Netconcepts

Articles authored by Netconcepts

Netconcepts — Thu, 01 Jan 2004 07:31:33 +0000

The value of knowledge is only realized if you share it. In that vein, we welcome you to peruse our library of articles. We’ve authored hundreds of articles, many of them by our founder/president Stephan Spencer — a prolific writer. What you will find here is the best of our collected works. Enjoy!

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Or browse them all below. Articles are organized in reverse chronological order.

24+ Specific Things You Can Do To Make More Money Next Week

Brian Klais — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 22:18:37 +0000

Forget the grand strategy talks; ignore the expensive, time-consuming software implementations; discard the hard-to-measure long-term plans - this session is about specific, actionable tactics you can use to make money NOW. Our panel of experts are going to give you killer tips to improve your Paid Search, Natural Search, Affiliate Marketing, Email Marketing, Web 2.0, Shopping Feeds, Technology Issues, and Site Optimization. We’re going to be moving fast so we will have a handout for session attendees with all of the gory details. This is the session you want to attend if you want to get your hands dirty and improve the bottom line. It will also help you convince your boss that you came to the Summit to make money — not just party in Vegas.

Moderator:
Allan Dick, Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Plumbing Evangelist, Vintage Tub and Bath

Panelists:
Sam Decker, CMO, Bazaarvoice
Todd Friesen, SEO Ninja, Todd Friesen Associates
Sheldon Gilbert, Founder and CEO, Proclivity
Pinny Gniwisch, Founder and VP, Marketing, ice.com
Brian Klais, Vice President of Search, Netconcepts
Jeff Molander, Principal, Molander & Associates
Brian Platter, General Manager, Home Delivery, Peet’s Coffee & Tea
Brian Smith, Co-founder, SingleFeed

SEO Toolbox Tips

Patricia Fusco — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:03:23 +0000

How current is your SEO Toolbox? Do you have all the tools needed to research, analyze & diagnose the SEO issues for your website? Are you reading the most useful blogs? How well organized are the RSS feeds you subscribe to? Are you using webmaster tools to gain an inside view to how the search engines see your website? In this article Netconcepts Director of Search, P.J. Fusco shares a few of her favorite goodies in her SEO Toolbox:

…updating and refreshing your SEO toolbox requires a continual flow of information to keep up with the job’s demands. Keeping your SEO toolbox well organized and current has never been more challenging.

Read the full SEO Toolbox article at ClickZ.

SEO Report Card: Littlepixiegifts.com.au

Jeff Muendel — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:47:21 +0000

A SEO review of this site and the Best Practices in use, as well as opportunities for new optimization. Analyst Jeff Muendel of Netconcepts goes through the site with a fine tooth comb. Learn from his findings on how to analyze your ecommerce website and tweak it in time for holiday traffic.

If Little Pixie Gifts has an SEO weak point, it is in the URLs. As search engines spider the URL addresses along with title tags and page content, each URL should reflect the keyword theme of the page. Instead, Little Pixie Gifts has URLs like http://www.littlepixiegifts.com.au/cart.php?target=category&category_id=62. While such a URL doesn’t necessarily hurt things from a search engine perspective, it certainly doesn’t help.

To read the full article, visit Practical Ecommerce.

A Natural Disposition for Search

Patricia Fusco — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:29:48 +0000

Is the use of rich media and new web technologies such as AJAX hiding your retail website from search engine spiders? Has your company shifted efforts away from natural search optimization to opt for the coolest, new applications to enhance the user experience? In this article for ClickZ, P.J. Fusco, director of natural search for Netconcepts discusses the importance of maintaining a natural search marketing strategy.

With rich media in plan, dynamic Web site constructs in motion, and competing forces all around, putting together a natural search strategy has many complex components. Just as a wetland must work in harmony with the environment to produce desired results, so too must an online organization provide resources for understanding natural search, lest the spiders get bogged down by the muck.

For more about this topic, visit the full article on ClickZ.

Christmas in July?

Patricia Fusco — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:08:17 +0000

Link building tips to get ready for the holiday season. Netconcepts’ director of search, P.J. Fusco discusses the need for quality links for Search Engine Optimization. While many retailers focus their energy and glitzy gift sections and giving guides for every member of the family, links are the gift that will keep on giving to a website’s value to search engines.

To learn more about this tactic, read the full article at ClickZ.

Be a Converter

Stephan Spencer — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:09:13 +0000

Do you know your website’s conversion rate? Do you know if it is above or below average for a typical merchant? The average conversion rate is only about 2.4%. How can you increase your site’s conversion rate? Learn from Netconcepts Founder & President, Stephan Spencer about how to improve your organization’s website to become a better converter. In this article for MultiChannel Merchant, Stephan discusses the use of Persuasion Architecture, how to design for different personality types, analyze your audience’s needs and to adjust your tone.

Technology is not a means to higher conversion rates; it is just a tool that must be properly managed, configured, and implemented in order to reach your goals. Just having a great CMS with an advanced shopping cart system is not enough — there are no “set it and forget it” solutions for improving your conversion rate.

For more on this topic, read the full article here.

Web Site Design Spotlight: Live, On-the-spot Critique of Retailers’ Sites

Stephan Spencer — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:15:35 +0000

A team of long time e-commerce experts will provide live reviews and makeovers for sites from the audience members. Retailers in the audience will be asked to bring search marketing, user experience, e-commerce strategy and other design questions to this session where experts will view the sites in question and provide answers to fix what ails their web sites. Audience members who volunteer their sites for critique will receive a $25 Starbucks gift card.

Panelists:
Lauren Freedman, President, the e-tailing group
Stephan Spencer, President, Netconcepts
Amy Africa, President, Eight by Eight

Social Disclosure

Stephan Spencer — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 15:20:12 +0000

How do you communicate with your customers and build your brand? Are you talking at them, or do you have an online dialogue with them? Stepping into social media allows merchants the opportunity to speak to customers and build a brand-loyal community. This requires loss of some control, since customers will be generating their own content. It is worth the investment. Written for Multichannel Merchant, Netconcepts President Stephan Spencer and analyst Tim Gill discuss the benefits of social media for merchants.

Retailers can leverage this dialog to gain insight into marketing research, generate product feedback, conduct merchandise testing, and initiate product improvements. By taking a dialog approach to social media instead of a louder, flashier version of commercial interruption, you can learn what consumers want, and how they want it, on a one-to-one basis.

For more on this topic, read the complete article here.

SEO Report Card: Pinkorpunk.com

Jeff Muendel — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:31:01 +0000

In this edition of the SEO report card, Jeff Muendel reviews eCommerce site pinkorpunk.com. This niche eCommerce site sells accessories that (you guessed it) are either pink or punk. This website audit is especially helpful for other new eCommerce sites, since pinkorpunk.com launched quite recently. Here’s a little bit about what Jeff has to say about this unique boutique.

Pinkorpunk.com is a fairly new website, which may partially explain its PageRank of 0. But, the other factor in the ranking is the site’s small number of inbound links. Yahoo! sees 45 links from outside sites while Google doesn’t list any at all. Inbound links translate to PageRank, and higher PageRank translates to better search engine results. This site, with its vibrant content, should have no problem garnering links! A linking campaign is in order here. Research online directories and get listed in those that still have decent PageRank (many have been recently demoted by Google in that regard). A blog is also in order, especially with such hip content. Online press should be a target as well, as should social media avenues like MySpace, Flickr and Facebook.

For more about this niche eCommerce store, visit the Practical eCommerce website audit here.