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linda bustos

E-commerce and Online Marketing All Stars 2011Today is the MLB All-Star Game. But, I’m lucky. I have access to the greatest team of All Stars out on the web every day. Each of the folks listed below makes me better at what I do every day. I can’t imagine going a day without reading one of these blogs or going a week without reading all of them. With that, I’m thrilled to announce The 2011 Thinks E-commerce and Online Marketing All Stars:

  1. The RKGBLOG—Leading off, we’ve got George Michie and the RKG team. Their RKBLOG is thoughtful, insightful and colorful. Need proof? Check out their recent piece on attribution modeling and see if you don’t want them on your team, too.
  2. Search Engine Land—Want to know everything going on in the land of search engines? Listen to Danny Sullivan and his team. One of the first sites I read every day, Search Engine Land covers all the news you need to know about the search marketing business, along with insights to help you put that information to work. For example, their coverage of the aftermath of the Google/Twitter split not only offered headlines. It offered clarity.
  3. GetElastic—Of course, there’s more to life than just search engines. Linda Bustos (@roxyyo on Twitter) and the rest of the GetElastic blogging team look at e-commerce best practices and share what they’ve learned in a way both useful and engaging. With posts like “Is Multichannel E-commerce Dead”, GetElastic offers thought leadership and practical advice for online business.
  4. Dan Zarrella—Billing himself as “The Social Media Scientist,” Dan Zarrella separates fact from fiction about your fans, friends and followers. For instance, in “Tweet Lots of Links to Get Followers”, Dan doesn’t just offer opinion. He backs it up with data. And for walking the walk as well as talking the talk, Dan Zarrella earns the clean-up spot in the All Star lineup this year.
  5. Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik—Did I just mention data? Avinash Kaushik lives, breathes and sleeps data. Some guys count sheep to fall asleep. I suspect Avinash counts them, segments them and determines the ROI of each. Offering posts both brilliant and funny like “11 Digital Marketing Crimes Against Humanity”, Avinash earned his roster spot among this group of All Stars.
  6. SEOmoz blog—Where do I begin with SEOmoz? Rand Fishkin has built an amazing organization out in Seattle to help SEO practitioners get better and to help businesses find better SEO practitioners. Whether offering innovative ideas like using Google’s new search by image for link building or original research into how tweets affect search engine rankings, SEOmoz remains one of my top destinations and a key contributor to my All Star team.
  7. Mike Moran – Biznology—How many IBM Distinguished Engineers do you know? How many Chief Strategy Officers? How many entrepreneurs? OK. How many do you know contained within one individual? That’s right. One guy: Mike Moran. Mike and Biznology’s bloggers (full disclosure: I am one of them. And am humbled by the opportunity), crank out hit after hit after hit. With folks like Mike, Frank Reed, Aaron Kim, and Chris Abraham, Biznology is practically an All Star team in its own right. And it remains one of the best marketing blogs on the Web, even after adding me.
  8. ProBlogger—Darren Rowse was one of the first bloggers I read when I started this blog some 6 years ago. And I still read him today. With great insights on creating and marketing content such as “5 Ways I’m Using LinkedIn to Drive Traffic, Build Community, Generate Sales and Build Influence”, Darren (and his dozens of guest bloggers) prove an excellent addition to the team.
  9. Duct Tape Marketing blog by John Jantsch—No E-commerce and Online Marketing All Star Team would be complete without the great John Jantsch. John’s Duct Tape Marketing (possibly my all-time favorite business name), helps businesses large and small solve all kinds of problems as quickly and inexpensively as a roll of… well, something useful, quick and inexpensive. Check out his thoughts on why everything you’ve heard about Google+ is wrong, for one example of why John will make my All Star team every season.

There you have it, Big Thinkers. Your 2011 Thinks E-commerce and Online Marketing All Star Team. Check ‘em out and see if your game doesn’t improve.



Are you getting enough value out of your small business website? Want to make sure your business makes the most of the local, mobile, social web? thinks helps you understand how to grow your business via the web, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. Add thinks to your feed reader today.

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This is going to be a quick one. Your 3rd quarter and/or fiscal year is winding down. You’ve got only days or weeks left to finish strong. So why not focus on getting your traffic to turn into sales? Here are 6 (really, more like 7 or 8, but who’s counting?) AWESOME tips to help you get every last sale:

  1. Lots of us get lots of our traffic from AdWords. But it’s not always so clear which keywords really contribute to a sale. Fortunately, Google’s Conversion Room blog looks at AdWords Search Funnels to improve attribution and, ideally, your conversion rate. Good stuff.
  2. Promo codes can be a double-edged sword for many businesses (online and offline). That’s why I really like the always-enlightening Linda Bustos’ great piece offering 6 ways to tackle the promo code problem.
  3. I love, love, LOVE Hubspot’s recent key factors to improve conversion post, particularly item #3: “Thank You Pages That Don’t Maroon Shoppers.” We often think that once the customer has purchased, that’s it. But selling to someone you’ve already sold is much easier – and overlooked way too much. So don’t do that, OK?
  4. Interested in mobile? Me, too. That’s why I really like Search Engine Land’s 23 tips to improve mobile conversion. Check it out.
  5. GrokDotCom has a great look at Google Analytics’ new weighted sort feature that makes makes prioritizing which parts of your site to fix much simpler. Très cool. Avinash Kaushik also has an awesome overview of weighted sort that’s well worth your time.
  6. Speaking of Google, they released Improving Online Conversions for Dummies as a free e-book a couple of weeks ago. I don’t typically consider myself a “dummy,” but I learned a few things from the book. So, I guess, if the shoe fits…

Did I miss one of your favorite tips? Is there something working well for you? Tell us all about it in the comments.



Are you getting enough value out of your small business website? Want to make sure your business makes the most of the local, mobile, social web? thinks helps you understand how to grow your business via the web, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. Add thinks to your feed reader today.

Or subscribe via email.

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to follow Tim on Twitter.

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Well, you can’t name your Top 9 Marketing and E-commerce All-Stars then not use them for the Weekly E-Commerce Link Digest. Seriously. It’s simply not done. So this week’s list is a showcase of the best these folks offered this week. Enjoy!

Now, I don’t know about you, but I think it’s time you back away from the computer and enjoy some of this great summer weather. Or go see the new Harry Potter movie. Just make sure you’re back with us next week. Or better yet, subscribe to the thinks RSS feed or email list and never miss an update.



Are you getting enough value out of your small business website? Want to make sure your business makes the most of the local, mobile, social web? thinks helps you understand how to grow your business via the web, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. Add thinks to your feed reader today.

Or subscribe via email.

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to follow Tim on Twitter.

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Looking backwards to look forward (Small Business E-Commerce Link Digest – July 10, 2009)

July 10, 2009 del.icio.us links

This week’s links celebrate the value of hard work in achieving results.

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Small Business Ecommerce Link Digest – June 6, 2008

June 6, 2008 E-commerce

This week’s batch of web bounty includes Mike Moran, Matt Cutts, Avinash Kaushik Linda Bustos and Search Engine Land.

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Small Business Ecommerce Link Digest – April 25, 2008

April 25, 2008 E-commerce

The weekly link love hugs Bryan Eisenberg, Linda Bustos, John Jantsch and Avinash Kaushik talking about customers finding you, SEO, and analytics.

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