It is mid March and it has been about 10 weeks since the last Google Toolbar PageRank update was released. Some say Google constantly updates your site’s actual PageRank, but the publicly available PageRank shown on the Google Toolbar is only updated about 4-5 times per year, others hold that the PR only works when done as a snapshot in time. Either way the Toolbar updates are the report cards we get delivered so it’s a big nervous deal to us.
Continue reading about Is a Google PageRank Update Coming Soon?
1 Create a campaign and set the max daily budget to something you can afford to lose
2 Create an Ad Group for each of the different categories or areas of your website
a Toss one ad and several keywords targeted to each category to get through the initial setup
b Make sure the landing page your ad links to is relevant to the ad copy and keywords
c Set your maximum bid to something small like .10-.20 for all keywords
Continue reading about Getting Started with Adwords on a Small Budget
In a nutshell a PageRank value results from a total of all links or “votes” among all other pages on the Internet. The more popular you are the more votes or links you most likely have. Additionally some links are weighted more heavily than others based on the voting page’s PageRank. This is a very simple view of what is actually a more complicated secret formula to weed out abuses but in general this is accurate.
Here is a List of 10 things should focus on to minimize Bounce Rate:
1. Product Price too High – Shop the competition or provide some other value add that justifies your higher price. Experiment with removing the price from the landing page(s) if you cannot compete in that category.
2. Poor Navigation – If a user does not get exactly what they want they will click a link or two if they think it will yield results. Use clear global navigation, bread crumbs and dynamic navigation such as “customers who purchased this product also purchased…”.
Continue reading about Why Bounce Rate Matters and 10 Ways to Reduce it
Taking that first step to start up a small business can be scary. Once you have convinced yourself that it is time to take action there is still the big question of “Where will I raise the money”?
Here are some suggestions for raising startup capital for a small online business:
Continue reading about Raising Capital for a Small Online Business
There are five major avenues for how people arrive at your site.
Direct – A user types in your URL manually
Referral Paid – A user clicks a paid link or ad on some other website
Referral Free – A user clicks a link on some other website that you put there
Search Paid – A user clicks a paid link on a Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
Search Organic – A user click an organic link on a Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
All four areas need to addressed to maximize your potential. Here’s how you should be addressing these and what to expect.
I have been working on building a public forum for our discussion over at OctoEcom.com. If you like the content and discussions here you’ll love this blog. Head on over and give it a once over. I’ll be heavily moderating all discussions on the site so feel free to drop me a line.
Continue reading about OctoEcom.com – eCommerce Forum Goes Live
Technorati Profile
Startup ecommerce retail shops come in many shapes and sizes so I’m going to give you some food for thought when considering what you may (or may not) want to investigate selling.
Working from my eCommerce checklist we’ll cover:
1 – Legal
2 – Weight / Value Ratio
3 – Market Conditions
4 – Competition
Continue reading about Small Online Retailer: How to Pick a Product
Image your are in Target on a buzy December weekend with a basket full of toys for the kids, holiday decorations, and tons of other “essentials” when suddenly the lights dim, bouncers appear out of nowhere, and kick everyone out of the store immediately. Leave your basket! If you are in the middle of a checkout, stop where you are with your money on the counter and just get out! As you stand out in the cold wondering what just happened they put a sign on the door that says “Whoops, it appears we are having a system problem, please come back laterz”. Not know how long “laterz” is a few of you in the crowd stick around for 10 minutes trying the door again and again (pressing F5) when suddenly the door opens, the lights come on and the entire store including employees acts as though nothing just happened. By the way, the items in your basket were all put neatly back on the shelves.
Continue reading about Does Your Online Business Understand the Importance of Quality?
Below is a summary page I have used during a final review of the ecommerce class I teach. In this class we take a small amount of startup cash, collectively choose our “widget”, and sell it via an online retail store. This has not been specify written to address all options for online ecommerce however it should still serve as a good path for you to walk through mentally when considering any new project.