Last week, we launched our podcast and two episodes are currently available. The first is a summary of my story through a 20-year career in eCommerce and the second is a discussion of SEO. You can listen (and subscribe) here: https://cobblestonetrade.podbean.com/ If you have suggestions for topics for future podcasts, be sure to let us […]
Author Archives: Greg Howlett
Over 76% of companies report being victims of some type of fraud. Merchants estimate that 27% of their annual sales are from fraudulent purchases (American Express 2019 Digital Payments Survey). Every time a fraudulent purchase slides by unchecked businesses loose money. Fraudulent payments, phishing, and hacking have the potential to destroy an eCommerce business. We […]
Why Consider Outsourcing Customer Support? The decision to outsource eCommerce customer support may be the best one you’ll ever make… Nobody on this planet has more than 24 hours of time per day. As the owner of a business, why allocate your most valuable resource (time) to answering phones, responding to emails, and staring at […]
I am not very up on fashion and I recognize I need help. One of my favorite things to do is take advantage of the free shopping consultants at stores like Nordstroms. I like doing that but I am also a realist: I know that their job is to get me to spend more money […]
Because it sounds so good, there is an enormous buzz around the new Paycheck Protection Program. Some businesses are in desperate times right now and I think that the PPP might be a great option for them. However, we are passing on it with extreme prejudice and if you can pass on it, I advise you […]
In ecommerce, there are a few things that you learn very quickly when you start examining your shipping costs. First, shipping is expensive, far more expensive than your customers think it is, and far more expensive than you probably think it is. And second, trying to reduce shipping costs (or even just keep them stable) […]
Creating content for your eCommerce business is the best way to generate organic traffic for your website. Why read about creating content for your eCommerce business? Because growing your business takes more than good products at decent prices. Customers are required. But how do you get them? Well, there are a number of ways to […]
Sorry for the light posting lately. While some of our business has gone dead because of COVID-19, we are overwhelmed with business in other areas. On top of that, just like many other businesses, we are trying to anticipate what is coming and planning for contingencies. I want to talk about risks the COVID-19 situation […]
Last week, we discussed why you should possibly run your own Google Ad marketing. This week, I want to give you some important information about how you should approach your first campaigns. I am not going to do a step-by-step tutorial for setting up campaigns because there are already plenty of those online. If you […]
Google Ads (formerly Adwords) is perhaps the single most complex system that a typical e-commerce retailer has to master. I could throw Bing and maybe a few other advertising platforms into the mix too but Google is not only more complicated but also the most dominant of the advertising platforms. I am going to take […]