Next week, July 8th, I’ll be in Philadelphia at the Web Analytics Wednesday event doing a presentation, if you are in the area I would love to connect with you.

August 10th-14th, I will be at Search Engine Strategies in San Jose. On top of my advisory board responsibilities, I will be doing a few sessions including an Extreme Makeover Session with my buddy Ethan Giffin from GrooveCommerce. You should enter to win a free makeover if you are planning on attending.

September 14th,…

...continue to read "Will We See You At Any Of These Events?"

Too many marketers think that great marketing comes from that “fabulous” idea or from the next shiny new object that captures people’s attention. The truth is,  occasionally it does happen. However, just as Thomas Edison tried 10,000 times to make his “fabulous” idea work before it finally did, great marketing takes persistent, continuous execution and experimentation.

On June 18th, I posted a conversion rate exercise on this blog. Two simple exercises to help others understand why they should do business with you. Several…

...continue to read "They Did It, Did You?"

Here are the top 10 converting websites for May 2009*. These are based on Nielson Panel data and are calculated by user to final conversion. Conversion-rate data is based on visitor conversion rates, not session conversion rates: i.e., No. of unique customers/No. of unique visitors.

1. ProFlowers 38.6 2. Office Depot 28.0 3. Online Retail Total 25.6 4. Vitacost.com 25.0 5. Quixtar 23.4 6. ;Blair 23.4 7. Roamans22.6 8. 1800Flowers 20.5 9. Woman Within19.6 10. Spiegel 18.20

*Source: Nielsen Online / Marketing Charts

Benchmarks according to the FireClick Index

…

...continue to read "Top 10 Online Retailers by Conversion Rate: May 2009"

Last week, Brendan tackled how to answer the 5 unanswered questions customers face in the shopping cart (other than shipping costs). According to a recent study by PayPal and comScore, 45% of US online shoppers had abandoned shopping carts multiple times in just three weeks.

Why were shoppers abandoning their carts?

46% of online shoppers said high shipping charges were a “very important reason” for emptying carts. Is free shipping a must in this economy? Have you tested personalized shipping offers based on location?

Other reasons for…

...continue to read "Shopping Cart Abandonment Woes"

As consumers you and I see many product images (both on ecommerce and B2B) on websites weekly. How do you make a product image stand out from all of those? What I want to highlight are the best, the most persuasive, the unforgettable ones. Who has them? Do you have a favorite?

Here are a couple of my favorites:

This one is from Harry and David:

Here is one that shows an ordinary product like paper, that is hard to distinguish, in an…

...continue to read "The Best Product Image On A Website"

What will you do to be prepared for it?

This is not the Emergency Christmas described by John Stewart from the Daily Show. However, with the pressure of the economy people will probably be spending more time planning, considering, saving and looking for amazing deals sooner rather than later in the year. What are you going to DO NOW to make sure you get their limited attention and dollars? Will your business and website be optimized for this interesting holiday season?

The Daily Show…

...continue to read "Christmas Shopping Begins in the Next 4 Weeks…"

We marketers are very busy people. In today’s challenging economy, with its rapid digital pace and customers empowered like never before, the demands are never-ending. So, we love things that make our job easier. Or at least appear to.

The Words ‘Marketing Automation’ are Like Music To Our Ears

According to one definition:

Marketing automation is the use of software to automate marketing processes such as customer segmentation, customer data integration (CDI), and campaign management. The use of marketing automation makes processes…

...continue to read "Beware Marketing Automation Without Data Clarification"

I’ve been curious about what kind of effect the economy is having on how companies use Web analytics. Econsultancy just released its “Online Measurement and Strategy Report 2009.” This is its second annual report, and the results are fascinating.

First, the pleasantries:

“Companies are focusing on analytics which help them improve their customer acquisition and customer retention. The recession has helped to bring into sharper focus the importance of understanding return on investment and how individual elements of digital marketing impact the…

...continue to read "Web Analytics and Yellow Lobsters"

Today I’d like to give you 2 exercises that will help your visitors get a better sense of why they should be doing business with you.

1. TweetVP – In 140 characters or less, tell me the value of doing business with you. What makes you different than your competitor? This is like writing your Unique Value Proposition or Unique Campaign Proposition, but you are limited to the number of characters, as if you were going to post it on Twitter. If you…

...continue to read "Conversion Rate Exercise: Why Should I Do Business With You?"

SEO Blogger Lisa Barone recently posted “Google Openly Profiles SEOs As Criminals” and for many who do not follow the industry so closely, the main point of this post may be missed. What is the point?

Don’t do Search Engine Optimization!

At SMX last week Google’s Matt Cutts, basically explained that “Google does profile SEOs. They’re identified as “high risk” and so are all of their associated projects.”

This wouldn’t be the first time Matt’s comments are a pre-cursor of Google cleaning up…

...continue to read "Will Google Judge You Guilty of SEO?"