E-Mail Marketing Target Audience

This is a scenario that I have witnessed many times by those who are trying email marketing for the first time. With a bit of forethought it could have been all so different.

The Seed is Planted… But Be Careful!

You’ve been reading about email marketing and realise it is red hot at the moment (actually it has been for a long time), and with literally everybody talking up the benefits decide it’s time to get on the bandwagon to find out what all the fuss is all about.

First thing you do is open an account with a third-party e-mail service provider, grab a CSV file and upload all your customer contact details. An hour or so later you’ve managed to put all your latest specials into an e-mail template and presto…. you’re on the e-mail marketing bandwagon.

A few days later you take a look at the results… holy crap you’ve made a bunch of extra sales and think to yourself… “why didn’t I start doing this years ago”… the only trouble is, for the next six months you naïvely pound the crap out of your list with new promotions every couple of days and the only way you can now get a response is by offering bigger and better discounts.

Sadly, not only have you pissed off your customers, ruined your email list and destroyed a highly effective marketing channel, you have also devalued your brand by training your remaining customers not to respond to anything but a discount. What a shame! [click to continue…]

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LemonStand Shopping Cart Review

In this post Nick Toye shares with us his initial experience using a new e-commerce application called LemonStand, which is set to move out of final beta to an initial release on July 28, 2010.

Having spent 9 months at the mercy of Interspire Shopping Cart I really wanted to try out a new system.  Magento I felt was far too complex for what the level of store I was looking to build, and Shopify just didn’t really grab me as something I would enjoy working with.

Then one day I noticed this application called LemonStand by Limewheel Creative Inc – and right I way I was sucked into the simplicity of their site.  It’s not overbearing, it’s certainly not corporate like many eCommerce systems.  It felt like it was created with the attention to detail that I personally like in a design.  If I’m being honest, if I don’t like the website of the application I very rarely go beyond a quick glance.

At $300 for a full license of LemonStand I found it very reasonable, especially as I was rewarded with a 25% discount if purchased during the Beta phase.  So I took the plunge and was instantly glad that I did. [click to continue…]

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Interspire SEO moduleI’m pleased to announce a minor upgrade to the ever popular Interspire SEO module.

This upgrade is fairly minor and addresses the canonical URL displaying on the paginated results pages within categories, brands, search etc.. The update also addresses a couple of minor syntax errors.

Upgrade Instructions

If you already have a previous version installed all you need to do is download the latest zip file from the Interspire SEO module page and simply upload all files over the top of the existing files.

For anybody having problems with this upgrade please let me know in the comments below.

Help Spread the Word

So far this module has been very popular and has helped out a lot of Interspire store owners. If this has helped you please help spread the word by sharing the SEO module page on Facebook and Twitter.

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Integrating BigCommerce with a WordPress Blog

by Dave Beck June 2, 2010
BigCommerce and WordPress integration

Since the release of BigCommerce 5.6 the process of setting up a WordPress blog that is associated with your online store has become a hell of a lot easier. This short lesson will take you through the basic process of setting up a WordPress blog on a subdomain that is associated with your BigCommerce store.
By [...]

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Open question to Interspire: What Is Your Future and Do You Want Us to Be Part of It?

by Dave Beck April 29, 2010

Before getting into the reasoning behind this post I would like to point out that I have been very happy working with Interspire as a partner and customer for a couple of years now. Customers that I have recommended use their products have done so with a great deal of success and have been very [...]

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Shopping Cart Speed Test Challenge

by Dave Beck April 19, 2010

It’s now official, Google are now including page speed in their search algorithm. For a long while studies have proved that Internet users much prefer fast loading websites, it seems now speeding up your website is not only going to make your visitors happy but may also have a small impact on your search engine [...]

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What a Botox Treatment Reminded Me About Problem Solving

by Dave Beck April 9, 2010

Today I had the pleasure of receiving my second Botox treatment!
Now before you go jumping to any vain conclusions I probably should explain exactly why I was having Botox in the first place. A number of years ago I developed a nasty sore underneath my right foot which was a high risk of getting infected [...]

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Do you have an Always Be Testing Mindset?

by Dave Beck March 24, 2010
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If you were to ask me what skills should I concentrate on once I have set up my online store and am starting to get a steady flow of traffic, I would with no hesitation explain that if you really want to be successful you need to start developing an “Always Be Testing” mindset.
Adopting an [...]

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Hostway Merchant Manager – My First Impression

by Dave Beck March 16, 2010
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As part of my “Ask Dave” initiative I received an intriguing question from Kenny, who asked the following:
Dave, what’s your opinion on Hostway Merchant Manager shopping cart? How does it compare with BigCommerce, Volusion, etc.? It’s offered thru Costco and gives Costco members a big discount, so price-wise, seems very [...]

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Learn to Produce Better Product Information from Real Estate Agent Mistakes

by Dave Beck March 11, 2010
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For well over 6 months now I have been unsuccessfully looking for a property in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The search is proving difficult mainly due to the fact that we are looking for something very unique, but at the end of the day we are not in a hurry and very happy to [...]

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