Beyond assessing the aesthetics of an e-commerce website, many designers often forget to test the usability of their sparkling shopping cart.

In an article posted by DesignersCouch, 5 Usability Tips for an Effective eCommerce Design, Damian M. lists 5 important concepts to focus on to ensure maximum usability in combination with customer needs & appearance. He also provides a few examples of well planned shopping carts for inspiration. 

Check out the facts in this recent Email Insider article, 7 Myths and 2 Truths About Inbox Placement. Email Marketing Analysts George Bilbrey and Stephanie Miller of ReturnPath present hard data about email deliverability & optimizing email campaigns.

The age of digital has become the age of mobile; and if you're not wired, you'll be left behind. This isn't just your social life we're talking about, it's your business as well. If the launch of the new apple iPad hasn't convinced you mobile media is important, check out these fun facts:

• Mobile Internet usage is ramping even faster than Desktop usage did between the early 90s and today.  The iPhone + iTouch have 8x the amount of market penetration that AOL did at a similar point in its trajectory (Morgan Stanley)
• Smart phones are predicted to out-ship PC's soon as 2012 (Morgan Stanley)
• The number of smartphone users tapping into mobile-application stores are expected to reach 100 million in 2013 (In-Stat)
• There are now more than 450 million Mobile Internet users worldwide; 1 billion + users expected in 2010 (IDC)
• Globally, mobile data traffic will double every year through 2013, increasing 66 times between 2008 and 2013 (Cisco)

This growth in mobile internet usage has led to a large development in mobile marketing technologies. There are plenty of creative uses emerging including location-based advertising, click-to-call ads, text message coupons, & pay by phone apps. If you're not already on board, now is the time to start utilizing mobile technologies or develop your own.

6 Easy Tricks to Get Found in Real-Time Search Results

Search engine giant Google has recently integrated real-time into it's search results and others including Yahoo! and Bing are not far behind. But what does this mean for SEO? Real-time search is essentially a collection of "what's happening right now". When your content is instantly shared across social media, via a tweet or repost, search engines catch the content and promote it as conversation happening this minute on a particular topic.  Real-time results are separate from traditional organic results and allow you an additional opportunity for getting the to top of search results. Want in on the action? Here are 6 easy ways to improve your chances of getting found in real-time search results.



Include Keywords in Everything 
It's the number one rule of thumb for any type of SEO, yet most often looked over. From your content to your titles, always, ALWAYS, use keywords. When people share content across social medias, a short headline is all you get to represent your piece- so make it work for you. Now that search engines are including social medias in results- when those keywords are searched for, your content is more likely to appear in their results- including tweets and status updates.

Reference Current Events
Your chances of being found in top search results are exponentially increased when you're referencing a popular topic. You'll be battling a bunch of spam, but if you utilize the right keywords and provide quality content, you're sure to attract attention. According to Tribune SEO Director, Brent Payne, the recent news about Tiger Woods brought more than 1.5 million visits to its website in one day. Not sure what the current popular topics are? Check out google hot trends for a list of the top 40 keywords people are searching for a daily basis.

Build a Following
It's simple, the more followers or friends you're connected to, the greater exposure your rate. The more interesting and relevant your content is, the further it will spread as your friends and connections share it with others. Building your network will take some time, diligence, and promotion, but if you consistently provide high quality content, you'll keep 'em coming back.

Promote Sharing
Make it easy for people to share your content by providing easy to find social media buttons. Pelfushion.com does a great job of this by placing popular social media buttons vertically along the edge of the browser window which maintain visible while the viewer is scrolling. A one-step click to share button is ideal for fast and easy content forwarding. The more often your content is shared across the web, the more likely it is to appear in real-time search results.

Start a Discussion
People love to give their opinion, so provide them this opportunity through your blog or social network. Ask questions, conduct surveys, and engage in conversations started by others. Being involved in multiple discussions will increase your potential for reposts and real-time search impressions.

Be Consistent
If you want to stay on top of the news feed, you've got to keep pumping out content on a regular basis. The frequency of your posts will vary depending on the size of your industry presence in social media. If you're not sure how often you should be sharing, research your competitors and how often they provide new content.