Ecommerce Blog

Following a post from Matt Cutts, I have been collecting how to’s every time I come across one that I use. I have about 900 saved up now, in just about every area imaginable.

There are so many how to guides that people need for running their ecommerce website′s. With that in mind, this is a list of very useful how to’s related to ecommerce. Hopefully this post will be a good resource for site owners, and those looking to get into ecommerce. Topics include everything from setting up a web server, marketing, to integrating a website with a payment gateway.

Please send me some feedback if there are some good how to’s that should be on here.

Servers / Networking / Programming Setup:

• The perfect Fedora 5 server setup - While I don’t like the virtual control panel that the guide recommends at the end, this is a perfect step-by-step guide to setting up a Fedora 5 Linux server. This guide covers setup for PHP5, mysql, SSL Support, ProFTP, and a few others. The guide states that it is for 64 Bit systems, but I have setup five, 32 Bit systems without any additional modification.
  Fedora Core 4, Fedora Core 3 setups are also available.
• Setup a Windows XP Web Server - Also php.net has an excellent guide on the overall steps to setup php and Apache on windows. The php.net version tends to leave out some things that later may cause errors, but the comments section of the article probably cover all of the missing information.
• Windows XP Apache Virtual Hosting - Having needed to setup a Windows XP server recently, this guide covers both the setup, and how to use virtual hosting on the server allowing multiple websites to exist at the same time. I have a company server that was setup using this and the previous guide running several websites, very effectively.
• How to make Cat 5 / 5e Patch Cable - I’ve saves myself a few hundred dollars in under a year, by making all my own Ethernet patch cable. You can get cat 5e cable and connectors really cheap when you buy them in bulk. If you think you may be needing a lot of cable in the future, this is the way to go. It may take a few tries to get your cables nice, but once you get it down, you cables are just as good as anything.
• 13 *nix command line tricks - A quick tutorial on a few command line codes that are very useful but often not known, not used, or one’s that we forgot.
• Top 5 PHP security holes - After running a server scan I was referred to this excellent resource on the major security problems that websites commonly have with php. Since almost all of these problems are due to use error and poor programming, they are all fixable.
• Integrate Linux PHP with a MSSQL database - After working on a few of these integrations, one successfully, and one failing, this is the best overview on the topic that I have found. Easysoft.com also has another good guide, but it is geared to using their own paid extension, which is expensive. I don’t recommend performing this integration unless you absolutely have to (Just save yourself the time, and switch the site to a windows server), but these should get you pointed in the right direction.

Web Design / Hosting / Usability:

• How to make a horrible Oscommerce site - From Jason Chance, this is a great, humorous guide on how not to make your oscommerce website.
• 10 Ways to ruin visitor experience on your website
• 10 easy steps to a horrible ecommerce site - Another from Jason on sitepoint.com, this is an extension of the oscommerce version, and covers mistakes that all websites should avoid.
• ʖB Usability - From Jakob Nielsens Alertbox, a guide to usability from a B2B vs. a B2C standpoint.
• Top 10 mistakes of web design - One more from Dr. Nielsen, on the top 10 mistakes that website creators make. Weblog mistakes is another valuable article for blog owners out there. I admit that ‘Irregular Publishing Frequency’ is one that I rarely adhere to…
• Shopping Cart Abandonment - Don’t do this… - 3 simple tips to lowering shopping cart abandonment rates.
• How to ruin a web design - This is a good article covering how to not over think a design project, and that often more people working on something means less quality.
• How to choose a web host - This is a good overview to help people that aren’t quite sure what they need, pointed in the right direction in choosing the company to host their website.

SEO and Marketing:

• How to Conduct Keyword Research - This is a great introductory guide on finding relevant keywords for a SEO or PPC campaign.
• 5 most common SEO mistakes - 5 simple SEO mistakes that are often overlooked.
• Ultimate guide to link-baiting and social media marketing - From one of the most authoritative persons on link building anywhere, Andy Hagens tells us how to properly build linkbait. I would consider this the definitive guide to linkbaiting. What is linkbaiting you say?
• List of the best directories - This is the best list of web directories out there. Directories are separated by value, and prices are listed next to each directory.
• How to market to other business owners - From entrepreneur.com, this is my ‘7 commandments’ on marketing ʖB products and services. I highly recommend printing this one out and looking it over any time you need to deliver a message to a ʖB audience.
• How to add $1 Million in revenue to your business in 1 year - From Andy Beal at marketingpilgrim, this is written with an SEM agency as the intended industry target, but it can be applied in theory to almost any ecommerce business.
• How To Generate Targeted Site Traffic Without Search Engines - This is an awesome guide on building traffic without completely relying on search engines for it.
• Top 10 business mistakes, marketing firms make - Another from marketing pilgrim, this can also be applied to just about any business.

Payments:

• Six Payment Gateways Reviewed, The Chargeback Challenge, and Solve the Payment Processing Problem are all written by John Conde from the merchant-account-services.org blog. These are all great articles and should be considered essentials for website owners looking to accept credit cards on their website.
• How to accept credit cards on your website - This is a simple guide that I wrote a few months ago covering basic option to accepting payments online.
• Integrate a website with Authorize.net using php 5

Other / random useful stuff:

• Microsoft Windows Power Toys - If you don’t know what these are, check them out. Extremely helpful, and can safely change a lot of things on your computer that you couldn’t before. I highly recommend the Tweak-UI, Clear Type, Virtual Desktop, and the Image Resizer toys.
• Magazines for small business owners This is an article covering some good business magazines for print and online for business and website owners.

Web Server Control Panels:

• Plesk
• cPanel
• Webmin
• cube panel
• CWIPanel
• ISPConfig

Getting Information (Where I go when I need help):

• Digitalpoint Forum
• Sitepoint Forum
• Webmasterworld
• WebProWorld

Freelance Marketplaces (If I need programming/ design work):

• GetAFreelancer - #1 choice
• Rent A Coder

If you know of any really good how-to’s or guides for ecommerce do-it-yourself’ers send them to me. I may add them to the list.

Original post by jestep

If you’ve an eCommerce website you understand perfectly the need to generate a reliable stream of traffic to your venue. Reliable and steady traffic means reliable and steady profits. Of course, the…

Original post by default@goarticles.com (Wisam Abdulaziz)

If you are in the process of setting up an eCommerce website, or of you are interested in increasing the revenue and profits from your eCommerce website, there are some suggestions that you need to ke…

Original post by default@goarticles.com (Wisam Abdulaziz)

“Add to Cart” buttons – they may be small, but no online retail store can do without them. These little, rectangular, sometimes colorful clickables connect product to payment and are an extension of your branding. It’s important to put some thought into what your ecommerce “Add to Cart” buttons look like.

We’ve collected over 100 “Add to Cart” buttons from the top online retailers of 2006 to give you some design inspiration. And we’ve summarized some usability guidelines that you can apply to your own “Add to Cart” buttons. Ok, there are actually 111 buttons, but 107 just looked cooler.

And now for some stats, because percentages make it cooler.

How the Add To Cart Button Can Reinforce Your Branding

At first the “Add to Cart” button may seem like a minor detail, but it has the potential to create an emotional connection with your brand. Your choice of shape, color, font and button text all affect that connection.

Urban Outfitters’ felt pen lettering echoes the brand’s edgy, street persona (it may however be at the expense of findability as it does nothing to stand out on the screen). Northerntool’s plus sign icon resembles a screwdriver head. Petsmart’s little red doggie ball is fun, playful and instantly recognizable. Bloomingdale’s signature “big brown bag” icon captures its cachet. And Polo’s timeless, deep navy blue button brings harmony between its online and offline identity.

Button text is also of great importance. “Add to Shopping Bag” sounds more appropriate for high end department stores than “Add to Cart,” which is more believable for a WalMart or Target. “Order Now” may work for long time catalog brands now accommodating online orders. In the UK, “Add to Basket” is more prevalent terminology.

Button Design and Usability

Button Text

Web copywriting emphasizes scannabliity — perhaps the golden rule of web copywriting is don’t use 5 words when three will do. How much more should this rule apply to a small button? Nevertheless, we found 15% of the top etailers going long. Harry and David’s “Add To My Shopping Cart” — though personal — is a mouthful.

“Buy Now” may be a stronger call to action than “Add to Cart”, but may subtly suggest the user is finished shopping or is making a commitment to purchase without time to review the order. The beauty of “Add to Cart” is that it is non-committal and assumes the user is still looking around. And if you’re a good e-salesperson, you’re showing suggested products and a “continue shopping” link from view cart page (or you are using an in-line cart with Ajax’y goodness).

Text Formatting

General web usability guidelines recommend sans-serif fonts with high contrast color selection (high-contrast white on black or dark blue rather than low-contrast like Chadwick’s blue-on-blue).

All-caps are generally discouraged in web copywriting. Mixed case is the easiest to read, although all lower case is also easy. We found 45% of “Add to Cart” buttons using all-capitals. Walgreen’s slaps white all-caps text on a light colored, tiny button with a gradient and an icon, forcing some users to squint.

Button Placement

If you offer helpful features on your product pages like wishlists, enlarged photos, color switching, alternate product views, email to friend, size chart, view cart or check out buttons, make sure the “Add to Cart” button is obvious, bright and prominent in comparison. Less important functions can be lighter colored buttons or simple text links.

Stacking Text

Stacking text is not a good idea for links or navigation buttons, and the same goes for “Add to Cart” buttons. Users have come to expect some form of rectangular shape, and when quickly scanning a page, it may take longer to distinguish button from decoration, and even become frustrating. No need to reinvent the wheel, stick to the convention.

What if You Use A Button From a Template?

Even if you don’t use a custom designed “Add to Cart” button, choose a button that complements your site’s theme (complements does not infer it must be the the exact same color). And make sure you pick one design and stick with it. Ecommerce thrives on trust, and random buttons erodes customer confidence.

What do you think is the best button in the collection? What about elsewhere on the web?

Original post by Jason Billingsley

1] Loyalty. When consumers look for a particular product or service, they probably have only a few local brick & mortar options. But online, every option in the country crowds onto their PC monitors. A store in California is only a click a way from a store in New York. E-shoppers are sometimes overwhelmed by the wealth of choices. Unfortunately, this means that plenty of your customers will forget you, even if they don’t intend to. But they won’t forget to check their e-mail. A

Original post by blogadmin

Two insiders reveal the rising demand for eCommerce hosting solutions, and tell us how they are meeting the needs of incoming customers

Web hosting providers continue to see a steady influx of…

Original post by default@goarticles.com (George Di Falco)

This morning, we circulated a press release about the Ecommerce Checkout Report and the forthcoming companion Webinar to the report. PRWeb does a great job of making the press releases more social with insta-links to share, save, and publicize via many social bookmarking and aggregater tools. Plus Jason’s mug shot is attached - great for desktop wallpaper!

But really, … Check out the ready made pdf of the Ecommerce Checkout Report as well and/or subscribe to the Elastic Path Press Release RSS feed or just read the spiel here and ’socialize it’ if desired.

New Ecommerce Research Sheds Light on Checkout Myths

The study looks at ecommerce checkout strategies at the Top 100 Online Retailers to determine which tactics are used most and work best. The report is free to download and requires no registration. A companion webinar, hosted by report researcher Jason Billingsley of Elastic Path Software and web marketing expert Stephan Spencer of Netconcepts, will be held May 17th, 12pm ET to discuss the findings in depth with full attendee interaction.

Vancouver, BC (PRWEB) May 9, 2007 — We assume a prominent return policy, site security badge, and shorter checkout process will lead to an increased conversion rate, but is this truly the case? Many online retailers are both time crunched and resource strained. They are unable to legitimately test which tactics do and do not work. Unfortunately, when determining which best practices to adopt, decisions are often based on hunches and not fact.

A new report evaluates the checkout strategies of the Top 100 Internet Retailers and seeks the correlations between the checkout tactics and success rates. The Ecommerce Checkout Report observed top performing online stores for 23 specific checkout characteristics affecting the customer experience in three categories 1) speed and ease of use; 2) security and confidence; and, 3) profit enhancement.

The report attempts to answer questions like: Does a shorter checkout process really decrease shopping cart abandonment? Should you use an order confirmation screen? Does live chat improve conversions? Study samples included a variety of vertical market groups including apparel and accessories, computers and electronics, and both high and low ticket value product retailers.

Interesting findings within the report:

• Conversion rates were nearly double at retailers selling high ticket priced items when coupon code entry was not available.
• Conversion rates were a full 40% higher where Top 100 retailers did not request a CVV (Card Verification Value), yet over 55% of them do.
• 36% of Top 100 retailers offer alternative payment options such as PayPal, Bill Me Later, or Google Checkout, but conversion rates were convincingly higher at retailers who did not offer alternative payment types - more than double at retailers selling high ticket value items.

Principal report researcher, Jason Billingsley of Elastic Path Software — an ecommerce software vendor, explains, “Our goal with this report is to give online retailers a yardstick for comparing the effectiveness of their own checkout strategies. Hopefully, it will give them incentive to start testing tactics that seem to be most effective for increasing conversions.”Beyond the complimentary report, readers can hear anecdotal commentary at an upcoming Webinar on May 17 at 12 p.m. ET with panelists Jason Billingsley and noted industry expert Stephan Spencer of Netconcepts. Webinar registration is free and the format will allow for questions to the experts. The collected conversations will form the basis of a follow up prescriptive report including objective recommendations for improving conversion rates in specific industries.

Read The Ecommerce Checkout Report and companion blog series (no registration is required):
Ecommerce Checkout Report and companion blog series

Sign up for the interactive webinar:
Ecommerce Checkout Report Webinar

ecommerce online+retail etail elastic+path conversions conversion+rates white+paper retail+tips net+concepts webinar netconcepts

Bookmark - Del.icio.us | Digg | Furl It | Spurl | RawSugar | Simpy | Shadows | Blink It | My Web

Original post by Dave Olson

Tallia Press Release

Product Launch

Released: St.Albans, UK, Wednesday 9th May 2007

Tallia - the multi-language ERP, CRM, eCommerce System supplied as SaaS (Software as a Service) that…

Original post by default@goarticles.com (Michael Turner)

This is an opportunity for domain owners/investors to speak up about ICANN's performance in issues of domain governance!

read more

Original post by admin

You may remember the Get Elastic podcast conversation with Rob Weber of Intellifit from last February’s eTail West event in Palm Desert - Dressing Intelligently for Success - Get Elastic #28. If you were wondering what the machine he spoke of looks like, you are in luck since I’ve dug out a clip of their standard process in action.

The machine (if i recall correctly) measures your body’s details by bouncing some sort of spacey waves against the water on your skin - clearly I have no idea what I am talking about so listen to the interview and watch the video to see for yourself.

By the way, I was measured by the virtual ftting room tube at the show. Later, I logged in to Intellifit.com and ordered pants, choosing from the pre-measured sizes from Intellifit-ified vendors (Levi’s, Gap, Polo, Nordstrom, Land’s End etc.) and sure enough, they fit perfect!

Original post by Dave Olson

You may remember the Get Elastic podcast conversation with Rob Weber of Intellifit from last February’s eTail West event in Palm Desert - Dressing Intelligently for Success - Get Elastic #28. If you were wondering what the machine he spoke of looks like, you are in luck since I’ve dug out a clip of their standard process in action.

The machine (if i recall correctly) measures your body’s details by bouncing some sort of spacey waves against the water on your skin - clearly I have no idea what I am talking about so listen to the interview and watch the video to see for yourself.

By the way, I was measured by the virtual ftting room tube at the show. Later, I logged in to Intellifit.com and ordered pants, choosing from the pre-measured sizes from Intellifit-ified vendors (Levi’s, Gap, Polo, Nordstrom, Land’s End etc.) and sure enough, they fit perfect!

Original post by Dave Olson

You may remember the Get Elastic podcast conversation with Rob Weber of Intellifit from last February’s eTail West event in Palm Desert - Dressing Intelligently for Success - Get Elastic #28. If you were wondering what the machine he spoke of looks like, you are in luck since I’ve dug out a clip of their standard process in action.

The machine (if i recall correctly) measures your body’s details by bouncing some sort of spacey waves against the water on your skin - clearly I have no idea what I am talking about so listen to the interview and watch the video to see for yourself.

By the way, I was measured by the virtual ftting room tube at the show. Later, I logged in to Intellifit.com and ordered pants, choosing from the pre-measured sizes from Intellifit-ified vendors (Levi’s, Gap, Polo, Nordstrom, Land’s End etc.) and sure enough, they fit perfect!

Original post by Dave Olson

You may remember the Get Elastic podcast conversation with Rob Weber of Intellifit from last February’s eTail West event in Palm Desert - Dressing Intelligently for Success - Get Elastic #28. If you were wondering what the machine he spoke of looks like, you are in luck since I’ve dug out a clip of their standard process in action.

The machine (if i recall correctly) measures your body’s details by bouncing some sort of spacey waves against the water on your skin - clearly I have no idea what I am talking about so listen to the interview and watch the video to see for yourself.

By the way, I was measured by the virtual ftting room tube at the show. Later, I logged in to Intellifit.com and ordered pants, choosing from the pre-measured sizes from Intellifit-ified vendors (Levi’s, Gap, Polo, Nordstrom, Land’s End etc.) and sure enough, they fit perfect!

Original post by Dave Olson

Top quality shopping cart program to build and manage a professional Internet storefront
ProductCart is a sophisticated, user friendly shopping cart program used all over the world to build…

Original post by default@goarticles.com (Jack Doran)

Los Angeles Has Its Own Domain Name

LOS ANGELES, CA — (MARKET WIRE) — May 03, 2007 — LA Names and CentralNic, Ltd. have completed the transfer of the .LA domain name to the CentralNic system. Dot LA has been available as the domain name designation for Los Angeles since 2001 and is now available on a wide scale.

read more

Original post by admin