Bloggers Digest: April 2010

Bloggers Digest is our monthly ritual that highlight posts from other blogs that are of value and interest to online retailers and Internet marketers.

• Big news: site speed is now confirmed as a ranking factor in Google. But don't freak out just yet, Google says:

"While site speed is a new signal, it doesn't carry as much weight as the relevance of a page. Currently, fewer than 1% of search queries are affected by the site speed signal in our implementation and the signal for site speed only applies for visitors searching in English on Google.com at this point. We launched this change a few weeks back after rigorous testing. If you haven't seen much change to your site rankings, then this site speed change possibly did not impact your site."

• How can retailers benefit from Facebook's new Instant Personalization program? Armando Roggio has already spotted Sephora using the new "Like" social plugin, and we can expect more online retailers to follow.

• Check out all the Facebook social plugins you can add to your site today.

• Todd Michaud from Storefront Backtalk explains Why IT and Biz Heads Always Think the Other Wants Them to Fail.

• Do you know how to calculate lifetime customer value? Avinash Kaushik walks you through it.

• Larry Chase catches up with conversion rate optimization expert Bryan Eisenberg to discuss the secrets of calls-to-action. There's a very juicy tip on how to design your cart button to really convert.

• Don't touch your URLs until you've referenced Checklist for Changing Your URL Structure. Hat tip to VKI Studios for this one.

• Graham Charlton from Econsultancy answers the question:When should etailers empty customers' shopping carts?

• Quick - can you name guide on 10 ways to segment visitors using Google Analytics? If you're not taking advantage of Google Analytics' segmentation capabilities, this article should give you guidance.

• Jeffrey Eisenberg reminds us that your landing pages must be relevant to the customer's search query if you expect strong conversion rates.

• Does your helpdesk need help? Matthew Curry suggests four ways to help your helpdesk (and your users too!)