Marketing & SEO Discussion List - LED Digest

========== NEW ===================================

From: Kevin Condon

Subject: Shopping Cart Abandonment

For all those of us frustrated at trying to get a benchmark for

shopping cart abandonment, I recently found this excellent study

(Feb. 2005) prepared by 2 Assistant Professors in Marketing - Shibo

Li and Patrali Chatterjee from Rutgers.

This is an extensive research study that at last gives me some real

%s based on factual studies;  I am not going to try to summarize it

- but here are two summary findings:

Most firms are able to convert only 2-3% of online traffic to paying

traffic. The most successful convert only 8%!  If you read all the

web coaches you would think differently!

I have followed the findings meticulously - in particular

establishing actual levels of abandonment for our own cart.  Since

implementing, I am getting close to 7%.  One of the conclusions

related to shipping and in particular offering incentives such as

"Buy any 2 Products and Get Shipping For Free".  It really seems to

work.

And best of all - this report is free - at least for the moment.

Whether its meant to be on the web or not, I'm not sure but its

worth downloading this PDF.

The link is very long but here is the Google search term:

Shopping Cart Abandonment at Retail Websites - A Multi-Stage Model

of Online Shopping Behavior. Shibo Li and Patrali Chatterjee. 1.

February 16, 2005 ...

I hope it is useful for everyone

Kevin Condon

www.jazzles.com

------- new post - new topic -------

From: Bill Davison

Subject: Installing Security Certificates?

I've often wondered why with the apparent keen interest in marketing

widgets, no one has ever discussed the ins and outs of installing

security certificates on host servers / websites?

I realize most simply contract out their on-line ordering but maybe

there are others who prefer to customize their on-line shopping.

Is protecting your customer's private / credit card information no

longer worthwhile?

Bill Davison

bizwebpage.com

======== CONTINUING ===============================

From: Geoff Thomas

Subject: eBay blocking

> ... eBay can and does boot folks with no notice

> and at times no legitimate reason... and yes, the

> rules depend in part by how much you pay eBay

> every month. Sad but true.

        - David Grant, LED 2084

Interesting point. I don't sell through eBay, but do occassionally

have people refer to my commercial site in their eBay listings,

justification of retail prices or for price comparison or

discription and other links such as our hallmarking information

pages. Could that see me barred from future eBay dealing?

Worse, imagine the sabotage that unfair dealers could do by listing

to their competitors commercial sites to get them barred.

Geoff Thomas

www.thomas-skipton.co.uk

------- new post - same topic -------

From: Kenny Lau

Subject: eBay blocking

Do all that is allowed by eBay: Include your name, company name,

phone number, and encourage Buyers to contact you through use of the

"Ask Seller A Question" button on the listing page, even short

customer testimonials.  These may all help.

Kenny Lau, Canada

www.ecopurewater.com

------- new post - same topic -------

From: Rick Gortatowsky

Subject: Booted From eBay

Once eBay blocks you it can be rather troublesome to get them to

take the block off depending on what occurs. They view external

sites as driving traffic away from eBay and often attempting fee

avoidance.

There are certainly valid reasons for eBay acting in such fashion

but at the same time it makes you wonder. If they let everyone get

away with it then everyone would and eBay would lose massive

revenue. However, your revenues to them are insignificant. Its not

like you are a large sales corporation. They really should send a

warning before any such action takes place and yes others do engage

in same activities and eventually also get counciled or the boot.

Discussing this is really beyond the context of the LED format as I

could write a book on the subjects of eBay and alternatives etc.

Perhaps I should :) Write a book that is.

The prudent thing to do is email me direct. I can give you some

clues as to how to deal with eBay as well as alternatives. There are

alternatives? Yes. In fact, if there are any resellers out there

reading this and you are a "Business" by all means, email us:

firststrikepro, yahoo.com

Sincerely,

Rick Gortatowsky

------- new post - new topic -------

From: Tom Anson

Subject: Multiple sites

> I was thinking of leaving the present site up

> because it gets so many visitors, and then

> maybe linking to the titles I'm describing on

> the Miva shopping cart if that is possible.

        - Barbara Radisavljevic, LED 2084

Barbara Radisavljevic (LED Digest 2084) presents an interesting

situation, in terms of sister sites.  I'm not sure what my advice is

really worth, but here goes anyway.

If I was (were?) in Barbara's shoes, I think I'd forget about

building the new site.  The old site, even with its navigational

nightmares, (by her admission) still generates the most traffic and

sales.  I can think of no good reason to move away from that.

What could be done instead is to add the Miva shopping cart to that

site, then redesign the it (which can all be done off-line with

Dreamweaver or something) to include good design and navigation, but

keeping the old file names.  These pages could then link to Miva for

payment.

This is essentially what I've done with my websites, and my sales

are up about 300% since November.  You can see an example of each at

http://www.therapeutic-grade.com/products/supplements/ningxiaRed.htm

l (the new page with the shopping cart link), compared to

http://www.therapeutic-grade.com/cgi-bin/ez-catalog/cat_display.cgi?

21X367200#3003 (my shopping cart page, which has made it's way into

the Google index).

Tom Anson

Anson Aromatic Essentials

www.therapeutic-grade.com

==== BILLBOARD ===================================

From: Joanne Glasspoole

Subject: Shopping carts - Zen Cart

Does anyone know if Zen Cart is search engine friendly?

Joanne Glasspoole

Glasspoole Web Development LLC

http://www.glasspoole.com

------- new post - new topic -------

From: James Miller

Subject: Printing Pages

My Christmas project was to crack the problem of printing pages that

are too wide for the printer. Without writing a complete browser, it

would obviously be impossible to print a long page that spread over

more than one, but I have found and programmed a solution to the

problem of printing a page that is say 1200 pixels wide and about

1600 deep.  The solution takes a bitmap of the page and sizes it to

the printer.

I have programmed the solution into a browser, which is part of my

Daisy Web Tools, which have a web site at

http://www.daisy.co.uk/WebTools/index.html.  The web site is not

quite finished yet, as I’m developing the other products in the

suite.

The print solution is in the Multiple and Presentation Browsers.

They also contain the ability to print a web page without those

annoying headers at the top and bottom.

To get this printing just use the Print button in either browser.

If anybody wants to use the program, there is a temporary

registration that will give full access to the programs.

One of the uses of the Presentation Browser may well be in the field

of such things as copyright, where when you see an infringement, you

can then print the whole page, add a few notes to it and then send

it to your lawyer!

James Miller

Daisy Analysis

www.daisy.co.uk

-------------------------------------------------------

The LED Digest is sponsored by pair Networks:

pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains

© Copyright 1995-2006 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

"Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the