Ro Bhatia has some serious eCommerce chops. He started his career at Google, then spent 5 years at Yahoo, then worked for eBay with merchants, then ran the dot com division for Home Depot. Now he’s the Chief Product and Strategy officer at Limelight Ecommerce. In this episode we dig into growth tactics that you probably either haven’t thought of or aren’t leveraging properly. Ro has a wealth of experience and he dishes it out in this episode. Here’s a quick look at what we cover: If you’re using...
May 29, 2019•49 min
I just got back from a trip to the Amazon HQ in Seattle. Chris Tyler, our Director of Amazon Services, and I were there visiting with our Amazon DSP reps (more on DSP in a minute). We recently found out we were the fastest growing agency in 2018 in terms of DSP spend. We got to preview new audience targeting options, discuss new ad options coming soon to the Amazon ecosystem and more…Blow your mind kinda awesome stuff. If you’re not familiar with it, Amazon DSP (stands for Demand Side Platform) ...
May 16, 2019•38 min
My guest today is John Li, co-founder of Pickfu. John is a really sharp dude, with a very unique service. A service that started as a side project and became a standalone business sort of on accident…more on that in the episode. Pickfu is a consumer feedback tool that allows you to get real customer feedback in minutes. This has driven insights into product page enhancements, better product imagery, better ads, better Amazon listings and more. In this episode, we dive into some of the top learni...
May 01, 2019•37 min
Steve Chou is an eCommerce podcast host, eCommerce store owner, and former microprocessor designer. In fact, the microprocessor running the phone in your hand was likely designed by Steve’s team. All of that to say, Steve is a pretty smart dude. I recently saw Steve in San Diego at Social Media Marketing World where we were both speaking. We had lunch and talked a little about Chatbots. I was instantly intrigued. Chatbots and Messenger ads have huge potential to create more helpful, more persona...
Apr 24, 2019•43 min
My guest on this show is a legend in the eCommerce space. He’s the founder of the Shopify Agency, Ethercycle. He’s the host of the wildly popular Unofficial Shopify Podcast. And, he’s just an overall really smart dude. When most ecommerce companies consider conversion rate optimization they usually immediately think of split testing, multivariate testing, cart optimization, etc. BUT, most merchants fail to ask a very important question - “where should I start with my conversion optimization effo...
Apr 17, 2019•42 min
Video ads on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram continue to rank among the best performing ads right now for ecommerce companies. The difference between a great video and an OK video is HUGE. To really scale on any of those platforms though, you have to know how to craft a video that converts. Enter Andrew Eckblad. Andrew Eckblad was killing it with online video before it was the cool thing to do. Andrew has spent the last 10 years serving as Frank Kern’s video guy. He’s also the Manager of Video M...
Mar 05, 2019•48 min
There probably isn’t a more consistent rule in business or in life like the 80/20 rule. Usually, 80% or more of your results and success come from just 20% of your efforts. I’m all about finding the 20% of activities, changes, etc. to focus on to deliver the biggest impact. In this episode, I bring back my business partner Chris Brewer to outline the 7 key areas you should focus on to grow your business both on Google and on Amazon this year. These are 7 factors that should provide a big return ...
Feb 14, 2019•46 min
Ross Beyeler knows a thing or two about ecommerce sites that convert. He’s built a few sites that I really love. Charley Hustle (mostly because I’m a huge Chiefs Fan and KU Jayhawks fan), Bottle Keeper , Johnny Cupcakes , Assoline and more. We get into several key design, UX and conversion rate optimization topics and examples including: Home page optimization and how the approach shifts if you have a large vs. small SKU count Storytelling in ecommerce and why successful ecommerce brands are gre...
Feb 01, 2019•45 min
Tom Wang is a true Amazon success story. He builds a very successful brand on Amazon after a pretty big crash and burn experience. Literally a “burn” experience as his first venture was in hoverboards. In this episode we breakdown Tom’s success and talk about what is relevant for growth on Amazon in 2019. We tackle Tom’s advice for some pretty critical Amazon tasks. How to get reviews now and not violate Amazon’s terms of service. How to diversify traffic and boost organic rankings Product line ...
Jan 25, 2019•43 min
Matt Ward built an Amazon business from nothing with a goal of selling it for $1million in 12 months. His goal once the sale was final was to work on stuff that mattered more to him….He reached his goal of selling his company and now he’s running a podcast and writing books on some pretty interesting topics. He’s had the privilege of interviewing some pretty stellar people including one of my marketing heroes - Seth Godin. Matt is a fascinating person and extremely bright. In this episode we get...
Jan 09, 2019•46 min
The Cyber Five (Thanksgiving - Cyber Monday) this year broke all kinds of records and was an interesting departure from years past in several ways. In this episode I welcome back to the podcast my business partner, Chris Brewer. We look at this holiday shopping season from a few different perspectives. We talk in general terms about how our clients who are mostly in the $5 to $50 Million per year in sales did during the Cyber 5 and after. We also looked at trends and data from the largest ecomm ...
Dec 21, 2018•49 min
If you’re like me then you’re not overly familiar with affiliate marketing. It is a bit of a mystery for a lot of us marketers and ecomm entrepreneurs. However it does have some huge positives: Scalable: Once you attract the right affiliates and have the right offer, you can go from 0 to thousands of orders in no time. Predictable - As you know, I’m a PPC guy. I’ll always love PPC, but there are variables there. With Affiliate marketing you pay the same cost per acquisition every time giving you...
Dec 05, 2018•52 min
Recently I had a chance to catch up with my friend and fellow entrepreneur, Dave Woodward. Dave is the Chief Business Development Officer at ClickFunnels. He’s a motivator, a marketing mastermind, and an all around awesome guy. I first met Dave in 2009 or so when my business partner, Chris Brewer, and I were partnering with Russell Brunson (Co-Found of ClickFunnels) on a project. It’s been amazing watching click funnel scale from just an idea to a $200million + per year software as a service (Sa...
Nov 29, 2018•47 min
Interested in better email campaigns, more persuasive product detail pages and more irresistible videos? Maybe you need to start incorporating a little humor . By now we’ve all seen a Harmon Brother’s video (Think Poo Pourri and Squatty Potty) and we’ve seen the magical effect those videos can have when launching a product….Or maybe you recall the simple, Dollar Shave Club video that launched an empire that Unilever bought for $1 Billion. But...we’ve also seen some funny ads that did zero sellin...
Nov 21, 2018•47 min
If you want an inside look at Amazon you’d be hard pressed to find a better person to talk to than James Thomson co-founder of Buy Box Experts and the wildly popular Prosper Show. In this episode we get into the details of what sellers on Amazon should be thinking and doing right now on a variety of important topics including: Sales Tax! This can be some scary stuff. We talk about the Wayfair Supreme Court decision, the recent ruling in California and what it all means to you. Not the sexiest of...
Nov 07, 2018•49 min
The best eCommerce companies I know are on a quest to constantly improve conversion rates. Every lift in conversion rates means more money for product development, or traffic to grow your brand or just more money for your pocket. On this episode I interview Jon MacDonald, CEO of the Good. Jon and team have worked on Conversion rate optimization projects for companies like Nike, Xerox, Adobe and the Economist as well as many other ecommerce companies. Jon’s perspective and approach are unique and...
Oct 26, 2018•49 min
In recent years SEO has lost its luster as a “hot” traffic source. Panda and Penguin updates have made it all but impossible to “game the system” and trick Google into ranking your site. That said, organic traffic can still be insanely powerful for your brand. SEO can help drive relevant traffic at nearly every stage of the shopping funnel - helping your build a following and sell more stuff. While there are no viable SEO tricks now, there are proven strategies that will help you rank well and r...
Oct 16, 2018•48 min
This episode is a treat both in terms of topic and guest. I have my long-time business partner Chris Brewer on to talk about the most important topic of the year for most eCommerce companies - Holiday Sales. For most eComm companies the Holiday season will determine whether you have a good year or a not so good year. For some companies every day of holiday sales is the equivalent of a week or two the rest of the year. Having a great holiday season requires planning, attention to detail and some ...
Oct 11, 2018•40 min
There are two critical ways Patent Law impacts online merchants: Making sure you protect your unique products and intellectual property (IP) Making sure you don’t infringe on someone else’s patents My guest for this episode is Patent Attorney, Rich Goldstein. Rich is a wealth of knowledge on patent law and has carved out a niche in the eCommerce space. I am NOT a legal expert, to say the least, so I was really excited to dive into this topic and learn more myself. Here’s a look at what we covere...
Sep 19, 2018•43 min
I’m convinced that the most successful eCommerce companies in the years to come will be those who build a brand. Building a community, telling a brand story that resonates, building products that people are passionate about, differentiating from the competition - all are part of what it asked to build a successful brand. Companies that just learn a few tricks and tactics to sell more on Amazon or those that rely on just a few google traffic hacks, or those who only sell products that are availab...
Sep 05, 2018•53 min
Whether you’re planning to sell your eCommerce business in 1 year or 3 years or never, the information in this podcast is pure eCommerce gold. Regardless of your exit plans, it’s important to know how to make your business more valuable now. My guest for this episode is Joe Valley, Director of Brokerage Services at Quiet Light Brokerage. Joe is a seasoned eComm expert and a former business owner. As a broker of eCommerce businesses his perspective is unique and insightful. Here’s a look at what ...
Aug 29, 2018•43 min
The company with the best data feeds wins. That’s maybe not the kind of comment you hear too often and it’s not going to be the headline for any motivational posters. But, there is some truth to it. On this episode my guest is Brian Roizen, Co-Founder and Chief Architect for Feedonomics, a full-service product feed platform. While it’s not always true that the company with the best data feed wins, I do believe that your marketing efforts can only be as good as the data that feeds them. In this e...
Aug 22, 2018•49 min
While I’ve spent most of my marketing career focused on driving traffic that converts, I know the importance of a good landing page and sales funnel. A few months ago I met The Lady Boss. Kaelin Poulin and her husband Brandon when I spoke at an event in Atlanta. I was struck by how good they’ve been at building funnels, building community, and selling products. First a little about Brandon, then an overview of our discussion. Brandon Poulin is CEO and Co-Founder of LadyBoss, the first global wei...
Aug 10, 2018•39 min
When I first met Charlie Youakim the CEO and co-founder or Sezzle I was surprised by a few things he told me: Millennials prefer to pay with debit cards Only 1 in 3 millennials have credit cards Not having credit cards impacts the way millennials shop online and most don’t like the hassle of applying for a card. Some regulations put into place after the recession in 2008 like prohibiting credit card companies from marketing on college campuses and raising the legal age to sign up for a credit ca...
Jul 27, 2018•35 min
While exit pops, lead magnets, page takeovers are not necessarily new, I love the approach that Lindsey and her team at Hello Bar take to improve online conversions. I met Lindsey through a good friend of mine and was immediately impressed with her approach. She’s strategic in her use of conversion tools. Many merchants just sort of throw tools together and hope that something works. Anyone who’s listened to this podcast for any length of time knows that I’m a huge fan of good data and letting d...
Jul 19, 2018•45 min
f you aren’t using YouTube at least for remarketing - you’re missing out. With over 1 Billion monthly users and average session durations of over 40 min. (longer than what most people spend on Facebook in a day) YouTube has the attention of your prospects and customers. Not only does YouTube have your prospects and customers eyes and ears, they also have a really attractive advertising offering - TrueView. With the TrueView pre-roll (aka “before” videos) you as the advertiser only pays if someon...
Jul 05, 2018•46 min
Tracey Wallace has a unique perspective on eCommerce. As Editor-in-Chief at BigCommerce she has the distinct privilege of rubbing shoulders with the top eCommerce brands on the BigCommerce platform. And the BigCommerce is home to some pretty impressive eCommerce stores such as Skullcandy, Cargill, Sharp, Camelbak and more…. In this podcast we talk about some key eCommerce success factors and how some of the best and brightest store owners on BigCommerce are winning. We dive into important topics...
Jun 27, 2018•48 min
Even if you’re on another platform you have to pay attention to what Shopify is up to. Now with over 500,000 stores using the platform, when Shopify makes a shift the whole industry feels it. I wanted to know the latest and greatest from Shopify so I invited on the King of Shopify himself, Kurt Elster on to the podcast. In this episode we dig into some new releases and how they impact you including: How Shopify Stacks up in the ecommerce platform ecosystem Shopify myths that need to be busted - ...
Jun 06, 2018•46 min
To scale an ecommerce business you can’t be a one-trick pony when it comes to traffic generation. Pushing past 7 figures into 8 figures and beyond requires a focus on reaching customers at every stage of the shopping funnel. Having a “hodge podge” mix of campaigns won’t cut it either. You need a team of campaigns that attract customers at different stages of the funnel and pulls them through to conversion. Recently I spoke at a marketing conference in St. Louis on the topic of full funnel growth...
May 30, 2018•56 min
I know what you're thinking…Ross and Rachel?!? From Friends? Well, no, but this is even better (for your business). It’s really Ross Johnson and Rachel Bell of Trill Media . One of the topics that I'm super interested in is influencer marketing. What was made popular by the Kardashians is actually something that's been around forever - endorsements. But with social influencers it's a whole new ball game and one you can do and succeed at…and sometimes for as little as $100 paid to an influencer. ...
May 16, 2018•56 min
