Small Business Ecommerce Link Digest – March 28, 2008

A couple of weeks ago, I led with the economy, and this week is no different. Not because I think we need to be overly concerned. No. I think we should be focused. A tough economy is the right time to evaluate what works, what doesn’t, and what to do about both. The least you can do is often the best. So, this week’s pitcher of link juice flows to folks focused on optimizing – getting the most from the least. Drink hearty, lads and lasses.

• Seth Godin starts us off strong by questioning priorities, asking how you manage urgencies.
• Rebecca Kelley at SEOmoz looks at driving traffic most efectively, with 10 tips for getting the most from paid search (PPC).
• Mike Moran reinforces that theme, offering some useful thoughts about direct navigation as a marketing strategy.
• The GrokDotCom team shows what happens to major companies like Borders who don’t have an effective ecommerce strategy. And they show small companies how to avoid the same fate with 7 tips for optimizing low-traffic sites.
• Once you get folks to your site, you’ve got to keep them coming back. While email is one very effective tool, it can also turn customers off. Linda Bustos helps you avoid this with a look at what customers think email spam is. Here’s a hint: it’s all the email they don’t want, not just the email they didn’t ask for.
• And in these tough times, just in case you think the web (or Web 2.0 or Social Media or what-have-you) is overblown and you should bail, take a trip down memory lane. Ben McConnell points out a Newsweek article from 1995, discounting the business and social potential of the Internet. The best part is on page 2, where Clifford Stoll scoffs, “Then there’s cyberbusiness. We’re promised instant catalog shopping–just point and click for great deals. We’ll order airline tickets over the network, make restaurant reservations and negotiate sales contracts… So how come my local mall does more business in an afternoon than the entire Internet handles in a month?” I’m just sayin’.
• Finally, GigaOm founder and tech blogger Om Malik talks about what he’s learned since his heart attack. At the end of the day, optimizing means making the most of every minute. And that’s important in life as much as business.

Have a great weekend, all.