Ask anyone who owns a Web-based business if they’re at all concerned about their search engine ranking, and you’re likely to receive a resounding “Yes!” Ask a firm that claims to specialize in search engine optimization (SEO) if they can improve your search engine rank, and you’ll likely receive a similarly resounding “Yes!” Sadly, many [...]
For anyone keeping score, my November 18, 2009, blog post titled Drop Shipping For Dummies has attracted more than 200 comments, one of which recently caught my attention. From Derick Sweet: I have recently started with Doba on a trial basis; I have not decided yet to stick with it long term. Is it normal [...]
I already know that this post is going to touch off a pretty sensitive nerve with a lot of people. Nobody wants to hear it, and the natural reaction is to become defensive, but it must be said. And more than that, you — the new online retailer — must hear it, especially if you [...]
If you watch eBay auctions with any regularity, you may have noticed that some sellers manage to receive more bids and sell items for a higher price than you or others who sell an identical item. More often than not, a high number of bids has more to do with the way the item is [...]
According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, online sales increased 5 percent for the 2009 holiday season, which online research firm comScore attributed to a continued increase in the number of people shopping online. Online sales from the beginning of November through Christmas Eve were reported be $27 billion, which was up [...]
Backorders, especially when you drop ship, can break the backs of online retailers. If you can’t quickly deliver a product to your customer, they might just cancel their order and look for a more reliable webstore. Because drop shipping places inventory control in the hands of your supplier, it raises your exposure to the risk [...]
At this year’s Buyology Symposium in New York, best-selling author and branding consultant Martin Lindstrom presented some of the findings from his consumer brain-scanning project. Lindstrom had scanned the brains of faithful Christians and found a correlation between religion and several brands that have a strong, cult-like following. While Lindstrom’s project stirred up controversy, it’s [...]
Chances are that when the average consumer needs or wants something, they visit a retail store, either online or off, and purchase what it is they desire without ever thinking about what we retail geeks call the “supply chain.” The consumer only cares that the store has what they need at the price they’re willing [...]
Back in February of 2004, I wrote a 12-part series for the Doba eNewsletter about the top reasons why people buy. The main idea of the series was that by understanding the psychology behind a shopper’s decision-making process, you — the online retailer — can form a marketing strategy that caters to the reasons people [...]
