October is here and Halloween is fast approaching. If you don’t have any ideas about what you’re going to dress up as this year, don’t worry – you still have plenty of time. Personally, I’ve been planning to go as Jonathan the Zombie since last year’s full-body cat costume didn’t get the type of reaction I was going for. Whatever.
Anyway, we have some amazing content for you in the world of Ecommerce marketing and online growth from this past week. Up first we have a piece by Zak Stambor on Internet Retailer, followed by articles from PYMNTS.com and WooThemes. We’re also featuring the latest epic SEO resource from Brian Dean of Backlinko.com. Seriously, this guy knows how to make the type of 10x content that would make Rand Fishkin proud.
Enjoy this week’s round-up and subscribe to our blog to get badass content like this dropped right in your inbox, son!
Why retailers might start boosting their Google display ad budgets
By Zak Stambor – My background is in paid search, specifically in Google Adwords advertising, so this post is near and dear to my heart. According to Zak’s article this week on internetretailer.com, Google is now making 100% visibility the default for all CPM campaigns on the Google Display Network. This means that for advertisers utilizing CPM bidding for their display ads will no longer be charged when their ads display below fold, are scrolled out of view, or are otherwise not 100% visible to a web page visitor.
This is huge not only for online retailers, but for all advertisers using Google’s Display Network who have struggled to justify investing advertising dollars into a medium that may or may not be delivering impression as expected.
UPS Backs Direct-to-Consumer Ecommerce Tech Startup
By PYMNTS – As online shopping and Ecommerce retail continues to gain ground on traditional brick-and-mortar establishments, logistics and shipping companies are looking for ways to get a piece of the action. As reported this week on pymnts.com, Ecommerce tech startup Ally Commerce received Series B funding from the investment arm of UPS, bringing Ally’s company total to $8.4 million.
Ally Commerce provides an end-to-end solution for direct-to-consumer retailers, and the growth that attracted the like of UPS may soon attract other big names in logistics, commerce, etc. in the near future.
WooCommerce reaches 10M downloads, powers 30% of online stores
By Nicole Kohler – You might already know that WordPress powers around 25% of sites on the web. One of the top Ecommerce plugins for WordPress, WooCommerce, now has a comparative feather in its cap, powering 30% of all online stores. This is really impressive, especially considering WooCommerce went from 0 downloads to 10 million downloads (and thus, 30% of all Ecommerce shops) in just 4 years. Congratulations to the folks at WooCommerce!
SEO Tools: The Complete List (131 Tools Reviewed and Rated)
By Brian Dean – Brian is the man when it comes to white hate off-page SEO strategies that actually get results. The best part? He shares exactly how it does it, a la my homeboy Neil Patel (Neil, seriously, I’ve left you like 23 voicemails – call me back). Brian’s Skyscraper technique is just one example of how he provides in-depth roadmaps to success. The only catch is, you still have to do that work.
This week, Brian published his latest resource, which includes reviews of 131 common and not so common SEO tools. These tools run the gamut from link building, to technical SEO, to keyword research. You can even quickly sort between free and paid tools on the list, as well as take a look at which tools are Brian’s personal favorites. This is a resource you’ll definitely want to bookmark.
