The new site is called ChiliFries.com and it was created to help you become an expert at Internet marketing, search engine optimization (SEO) and e-commerce!

Our new website is updated regularly with fresh content and will teach you:

• Search engine optimization
• Search engine marketing
• Social media marketing
• E-Commerce strategy
• On-site merchandising
• Public relations
• Conversion optimization

… and lots of other tips, tricks, strategies and ideas which you can use to either start a new e-commerce business or grow your existing e-commerce business faster than you thought possible.

View the press release here

P.S. Really important – make sure you like ChiliFries on Facebook and follow ChiliFries on Twitter so you don’t miss a post!

P.P.S. Become part of the ChiliFries community by leaving comments on a few posts you like. It’s fast, easy and is a great way to meet like-minded business owners.

We already run regular webinars that teach the basics of e-commerce and BigCommerce, but today I’m happy to announce that we’re adding a third series to our already popular webinars.

Lead by certified BigCommerce design partner and e-commerce experts Madwire Media, How to Use Facebook, eBay, SEO and Free Tools to Skyrocket Your Traffic is our latest webinar series and the first webinar kicks off at 1pm CDT on Thursday, June 9th (see this in your time zone).

So, what will you learn during this free webinar? Here’s a taste:

• Easy SEO strategies to dominate your competition on Google
• How to use Facebook to drive traffic and sales
• How to generate and submit your sitemap to Google
• How to push your products to eBay as auction or BIN
• How to drive huge traffic using Google Product feeds
• How to improve your SERPs using Google and Bing webmaster tools
• How to track your marketing using Google Analytics
• Tools to increase your search engine ranking and traffic

Click here to register (limited spots available)

The webinar was presented by JB Kellogg from BigCommerce certified design partner Madwire Media. There was a great Q&A session at the end of the webinar and JB came up with a list of those questions along with the answers that were shared on the webinar. I’ve included them below just in case you don’t have time to watch the webinar or simply prefer text to video.

I get good traffic, but how do you recommend I get more product reviews?

We recommend you contact previous customers by phone, email, or feedback survey to capture their product review and evaluation. Encourage them to post reviews on your store or ask for permission to post their review for them. Provide incentives for them to post reviews such as 10% savings for example.

Is the tab product page layout better then the non-tab for SEO or does it matter?

It does not matter. Search engines like Google can crawl the tabbed and non-tabbed layouts just the same. Therefore, the importance is in the content, not the layout. Go with whatever you feel looks best.

Does it make a difference to SEO if I use blog.storename.com for my blog or storename.com/blog for the URL?

There are arguments both ways for what is best. We have used both options for many websites we actively search engine optimize and have not seen that one way is better than the other. We’ve seen rankings increase with blog.storename.com and storename.com/blog. The important thing is building good, unique, consistent, content. Search engines will credit you for that content and links whether you use a sub-domain or sub-directory. With BigCommerce you can use the built-in “news” feature as your blog to keep it as a sub-directory, or install WordPress and host it separately on a sub-domain. Both ways work well for SEO.

Do image heavy designs hurt you for conversions and SEO?

No. That fact that a design is image heavy does not matter. What is more important is what the images are and if good call-to-actions are on the images. The Images need to “export dreams” to the viewer. They should reduce your bounce rate and increase your click-through rate. If your bounce rate is high, you need to change your images and try some different call-to-actions. Keep in mind, you’ll need some text content on your site for SEO. It does not need to be much, but should include your best keywords.

That Google ecommerce tracking is great, how can I set that up on my store?

It is not difficult, but there are some more steps involved then when you setup the standard Google analytics code. Here are some directions.

What was that address you recommended to check keyword traffic you gave?

Google Traffic Estimator

How can I watch the webinar again, will I be able to replay it?

You can re-watch it as much as you’d like here.

What was that webinar reference page link again?

It was this page.

Is Emedramps.com a custom store?

Yes. Although it’s not extensively custom designed. The product page layout is the most customized layout on that store. To see more custom store designs you can browse our portfolio.

How do I add promotional banners to my store like Emed has?

Here is a video that talks about adding banners to your store.

What is a good conversion rate percentage?

Anything over 3% would be considered very good. Average is around 1-2%.

Can I have a store on BigCommerce that has downloadable products?

Yes. Here is a BigCommerce support page about that.

What is the most important thing for conversions?

Driving the right kind of traffic and store design. The design has to include the important things we’re talking about today (such as trust and credibility) at minimum in order for you to be truly successful.

How do I get an SSL on my site?

Here is a support page that covers topics about SSL and BigCommerce.

Who do I call for a free design mockup to see what can help me get better conversions?

Call anybody here at Madwire Media on 888-872-3734.

Does it make a big difference how I use H1, H2, H3, etc. on my site for SEO?

Not huge no. But ideally you’d use your best keywords in a H1 or H2 heading, followed by H3, H4, and so on. The most important thing is to have relevant and unique content on your website. Don’t spam or stuff keywords.

My website does not have very much content on the homepage, just images, should I had content for SEO?

Yes. It does not need to be much, just a short paragraph is fine, but make sure it has your best keywords.

I like what you said about title tags, I need to do that but am wondering what keywords to use, can you help?

Yes we can. We can do a free SEO/keyword report for you. Visit our website to learn more.

Do you know how to do a competitor analysis to see what keywords they are using?

Yes we do. We can do a free competitive analysis report for you. Visit our website to learn more.

Can you tell what my competitor’s conversion rate is?

Based on our completive analysis we can give you a pretty good estimate.

What is considered a good bounce rate?

Typically below 30-40% is good. It sometimes depends on the target market however.

Can you tell me if my store passes the 2.5 second rule?

Sure. We can review your store and provide feedback.

Is BigCommerce the best shopping cart to use to do everything you’re talking about here?

Yes. We are about the most credible source you can ask. As a large design, development and eCommerce marketing company we’ve used many different e-commerce platforms and BigCommerce is by far the best. In fact, it’s not only our number one solution now, it’s our only solution. Watch our BigCommerce customer story video here.

How often should I blog to build content and what should I blog about?

Blog as much as you can. Make sure to blog about what your store specialized in selling. Research your competitors and see how much they are blogging…try to outdo them! Try to write well for your customers and the search engines.

Does product video help increase conversions significantly?

Yes it does. Product videos are very effective. We see a 30-400% increase in conversions with products that have professional product videos. The product video is basically your 24/7 sales person giving your product’s best sales pitch and showing the best images. Here are some product videos we’ve created recently (see the top of the page).

What are the best kinds of product videos for conversions?

Short (30 seconds or less), to the point, highlighting the best product features and images/video with a great voice over talent giving your best 30 second sales pitch!

I’m in Japan/London/Sydney/etc, should I do something different for SEO?

It depends, do you want to target a US market or the Japanese/London/Sydney market – or both. Depending on what market you want to target the strategy would need to be different. Feel free to ask us (Madwire Media) for advice.

How do I offer different languages for products in my BigCommerce store?

We suggest using the Google translator tool for basic translations. Go here to learn more:.

A few weeks ago I announced that Madwire Media, one of our certified design partners, would be working with us to launch a new webinar series called “eCommerce Tips for Displaying Trust, Effective Store Design and Better SEO”. Well, the first webinar took place last Wednesday and was a massive success – over 600 people attended the webinar!

For those of you who couldn’t make the live broadcast, we’ve created an archived version of the webinar which you can watch whenever you like. Just click the image at the top of this post to watch it – and make sure you share the webinar on Facebook or Twitter because it contains a lot of FANTASTIC information to help you drive more traffic and get more sales from your BigCommerce store.

Overview:

We already run regular webinars that teach the basics of e-commerce and BigCommerce, but today I’m happy to announce that we’re adding a second series to our already popular webinars.

Lead by certified BigCommerce design partner and e-commerce experts Madwire Media, eCommerce Tips for Displaying Trust, Effective Store Design and Better SEO is our latest webinar series and the first webinar kicks off at 1pm CST on April 27th (see this in your time zone).

I’ve been lucky enough to watch a test-run of this webinar and the content is excellent, so this is definitely one webinar you don’t want to miss. We were very selective in choosing the right partner to run our new webinars, and JB and his team at Madwire have done a phenomenal job of organizing the webinar based around their real world experience and customer case studies.

So, what will you learn? Here’s a taste:

• Easy SEO strategies to dominate your competition on Google
• How and why to display trust and credibility indicators
• Effective store design and layout principles and examples
• How to choose an effective domain name that increases sales
• The effects a professional logo can have on your conversion rate
• The importance of product reviews and how they factor into the sales process
• How to design an effective home page layout for maximum conversions
• Real world strategies to lower your visitor bounce rate
• Tools to increase your search engine ranking and traffic

Click here to register (limited spots available)

Length: 16:57

Overview: Today I discuss the 3-step process to create, launch and track your own large scale display advertising campaign.

Description: In this, episode 10 of the BigCommerce podcast, I discuss the 3-step process to create, launch and track your own large scale display advertising campaign for just a few hundred dollars using either Google AdWords or BuySellAds.

Here are the 3 steps I discuss in the podcast:

1. Banner design

• You need to come up with strategy
• Can use Google images for competitive intelligence – “[competitor] banner”
• Need a strong call to action
• Create 3 versions of your ad all with completely different calls to actions and designs
• Test static (single frame), animated GIF and rich media (flash)
• Can use CrowdSpring or a contractor from oDesk to do the actual designs

2. Campaign strategy

• Who are you trying to target? Run a survey of existing customers to find demographics, which websites they spend time at, etc
• What do you want to track? Sales? Newsletter signups? Etc
• How will you define the campaign as successful or not?
• What is your ROI goal? If you can get more than 1x ROI then you can scale up indefinitely

3. Campaign rollout

• Can get started with Google AdWords display ads or BuySellAds.com
• These will get you tens of thousands (possibly hundreds of thousands) of impressions per day
• You want to setup 3 separate campaigns, one for each of the different designs
• After 2 weeks, look at the numbers and drop the word performing campaign based on your most important metric
• Now test another design for each of the 2 remaining ads – same message, different look or call to action
• After 2 weeks, pull the 2 worst performing ads
• Goal is to keep testing new designs and calls to action against the winning ad

Like this podcast? Why not subscribe on iTunes?

If you’re just getting started with e-commerce then it can be a bit daunting to know what to do once you’ve added products to your BigCommerce store. Do you run Google AdWords? Should you hire an SEO consultant? This is a question we hear a lot, so Luke (our ninja technical writer) and I decided to team up and write a guide for you.

In 20 Proven Ways to Jump Start Your Online Sales we share 20 simple, fast and (mostly) free strategies you can implement right now to boost traffic to your BigCommerce store. The goal here is to get your first order in the next few days and then build up from there.

Like anything worth doing, it can take time to receive your first order. But hang in there – it will happen. After receiving your first order, you’ll soon get your second, third, fourth and before you know it you’ll be receiving multiple orders a day.

These strategies are simple but extremely effective. Here’s a list of the strategies in the free guide – each is broken down into actionable steps complete with videos and/or step-by-step tutorials to guide you through the specific action items:

1. Integrate Google Analytics with your online store
2. Submit your products to Google Merchant Center
3. Setup your shipping FAQ & returns policy page
4. Submit your online store to all free directories
5. Create a fan page on Facebook and setup SocialShop
6. Link to your Facebook page from your online store
7. Share your Facebook page with friends
8. Setup integrations with Shopzilla, PriceGrabber, etc
9. Setup your home page title, META keywords and description
10. Add your page title, META keywords and description for products
11. Add keyword rich descriptions to all product photos
12. Make sure your product pages are filled out completely
13. Create an “About Us” page with your store and photos
14. Announce the launch of your store in related forums
15. Get a 1800 phone number and add it to your website
16. Setup and use free live chat software
17. Setup your “Contact Us” page
18. Create targeted link exchanges
19. Setup email marketing with Mailchimp
20. Run mutli-variate tests Google Website Optimizer

Click here to download our free guide: 20 Proven Ways to Jump Start Your Online Sales

“We’re big fans of BigCommerce, a hosted shopping store solution that makes creating and running online stores a really simple job. In fact, just like our motto “World’s easiest A/B testing tool“, their motto is “Easiest way to sell online“. That is why we decided to produce a step by step tutorial on how to integrate Visual Website Optimizer with BigCommerce.”

Click here to read the complete post

Millions of people make new years resolutions on December 31st every year. As a smart business owner you can create a win-win situation where you sell more products by catering to the needs of people looking to stick with their new years resolutions. In this video I’ll show you how with three clear examples of how new years resolutions can help sell more:

1. Green tea
2. Tank tops
3. Holidays

Even if you don’t sell any of these products, the ideas will still hold true for your business and can easily boost your sales by 50% or more in January.

One thing that’s hard to pinpoint is exactly how much value a Facebook fan brings to a business, and whether the virality of Facebook works as well for B2B as it does for B2C. Facebook has their Insights tool for administrators of fan pages, but the stats it provides are basic.

You can mesh these with Google Analyitcs to track bounce and conversion rates, but even then you really don’t know exactly a) how the person became a fan on Facebook and b) what specifically lead them from Facebook to your website.

At the moment social media marketing (Facebook and Twitter) is like Google AdWords (and Overture, etc) when it first came out. It’s still fairly new and a bit hard to figure out but you know it works and you know it has to be part of your marketing mix. Our little experiment attracted 729 new Facebook followers to our fan page in 7 days, bringing our total to just over 3,200 fans.

You can see the results in the chart below:

You can also see that visits to our actual Facebook page surged too:

I think the our little experiment worked quite well. 729 new fans in 7 days is nothing to sneeze at. Here are the 3 BigCommerce stores that were randomly selected out of those who participated in spreading the word. A big thank you to everyone who made this experiment a success!

GetBoards.com

DecalMyWall.com

BigHit.com.au