Lessons and Links from the eCommerce Summit

The eCommerce Merchants Trade Association Summit in Las Vegas last week was jam packed with offers, ideas, inspiration, and tools to help online merchants energize and advance their current business strategies. I was fortunate enough to attend, thanks to the sponsorship of OnlineAuction.com! This post brings to you lessons and links from the eCommerce Summit... I know you'll find something that will add to your success.

Paul Greenberg, of DealsDirect, was the first speaker, and his message really set the tone for the entire convention. Being a small business never felt so big! With social networking dominating so much of the eCommerce world today, opportunities for the small business abound. Your mission? Connect with your customers, and in connecting, build solid relationships... which in turn, lead to trust. Paul stressed the importance of focusing upon innovation and speed, as well as using as many channels as possible, whether those channels be multiple venues or added social networks.

Today, let's talk about some of the tools that are available to simplify social networking. I wrote down links to many of these tools from a number of guest speakers, but in all honesty, John Lawson, ColderIce, was the most informative speaker on social media. I recommend that you watch his entire presentation online. What follows are some of the tools that I've already had the chance to research and/or implement.

TWILERT:
This is an alert notification tool, similar to Google Alerts, that allows you to monitor search terms and keywords across Twitter. It is free and easily customized. Results are emailed to you.

WIBIYA:
Got a blog? A personal website? Wibiya is a toolbar that you may install on your blog or your website. (It works on all the popular platforms.) This multi-function toolbar allows your reader to:

• search your blog or website
• translate to other languages
• see and sort recent posts
• see videos on your YouTube Channel
• view real time stats about your page
• connect, recommend and "like" on Facebook
• connect on Twitter
• join a live chat
• and more!

SHARE THIS:
At OnlineAuction.com, we already have this feature. The button is also standard on my Blogger posts. However, you can place this tool on your browser, or in your personal website, for quick sharing of favorite places to a large variety of social networks.

SURVEY MONKEY:
This site does exactly what you'd expect... it creates surveys for you! What a great way to find out what your customers think and what your customers want. I've used surveys before, (at PollCode.com), but what I really like at Survey Monkey is the analytics! And you can easily share these surveys across all your networks.

HOOT SUITE:
This one's my favorite! This application allows you to merge all your social networks onto one page, for simplified interaction. For example, I have personal accounts at Twitter and Facebook, as well as a Facebook Fan Page, so my HootSuite shows me recent activity on all three accounts at one glance! Not to mention, there is a little HOOTLET that you can drag and drop to your browser, which allows you to post favorites to any or all your networks with one click. So easy! Go check this one out.

FACEBOOK:
I put Facebook on this post because I want to share two links with you... you're on Facebook, right? ;)
Start a Fan Page for your business.
Check out the Facebook Widgets page and make some badges to place in your blog, your website and in forum profiles outside of Facebook!

RAPPORTIVE:
Rapportive is a simple, free, plug-in application that gives G-Mail Customer Relationship Management capabilities. What is this? It allows you to see information about the people who email you in G-Mail. It also allows you to make personal notes about the sender, for future referencing.

TUBEMOGUL:
I haven't signed up for this one yet, but I am going to. Basically, TubeMogul is video distribution and tracking. This application allows you to upload and share videos simultaneously across multiple networks. It gives you analytics, too. Certainly worth investigating, and I will try this for Fleapirates' next video!

In his closing speech, ECTMA Director, Brandon Dupsky asked attendees to write down 2 goals that we wanted to implement over the course of the next 3-6 months. Mine? I'd like to bump up my social media skills, by putting to use these tools and being more proactive in social networks, and learn techniques to improve my use of video for advertising. What goals do YOU have?

Remember, perspective is everything.
Your definition of success is based upon your perspective...
the definition of a good, reputable business depends upon your customer's perspective.

What You See Is What You Get!

Hello everyone! Today's OLA Tuesday Tidbit explores the world of WYSIWYG Editors, & the need for OLA members to learn how to use them. Many members enjoy making auction templates, store backgrounds & chat signatures with colorful graphics, unique images & distinctive font styles. This creativity is more easily achieved with the assistance of an outside WYSIWYG editor.

WYSIWYG is an acronym for What You See Is What You Get, used in computing to describe a system in which content displayed during editing appears very similar to the final output, which might be a printed document, web page, slide presentation or even the lighting for a theatrical event.

The phrase was originally a catch phrase popularized by Flip Wilson's drag persona "Geraldine" (from Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In in the late 60s and then on The Flip Wilson Show until 1974), who would often say "What you see is what you get" to excuse her quirky behavior.

(I loved that show! Didn't you?)

For the past year, I've been touting the editor at Creating Online. It is simple to use, and fulfills all my needs in making auction templates, etc. However, Creating Online has one drawback... it does not operate well within Mozilla Firefox browsers. Like many users, I have gotten away from using Internet Explorer, preferring the security & ease of Firefox. What to do???

After getting frustrated with searching editors online, I contacted my buddy Rowen, at OnlineAuction.com. He actually gave me links to 4 different editors, and after doing some research, I have found one that I really like! It is from Trellian WebPage, it's a download, & it has capabilities to help someone publish a web page. So many new gadgets to investigate! What I needed, (the editor), was easy to locate and use, & I am looking forward to learning the rest of their tools. Check them out!

While I was surfing the net today, I also ran across an interesting blog from ProBlogger, Darren Rowse. He surveyed online users about what would they prefer - to have more blog readers or more Twitter followers. Twitter may be new, but people are flocking to it by the thousands, & while it did not get many of the votes in his poll, many people would be interested to see if the results would change in a year from now. I am following Darren on Twitter now, because he's a social media participant & a full time blogger, & I think he will have many, many informative posts. I hope you'll all take a moment to check out his blog! And do tell... how would you have voted?

FLEAPIRATES TUESDAY TREASURE:

Artesania Rinconada # 38 Rabbit Figurine. This treasure is now retired. Excellent condition, with no chips cracks or breaks. Artist signature is on the bottom. Measures 2 inches tall x 3 1/4 inches wide. Weighs 6 1/2 ounces. Hand-carved & detailed in fine grain earthenware ceramic material.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Artesania Rinconada was founded in Montevideo, Uruguay, by twin brothers, Jesus & Javier Carbajales. Born in Spain, the twins moved to Uruguay in 1936, when the Spanish Civil War erupted, but never forgot their spanish roots. Focusing upon nature, they released the Classic Collection in 1972. Over the years, other collections have been added, such as, The Silver Anniversary Collection, Rincababies, the Emerald Collection, and the DeRosa Box & Dolls Collections. Highly collectible, these figurines are still widely popular in stores today. Many of the older pieces are now retired and difficult to find.

Click HERE to see the details of this auction!

Click HERE to browse other collectibles in my OLA House!