Ecommerce News Around the Web for February 5, 2010

“Ecommerce News Around the Web” is our weekly review of articles, blog posts and other news items that could interest ecommerce merchants.

11 Outstanding Online Resources for Web Developers – Mashable

A web developer’s job is almost never done. You are always looking for ways to improve your skills and keep up with the latest in web trends. Mashable provides this list of 11 top resources to help.

21 Ways to Increase Your Conversion Rate – ClickNewz

Here is a panoply of tips that can help you increase your site’s conversion rate. They include categories such as trust factors, user experience, merchandising offers and checkout factors. “Make the checkout process short” is one.

101 Five-Minute Fixes to Improve Your Web Site – Focus

If the thought of 21 tips to improve your website seemed overwhelming, how about 101? Don’t worry, though. This list of tips are designed to be quick, incremental fixes that you can implement almost any time, and with only a short amount of time and effort.

Five Shopping Cart Mistakes That Can Make Your Ecommerce Site Lose Money – Biznik

Making the purchase process as painless as possible is the goal of every online merchant. This article list five mistakes that may prevent that from happening and tells you what to do in the event your site falls victim.

Designing Your e-Commerce Website – Web development and programming information

“E-commerce has become the future of the cyberspace community,” says this blog post. As such, your site needs to be well-designed, and that means more than just pretty pictures and a nice logo.

Amazon’s Reaction to Apple’s iPad — Buy a Touchscreen Startup – The New York Times

Think Apple’s iPad didn’t upset Amazon’s apple cart? Think again. In a move to compete with the iPad, Amazon is reported to be acquiring a New York-based start-up that specializes in touchscreen technology.

The State of the Internet – Focus

Who used the Internet in 2009 and how did they use it? This “state of the Internet” report is done up in a nice graphical fashion. It provides a quick overview in an easy to digest format.

Is There Room for Other Social Networks in a Facebook and Twitter World? – paidContent

Everywhere you look these days, it’s Facebook this and Twitter that. But, is there room for more? Geoff Cook, CEO of myYearbook, says yes, and even suggests that the day will come when Facebook and Twitter usage will peak.

How to Use Social Deal Sites to Promote Sales – Search Engine Land

If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a thousand times, “How do I make money using social media?” If you have a product to sell and are willing to make some special deals, social media might be just the ticket to reaching consumers ready to buy.

Social Network Traffic to Retail Sites Continues to Grow – Marketing Pilgrim

The jury is in and has been for a long time — social networks like Facebook continue to send traffic to retail sites. Hitwise has the numbers to prove it. Visits from social networks are up 37 percent.

ThisNext Seeks to Corner Social Shopping Market – ThisNext

ThisNext apparently wants to corner the market on social shopping with its purchase of Stylehive. Not only that, it raised a round of funding to the tune of $1.2 million and started a new brand, Curatemedia, with the intention of purchasing even more social shopping sites.

Plurchase: E-commerce Goes Social – Mashable

This site brings the social act of window shopping to ecommerce. Plurchase lets you shop with friends, see what friends are shopping for, and chat with them.

eBay Lowers Listing Fees – CNET News

“eBay Every Day” offers no up-front fee for sellers of auction-style (rather than flat-rate sale) listings with a starting price of 99 cents or less; that’s only part of their new lower-cost fee structure. But not all eBay sellers are impressed.

The End of the Web’s Golden Age – Forrester

Prepare for the Splinternet says Forrester analyst Josh Bernhoff. Thanks to the advent of tools like Amazon’s Kindle and Apple’s new iPad, not only are we living in an age of information overload, but device overload as well.

Cool Image-Mapping Tool – ImageMaps.com

Frustrated that I could not make HTML image-mapping work on my client’s Facebook Fan Page, I went in search of other options. Thankfully, I found a great tool that creates not only HTML image-maps in an easy to use step-by-step wizard format, but CSS images maps as well. Needless to say, my image-mapping troubles were over.