Scott Wilson from the Cart Blog recently interviewed Elastic Path’s VP of Innovation. We don’t talk about it much here on Get Elastic, but we’re actually an ecommerce software company (that is also hiring). Jason answers questions about Java, entry-level ecommerce solutions and open source ecommerce software.

Scott, AKA “That Software Guy” is a Zen Cart master who blogs about ecommerce topics when he’s not busy with his client projects and side gig at Nielsen Media Research. Do “check out” the Cart Blog.

Just a friendly reminder that our very own VP of Innovation, Jason Billingsley is presenting some informative and interactive (and free) webinars this month:

Jon Stewart or Oprah - What’s Your Online Store’s Personality?

Your website talks to people with words, images, offers, features and design - but is it the language your customers understand?

This 30 minute webinar co-presented with Carolyn Gardner of Sitebrand will address:

• The 4 types of people browsing your site

• How to adjust your design to speak to each type appropriately
• What type of messaging and incentives optimize conversion
• What features will trigger action for each type
• Creative ways retailers speak their language

Thursday, March 6 at 11:00 am - 11:30 am PST

Don’t miss out. Sign up today.

Effective Online Merchandising: What Sells?

Matching a shopper with the best fit product is part art and part science - those who marry the two are the most successful online merchandisers.

For 1 hour, special guest Mike Svatek of Baynote will share strategies for:

• What type of image to use and where

• What an effective cross-sell/up-sell looks like
• Where cross-selling/up-selling should occur
• New strategies for matching shoppers with products

Thursday, March 13 at 9:00 am PST - 10:00 am PST

Space is limited. Sign up today.

Remember, when you sign up for the live presentation, you have the opportunity to ask questions of the experts.

Our own VP of Innovation, Jason Billingsley shares his social media marketing wisdom with Internet Retailer today in “MySpace opens it doors, but retailers may walk on by.”

This article is timely as MySpace has recently opened its developer platform, similar to what Facebook did ages ago. We’ve had enough time to watch the attempts of Facebook applications by online retailers to determine whether MySpace application efforts are worth the time or not.

“… merchants have had little success so far selling products through Facebook,” says Jason Billingsley, co-founder and vice president of innovation at Elastic Path Software, whose company has studied the e-commerce applications created for Facebook.

Some merchants have created popular promotional applications for Facebook, such as a JanSport back-to-school contest last summer that offered JanSport products as prizes to Facebookers who posted the best pictures of the contents of their backpacks. “But they weren’t selling products,” Billingsley says. “They were giving away products through a fun contest.”

There is one aspect of MySpace’s offer that makes it more appealing than Facebook’s, says Billingsley. MySpace has adopted a Google standard called OpenSocial designed to allow an application created for one social networking site to run on others. While Facebook has yet to adopt OpenSocial, Billingsley says an application built for MySpace will run on other social networking sites using the Google standard, such as U.K. social networking leader Bebo.”

Check out the full article at Internet Retailer, and subscribe to GetElastic if you haven’t already to stay in the loop on social media marketing trends and tips for ecommerce marketers.

We are very pleased to be teaming up with affiliate marketing guru Shawn Collins on Tuesday. For ten years, shawn has shared his expertise in his consulting practice, at affiliate conferences, through his book “Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants,” his blog and YouTube channel. He’ll be available to answer your questions at the end of the Webinar so be sure to sign up today.

Affiliate Marketing: What Every Online Retailer Ought to Know
Tuesday, December 11, 2007 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM PST

Topics on the menu include:

• Affiliate marketing basics

• In-house affiliate marketing vs. outsourcing
• Affiliate management tips and techniques
• Brand management and competitive concerns
• Attracting and nurturing “super-affiliates”
• How the long tail, social networks, widgets and other new technologies are changing the affiliate marketing industry

A recap will be posted on Get Elastic shortly after the event, and the webinar itself will be posted within a week. Hope you can join us. In the meantime, you can catch up on any of our past webinars you may have missed.

Much thanks to search engine optimization guru Lee Odden for including Get Elastic on his Big List of Search Marketing Blogs. This is truly an honor. Lee’s Top Rank Blog is a search marketing authority, and you’ll find a whack of interesting stuff including a recent interview with Neil Patel and Danny Sullivan.

Our own VP of Innovation will be rapping with Ray about RSS feeds and more this afternoon (or evening for you East coasters). You can catch him live at 3:30 PST or pick up the archive over here: http://www.rssray.com/itune_feeds.php

The problem with blogging is too often the reader and the writer never meet face-to-face. Besides some back and forth via email or comment thread, it is highly detached. Last week I got a chance to talk to some Get Elastic readers at Shop.org after our session on Social Media Marketing - that was a treat. This week I want to meet more of you at Online Market World in San Francisco! San Fran is quite similar to my hometown of Vancouver - it is probably my favorite US city (Chicago in the summer is a close second). I have been there about 8 times in the past three years and have yet to make it to Alcatraz despite booking tours on separate occasions.

If you want to say hello at Online Market World you can catch me after my sessions…

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We usually don’t use our blog to do any promotion of company products or commercial events (and we constantly hear how unusual and great that is for a vendor - thank you for recognizing). But, since so many of you are trying to get ahead with your online retail stores, or have clients in the space, we figured you might be interested in a sneak peek of the next version of our ecommerce software.

Be the First to See Elastic Path 6

New Features Help You Sell More, Work Less.

Date: Thursday, September 27th, 2007
Time: 9 am Pacific / 12pm Eastern

Register to Attend the Webinar

Elastic Path Software is preparing to release the highly anticipated ecommerce platform Elastic Path 6, featuring new capabilities like:

• All-new backend customer service application
• Multi-store management
• Gift certificates
• Pre-orders and Back-orders
• PayPal Express and Google Checkout integration
• Enhanced in-site search
• Warehouse management tools
• Exchanges, Returns and Refund management
• Fulfillment auditing
• Security enhancements

Be among the first - join our product manager and lead developer for a SNEAK PREVIEW of the new features and architecture.

Click Here to Attend…
(Space is Limited)

Webinar Agenda

09:00 - 09:15 am PT: Brief Overview of Elastic Path 6
09:15 - 10:00 am PT: In-Depth Look at New Features
10:00 - 10:15 am PT: Questions & Answers on New Features
10:15 - 10:45 am PT: Architecture & Design with Lead Developer
10:45 - 11:00 am PT: Questions & Answers on Architecture

Bring all your questions for the live Question & Answer period.

## End promotional message - Continue with good, useful online retail focused content ##

Vegas is a couple days away now and I am gearing up for what looks to be a great conference - Shop.org Annual Summit 2007. This is the first time I am speaking at a Shop.org event and the session will hopefully have some great audience input. We are doing something a bit out of the norm for a retail event and not using PowerPoint *gasp*. Instead, we will be presenting in a blog format and live surfing. Since the topic is social media, we figured what better way to demonstrate the topic, than to actually use it to deliver the content.

Now, most retail or ecommerce conferences do not come equipped with WiFi enabled breakout rooms - but we have successfully procured a wireless ready room for our session. The only challenge now is to have attendees actually have laptops or wireless devices with them to participate.

Instead of presenting content, then taking questions at the end - we are going to have a running blog post that people can participate in as we are on stage. We will adjust the discussion appropriately. If that fails - and I suspect it may - we will revert to the old talk show format we are all so used to, but we will proxy the live questions onto the blog anyways. Anything to get a discussion going.

We are super happy to have Elastic Path customer, Garmin sharing their experiences with social media like blogging, YouTube, Flickr, MySpace, etc.

So, if you are in Vegas for Shop.org, make sure to check out our social media clinic on Wednesday at 1:15. I am also moderating a table on Tuesday on social media measurement. Bring your questions and experience with you. Or, if you want to chat ecommerce, hunt me down.

Continuing on with the Ecommerce Webinar series, … this Thursday (Aug. 16th) Andy Chen and Jay Gordman will join Jason Billingsley for a hour long candid conversation on the pros and cons of adding user generated product reviews to your ecommerce site. There is power in social commerce but there must be a catch, right? Well maybe not. Attend this complimentary webinar to find out.

That’s right - put that checkbook away because there is no charge for you! Simply sign up for User Reviews: The Power of Social Commerce and attend on Thursday, August 16, 2007 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM PDT (GMT -8).

In the presentation, the panelists will address a comprehensive list of topics including…

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