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If you are on the internet, you almost certainly use email. Email was one of the first applications of the internet, and remains (along with the web) one of the most widespread. Online Businesses use email too, for internal communication, customer service, marketing, and general use. So it makes sense...
The Impact of Social Media on the Earthquake in Chile
Now, while I must disclose I am the resident advocate for the adaptation of all things social media at the Gordian Project, arguing against the effectiveness of social media becomes difficult when horrible tragedies like the earthquake in Chile are brought to light via social networking. Like Haiti before it,...
The Expanding World of Online Video February 2010
Let’s start with ReelSEO and their article about the fight between online video ads vs. search ads. They predict that online videos ad revenue will grow from $734 million annually to $5.2 billion by the year 2014, an increase of seven times. When compared to search, which is only predicted to...
We received a communication from Google Apps this month that I was delighted to see. Google Apps is finally phasing out support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0. Hooray! People have been saying that IE6 is dying for quite a while, but it maintained its grip throughout 2009. Lots of admins have...
Engagement with the Local Community
My wife loves to watch the great American dream play itself out in arena’s such as American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, and the like; anything that pulls at the heart strings of underdog to star. I’ve often wondered what that final night might feel like, contestants’ widdled...
Incomplete Evaluations Lead to Hasty Decisions
We live in a culture of information overload. If you’re reading this online (with certainty, you are) you understand that there are several programs or websites running in the background vying for your attention. This overload is a reality that forces each of us to constantly make hasty decisions about...
The Interspire Blog
Interspire Podcast #2: How to hire super stars and how to formulate your market
Length: 26:56Overview: A look into the strategies we use for recruiting the best people and tips to formulate your market when selling any sort of product.Description: In this, episode 2 of the Interspire podcast, I take a look at some of the strategies we've developed over the last 6 years...
The Interspire Shopping Cart 6.0 Roadmap
IntroductionLast week I posted the upcoming BigCommerce 6 feature list on the BigCommerce blog, so today we'll look at the features coming up in Interspire Shopping Cart 6.While some of the features are the same, other features only lend themselves to the BigCommerce product (such as setting DNS records) and...
Interspire Podcast #1: Our email marketing strategy for 250,000+ contacts
Length: 26:40Overview: A look into the strategies we've used to grow our various email lists to over 250,000 people.Description: In this, our first podcast in a series of many, I...
IntroductionAfter 3 months of development, 6 weeks in beta and dozens of resolved features and bugs, Interspire Shopping Cart 5.5 is finally available for purchase and upgrade from our web site and client area.What's New?Where do I start? This is a major upgrade with a big focus on merchandising -...
Quick Update: Interspire Shopping Cart 5.5 Coming Next Week
Hi everyone. Just a quick update to let you know that Interspire Shopping Cart 5.5 will be available for download (for existing clients) and purchase (for new clients) next week. As you may know, we released the 5.5 beta about 4 weeks ago and we're just about ready for the...
Interspire Shopping Cart 5.5 Beta Available to All Clients
Hi everyone. It was only a few weeks ago we released the beta for Interspire Email Marketer 6 (of which the final version has since been pushed live and upgraded to by thousands of clients in just over 3 weeks) and today I'm writing to let you know that we've...
Retailer Daily
‘The Daily Wrap:’ Staples, B&N, Costco
Staples Launches B2B Site Staples Advantage, the business-to-business division of office supply retailer Staples, Inc., has launched a new web site, StaplesAdvantage.com, to address what the company calls customers’ growing demands for supplier consolidation and reduced procurement costs. Current and prospective customers can view the full scale of Staples Advantage’s products...
Williams-Sonoma Seeks Store Closures in Large Markets
Specialty retailer Williams-Sonoma intends to shutter an undisclosed number of stores in large, multi-store markets. According to the Wall Street Journal, Williams-Sonoma CFO Sharon McCollam told attendees of an investor conference the retailer’s goal is optimizing cost per square foot rather than simply reducing store footprint....
Minority Growth Represents Retail Opportunity
The increasing percentage of the U.S. demographic profile represented by ethnic minorities presents an opportunity to retailers, according to The Nielsen Company. In particular, retailers who sell CPG products and/or engage in mobile retailing can benefit from shifting U.S. demographics....
Google Throws Retail Inventory into the Local Mix
Google has introduced a new application that lets mobile users search local retailers’ inventory to see if a particular item is in stock. Only a handful of stores are participating; Best Buy, Sears, Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn among others, but even this limited number adds a new twist to the...
St. Patrick’s Day Set to Be Greener in 2010
American consumers are feeling more festive about St. Patrick’s Day this year than they did last year, according to the results of a recent National Retail Federation (NRF) survey conducted by BIGResearch....
‘The Daily Wrap:’ Amazon, Sears, Gymboree
Amazon Confirms 1-Click Patent Following a four-year re-examination, the U.S. Patent Office is confirming online retailer Amazon.com’s patent on its single-click purchase technology. The patent, set to expire in 2017, has been challenged by multiple parties since it was initially filed in 1997. Source: TechFlash...
Check Out Blog
Wow, it’s been a while and needing some updates.. I got a lot to cover, so meaning it’s Check-out, lets get into the Express lane for some simple and quick updates. Last week you local Walmart store overhauled their PC selection. Depending on your local store Netbooks from $298, Laptops...
This is it... Only 12 days (or less) left before Christmas. Still got time to buy online from walmart.com. We've made it easier for you this year to insure the item(s) your buying will/can arrive on time. Here's an example of the table you'll see while shopping.How much shopping did you do...
Ok, so I have seen a bunch of questions out in the blog world asking if Walmart is REALLY offering a $50 gift card with the purchase of XBOX360 Elite. The answer is YES. And I've heard some of your concerns about games not being restocked that are on our...
This week's Wii offer was one way we are trying to help our customers this holiday season. The values just don't stop there...starting this Sunday you will be able to get a $50 gift card with the purchase of the Xbox 360 Elite. This offer will be valid Dec 13-19,...
Even in these economic times, we see how important it is for Santa, Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, husbands, wives, boyfriends, and girlfriends to be able to give the perfect gift. We also know that A LOT of wish lists today -- for all ages -- include a...
Zhu Zhu Hamsters Top Gift Lists for Kids
I normally follow fashion but I also love being "in the know" when it comes to the hottest, must-have gifts for kids (I'm a newlywed and not a mom yet, but I adore the many munchkins in my life). This year I heard that Zhu Zhu hamsters are one of...
Practical eCommerce Podcasts
Web marketing specialist Claudiu Murariu advises, "When performing A/B tests make sure especially of two things: to have statistically significant results and to choose the right success metric for your campaign (which can be revenue, profit, orders, average order value, CTR, or other important metrics)." ...
John Panyavorachart of VevoCart
John Panyavorachart is co-founder and CEO of Vevo Systems, an ecommerce software company based in Bangkok, Thailand that developed VevoCart,an online shopping cart. In this "Cart of the Week" supplement, Panyavorachart talks about how his ecommerce education and career began in the U.S., and how he eventually returned...
Keep Information Consistent Across All Selling Channels
To ensure cross-channel consistency, SKUs, prices and product information should be the same online and in-store so they can be treated exactly the same from a fulfillment and service perspective. The result is less work, higher customer satisfaction and a reduced need to develop separate staff or procedures for online...
Ease the Pain of Tax Season with Online Incentives
Advertising specialist Mike Sprouse says take advantage of tax time. "March is the height of tax season, which makes it the perfect time for financial services marketers to target consumers filing their taxes online with great deals and special promotions. During tax season, people are looking for online incentives that...
Social marketing is important and time consuming. If you are serious about it, make a specific plan, commit to being regularly active on the social site, and make your profile dynamic. But, if you can’t perform social marketing well yourself, hire an expert or delegate it to someone who can....
Take advantage of the free comparison shopping sites available. For instance, Google Product Search is a staple of any shopping channel strategy, theFind has a free program to enhance merchant visibility, Sortprice has a Facebook store application for merchants, and Oodle is for merchants who also have a physical store....
Retail eCommerce Blog - Online Retail Marketing | eCommerce SEO Tips by Mobius
Google Suggestions for Top Online Retailers
Today, I was typing in the names of top online apparel retailers in the Google search box and surprisingly, some interesting suggestions came up. I’d like to show the screen shots of my search exercise, but before showing it let me tell you something about Google suggestions. Google puts a...
Meta Description and Keywords: Useful or Obsolete?
I am often asked by our clients and others about the significance of Meta descriptions and keywords in on-page optimization. Many SEO professionals say that they are almost close to obsolete as they are not considered by search engines to rank websites on search engine result pages. Here’s my view on...
SEO Keyword Research Tools are not only Useful, but are Powerful too
SEO keyword research is a mundane and familiar term for people who work with SEO campaigns, but many of us just jump in with both feet without understanding the meticulous process of selecting the best and relevant keywords, so we eventually end-up committing keyword research mistakes that breaks the whole...
SEO Copywriting for Apparel – What’s the Right Approach!!
I love fashion…I love clothes but when it comes to writing about apparel and accessories, it is a tough one. I have written about a host of hard category products like cameras, camcorders, televisions, you name it. It is a breeze, as you have a lot of information on their...
Sell the Vision of Looking Good, and not Apparel
From Helen of Troy, the paragon of feminine perfection to the sizzling Angelina Jolie and from Adonis, the best example of male beauty to the irresistible Mel Gibson, the world has always valued beauty. If that wasn’t the case, fashion would have been an obsolete term. In today’s world, the drive...
Twitter, a Preferred Social Media Outlet for Top Online Retailers
A couple of years ago, if you had asked what twitter meant, you would have been called a bird brain. Excuse the pun, but don’t they teach at elementary school that birds twitter, dogs bark and so on!! And if you ask folks what twitter means now, some might still...
AuctionBytes Blog by Ina Steiner
eBay Sellers React to Unpaid Item Assistant for Deadbeats
Sellers are reacting to eBay s announcement regarding a process for dealing with deadbeat bidders and buyers. The company told sellers on March 10th it would be making the Unpaid Item (UPI ......
eBay Lifts Ban on Teachers Manuals?
eBay banned the sale of teachers manuals on its marketplace in 2006, which was a big blow to parents who home-schooled their children. Amazon.com also bans teachers manuals - according to its ......
Amazon Pushes Back as States Attempt to Tax Online Shopping
Hungry for revenue, states around the country would like to collect sales tax from residents who shop online, including from sites such as Amazon.com and Overstock.com, and they are introducing - and ......
eBay Promotes Coupon from PowerSeller Eforcity
eBay is working with PowerSeller Eforcity to offer a coupon-based promotion, which runs from March 5 - 15. The coupon is for 20%-off select items offered on eBay; shoppers must use the Buy It Now ......
eBay Reveals It Conducted a Test of All Stores in Core
Sellers who are wondering what impact eBay s pending changes will have on their own business may want to check their October sales data. In a podcast interview with AuctionBytes on Friday ......
Netpreneur Blog - Making a Living on the Web in Australia
How to use social media and Web 2.0 in event management
On 21 January 2010 I delivered a presentation to the Adelaide chapter of Meetings and Events Australia (MEA) at the Adelaide Convention Centre. The presentation was entitled ‘ How to use social media and other Web 2.0 tools in event management’. The presentation contained a case study of an event...
The secret to making money in your sleep - 7 steps
I’ve recently been talking to a local businessman who is interested in transforming his existing business into a ‘internet marketing’ business. He has developed some great experience in retail circles over his career and he wants to ‘productise’ his knowledge and sell it via the web. He asked me for my...
New Australian SaaS shopping cart product - BigCommerce
I am a big fan of Interspire’s Email Marketer software. This Australian-based company has just released a new subscription-based Software-as-a-Service shopping cart system called BigCommerce. SaaS is the future of the web and the guys at Interspire have done a great job converting their existing product, Interspire Shopping Cart, into...
How to Rank Number One on Google
I’ve recently started delivering training to small groups of website owners about how to take their websites to Number One on Google. Here’s the presentation slides that I have been using: How To Rank No 1 On Google View more presentations from Clayton Wehner. Related posts:Action List: Use Slideshare to share your Powerpoint...
Calls to Action: How to Motivate Your Website Visitors Out of Inactivity
Firstly, what is a call to action? Well it is the action, response or activity you most want visitors to your website to take. You should have a desired call to action for every page on your website. Depending on your site you may just want people to make contact with...
Action List: Add your URL to local directories
One way to increase the findability of your website is to submit it to local directory websites. Most directories offer a free listing service and it is relatively easy and quick to add your site. I recommend doing this manually, rather than using one of the many auto-submission tools that...
Digital Money
[Dave Birch] Wow. The feedback that I've been getting about the Consult Hyperion Digital Money Forum is fantastic. I'd like to claim all the credit, but I just can't. So for those of you who weren't able to join us,......
[Dave Birch] Ugo Bechis is the head of SEPA payments at UBI Banca and the chairman of the board of the Euro Alliance of Payment Schemes (EAPS). This is a pan-European debit card "scheme of schemes" that aims, rather like......
Could that competition come from the Feds themselves? What if the Feds decided that it was desirable to have a national debit scheme for the US, much like the ECB wants a pan-European "third scheme" in Europe? What if the Feds were to decide to get more involved in retail...
[Dave Birch] if you have a few minutes to spare, you might enjoy this YouTube video of Douglas Rushkoff talking in New York in November 2009. He says that the "operating system for money is obsolete" and gives a rabble-rousing......
[Dave Birch] Britain's Tory party has said that a future conservative government may replace the "Pay As Your Earn" (PAYE) income tax collection system -- whereby employers deduct tax at source and send it to the government -- with some......
B. Off (old Fawlty Towers reference)
[Dave Birch] I'm against the idea of the Post Office-based "People's Bank", although I understand why many people who haven't really thought about it find it so attractive: there's an anti-bank backlash, and people are looking for a sort-of-vague communitarian......
The Ecommerce Blog
Open Source Firewall Appliance Round 2
A few years ago I blogged about using the Untangle firewall to replace a Sonicwall or similar firewall appliance. Since then, Untangle has come a long way. I would like to revisit the untangle appliance as it has undergone numerous improvements, and in my opinion is now a fully capable replacement...
Business seasonality, and search trends for your marketing
Chances are if you are an online retailer your have some seasonality to your business. This mainly depends on the type of products you sell, and the general type of people that purchase your products. As a B2B’ish industry we see major volume decreases near every holiday. Where does your business...
MySQL 5.1 now supported on Cpanel / WHM
Just found out this morning that MySQL 5.1 is now officially supported on cpanel. MySQL 5.1 offers some major improvements in some areas to MySQL 5.0. MySQL 5.1 was released over a year ago and it’s been a long wait for those cpanel users needing 5.1 features. Upgrading is not as...
Having a SUNny day without Microsoft
If you’re another person who is constantly fed up with Microsoft products and the cost that comes with them, you’re not alone. I still stand by my recommendation of avoiding Microsoft products before you become their slave, but I must admit, there’s still a number of them that I use. Since...
Framework for a Good Product Page
I was inspired by the Anatomy of a Usable Website, and decided to make a similar guide for a product page. I had previously written a post regarding product descriptions, which still apply here as well. Download the full PDF version » This is meant to be a framework for creating an...
Could your ecommerce site kill somebody
I was recently looking at Google Maps for some route information to find a driving time near my hometown in Colorado. Google Suggested that I drive over a pass called Schofield pass. While this could be just any old pass, but it’s not. Schofield Pass is one of the most dangerous roads...
E-Commerce Law
E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of March 8, 2010
Apparently, the Internet is among the 237 individuals and organizations who have been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Nearly four out of every five people in the world believe that Internet access is a fundamental right. Each weekend, E-Commerce Law Briefs provides a brief summary and commentary on recent......
E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of March 1, 2010
The White House has released a summary of the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, which includes an expansion of a classified Internet monitoring system called Einstein. In what we're sure is unrelated news, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation has warned of a "rapidly expanding" threat of cyberterrorism. Amidst......
E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of February 22, 2010
Last week, Microsoft sent a DMCA notice to Network Solutions complaining about cryptome.org, a website which "welcomes documents for publication that are prohibited by governments worldwide, in particular material on freedom of expression, privacy, cryptology, dual-use technologies, national security, intelligence, and secret governance -- open, secret and classified documents --......
E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of February 15, 2010
Google has donated $2 million to Wikipedia. Though Wikipedia has been criticized for uneven quality and reliability, a 2005 study concluded that it was just as reliable as Encyclopedia Britannica. In a statement announcing the donations, Google co-founder Sergey Brin called Wikipedia “one of the greatest triumphs of the Internet…this......
E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of February 8, 2010
Facebook is getting new competition from a familiar source. With Buzz, Google has entered the social networking space. Florida's Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee says that judges should not be Facebook "friends" with attorneys who may appear before them. "When judges 'friend' lawyers who may appear before them, the committee said,......
Talking Pyramids: Ancient Egyptian Pyramids» Talking Pyramids: Ancient Egyptian Pyramids News
Photos of the Re-Wrapping of Anonymous Man
The re-wrapping of the mummy of the Anonymous Man was carried out in early February by the team from the Brooklyn Museum. We saw some of the live coverage of the re-wrapping here on Talking Pyramids. Today they’ve released the batch of photos from the fourth day of the re-wrapping...
Friday Photo: Making Way for the GEM at Giza
Work is underway at Giza to complete the Grand Egyptian Museum by 2012 This week we return once again to the Giza plateau with this recent observation. Talking Pyramids reader and explorer Leszek Zadlo snapped this photo of some large earth moving trucks on the south-west corner of the plateau....
Deciphering the Pyramid Texts of Behenu
Following on from Thursday’s post I’d like to focus a bit more on the Pyramid Texts found in Queen Behenu’s recently discovered burial chamber. Offering texts on the north wall of the Unas sarcophagus chamber. Photo by Helmut Satzinger. I’ve been investigating the particular way in which the Pyramid Texts are arranged...
Astronaut Sends Pyramid Photo via Twitter
Astronaut Soichi Noguchi is currently flying through space aboard the International Space Station and he is using Twitter to communicate with us Earthlings. He goes by the name: @Astro_Soichi He has just posted a photo of the pyramids at Dahshur. The Red pyramid and the Bent pyramid can easily...
Friday Photo: Pyramid Texts – Unas Blue
The Pyramid Texts were first discovered in 1880 inside the Pyamid of Unas by Gaston Maspero. Unas was the first pyramid to be inscribed with the famous corpus of texts and of the inscribed pyramids, Unas is considered to contain the most complete form of the texts. Maspero published...
Burial Chamber with Pyramid Texts Discovered
Pyramid Texts from the north wall A burial chamber containing a pink granite sarcophagus with a black basalt lid has been discovered at South Saqqara by a French archaeological mission. Although badly damaged, the walls are covered in texts which contain the name of the tomb’s owner, ‘Behenu’, thought to...
ColderICE eCommerce Video Blog
The Smythe Files: Randy from Buy.com Drops In For eCommerce Talk
Who’s that guy with the reflective shades? Is he a cop? Nope, but he will give you a ticket if you move too slow with your delivery times, LOL. This guy is Randy Smythe and I need to introduce him to some in our audience and reacquaint him to others....
Is There a Hidden Fee Increase For eBay Sellers Coming?!?
Hey folks this is a guest post by a BRILLIANT business and eBay consultant named Jon Miller. I have known Jon for years now and he is a person I respect highly. Jon sent me an email about his findings on eBay’s announcements from January. I asked him if he...
So What Are People Buying Online These Days?
What a buyer is getting online vs. what they are buying in store is very telling. There are serious differences in what is and is not a great fit for online consumer purchase. The folks at Permuto Discoveries (http://www.permuto.com/blog/) took the data from the U.S. Census Bureau and made this...
Important IRS Dates: The Taxman Cometh and Taketh Away…Dammit!
March 16, 2010 Deadline for corporate tax returns (Forms 1120, 1120A, and 1120S), or to request automatic 6-month extension of time to file (Form 7004). Final deadline to file an amended corporate tax return (Form 1120X) for tax year 2006 and still claim a tax refund. April 15, 2010 Deadline to file...
WOW – The "Un-Official" Atlanta eBay On Location After Party!!!
The Aftermath: eCommerce Merchants Atlanta After Party Welcome to HOTLANTA! What you heard is true, we know how to throw parties in this city. Take a break from the mundane and spend some time hanging out and having a few drinks with the "eCommerce Rock Stars". This is the HOTTEST ecommerce party...
There Comes a Time When You Get Tired Of Fooling Around w/ Windows…
There is a song on one of my most favorite albums by my favorite artist Prince. Oh yeah, I am a huge Prince fan going way way back…but he has a song called “Forever In My Life”. The first line in that jam goes “There comes a time in every...
Blue Acorn eCommerce Consulting
Bring ‘Em Back with Online Loyalty Programs
As every business owner knows, the best customer is a repeat customer. A customer who visits your site and makes a purchase every week, or even every couple of months, is immeasurably more valuable than a casual, “one-off” customer who places one order and is never heard from again. Even...
3 Ways to Use Your Facebook Fan Base for Marketing Research
One of the big, obvious differences between eCommerce enterprises and traditional bricks and mortar set-ups is this: the bricks & mortar shops can “see” their customers, talk to them, and develop a stronger profile on them. Sure, if you’re an eCommerce company with strong analytics, you can analyze keywords, bounce...
War, the Long Tail SKU Search Domination
For mortal ecommerce merchants involved in search marketing- on a budget- this means adroitly picking the right search terms and channels to market your wares and then fully vesting them to ensure their don’t just appear in those search results but appear, appear and reappear yet again not only across...
How to Use Twitter Effectively – What Twitter Type are You?
Back in December, I wrote this post about Twitter. A lot has happened to this Internet microblogging company in the ten months since then, including its recent reception of 100 million dollars in funding and its valuation at one billion dollars. This past June, 44.5 million worldwide visitors checked out...
They say a picture’s worth a thousand words—but with the rising popularity of multimedia on the web, a high-impact video can be worth a whole lot more than that. According to a study by ComScore, more than 168 million American web shoppers watched online videos during September of 2009, representing...
Hitting a Moving Target: Tips for Success in Mobile Marketing
If you could get your hands on footage of 10 of your target consumers right now, 9 of them would probably be on the move. In today’s fast-paced, frenzied world, a majority of buyers are relying on their cell phones and hand-held devices as a primary means of receiving information. So...
ComparisonEngines
Omniture/Adobe sent an apology for the email they sent me yesterday: Dear Brian, We apologize for an automated email you received earlier today created and sent from Marketing on behalf of your Omniture Account Development Manager. This message was sent to you in error. Please accept our sincere apology, as this is not...
The Sears Marketplace Screw Up
Sears Marketplace recently formerly announced the launch of its marketplace. Overnight, Sears Marketplace had 10m items available from over 1500 sellers, according to the website. When I saw the number, I knew that they didn’t yet have 1500 direct seller relationships, but rather syndicated content from one or more...
Just got the email below from someone at Adobe/Omniture. The subject line is ‘Are you who you say you are?’ which sounds spammy to me. And the colloquial ‘Hey Brian’ opening just seemed completely unprofessional coming from Adobe/Omniture. And then the statement ’since you haven’t opened any of the...
Shopzilla Q4 2009 Results – with calculations for year over year Revenue and Profit
All my numbers were gathered from public earnings releases on Scripps and Scripps Network Interactive. I was careful to double check my numbers, but I found some discrepancies in the releases which I can’t explain. Remember, I’m not a financial analyst. If you’d like the raw numbers I...
I’ve had lots of great conversations about data feeds in the last 24 hours. Advertisers (merchants) and publishers (affiliates) recognize the value of data feeds, but it seems they’re just getting going. If merchants are submitting data feeds to CJ, Linkshare, ShareASale, or Google Affiliate Network, the feeds...
@ Affiliate Summit West – Data Feeds
If you’re not at the conference, check out the #asw10 on twitter. So far, so good. I was here 2 years back and wasn’t that impressed. This conference seems to be much more professional, organized. Love that the first two sessions I’ve attended have already mentioned...
FresheVenture.com - Your Internet Business Blog by Keller Hawthorne
Do Bloggers Really Make Money Blogging?
I was reading a fantastic interview of David Risley over at RobbSutton.com yesterday and this question popped into my head. So many top bloggers seems to make most of their income through offering their own membership course, ebooks or other training materials. So, do any bloggers actually make money from[...] ...
Simply Fresh Themes Opens Tuesday, March 16, 2010!
You may have noticed a lack of new posts on my blog this week. That’s because I’m finishing up work on my new website Simply Fresh Themes! As many of you know, I decided to start designing premium WordPress themes this year. I’m really excited about this opportunity as it gives[...] ...
Membership Site Mastermind Course Reopens Tuesday, March 9th, 2010!
If you’ve ever considered launching a membership site to sell your valuable information, then Yaro Starak’s Membership Site Mastermind is a course I couldn’t recommend more to you. I joined this course last year (yes, yours truly plans to open a membership site in the future). The course is similar to[...] ...
Selling Advertising Space Part 5: How to Convince Advertisers to Buy Your Space
This post is part 5 of 5 in the series...Selling Advertising SpaceWelcome to part 5 of this article series! In this post, I will continue on with question 12: How do I convince advertisers to buy? The best ad manager and advertising policies won’t matter much if you can’t convince advertisers[...] ...
New OIOpublisher Ad Manager Coupon for March 2010!
Way back in April 09′, before I even officially launched my blog, I wrote a review (The Best Ad Manager for Wordpress – OIOpublisher) about an ad manager I had decided to purchase. It is by far the BEST ad manager I’ve found for WordPress, but you can use it[...] ...
Earn 50% Commission By Recommending My New Premium WordPress Theme – Fresh Journal!
I’m so excited about my new website, Simply Fresh Themes! Though the main website is still under construction (and will be for a little while longer), I’m about to release my first theme, Fresh Journal, and I’m already working on my next design! Since my website is new, I need your[...] ...
The Lunch Pail
Simple, Practical Direct Digital Marketing
Every so often it makes sense to roll up our sleeves here at The Lunch Pail and remind folks that while the ever-growing world of direct digital marketing can sometimes seem intimidating, there is a practical voice. After attending the NRF's conference last week and talking to some research analysts,...
Mobile Marketing Programs for Retailers
Motorola recently released a study indicating that 51 percent of consumers worldwide used their mobile device to help make purchase decisions while shopping at retail stores during the 2009 holiday shopping season. As more and more consumers adopt feature-rich mobile devices, your shoppers will increasingly demand access to information, videos, and...
Mobile Revolution, or Evolution?
After the conclusion of last week’s 2010 Retail Innovation & Marketing Conference . I had the opportunity to reflect more on the content presented, and the way in which it was presented. The form of presentation matters a great deal because it directly contributes to how the audience digests something....
Getting Started with Direct Digital Marketing
One of the more interesting takeaways from the National Retail Federation’s 2010 Retail Innovation & Marketing Conference was the emphasis on how the legacy of traditional direct marketing principles meshes seamlessly digital channels. Obviously, this is the very essence of direct digital marketing, which identifies the primary direct digital channels...
How Customer 3.0 Is Changing Retail
When Marketspace’s Jeffery Rayport bounded on to the stage at the Retail Innovation & Marketing Conference it was immediately evident a high-energy and detailed keynote was certain. Rayport delivered an extremely valuable presentation, beginning with an analysis of the consumer. Rayport believes that retail has seen three...
Transformation with Direct Digital Marketing
As I wrote Monday, I am attending the NRF’s Retail Innovation and Marketing Conference in San Francisco this week. The first morning of the conference is off to a wonderful start with two outstanding keynotes from Patrick Connolly, CMO for Williams-Sonoma, and Jeffrey Rayport, Founder and Chairman...
FirstFound Blog
Google Street Map Now Covers 95% of the UK
Despite large amounts of criticism, Google Maps’ Street View service now covers nearly 95% of all the streets in the United Kingdom. A full 360-degree view of your street is available from today. Previously the service was restricted to only major cities. It means that Britain will join Spain, France, Italy and the...
Microsoft steps up advertising campaign in a bid to attract Google users.
With a tag line of “Bing and Decide” Microsoft aim to show customers how different their search engine is companied to the others and say it functions more like a “decision engine”. There is certainly a bit of a dig at Google as they show people suffering from information overload and...
Image of the Week – Good bye MRI
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Image of the Week: Leeds Town Hall Put-together
All Rights Reserved Steven Ryan®...
Metro Newspaper Launches News iPhone App
This week, Metro announced the launch of their news iPhone App, the FirstFound blog reviews this interesting move from the North West UK based newspaper and identifies the broader context of what similar moves mean for the news industry....
5 Tips for an Effective SEO Link Building Campaign
The top 5 most important considerations for an effective link building campaign from naturally generated links won for good content, to social media and creative link building strategies to future proof your search engine optimisation strategy for 2010....
Blueclaw SEO Blog - Search Engine Optimisation
How Important are Meta Information?
Best Practice SEO dictates that you need good meta information as it is essential for SEO. Two tags to focus on are title tags and meta descriptions. Make sure they are descriptive and most importantly, relevant to the content on the website. If you do have duplicate meta descriptions on your...
Google Stars – Bookmarking made easy
Notice a little star next to your search results this morning? Google announced yesterday that this new bookmarking feature will be available for all globablly signed in users. Replacing Search Wiki, Stars make it easy to see within your search results what you have bookmarked. It also syncs with your Google...
X-Cart Shopping Cart And Ecommerce Solution
X-Cart is one of many shopping cart solutions. I'm going to talk about its features that I believe will help clients with large inventories, medium-large customer base (dealing with delivery and returns), utilizing different payment gateways, run affiliate schemes and desire a fully customized, stylish and professional shopping website.. ...
Bing donates to Sport Relief – but only with IE
It sounds like a good idea – Bing will donate 5p for every 10 qualifying searches to Sport Relief, but isn’t donating money supposed to be easy? Instead of a straightforward process of raising money every time you use Bing to search, Microsoft has disregarded the 64% of users who...
Yahoo! Site Explorer Trick – Referring domains count vs total number of backlinks
I had a chat a few days ago with a fellow SEO counterpart who let me know a quick trick when using Yahoo! Site Explorer. This method allows you to filter the number of referring domains from the total number of backlinks pointing to a web site. I’ll use www.confused.com...
Last year Google rolled out the use of Breadcrumbs in their Google Search Results. Some people felt that having Google essentially “rewrite” their URL was a bit out of order. However there are some benefits from the breadcrumbs. In this ebay example for the search term “buy golf clubs“, their link...
Speedraft
Speedraft is mentioned in Kate Bachman’s excellent article in STAMPING Journal titled Accelerating Diemaking: 9 ways to faster design-build-tryout. We are listed as #9, but everyone who has used Speedraft knows we are #1. Seriously, Speedraft also has a hand in her items #1, 2, 6, and 7. Click here to read the...
I am pleased to announce that Speedraft is a member of the Microsoft Bizspark program! This exciting program is Microsoft’s answer to open source programming tools. As a member, we receive roughly $100,000 in free software development tools, support, and market exposure. The catch? We pay Microsoft $100 three years from...
There was a discussion on a LinkedIn tool and die group recently about how long it takes to quote a progressive die. One response was simply “two weeks”. This is wrong. Even assuming it takes two weeks to quote each progressive die, the statement “two weeks”, to be accurate, implies the die...
I am pleased to announce that Speedraft is now featured with the best of the best innovation sites at Alltop! We are also featured with the best of the best ecommerce feeds. You will notice the badges to the right as proof that Speedraft not only kicks ass, but is on Alltop. Alltop is the...
Here is a short presentation on the essence of Speedraft:...
Here is an overview of how Speedraft helps you save time and money:...