Paul Chaney - Practical Ecommerce

Articles by: Paul Chaney

Paul Chaney

Paul Chaney

Paul Chaney is a contributor for Practical Ecommerce, having written his first article in August 2005.

Paul is author of The Digital Handshake: Seven Proven Strategies to Grow Your Business Using Social Media (published by John Wiley & Sons), and The F-Commerce Handbook: 10 Secrets for Unlocking the Sales Potential of Facebook and The Social Commerce Handbook: 20 Secrets for Turning Social Media into Social Sales, both of which are published by McGraw-Hill.

Connect with Paul via email at pchaney@gmail.com.

Local Business
10 Local Business Customer Rating and Review Platforms

February 22, 2016 • Paul Chaney

Want to get more customer reviews? There are plenty of reasons to do so. They help build brand awareness, increase credibility, and improve search rankings. Plus, they let you know the customer's mindset about your business, and its products or services.
Social Media
Conversion Rate Optimization: Scent Trail or Primrose Path?

February 15, 2016 • Paul Chaney

Conversion rate optimization is the practice of managing pay-per-click ads, landing pages, and websites to increase sales, leads, or other desired actions from visitors.
Local Business
6 Local Business Online Marketing Essentials

February 8, 2016 • Paul Chaney

There are many online marketing avenues that a local small business could take, but which are essential and stand the best chance of ensuring success? After all, business owners have a limited amount of time to pursue marketing activities, so they need to focus on those that are most productive.
Local Business
Local Marketing: Position Yourself as a Community Expert

January 25, 2016 • Paul Chaney

In a recent installment of "10 Great Local Marketing Ideas," a monthly series we run here on WMT, Lisa Sanderson, a real estate agent in Stroudsburg, Pa., asked, "Have you ever searched online for information on your local area and couldn’t find what you were looking for exactly?"
Social Media
Using Social Networks for Long-form Content: Pros, Cons

January 18, 2016 • Paul Chaney

One marketing trend growing in popularity is the use of social networks to publish long-form content, not unlike what you would see on a blog. That's particularly true of Facebook and LinkedIn, each of which has developed platforms to facilitate such activity, and there is even talk of Twitter changing its model to accommodate longer content, believe it or not.
Social Media
25 Ways to Use Twitter for Marketing

January 11, 2016 • Paul Chaney

Although marketing through social media is the norm, Twitter is still an enigma for many. I can't recount just how many times I have heard business owners and marketers tell me, "I just don't get Twitter."
Social Media
Google Maps: A ‘Social Network’ in Disguise

January 4, 2016 • Paul Chaney

Gone are the days when Google Plus was the epicenter for local business information. Google My Business now owns that domain, for the business owner. For users, Google Maps has become a replacement for Google Plus Local and is somewhat of a social network in disguise.
Local Business
Local SEO: 9 Ways to Take Advantage of ‘Near Me’ Search

November 9, 2015 • Paul Chaney

Google searches that include terms like "near me” or “nearby” have doubled since 2014, with 80 percent coming from mobile, according to a Google Trends report.
Local Business
Hyperlocal Marketing: 5 Ways to Drive In-store Traffic

October 19, 2015 • Paul Chaney

The dictionary defines the term hyperlocal as “relating to or focused on a very small geographic community.” Hyperlocal marketing, therefore, consists of marketing activities that also concentrate on a tight geographic circle. Most local business marketing fits within the hyperlocal category.
Social Media
10 Niche Social Networks for Small Business Marketing

October 1, 2015 • Paul Chaney

If you thought all social networking activity took place on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Google Plus, think again. There is a preponderance of niche social networks that appeal to nearly every interest and taste, many of which are ripe for small businesses to inhabit and participate.
Social Media
Get More Guest Reviews with TripAdvisor Review Express

September 24, 2015 • Paul Chaney

TripAdvisor now offers a free service called Review Express that lets hotel and B&B owners who have their business listed on the site send review request emails for up to 1,000 guests.
Local Business
Beacons: Local Retail Game-changing Technology?

September 14, 2015 • Paul Chaney

Beacons, a new technology designed to drive customer loyalty and in-store sales, is growing in popularity among larger retailers. But is it something smaller retailers can use?
Social Media
7 Ways to Get Yelp Reviews (without Violating Its Policy)

September 10, 2015 • Paul Chaney

Yelp is possibly the most restrictive of all the business directories and review sites when it comes to asking for customer reviews. Basically, “asking” is forbidden, according to its policy guidelines.
Local Business
Google Local Search Updates Could Affect Your Ranking

August 17, 2015 • Paul Chaney

Google just made a series of updates that have bearing on how well local businesses appear in search results. Here's a rundown of the changes and how they could affect your ranking.
Social Media
Local Businesses Still Need a Google Plus Page, for Now

August 10, 2015 • Paul Chaney

Google is in the process of slowly dismantling Google Plus, its ill-fated social network. The first signs occurred when Vic Gundotra, then head of the Google Plus project, left the company in 2014, and Google moved many of the project's staffers to other areas.
Local Business
8 Mobile App-building Platforms for Local Business Use

August 3, 2015 • Paul Chaney

The rapid rise of mobile device use has forced local businesses to rethink their marketing strategy to include mobile-optimized websites, mobile advertising, and mobile-enabled customer loyalty programs.
Social Media
How to Use Digital Loyalty Programs to Retain Customers

July 27, 2015 • Paul Chaney

Customer loyalty programs operate based on the well-founded notion that it is less expensive to keep a current customer than to find a new one. Providing rewards in the form of points, cash back, and discounts on merchandise can help achieve that goal.
Social Media
Marketing to the ‘SoLoMo’ Consumer

July 20, 2015 • Paul Chaney

Three characteristics define today's consumers: They rely on the influence of social network friends and followers when making purchase decisions; they shop locally as well as online, and they are increasingly dependent on mobile devices to find business information.
Social Media
How to Use Foursquare and Swarm to Promote Your Business

July 6, 2015 • Paul Chaney

Foursquare started the social "check-in" craze a few years ago. It has since changed its business model to become a recommendation engine based on user ratings and reviews, similar to Yelp.
Social Media
7 Home Service Marketplaces to List Your Business

June 22, 2015 • Paul Chaney

Consumers can now purchase services from local vendors on-demand and pay for them online, via home service marketplaces. Amazon recently entered this space with its “Home Services” store, but many comparable sites exist that cater to the service sector in one form or another.
Social Media
7 Web Marketing Automation Tools for Small Businesses

May 25, 2015 • Paul Chaney

Marketing automation platforms can help small businesses with their web marketing efforts. Many platforms are affordable and easy to use. They combine multiple marketing functions into a single interface, which saves time.
Social Media
7 Restaurant Rating Sites, for Owners to Monitor

April 20, 2015 • Paul Chaney

Not only do people talk to each other when sharing a meal at a restaurant, but they also talk about the restaurant on rating-and-review sites. As such, it is in the restaurateur's best interest to find out what's on patrons' minds in terms of their experience with the establishment.
Local Business
6 Local Business Online Marketing Platforms, Apps

April 13, 2015 • Paul Chaney

For a small business, managing multiple online marketing channels is a complex process that can require a sizable amount of the owner's time and resources. Knowing how to produce content that resonates with customers and prospects, learning the nuances of how various channels work, and understanding the contribution each makes to ROI, only adds to the challenge.
Social Media
TripAdvisor: How to Claim and Promote Your Listing

March 30, 2015 • Paul Chaney

With more than 315 million monthly users, TripAdvisor is the leading consumer rating and review site for the travel industry. TripAdvisor allows hotels, restaurants, attractions, and vacation rentals to claim and manage their listing, which creates opportunities for consumer engagement and business promotion.
Social Media
10 Ways to Deal with Negative Customer Reviews

March 23, 2015 • Paul Chaney

Consumers often rely on the opinions of others when making purchase decisions. According to Zendesk, a customer service software platform, 88 percent have been influenced by an online customer service review when deciding what to buy.
Local Business
How to Use Yelp for Local Marketing

March 16, 2015 • Paul Chaney

Yelp enables people to search for local businesses based on customer ratings and reviews. It covers a broad range of industry sectors including food, beauty and spas, health and medical, home services, and many more. As a business owner, you can use Yelp to showcase your products and services, and connect with customers and prospects in your local area.
Social Media
Location-based Marketing for Small Businesses

March 10, 2015 • Paul Chaney

As Internet users become increasingly mobile-savvy, they rely on smartphones and other mobile devices to discover new businesses, find directions, read consumer reviews, and access business contact information. One way local small businesses can take advantage of this trend is through the use of location-based marketing.
Social Media
5 Consumer Review Sites that Impact Your Business

March 3, 2015 • Paul Chaney

Thanks to sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Angie's List, local businesses often find themselves at the mercy of consumer reviews. Because people rely on the opinion of others, reviews have the potential to influence purchase decisions either positively or negatively, depending on the review.
Social Media
3 New Twitter Ad Features for Ecommerce Merchants

February 10, 2015 • Paul Chaney

Twitter recently launched three new features that extend the platform’s usefulness as a marketing tool for ecommerce merchants. The features are group direct messages, video, and quick promote advertising. Group Direct Messages Twitter now ...
Social Media
10 Ways to Use Instagram for Ecommerce Marketing

February 5, 2015 • Paul Chaney

The photo-sharing site Instagram is in a transition phase between personal and business use. Unlike Facebook or Pinterest, for instance, the site offers no business-specific features. That has not stopped retailers ...

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