Elastic Path is presenting a webinar on the “Secrets of SEO for Online Retailers” on Thursday, July 12th at Noon EST (9AM PST). This no-cost online event kicks off a series of monthly webinars on critical ecommerce topics presented by Elastic Path’s ecommerce experts.

To participate, simply sign up at: http://www.elasticpath.com/seo-secrets/webinar/

The hour long interactive presentation offers a crash course in optimizing your online retail site for organic search dominance, plus you’ll learn how to maximize your pay-per-click ad spend and plan for seasonal fluctuations in traffic.

Noted search marketing expert Stephan Spencer of Netconcepts joins Elastic Path’s own Jason Billingsley to explain the techniques and strategies professionals use to drive quality traffic and increase brand equity.

[Ecommerce Expert Jason Billingsley keeps an eye on
Sales Rep Ryan Quaye at Book Expo America in NYC - photo by DaveO]

Participants will learn how to:

- determine the value of organic search engine optimization
- select the right keywords/phrases
- write for search engines and optimize conversions
- build links that drive traffic and increase pagerank
- architect your site for maximum search engine rankings
- deal with dynamic websites
- establish “hands-off” optimization practices
- leverage blogging and blogs to create search engine “juice”
- scout the competition efficiently and effectively
- get upper management to buy-in to the SEO program
- bake SEO into the everyday routine, hassle-free

Along with real-world examples (both of those doing it right AND wrong), the search engine optimization experts will answer your questions in an interactive Q&A session and moderated back-channel.

*** Save the Date ***
Thursday, July 12, 2007 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM PDT (GMT -8)

*** Sign Up for “SEO Secrets for Online Retailers” Webinar ***
http://www.elasticpath.com/seo-secrets/webinar/

Bonus: Jason explains the importance in investing in SEO in practical terms:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is like a lifetime golf club membership - a small up front investment gets you unlimited play. Unfortunately, most online retailers are charged ‘green fees’ (paid ads) for each visit. The SEO Secrets for Online Retailers webinar will help you get that lifetime membership and full access to the links.

As Internet Retailer winds down (you can hear packing tape in action in the background), Dave enjoys a candid and humorous chat with Ted Demopolous, author of Blogging for Business and other books (including What No One Ever Tells You About Blogging and Podcasting).

They discuss the power of blog comments, sock puppet blogs, being a dull person and how blogs shorten sales cycles with plenty of examples and anecdotes including how to buy a hammock.

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Founder of gift and gadget retailer I Want One of Those, Tim Booth chats with Dave O at eTail UK about starting his business, keeping it fresh, sourcing products internationally and forming successful partnerships for the customer’s benefit.

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[Reposted with updated audio] At Book Expo of America in NYC, Dave O checks in with Joe Beaulaurier of PR Web to discuss when - and how - to send a press release and discuss the useful social networking features built-in to to PRWeb’s distribution system to encourage conversation and increase distribution of media releases.

Subscribe to Elastic Path’s Press Releases via PR Web RSS.

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Just when you think we’ve wrung all the humor out of ecommerce with the Crazy Messed up World of Ecommerce series, out comes video number 4, “Zero Results Found” in which the nattily-attired heroine attempts to buy some tasty apples and is caught between the paradox of non-choice and the abundance of nonsensical results - or something like that. Watch it here or via YouTube or MetaCafe - your choice.

Video #4 - Zero Results Found

When veteran companies like Random House embrace very forward thinking marketing practices like ecommerce widgets, the winds of change must be blowing.

What is a widget? Simply, a third party item that can be embedded in a web page. The most common being embedded Google AdSense ads or YouTube videos (most often found on blogs and social networks like MySpace).
What is an ecommerce widget? Well a widget that helps sell stuff of course.

Random House ‘gets it widget on’ in a similar fashion as the popular Amazon ‘Search Inside’ feature with something called ‘Insight‘.

Bloggers and social networkers can embed their favorite book widget so visitors to their blog or profile can:

• view the book cover
• view inside the book (or in the case of audio books, listen to a sample)
• buy the book (links into the product page of the online store)
• get the widget code themselves

The Random House ecommerce widget is seen below:

Learn more about the Random House ecommerce widget or read detailed coverage of the offering at Read/WriteWeb - Random House - Widgets and Web Services Done Right.

Note: Random House runs on the Elastic Path ecommerce software platform with excellent integration with SAP, which makes this story even more cool.

As a Canadian and online shopping buff, when it comes to comparison shopping, I can’t help but ask “what about us Canucks?” Although the Loon is quickly catching the Greenback in terms of value (so I feel less buyers remorse picking up cross-border e-schwag), my heart sinks whenever I see free shipping only available in the US, or when I have to pay an extra $13 bucks duty when I pick up my package at the Post Office.

There is definitely a lot of potential in the online comparison shopping sphere in Canada, but there are some Canadian comparison shopping engines!

With the exception of Shoptoit.ca, the Canadian shopping comparison engines play it safe, sticking with low-risk computer, electronic and DVD items. For this mini-review, I decided to search for “Canon Powershot” and compare the number of products delivered by each engine, and what user features were available to help compare products and identify Canadian etailers, as well as any potential usability issues.

Continue Reading »

DaveO checking in from London to say that I am indeed aware of the podcast with PRWeb is messed up - exported with ‘tracks over tracks over tracks’ - yup a garbled mess - ooops. Suffice to say a new shiny version is forthcoming upon my return along with a heap of other episodes featuring the lads from SCAN Computers in Northern England, Tim Booth - founder of I Want One of Those, Justin from SiteBrand, Christian from WebSite Magazine and more.  Stay tuned to enjoy the edu-tainment.

Mad props to Linda for her batch of compelling posts - the people dig(g) ‘em for sure!

Ecommerce blogging has a number of benefits, but are you taking full advantages of blogs in regards to search engine optimization?

Using keyword text appearing naturally in your posts and interlinking your product pages and even related blog posts gives those pages additional keyword relevance and page strength in the eyes of search engines. You’re essentially telling the search engine that the page you’re pointing to is all about “keyword phrase.” This also helps direct visitors that stumble upon your blog content to your e-store. And since most ecommerce product pages do not have any external links pointing at them (not counting affiliate links), this can give you a real leg up on your competition!

Take this fictitious blog for a company that runs two ecommerce websites: a florist / flower delivery shop and a garden supply company.

The blog post doesn’t necessarily have to presell your products, in this case it is providing some useful tips for caring for gardenias. This content is not only helpful for this company’s customers, but could be found by anyone searching for such information through a search engine.

Within the post are several opportunities to link to deeper product pages of the gardening e-store. The links here could potentially link to:

• “care for your house plants” - another post on the blog or an in-depth guide offered on the main site, even an affiliate link to a relevant book on Amazon.com
• “African Violets” and “Poinsettas” - category pages for these particular plants, even though they are not the subject of the post
• “Gardenia arrangement” - a more targeted term that someone who was further along in the buying cycle would use, more likely a higher converting keyword than “gardenia” itself, pointing to a gardenia arrangement product page on the florist site
• “bouquet of tulips” - the tulip arrangement product page on the florist site, again, another complementary keyword, using a longer tail variation
• “acid fertilizer” - to the garden supply site’s acid fertilizer category

So if you have a corporate or company blog, make sure you’re taking advantage of interlinking opportunities using keyword-rich link text. And if you’ve built up a content-rich blog already, it’s not too late to go back in and add links. And keep this in mind when you write your next post.

Social Media maven and e-tailer Pinny Gwinish of Ice.com makes his 2nd appearance on the Get Elastic podcast to talk about the effects on viral video on ecommerce sales. Topics include acquiring domain names, investing in equipment, forthcoming videos and raising conversion rates. See (hilarious) videos at Pinny’s World and Mr. Cupid on You Tube.

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[Photo of Ice.com’s Pinny Gwinish at eTail UK by Dave Olson]