September 2020 Top 10: Our Most Popular Posts

Our mission since 2005 is to publish articles, webinars, and podcasts to help ecommerce merchants. What follows are the 10 most popular articles that we published in September 2020. Articles from early in the month are more likely to make the list than later ones.

4 More Google Ads Scripts to Automate Tasks, Save Time

Google Ads scripts automate routine tasks. Last fall, I shared three such scripts that are helpful to me. In this post, I’ll address four additional Google Ads scripts that automate tasks and save time. Read more…

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5 Predictions for the 2020 Holiday Shopping Season

Despite strong increases in the past several months, predicting this year’s holiday ecommerce sales made me feel a bit like Ebenezer Scrooge. I wanted to be optimistic about the Christmas sales, but three of my five predictions are negative overall. The other two, click-and-collect ecommerce and gig-economy delivery, are generally positive. Read more…

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SEO: 7 Ways to Optimize Category Pages

Category pages target the keywords that consumers search for most frequently. But optimizing category pages for organic search rankings can be difficult, as default category templates on ecommerce platforms tend to hold less text than other pages. What follows are seven category-page elements that improve rankings on highly competitive keywords. Read more…

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Essential Elements of an Ecommerce Product Page

The elements of an ecommerce product detail page should work together to help shoppers make sound buying decisions. Each element — prose description, a list of features, product photos, videos — should tell part of an item’s story. Read more…

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21 Free Web Design Tools from Summer 2020

Free resources from the design community can add value to an ecommerce site. Here is a list of new web tools and design elements from summer 2020. There are designer and developer apps, coding resources, color tools, fonts, and more. All of these tools are free, though some also offer premium versions. Read more…

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5 Content Marketing Ideas for October 2020

Content marketing can help connect with new customers or deepen relationships with existing ones. But some businesses struggle to find topics to address. The good news is that opportunities abound in October 2020, when a company could cover National Taco Day, raise cybersecurity awareness, profile customers, provide a brief history of products, or identify Halloween do-it-yourself projects. Read more…

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13 New Ecommerce Books for Fall 2020

Here’s a batch of new ecommerce books for your autumn reading list. There are titles on buying and selling a business, producing and fostering creative work, monetizing your podcast, live video marketing, Amazon, and the blockchain. Read more…

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Holiday Shipping Surcharges Are Coming

Selling during the upcoming holiday shopping season will not be normal. For the first time in its history, the United States Postal Service is imposing a holiday surcharge on commercial packages. The price increases will begin on October 18 and run through December 27, 2020, and range from $0.24 to $1.50 per package. Read more…

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Forget Black Friday Sales This 2020 Holiday

The upcoming holiday shopping season is bound to shake the ecommerce sector. If you haven’t yet finalized your holiday sales schedule, now’s the time to get it done. But you may want to rethink your strategy for November and December. Read more…

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Covid-19 Is Driving Some Brands to DTC

The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the pace of digital transformation in retail, prompting some brands to focus on direct-to-consumer channels. The retail and wholesale industries have long been undergoing an evolution toward ecommerce, digital brands, and DTC sales. But Covid-19 changed retail abruptly. Read more…