James Maguire

The old proverb says “Seek, and ye shall find,” and that’s certainly true of free software. You might ask: why is it free? In many cases, the free download is a limited version of a company’s premium product. A firm gives away a free version hoping that happy customers will upgrade to the paid version. […]

If you’re a merchant who’s bought keyword search terms on Google or Yahoo, you know that per-per-click advertising gets expensive; very expensive. As shown by this list of Google’s most expensive keywords, the cost per click for certain terms is almost enough to cause mild cardiac arrest. (Note: the list is in Canadian dollars, so […]

In Part I, we gave you seven top tips for getting your e-commerce venture started. Today, we conclude with the final eight items on your startup checklist. 8) Knowledge of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)If you don’t know how to set up your site to get high rankings in Google and Yahoo, you’ll never get the […]

More on small business marketing Here’s an inspiring fact for anyone starting an online business: If you gather everything you need before you launch, you’ll be far ahead of most people who start online stores. Believe it or not, thousands of people launch e-commerce sites only to realize they lack an essential element. Six months […]

Roughly speaking, eBay sellers are divided into two groups. The first group is casual sellers, who make a few bucks with occasional, one-time sales of items like uncle Gary’s old bowling shoes or aunt Mildred’s old Elvis albums. No real work is involved. The second group is serious sellers. They make more than a few […]

There are tens of thousands of online merchants who use Yahoo’s Storefront platform, and just as many approaches to using this popular e-commerce platform. Plenty of merchants launch with Yahoo’s basic template and hardly change it for years — some sellers even do several million dollars in sales using the default design (along with plenty […]

It’s no surprise that Yahoo Merchant Solutions recently won the Small Business Computing reader’s poll for best e-commerce platform. For new Internet merchants looking for an online store that’s easy to launch, few platforms offer the simplicity and affordable price that the Yahoo solution does. Yahoo’s package offers newbie merchants Web hosting, domain registration, and […]

When it comes to e-commerce, there’s nothing more important than product pages. They are the site’s lifeblood. These pages that spotlight products and offer shoppers a ‘Buy’ button — they’re a site’s “payoff” pages. Indeed, the primary struggle of every e-tailer is driving shoppers to their product pages and then convincing those shoppers to commit […]

Every savvy retailer knows that the differences between men and women extend right down to the way they shop. Knowing this, e-commerce consulting firm Resource Interactive conducted research to explore a related question: do men and women shop differently online, too? The answer, perhaps surprising no one, is a resounding ‘yes.’ The firm’s research, conducted […]

As noted last week in Part One, when an online merchant sets out to hire an SEO expert, questions abound. Since the search optimization industry is so new, it’s hard for consumers to know what to expect. Perhaps the most confusing aspect of hiring an SEO firm is cost. How much should a merchant expect […]

For most online merchants, it’s a simple equation: the higher they rank in search engines, the more shoppers they attract. Given that all-important formula, many e-tailers lose sleep pondering two pressing questions: how can I increase my search engine presence? How can I boost my ranking on as many search terms as possible? They know […]

The recent jumps in gasoline and fuel prices have placed a squeeze on Internet merchants. Since e-tailers rely so heavily on parcel shipping, when shipping costs go up, it threatens the bottom line. Among carriers like FedEx and UPS, “We’re seeing tremendous hikes in fuel surcharges,” says Beth Enslow, an Aberdeen Group analyst who advises […]