With a world of potential customers scouring the internet to purchase goods, introducing a fully functional e-commerce site allows even the smallest businesses to advance beyond their immediate local market. Transforming a simple business site into a strong source of revenue, shopping cart software (or a hosted e-commerce site, as below) allows sites to have online product catalogues, to interact with consumers through a seamless interface, supervise ordering procedures, and provide the intermediate interactive component between the main business site, back-end inventory and the payment gateway.
In order to create an e-commerce site for a small business, dependent upon technological experience and prowess, businesses have two main options. One choice is to use a hosted e-commerce software. A fully featured hosting platform from one service provider includes a comprehensive service solution. It covers aspects from initial domain registration to supplying the tools needed to easily build a fully functioning and secure e-commerce site. Though largely comprehensive and simple, this option does not allow businesses much freedom or control.
For more technologically advanced business owners who would prefer an extensive degree of control over the intricacies of their site and cart components, there is an integrated approach. This involves adding stand-alone shopping cart software to an existing secure business site as a preferred way of moving into the world of e-commerce. But this should only be considered if some form of in-house technological expertise can be accessed.
Therefore the question arises, which shopping cart is right for a small business? The choice will vary depending on the business itself and of course budget. Some options include:
Cube Cart
Protected by McAfee security, and offering an initial 14 day trial for free, Cube Cart provides a combination of reporting features (generating and exporting), customer management, SEO benefits, development potential and plugins. It may be best suited to businesses planning to grow in the near future.
As an overview, feature availability differs between the free Cube Cart Lite, and Cube Cart Pro (a £120 one off payment for full access to the code) with Pro supplying unlimited features, mobile optimised storefront, and technical support among other aspects. Both are compatible with most of the major payment gateways such as PayPal and SagePay.
Cube Cart features an intuitive control panel which allows for real-time statistics, order and stock notification, and Cube Cart Pro has no limits on number of store administrators, orders or customers.
Open Cart
Designed with visual interface appeal and clarity, SEO benefit, rich features and of course small business budget in mind, Open Cart is open source and free to download. Like Cube Cart, a demo is available, and Open Cart is compatible with 22 payment gateways, including SagePay, PayPal and WorldPay. Unlike Cube Cart however, a client account is not required at checkout which may not be of benefit to marketing strategies, but could encourage customer purchasing.
Available in 18 languages, and with multiple currencies and multiple tax rate application features, OpenCart has three different reporting options: Sales report, Products Viewed, and Products Purchased, but while still secure, does not have the same high profile security which Cube Cart boasts. Extended functionality via modules and a template base mean Open Cart is easily personalised, configured and adapted. Shipping methods, especially for the UK are extensive, and regarding support, community forums are free. Regarding commercial support, a list of professional, multi-country technical partner details are provided, but this service is not included.
VirtueMart
Compatible with Joomla!, VirtueMart is a complete e-commerce solution offering an unlimited number of products and categories, multiple currencies, compatibility with payment gateways such as PayPal and SystemPay, category meta tags for integrated SEO benefits, and other features such as the ability to sell downloadable products. VirtueMart also offers a straight ‘catalogue mode’ where the shopping cart feature can be switched off.
Like Open Cart, VirtueMart is open source, is free and customisable which may suit smaller business budgets. This compatibility with small businesses can also be seen in that VirtueMart is best used on low to medium traffic sites. Anonymous checkout is also available, and for those businesses owners considering the possibility of m-commerce in the future, VirtueMart has a supporting iPhone app – iVMStore. A demo version, plus user support manuals and user community forum are available, but any other technical support is not included.
Magento
Offering a combination of the above, Magento is not only open source and free at its most basic level, but has more extensive annual subscription options available (Magento Enterprise, and Enterprise Premium) which range in cost from approximately £9000 to £31000.
Feature rich, completely scaleable and secure, Magento suits a vast range of businesses, boasting extensive customer management, marketing benefits, search engine optimisation, multiple payment and shipping compatibility, plus allows merchant flexibility and control over the look, and functionality of their e-commerce stores.
Mobile optimisation is available and allows for administrative tasks (such as branded storefront creation) in addition to enabling useable cart m-commerce capabilities. Themes and extensions (such as payment integration or shipping features) are available, as is forum support for Magento’s Community Edition. For Magento Enterprise, full support is available, and Magento Enterprise Premium offers user training, multiple licensing, further round the clock support, and consulting reviews.
Alastair Kane is a freelance writer who works for 2touch a leading provider of fulfilment services including ecommerce fulfilment
Business Networking
Startup Hiring Tips: Use Creativity and Technology to Find the Right People
Hiring new employees for any startup can be a real challenge. Dipping into the gene pool and trying to pluck out the best and brightest to bring on board can present a problem depending on the size of your company. Smaller companies need people who can fill many roles. Many startups are lean and mean with little or no extra time to spend reviewing resumes, interview countless applicants and come to a consensus as to who is right for the job. Time may be scare but in a world of technology and innovation here are some creative ways to streamline the hiring phase.
Corporate Culture Conveyed Through Craigslist
Craigslist can be a powerful tool to bring potential team members into the company. Unemployment is around 10% making the sheer volume of potential employees hunting Craigslist for a new job very large. The key to getting the right people for your company and not simply getting overly qualified individuals can be done with a creative advertisement. Take a look at what category the listing may appear and pick the best one. One look at the front page of Craigslist and you will see one of the largest categories is for jobs. This may seem simple but it should not be overlooked.
Next create a listing that sells your startup’s culture. One easy way to convey cultural identity is through a few pictures of the office and maybe even the team. You will notice on the job listings pages that almost none of the advertisements have an attached picture. Pictures can set you apart from the rest and may weed out people who might not fit in well with your company.
Use Registration Forms to Screen Applicants
The resume is essentially useless when it comes to making a decision about hiring. It serves as a great way to start a conversation but leaves too much to the imagination when it comes to the true identity of a person. The real test for a potential hire is how effectively they can communicate. Communication skills are magnified 10 fold in a small startup because everyone talks to everyone. There is no room to hide in a small office space filled with “startup minded” people. Using phone interviews can be effective in testing communication skills but unless you record the conversation chances are you will forget the meat of what was said and simply be left with you impression. If you capture the ideas in writing then it may serve you and your team better while making a decision. Try using a online form, like a registration form, that you can customize with a few questions to really test the communication skill and style of your potential talent. This will also prove them in their writing ability. Make no mistake; everyone must be able to communicate both verbally and by the written word to succeed in a startup.
The Bottom Line
A startup should always be in the hiring phase ready to snatch up the best and brightest. If you always have your feelers out then you and your team of highly motivated, work 60+ hours a week at any cost, will find people you need to prosper. Using creative Craigslist ads and simple technology, like customized online forms, finding the right people just might not be so hard.
Jared Jaureguy is a Technology Consultant who has helped many startups implement the best use of technology to achieve their goals. You can follow Jared on Twitter @JaredJaureguy.
Constant Contact: eMail Marketing [INTERNSHIP]
Constant contact is an online marketing company that allows you to stay connected with your customers all around the world. With the world rapidly moving their marketing towards the web, constant contact is a great way to anticipate new customers. They offer their services primarily to small businesses, membership associations, and nonprofit organizations. Constant contact is known for their dependable email marketing. Their main goal is to help their customers find new customers, drive repeat business, and generate referrals.
Email marketing is basically sending email messages with a purpose of attracting new customers, or enhancing the relationships with current customers. Email marketing through constant contact is a great reliable way for your company to grow. With features that allow you to have a professional look, constant contact’s email marketing is more effective than regular email. No technical skills are required to create a professional looking email because constant contact offers over 400 templates to choose from. Creating newsletters are simple and fast so you can send them much more frequently than paper ones.
In order to effectively get your prospectors to respond, differentiate your data base and create smaller customer lists based on their shared interests. After you’ve done that, send them relevant information that pertains to them. This will get more of a chance for them to actually act upon your emails. The emails you send are easy to forward so if you target your audience and their interested, there’s no doubt they’ll click the forward button. This will get you referrals much more easily and allow your company to grow.
A cool feature constant contact’s email marketing offers is tracking and reporting. After you send an email you are able to see who read, clicked, or forwarded your email. This allows you to understand what the people you’re trying to contact are really interested about. You can then go back and tailor your content the best possible way for your targeted audience.
Besides the email templates constant contact offers, they also offer list management and free coaching. List management is a tool that allows you to organize and grow your contact list by combing multiple lists and segmenting them based on an audience with common interests. This is a much easier way to send out a mass email because the lists are already narrowed down to a targeted audience. If you’re having trouble with email marketing through constant contact, they offer free personal coaching and support at anytime. They present webinars, guides, and podcasts to go further in detail about email marketing and how it can boost your businesses customer service.
Constant contact is the new marketing success formula that helps create and grow customer relationships in today’s socially connected world. It’s an easy reliable way for your business to keep a strong communication line. If you use constant contact’s email marketing the right way, your customers will share your emails with their networks therefore making your business grow.
Sources:
http://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp
http://landing.constantcontact.com/goog-grow-with-email-marketing-ad?utm_id=GOO-100846&cc=GOO-100846&gclid=CPXIgL3ZybMCFQOf4AodzQMA7A
http://www.constantcontact.com/email-marketing/what-is-email-marketing/index.jsp
http://www.constantcontact.com/about-constant-contact/index.jsp
The content in this article is part of Digital Ethos’s Digital Media Education in the Higher Education Internship Program, the content was created by @KaylaMarzo, a Student at Suffolk County Community college, intern at Digital Ethos.
Why use Google AdWords? – Part 1- [Internship]
Ever search something on Google and wonder what makes the first search result better than the next? With a little help from AdWords it can help you achieve a higher rank in the search results. AdWords bid on keywords that will help trigger their sponsored ads. How much they bid is one of the things that determines their position on the page of search results. The more their ads are clicked, the less they have to pay for each click.
Google AdWords is Google’s pay per click (PPC) advertising platform. This tool is used to direct traffic to your website. Every time your ad is clicked in the PPC option, the advertiser pays the website owner on the terms that the agreed on. The budget can determine how often ads can appear on Google. PPC’s content usually takes form in advertisements such as sponsored links or ads. They appear either above your search results or along the side.
There are many beneficial factors when taking using the AdWords tool. When someone clicks on your ad, this will take them to your website where they can learn more about your business and make a purchase. Advertising on Google can direct more traffic to your website as you are using the most widely used search engine in the world.
When you first come across Google AdWords, you’ll want to narrow down your audience and attempt to target just your customers. Google AdWords allows you to narrow down your audience by choosing from hundreds of languages, and specific cities and regions. For example, if you own a furniture store in New York City, you don’t want your ads to be seen in Colorado. Set your campaign ads to be read in English throughout the New York City area. Making your ads visible within a ten miles radius of the city or using the zip code targeting can’t hurt either.
After you targeted your audience, you then want to create your ad that will appeal to them. You want your ad to stick out like a sore thumb. In a world full of furniture stores, you want someone to click on your website instead of your competitors. In order for the searcher to click your ad, you want to be able to provide them with the one they think provides the most beneficial information or drives the highest value. In order to make an ad the most effective for your website, you want to choose keywords that are relevant. Choose keywords that relate the most to your site, service or offer. For example, if you are a business that sells furniture, your keywords might include couch, futon, or recliner. You’ll also find it useful to create long tail keywords, like NYC furniture store, or park slope furniture store. The long tail keywords use more terms to narrow your target and often have less competition.
There are a couple of types of keywords, one being negative keywords. A negative keyword is a phrase or word that prevents ads from appearing when a searcher types it in. For example, if your business sells furniture, but doesn’t sell bed frames, you would add the negative keyword but put a hyphen before it like so –bed frames. This eliminates your ads from appearing on irrelevant searches. Another type of keywords include exact match. You want to use exact match when you are using keywords that are exactly what a customer would be looking for when searching on Google. Exact match means that the ad shows for searches only when the search query is exactly the same as your keyword. When using exact match, chose your keyword and put it in square brackets. When someone is looking to buy a love seat, and you own a furniture company, you may want to use [love seat] as an exact match.
After you created your ad, you want to set a pricing. Set your daily budget and cost per click up. You can spend to as much or as little as you want. The average cost per click with Google AdWords is around $3.50 per click but in some cases skyrockets to $20. A useful feature on AdWords lets you change your budget at any time. When you are finally all done with setting up your ad, you want to launch the campaign.
Signing up for Google AdWords can be a good move for your business. It can direct traffic straight to your website which can mean more purchases. Google AdWords generates more visitors, followers, and customers. When you have an effective ad on Google’s search results page, your website will see a whole new world. The tool is one of the best advertising options when you want to track ROI and be able to reduce or grow on the fly. While there is still a lot of other options, using the PPC campaigns in Google AdWords can be a great source for new business.
Coming In Part 2 – Google AdWords, Advanced Options, CPM, Newsletter, Calls, DisplayNetwork
Sources:
- http://www.googleadwordsgrader.com/?src=AdWords&kw=google%20adwords%20tips&fromppc=yes&ref=GGLGraderCampaign&gclid=CM_OsJzc2LICFUmd4AodOCwAbw
- http://www.amazon.com/AdWords-For-Dummies-Lifestyles-Paperback/dp/0470152524/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348850958&sr=1-2-fkmr1&keywords=adwords+basics+for+dummies
- http://www.wordstream.com/how-to-use-google-adwords
- https://www.google.com/intl/en_us/adwords/select/steps.html
- http://www.optimum7.com/internet-marketing/search-engine-marketing/average-adwords-pay-per-click-ppc-costs.html
The content in this article is part of Digital Ethos’s Digital Media Education in the Higher Education Internship Program, the content was created by @KaylaMarzo, a Student at Suffolk County Community college, intern at Digital Ethos.
3 Tips to Effectively Market Your Real Estate Website
The key to marketing a real estate website is in knowing what your prospects are searching for, what sites they frequent, and how they use the web to communicate and gather information. Consider the following 3 tips to effectively market your real estate website:
Proper Domain Selection
The first step is choosing a domain name that will either capitalize on your brand name or target web searchers based on keywords. If you already have an established brand that is locally recognized you’ll want to make it easier for existing clients and prospects to find your site by registering a domain name that contains the name of your agency.
On the other hand, if you’re able to get your hands on a rare, yet highly valuable geo-targeted domain name (i.e. – FloridaRealEstate.com) then this option should be considered over all. Some firms choose to register multiple domains in order to maximise search traffic.
Competitive Analysis and Keyword Optimization
A great way to figure out what keywords you should be targeting in your site content and marketing efforts is to utilize keyword research tools and services like:
- Google Adwords Keyword Suggestion Tool
- Keyword Discovery
- Wordtracker
- Spyfu
- Compete.com Analytics
All of the above resources will help you determine which keywords your competitors are using to generate the most traffic. Once you’ve built a list of keywords you can focus on outdoing the competition by publishing more content and contributing genuinely useful information. In addition to filling your real estate website with quality content, you should also start focusing on becoming a thought leader in your industry by spreading your outreach around the web through…
Blogging and Networking
Investors, property buyers, and other agents use the web to build their contacts and educate themselves on a regular basis. Research the leading real estate blogs and attempt to establish your own authoritative presence by becoming a reputable guest author.
As a real estate professional you’ve probably heard the phrase “It’s not what you know, it’s WHO you know that matters.” With the ability to quickly contact ideal buyers and accommodate the needs of a large network of sellers you can maximise your yearly commissions by increasing the volume of transactions you facilitate.
Start by joining Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Learn the ins and outs of social networking, and consider the advantages of outsourcing the management of your campaigns to professionals that can optimize your output.
Joseph Tollett is a real estate professional and experienced blogger who currently conducts research for IronMonk Solutions, a well-known SEO firm with headquarters in New York. Click here to read their blog.
Image Source
Making Money With Your Webinar- Structure Your Content in Five Easy Steps!
So, you finally decided to try out a webinar to make money. By now, you probably have an idea as to the type of webinar that you would like to make money from. Perhaps you have a pre-recorded webinar on your computer with a teaching or sermon that you would like to share with the world. Perhaps you recorded a how to get a full body workout in only ten minutes or conducted a teaching session on how to thrive in a stagnant economy.
It’s exciting that you’ve selected your topic of interest! The ideas that you have are indeed limitless, and the webinars that you could create are now within your grasp. You want your customers to come to you so that you can answer their needs. Every business fills a need, every customer has a need waiting to be filled. How will you go about filling this need with your webinar?
Dynamics of Content
First and foremost, you’ll want to understand the dynamics of your content and how it brings life or death to your webinar. Content answers the question of how to get your webinar off the ground. It also creates a hunger for the products and services that you have to offer. I don’t just go to any place to get my pizza fix. I go to a specific place because I know that I like the content of their pizza and the way that they make it. In the same way, your attendees are coming to your webinar for the content that you have to offer and the way that you offer it.
If you haven’t already created a webinar, you’ll want to decide on the software to hold a web conference first. Once you’ve finalized the software, you can begin to put the pieces of your webinar’s content together by following these five simple steps to ensure that your content meets the mark and your subscribers leave the session happy that they purchased your webinar!
1.) Know your audience.
- If you’re lecturing NASA scientists, you can pretty much skip the fluff and beef up the content with more analysis and scientific research findings.
- If you’re creating a session geared for Girl Scouts, you’ll want to include more things that they can relate to.
2.) Decide on your approach.
- Do you want the audience to sit through the entire session or do you want to include short quizzes and test sections?
- Do you want to be more informational and provide a lot of data or conversational and more relaxed? Which approach fits your audience better? Can you customize it to fit their needs?
- Once you know what style approach you will be using, it is much easier to create a consistent webinar that exudes professionalism. There are many, many bad webinars out there that could easily be avoided if the webinars had only been consistent in their approach from start to finish.
3.) Structure your time well.
- If you told your audience that you would be discussing XYZ in the webinar, make sure you don’t gloss over XYZ and skip over to ZZZ. I’ve seen this happen too many times and have been completely disappointed when this happens. Not only do I feel cheated out of my time, but I feel betrayed by the bait-and-switch method that seems to run rampant.
- If it takes ten minutes to explain a key area, do not take more than that time to explain it. You want to engage your audience and keep them at the edge of their seats wanting more!
4.) Groom your content.
- Are some areas too wordy and others lacking in content? Take time to comb through your presentation and cut out the clutter while beefing up the lean parts.
- Does your outline convey your actual content? We often think that we have everything perfectly compiled only to discover that a key element was never included. A scan between your actual content (webinar) and your outline will help you get that 1:1 match.
- Do your images and illustrations match up with your topic?
5.) Is your content engaging to your audience?
- If I am going to sit down and watch a webinar that I paid decent money for, I must be looking for specific content that will help fill my needs.
- Have you created the content that adequately satisfies my need (ie, my need to learn how to sew from your created webinar)?
The above are a great starting point when beginning to look into creating a webinar that has lasting results. No only will you come across as more professional, but you will also service a niche group that could potentially return time and time again.
Benjamin Baker is addicted to writing! He is a research hound and fills hard to find searches. He enjoys playing his guitar and spends his free time camping and fishing. He recently discovered www.webconferenceclassroom.com and is starting his own webinar mini-series on how to fish. He is happily married and is the father of 3 growing (and busy) teenagers. He lives in Denver, Colorado with his wife and kids.
Why LinkedIn? [Internship]
In today’s economy, students and young professionals share a common fear. Their fear is whether or not they will find a job. With the presidential debate currently going on, the candidates for president are constantly promising to make new jobs. This does nothing but make the current students worry that there are no jobs now and may not be any in the future. Fortunately, there are online tools that can help graduates and undergraduates worry a bit less. LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking site. It is said to be the best investment you will ever make in your career. It is used by individuals and businesses for networking, job searching, hiring, and much more.
Recently, I have started an internship with the company Digital Ethos. They have asked me if I was signed up with the website LinkedIn and were shocked when I said I was not. Immediately I signed up after receiving their reaction. I could see how important LinkedIn was right away. LinkedIn is a great way to establish your identity on the web. With 175 million members worldwide, LinkedIn is clearly a striving network that helps individuals and small businesses to large corporations. With LinkedIn, you can exchange ideas, knowledge, and opportunities with a broad network of professionals. Your LinkedIn account is the first impression someone gets when they google you, this can be a huge benefit if your LinkedIn account is up to date and well put together. Your LinkedIn page can either make you or break you.
Signing up for LinkedIn is easy. You simply put in your full name and your email address. From then on, LinkedIn gives you step by step instructions on how to get your account up and running. This includes indicating where you are currently employed and what type of job. Another cool feature of LinkedIn lets you indicate what field you are in. It also asks you where you have been employed in the past and for how long. This can give your future employer a general knowledge of where you worked and what your skill-sets could be. Your education also holds a section on your LinkedIn profile, which can include when you were in high school and in college. If you haven’t graduated from one or the other, it lets you select your anticipated graduation year. LinkedIn has a section called “Summary” which lets other users quickly learn about your background and interests. There is a different area for your skills and expertise which helps potential employers find you when they are searching for a specific knowledge-base. Recommendations on your page can carry a lot of weight. It lets your colleagues, clients, or suppliers speak on your record. Recommendations are just like reference part of your resume. You’re “snapshot” is like your web based business card. It includes your name, location, education, recommendations, education, past positions, and links to your website. Use this space efficiently and you’ll be sure to catch someone’s eye.
These days, it is so crucial for not only graduates, but undergraduates, to get their foot in the door of the career world right away. It is very important for young professionals to use LinkedIn for many reasons. Young professionals don’t have a lot of experience, so LinkedIn helps them by providing an answers section. This allows a wide variety of professionals to answer any question you might have about your field or any type of field you may be interested in. Asking and answering questions also helps you build your online visibility. This is essential to making your way to the top. This generation of young adults is said to be the “Digital Native” generation since most, if not all, of their life was spent in front of a screen. LinkedIn lets them continue this sort of lifestyle and it makes it a lot more comfortable to be more productive on the network. Young professionals have little to no experience in the work force. LinkedIn gives them a realistic outlook on their field of interest. You should never let one job define your field. With over 175 million members worldwide, it is easy to network and see all kinds of different sides of your field. You can also check out your fields leading players. You can see how they got to where they are by seeing where they went to school, what they studied, what skills they developed, what groups they belong too, and to whom with they are connected. This will help you obtain a better grasp on your anticipated field you want to join.
The people who are part of your network are called your connections. A connection can indicate that you know the person well or that they are a trusted business contact. In order to become a connection, you need to be invited and accepted. LinkedIn doesn’t support people in adding somebody that they don’t know. When you want to send someone a connections request, LinkedIn asks how you know this person. The options include colleague, classmate, friend, business partner, and I don’t know said person. If you chose “I don’t know said person”, LinkedIn will not allow you to add them. If you chose any of the other, it will ask for the persons email address.
LinkedIn narrows down your connections into three different categories. They are first degree, second degree, and third degree connections. First degree connections are the people that you have directly connected with because you or the person sent an invitation that has been accepted. Second degree connections are the people who are connected with your first degree connections. You can contact them through something called an introduction. You may ask your first degree connection to introduce you to your second degree connection. Since you probably don’t know your second degree connection, an introduction from your first degree connection would be the only way to connect with them. Finally, your third degree connections are the people who are connected to your second degree connections. If you want to become their first connection, you have to ask for an introduction. An introduction usually sounds like, “Dear Mr. Smith, Let me introduce you to Mr. John from Company X.” LinkedIn shows you which connection a person is by placing an icon which says either “1st”, “2nd”, or “3rd” connection.
LinkedIn offers a feature called “groups”. Being a member of a group lets you engage in one on one networking between group members. An advantage is that you can send lnmail for no fee. As a member of a group, you can discover the most popular discussions in your professional group. LinkedIn groups also allow you to follow the most influential people in your groups by looking at the Top Influencers board to see all their group activity.
Looking for a job on LinkedIn is said to be a whole lot easier than going door to door hoping they are hiring. If you know what company you are interested in joining, simply search for them on LinkedIn’s search bar. The company will have their employers listed and you can network with them and see what they did to be able to work with the company. Eventually, you will be able to establish them as a connection. On the other hand, if you have no idea what company you want to work for, you can search a keyword, job title, or location. Even though the search is much broader, you will still get a general knowledge of what you are looking into.
It is clear to see that there is a lot more to LinkedIn than just looking for a job in a newspaper. Connecting with people and getting your name out there can also contribute to your success on LinkedIn. If you use your LinkedIn profile correctly, it will become a huge benefit for you in the job marketing world.
Sources:
- http://learn.linkedin.com/what-is-linkedin/
- http://press.linkedin.com/node/1224
- http://jumpstart-hr.com/three-reasons-why-young-professionals-must-use-linkedin
- http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/26-tips-to-enhance-your-experience-on-linkedin/
- http://jobsearch.about.com/od/networking/a/linkedin2.htm
- http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/social-networking/networks/linkedin3.htm
- http://learn.linkedin.com/groups/
The content in this article is part of Digital Ethos’s Digital Media Education in the Higher Education Internship Program, the content was created by @KaylaMarzo, a Student at Suffolk County Community college, intern at Digital Ethos.
Group Commerce for Publisher-Based eCommerce Solutions: #SocialCommerce
Recently, I sat down to an impromptu interview with the CEO of Group Commerce, Jonty Kelt, to learn more about what publisher-based ecommerce solutions can offer to more traditional form of media that may be lacking digital presence.
What is Group Commerce?
Group Commerce is a platform for publishers who want to integrate ecommerce into a successful element of their business. Group Commerce serves three groups that help to make their ecommerce program work.
- Consumers
- Merchants
- Publishers
Group Commerce’s technology was designed to support, from the ground up, the unique lists of needs that brands and media companies require. Their enterprise-grade platform doubles as a command center for a publisher’s ecommerce program as well. There is nothing else like it anywhere. Group Commerce understands exactly what it take to succeed. The professional services offered provide all of the needed elements to ensure that their publishers succeed in ecommerce.
Founded in 2010, Group Commerce is backed by several popular names such as Carmel Ventures, Lerer Ventures, Spark Capital, and Bob Pittman. Group Commerce has some top-notch clients in names such as Chegg.com, Boston.com, CBS Local, DailyCandy, the New York Times, and many more. Based in New York City, Group Commerce now has over 100 employees in 11 major cities.
When asked about the publisher based ecommerce solutions provided by Group Commerce, Jonty Kelt shared with me, “We created group commerce with a mission to enable audience owners, to succeed in ecommerce. This is anyone with an audience, website owners, newsletter businesses, TV, radio, print and more. The brands have to engage with intelligence and integrity, so that they add value to their relationship with their audience. This can give traditional or ad based media companies more revenue stream, more engagement with their audience, attract new audience members and for some solid media based businesses, it can give them more relevance in a digital world.”
Before we wrapped up our interview I definitely had to pose to him a question that is near and dear to publications like DBMEi.
Since there is such a huge market now for content relating to the practices of digital marketing, social media and other similar services, how do you see Group Commerce fitting in for the smaller publishers? How can you begin to monetize platforms such as multi-blogger sites like DBMEi?
Jonty Kelt: We currently have an initiative in our engineering department focusing on building a ladder of service solutions which will enable smaller publishers such as bloggers, smaller websites and audiences to turn ecommerce onto their sites as well.
How Can I Get in on Group Commerce?
Group Commerce is rather picky about the publishers they work with. For the most part, applicants must have several of at least six unique qualifications.
- Verticality
- High brand engagement
- Strong local voice
- High user transactional intent
- Size
- Locally segmented
Since its launch, Group Commerce has raised millions in funding and Kelt plans to continue to expand the company’s reach into 2012.
Sources:
#SocialCommerce: Jonty Kelt Interview Transcript
Business Insider hosted the Social Commerce Summit on Feb 7th, 2012 at Chelse Pier, during that event I had a chance to sit with Jonty Kelt, the CEO for Group Commerce. Here is a transcript from that interview with a general article to follow on Feb 19th at 5pm, right here on dbmei.com.
About the event:
Since the immersion of social media into digital commerce, incredible opportunities and options have opened for business owners. Socially marketing your products and services can come with its own challenges though, so the Social Commerce Summit, or SCS, has a focus on presenting some incredible tips and tricks along with the best practices common to businesses successful in this form of marketing.
The SCS will provide the platform for experts in their industries to share their own best practices and ideas that have been built upon cutting edge trends and technologies and are the products of incredibly successful Fortune 500 campaigns and strategies.
The Interview: (Recorded by Basil C. Puglisi, Transcription done by Joy Lynskey)
JK: Started the company 2 years ago with a vision for media companies that are publishers, that they should engage in ecommerce. They have great brands, reach, authority over some topics with certain groups, engaged audiences. Those things we believed could be translated into an ecommerce business, alongside the traditional types of advertising businesses. We created group commerce with a mission to enable audience owners, to succeed in ecommerce. Being as broad as possible. This is anyone with an audience, website owners, newsletter businesses, TV, radio, print. The premises of what we are saying here is that the brands have to engage with intelligence and integrity, so that they add value to their relationship with their audience. This gives ad based or ad revenue fueled businesses, the opportunity to have an ecommerce business alongside of it. This can give traditional or ad based media companies more revenue stream, more engagement with their audience, attracts new audience members and for some solid media based businesses, it can give them more relevance in a digital world.
We have only been live for about 15 months and currently have about 15 live , all of them traditional media companies. [name companies] A lot of the brands mentioned began with one or two people managing which has now, a year later, turned into teams of 20 or more employees managing their ecommerce. Now that they have seen it can work, many are now aiming for 9 figure revenue businesses.
BP: So what group commerce is offering is the opportunity for them to survive in the digital era with obvious subscription services failing, people are less willing to pay for subscriptions but instead prefer to get content for free. So this is a way to kind of fill the gap ?
JK: In some cases that is true. Some of our customers were already digital, such as Daily Candy, and this is just tacked on. Other services do not have much of a digital business presence and this can be a way to augment their traditional business and help them to survive in a digital world.
BP: So what are some of the verticals that you guys are seeing, in ecommerce that’s targeting general vs specific.
JK: So very simplistically we have two target segments, vertical such as; thrillist.com for young men, dailycandy.com for young women, active.com for endurance athletes, and then local media, which tends to be more horizontal, the new york times for new york, boston.com for the boston area. The vertical ones are leveraging vertical authority, such as dailycandy is an expert on what young women want, that brings to bring great content and comments. Different than boston.com doesn’t have a specific audience. They have everyone, young and old, uptown and downtown. so they have to use their local authority to find the best merchandise and present it to the best audience.
BP: Do we see a higher conversion rate with vertical specific content versus the general content. We talked a bit about how Boston was able to generate something relevant to Boston being Boston based locations. I imagine some of the verticals when they’re talking about how to sell products outside of geographical limitations
JK: So local is normally services, nationally is normally product. A local can offer local services, and even local product. National, we see more products since national cannot usually offer local service.
BP: Mike Wallace was a big speaker over at Boston.com, you guys had him join you, what does it mean to bring this type of person into your fold?
JK: Our company is about 100 people right now. In order to pull off what we are focused on we have to have really high-quality people with different disciplines, technology, merchandising strategy, sales, finance, hr, account management, and Mike Wallace was actually a customer of ours at Boston.com. Mike is a born leader, he has executed on the vision extremely well at Boston.com, and we got on extremely well. He loved the vision we had. After about a year and a half of working with Mike, we had conversations with him on having him help us with our business. We wanted him to use his knowledge on how to actually build a program for boston.com in a group commerce setting.
BP: So his official title is..?
JK: Vice President of Publisher Sales which means finding new publishers who would like to participate in this. Finding new publisher partners is his main focus right now.
BP: So one of the things we are talking about when looking at ecommerce is that we have a lot of conversation about daily deals, selling locally, lot of conversation of the push vs pull. Push being here is an opportunity or offer, I may take advantage of it later. Vs the I am standing in the middle of boston right now. Push vs pull mentality, selling in advance, vs I’m standing here I am looking for something to do, where is the best deal or value for me? So have you guys seen the platform showing that push vs pull.
JK: We have been very focused on push. Our customers, Boston.com, New York times, they have very powerful media, they have a voice in many touch points, social media, email list, web page, printed editions, so they are leveraging that and the fact that they have ecommerce now and are offering great stuff. With respect to the on demand, I am in the middle of boston and looking for a great deal right now, that type of pull is not the type of commerce we are currently offering, because we have been more focused on the push.
Groupon and LivingSocial are two of the things that you are referring to with respect to standing in the middle of Boston and having thirty things available around you, is just not reality yet. That is something that we have not been focused on, specifically because we have been more focused on the push. I like to consider the word pull being that when the customer is aware that dailycandy now has stuff on their website to buy, they go there of their own volition, it’s pulling them there. Rather than them having to be interrupted with an email. And that is the holy grail really, for what we are trying to do. We are using a public outlet to push awareness of what are the deals in front of them, which creates buying behavior.
It takes time for our customers to educate their audiences, some of them have only been going now for a little over a year.
BP: There is this huge market now for content relating to the practice of marketing, social media, etc, how do you see you guys fitting in for the smaller publishers? How do you start to monetize platforms such as multi-blogger sites like this?
JK: We have an initiative in our engineering efforts to build a ladder of service solutions, which will enable smaller publishers, bloggers, small websites, etc to turn ecommerce on.
What’s the key to a successful digital media strategy?
Websites, especially for Search Engine Optimization should defiantly be doing this. A successful Social Media campaign has this as a crucial characteristic. This one defining element or practice is an absolute must for anyone who wants clients and customers whorepeat business and develop long-term relationships. In fact you probably find this to be as true for personal relationships as you would for any aspect of a business before and during the digital age.
Be Genuine!
Websites that develop a structure that take user experience and align it with their purpose find higher conversions. Don’t build a site for a plumber that looks like iTunes. Let that sites experience be what mirrors the genuine experience that is that service or product.
SEO success is defined by the genuine nature of the sites target and content. Search Engines are in the business of helping people find what they are looking for, build the content and keyword targeting around your clients, services and or product.
Social Media is all about the culture that your organization has, what’s your social media personality? Social Media isn’t about hard sales, its about relationships, find ways to develop social media strategies that support who or what you really are beyond what you sell or do.
Jump on Match.com, eHarmony, or have a friend set you up on a blind date, it’s just like business. You’ll get someone new in front of you, but if you want to get beyond the first introduction you better be who you are, pretending to be what your not will scare away your valuable long term relationships and leave you with a short sighted one night stand. Remember, 20% of your customers may provide you with 80% of your business, but if you find a way to build long-term relationships that develop from your genuine culture and services you’ll find value in every interaction.
If you want “world of mouth” opportunities, find a brand perception that matches you or your organization. Don’t try to control it, facilitate it by being genuine.
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