Mike Duncan will be speaking at Board Retailers Certification Program, Survival of the Fittest, in Orlando, Florida on January 5th from 10:00 am – 5:00 pm for the Retail Finance and Retail Technology Courses. In its second year, Survival of the Fittest is designed to provide retail attendees an in-depth look at Retail Finance and Retail Technology, two areas of significance in today’s retail environment. For more info on this series please visit Board Retailers Association. E-Commerce Strategies that Produce Results Mike Duncan, CEO Sage Island Your website is a vital extension of your business, so it’s crucial to have a marketing plan behind it that maximizes your investment. In this seminar Mike Duncan, CEO of Sage Island teaches effective strategies that help fine tune an ecommerce site into a profitable sales generating machine. As featured on CNNMoney.com, Mike speaks to the digital age of customer service in specialty retail and the necessity of a well designed website. By skillfully integrating Internet Marketing, social media, product recommendations, Live Chat, and more, Mike knows the successful e-Commerce strategies that make conversions and increase your bottom line.

1. Effective E-commerce
Strategies
Mike Dunca n
mdunc an @Sa ge Is land.com
facebook.com/MikeADuncan
twitter.com/MikeADuncan
Sage Island CEO

2. Sage Island
• Birthday - February 10, 1997 (Google Sept 1998)
• 24 Full Time Employees
• Full-Service Interactive Marketing Agency
• Startups to Fortune 500 Companies Worldwide
Me
• Geek (computer, design, MBA)
• Surfer / Vert - Pool Skater / Cycle
• Vintage Auto Racer

3. Amazon.com Conversion Experts
• 2009 Sales of $24.51B (+28%)
• 275M visitors/mo (56.5m unique)
• Converts 9.6%
• Avg. Sale $170
Traffic Comes from:
• Search Engines (32%)
• New Shoppers (30%)
• Return Shoppers (70%)

4. Amazon.com Formula
• Low prices + Great Selection
• Free Shipping Offers
• Amazon loyalty
• Personalization to highest degree
• Combination of account history and behavioral
learning to convert
• Combines multiple merchants

5. Finding YOUR Customers
Getting them to buy

6. Know your Customer

10. Speak your Customers Language

11. Keyword Research
Have a Strategy, Careful keyword selection is the heart of any campaign!
Create a robust keyword portfolio of relevant keyword phrases that are
searched on by potential customers.
www.keyworddiscovery.com
www.wordtracker.com
Google Adwords Keyword Tool
www.seobook.com
www.seomoz.org

12. Drive Traffic to your Store

16. SEO On-Page Optimization
• Use keyword research to determine how customers search
• Inject keywords into body copy, titles, and images
• User friendly and search engine friendly site.
Ranking factors:
www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors
www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/internet/google-ranking-factors.htm

19. Meta Data
<TITLE>Skateboards - Warehouse Skateboards offers Complete Skateboards,
Skateboard Decks, Trucks, Wheels & Much More!</TITLE>
<META NAME="Description" CONTENT="Biggest selection of skateboards,
skateboard decks, complete skateboards, skateboard wheels, skateboard trucks,
skateboards delivered right to your door!">
<META NAME="Keywords" CONTENT="skateboards,skateboard,complete
skateboards,skateboard decks,skateboard wheels,skateboard trucks,skate
decks,warehouse skateboards">
Mike Duncan’s Best Practices
h"p://www.sageisland.com/SEO-­‐best.pdf

21. Sitemap Submission
Google WebMaster Tools - www.google.com/webmasters/tools/
Bing (MSN) WebMaster Tools - www.bing.com/webmasters
Yahoo! Site Explorer - http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com
Create a Sitemap
www.gsitecrawler.com
Do you have a Robots.txt file?
www.yourdomain.com/robots.txt
User-agent: *
Disallow: /my-dirty-photos
Sitemap: http://www.domain.com/sitemap.xml

22. SEO OFF-Page Optimization
Link Building

23. Jan 25, 2007

24. Quality/Quantity external links is
what you are after!
What is a Quality link?
Answer:
Good Google Page Rank (3+)
Relevant
Great! How do I get them Duncan?
(yes, I’m a mind reader)

39. How does your site rank in SEO?
www.websitegrader.com

40. Paid Search

44. Shopping Networks

48. Company Blogging

54. Social Networking

68. E-Commerce Design Trends
• Building Loyalty w/ Customer Service
• Product Reviews
• Enhanced Search & Navigation
• Shopping Guides / Videos
• Personalization
• Segmentation & Behavioral Profiles
• Mobile E-Commerce

69. Customer Service

70. Yes you need all this
Return Policy
Shipping Rates
Order Tracking
Contact Info
...and then some!

76. Consumer Reviews
• 70% of shoppers trust consumer reviews on products.
(Nielson)
• Provide reviews, to encourage consumers to trust your
products/brand.

79. Site Navigation
Filters
• Sorting (bestsellers)
• Customers want a fast path to their specs

82. Buying Guides Work
• Video Library
• Featured Articles
• Involve Customers
• Help & Advise
• Great Images
• SEO Advantage
• TIP - Social Media!

86. Personalization (You, Your)
• Welcome, Mike Duncan
• Recommendations for You (behavioral learning)
• Your Browsing History (cookies & account
registration)
• Rate these items (social, reason to return)
• Your Communities (social)
• Want to see Today's Deals? (conversion)
• Individual Treatment Creates (Loyalty)

89. Segmentation & Behavioral Profiles
• Market Individually
• Create Email Alerts
• Convert Later (Social, wishlist)
• Compile Profile
• Record Everything
• Convert Now (you may also like)
• Tip - Segment Emails

90. Mobile E-Commerce
• Personalization
• Sync with Account
• Payment Integrated
• Product Reviews
• Price Shopping
• Conversion

92. E-Commerce Strategies to Implement
Basic Advanced
Site Navigation Personalization
Integrate Social Media Account Registration
Segment Customers Enhanced Search / Nav
Add Shopping Guides Mobile Application
Create Best Sellers Cross Sell
More Visual Approach Email Alerts
Create Videos Loyalty Program
Add Live Help International

93. Track Everything!

96. Search Engine Optimization – Kristopher Jones
Get to the top on Google – David Viney
Landing Page Optimization – Tim Ash
Building Findable Websites – Aarron Walter
MIKE DUNCAN
mduncan@sageisland.com
twitter.com/MikeADuncan
twitter.com/sageisland
www.sageisland.com