PEC Staff
Practical Ecommerce is a leading online magazine for ecommerce businesses. Its mission is to provide independent editorial and commentary to help merchants of all sizes.
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Marketing & Advertising
Use Google’s Site Targeting
December 1, 2005 • PEC Staff
Google advertisers, rejoice! If you ever wished you could pick and choose which sites across Google AdSense network your ads will appear, now you can! In a recent development, Google AdWords introduced a new advertising model called Site Targeting, which gives you the ability to target...
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Business
Creating Your First Banner Ad in Photoshop
November 1, 2005 • PEC Staff
Overview As an ecommerce entrepreneur there is no particular reason that you would know what a GIF or a JPEG file is. In fact, it may be that the only tech smarts you have is that you hired someone to build and manage your website for you. However, many entrepreneurs are very hands on,...
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Business
A Master Over Disaster
November 1, 2005 • PEC Staff
Amid the rubble and the heartache caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita were the lost dreams of many a business owner. More than likely, those people affected worst along the Gulf Coast were too concerned for and with their families to consider entrepreneurial ventures. Get my family. ...
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Business
Hiring a Sales Tax Technology Provider
November 1, 2005 • PEC Staff
Single Solution Sales tax compliance software must perform multiple operations. It must first determine the relevant jurisdiction and rules, and then calculate taxes in real time. It must then compile the data, complete and file the tax return and remit the proceeds. Make certain your ...
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Conversion
The Best ‘Net Secrets – November 2005
November 1, 2005 • PEC Staff
Trick-or-treaters come and go, but a sweet tooth demands satisfaction year round. These sites handily prove that the Internet can satisfy a sugar craving in ways never dreamt of by your local candy store. http://www.hometownfavorites.com Big city life may offer superior access to fash...
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Conversion
Understanding Online Advertising Terms
November 1, 2005 • PEC Staff
In a meeting with a national online advertising vendor the other day, I was amused when I noticed one of our top salesmen sleeping at our conference table. And, by sleeping, I don’t mean that this gentleman nodded off and required a quick nudge. I mean he was out, sawing logs....
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Business
Displaying Special Characters Using HTML
November 1, 2005 • PEC Staff
Overview As a business owner, being able to publish your content to the web represents an incredible distribution opportunity. The evolution of web publishing has allowed for nearly any printed materials to be distributed online, often times for a fraction of the expense. One of the c...
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Conversion
Customer Service Focus – November 2005
November 1, 2005 • PEC Staff
You probably can’t make every customer happy, so here are some tips on customer-dispute resolution and making a bad situation a little bit better. Communication is King. The most frustrating aspect of dealing with online retailers is lack of communication, especially if you have a pr...
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Conversion
Email Marketing: Cultivating a Successful List
October 1, 2005 • PEC Staff
Many old-school marketers built mailing lists like your favorite aunt would make spaghetti: Cook a ton of it, and throw it against the wall to see what sticks. If any does, you know the pasta’s done. In much the same way, before email marketing developed some semblance of sophisticatio...
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Business
Customer Service Focus – October 2005
October 1, 2005 • PEC Staff
Your goal as an e-tailer should be to amaze customers with an unusually high level of service. Consider these customer service tips to improve your ecommerce business. More Than One Method of Communication. Make sure your site offers more than one method of communication. Most sites ...
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Design & Development
Securing an SSL Certificate
October 1, 2005 • PEC Staff
Overview How do you know that I am who I say I am? Likewise, how do I know you are who you say you are? And, if we can’t catapult past this initial, basic level of trust – how will we ever be able to conduct business together? In the Web world, it’s done with an SSL certificate. SSL ...
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Design & Development
Understanding Common Web Error Messages
October 1, 2005 • PEC Staff
Over the years in the interactive marketing business, any consultant worth his or her salt has faced the dilemma of assisting a company whose primary issue is that its “Web site broke.” No more information than that. “It broke.” Many a parent can identify with this description as it p...
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Marketing & Advertising
Search Engine Indexing with Sitemaps
October 1, 2005 • PEC Staff
One of the most common problems ecommerce websites have with rankings is that portions of their websites are not included in the search engines. The cause can be any of a variety of reasons that range from complicated URL strings to slow server response or lack of a proper internal link...
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SEO
Basics of Search Engine Optimization
September 1, 2005 • PEC Staff
First, what is search engine optimization? Also known as "SEO," search engine optimization can be defined as a set of methodologies aimed at improving the visibility of a website in search engine listings.
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Design & Development
Web Graphics: Why Are We So Limited?
September 1, 2005 • PEC Staff
As a Web designer and developer, I have worked with graphics in a variety of formats. Anybody who uses Adobe Photoshop – the standard for design production in the interactive business – has learned his or her way around JPG, GIF, TIF, EPS, PSD, PCX and BMP files. Those types of files s...
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Business
Scope, Don’t Hope
August 1, 2005 • PEC Staff
Among the many perks of running your own business is the freedom to work on your own schedule, at your own pace, where you want and how you choose. However, ask any online entrepreneur, and he or she will likely never get back to you. No time. Too busy. Even if your business is confin...
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Business
A Tangled Web We Weave
August 1, 2005 • PEC Staff
The choice between having nothing nice to say and saying nothing at all, at least on the web, is becoming increasingly easier by the day. Say nothing at all. When the 1996 Communications Decency Act (CDA) was struck down to allow indecent, as opposed to obscene speech, the effect – uni...
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Business
SignSupplyStore.com Keeps It Simple
August 1, 2005 • PEC Staff
During the course of building an online business, many eommerce webmasters find that they morph into proverbial interactive jacks of all trades. In the heart of Kentucky’s Bluegrass region, 34 year-old Lance Coffman is one such renaissance man. The webmaster for SSK Sign Supply, Coffma...
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Business
No Click To Pick
August 1, 2005 • PEC Staff
You’ve got nothing to show for it - your online advertising campaign that is. Hundreds if not thousands of dollars out the window after those creative, catchy ads didn’t reel in the customers you hoped they would. Could be that the copy wasn’t quite as striking as you thought. That’s c...
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Conversion
Attracting Hispanic Customers Online Not As Easy As Uno, Dos, Tres
August 1, 2005 • PEC Staff
As online business owners and marketers, you've heard the staggering statistics regarding Internet usage among Hispanics in the United States. Almost 16 million Hispanics will be online by 2007, and their collective buying power is already nearing $600 billion. Why is it that only one-...
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Conversion
Back-to-School Season Provides Lesson for eCommerce Sites
August 1, 2005 • PEC Staff
If you thought the back-to-school season meant little more than pencils and paper, backpacks and new school clothes, you'd be highly mistaken. In the ecommerce community, it provides us a subtle reminder as to the power of teaching our customers about our products and services. That's ...
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Conversion
Parting the Fog of Visitors
August 1, 2005 • PEC Staff
Imagine this. You're the publisher of a metropolitan newspaper, tasked with gathering statistics on how many people read your publication on a weekly basis. Of course you count your subscriber base and your newsstand copies sold, but do you include those folks who only glanced at the ne...
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Business
MistralSoap.com Doubles Online Sales
July 1, 2005 • PEC Staff
In 1993, Matthew Tilker, Mistral Soap’s founder, was studying in Provence, France. There he met a 70-year-old master soap maker. In a family factory, the man crafted soaps according to a 300-year old traditional triplemilling process, always using the finest natural ingredients. The soa...
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