Ecom Revolution, Page 5

Top 5 Black Friday Websites Curagami's annual list sees Big Boys move in. Amazon tops the list. There are surprises & we share our Black Friday scorecard.

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November 11, 2014

Ecommerce Is A Mobile & Social Game: GAMIFY Content Marketing via @HaikuDeck

Ecommerce Is A Mobile & Social Game
The more I do this, web marketing, the more game-like everything feels. Mobile and social are acting like huge pythons squeezing content into a game. Content shock is the other trend impacting your content marketing.

In 2003 your content could be factual and visually boring and it would work. Not so much anymore. Today you must think of your content like pieces on a chess board. How can you achieve your goals by developing relationships between your content, your customers and advocates?

Mobile and social make ecommerce a game too as WaNeLo.com demonstrates. WaNeLo.com is a "clean slate" built to mashup massive amounts of content that already exists, make creating "YOUR WaNeLo.com Store" fun (you swipe through content) and collect a nice fee for being the first retailer to get the many changes to online commerce brought to you by a smart phone near you (and most of the time people are within 10' of their smart phones at all times).

We began the conversation about how to make an online store a game a few weeks ago on G+ (https://plus.google.com/+MartinWSmith/posts/RdjAjWoJTHw ).

This @HaikuDeck shares how to make content more game-like. Here are a few easy ways merchants can begin to create gamification:

* Create an Ambassadors Program to identify your 1% Contributors and 9% Supporters.
* Provide a public profile for Ambassadors (if they choose) with a good URL (cool.com/ambassadors/marty for example).
* Curate great Ambassador content first to OTHER Ambassadors and next, and this should be a smaller set, to the public via your site.

* Begin to track key Ambassador functionality such as social shares, links and likes.
* Create feedback loops for Ambassador actions (200 Likes, 100 links and 3,000 social shares to date or yesterday or last week).

* Steal LinkedIn's famous, "Your profile is 80% complete" Call-To-Action (CTA).

Might seem strange to talk about adding gamification to ecommerce NOW when the holiday tsunami is only days away, but most ecommerce teams have their plans made up. While social media means any plan must respond to what is happening now, most ecommerce teams are working a quarter ahead.

Successful gamification isn't easy, but rewards are huge. Instead of invading Russia in the winter we suggest merchants begin building foundation by creating an Ambassador Program. Ambassadors, those fans, friends and supporters willing to help, become critical when you want to turn gamfication ON (and you will).

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November 5, 2014

Easy To Use Ecom Payment Gateway: Know One?

Single Item Ecommerce
One of the reasons I'm so excited about Bitcoin as infrastructure (see this Scoop: http://sco.lt/5rrn05 ) is the real possibility of adding single item ecommerce.

Why is single item ecom so important?

One of the last big castles owned by abusive middlemen is the web's payment gateways. Auth.net is a pain. Such a pain small single item ideas can't generate ROI. Problem is BIG IDEAS often start as tiny ones.

This means the block to setting up online commerce retards innovation, slows ecommerce / social synergy and makes product development and testing harder than it needs to be.

Sure you can use a scaled "print on demand" site such as Zazzle or Cafe Press, but NOT if you want to print on something other than currently supported media.

What if we want to sell our Cure Cancer cycling socks? We don't want to go all the way to a shopify store since that feels like overkill. We want to put up a Facebook image with a little story and a payment gateway or throw a link into a tweet that does the same.

WHY CAN"T WE DO THIS?

Or can we and I just don't know about it? I looked into https://www.shoplocket.com/ and problem there is they use THEIR cart. Linking to the cart I saw six months ago with limited white label capacity would be like shifting the link OF OUR OWN PRODUCTS across an affiliate link.

I took a look at https://www.simplify.com/commerce/ earlier today and will put in our routing information and EIN numbers when I get home. If anyone knows of a great single item ecommerce engine that allows enough customization that the cart looks like YOU and isn't a holy PAIN in the you know where to create please share.

Bitcoin, while intriguing, is at least a year away from any kind of easy installation and use (at least). Need a an easy to use payment gateway by Christmas or these trips to Ohio are going to break me (lol).

More on G+: https://plus.google.com/102639884404823294558/posts/CMhU6qUQB34

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November 4, 2014

Invisible Giant: Why New SEO So Hard To See via @HaikuDeck

There is a new invisible giant, a giant using 5 "tricks" so the "new seo" is hard and harder to see and understand. This Haiku Deck and Curatti blog post is about how to see the invisible giant. How to win hearts, minds and loyalty online.

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October 17, 2014

Magento Theme Review: Share Your Faves with @Curagami

MagentoTheme Review
Working on finding great Magento ecommerce themes for friends at http://www.Moon-Audio.com. Share your favorite Magento Themes via email to martin(at)Curagami.com.

Much appreciated, Marty

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October 16, 2014

Ecommerce Revolution Daily Diary Thursday 10.16

2 Great Meetings Today
Ecom Revolution made progress with two meetings today. Visited my former Employer Atlantic BT, I was Marketing Director for two years before starting Curgami, and enrolled 4 dookies in the revolution.

Today's Ecom Daily Diary discusses enterprise crowdfunding, Jon Jordan, Matt Lemke from Atlantic BT, Phil Buckley's 100 People To Watch in the Triangle and introduces four Duke University undergrads who will help define enterprise crowdfunding.

Also built a form so YOU can easily JOIN the Ecom Revolution.
http://bit.ly/ecom_revolution_google

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October 16, 2014

Can't Is MUSIC To A Marketing Geeks Ears: Added Daily Diary To Ecom Revolution

Ecommerce Revolution In 2015
Yesterday we planted a flag stating our intention to create an ecommerce revolution in 2015. Today first objections were heard. Learn why Can't is music to a marketing geeks ears and how you can join the ecommerce revolution so you can say, "Yeah, I helped with that," when others say they wish they could have been there.

Join The Ecom Revolution Today
http://bit.ly/ecom_revolution_google

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October 14, 2014

Ecommerce Revolution Manifesto: Join & Contribute

Revolution Has Begun, Now Join & Contribute
Are you as frustrated, bored and wanting more from ecommerce as we are? "We" is five marketing, merchants and Magento programmers who know TOGETHER we change the way we communicate, share and sell things to one another.

Learn More
http://bit.ly/ecom_revolution_google

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October 2, 2014

Why Brand Ambassadors Are CSFs (Critical Success Factors)

Why Ambassadors Are CSFs
If you don't have an Ambassador Program you need one. Ambassadors are brand advocates who want to JOIN your brand. Remember Faith Popcorn's quote?

People don't BUY brands they JOIN them.

At our marketing tools startup Curagami we are learning why the creation of an Ambassador Program right from the start of a website's life is so critical. This link shares success one of our clients, Moon-Audio.com is having with their Ambassador program.

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October 1, 2014

Don't Let "Bad Links" Kill Your Website - @Curagami

Bad links can kill your website's hard-won authority, reputation & traffic. Use Google's disavow tool to protect your site's traffic from SEO bandits.

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September 25, 2014

Crowdfunding IS the New Email Marketing via @Curagami

Crowdfunding is a new powerful marketing channel similar to what email marketing used to be - high profit, low cost with big social and UGC benefits.

Martin (Marty) Smith:

add your insight...

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September 25, 2014

5 Holiday Website Design Tips - A @HaikuDeck by @Scenttrail

This holiday selling season (2014) will happen as close to real time as any thanks to the social / mobile web. Listening and curating are going to be important, but so is tapping the nostalgia and spirit of the season in creative and collaborative ways.

Martin (Marty) Smith:

Not to late to make these changes to your ecommerce website before the holidays. Rock On and have a great holiday selling season.

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September 9, 2014

Ecommerce: 5 Common Easy To Fix Blunders via @HaikuDeck by @Scenttrail

Ecommerce: 5 Common Easy To Fix Blunders
* Hiding Free Shipping.
* Not using Branded Free Shipping.
* Not offering Faster Free Shipping.
* Deal of the Day.

* Men, Women, Kids (or similar) "Human" Categories.

This new Haiku Deck shares 5 common easy to fix ecommerce blunders. Fixing any 2 of these 5 ecom mistakes will make for a better holiday seasons for your online store.

Martin (Marty) Smith:

add your insight...

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September 8, 2014

5 Holiday Website Design Tips - A @HaikuDeck by @Scenttrail

This holiday selling season (2014) will happen as close to real time as any thanks to the social / mobile web. Listening and curating are going to be important, but so is tapping the nostalgia and spirit of the season in creative and collaborative ways.

Martin (Marty) Smith:

add your insight...

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September 6, 2014

How Social Is Your Ecommerce Website? Nope Not Social Enough - How To Fix via @HaikuDeck

Social & Mobile Ecommerce
Ecommerce is being transformed by social and mobile. The implications for merchants are VAST. How your Ecommerce site creates conversations and digitally listens will determine its value. No matter how social your online store it isn't social enough for the immediate future.This Haiku Deck can help your site do things like:

* Create conversations that lower costs and increase profits.
* Build an online community.
* Learn to listen "digitally".
* Scale your store to the next level.
* Create an engine that mines User Generated Content.

Can your store be too social? Not so much as it turns out.

Martin (Marty) Smith:

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malek's curator insight, September 7, 2014 6:51 AM

3. People don't BUY brands, they FOLLOW them.

Today’s social media revolution is about engagement and content - the consumer is generating content, sharing, distributing, and being the medium.

Advertising told stories - social media is about getting others to tell stories for us.

September 3, 2014

Mobile Beacons Are Changing Shopping | HBR

Can You Say Minority Report?
Beacons are taking the world of mobile by storm. They are low-powered radio transmitters that can send signals to smartphones that enter their immediate vicinity, via Bluetooth Low Energy technology.

In the months and years to come, we’ll see beaconing applied in all kinds of valuable ways.For marketers in particular, beacons are important because they allow more precise targeting of customers in a locale.

A customer approaching a jewelry counter in a department store, for example, can receive a message from a battery-powered beacon installed there, offering information or a promotion that relates specifically to merchandise displayed there.

In a different department of the same store, another beacon transmits a different message. Before beacons, marketers could use geofencing technology, so that a message, advertisement, or coupon could be sent to consumers when they were within a certain range of a geofenced area, such as within a one-block radius of a store.

However, that technology typically relies on GPS tracking, which only works well outside the store. With beaconing, marketers can lead and direct customers to specific areas and products within a store or mall....

Martin (Marty) Smith:

Inevitable the brick and mortar world will become more web-like. The other major take away is a consistent theme now - the closer we get to near real time the better we interact with the evolving mobile / social world.

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Jeff Domansky's curator insight, September 3, 2014 12:57 AM

How beacons are changing the world of retail.

malek's curator insight, September 4, 2014 7:18 AM

Beacons are awesome for understanding traffic flows in retail locations or conferences, but will users download an app that tracks their every movement? I, for one, won't do it.

August 20, 2014

There's A New Ecommerce Coming FAST. You In? via @Curagami

Zazzle, Cafe Press, Etsy and Sara Harvey show how ecommerce's social future is about collaboration, empowering and sharing. Does your store do that?

Martin (Marty) Smith:

add your insight...

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August 19, 2014

Reduce Cart Abandonment - Steal This Simple Idea From Poster Print Factory

StealThis: Got The Best Deal Page
Car abandonment drives ecommerce teams crazy. People get to the last stage of your checkout see the "coupon code" window and leave to look for coupons. This idea is so powerful RetailMeNot.com made a business out of giving YOUR traffic coupons at checkout.

Poster Print Factory put up a simple page that said, "If you are a new customer we automatically apply your new customer discount. No need to look for coupons, you have the best deal." That is BRILLIANT since it brings customers RIGHT BACK to you with confidence.

Be careful about your page title, but you should win yoursite.com coupons as a search AS LONG AS YOU HAVE A PAGE like this one. Brilliant simple marketing. And change your page title to include coupons and promo codes and guaranteed you will win the search since Post Print has a generic title and they win.

If you have a "promo code" box its an IMPLIED promise. When you explain the promise in a relevant way, in my case for new customers, you win and cart abandonment goes down.

When I was a Director of Ecommerce every .5% reduction in cart abandonment was $1M bucks, so this is one of those areas where TINY differences can mean big money. If you have a promo code option in your checkout make sure to have a page that explains your coupons your way instead of handing your traffic over to RetailMeNot.com.

Martin (Marty) Smith:

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August 19, 2014

Added Artist Sara Harvey's (@4theLoveofToys) Knitting Gnome To Tomorrow's Ecommerce via @HaikuDeck

Designing Tomorrow's Ecommerce Today
Added artist Sara Havey's magical knitting gnome to the fastest "views" Haiku Deck I've ever created (300+ in 24 hours) because it is a perfect example of the New Ecommerce's crowdsourcing and DIY future.

The deck is divided into three sections:
* Current Ecommerce Best Practices.
* Rise of the Social / Mobile Web & Social Shopping.
* Crowdfunding, Crowdsourcing and DIY.

Is it possible to create tomorrow's ecommerce website TODAY? Is Sara's gnome knitting? You bet!

Martin (Marty) Smith:

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August 18, 2014

ECommerce's Website Design New Best Practices: What Are Today's Ecom Must Haves?

Ecom's New Best Practices
Better have all of these if you expect to make money online these days:
* Easy To Get Free Shipping.
* Easy To Find Sale Section.
* Deal of the Day (once Woot.com only now becoming ubiquitous).
* What's New.
* Best Sellers.
* For Him, Her, Kids navigation (if applies).
* An ASK for User Generated Content.
* Clear "WE VALUE UGC" signals.
* Exciting "Magazine-like" content.

Via Tomorrow's Ecommerce: How To Design Tomorrow's Ecommerce Today on Haiku Deck http://shar.es/1nkirc

Martin (Marty) Smith:

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August 14, 2014

Why New SEO So Hard To SEE & How Thousands See The Invisible Giant. You?

There is a new invisible giant, a giant using 5 "tricks" so the "new seo" is hard and harder to see and understand. This Haiku Deck and Curatti blog post is about how to see the invisible giant. How to win hearts, minds and loyalty online.

We've named the hard to see new seo The Invisible Giant. Thousands have now seen, interacted with, shared and commented on The Invisible Giant. Have you?

Haiku Deck
http://shar.es/1nCjlP

Curatti Blog Post
http://curatti.com/invisible-giant-hard-see-new-seo/

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August 12, 2014

Future of Shopping: eBay's Pitman & Motif's Walia via @Curagami

By mashing eBay's Pitman with Motif's Walia we see the functional, social and mobile future of online retailing, ecommerce and mobile / social shopping.

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August 8, 2014

EASY is OVER in Ecommerce [+ Scenttrail Note]

New Ecommerce Marty (@scenttrail) Note
I love this post sharing tips from a handful of ecommerce experts. I might fall into that category too after a 7 year tenure during which teams I managed made over $30M in online sales.

Our AOV (Average Order Value) was never more than $62 so hundreds of thousand of transaction. When I was hired the site's sales were below a million. When I left annual sales were over $6M.

Those times weren't EASY either, but they are were in comparison to now. Now ecommerce is complicated by:

* Increased competition.
* Muddled channel marketing ROI strategies.
* Social Media.
* Mobile.
* New SEO.

Add all of those new pressures together, all discussed multiple times in the linked post, and the inescapable conclusion is "easy" is OVER in ecommerce.

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August 1, 2014

16 New & Cool Ecommerce Templates For Usual Suspects (Magento, Shopify, ZenCart) via @WebDesignOrg

If you've been looking for a perfect web template for an on-line retail business you came to the right place, because today I'm gonna show you 16 of the newest and coolest e-commerce website templates.

Martin (Marty) Smith:

For some reason ecommerce templates have not kept up with content marketing templates in quality, variety or availability. We are thinking of creating one at our startup Curagami (http://www.Curagami.com ) for just that reason (that we can't find good ones), but here are 16 new ones and some aren't horrible (lol). Our fav = ZenCart because we like CTAs next to heroes.

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