Ecommerce Bloggers Digest: November and December 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.

We had a full plate in our editorial calendar here at Get Elastic and did not post a Blogger's Digest entry in November (astute readers will have noticed!) So, this month's digest will include goodies from November and December!

• I had the pleasure of chatting with Tim Ash this month about e-commerce conversion killers on his Landing Page Optimization podcast. Give it a listen if you missed it. Tim has a fantastic archive of other topics and guests to check out over your New Year holiday.

• Jim Novo on his Marketing and Productivity Blog does a little solo Q&A on "when does a customer need a coupon?" I highly recommend every marketer give this a read. It brings the reality of coupon campaigns and Groupons down to Earth - and shows you practical ways you can determine whether your campaigns were good for your bottom line or simply cannibalizing sales you would have made anyway.

• On the same topic, Kevin Hillstrom explains how discounting can be a losing strategy. Rethinking your promotions strategies could make you more money in 2011.

• A hilarious, Christmas themed post from Mark Brownlow lists 15 things Santa would do if he were an email marketer. Here's an example: "In roughly 10% of houses, Santa would emerge from the chimney to find himself in the trash can and not the fireplace. This despite a squeaky-clean sender reputation."

• In the spirit of giving, SEOmoz' Danny Dover shares his personal pre-launch SEO checklist "cheat sheet" - with a video explanation!

• The giving goes on. Avinash Kaushik has produced 3 custom reports for Google Analytics that you can get started with right away, along with a wicked explanation on why they're useful.

• Justin Palmer provides 4 reasons your product pages don't convert. Great advice that focuses on persuasion, rather than web design and usability.

• Do you know how to identify what triggers 404 pages on your site? Find and fix errors on your site using web analytics, VKI Studios shows you how.

• Infographics are so cool, we gotta get some going on Get Elastic. Until then, enjoy this infographic that demystifies bounce rate, courtesy of Neil Patel and Kiss Metrics.

• Check out this web form design checklist from SeeWhy.

• Amy Africa amusingly relates how her nephew locked in the backseat of a car is like landing page optimization.

• Ever wondered if your left hand navigation has an impact on customers adding items to cart? One online retailer tested it and found a 34% increase in add to cart clicks.

• Dave Chaffey explains how to plan event-triggered email campaigns. Great read for email marketers.