Ecommerce Archives - Stephan Spencer

8 Productivity Enhancing Tools to Kickstart Your Online Business

January 20, 2019 By Stephan Spencer Leave a Comment

Let’s face it: running an online business isn’t easy. Hardwork and elbow grease mean nothing if you don’t have the right marketing, audience and conversions to keep your business afloat. In today’s crowded online marketplace, starting a business can seem like an impossible task. But it doesn’t have to be. There are plenty of tools […]

How to Start a Membership Website on WordPress

August 12, 2018 By Stephan Spencer 1 Comment

Image: “Members Only” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by healthserviceglasses It’s important to give value to people who visit your website. But should you really give all your best knowledge and insights away for free? Of course not! Starting a membership site ensures you get paid for the good stuff. It’s also a great way to take control of your […]

VIDEO: Learn from Shoemoney, my daughter, Duane and Steve (oh, and me too!) how to monetize your blog

October 4, 2009 By Stephan Spencer 1 Comment

I’m in NYC for SMX East which starts tomorrow and I’m really looking forward it. But I’m also gearing up for Blog World Expo in a couple weeks. That’s because my daughter Chloe Spencer, the Neopets blogger, is going to be speaking there on a panel called “Are You Getting The Most Money Out Of […]

Ferrit, RIP

January 30, 2009 By Stephan Spencer 5 Comments

New Zealand comparison shopping engine Ferrit is no more. They blew through an incredible amount of money, had their day in the sun, and now they are gone. I’m sad about that. Not because they were a past client of Netconcepts (back when they had money). But because they were a comparison shopping engine that […]

Widget Best Practices

August 28, 2008 By Stephan Spencer Leave a Comment

The following is from a handout I developed for my presentation on the use of widgets in online retail at the Shop.org Strategy & Innovation Forum earlier this year. It’s a checklist of widget best practices. Enjoy! (There’s also a Word doc version of this available for download: widget_checklist.doc.) Thinking of developing a widget for […]

Why Zappos is into Twitter – CEO Tony Hsieh speaks

July 31, 2008 By Stephan Spencer 1 Comment

I had the pleasure of interviewing via email Tony Hsieh, the CEO of online shoe retailer Zappos.com, for an article I wrote for the August issue of Multichannel Merchant. Zappos is a real innovator among online retailers in a lot of areas, not the least of which is social media. They have taken Twitter by […]

Live Blogging ACCM: Increasing Web Sales on a Shoe String Budget

May 21, 2008 By Stephan Spencer Leave a Comment

I’m here at ACCM in the session “Increasing Web Sales on a Shoe String Budget”. Here’s the session description: As the cost of doing business online continues to increase, small businesses must be strategic and creative in how they expend limited funds and resources. This session will discuss ways to maximize your conversion and average […]

Company names don’t always translate well to domain names

February 1, 2008 By Stephan Spencer 8 Comments

Be careful when converting your company name / brand name into an (available) domain name; it can have embarrassing repercussions. I was reminded of this fact recently when seeing an email in my inbox that was sent to multiple recipients, including myself. One of the recipients was someone at arsecommerce.com. This domain name may appear […]

Synopsis of key findings from the CyberSource study on online fraud

December 28, 2007 By Stephan Spencer 1 Comment

Some interesting findings in the CyberSource 2006 Online Fraud Report: Chargebacks accounted for less than half of fraud losses The rate of fraud associated with international orders is twice as high as the overall average Merchants reject international orders at a rate three times higher than the overall average An estimated $2.8 billion in online […]

Video Tutorial: Discountflies.com

December 19, 2007 By Stephan Spencer Leave a Comment

Sometimes, I get the chance to update my website critiques through video presentations. Last February, I had devoted some time to Discountflies.com. Over a year and a half later, I was able to revisit their site through a video tutorial. You will need Flash Player 9 or above to view the video, hosted on Practical […]