Google makes it really easy to see if your products or store is getting talked about on the web.  Go to Google Alerts and type in your search term.

Let’s go through two examples:

1. Thugsta Clothing wants to see if his Compton Hat was being talked about.  Just create an alert for “Compton Hat”.

2. Anne of Kitsch Klothing, may want to find out if her website is getting talked about.  All she would need to do is create an alert for “Kitsch Klothing” and “http://kitschklothing.com” (you may want to create 2 alerts for the URL one with the “www” and one without it).

Google Alerts is a great way to keep up with your industry.  Find out who else is selling similar products, see what blogs/news/media publications are mentioning your competitors.

This is the easiest way to make sure Google knows you exist:

1. Go to Google Webmasters Tool website

2. Click on “Sign Up Now” and either sign in with your existing Google account or create a new account

3. Type in your store url and click on “Add Site”

4. Click on “Verify Your Site”

5. In the drop down chose “Add a Meta Tag” as your verification method

6. Copy the entire line of code they give you. SPECIAL NOTE: Copy the end brackets “<” “>” as well or your store will be seriously messed up

7. Login to your store Headquarters

8. Click on the “Marketing” tab

9. Click on the “Meta Tag” sub tab

10. Scroll down to the “Google Verification Code” Section and paste in the entire line of code you obtained in step #6

11. Click “Update Meta Tags” in your store headquarters

12. Click “Verify” in your Google Tools account

We just added a feature for all you bloggers out there (something we highly recommend to do).  Easily add your blog to your store navigation menu.

Here is how you can do it:

1. Login to your store Headquarters

2. Click on the “Store” tab

3. Click on the “Homepage sub tab

4. Enter in the link text (i.e. Blog, MySpace Page, Main Site, More Info, etc.)

5. And your link.  Make sure you include the “http://:” in the URL

Here are some sites you can use for this new feature

Blogging Sites:

1. Wordpress (What we use)

2. Google’s Blogger

Social Network sites:

1. MySpace

2. Create a Facebook Page for your store

3. Ning

A friend of mine just sent me a link to ecommwire.com. Its a pretty cool site to publish a press release and get your word out there a little more. So if you are announcing a sale, have a really cool product coming out, doing something innovative with your site, or just have something to say submit your press release to them.

This weekend a store owner asked me if I knew of any good tools to make her product pictures look better. I did a little research and found Picnik!

Picnik is a really sweet tool for photo editing. It lets you do all the normal stuff like resize, crop, rotate, etc. But their other features like auto fixing which adjusts the color levels in the photo… I was blown away by this feature alone! You can also add frames, colors, shapes, and text. It pretty much does anything I would ever want for my photos. Let me know what you think of it.

Online customers need to have confidence in a store before they are willing to make a purchase. They need to feel confident that they are actually going to get what they order, and that you are a reputable business.

Here are some tips on how you can increase your customer confidence:

1. List your complete contact information, including your name, address, and phone number, in case people have a question about a product that they are thinking about buying. Seeing only an email address on the contact page may make your store appear a bit shady. You might even consider investing in an 800 number so customers know that you are willing to address their concerns on the phone.

2. List your certifications with reputable organizations, such as the Better Business Bureau, or other professional organizations. Increase your customer base by showing that you are internationally reputable. Put these certifications on your About page.

3. Get customer testimonials and post them on your homepage. This shows that other people are willing to vouch for the quality of your products and of their buying experience with you. Follow up with your customers after they receive an order and ask them about their experience and if they would be willing to give you a recommendation.

4. Use your About page to tell people who you are and help them get to know you.
How long have you been in this business? What made you get into it? Why do you enjoy it? People like to buy from businesses made of real people.

Basically, just let visitors know that you are a reputable and reliable store. If they feel confident in that, they are much more likely to get out their credit card and buy something from you.

Ever wonder where your products would be most in demand? Google Trends shows you search volume on each city.

Based on Google Trends:

Persian Rugs are popular in New Zealand

Hair Bows are popular in Baton Rouge, LA

Soy Candles are really popular in the United States

Check out Charms By CJ’s. They have a cool product slide show on their homepage using a slide.com widget.

I was on the plane this weekend and I got bored with my book so I checked out the Sky Mall magazine. A lot of ok products until I came across this: tabletop photo studio! This could be great way to improve your picture quality. It retails for about $80 but I am sure you can make your own homegrown studio from looking at this picture from things around the house.

BabyBumps.net is a local resource for Kansas City Mom’s.

This is how the very talented co-founder Andrea explained it to me:

“BabyBumps.net is the web’s round-the-clock spot for
expectant parents in the KC Metro Area, our readers are able to log on
anytime to locate the resources they need for their new baby… whether
it be a great doctor, birthing classes or the perfect nursery furniture!”

To stir up a buzz the site is offering 3 months of ad space for free.

If you sell baby items, check it out and get some free ad space while it lasts.