Compete

I’ve been using Compete.com since day one. It’s an amazing tool for getting estimates on the traffic of a website. They have a huge base of U.S. users that get counted as visitors to your website, should they land on it. It’s only U.S. traffic for now, and needs to be taken with a grain of salt since it’s based on their users. That said, it’s the most accurate website traffic estimation tool I’ve ever used.

Open Site Explorer

The guys over at SEOMoz have come up with an amazing tool in the Open Site Explorer (OSE). My colleague and friend Mike P. likes to refer to it as “Yahoo Site Explorer on steroids.” Once you check it out, you’ll see the guy makes a good point. It gives you all important metrics of your backlinks, including the number of root domains and the URL of The big differentiator between OSE and Yahoo Site Explorer is that OSE only shows the top 25 links from any given root domain. Yahoo will show you thousands of links from the same URL on different pages, which isn’t nearly as effective or helpful.

SpyFu

SpyFu is the ultimate PPC competitive research tool. It will show you what keywords your competitors are advertising on, their average daily spend, their average cost per click and more. If only it showed conversion data…

Google Keyword Tool

The Google Keyword Tool is the most accurate estimate of traffic out there. It’s ideal for keyword research when thinking about what terms to go after for SEO, what keywords to focus your PPC on and even for good ‘ol research into a new niche.

AdWords Wrapper

Michael Wong’s AdWords Wrapper is a huge time saver when creating or expanding AdWords campaigns. It will automatically create different match types of your keywords lists and let you copy and paste them out into your account.

FireBug + Web Developer Toolbar

These two Firefox add-ons are geared primarily toward web developers, but I use them to my advantage as a marketer as well. I’m constantly using them to quickly see if links are follow/no-follow and to see if client and/or prospects’ websites have all their on-page SEO elements in place. Get FireBug and the Web Developer Toolbar today.

1. Setup a Google Webmaster Account & Submit a Sitemap

This should be a standard whenever launching a new website. Go to Google Webmaster Tools and sign up for a free account. Make sure you have a sitemap in the proper format and submit it. This is the quickest and easiest way to let Google know about your site and to get them to crawl it. I’ve had sites indexed within 48 hours using this method.

2. Publish an Article on EzineArticles.com

EzineArticles.com is the king of article websites. It’s been around the longest and is the biggest, baddest article directory on the web. Google will index articles on this website within minutes, sometimes quicker. Include a link back to your website in your author signature, and the search engines will be able to find it.

3. Get a Link from a Friend’s Website

Everybody knows somebody with a website. Whether it’s your friends design portfolio, or some old random blog, a link will definitely help you get indexed. As long as this site has been indexed by the search engines, they will find your link and index your site shortly thereafter.

4. Add Your Site to a Paid Directory

One of the top paid directories is Yahoo! Directory. It’s been around forever and all the search engines know and trust it. The only problem is it costs $300/year. If you’re on a budget, I suggest JoeAnt.com. They’re also a well-known directory that will get your site indexed quickly and only cost $39.99 for a lifetime inclusion.

5. Submit a Free Press Release to PRLog.org

There are paid press release sites that may give you better linking in the long run, but there’s no reason you can’t start with the best freebie out there – PR Log. The search engines love this site and crawl it constantly. It’s the same principle as article marketing with EzineArticles. Submit a press release about the launch of your hot new eCommerce site, that page will get indexed by the search engines and they’ll be able to find the link back to your site.

Share your favorite methods for quickly indexing new websites in the comment form below!

I don’t know my customers.

I heard this from probably about half of the eTailers I consulted with. They’ve built some big businesses on the web and continue to grow each year, but have little idea who their customers are. Without really knowing your customer, it becomes more difficult (and more expensive) to target the right person online; and, once they’re on your website, to maintain the scent. Here’s what I suggested:

On-site feedback/surveys – Simply asking your customers a series of questions is the most direct way of finding out who they are. Stress to them the importance of feedback on your site, and offer a prize or hold a contest to entice more users to complete the survey. You can use a 3rd party such as Kampyle or you can do it yourself. Start with simple questions like the sex, age and location of your users. I would also recommend including more advanced questions around education, salary, online buying habits and family/marital status.

Usability studies – You can outsource usability studies to 3rd party companies who will identify your user groups. You can have them give general feedback, or ask them to perform specific tasks on the website and see how they do. This will paint a much clearer picture as to how web-saavy your customers are, their browsing habits, interests within your website (what stands out?) and more.

I can’t do that with my platform.

I sat down with companies working with all sorts of eCommerce platforms. They ranged from custom, in-house platforms to more commercial software such as Miva, xCart, OSCommerce, and Yahoo Stores. Their biggest challenge with my recommendations (design, development, testing, etc.) was that they simply said “I can’t do that with my platform.” I think just about anything an eTailer or consultant can dream up is possible on the web, but one must definitely consider the time and cost involved, and the potential return on investment for the given project.

My suggestion to these eTailers was an upgrade. If you’re severely limited by your platform and you keep building on top of it, you’re going backwards. An outdated, inflexible platform can limit everything from your ability to carry out A/B and multivariate tests to being able to effectively communicate with your back end software.

The executives at my company don’t want to implement my ideas.

One of the benefits of working at a smaller company is that your ideas are heard and most of the time, they’re implemented pretty quickly. This was the case with many of the smaller eTailers I consulted with; they were constantly coming up with their own ideas to build traffic, increase conversion or make their site more user-friendly.

My advice to eTailers in this all-too-common situation was to get proof. Present the data on a very high level and be straightforward. Do you think implementing a new 3rd party piece of software will save the company money? How much will it save? How long will it take to implement? Who’s going to set it up? If you’re trying to get the resources for an A/B or multivariate test, make sure the goal and predicted outcome(s) of the test are defined. If you spend $5,000 on a design variation of your home page and test it, what’s the potential for additional revenue? Will that one-time $5,000 investment lead to an additional $20,000 in monthly sales?

Aside from having a plan and being visual, provide the executives with concrete examples. Find case studies on the web where other retailers have shown improvements with testing, or how much money they saved by investing in a new eCommerce platform. Some eTailers told me that they had the most success with telling their owners/executives “Amazon did it and it worked.” Other big eTailers would work just as well, but everyone knows Amazon. Mentioning other big name companies that have had success with implementing new ideas is especially important to executives who may not know a whole lot about the eCommerce world, but can relate to the commercial success of other big brands.

There were many great things in Montgomery’s presentation, but there were also many things missing (which is to be expected in a 30 minute overview). But I think it’s important to address what was missing from her presentation, what is missing from many discussions about building and testing websites, and that is the cost.

What Is Said
It’s funny how no one has a problem addressing the bottom-line of an eCommerce website (conversions), or the goal of redesigning/testing an eCommerce website (increasing conversions). But when it comes to discussing the cost of a redesign, cost of testing, cost of PPC, etc. everyone’s hush-hush. And people have their reasons for glossing over these details, but I still think it is our collective duty (as in-house creators or outside collaborators) to discuss redesigns, upgrades, etc. within a certain feasible framework, rather than in a vacuum where anything is possible.

For example, Montgomery mentions the numerous things her company did to improve the website: (among them)

• Implement Bill Me Later
• Improve Placement for e-Newsletter sign-up
• Improve Store Locator prominence
• Improve on-site search placement and functionality
• Improve cross-sell/up-sell placement
• Improve personalization
• Improve the checkout process
• Improve product content
• Improve technology & functionality on color swatches, product images, videos, live chat, social media, etc.
• Analysis of what isn’t working on current website
• Analysis of competitors
• Customer research

What Is Not Said
And I assure you, Montgomery’s list was even more comprehensive than this, and it is a great list. Everything they did to improve their website, are things we recommend to our clients. My concern isn’t with their upgrades, it’s with the presentation of these upgrades. Montgomery’s primary audience was other eTailers, owners or marketers. Did they scribble down her bullet points and run to their in-house team or out-side agency and demand these changes be implemented ASAP? It’s possible. Then it becomes the in-house team or out-side agency’s job to gently tell the eTailer how this is outside of the budget, scope, time line or capabilities.

And that’s my problem. Montgomery didn’t relay to the audience the budget for the upgrade, nor a time line. (Although, someone else must have been reading my mind because during the Q&A, he asked her how long this project took. Unfortunately, my memory is fuzzy, but I think she said somewhere between 6 months to a year.) All of the items Montgomery talked about need time and money to make happen. One of the difficult challenges facing an eCommerce website is making the eTailer understand the potential value of their eCommerce website. We all know the mantra: got to spend money to make money. So, why be afraid to say, we had a $500 budget to improve x, y, and z in three months. The final cost was $750. After x amount of time, we increased our profits by $5,000. No one would fault, question or undermine the decisions that led to a bottom-line increase.

It’s important to understand that improved search, improved functionality in the product images, or testing and analysis research all cost time and money, be it in custom development, third-party plug-ins and extensions, or just plain old time. No matter how simple a feature on a website is–sending the product to a friend via e-mail, allowing users to customize a product, moving the placement of the newsletter sign-up–work had to be done to get it there. And work costs money. And good work should cost even more money.

What Should Be Getting Said
But this is where a good eCommerce company outshines a mediocre one. A good company will explain to the eTailer that what they want is exactly what they should want. All of their suggestions most definitely will improve their website and bottom line. Then, the company should let them know what each improvement would cost. The eTailer is probably going to feel sticker shock, because he had no idea and no one ever told him how much these changes cost nor why. The benefit of discussing a website’s cost is that it helps set realistic expectations and goals. On the other hand, giving a roomful of eTailers a bullet list of ways to improve their website with no context to support them, sets no expectations.

After the sticker shock subsides, the company needs to explain that the eTailer has options (something else the Montgomery presentation didn’t elaborate on.) The company could tear the whole house apart and rebuild starting from scratch, or they could set up a plan to do renovations in increments—improve the search, then work on the products page, then trying testing pages, etc. The final results should be the same whether they overhaul everything at once or in pieces, the only difference is that breaking down the work into mini-projects mean you’ll see incremental changes to your bottom-line, but it also means incremental (and more manageable) costs to the eTailer.

To sum up my bottom-line: The eCommerce industry needs to discuss building, maintaining and upgrading a website in a context that isn’t void of budget and time constrictions and in a way that educates eTailers as to the work behind each piece of the project. This will help eTailers better understand their wants and possibilities, and help eCommerce agencies fulfill those wants.

Mentioned in this post:
Performance Bicycle Website :: Performance Bicycle
Internet Retailer Website :: Internet Retailer

1. Faster Data Reporting

Who wouldn’t like to review their data faster? Anyone that has ever been anxious to see today’s stats in Google Analytics knows that there seems to be various points in the day when updates are pushed out. And even once that happens the numbers are unreliable for another several hours.

This can be extremely frustrating when dealing with Google Analytics installations that require modifications to the tracking code and/or advanced filtering and segmentation. Better not make an error, or you’ll have to wait until tomorrow before realizing something is wrong.

Wouldn’t it be nice if Google could guarantee that any data after a certain number of hours was accurate?

2. Real Time Traffic

Another popular and really powerful feature that could be added to Google Analytics is a real time traffic spy, much like Clicky Web Analytics. Their “spy” feature allows users to see how many visitors are on the site at that moment and includes basic referral data, as well.

I likely don’t have to go through just why having a real time traffic spy is useful, but imagine monitoring traffic levels after publishing some linkbait, or sending out an email campaign.

3. An Improved Date Picker

I hate Google Analytics’ date picker, and I’d like to think I’m not the only one. I am frustrated endlessly by the unintuitive nature of selecting dates with it, and I’m praying Google is hearing my cries.

Why not feature Google AdWords-like preset date selections, like last 7 days, this month, last month, etc? Even more useful would be an easier to use “compare to past” option. Comparing 2009 to 2008 stats is hardly a simple task, and likely a common one.

In the scenario to the right, AdWords is allowing me the opportunity to fix my obvious date error before sorting, whereas Analytics is forcing me to go back and fix my date before moving on and changing the other date. Yeesh.

4. Trendlines!

This is a feature that the folks at Raven SEO Tools have implemented in their reporting, and I can’t live without it.

Wouldn’t this be nice in Google Analytics?

5. A Better/More Customizable Overview Screen

Both the AdWords “My Client Center” and Analytics Overview screen suffer from the same problem. It is impossible to customize them to include whichever metrics you find most important. For an eCommerce client, wouldn’t it be useful to see sales over the past month?

Additionally, for those of us with access to anymore than 10 accounts, we’re forced to expand the list every time to a higher number of rows, or click through to the next set of 10. It would be nice if when I asked GA to show 100 rows, it remained that way until I changed it back, instead of resetting to 10 every time I log in.

6. Report Exact Keywords from Paid Search

Whenever we begin a new PPC campaign for our clients here at Groove Commerce, we immediately install advanced filters that extract the raw keywords from which users are entering the site. This is really valuable data. After a few days, we usually have a slew of new negative keywords that we didn’t originally think to include.

By default, GA only reports visits to the AdWords keyword with which the raw search term is matched. The question is, why? Why should I have to install this hack of a filter to get this data?

By the way, if you haven’t installed this raw query filter, SEOptimise has a good article to set you in the right direction.

7. Let Me Rid My Account of Empty Profiles

Deleting old Google Analytics accounts can be troublesome. I’m not sure if this is a widespread problem, but I have seen it in two separate, unrelated accounts.

Here we have a few empty accounts that just won’t go away! And since the GA Overview page is so difficult to manage with anymore than 10 profiles, it’d be nice to get rid of unneeded accounts.

8. Step Up the Support

This can almost be said of almost all Google apps, and considering it is free to use and doesn’t generate direct revenue for Google, maybe I’m asking too much. However, the help documents for GA contain a lot of mistakes and outdated information that can be very frustrating to even seasoned webmasters. It’s one thing if there’s a lack of support, but another thing if there is support that leads you down some of the wrong paths.

I may not be alone in being frustrated by the Google Analytics documentation, as it seems like Google is holding surveys about the help center at this very moment. With any luck, some of the feedback will lead to improved documentation.

That’s Enough Complaining

Google Analytics is free and awesome. And it is getting better. The addition of annotations, the new asynchronous tracking snippet, and the ability to track many more goals are some recent welcome additions.

What else would you like to see in Google Analytics?

Their page (along with my 1, 2, 3 markup) is below:

1. Waste of Space
Roughly 350 pixels are used for the Gift guide call out, including top bread crumb, main banner and tabs. By now, you might know that it’s a pet peeve of mine to have larger banners with no calls to action and that aren’t clickable. I have two suggestions. One, remove the tabs (photo, in store, intimate elements) and place those on the main banner to drive traffic to them. Especially, considering that the tabs are a bit redundant with text links also in the side bar and in the content area below. Or two, resize the whole section (breadcrumb, banner) to be about 150 pixels high; thus, moving up the content and driving traffic through those buckets. It’s strange that a web page could be both too simple and overkill at the same time.

2. User Expectation
Visually, there’s nothing wrong with this content or layout. (I’m looking at my blue square around the “For Him” section.) My problem actually lies with how I got to this Gift Guide web page. I did a Google search for valentine’s day gifts for him. And this pharmacy was a sponsored link. I clicked it and arrived on this page. Granted it is Valentine’s Day oriented, but why not link it right to the For Him page? It would have saved me a few seconds of thinking and a click. And it would have taken me to a page with a direct headline that corresponded with my search: Gift Guide for Him. Additionally, and most importantly, it would have led me directly to viewing products, not navigation filters. If you’re going to run keyword campaigns, make sure they’re directed to the correct page.

3. Clutter
This is nitpicky, but hey this series is all about suggestions for improvement. And if improvement means fixing some ridiculous thing in the corner, then hey, goal met. This isn’t completely irrelevant, at least not in my head. Anyway… The magenta-esque call out in the right upper hand corner includes a link to access my profile, to register, to get help and entry fields and a submit button to log-in right on the spot. Somewhere, somehow I think this could all be condensed. Again, it’s overkill right now. I like the instant log-in option, by why not remove the your profile link? Apparently the help isn’t even specific to the log-in/profile account information. It’s a help link for the entire website; maybe it should be placed some where outside of the profile call out.

I’d also suggest, just for the valentine edition pages, which are going to be overloaded with shades of red, why not make the call out box blue? It’s still in the same location and the contrast will help visitors to easily find it.

Here’s my quick re-visioning:

To sum up this month: I think the most important marked they missed was not having a paid link direct traffic to the specific page with those keywords on it. (I’ve been reminded by my SEO/PPC colleague that it’s possible the company did testing and the gift guide page proved higher conversions than the gift guide for him page, and that’s why the link is directed as it is. But after he looked at the two pages, he conceded that while possible, highly unlikely and that this is just a (possibly costly) goof by the part of the company.)

Mentioned in this post:
Valentine’s Day :: Walgreens
For Him | Valentine’s Day :: Walgreens

New isn’t always better. Website redesigns can get expensive, so it’s tempting to just start redesigning little pieces here and there. If you’re getting your email newsletters looking nice and Web 3.0 (sorry, I had to) but your site is still looking like it did in 1998, you may find yourself taking a few steps backwards. Don’t get me wrong, update your email newsletters. The key is to not get caught up in the glitz and glam of modern design trends if they don’t match your site, or your company branding.

The disconnect. We’re all worried about “conversion,” after all, it is the benchmark for how effective we’re being. The more inconsistency you have between clicks the more likely your bounce rate is going to increase. And more bounce = less conversion.

So this is just a friendly reminder to keep your online marketing efforts synced up with each other.

Here’s a quick list of things you may want to double-check for consistency:

• Email newsletters
• Banner advertisements
• Social media backgrounds (Twitter, YouTube, etc…)
• Social media avatars (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc…)
• Your blog’s design
• Landing pages
• Your checkout

Would you have guessed this site was one of Internet Retailer’s Hot Top 100 Sites of 2009? It’s true, but maybe a bit surprising. And here’s the top 500 pixels, with a little 1, 2, 3 finesse:

1. User Confusion. I’m part of that school of thought that says if you have a big banner on your homepage, it better be click-able. Sadly, this one was not. I bet a fair amount of users clicked on this banner to be taken directly to the hottest priced items. It’s counter intuitive for that banner not to be a link. Of course, it should be a link. Of course!

2. Clutter. On the side navigation, they’ve broken down the perfume designers by gender and letter. You wouldn’t even know it, but there are actual navigation categories to this website (such as Top Designers, Kid’s, Skin Care, Gift Sets, etc.), which are pushed down on the page. My main concern with this alphabetical breakdown is that above the primary banner there is a drop down to shop by brand/designer. Now, if I wanted to find that hot Gucci perfume, it takes two clicks to get to specific Gucci products no matter which way you go—the letter ‘G’ or the drop down. If that’s the case, why include both paths of navigation? If you know the first letter of the designer, then you know enough to find the designer via the drop down. I say, remove the alphabetical breakdown in the side navigation and bring up those other categories.

3. Consistency. Why does the “View Cart” button at the top show a shopping bag? Why not label the link “View Bag” or conversely, why not have an image of a cart? Similarly, the free shipping icon—the red truck—looks more like a moving truck. I know trucks are universal signs of shipping, but maybe something a bit more elegant (feminine?) and less cartoony. Or try just showing a package, anything that’ll fit the site’s design scheme better. These two details are nitpicky, but if you want to be the best at what you do, you have to be perfect or at least visually consistent. And that means combing through the details.

Overall, I think this website is doing more things well than badly, props to them. But why not try to make it even better? (Oh and one final piece of advice to this discount perfume seller: please, please, please, get a new logo.)

Mentioned in this post:

Homepage :: Scentiments
Hot 100 Retail Web Sites : Internet Retailer

Design 1, 2, 3 is a monthly review to improve a design element in at least three easy steps. Want something given the 1, 2, 3 treatment? Mention it in the comments.

For announcing the contest, Groove designed a blog post/landing page and email to encourage users to become a fan. Here’s how it turned out:

So if you’d like a chance to win free shipping supplies for a year, head over to the Shipping Supply Facebook Page and become a fan.

Oh, and the runner-up prize ain’t so bad either. We’ve got one hanging up in the office!

Some highlights of the new site are:

• Upgraded, simpler navigation
• Custom, standards-based design
• Integrated Blog
• Custom Lead Forms
• Video Testimonials
• About Us page, complete with pictures and information about the company’s employees

Before and After – Homepage

Before and After – Services

Before and After – About Us

GoBeyondIT specializes in providing businesses with an alternative to using in-house personnel to work on their own IT. By giving these businesses the peace of mind to focus on more important things, GoBeyondIT manages the IT environment and turns the companies’ IT budgets into a fixed monthly expense. This cuts down the cost of owning, managing, or supporting the applications or the technical infrastructure.

Groove helped GoBeyondIT turn their site into one that is easier to navigate and more user-friendly. Groove designed and implemented a simple and enticing lead form that encourages users to reach out. The site has also become more search-friendly, with less large groups of text and more spiderable content.

Visit the new GoBeyondIT.com and let us know what you think of the design. Feel free to leave a comment below or contact us directly.