Have you ever wondered what people actually do on your website? Or how to find ways in which you can improve your online conversion rate?

Well using Google analytics is one thing. Understanding how to ask it meaningful questions and knowing how to find the answers in your reports, is another.

That’s why I  have put together this totally practical course of interactive webinars for marketers who want to get more from Google Analytics.

Over 6 weeks starting on the 1^st September I will be providing a weekly webinar which makes it easy to understand how to use Google Analytics effectively – whatever your level of experience.

Each webinar includes clear examples, demonstrations and step by step instructions.

By the end of each webinar you’ll be able to test, measure and make worthwhile changes to your website that will give you immediate results. Maybe your site is getting enough traffic so search engine optimisation is the answer, or maybe your retention rate isn’t very good so email marketing could help, or maybe your site just isn’t converting so improving your website design would turn your online sales around. Attending this course will let you find what your problem is and provide the solutions to fix it.

Together and individually, these totally practical webinars will teach you in clear no-nonsense terms how to use Google Analytics to empower you to:

• Understand what’s really happening on your website
• Increase your website traffic
• Reduce page and webform abandonment
• Improve your onsite conversion rates
• Increase the ROI of your online marketing

The webinars will be held every Wednesday at 11am from 1st September. Each class  lasts 40 minutes followed by 20 mins for questions and answers.

Don’t miss out – book now

Another week and another exciting website launch for the dotCommerce team.

We’ve been busy working on a new site for FreshMax Shirts and it went live in the first week of August.

FreshMax has a unique technology, which eliminates sweat patches entirely, making its shirts a must have purchase for many people during the unseasonably hot weather we are having this summer!

The new website launch coincided nicely with some great national media coverage for the company in the Metro and on GMTV, following the announcement that it had won the prestigious Venture Candy competition. FreshMax received further hits in both the Sun and the Mirror!

Getting a site ready for media onslaught

All this media attention has not been in vain as the site received a vast number of orders in the first 12 hours of trading!

We anticipated a large volume of traffic following the national TV coverage and so reacted accordingly by moving freshmaxshirts.com onto a new server.

The dotCommerce team worked really hard through the weekend to get the site ready for its Monday morning launch and it’s clearly paid off with great results so far and a very happy client.

Some of our dotCommerce ecommerce solutions clients have been getting great media attention recently and we felt it was only right to recognise that here on the blog!

Pineapple Dance Studios has been profiled in the Metro with a link to the company’s new ecommerce site, designed by the dotCommerce team.

Pineapple – who you’ll likely know from the hit Sky TV show – previously had two websites: one for the studio and one for their online shop. We combined the two, allowing them to offer valuable content and resources such as a studio timetable, while building in opportunities to cross-sell clothes in the store.

After the site was launched, we analysed how visitors were using the site and made a number of usability enhancements, as well as integrating PayPal. These improvements contributed to an online sales increase of 25%!

If dancing is your thing, then you’ll definitely want to pop over to www.pineapple.uk.com and get shopping!

Rodial has also been in the news recently with the company’s pioneering Glamtox Sticks, that reduce lines on your face by up to 30%, proving a smash hit with the media and consumers alike!

Rodial uses a number of dotDigital Group services including our ecommerce solution, email marketing and SEO. The company’s new website – http://www.rodial.co.uk/ – built by dotCommerce is a hands-down success, with orders and average basket values both doubling since launch.

The site really does have everything you need to get you looking your best, so what are you waiting for?!

We’re always delighted to hear about our customers’ successes, so give us a shout if you’ve got a story to share!

With its recent foray into the world of groceries, ecommerce giant Amazon UK has shown the world that there’s no market it won’t consider getting involved in.  However, unlike books, bicycles and baby clothes, there’s one key difference about groceries; their perishable nature.

If Amazon wants to make a success of this new webstore, it will have to concentrate heavily on the logistics – it’s not simply a case of putting the catalogue online.

Lest we forget, it’s not an easy market to make a success of.  Even Ocado, the much lauded delivery service working with Waitrose, has still never seen a profit.

On top of this, despite millions of pounds invested in a state of the art warehouses, it’s lacking the cutting edge automated robotic systems employed by Zappos and Amazon.  If you don’t believe me, check out the amazing video of this in action below.

At the other end of the market, there is Sainsbury’s that isn’t even really pushing its online shopping function simply because the costs are much higher to fulfil online instead of in store.

This reluctance to cannibalise is understandable, but if it holds back too much, the risk is growing that the likes of Amazon will entrench its brand in the space immovably.

Is the future bright for Amazon?

But to get there, Amazon faces an important question: are people ready to do their weekly shopping online with a brand more associated with books than flour and eggs?

For now, I suspect not, but if it continues to increase the efficiency of its logistics and service, perhaps gimmicks like “same day delivery” would be enough to start swaying people…

What can other retailers and ecommerce solutions providers learn from this Mexican standoff?  For a start, there’s the fact that Amazon’s best asset in the area might not actually just be related to robotic powered warehouses. Alongside these efficiencies, it’s the excellent customer experience records of such brands that may propel their quest for market share.

Indeed, even for brands already operating in the space like Ocado, I suspect the company’s focus on customer experience is the one aspect that is fuelling its high valuation, even if profits are yet to be fully realised.

Happy New Year! January is a great time to sit back and reflect on your plans for the next year and take stock of what needs doing.

But in the world of ecommerce, trends come and go so quickly it is often impossible to keep up so I’s not wise to sit on your laurels for long in the post-Christmas period.

With this in mind, rather than give you a list of predictions for 2010, we thought it would be useful to arm you with suggestions as to the areas of your site you should be focusing on this year to make 2010 a success.

1. Add value – The e-commerce model has matured. With the increase of price comparison sites, retailers need to focus on adding value to their ecommerce offerings. Why not introduce bricks and mortar integration so people buying online can pick up in store or accrue loyalty points online like you can with a boots card?

2. Interactivity – increase the interactivity of your “Selling Pages” by including greater product detail, with better descriptions, reviews, images and videos

3. Mobile commerce – You can’t move for iPhones these days! Mobile commerce has been on the horizon for a few years, but we expect it to take off in a big way in 2010. It’s actually not difficult to get a usable version of your site optimised for the smaller viewing area of a mobile device. Look to Amazon for a good example of how it can be done well

4. Social media – Integration with social networks is also going to be increasingly important for retailers and those that tap into the online ‘groundswell’ will have a much greater advantage. They are the savvy businesses that realise that socially connected individuals can easily tell their friends about a product or service and encourage them to buy

5. Luxury can work online – The luxury retail market will undergo some interesting changes this year, with US-style invite-only shopping portals likely to launch. Traditionally luxury brands have not sold well online as many want the five-star experience they receive in an offline store. Rich media websites are now able to recreate more of this online, but make sure you focus on ensuring that one-on-one relationship

6. SEO – Natural Search is still vital for online businesses. If you are not using search engine optimisation (SEO) to increase your Google rankings then you must start, as your competitors almost certainly will be. This should be a central part of your marketing plan and if you don’t have the budget to go for the killer keywords, you can still focus on “long tail” and geographic based keywords

What else is there? What are the other areas you will be focusing on in 2010? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!

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