 6:00 PM Eastern (3:00 PM Pacific) on WsRadio.com

We also will have Michael Vorel from VastPlanet with us as and will have live conference coverage of Affiliate Summit 2008!

Sincerely,

Shawna Fennell

Don’t forget you can catch our shows 24/7 at
www.powerhourradiohow.com as well as subscribe via Itunes.

URGENT McAfee Marks Yahoo Cart With Warning!!!???

2008-08-04T16:22:00.004-04:00

Thank you McAfee for your Site Advisor. Thanks to you,
Yahoo Store owners are potentially losing thousands and thousands of dollars
DAILY.

McAfee has marked yahoo.net as the following:

This is absolutely ridiculous and has gone on for far too
long.

Let me explain the problem. When your customers go to your

website and they place something in your cart, they see a warning from McAfee.

This is completely unacceptable.

Check out the Site Advisor Page on Yahoo

You can install SiteAdvisor and see for yourself as well by downloading their program

http://www.siteadvisor.com/

Oh and before you think this is only a cart issue, think again.

Check out this out in Google:Do a search right now for site:yahoo-net and pick any keyword.

This is what you will see if you choose gifts.

All Yahoo Stores listed in Google with the yahoo.net marked with big yellow marks.

Read this post for more information on the topic that was written August 1^st.

McAfee needs to get this fixed.... FAST

Join us this evening for an interview with Control Scan on the Power Hour. I think you will start seeing their name more and more.

It pays to learn about Affiliate Marketing!

2008-08-01T17:04:00.002-04:00

Need a little extra income?

We all do.

Affiliate Marketing may be the answer you are looking for.

1 Choice has just launched a new FREE e-book called ABC's of Affiliate Marketing Part 1.

Aunesty Janssen, VP of Marketing for Rolet explains, "Affiliate Programs can create a large and effective sales force with minimal expense. Not only is it a way to generate additional revenue, it is a powerful way to market your business on the Internet, to drive traffic to your site, and gain new customers." 1 Choice wants to help you learn the ABC's of Affiliate Marketing.

We think it is important to become an affiliate before you start your own program.

PLUS you can make some extra cash which will help you pay for your new affiliate program!

Our new e-book will teach you what you need to know to get started!

Check out this months newsletter to learn more!

Shawna Fennell

The ABC's of Affiliate Marketing

2008-07-28T16:37:00.002-04:00

Have you wondered how Affiliate Programs work?

Today on Yahoo Store Power Hour we will teach you the basics of
Affiliate Programs!

What is an Affiliate?

What is an Affiliate Program?

What is Affiliate Marketing?

How can you use Affiliate Programs to increase your sales?

How can you use Affiliate Programs to increase your income?

As explained by Aunesty Janssen, VP of Marketing for Rolet,
Affiliate Programs can create a large and effective sales force
with minimal expense. Not only is it a way to generate additional
revenue, it is a powerful way to market your business on the
Internet, to drive traffic to your site, and gain new customers.

Join us at 6:00 PM Eastern (3:00 PM Pacific) to learn more by going
to:

http://www.wsradio.com

Click on the Listen Live button.

Sincerely,
Shawna Fennell

P.S.
Don’t forget you can catch our shows 24/7 at
www.powerhourradioshow.com as well as subscribe via Itunes.

Mind Blowing Tips for Yahoo Store Owners

2008-07-21T17:49:00.001-04:00

Make sure to join us for the Yahoo Store Power Hour in just a few
minutes.

Today we are interviewing Scott Smigler, CEO of
www.ExclusiveConcepts.com and Eric Yonge from www.eystudios.com

Together they will be sharing tips on branding, navigation, search
engine optimization, and common mistakes that Yahoo Store owners
often make and talking to us about www.onetwopunch.com

Plus, Tom DaPrato, owner of www.SimplyTapestries.com will be sharing
his tips to success in Part 2 of our interview.

Join us live by going to www.wsradio.com at 6:00 PM Eastern (3:00
PM Pacific) and clicking on the Listen Live button.

Sincerely,

Shawna Fennell

P.S. Don't forget you can visit our website
www.powerhourradioshow.com for 24/7 listening.

Customer Service - The Lifeblood Of Your Business

2008-07-07T17:48:00.000-04:00

In today's economy, you can't afford skimping out on your customer service. Gas prices are rising, people are being laid off, and the economy doesn't look good. We hear this on the news daily.

Your business can survive during this recession. You have to stand out above the crowd. You have to provide your customers with top notch customer service. You can't always be the lowest price, someone will always undercut you.

Your website needs to be professional, your website needs to portray that you provide top notch customer service, your website needs to make your customers feel secure, and most of all your website needs to convert visitors into buyers!

Last week we spoke we Ordermotion on the Yahoo Store Power Hour about the importance of automating your order processing. Fantastic show with fantastic amount of information!! Make sure to check it out if you haven't already at http://powerhourradioshow.com/6-30-08.html

In just a few moments we will be interviewing Ring Central about the importance of having a toll free number. Have you ever wanted a service that allowed you to set up departments but thought it was too expensive? It's not! Departments can help you gain control over your customer service! PLUS we are going to learn about a new feature called Click To Call. A MUST HAVE!!

So listen live at 6:00 PM ET (in 10 minutes) at http://www.wsradio.com

Or you can catch the archive tomorrow at http://www.powerhourradio.com

Sincerely,

Shawna Fennell

New E-Book and Keyword Tips You MUST Learn

2008-06-27T15:44:00.000-04:00

It's that time again! 1 Choice has a new FREE e-book for Yahoo
Store Owners. Check out this month's newsletter and download your
copy today!

Learn more about:

How to get the most out of Comparison Shopping sites
Internet video Selling
Strengthening the customer bond
Tips for running a Small Ecommerce Business
...and much much more!

Plus, you can listen to our interview with Wordtracker on the Yahoo
Store Power Hour where we learned tips about keywords that EVERY
Yahoo Store owner NEEDS to learn today!

Additional features this month:

*How to beat the recession
*Increasing conversion rates with Rob Snell
*Building a blog for income
*Google Adsense tips
*Affiliate Marketing
*and much more!

Click here to read this month's newsletter now as there is also a
special offer from Worldwide Brands that ends soon!

http://www.1choice4yourstore.com/june-2008-news.html

Sincerely,

Shawna Fennell

Worldwide Brands is offering a Payment Plan for a LIMITED time

2008-06-27T14:00:00.002-04:00

Another great email came my way today from Worldwide Brands. This is definitely something you do not want to miss out on. Offer ends on Monday!

Hi Shawna,

Take a look...

http://blog.worldwidebrands.com/specialoffer/

It's the first payment plan ever offered by Worldwide Brands.

Now you can get started with the 'Product Sourcing
Membership' with over 6 million wholesale products and
our premium education product, "The Whole Sale" for
only $99 down. You’ll make easy payments of $133 over
the next 3 months, but start enjoying the benefits for your
eBiz right NOW.

Here are the full details:

http://blog.worldwidebrands.com/specialoffer/

There are 2 reasons why we're doing this...

Reason #1: We just finished surveying over 10,000
people who signed up for our "Beat The Recession with
eCommerce" series and almost 80% of them didn't know
what products they would be selling this holiday season.

It's a mistake that could cost thousands of dollars in
sales and profits.

Experienced retailers know that right now is the time to
get your orders in to the wholesalers.

Not a few months from now.

If you wait, you could miss out on the 2008 holiday
season and you'll have to wait until next year.

Each year, the holiday season is the time most retailers
make the bulk of their profits.

You definitely don't want to miss out on it. Click here to
find the products you want to sell this holiday season
and to get your orders in with the wholesalers:

http://blog.worldwidebrands.com/specialoffer/

Reason #2: We want to give you some financial relief.

Even though we showed you example after example of
retailers making record profits through the recession,
we still heard from people who are little afraid to get
started right now.

We understand.

So, in addition to giving you a payment plan that makes
it easier to get your eCommerce business moving, we're
going to give you a $200 discount on everything.

You can read about it here:

http://blog.worldwidebrands.com/specialoffer/

We obviously can't keep this offer open forever.
It's only available through this coming Monday
night, June 30, 2008.

When the clock strikes midnight (Eastern standard Time)
this Monday, the offer will expire.

Take advantage of this right now. It's the best offer
we've ever made.

http://blog.worldwidebrands.com/specialoffer/

Thanks and I'll talk to you soon.

Chris Malta
WorldwideBrands.com

Are keywords confusing?

2008-06-23T16:59:00.002-04:00

Today on the Power Hour we are interviewing Ken McGaffin from Wordtracker who will be helping us to understand why keywords are so important.

What we will be discussing...

Who uses keyword research and why?
How can people do keyword research?
What does Wordtracker do?
Where does the data come from?
How accurate is the information?
How can a business use keyword research?

and much more!

Join us LIVE today at 6:00 PM Eastern (3:00 PM Pacific) on WSRadio.com

Don't forget to check out our archives for 24/7 listening as well!

**Special Offer from WordTracker**

Another awesome email from Worldwide Brands

2008-06-17T16:54:00.001-04:00

The folks from Worldwide Brands sent me over another great email about the new free product they have as well as the awesome new videos.

Here is the info :)

Shawna,

Your next free video is ready.

http://blog.worldwidebrands.com/?kbid=23107

It's the 5th video in the 'Beat the
Recession with eCommerce' series.

In this video, we tackle your top 2
frequently asked questions:

1. What to sell and where to start?

and

2. How do I beat my competitor's price?

You'll watch as we analyze a market that will grow
by 30% in the next 4 years and show you how to drill down
into specific products to sell in this market.

You'll see how to cut your market research down to
minutes, instead of weeks.

You'll also get a real life example of how to quickly add
value to any product you're selling and outsell
competitors who are trying to under-cut your prices.

Watch the video now:

http://blog.worldwidebrands.com/?kbid=23107

Thank you for all of your tremendous
feedback on this video series. We had
a lot of fun creating it and we love
the comments you've given us.

There will be one more video in the
'Beat the Recession with eCommerce'
series after this one.

But don't worry, what we've shared
with you in the last few weeks is just
the tip of the iceberg.

We've actually been working on new content,
techniques, and strategies to help grow your
eCommerce business for the past year.

I'll send you an email tomorrow that tells you
more about that.

So, keep your eyes on your inbox.

It's going to be a great week for your
eCommerce business.

Thanks and I'll talk to you soon.

Chris Malta
WorldwideBrands.com

Istvan from Ytimes, A Yahoo Success Story, and Rob Snell Webinar

2008-06-16T15:15:00.005-04:00

Today's Yahoo Store Power Hour is packed full of information!

First we will be interviewing Istvan Siposs from YTimes.info He has written the books on RTML that have saved dozens of Yahoo Store Owners time and money! He has a new book out on how to customize your Yahoo Store Checkout Pages that is really awesome! Check it out for yourself!

http://www.ytimes.info/yahoo-store-checkout-customization.html

Our next guest is a Yahoo Store Success story! Find out how they succeeded using Yahoo Stores!

Our show will conclude with Ron Pereira who will be discussing email marketing. He has an email marketing software program that is truly inspiring! Rob Snell has been checking it out over the last few months and is impressed! So much so that he is conducting a webinar on how you can use this software to make more money! We all love hearing that! Sign Up For Rob's Webinar NOW

Click here to LISTEN LIVE AT 6:00 PM EASTERN TIME

Or

Listen to our archives, by going to:

http://www.powerhourradioshow.com/

You will find our interview with Rob Snell, Jimmy Duvall, oh yeah..and the elusive Don Cole!

OMG...Drop Ship Focus is FREE!!!

2008-06-16T14:05:00.003-04:00

Just got this in my email and wanted to share with everyone!!

Shawna,

This week will be a special one for
your eCommerce business.

To start it off, we're giving away
one of our best reviewed products:
Drop Ship Focus.

But you have to move fast to get it.

Click here to pick it up and to see why
we're giving it away:

http://blog.worldwidebrands.com/?kbid=23107

For the past few weeks, we've given
away a lot of gifts for the 'Beat
the Recession with eCommerce' series.

But this one is major.

We used to sell Drop Ship Focus for $97.
And as you'll see, it's jam-packed with a
tremendous amount of material.

Take a look at everything you'll get...

* 23 audio interviews with top wholesale and
dropshipping experts. Over 11 hours of
insider information on drop shipping,
liquidation, importing, fulfillment and more.

* 5 online videos that walk you through the
very basics of the dropship and wholesale process.

* 100 real dropship suppliers with a total
of 67,543 wholesale products you can
dropship to your customers.

This is a special product and everyone
who has seen it, loves it including
internet experts and auction sellers.

Listen to what eBay Gold PowerSeller
Skip McGrath said about it...

"I've been selling on eBay for 9 years
and dropshipping for the last five years...
and I learned a ton of new stuff. A lot
of people provide great information about
finding dropshippers, but Drop Ship Focus
combines the sourcing information with
great training. This is a great system
for beginner and advanced sellers."

Click here to get free access:

http://blog.worldwidebrands.com/?kbid=23107

I'd love to know what you think about
Drop Ship Focus. Put it to use
immediately and let us know what
kind of results you get.

This is just the beginning of the
business boosting tools we have in
store for you this week.

Stay tuned for the next couple of
emails. We've been working on
something major for the past
year and this week, we're finally
going to reveal what it is.

It's going to have a dramatic
impact on your eCommerce
business.

In the meantime, enjoy Drop Ship
Focus and I'll talk to you soon.

Chris Malta
WorldwideBrands.com

P.S. - Make sure you get Drop Ship Focus
today. It's only going to be available
for free for the next few days.

http://blog.worldwidebrands.com/?kbid=23107

American Bridal - Top 10 Lessons from IRCE 2008

2008-06-15T18:29:00.002-04:00

Shirley Tan CEO of American Bridal shares with us her Top 10 Lessons for being successful in no particular order

10. Plan for success
9. Create an operational bible
8. Find the right personality for each job position
7. Keep your expenses way down
6. If you must fail, fail quickly
5. Trust your people, but verify
4. Insist on a robust dialogue with your team
3. Fake it - Fearless leader
2. Yes, it's personal
1. Make friends

***Note From Shawna***

Listen to our interview with Shirley Tan live from Internet Retailer where she shares more tips and advice for success!

Yahoo Stores from IRCE 2008

2008-06-15T17:43:00.007-04:00

Start Small, Grow Big with Yahoo Merchant Solutions Jimmy Duvall, Senior Director Product Management, Yahoo Small Business

Why Customers Choose Yahoo

Brand credibility
Reliable and Secure
Grows with you
Ease of use
Customer Support
Trusted Development Network

A Snapshop of Yahoo Stores

Internet Retailer - #1 Hosted e-commerce provider
Over 45k merchants and growing
Billions of dollars in annual sales
Proven ability to scale and adapt to growing needs

What is Yahoo Small Business?

Mission - Be leading provider of services that allow small business to successfully sell online.
Provide aspirational merchants with the easiest use full service solution
Enable established business with a open and scalable platform
Enable deep transactional insights to power relevancy that increases customer success

***Note From Shawna***

Listen to our interview with Jimmy Duvall live from Internet Retailer

Organizing Product Data for More Sales

2008-06-15T17:16:00.003-04:00

Andrea Downing, VP, Home Entertainment and Partnerships, PBS

Six Strategies for designing a successful website

Take the time to plan
Get to know your customers
Keep your eye on the competition
Let your customers experience the product
Implement new technologies strategically
Invest in taxonomy

Take the time to plan

Define your goals and clearly articulate your vision for the site
Examine your customers' on and offline behavior and understand who's shopping on your site
Create a 6, 12, 18-month roadmap and stick to it
Evaluate and re-evaluate

Get to know your customers

Use all brand touch point to inform who your customer is
Use online customer insight tools to identify what's working and what's not
Talk to customer service employees and get their perspectives
Read customer reviews about your brand and products
Read customer reviews about your brand and products
Look at your site search to see what people are looking for
Implement web analytics to give you insight into browsing paths
Allow customers co-design your site through direct feedback and usability
Talk to your customers through email on a 1 to 1 basis

Keep your eye on the competition

Your site experience isn't' just being compared to your direct competitors, but to the entire online world
Go shopping...take notes
As features move from novelty to mainstream - it's important to include functionality that customer expect and meet your business needs

Let your customers experience the product

Products give your site it's competitive advantage
Offer excellent product content
Provide shopping tools that take the place of a salesperson
Focus on photography/video

Use new technologies strategically

Review your business needs and ask if they can be met by some of the latest and greatest tools
Measure the effect each tool implementation has on key performance indicators

Invest in Taxonomy and Metadata

Building blocks for your web site and make browsing and finding products easy for your customers
Taxonomy: the ordering of products and content into an understandable hierarchy
Metadata: all of the hidden descriptive text and specs about a product or content

Full Info from IRCE 2008

2008-06-15T17:15:00.001-04:00

As consumers’ love for online video builds, retailers fine-tune their rich media strategies
By Paul Demery

Watching the development of online video as a merchandising, marketing, branding and customer relationship-building tool is like watching a fast-paced movie that mixes fast-forwards to new technology with flashes from the past in the basic rules of marketing.

Tools and strategies are more readily available today than just a year ago for creating and distributing videos on retail e-commerce sites as well as through video-sharing sites like YouTube and a growing number of specialty content portals, where video content can coincide with Buy buttons to drive direct sales as well as support brand marketing campaigns.

“We’re seeing exciting things with video,” says Sarah Gallagher, senior manager of interactive marketing at outdoor sports gear and apparel retailer The North Face. “With more power to use rich media we’re seeing the next phase of how shoppers use the Internet. They have more control over what they view, and video keeps exploding with new uses.”

But turning the latest video technology into an effective way to connect with customers and prospective customers still requires retailers to take a hard look at old-fashioned rules of merchandising and marketing—developing video content that’s useful in helping consumers decide on purchases, for example, and presenting it when and where they’re most likely to want to interact with it.

“We have to make sure this is easy for our customers to use,” says Rich Lesperance, director of web sales and operations at Circuit City Stores Inc. “This is definitely about building repeat visitors and loyalty, and our entire emerging media and company marketing strategy is designed toward that.”

Engaging shoppers

Retailers who have taken careful steps to build out an online video strategy are beginning to better engage shoppers, says Sucharita Mulpuru, principal analyst, retail, at Forrester Research Inc. “When applied properly, online video can be incredibly valuable,” she says.

Phil Schoonover, president and chairman of Circuit City, agrees. “Video is the way people want to receive content,” he says. “Millennials (Americans born between 1980 and 1995) especially want to see videos of what they’re buying.” Video content on CircuitCity.com helped to grow the retailer’s web sales 40%, to $1.4 billion, for the fiscal year ended last month, he says.

Indeed, U.S. Internet users watched more than 10 billion online videos in December alone, according to comScore Inc.’s Video Metrix service. “We’re seeing a surge in people moving away from traditional media to spend more time watching online video,” Lesperance says.

Retailers reacting to that consumer interest by exploring online video’s capabilities are showing some notable successes. Ice.com, a web-only jewelry retailer, has experienced a 40% rise in conversion rates on products highlighted in online videos, says co-founder and president Mayer Gniwisch. And by showing its products on models in videos, which puts the size and appearance of jewelry in a better context for viewers, Ice.com has reduced the return rate on some products by 24%, Gniwisch says.

Strategies for building and deploying online video differ according to the goals of individual retailers. But one thing they have in common is finding a practical way to make online video work within a merchant’s particular retail environment.

Circuit City, for instance, has identified a two-part mission for CircuitCity.com: to serve as an engaging online store to build on its sharp growth in online sales and as a source of consumer education to support multi-channel sales, Lesperance says.

Product tours and demos

It is working with three video program vendors—WebCollage Inc., Easy2 Technologies, and SellPoint Inc.—to present product tours and demos from manufacturers. And it’s developing how-to videos using its own high-definition camcorder to shoot videos of tech staff and salespeople showing, for example, how to add memory to a laptop.

“One of our goals is to bring the customer as close as possible to having an in-store experience without having to leave the house,” says Rob Roy, a video content specialist at Circuit City.

A successful online video program, Lesperance adds, needs to work in an environment that considers information from several teams within a retail organization, including merchandising, marketing and online content management, combined with input from customers about which products could benefit most from video content.

One of the more popular online videos measured by customer usage that Circuit City has deployed, “Installing laptop memory,” features an employee demonstrating how to determine the correct memory card for a laptop, then opening the memory compartment and inserting the card. The idea for producing that video, Lesperance says, came from a customer’s comment in an online forum on CircuitCity.com.

Spending time

The North Face learned about consumer interaction with online video in its stores, where web-based kiosks showing sports lifestyle videos have engaged shoppers for extended periods. “We saw people interacting with kiosks between 20 and 30 minutes,” Gallagher says. “That proved that people want this kind of content.”

Now with more video content on its web site, The North Face has measured a general uptick in traffic, Gallagher says. The company is planning to launch its first e-commerce site this August, and video will play an important role in engaging shoppers, she adds.

Engaging online shoppers with video doesn’t always pan out as expected, however. The launch over a year ago of consumer-generated video at sports gear retailer Evogear.com has resulted in lower than expected participation by customers, who may not want to spend the time and effort to upload their own content, says head of e-commerce Nathan Decker.

But Evogear has followed up with other online video strategies that have been more effective, he says. Last year it realized incremental sales after running a pre-product launch video from ski brand Rossignol, which let viewers pre-order the new models before they hit the market, and it engaged online customers last summer in a weekly videotaped sweepstakes to which shoppers were entered with each web purchase, Decker explains.

And to produce a new twist to video content in customer reviews, it’s planning to videotape customers at its headquarters store talking about their favorite skis and other products.

The levels of effort and cost involved in producing an online video strategy also differ among retailers. At the high end are retailers like Drs. Foster & Smith, which is building its own video production studio to produce high-definition product and educational videos to complement the content customers are accustomed to seeing in its TV programs. HSN.com, the e-commerce site of IAC InteractiveCorp’s Home Shopping Network, is also on the high end, leveraging its connections with TV personalities like chef Wolfgang Puck in several types of video content.

Gordon Magee, manager of Internet marketing and analysis at Drs. Foster & Smith, says the retailer plans to expand its video inventory to hundreds from the fewer than 10 currently on DrsFosterSmith.com. “We will have a ton of videos from how-to’s to things on our company’s history,” he says.

And in keeping with the high level of video quality consumers expect from its “Faithful Friends” TV program, it will produce only high-definition, professional video content, Magee says.

Follow the video

HSN, which presents more than 12,000 videos on its site, uses video in a three-step strategy. First, a “green-screen” technique presents the sole image of a celebrity like Wolfgang Puck—appearing as if he just walked onto the page itself—to initially engage shoppers in the HSN cooking section. That is followed by a video of a lesson in how to create, say, Puck’s Mango Sorbet dessert. Finally, another video explains in detail how to best use products HSN.com sells alongside the videos to help make cooking chores (theoretically, at least) a proverbial piece of cake.

HSN develops its video content with Flash technology from Adobe Systems Inc., then manages placement on its site as well through external sites like YouTube with its Digital Assets Right Technology content management system, developed in house.

HSN won’t reveal the exact impact its videos have on sales, but they produce “a substantial lift,” says William Lynch, executive vice president in charge of marketing and content at HSN.com.

Other retailers take more modest approaches in deploying a video strategy, though the approaches still have several options to consider in technology and support services. Ice.com, which can produce about 50 product videos per day, spends on average about $60 to produce each video, including the $500-per-day cost of hiring models, and the fees it pays to a professional photographer (a photographer who usually does weddings and bar mitzvahs, Gniwisch says) and Internap Network Services Corp., which serves up Ice.com’s Flash video content through its content delivery network. Ice currently has videos for about 500 of its 2,000 product SKUs, though it plans to cover all SKUs with videos this year, Gniwisch adds.

A typical Ice.com product video such as one for a diamond ring priced at more than $2,000 runs 20 seconds and shows the ring by itself as well as on a model as she holds her hand to her face.

To ensure fast loading and quality presentations of videos, Evogear and other retailers also rely on content delivery network services from companies like Akamai Technologies Inc., Lime Wire LLC and Pando Networks. Retailers use basic content management software to manage the placement of videos on their e-commerce sites, though Akamai offers StreamOS, a content management system designed specifically for video.

While product videos on e-commerce sites are having the strongest and most consistent impact on sales at Ice.com and other retailers, video exposure on video-sharing sites also is spiking sales in some campaigns.

Eight videos Ice.com produced last year for Valentine’s Day cost about $1,200 and led to about $200,000 in online sales, Gniwisch says. The ticket to results, he adds, was running a timely campaign designed to attract a lot of attention. In each video, Ice.com executive vice president of marketing Pinny Gniwisch plays “Mr. Cupid” and interviews passers-by in New York and at the Deer Valley ski resort in Utah about what they think are the best and worst Valentine’s Day gifts. Some of the surprising answers, including one from a man who said he should only receive gifts and not give them, have received more than 10,000 views. Each video closes with the attribution, “A Project by Ice.com.”

Building the brand

Retailers are also exploring other ways to extend videos beyond their own e-commerce sites. In a brand-building campaign, The North Face posts sports videos on sports-related community sites like Go211.com and Biglines.com, and it uses Rip.tv to post videos as well as have them distributed to other youth and sports-related web portals. It also places video-enhanced ads on sports-content sites including Gorp.com and FreeSkier.com

In addition, The North Face pushes video content out to customers with widgets on their personal pages on Facebook.com and Google Inc.’s iGoogle.com. The project is tied to search marketing campaigns, which let viewers click into a video-enhanced search ad to insert a widget icon onto their personal web pages for receiving additional video content.

“We then can push snow sports and other videos out to consumers’ Google or Facebook pages,” Gallagher says. The North Face also is working with Fluid Inc., a web site design firm, to develop the ability to track how often users of widgets on Facebook and iGoogle view its videos.

Although she is not yet able to quantify results in traffic to TheNorthFace.com, Gallagher says search and banner ads that include video content have shown a higher than average click-through rate compared with ads without videos. ValueClick Inc., which provides technology for running video ads that lead into non-commercial videos, says video ads have shown click-through rates 10 times as high as banner ads.

HSN recently started working with a new service from Google that lets retailers position product information and Buy buttons on the same web page alongside a video on YouTube.com, following the same mix of marketing and merchandising available on HSN.com’s own pages. It’s another example of how quickly video and e-commerce are evolving, Lynch says.

“Two months ago we were using YouTube just for branding,” he says. “But we think this is the future of e-commerce: Give people better ideas on how to do things in engaging online video, and present all the products they need right on the same web page to make it happen.”

paul@verticalwebmedia.com

How to get the most out of Comparison Shopping Engines From IRCE 2008

2008-06-15T17:06:00.005-04:00

Tips from a Small Retailers Perspective
Ryan Douglas – Online Marketing Team Leader PlumberSurplus.com

Where To Begin:

CSE—Comparison Shopping Engine

* There are 15+ CSE’s

* Google Product Search, Pricegrabber, Nextag, Shopping.com, Shopzilla, Smarter, Yahoo Shopping, etc.

CPC—Cost per click

* Flat CPC rates
* Variable CPC rates “bidding” at a category or product level

CPA—Cost per action

* You only pay when the traffic converts

Why Use CSE’s?

* Part of a complete online marketing presence
* Increase traffic and sales
* Leverage “social shopping”

How To Start

It’s like line dancing!

* Getting started is the easy part
* Doing it well is the challenge

What Do I Need?

* Product Data Feeds
* CSE Accounts
* Time and Patience!

Navigating the CSE Landscape

Types of CSE’s

Free CSE’s

* 100% Free!
* The Find, Google, Product Search, Become, MSN Live
* The “No Brainers”

CPC CSE’s

* Bid on products and categories
* Pay for each click, regardless of conversion
* Most common variety

CPA CSE’s

* Pay only when traffic converts
* Better ROI than CPC engines
* Jellyfish, Shopping.com, PriceFight

Plotting a Path

Start with the “No Brainers”

* They are free and can drive decent traffic
* Great learning platform to launch from

Slowly add additional CSE’s

Choosing a Final Destination

What’s your organization’s goal?

* Lower CPA
* Increase sales

Evaluate your progress regularly

* Weekly, monthly, quarterly

Optimization Guide

What you shouldn’t leave home without

* Data Feed requirements
* Product Mapping

Associating your products to shopping categories

* Reporting and Analyzing

The Checklist

Vital to Survive

* Store Information
* Contact information
* Access to product data
* Frequency of updates

It’s ok to not submit every product to every engine!
Are you ready for each season?

Data feed requirements

Enter the Matrix

* Most CSE’s use 15-20 fields
* Every CSE has different needs- download feed spec’s from each one
* Common and uncommon data fields
* File formats

Data feed tools

* Processing and Optimization

Singlefeed, ChannelAdvisor, Channel Intelligence, etc

Product Mapping

* Tell your products where to go
* Spend the time to properly categorize items
* Dewey Decimal System

Reporting and Analyzing

* Conversion code tracking
* Analytics tracking
* Monitor closely—weekly, monthly, quarterly
* Watch your KPI’s—develop targets
* Each CSE behaves differently
* Determine profitability

Closing Tips and Tricks

* Don’t submit every product to paid CSE’s
* Try different bids!
* Add your store logo
* Hackersafe shopping badge
* Try different product titles
* Use Google Product Search if nothing else
* Submit, Analyze, Optimize, Repeat.