Ecommercepartners.net

For some companies, hitting the one-billion-per-day visitor mark would be enough to sit back and watch the profits roll in. At Google however there’s one thing you can always count on: constant updates aimed at providing users with the best search results possible.

In 2011, Google experimented with thousands of tests to optimize their search and social media platforms. This year has already seen multiple releases including the Panda algorithm update, a Google +1 button similar to Facebook’s Like button and beta forms of their new social networking platform, Google +. Looking back on Google’s updates in 2011, each one brings a new dimension to the way webpages are ranked and the way users interact with Google in a social setting, going far beyond the traditional search box.

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In the early days of the web, trying to navigate to a page that wasn’t there caused your web browser to have something of a minor stroke; it just stopped working, and you weren’t going anywhere.

Before long, web designers got smarter, and we started using the infamous “404 Page” to announce that the page you were looking for wasn’t there anymore, or maybe never was in the first place. So what do you do with yours? Well, the first thing you have to decide is whether to even 404 or not in the first place.

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At the end of February, the engineers at Google made some major changes to the company’s search algorithm – the “secret formula” that controls what results you see for any search query, and the order of which it appears. Google keeps the exact algorithm confidential, but major factors have become apparent now that the dust has settled.

The update, popularly known as the “Farmer” update (AKA the “Panda” update), took relevance away from sites like EzineArticles.com and suite101.com, and instead placed greater emphasis on websites with only fresh, original content.  The update had long been anticipated, since Google had already started to crack down on websites like JC Penney and Overstock.com for low quality links and spammy links on collegiate websites (i.e. .edu websites).

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Leaves are turning orange, the weather is bringing people out in scarves and jackets and that means holiday season is just around the corner! Holiday shopping yielded over $2.5 billion in online sales during the 5-day window including Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year bringing millions of Americans to flood stores as early as 12a.m. Shoppers line up hours early at the promise of huge discounts. But what does this holiday shopping spree mean for ecommerce businesses with no physical store? Cyber Monday has become the biggest day in online sales since its arrival in 2005.

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You can’t deny that blogs are everywhere – but few sites have really answered the question, “Why Start a Blog?” The reasons for blogging go well beyond just a sort of “online diary” or news outlet.  In fact, scientists have actually discovered that blogging regularly may be good for your health!  A study mentioned in Scientific American noted that “besides serving as a stress-coping mechanism, expressive writing produces many physiological benefits. Research shows that it improves memory and sleep, boosts immune cell activity and reduces viral load in AIDS patients, and even speeds healing after surgery. A study in the February issue of the Oncologist reports that cancer patients who engaged in expressive writing just before treatment felt markedly better, mentally and physically, as compared with patients who did not.”

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When working with Adwords, quality is key.  While Google and other Pay-Per-Click (PPC) search engines don’t go into grand detail on what factors make up their quality score analysis, any good pay per click marketer knows that the higher your quality score – the less you’ll pay for clicks.  To make things even more interesting, none of the PPC search engines will tell you how to go about raising your score.  There are, however, some proven methods and strategies that have shown to decrease your cost per click while raising your quality score.

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It is estimated that 20% of all searches have local intent, especially for restaurants, insurance, legal, retail, hotels and other types of companies within the service industry. A recent comScore study revealed that 61% of local searches result in purchases. These overwhelming statistics show that millions of potential customers are searching the internet, then buying online, calling for more information or making purchases directly from local stores – those are numbers you can’t afford to ignore.
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Gain Access to Shoppers Who Are Ready to Buy

It used to be that doing a simple search on Google for a particular product would return relevant content sites only. You had to actually drill down and find the shopping results on your own. Until recently, Google only had a small shopping link at the top of the page that generated very few clicks; you may remember when they launched this as Froogle. Now, Google’s Product Search feature, also known as Google Shopping puts direct links to products right at the top of the search results. If you run an ecommerce site and you’re interested in putting your products at the top of the list, keep reading to learn how to send look-to-buy shoppers directly to the product page in question.
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Although nothing is certain in today’s economy, ecommerce remains a beacon of possibility and profit. Your customers don’t have to leave home to buy your products, and it’s often more cost-effective to host a virtual storefront than a brick-and-mortar one. Ecommerce sites are well positioned in this turbulent time. However, with the economy in flux and competition intensifying now is certainly not the time to become complacent. (more…)

Ever been frustrated by the competition?  Let’s face it – they have huge advertising budgets and, well, you don’t.  What if I told you that there was a way to use their search engine rank to get some more attention for your own ecommerce site…would you be interested?

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