SEO, SEM, web design, coding, iPhone, iPad, Android 

Running an affiliate program often requires managing relationships with thousands of different advertising partners. This can be challenging, as different types of affiliates have different marketing needs. Last month, in "Segmenting Your Affiliates," I addressed two of the most common segments: (a) coupon and deal sites, and (b) content sites. This month, I'll look at affiliates who specialize in search engine marketing and mobile marketing. Search Engine Affiliates There are two types of affiliates that use search engine marketing to drive revenue: Those who specialize in search engine optimization, and those who specialize in pay-per-click advertising. There is certainly some overlap in both strategies. But I'll review each nich...

Invoking a Subroutine The conventional way to invoke a function is to follow the function name with parentheses. This invokes the example_subroutine() function: example_subroutine(); If the function takes arguments (more on passing arguments later in this chapter), then drop them within the parentheses: example_subroutine('Perl is', 'my favorite', $language); Let's look at a complete example. It's traditional for programs to tell you their version and name either when they start up or when you ask them with a special option. It's also convenient to put the code that prints this infor...

Google continues adding new features to AdWords. "Enhanced Ad Sitelinks," "Offer Extensions," and "TrueView" video ads are three examples. I have tested each of these, and recommend them to merchants. Online retailers who use them first can start profiting before their competitors. The table below represents some of my initial observations. AdWords Feature Impact on Click Thru Rate Impact on Page Real Estate Ease of Implementation Here to Stay? Enhanced Ad Sitelinks High High Easy Yes Offer Extensions Low Moderate Easy Maybe TrueView video ads Moderate High Moderate Yes Impact on Click-Thru Rate. Indicates the impact on click-through rates when this feature is enabled. Impact on...

The month of February brought the Chrome Beta app, call-recording and call-tracking apps, document annotation and signature apps, and an app for a classic dictionary. Here is a list of February’s new mobile productivity apps for Android and Apple iOS. There are both paid and free apps for your mobile productivity. Android Chrome Beta. This app brings the speed and simplicity of Chrome to your Android phone and tablet. Browse fast on your Android smartphone or tablet, and bring your personalized Chrome experience with you anywhere you go. Price: Free. SignNow. Sign documents anywhere or get anyone’s signature. Upload any PDF or Word document from your email, Dropbox, or camera. Sign realistically with your finger. Email the signed ...

Flurry, a company that specializes in the analysis of mobile data, recently released the results of a study that details a potential lapse in Android's app production. When compared to January 2011, last month saw fewer Android apps come to market than their Apple counterparts. For each Android app released, three Apple apps were developed. Just a year ago, the results were more positive for Google, as two Android apps were created for every three Apple apps. Peter Farago, Flurry's VP of marketing, summed up the results by saying, We saw a greater migration to iOS. It's worth mentioning ...

Search engine optimization, boiled down, is the process of making sure a web page ends up highly ranked on organic search results for searches relevant to that page. A merchant selling "Columbia Traverse Men's Hiking Shoes," for example, will want to optimize that product page so that searches on Google — or Bing, or Yahoo! — for terms like "men's hiking shoes" return that merchant's "Columbia Traverse Men's Hiking Shoes." That process is straightforward when a merchant has just a few products. But what about merchants with thousands of products that are relevant to hundreds of thousands of search terms? How can that merchant devise a system to optimize all of those product pages and match them with the hundreds of thousands of relevant...

In “Reading List,” we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their favorite recent books and blogs and tell us why they read them. For this installment, we corresponded with Jaime Brugueras, CEO of Mineful, a customer retention and analytics tool. Prior to starting Mineful, Brugueras worked as a database marketing analyst consultant for Allstate Insurance, McDonald's, Redbox, and other large corporations. He says he became frustrated with the inaction of higher executives after seeing reports with "actionable insights" and research. So, he decided to build Mineful, which uses data mining and analytics to trigger actions. Jaime Brugueras' Top Five Books Thinking Strategically by Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff "This book i...

In “10 Ideas to Grow Ecommerce Profits in 2012,” my previous article, I suggested that merchants expand into foreign markets to grow profits. In this article, I'll address how to do that without spending a lot of money. 1. Sell on Current Website, Ship from U.S. Your international customers can buy directly from your U.S. site and you can ship their order to their international location. This is the fastest way to start selling internationally. Though you will have to know the customs, duty and shipping restrictions, your existing shipment provider can provide assistance. For example, DHL offers "Trade Automation Service" that helps you estimate the total landed cost that your international customer will have to pay. It is a free se...