E-commerce Basics Tag

Google Checkout Store Gadget Makes E-commerce Easy

In their continuing effort to dominate every aspect of your online experience, Google has taken e-commerce to the masses with the experimental release of the Google Checkout Store Gadget, a simple application that makes it possible for anyone with a blog or website to create an online store, with Google Checkout, in under 5 minutes. Google makes it sound very easy when explaining how to setup the gadget and manage the store, and with Google’s popularity and typical wide-spread adoption, this just might be the breakthrough many people need to open up the floodgates to selling online. Although still in beta-mode, Google Store Gadget has the potential to significantly empower those who normally could only turn to sites like Ebay for their e-commerce ideas.

Setting up the Google Checkout Store Gadget seems easy enough. Google states that there are 3 simple steps to getting up and running:

1. Sign up for Google Checkout
2. List Products in a Google Docs Spreadsheet
3. Embed the Gadget Anywhere

All of these steps are obviously free and can be done by even those with very limited coding knowledge. Managing inventory in a spreadsheet and setting it up are as easy as clicking a few boxes to share it online and publish it as a website. Embedding the gadget can be done basically anywhere, as long as HTML code can be added to a site. This means bloggers, website owners and more can quickly add the gadget to their site, enabling product or service sales without the typical hassle of an e-commerce management platform.
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Psychology Your Way Into Sales

It’s no surprise that humans react in odd and irrational ways, particularly when it comes to spending money. To that end, Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape our Decisions, offers many insightful lessons into the quirky (and largely predictable) human psyche. And in turn, these lessons may help web businesses shape their image and behaviors in order to garner as many sales as possible and become a successful online destination. Here are some important aspects of online sales tactics to consider when running an e-commerce or service-oriented business:

Relativity
It turns out Einstein knew what he was talking about—relativity does matter. Although this kind of relativity isn’t exactly what the theoretical physicist had in mind, there is something to be said for comparing your products to others. When products are offered in a standard and deluxe version, the standard version suddenly looks like a bargain and tends to sell. Create instant price comparisons on your site, and people are less likely to leave the site to shop around.
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Holiday Advertising Gets Shoppers’ Attention

As we count down the days before Thanksgiving and Christmas, many people are thinking about finishing their holiday shopping, and online business owners are scrambling for customers. With the current, shaky state of the economy, it’s no wonder that small businesses are focused on the holiday buying season.

Small business owners should be planning their holiday marketing campaigns in advance, as it’s not uncommon for holiday promotions to start as early as November 1. But business owners, just like shoppers, have hectic schedules, and often get a late start.

However, it’s never too late to start advertising for the holiday shopping extravaganza. If you’re running a business online here are some tips to help you prepare for this gift-giving season.
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Google Ranking Insights

Internet marketing wouldn’t be what it is today without Google. Higher visibility in such a popular tool has long been sought after by every online business as a vital component to success. With that desire to rank higher, the ins and outs of how ranking is determined proves to be an interesting debate. There are certainly standards that everyone, including Google themselves, will agree on, but beyond the official posted guidelines, the search engine leader has been pretty quiet.

To bring a little more transparency to their ranking philosophy and technology, Google has put together a series of posts on the Official Google Blog discussing different aspects of this mysterious algorithm and the reasoning behind it. Let’s take a look at some of the key points:
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Creating External Links for Exposure and Credibility

When it comes to gaining search engine exposure, the amount and value of the incoming links to your website is a determining factor when you’re measured against your competitors. We all know that search engines use this statistic as part of their ranking algorithm, most notably so with Google and its infamous PageRank Technology, which measures the importance of your web page based largely on certain linking criteria. But often ignored is the second benefit of these external links, company credibility. It’s obvious both exposure and credibility are important to the success of an online business, so let’s explore some of the why, where and how to create these external links.
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Marketing Basics: The Online Press Release

Think a press release is an outdated, “old media” approach to marketing? Think again.

There’s countless studies and articles highlighting the benefits of a press release for online businesses. From generating traffic, inbound links and business or product buzz, to getting positive press and top billing on search results, the new online marketing standards certainly include press releases as a vital and important component for better exposure. But it isn’t as simple as writing a release and sending it off; there are many factors when it comes to effectively using a press release to market your business. Here’s some things to consider to ensure you’re getting the most out of a press release and why you should have done one yesterday:
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Small Business: 6 Online Myths Revealed

The e-commerce industry is filled with different ideas on what’s the best approach for a small business owner. Having spoken with many small business owners, I know there’s some common myths that seem to resonate with website owners more than others. No matter who, where, or how far along in the process they are, an industry like this can spread some serious rumors and propagate some strange ideas. SmallBusinessNewz has been profiling some of these most common myths in two-part video series based on findings from Homestead.com’s CEO & Founder Justin Kitch. The second part in the series, featured below, covers common myths on marketing strategy that really speaks volumes. From my experience, these are definitely some popular misconceptions when it comes to running an online business.
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