Blogs Can Help Your Online Business….Maybe = They Must Be Done Right!

I received several mails this past week about blogs.  Many online merchants are panicked that they are missing the boat.  Some online merchants wanted to know what a blog is and how it all started.

Definition: Blog = web log that is generated by a user with information listed in reverse chronological order.

Blogs started to “hit the scene” around 2000 amongst the web intelligencia.  In other words, folks who were on the internet all the time started to produce websites that had their commentary on it, to which people would then comment back.  This phenomenon exploded as people were able to connect with others immediately and comment on various topics, and then comment on those comments, and then comment on those comments, and then…you get the point.  An interactive dialogue was created with immediate feed back – which is what we expect today.  So blogs fit into nicely into our evolving behavior patterns or, at the very least, they helped define them. 

You can now start a blog for less than $15 a month using TypePad or Blogger.  You can customize your blog and make it look like an extension of your companyT-- it is really wonderful what is available to us all in the marketplace.  There are other companies but these are two most used and user friendly.

The power of blogs is to build community around a topic of interest that people can interact with, in real time. Many successful blogs do not provide answers but rather dialogue to which others comment on from which everyone participating can learn.  Other blogs provide answers to people’s questions while yet other blogs provide up-to-date information. 

Whatever is the purpose of your blog one thing remains true to all blogs, whoever is writing the blog has their own voice, is generally an expert in their “field” and is relating information that excites readers to come to the blog on a daily basis.

All blogs are not the same, nor should they be.  For instance, a small to mid sized online merchant selling “jewelry” will certainly not have a blog like “Microsoft” or “Sony.” The small to mid-sized merchant most likely will launch a blog that talks about the best jewelry, what celebrities are wearing, how diamonds are purchased, specific information related to buying jewelry and reminds readers of specials that are coming up each quarter. The general concept is that a blog should be seen as an extension of your company’s mission to communicate better with your customers and client base, letting them learn that you ARE the expert. 

Those small to mid-sized online merchants who want to create a blog must answer the following questions with a logical answer before launching a blog:

1. Can you create excitement around your company and products that you offer?

2. Do you have an expert that you can rely on to talk about your company and products?

3. Does that expert have the time to post daily comments and respond "intelligently" to your new community?

4. What is the purpose of the blog? What of the following should your blog address?

a. “Educational information” about your products
b. “General information” on products as they relate to others in the industry
c. Industry updates
d. "Tips and Tricks" on uses of product
e. Customer Relationship tool to interact with clients
g. Q & A's section where consumers can ask about products
h. General discussion

5. Do you have the long-term commitment to building an audience = Rome was not built in a day!

6. And finally…does your blog compliment and tie into your overall business strategy.

I love blogs for their precise information and ability to communicate without a lot of marketing and advertising clutter and jargon.  I have always found that the most successful blogs are direct and cover the good and the bad about any company or product.  Blogs that encourage people to bring their positive and negative comments to the forefront work best for everyone.  This leads to trust, loyalty and confidence, which is always good for any company in the long-term. 

The best way to decide if you should use a blog is to go to other blogs in the marketplace and see how they are using them and for what purpose.  I encourage you to check out all sorts of blogs whether they be political, not-for-profit, news related, company related or ones just for fun.  To find these just type in “blog and ‘related topic’” in a search engine and hundreds will pop up.

I typed “blog and cars” and over 1,000 were listed on Google.  This blog is meant for small to mid sized online merchants...does it work for you? Does it meet that mission/goal to be an e-commerce marketing help site for the folks in the trenches, namely small to mid sized businesses?

I imagine most peole reading this entry will want to drive revenues and excitement about your company by writing a blog.  If this is your only motivation, then DO NOT write a blog.  Why?

Your clients will see right through you.  Blogs are not for the one time buyer.  They are for those folks who have loyalty to your brand.  They come to your blog because they learn something everyday and enjoy communicating in the forum you have built.  They enjoy communicating with the "blogger" and have confidence that the writer of the blog will be open and candid.  Of course, you want to sell eventually sell products or services, but this will happen in due course as people become loyal and frequent visitors to your blog because you engage them and educate them.

Oh yeah, and one great side benefit of blogs are that search engines often bring up blogs when someone does a search on your company, not a bad perk!
 
I have started four blogs in my life and each is unique as to purpose.  Each is successful because they are true to what that purpose is.  If you are thinking of launching a blog and want some help, e-mail me at ed@etaildtail.com and I would be glad to help.

HELPFUL TIPS FOR THE DAY:

1. Company blogs can help build your business, but they can also hurt if not done right.

2. Answer some simple questions (see above) logically before launching a blog.

3. Succesful blogs take time, energy, and constant interaction = have the human resources to do it right.

4. Blogs are very cost effective and easy to set up = very easy! So don't let cost deter you.

5. The best blogs come from passion to help and interact with people not to drive sales.

Shopzilla’s Recent Revenue “Hiccup”: A Perspective That May Surprise You.

General Commentary

No one can believe that a decline in revenues, as reported by Shopzilla’s parent company Scripps this week on a pro forma basis of about 9%, is a good thing for anyone.  Well, let’s think through clearly and see actually what this might mean from a few different perspectives.

From Scripps’ Perspective: Actually….Okay.

Scripps is a publicly traded company which has shareholders demanding growth each and every quarter from each other their divisions. While they know that some divisions will perform better than others any decline in net income is not good and other divisions will have to pick up the shortfall. That is the bad news.

The reason this is “okay news” is that Scripps is in the middle of incorporating and marketing uSwitch in the United Kingdom and that “project” affects earnings and profitability of the entire interactive division, of which Shopzilla is a part.   The other “okay news” is that Scripps is “tweaking” the business model of their interactive division to stay ahead of competition and this usually results in a quarter, or two, of slower growth as changes take affect.

I wouldn’t worry that that this a harbinger that online shopping is slowing down anytime soon.

From Shopzilla’s Perspective: Not so much fun!

Shopzilla is recognized as one of the leaders, if not the leader, in the comparison shopping space so any revenue loss, or stagnation, from year to year shows that…

Either…consumers might not be using comparison shopping as much…Or…that consumers are not using Shopzilla as much and instead opting to use competitors’ sites. 

If you look at the upward growth in money spent in the online shopping marketplace and the proliferation of online shopping destinations (I have over 100 listed on my office whiteboard as of today, and I am sure I am missing some), the latter is probably the case.  It is not that Shopzilla is not useful, and provides an excellent service, but rather that consumers like options. 

Moreover, the face of online shopping is changing radically as niche comparison shopping engines are popping up every month that don’t have pressures on them to make gobs more money each quarter,  these include GolfPricer, specializing in golf related goods and ShopandPrice, electronics, to name just a few.  This of course cuts into the marketplace share that Shopzilla enjoys.

Also, new ways to shop are emerging, which appeal to certain type of shoppers leading to CSEs branding themselves with certain demographics and thus creating loyal followings.  Shop.com is trying to do this as they have a make over that certainly appeals to the higher end, female 35-45 audience. 

Basically, consumers are being spoiled to as to choice.  They have a lot of places to find a product they are looking for.  So for Shopzilla, they are victim of being at the forefront of something very special which the marketplace is catching up on….and quickly.

From the Online Merchant’s Perspective: Wonderful!

Why wonderful?  Simply because the statistics show that online shopping is growing even with Shopzilla’s flat to declining revenues, compared to 2006.  I ask myself the simple question of where did those revenues go?  And there are two possible answers:

1. Consumers are not using CSEs as much as they used to OR
2. They are using “other” CSEs and shopping destinations to find their products

From the Online Consumers Perspective: Fantastic!

Why? Answer: Choice!

And please no one tell me that the product they find on Yahoo! Shopping is superior to the one they find on Shopzilla, PriceRunner, PriceGrabber or over 90 other CSEs.  The consumer now has an opportunity to be brand loyal to a CSE.  The CSEs that can service and market themselves the best will continue to grow as they build a loyal audience and offer more services than just shopping by price.

I think it is clear that the latter is happening and Shopzilla’s “lapse” in revenues is only a sign that Shopzilla needs to do some things to better compete in a growing and fragmented marketplace. 

From Ed D. Tail’s Perspective: Exciting!

I am in the world of e-commerce and firmly believe that the use of wireless devices and the advent of 3G and 3G+ technologies will change many things for the better.  I also have much more to comment on as e-commerce is still in its natal stages of development.

When we are able to deliver video and heavy laden files even faster to people on devices they carry around with them in their pockets then companies, who have relied on technology advances to have a competitive edge, will now have to rely on “old fashion” branding and marketing.  Maybe they can learn some valuable lessons from Johnson and Johnson, Gillette, Red Bull, and Coca Cola.

And as I said at a recent conference, CSE’s and Shopzilla are having to face what any online business has to deal with in today’s fast paced, instant gratification, information hungry, wireless marketplace. And that is: 

Creating an overall experience for your customer and not simply a click and buy service.

Gone are the days of having a radical, technological advantage on your competition and here are the days of brand building.

At least for the CSE marketplace.

HELPFUL TIPS FOR THE DAY:

1. Since this is genral commentary I would digest the above and see what you think.

2. Shopzilla's "hiccup" in earnings is not a harbinger of the decline in online shopping.

3. The online marketplace is offering more choice to where consumers now shop onine and that is GREAT for everyone but CSEs who might me losing market share.

4. CSEs differentiating factors into the future are 25% functionality and 75% building brand loyalty.

Ed Traveling...sorry for no post yesterday!

Excuse the lack of post yesterday, but I was traveling back from California after meeting with three of the bigger comparison shopping engines ("CSEs") the past few days.  I have some interesting insights into them, especially considering that Shopzilla's parent company Scripp's reported that Shopzilla's earnings are about 50% of what they were last year.

That commmentary will come later today after I finalize my thoughts on what is happening in the CSE marketplace, the good and the bad.

Check back later for that entry....

In the meantime, I think the following entry is an important read for small to mid sized businesses who want to work with CSEs but are still struggling with how to approach it all.

Using Video on Your Storefront to Sell Products

Okay, this is getting scary.  In less than a week, I wrote on the use of video in marketing and what I thought the good applications and bad applications of video were in the marketplace today, and lo and behold a reader sent me a link to a site that is using video on their storefront.

I was very skeptical on the use of video on an e-commerce storefront because I could not get my hands around how a site would use video in an interesting and smart way without turning consumers off.  I mean how many times does one look at a video and say does: “what were they thinking?”  If your videos lead to this thought then you hurt your brand and risk the consumer never coming back to your storefront.  The pleasant news is that one site, Vat19, surprised me and I actually really liked how they used video on their site to educate, engage, and sell.

Vat19 shows how their products are used in every day life.  This was done I assume without much production cost, because if you look at the video they are straight forward and the production quality is not high.  And that is okay! 

The main reason it works well for Vat19 is because of the type of products they are selling, mostly fun gift items and other products where you actually want to see how they are used.  Most important, is that they did not waste time creating videos for their candle products or products that did not need a video to sell them, like tennis or golf balls. They were smart as to when and where to use video and their videos were not more than 30 seconds in length = get in, get out, let them make a purchase.  You get the point.

So if you want to use video on your site to sell products and engage your audience, think before you start spending money and time adding this feature to your storefront shopping experience.  It can be helpful but only if your products and site lay out are geared to using video.

HELPFUL TIPS FOR THE DAY:

1. Video is a new marketing method and is here to stay.

2. Be sure that you know the ups and downs of using video on your storefront.

3. Make sure your product mix and website "look" lend themselves to using video.

4. It is okay not to have "Hollywood" looking video, but make sure they helps the consumer learn about your products and are either fun or practical.

5. Know your message, create it, and make sure it is less than 30 seconds.

M-Commerce in 30 Minutes...I like that!

Well I am certainly no psychic, but it is fun to write about something that I believe in so much and then see that there is a company actually executing what I think is the next great trend in e-commerce shopping, namely m-commerce (“mobile commerce”).

I know little of the company and will be calling them next week to find out more, but they are called MPoria and they have launched GoMobile. 

This service basically allows any merchant to send their product catalog to them and then MPoria will format it correctly, so that it fits on the small hand-held device screens.  Moreover, their service is inexpensive at $39.99 a month with a one time set up fee of $69.99.  I am unsure if they charge a percent of revenues so check back here later next week and I will find out for you. 

The best part about this service is that MPoria already has relationships with Verizon, Sprint and ATT-Cingular so you can be assured that you get distribution.  The only question I have remaining, outside of any hidden ongoing fees, is how easy is it to make a purchase once you are on a site. It seems that they have this resolved by having a “unique” button on an merchant’s site to click for m-commerce functionality.  Once you click this button the consumer enters their billing information once and then when they come back in the future they don’t have to hassle with re-entering this data.  Oh, and of course, all of the data is highly secure.  We hope.

Check back Monday for comments on a question somebody sent me yesterday:

Why am I so bullish on m-commerce?

Have a nice weekend and please keep emailing me your questions and I will answer them the best I can.

HELPFUL TIPS FOR THE DAY:

1. M-Commerce is the next logical step to reaching customers easily and compliments your exisiting e-commerce strategies.

2. Behavior patterns of those under 30 show that they live and breath on their wireless devices.

3. You have the data to market already why not ensure it is available to all marketing channels?

4. It is easy to experiment with M-Commerce to see if it can work for you.

Blackberry Meltdown…What does it Say about Consumer Behavior Patterns?

I use a Blackberry and somehow I was not panicked about the 10-12 hour lapse in service, but since the media and rest of the world saw this as a national crisis, I thought it important to comment.

Personally, I found it a great relief that 50-100 messages were delayed for a period.  It gave me some time to catch up on other work and actually talk to friends face-to-face.  But, I must admit that I did keep checking my Blackberry every 10 minutes to see if I was missing an “all important” message from a business associate or a friend.  What I found was that I could survive without being in “constant contact” with the world at large, evidently others could not and that pattern of behavior is entrenched for good.  There is no turning back.

What the brief meltdown did remind us all of is how important it is to be in constant contact with everyone, and how dependent we have become on our little, hand-held devices to deliver us messages in all forms. Our culture thrives on receiving immediate information and people, companies, executives, friends and family expect to be able to deliver that information accurately and in real time. For now, that is text messages, pictures of all sorts, emails canceling dinner plans (when a call would do just as well), and receiving music downloads.  Going forward, I see this information flow to include many things that an e-commerce merchant wants to relay to their customers, namely, coupons, reminders of holidays and new products, and special offers.

People today expect to receive anything and everything on their hand-held, wireless device and businesses must now master the art of getting information to their customer via these devices to come out ahead of their competition.

I wrote briefly about m-commerce earlier in this blog and I am sure I will write about it much more in the weeks to come, check it out, just scroll below. 

And if you think you can ignore this growing trend of people expecting and wanting to interact with their favorite friends, brands, businesses, and internet sites via their hand-held devices you will be missing what I predict will be the great equalizer in helping small to mid size business compete with larger online companies for customers, namely m-commerce and ensuring that you have the methods in place to communicate with folks on those “little screens” as they click continue to click on messages all day long.

HELPFUL TIPS FOR THE DAY:

1. The world cannot live without all sorts of content being delivered on-demand and immediately.

2. Behavior patterns of people today dictate that we live on our wireless devices and expect them to be able to do everything but cook for us.

3. We have only begun to see what is possible on wireless devices. Because of that, look into m-commerce as an extension of your online marketing stratgies to interact with consumers.

4. For anybody out there that can find me a person under 30 who does not look at their wireless device at least once every five minutes to do somethine, call me...I will buy you dinner.

5. Being a competetive online business mandates that you execute what you do today better than anyone else and that you anticipate how consumers will "want" to work with you into the future.

Onsite Video Marketing: Careful...but Video E-mail Is a Way To Go

Happy Monday,

I am posting this late today so that those of you who came to the site today, our official launch day, has some time to read our already posted listings.

Video is all of the rage and no one has a handle on if it really works to increase sales or just bogs down your servers.  All in all video it seems can help any online merchant because of the simple fact that people have graduated to new ways to interact with each other online and videos are popular.  But let’s demarcate between what videos people are watching and whether videos can help or hurt your online business.

Statistics show that video is being watched more and more everyday, thanks primarily to Youtube and the Internet Service Providers and wireless providers that accommodate this rich form of media.  The bad news for everyone is that most of the videos viewed are fun, silly forms of entertainment that break up our day.  The good news is that we know that people like to see video and it is a powerful form of communication, so…what to do.

Large online retailers with deep pockets, such as L.L. Bean and Victoria Secrets can use video, but they aren't?  Why? Because they are very careful to protect their brand and understand that only very professionally produced videos works.  I can’t find any online retailer that uses a “you tube” type of amateur video.  The main reason is probably that they are careful not to hurt their brand name with a quirky video.  Companies do post their videos to “you tube” but again these are professionally produced.  So it is my recommendation that you keep this form of communication in your sites for the future but only if you have the time to make a video that is fun to view, sends a message about your product professional, and reinforces your brand.  Otherwise be cautious.

The only method that I see that is value add to small to mid sized merchants, right now, is to use video e-mail rather than post a video on your site.  Yep, you heard me right and some may disagree, but why post a video on your site when you already have customers on your site captivated? 

What purpose does it serve, unless you have some VERY interesting marketing strategy to show them a video that captures information either not on your site or shows them something that is unique and fun about your product.  I call this “advertainment” and until you know how to do this right, having a video on your site might hurt, more than help, engage you customer.  So focus on "driving" people to your site and then ensuring that your site is as easy navigate as, let's say, Lowes

The e-mail video idea is an easy to create marketing tool that leverages consumer behavior patterns with the content you already have on your site.  Using this technology to “drive” customers to your storefront makes more sense to me than entertaining them once they are on your site.  One of the leading companies pioneering video e-amil applications is Flimp.net

Check it out…they allow you to communicate with your customer base in an interactive, call to action manner and what I have seen it is much betterr than boring regular e-mail or html e-mail.  It is unobstrusive and they have back end analytics to see how these campaigns work.  The price seems right as you only pay when a person views the video and Flimp will host everything.  It seems like a good way to experiment with video and see if people like interacting with your company.

Oh, you do have to create a video, but with this use of video the videos can be less professionally done and fun, as it is meant to “drive” traffic to your site.  And once a consumer is on your site, you do not have to have the video shown again, instead you can concentrate on guiding this consumer to specials and other products.  Into the future, when you see how video is working you can then invest to have on onsite video done professionally that captivates your audience like a Victoria’s Secrets video…well maybe not that well…but you get the point.

HELPFUL TIPS FOR THE DAY:

1. Video is a new marketing method and is here to stay.

2. Be sure that you know the ups and downs of using video.

3. It may not be worth using video if you don’t have the means to create it properly.

4. A new company seems to understand how to use video e-mail properly, check them out at Flimp.net

Welcome!

Ed D. Tail here! I am excited to launch etail dtail with all of you. This blog is for small to mid sized online merchants who need help and want to ask questions about e-commerce. It will be fun to interact with you on a daily basis. 

I have some posts listed below from last week which gives you some insite into what we will be discussing.  Scroll down and see what we have been covering.

This blog is meant to answer many basic questions for online retailers, who are either just learning abut e-commerce or are relatively new to e-commerce.  Look at etaildtail.com as you friendly place to learn about e-commerce and to ask any question you want.

We will touch on some technical and sophisticated aspects of e-commerce, for those more experienced online merchants, but for much of that information we will rely and reference many excellent blogs and experts in their respective fields.  So come to etail dtail often and we will be glad to "hook you up" with that information and experts.

If you are not a small to mid sized online merchant, and want to contribute and share your wisdom, we welcome you too.  And if you have you own "niche" blog that helps us all learn more about a specific area of e-commerce let us know and we will gladly link to your site.

Come often to this site as we will indentify and, hopefully, have some interesting insights into issues and industry information important to you.  Click on the various tabs on the site that gives you more information on who I am and other tabs providing more in-depth information and news on e-commerce.

And if you would like to create your own "wiki"/thread of conversation, please click on the "tattle" tab, which allows me and others to comment in real time.

I am glad you are here and I look forward to hearing from you from time time.  Tell a friend about etaildtail.com too.

Ed D. Tail

Friday's banter: RoboShopper no RoboCop for e-commerce

Every Friday, you hopefully will be happy to find a read that is a bit let serious than the others I post for that week.  This entry may be commentary on an anecdote from a merchant, something in the marketplace I found rather curious, or just general banter to which I encourage all of you comment.

For this Friday, I came across a site called RoboShopper.  Needless to say, I think the founders have a affection for the “Robo Cop” series just from the name and that alone intrigued me to found out more.  So here is what I found.

I went to www.RoboShopper.com and found out that they are part of www.OneSeek.com, or should I say that they guide you back to them as much as possible. OneSeek is a good directory of services and products on the internet and RoboShopper is an extension of this directory service for shopping destination sites.

Anyway, back to RoboShopper…so I typed in golf shoes as they gave me the option to compative shop online.  Just so you all know, I used to play professional golf a long, long time ago so I generally like to start product searches for golf related items to see how CSEs and shopping destination sites work and generally all CSEs have golf related products.  Here is a summary of what I liked:

1. The site brought up over 500 golf shoes listings, not bad
2. I could search by brand and zip code, okay fair enough
3. Drop down menu of 12 CSEs from where they pull “golf shoes”, okay not a bad feature

But wait….when I actually looked at where I was clicking through under the URL all RoboShopper did was redirect me to one of the 12 CSEs they also have listed from on the drop down menu.  Am I missing something?  What value does that add?   

From what I can see all they do is show you what CSEs are out there and redirect them to you. And they only list 12, MerchantAdvantage feeds to over 90, what happened to the others?  And, do I really need a directory of where I can online shop?  If you want to find that out just type in “comparison shopping and all” in Google and you will have your answer.

Anyway, now to functionality of the site….I chose “golf shoes” to find out how it stacks up on price and reviews across several CSE sites.  Voila…nothing.  They just redirected me to a CSE and the reviews that that CSE had or did not have. And the value of this is?

May I suggest to RoboShopper that they might have something very valuable if they redirected people to an aggregated listing of all “golf shoes” pulled from all the CSEs, with whom they get their data, and show us how those listings stack up against each other on price and reviews.

Oh, as for reviews, RoboShopper uses www.ratings.net and when you go there the reviews are not plentiful.  I am unsure what to say other than the proliferation of e-commerce sites like these, whether badly executed or not, does show that business folks realize that there is money to be made…as for www.OneSeek.com and www.RoboShopper.com and www.Ratings.net , even though they have been around since 1997, they are not there yet.

Am I missing something?

HELPFUL TIPS FOR THE DAY:

1. Be careful about working with companies who say that they will help you.  There are a lot them popping up that add little value and take time away from doing important things.

2. The proliferation of many “services and companies” that are working in the e-commerce world is growing, which leads me to believe that figuring out a good e-commerce strategy is essential increasing your online revunes.

3. Ed D. Tail is not a highly humorous fellow…although he tries! LOL

Get Ready For Mobile E-Commerce!!!

It was a rainy down here in South Florida this morning and now it is sunny!  So for today I wanted to focus on what I think will be a great boon for all internet retailers, not just the big guys. In other words, what bright future lays ahead for small to mid sized businesses to make money online?

I am speaking of e-commerce over wireless handheld devices, otherwise affectionately known as "m-commerce."  Look around you today at your children and those under 30.  Stare at them for 5 minutes and let me know if they don’t check their phone or “smart” phone for IMs, new music selections, RSS feeds, updates on American Idol, the latest Hollywood movie trailer, or the latest You-Tube “funny.”  The simple fact is that everyone is using one device, namely their “smart” phone, to do anything but cook dinner.

Now that 2.0 is here we will see a proliferation of all sorts of information being pushed to those 2 x 2 inch screens.  Just because you might be too old to get it [or see it... :-) ] don’t think the under 30’s have not adopted this practice hook, line and sinker.  They have and they will be using m-commerce just like the 40+ generation (yes that’s me) adopted the internet 10-15 years ago.

While only 12% of US Households with a mobile carrier use their data services, according to Forrester Research, that is a huge number considering that wireless carriers as T-Mobile, ATT/Cingular, Sprint, Verizon and others have only begun to accommodate m-commerce. Oh yeah and EVERYONE now has a wireless device if not 2.

We are at the dawn, see the sunshine analogy was coming along eventually, whereby any online merchant should be considering how they will format their data to reach these “smart” devices with a 2 x 2 inch screen. And we all know that there are no standards, yet, so I suggest you start working with companies who can help you on this next stage of wireless marketing.

This includes:

- viewing a FULL web page (very few people like to scroll on their phone)
- redeemable coupon sent to wireless devices
- special holiday gift reminders, and my favorite,
- sending an IM or e-mail to “opt-in” customers who have decided to receive special offers from their favorite merchants as they walk within 500 yards or less of your brick and mortar store.

If you are a retailer just getting to know how powerful online marketing can be to increase sales, maybe you can wait a few months before asking questions about m-commerce. But if you want to stay ahead of the curve, and be a leader in offering clients the next cool way to purchase products, start considering m-commerce; if you wait you may miss a great opportunity to differentiate your self from your competition and add value to your brand.

I will write more into the future on this great new industry, which is really just a new distribution method of what we are all doing already online.

Oh and if you don’t believe me, Chetan Sharma, President of Chetan Sharma Consulting states: “It is inevitable…that mobile devices will become an accepted way to conduct transactions.”

HELPFUL TIPS FOR THE DAY:

1. Don't under estimate the power and revenue potential of leveraging m-commerce to your existing marketing strategies.

2. Start asking your friends, consultants, and third party vendor providers the best practices to leverage this next wave of e-commerce = m-commerce!

3. If you think you can ignore this trend in the marketplace...you are WRONG. 

4. Undertstand the m-commerce marketplace now because it is really only a new distribution method for what you are already doing online.