• Don’t be too promotional
• Make sure the deal is easy to see from the submission
• Offer affiliate commission
• Use coupon codes
• Have a really good sale

If you want to read more (with full details), head on over and read the full post!

The panel is moderated by Allan Dick from Vintage Tub and Bath (always an entertaining one) and contains 6 different speakers who have to keep each presentation under 8 minutes.  Needless to say, the presentations are quick and I am just going to be dropping some of the best takeaways from each.

The audience gets riled up with some Toilet Paper trivia, and then Eli Goodman of comScore kicks things off.  Eli cut right to the chase and started flying through really great information. He stated that search numbers are up, comparison shopping is up, but that email marketing is down.  Could this be from Email exhaustion?  Probably.

Next he is onto talking about coupon sites, their popularity, and how this trend can help you make money. Coupon site usage is way up, like double digit percentage point up.  Year over year there was a 47% increase in visits for coupon sites in Q4 ‘08.  So what?  Well, Eli states that you should link this knowledge with your PPC.  Use terms like deals, savings in your copy.  However, ‘free’ has the perception of being cheap, so you should be aware that it might be a turn off.

Eli then jumps into YouTube – some real detailed stuff. YouTube searches are up 41% over last year and believe it or not, you can use it for ecommerce.  There are generic & basic terms that you can target, and you should also think about brands within YouTube so you can be found for searches.  Look to YouTube promoted videos, as it is a much less crowded place than main search.  There is also a great opportunity to go after longer tail searches with Promotional YouTube.  So a term like “women’s shoe’s” might not have a promotional video shown – so go buy it.  Why?  Well, JCPenney did this and saw an increase of 165k uniques & 339k visits, and Target did this and saw an increase of 330k uniques & 630 visits.  Easy pickings – so do it.  Eli then proceeded to finish with 13 sec left and was out of breath due to all the knowledge he just dropped.  Overall it was one of the best presos of the session w/ really nice, actionable ecommerce tips!

Next up is Karon Thackston from MarketingWords, who gets started and her presentation starts taking off on its own. Only 40% land on homepage & 60% of people on product pages leave instantly.  We then had a bit of a glitch in her presentation as it started going a bit too quick (not reliant on clicks), so I had to skip a bit of coverage to make sure we got back on track.  Once back into it, she began to talk about using category pages as your landing page – and to make sure that there is content along with the products.  Putting content on the pages and really aiming for a better experience will go along way on the category pages.  When close to complete, the presentation gets wonky again and PowerPoint can’t handle the animations.  After a few attempts to show the final slide transition, we give up and say thanks.

Next is Khalid Saleh of Investp, who has a boatload of analytic terms that he will be focusing in on.  Firstly, he wants everyone to know that the sitewide bounce rate might be misleading.  Break down the data and analyze … there might be a few bad pages that are gumming up the works.  After removing some of the pages, then you can get a better view of what is going on.

Next, you really want to make sure that the categorization is working for your visitors.  He termed a metric called the“Bounce Around Affect,” which is ‘the # of visitors’ navigation to a parent or sibling’/'total visitors who are on the category’.  This can show how interested people are and how well of a job you are doing.

He finishes up with some metrics for your pages: you should have the following stats if you want to be healthy:

• Bounce rate < 5%
• Exit rate < 5%
• “Bounce around rate” < 5%

Adam Audette, the man of many internet marketing hats (one of which is AudetteMedia), steps up next with a very western theme, yeeeee-haa  He actually says “Give ‘em wind of yer kit and kaboodle” before he starts, which gets a laugh from myself (but not the audience – booo).   He has three main points:

1. Be quick on the draw
   This is old-timey for talking about your load time.  Why is this important?  Because of the crawl and because of the user experience.  Make sure your pages are loading quick.  What to do to fix this? You can compress content perform server level optimization (he mentions how much he likes the Yahoo! Dev Network for this).  Also, he gave the important reminder that redirects affect load time, which many people tend to forget.
2. Give ‘em wind
   This means show them recommendations in modern speak.  He shows the example of  Zappos and how they started to show related products based on what was viewed and also related items that people have bought right on the product pages.  What did this all bring? Pages up over 20% time on site increased by 2.8%, bounce rate was down 5.9% and the conversion rate was up 5%.  Pretty powerful stuff.
3. Kill dead ringers
   AKA get on top of your duplicate content.  It impacts indexation more than you may think.  It can hurt in your battle vs. crawl caps, causes PR split, and can cause page dilution.  How to fix? Depends on how much time you have.  The Low level is to partake in parameter removal, start using the Link canonical tag.  The Medium level is the use of redirects and the High level is total URL restructuring (not recommended).

If you were at SMX east and missed the session, I would recommend downloading Adam’s if not solely for the rockin’ Meatloaf cover.

Next up is Laura Thieme from Bizresearch, who is going to talk about PPC.  She emphasizes that you should cut those keywords that are over acceptable rates or not converting, but do so with a 13 month scale so you can have accurate data.  She stresses that you need to give time before cutting – if possible a full 13 months.  She then goes on to talk about the benefits of the “see search terms” on keywords with clicks right in AdWords and how easy it has become to look up terms thanks to the Google.

Tools she highly recommends using include the Adwords Editor, an analytics pack with seasonal and visual trends and 4-6 hour chucks of time where you can concentrate on improvement (I agree strongly on this one!).  Then she hypes up Google’s new implementation of “Many-per-click” conversion tracking in AdWords and how you can see a truer data set that way.  She ends with an example of what not to do (stop buying ads for terms you already rank for) and stresses to increase brand spends.

Jiyan Wei from PR Web is up and is going to talk about optimizing your press releases.  When using Press Releases make sure to use images.  Those releases with images have a CTR of 15-25% higher.  It can also help to attract more bloggers and webmasters.  One example had 3 press releases that drove 50 blog articles.  Images in press releases can also increase your footprint in image search.  In press releases you should also use video.  One release with video drove over 2 unique visitors per month and 500% increase in time on page.  He then talks about the different Press Release options out now (says to just Google “Online distribution”).  Surprisingly, he ends a few minutes early and never really tied the press release back to ecommerce, which was a bit disappointing.  It was a good presentation on Press Releases, but not great for selling things on your site.

Then I am off to help with the Q&A, which Allan handles masterfully.  I was really looking forward to the questions and in my opinion the audience came up a bit lame.  There were 6 ecommerce hotshots with brains waiting to be picked and the audience ran out of questions.  Allan, however, saved the day and very generously donated over $500 worth of certificates to audience members who shared their own tips, and it worked very well.

Overall, the session was a great one.  Eli and Adam’s presentations are “must-downloads” and it seemed like the audience loved it – IMO it was the best session of Day 2!

I remember when I first experienced the power of the Internet. I was in middle school hanging out with a friend. We decided to use the computer in my father’s office and got online to chat. Of course that led to starting trouble within the chat room and getting kicked out, but the feeling of connecting (even if it was very juvenile and idiotic) was lasting.

Well both myself and the internet have evolved since then (thankfully). We are in the midst of Web 2.0. I mean, look at who Time’s person of the year in 2006 was- it was me, or was it you?

Now you can sell your handmade t-shirts to someone in California, post a video so millions can see it, raise money for a certain candidate or cause or even connect with a classmate that now lives in Boston.

Lets look at few of these powerful aspects, some general and specific, of being online and postulate on where it is all going.

Facebook and MySpace. Social sites are amazing! They allow you to connect with potential clients, friends, employers or employees. Careers have been launched through MySpace with relative quickness, something that would have taken much longer through more traditional means.

Personally I have connected with some friends from school over Facebook and learned of developments within their lives as well as forging new venues and relationships for my work.

Digg. A giant content source! Easily the one and only place you need to go to find out what is happening in your area of interest. Or simply stop by the homepage and see what is hot around the world. This has brought issues and ideas to the forefront and continues to prove that the masses will be heard. I am always inspired when I read through the Science section as well as Images. With the amount of people submitting content and rating you don’t get anything but the best.

StumbleUpon. I find new interesting sites and content all the time with this tool, right from the comfort of my browser tool bar. This social tool was built for discovering sites that are recommended by your like minded users. Jake just posted a great article about harnessing the power of local searching within StumbleUpon.

The site allows for networking and the toolbar allows for finding and discovering new great content on the web. This is a powerful combination of Internet function and social web.

YouTube. This community has amazing potential for sparking ideas and movements. Some very passionate people are creating videos not just for songs or commercials, those are great too, but for change and doing things many newspapers or journalists wouldn’t dare do.

Helping others is important. Do Some Good Now and Freerice.com have unique approach’s to the donation type of site.

For each word you get right, we donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.

Google. Where would we be without it? I have used it maybe 30 times today alone. The ease of differing to the search engine when a question or a need arises, a debate or thought has us stumped is amazing.My one friend, not the trouble-maker, would say “lets ask the magic box!” whenever we would get into a disagreement on something-anything. We don’t even need to own a dictionary or an encyclopedia these days.

Improving on our personal lives is another area where the web has excelled. Sites like Lifehack.org, ririan project and Zen Habits all provide information and resources to being more productive and improving upon our lives.

With so many personal opinions and voices out there, more able to reach a wide and diverse audience, we are having to rely less on corporate news and bloggers are being taken seriously. Blogging just may be the single best way to communicate and interact online. Public speaking for Internet. And did you know blogging is good for your health?

This may seem obvious, but with the ease and simplicity to buy products and services online more people are able to benefit. The elderly are especially beneficial because of mobility and health issues that may otherwise not allow them to drive their car 12 miles to the mall.

Consumer information and reviews is also a valuable addition to the shopping experience. The ability to find reliable reviews and ratings from like minded people makes your decisions and shopping more informed and accurate.

Sites like ebay and Craig’s List also create a huge opportunity for people to connect and exchange, sell or simply get together for events and activities. I have personally bought a good amount of film from Ebay and for a lot cheaper than if I would have bought it directly from a store. I also sold a computer and a couch using Craig’s List.

This is one of those resources that has tremendous value to educators and the arts. Access to information and images is so helpful to progress of education and culture. Some sites have vast amounts of additional resources such as podcasts, videos and photography in addition to text.

Look at one of my favorites, the Philadelphia Museum of Art. You can view some of the exhibits and learn more with supplemental information.

With the progresses being made everyday within the fields of technology and social intelligence it would seem like brighter days are in our future online. There are many pitfalls and predators on the Internet and I would love to see more accountibilty put in place for users. Viruses, pornography, scams and stalkers are all bad things in my opinion for the Internet simply because age is not really distinguished. SPAM is another issue altogether that makes life difficult online, not to mention clogs up your inbox daily. Some people see real value in the Internet while others see liability.
I feel that the power of having the Internet at my disposal is such People seem to want to connect and learn from each other. Word of mouth is still the best form of advertisement. As our altruistic, whether your nice because you want to be treated nicely or not, nature grows online lets hope the rest of our lives off line catch up.

Now I ask you, what do you think is the best thing going for the Internet and why?

Thank you!

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Up until recently when it came to shoes I’ve been an avid brick and mortar shopper, having to go into the actual store to try shoes on, I order everything else online but for some reason I need to try the shoes on in person before buying. But lately I am frustrated with that whole shopping experience, going from shop to shop when I can easily open several tabs at a time just seems to be a waste. Walking around a whole store where nothing is organized or really categorized doesn’t work for me anymore. I order my food online, my clothes, my makeup, my insurance and just about everything else – so why not my shoes?

So when Rae posted a review of endless.com I felt compelled to check them out. I’ve been seeing their banners on the various blogs that I read for fun (Perez, I’m Not Obsessed, Cute Overload) advertising “Overnight Shipping: Negative $5″.

My first impression when I got to endless was that it was super clean and airy.

The cluttered look of the reigning shoe queen zappos sometimes stresses me out.

I was looking for closed toed black pumps that I could wear to work or a night out with some jeans. Navigating around endless is so convenient compared to other shopping sites. The inventory narrows down with a few clicks. As Rae pointed out, a great feature is the ability to browse multiple colors and sizes. If I want to search shoes that are black or silver and sizes 7, 7.5, and 8, I can narrow down my selections and have them all in front of me in a few seconds. (As a recent bride I appreciate that feature).

There’s a neat feature where you can also choose the price range that you want to shop within. As you use the slider the selections change:

Much like shopping in a store, you have the ability to save an item to review later, which means you can pull the shoes or bags you really like to come back to later and you are reminded of how many items you’ve saved.

Later you can come back and browse your own little category that you’ve created.

Zappos has this feature as well but it’s hidden within all the text, and once you add something to your favorites you’re not reminded of it at all.

All in all, I found this site to be fun to use, fast, (really fast actually) and convenient. But at the end of my little investigation, I wound up buying from Zappo’s. They just happened to have what I was looking for. It took me a lot longer to find the right shoe, which kept me on the site for a long enough time to be annoyed at how cumbersome it is, but for the time being I just think they have a better selection of shoes. Yet here I am excited to browse on Endless again and it’s definitely going to be my first stop going forward.

What do you think about sites such as Styledash.com? What are your initial impressions? Would you buy from it? What do you think of a site like this? What would it take for someone you didn’t know to influence your buying decisions online?

My first impression of Styledash.com was that I could read the same material in a magazine. From the gossip articles to the latest fashion styles, it all seemed too familiar. On the home page there was a little article about Lindsay Lohan being drunk and going into rehab once again. This article went on to talk about how she was opening a fashion bar in NYC, but all of it reminded me of something someone would read in “People.” The other articles had to do with other fashions from different countries and news about designers splitting or collaborating. Once I thought about this site more, I figured that this site would be good for people who don’t read magazines and who prefer to read everything online.

After seeing the homepage, I wanted to check out what kinds of things I could buy from this site so I clicked on one of the category links. I liked how there were little paragraphs giving fashion advice about each of the products, and then told you about the product instead of just giving you a picture and a price. It was also nice that the certain categories listed celebrity styles and new trends according to what you clicked on. Although that’s pretty much what any magazine would do.

I think I would be able to find something on this site to buy because I love to shop and get new things. But this site doesn’t “wow” me that much. There are some nice clothes, accessories, and fashion advice, but I don’t really have the need to use a site like this. I think the only reason I would come back to this site would be if I needed fashion advice or if I didn’t have a magazine with me to read. I think this kind of site would reach out to adults more then teens. Many teens including myself already have our online shopping sites that we are familiar with. For example I like:

These sites are appealing to me because its the actual store, the products that they have are my style, and searching for something that I want is easy to do (unlike Styledash where you have to click on links a couple times and scroll down the pages more.)

For someone to influence my buying decisions they would have to be truthful about their products. For example if I buy a high quality shirt or hoodie and the first day I wear it the zipper breaks, or a button pops off I won’t be too thrilled. No one likes a shady seller! The person that will be influencing me should know the facts about the products and all of my questions should be answered easily through the site or an actual person. No one should be sent on a wild goose chase to just find a pair of jeans.

I don’t know if someone that I didn’t know at all could persuade me to buy something online. I think I would have had to at least heard of them or what they’ve done. Like if they are the editor if a magazine then I might listen to what they have to say about a product. Or if they were a fashion designer and I’ve heard of their clothes. I guess if I started reading a blog regularly and liked the author’s style I might buy something based on a recommendation after a while.

So, even though this site didn’t appeal to me that much, it did give some good tips. I’m certain that this type of site is better for an adult crowd but not so much for teens. Thanks for reading.

** Editor’s note: Want to get your questions answered by Kayla and be featured on 10e20? If so please send them in via our contact form and be as detailed as possible.

According to comScore, online non-travel holiday spending between November and December went up 25% to $24.6 billion dollars for 2006, up from $19.6 billion a year ago.

What does this mean? There is increased consumer trust in online marketplaces, and as more and more consumers continue to value the convenience of online shopping, more and more consumers will buy. 2007 will likely see a greater increase too.

Here are some more interesting facts:

$457.4 billion – 2006 holiday sales, both online and offline
$435.6 billion – 2005 holiday sales, both online and offline
51.7 million – people who shopped online from work for holiday gifts in 2005 (see what I mean about convenience?)

$791 – Amount each consumer is expected to spend this year.
$451.34 – Will be spent on family.
$99.22 – On himself or herself.
$85.60 – On friends.
$22.40 – On co-workers.
$44.52 – On people like clergy, teachers, and baby sitters.
$30.57 – On greeting cards and postage.

[via Gizmodo via Christmas Spirit]

Here’s hoping that all you retailers did a great job in 2006. And given that 2007 is just a few days away, make sure to optimize those sites for the upcoming holiday season!

According to data presented by comScore (via the Wall Street Journal), this past Monday’s online sales have jumped up 24% to $599 million. Interestingly enough, online sales went up 42% on Friday — but online sales only reached $434 million that day.

Hitwise also presented data that showed a 13.3% sales increase compared to Cyber Monday 2005.

Regardless of the “accurate” statistic, one thing is certain: early preparation for big shopping days will only help you (and your customers). Fortunately, the WSJ states:

Although considered the unofficial start of the online-shopping season, Cyber Monday isn’t the busiest of the year. Last year, it was the ninth-biggest day for online shopping, market researchers said.

Looks like there’s still time (albeit not much) to prep for the busiest shopping day of the year, which seems to be around December 12th.

Why face the long lines and pushing-and-shoving if you don’t have to?

This past Black Friday saw a record number of unique visitors, now up 42% on online retail sites. comScore, which presented these results on November 2006 spending, says:

With 42 percent growth versus the same day last year, it’s clear that many consumers opted for the convenience and sanity of shopping from home in order to avoid mayhem at the malls and to take advantage of the extremely attractive deals being offered online. This growth figure is especially encouraging for online retailers when taking into account that much of the country saw beautiful weather on Friday.

That’s right — online deals aren’t half bad either. The New York Times profiles a number of buyers in today’s article, indicating that there was a 6% increase in users opting to shop online, totaling 114 million potential buyers.

What is responsible for the popularity of buying — and how can you improve ROI for next year’s big sale day?

• Offer free shipping. This year, 83% of online retailers offered free shipping, according to Shopzilla.com. That might explain why the National Retail Federation’s claim that 47% of consumers — nearly half — are intending to purchase at least one holiday item.
• Incentives, incentives. The New York Times called this the “aggressive price cut.” One day only sales? Sure. But let’s go a step further. I noticed that on sites I frequented (many of which were not as well known) that contests drove traffic and in turn translated searches into sales. It also brought these retail sites to the attention of a lot of new prospective buyers due to word of mouth.
• Utilize SEO methods. Make it easy for people to find the products you’re going to sell on the search engines. If you’re looking to buy ad real estate, make sure your keywords are targeted appropriately. Be specific, not generic.
• Ensure that your buyers know where your products are. Highlight those important products and make them easy to find. Your site should be very usable and accessible.
• Be prepared. As a buyer, you might be overwhelmed by the sales and the sheer amount of people who chase after well-publicized sales. Consider your position as the merchant. Make sure your site can handle the load and traffic.

While it’s a year away, it’s never too early to begin preparing for the future, because online shopping is only expected to go up.