Dashboard Plus App Makes Selling Online Fun

If you are like me, one of the first things you do in the morning is grab your iPhone.
You might check your email, your Facebook, and your Twitter feeds in the darkness
before jumping out of bed. With Dashboard Plus by Nexternal you can now also
check your sales metrics! With a simple click to launch the Dashboard Plus app, you
can instantly see a powerful snapshot of your business. The dashboard
shows how many orders you have received that day (or night) along with revenue
generated - all in real-time. Other sale metrics such as new vs. returning customers,
number of visitors, and top selling products, are displayed in a beautiful, easy to read
graphic format. Merchants can set target revenue goals and instantly determine if they
are on target to hit their numbers.

For those online merchants that are neurotic about orders, Dashboard Plus even comes
equipped with push notifications. Users can optionally be notified every time an order
is placed with a cash register “cha-ching” sound that will instantly put a smile on your
face.

Dashboard Plus is available for free in Apple’s App Store and can be downloaded here.
If you aren’t currently using Nexternal’s eCommerce platform, a demo mode is available
once you launch the application. This application is truly innovative, but most of all it
makes selling online a heck of a lot of fun.

Google Tutorials " #SEO Basics" & "#SEO Starter Guide"

#ECommerce Merchants and marketers should checkout the following #SEO Tutorials from Google (pdf downloads):

Google SEO Cheat Sheet

Google Search Engine Optimization Guide

Online Wine Consumer Market Research Data - 2010

The Wine Market Council has great market research data on online consumer trends of 2010. Here's the important stuff:

eCommerce and Direct to Consumer Wineries and Wine Merchants need to know this information in order to make the appropriate adjustments to their marketing campaigns, promotions, and content.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need assistance making adjustments.

Keys to Connecting with Premium Wine Consumer Segments

Key premium wine consumer segments any direct to consumer wine merchant or winery must master.

3 Keys to Effective Mobile Marketing - Location, Content, Brand

Caroline Giegerich made great points in her Mashable article: The Art of the Checkin: From Location to Content to Brand.  Location, Content, and Branding are 3 keys mobile marketers need to focus on in the future. Mobile Consumer's will soon (if they do not already) expect personally tailored promotions, messages, and campaigns using:

Location:

• (LBS) Location-based Services 
• Proximity Systems
• Bluetooth & Infrared Capabilities

As a mobile consumer we want to know what's around us. What stores, services, people, systems or devices are in our vicinity. Why? Because we want to socialize, be on the cutting edge - always have the new or next thing, and never pay full price if there is a way we could get the item for a cheaper price. It's a no wonder these demands mobile consumers have are like this. With all the access to information and technology they have available to them why shouldn't they?

This means that us marketers need to be on our game. Our content needs to be specific and we need to abide by new privacy parameters and functionality. Here are some mobile marketing content management tools:

Content:

• (MO) Mobile Originated Messaging
• Mobile Banner Ads
• QR Codes
• Voice Messages 

Mobile Commerce provides more convenience for Consumers. As adoption of new mobile technology and applications increase the need for companies to have a consistent brand experience will become increasingly important and difficult. How marketers will choose to brand the following is the millon dollar question:

• Mobile Web Apps
• Mobile Websites

Will this dictate how successful Mobile Commerce and Mobile Marketing campaigns are in the future?

What are your thoughts? How important do you think location, content, and branding are to the mobile web? Why?


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The Next Big Opportunity - Mobile Commerce

The next big opportunity - M-Commerce or more specifically Mobile Retailing - M-Retail. Today almost everyone has an iPhone, Smart Phone, iPad or Tablet, or easy access to the internet 24/7 so why not give people a way to buy YOUR items conveniently. Apps are convenient to use and accessible virtually anywhere.

What is Mobile Commerce - M-Commerce?

M-Commerce or Mobile Commerce is the exchange or buying and selling of commodities, services, or information on the Internetthrough the use of mobile handheld devices. To learn more about mobile commerce visit the Mobile Marketing Association website: http://mmaglobal.com/ .

What is Mobile Retailing - M-Retail

Mobile Web - features online channel sections and categories of products for information gathering, product demo, and feature comparisons

Mobile Coupons - Discounts and Rebates that are used to increase sales and customer loyalty.  Coupon Types include:

• Cents or Dollar Off 
• Buy-One-Get-One-Free or BOGO
• Multiple Purchase 
• Time Release 
• Self Destruct 
• Crossruff
• Sweepstakes 
• Universal 

Mobile Retail Applications - Functional applications for applications for iPhone, Windows Mobile, Android or Blackberry and other smart phone devices that provide consumers with new brand experiences with advanced graphic interface and touch-screen features to browse, compare, and even order products. An ideal mobile retail platform must consist of standards-based mobile marketing, product catalog, search, compare, order, and payment experience. Mobile retailing needs the 'readily-usable and mass market-ready' standards for widespread adoption by consumers and enterprises alike.
What is Mobile Marketing - mMarketing                                                                                                                                        
M-Marketing - presently mobile marketing is made up of 7 components:

• Messaging (SMS and MMS):
• WAP - Wireless Application Protocol & Mobile Web: Mobile website, mobile applications
• Streaming Media: Mobile TV, Mobile Video, 
• Downloadable Content: A content discovery method where the user calls a phone number, during which their mobile phone number is captured, and a data connection is subsequently made to the handset (SMS, WAP push). 
• IVR: Interactive Voice Response: A content discovery method where the user calls a phone number, during which their mobile phone number is captured, and a data connection is subsequently made to the handset (SMS, WAP push). A charge for the call registers once the mobile connection has been made. 
• Mobile Search: Executing a search via mobile Internet.
• QR Codes: Mobile Bar codes customers can capture with their camera to search or find products

Stay tuned or submit your questions about information, suggestions, and ways you can tap the Next Big Opportunity.

Online Marketing, Social Media, & SEO Tools for Improving eCommerce Sales