• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Zen Cart Optimization

Practical How To's for Increasing Ecommerce Sales

  • Home
  • Categories
    • Blogging
    • Conversion
    • Customer Retention
    • Design & Usability
    • E-Commerce Optimization
    • Email Marketing
    • Featured
    • Marketing Strategies
    • Marketing Strategies
    • Mobile Commerce
    • Podcasts
    • Search Marketing
    • Shopping Cart Abandonment
    • Social Media
    • Website Analytics
    • Zen Cart Google Analytics
    • Zen Cart Optimization
    • Zen Cart Recurring Billing
You are here: Home / Archives for Featured

Featured

5 Steps to View Your Facebook Fan Page Stats in Google Analytics

by Eric Leuenberger 2 Comments

If you’ve had a Facebook Fan Page set up for any amount of time, you may have noticed a little thing called Facebook Insights. This “tool” is reportedly Facebook’s answer to analytics.

Most SEO and social media consultants will feel compelled to tell you that Insights offers very little insight. Aside from who has commented on your updates and the age, gender and geographical breakdown of your fans, there isn’t much other insight Insights can provide.

Almost makes you wish there was a way to use Google Analytics to see how your Facebook Fan Page is doing doesn’t it?

I’m happy to report, after finding a hack produced by the folks at Webdigi, a London-based Web Development company, there is a way to set up your GA account to retrieve Facebook stats.

Here’s how:

  1. Assuming you already have a Google Analytics Account, set up a new website profile, titling the new profile “Facebook,” “Facebook/URL” or something you’ll know is your Facebook analytics. Be sure to find and copy the UA code provided once you set up the new profile. (the code will look something like UA-#######-#)
  2. Because Facebook allows for limited Javascript (whereas Google Analytics required a more robust use of Javascript), you’ll need to create an image of each Facebook page you want to track. Luckily, Webdigi has a Google Analytics link generator for Facebook pages (http://ga.webdigi.co.uk/) available for free use (thus far, this is the only tool available that I can find that does this sort of link generation for Facebook to GA).
  3. Copy the entire Webdigi code provided into the part of the Fan Page you are tracking. (For instance, if you want to track your coupon tab, discount tab and special offers tab you’ll need a separate code for each page.) You’ll need to paste the code in an FBML on that page, below whatever HTML you may have used in the FBML (see image).
  4. Facebook-Google-Analytics

  5. To track your Facebook Fan Page Wall, you’ll need to create an FBML page which can be transferred into a box that appears on the left hand side of your wall. One of the best ways to do this is to post a list of resources or links, embedding the Webdigi below your HTML.
  6. Google Analytics will take approximately 24 hours to confirm your code and begin to report results. Once the checkmark appears next to the name you’ve designated for your Facebook Google Analytics, you will be able to measure metrics above and beyond what Facebook Insights provides.

Filed Under: Featured, Social Media, Website Analytics Tagged With: facebook, google analytics, Social Media, social media for ecommerce

Do You Make These Mistakes With Your Ecommerce Business?

by Eric Leuenberger 1 Comment

As an ecommerce coach and mentor, I frequently get asked questions from store owners on many different aspects of how to run a successful online business. A large portion of the questions are different, but there are a handful that always make me step back and wonder how so many store owners can make the same mistakes time and time again—not know how to, or be willing to correct them—then ask why they are unable to generate sales.

In reality, this list of mistakes could be very long. There are so many factors that affect the success or failure of an online store. Afterall, running an ecommerce business is not as easy as some make it out to be—but it could be with the right blueprint.

If I developed a complete list of all the mistakes I come across while working with store owners, it would likely span many pages and be difficult to determine where to start prioritizing your attention. So what I have done is taken that overwhelming list and broke it down into what I consider the top fifteen mistakes—in no particular order—that many ecommerce stores make.

Here are what I consider to be the top fifteen mistakes most ecommerce stores make:

  1. Thinking that driving more traffic to your website will increase sales. This is one I see all too frequently and is one that just drives me nuts. It’s this simple, if your website is not setup to convert traffic properly (which means you must understand your target market, ideal customer demographics and profiles to speak to them properly) then it doesn’t matter how much traffic you drive to your site … you’re sales will not increase.

    Furthermore, if you are targeting the wrong traffic type but your site is ready to convert, your sales will not increase. More is not always better—that is, unless the right elements are in place to maximize sales from it.

  2. Weak site design in relation to your target market. Do you design your for your market or do you design your site thinking that alone will sell your product?

  3. Not marketing enough or properly. You can’t generate sales if nobody knows you exist. Marketing is critical but it must be done correctly to gain the maximum benefit.

    I get store owners telling me they have had a site in place for “xxx” amount of time and still no sales … what’s wrong? That’s a loaded question as there is often a list of things they are missing, but I’m amazed to hear some reply “No” to me when I ask them “are you performing any marketing for your site?” Sometimes you gotta spend money to make money.

    If you aren’t willing to spend money to advertise then your chances of success are reduced and you can’t expect to magically generate sales.

  4. Not testing your site to find what really works. Continual testing is a vital component to reaching the upper echelon of conversion rates. Another question I get from store owners is “how do these other stores achieve such high conversion rates?” Once again, the question is loaded.

    There a many multiple factors that contribute to achieving higher conversion rates. One of the common factors across all successful ecommerce stores who see some of the highest conversion rates is that they test all the time. If you ignore your site, you can’t be disappointed when your bottom line reflects it.

  5. Not optimizing your product pages for increased conversion. Your product page has a single overall objective with sub objectives that help support and meet that main objective.

    If potential customers can’t get past your product page they have no chance of ever entering the checkout process (for some reason store owners have a hard time understanding this.) An optimized product page (from a conversion perspective) takes advantage of multiple factors that combined help the visitor do their job to achieve the objective.

  6. Inadequate site usability. Usability in a basic sense reflects the “ease of use” with which a visitor can interact with your website. Proper usability is all encompassing. It’s role it so provide your customer with an easy, smooth, un-interrupted path to their destination—a sale. There are a number of things that can help you determine if usability is a problem and then help you improve upon this.

  7. Lack of comprehensive marketing plan. This is one of the number one reasons most ecommerce businesses are destined for failure before they even start. Without a marketing plan you’re like a ship set sail in open waters without a compass.

    It doesn’t take that long with the right tools to complete a marketing plan. Your marketing plan is your guide for moving business forward. It is essential to your survival and success.

  8. Too many obstacles to shopping. This is very much a usability issue and could have been included in the point six above. Adhering by the KISS principle is crucial to helping customers do their job.

  9. Poor customer service. Do you answer your customers questions before they ask them? Knowing what they expect and at what moment will improve your customer service.

  10. Failure to prepare a proper foundation for success. Proper planning is the first step toward ecommerce success. A weak foundation yields weak results. A strong foundation results in great rewards.

  11. Poor order fulfillment. This is self explanatory for most … for others the answer is not so clear. One of the fastest ways (albeit not the only one) to lose a current customer is with poor order fulfillment.

  12. Not taking advantage of optimizing the Customer Experience your business provides from beginning to end. If you don’t know what that means, or how to do it then you are in real trouble.

  13. Poor checkout procedures. Don’t think that providing a checkout alone will close the sale. Without the right elements in place you’ll find the only thing that increases is your shopping cart abandonment rate.

  14. Failure to focus and specialize. You can’t be everything to everybody. Doing so will get you no where.

  15. Failure to provide proper customer assurances at the right times and in the right locations. A few simple tweaks of your site can mean the difference between increased sales or increased frustration.

Remember, this is just the tip of the iceberg in a long list of mistakes that prevent ecommerce stores from achieving success.

If you want to find out answers to all your questions, correct the mistakes you are making, and learn how to build a successful ecommerce business, I invite you to join me and the other store owners who have taken advantage of my online coaching system, Ecommerce Amplifier.

You’ll get instant access to a number of invaluable tools, resources, and expert advice, that help you maximize your online store—increasing conversion and winning more sales. Plus, I’ll also teach you the same six step blueprinted process I developed and use to help others build sustainable and successful ecommerce businesses—regardless of your level of experience.

Got any mistakes you want to add to the list? Post them in the comments section below, I’d love to hear them.

Filed Under: E-Commerce Optimization, Featured Tagged With: bad ecommerce designs, most common ecommerce mistakes

6 Proven Steps to Increase Your Conversion

by Eric Leuenberger Leave a Comment

Increasing website conversion is something that all of us seek. More sales, better qualified traffic, bigger profits, lower cart abandonment, and the list goes on. It’s the foundation of what I write about in this blog.

However, I realize that although the answers are often provided in articles, it can be difficult for store owners to put those bits into the proper sequence which ensures they reach their goals. You see, having the right information in front of you is just one small portion of the puzzle. It’s knowing how to use it and when to implement it that makes all the difference.

Don’t put the cart before the horse

I can’t count the number of times I hear store owners say “I’ve already tried this” or “I tried that and it didn’t work”, or “Why does it seem work for everyone else but not for me?” It’s not to say that what they tried doesn’t work (but you must test), rather, the answer often lies in the way the process was implemented.

As the old saying goes, “don’t put the cart before the horse”. Why? Quite simply, doing so will render the horse useless even though all the elements are in place to succeed. The key here is in the proper implementation of the elements in the process. If you simply switch the location of the elements, and put the horse before the cart, you’ll likely find the success you were looking for. The answer was in front of you all along, you just had to know how to implement it.

Building a successful ecommerce store is no different in principle than the cart before the horse analogy mentioned above. Sure, it’s harder to run an online store than it is for a horse to pull a cart, but the fact that it all comes down to proper implementation is often the missing ingredient.

Ecommerce Amplifier: Your Blueprint for Success

I’ve been helping store owners both large and small increase their website conversion for quite some time now. Over this lengthy time period I continually developed, tested, and refined a systematic process that has proven time and time again, to increase store conversion for anyone that follows it—regardless of size.

Several months back I decided to put this process into a do-it-yourself online coaching program called Ecommerce Amplifier. My objective was to make my program available to as many store owners as possible by keeping the monthly investment ridiculously low and provide them with a system that put all the elements into the right order through easy-to-follow weekly lessons.

I launched Ecommerce Amplifier about 2 months ago and the current members love it. The results spoke for themselves almost immediately in store owners reporting increased conversion in as little as one week after entering the program.

My online coaching program not only provides an exact blueprint for reaching your goals, but I also provide my members with the exact tools, resources, strategies, and secrets I use daily to help store owners achieve success. In addition my members get access to me as their personal coach through exclusive members only forums (complete details of what you get can be found by clicking here.)

Anybody ecommerce store owner can benefit from this system. It doesn’t matter if you are just starting out or already have an established ecommerce business, this system will help you build a stronger, more successful online store.

I don’t have to tell you how expensive it can be to hire out all the resources needed to find success. For just peanuts, my system will provide you with a do-it-yourself blueprint to success.

Ecommerce Amplifier walks you step-by-step through a 6 step process that has been proven to increase ecommerce sales.

The 6 Steps

I’ll guide you through the following 6 step process toward building your online business:

  1. Plan
  2. Focus
  3. Streamline
  4. Target
  5. Measure
  6. Retain

You’ll learn how to:

  • Increase Conversion
  • Generate More Sales
  • Attract More Qualified Traffic
  • Reduce Cart Abandonment
  • Decrease Bounce Rates
  • Run Stronger More Successful Promotions
  • Use Social Media as a Viral Marketing Element
  • And that’s just the beginning …

LIMITED TIME BONUS OFFER:

Become a Member of Ecommerce Amplifier Before Tuesday, November 17, 2009 and Get a FREE Video Review of Your Website

That’s right, if you join Ecommerce Amplifier before the date above I’ll personally review your website giving you a complete step-by-step video “how to” of things you should consider improving to increase your sales.

Current members have raved about these and have used them to increase conversion in as little as one week.

Reviews will be performed in the order in which members join so get on the list early to ensure you’re upfront!

Click Here to Learn What Ecommerce Amplifier Can do for You.

If you want complete unrestricted access to all the tools, resources, strategies and secrets that will help you build a more successful ecommerce business you should give Ecommerce Amplifier a serious look. I’m confident you’ll like what you find.

Remember, the answers are often right in front of you, you just need to know how to implement them. Ecommerce Amplifier helps you do just that.

To your ecommerce success!

Filed Under: Conversion, Featured Tagged With: conversion, ecommerce coach, ecommerce coaching, website conversion

« Previous Page
Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Sponsors

MemberPress Wordpress Membership Site Plugin

Categories

  • Articles
  • Blogging
  • Breaking News
  • Conversion
  • Customer Retention
  • Design & Usability
  • E-Commerce Optimization
  • Email Marketing
  • Featured
  • Marketing Strategies
  • Mobile Commerce
  • Search Marketing
  • Shopping Cart Abandonment
  • Social Media
  • Uncategorized
  • Website Analytics
  • Zen Cart Contributions
  • Zen Cart Optimization
  • Zen Cart Recurring Billing

Copyright © 2023