Update on Future of eCommerce Optimization

My biggest issue up to this point has been the obvious lack of time to devote to a site where I make no income. It’s hard to run a blog, especially an eCommerce blog, and I constantly find myself questioning whether or not I should be taking on paying gigs over devoting more time to one of my many projects, that doesn’t necessarily pay off monetarily (though it is still very personally rewarding). Also, I had a partner lined up to help me with all of the new plans, but that hasn’t quite worked out the way I had envisioned originally, either. Basically, it just didn’t work out. So now, I’m sorta just stuck in a holding pattern while I decide what to do in life, and here with the blog.

I know, I’m probably the most indecisive person you know, right? All I can say is I’d like to see you do it! And, for those that do, and do it well, I have a new found respect for you!

For now, the blog will stay up, and I’ll continue to release content as often as I can. I still have big plans, just not sure how that will all fit in with the next announcement I’m about to make.

New Career Opportunity

Over the past two years I have been helping out a local software company here in Seattle part time. The company, Warhead eCommerce (don’t you just love that name?), hired me back in 2008 to consult on their up-and-coming shopping cart software project at Warhead.com. During the last two years at Warhead, I have really grown close to their team, and feel like I have helped them to create a really sweet piece of software. I feel like there’s an awesome opportunity with them to help a lot of business owners and set new standards for eCommerce software.

Apparently, they feel the same way! Today, I am proud to say that I have officially committed to take a full time position at Warhead in order to continue the consulting work and progress we’ve made over the past couple of years. My new position will primarily be on the R&D side, but I’ll also help with development, UX, testing & hopefully a lot more.

I am extremely excited to jump into this new position with Warhead and their employees, especially knowing how fruitful eCommerce will be in the coming years. It’s an exciting time for all of us in the industry in my opinion. I can’t wait to continue putting my knowledge to good use with them, and hopefully we are able to help a lot of others in the process. It will be a fun, interesting experience that I can’t wait to embark on! Wish us luck.

Hey strangers! It’s me Matt Franklin, your friendly eCommerce blogger. If you’ve read this eCommerce and marketing blog in the past, or have seen me on social networking sites you probably know me better as “eCopt”. I’m here posting today to let everyone in on a huge secret and some news that I personally find extremely exciting, and think you will too. First though, I should probably explain a little back story for those of you who are just tuning in, or haven’t visited the blog in a long time. I’ll try to keep it short and sweet!

eCommerce Optimization Then:

So, let’s all take a quick trip back in time… The year is 2006. The month is August. I had just started up eCommerce Optimization, a personal blog where my goals were to express thoughts and opinions about eCommerce and marketing. At that time I didn’t quite know what to expect and didn’t really have high hopes for anything much. I just knew I wanted to speak my mind, let others see my thoughts and share my experiences to help grow the industry. A few months into the project I was surprised to see how well this blog was being received by readers and the industry. During the first few month I met a ton of great people, networked like crazy and continued to grow the site steadily. Needless to say, my expectations were met, and exceeded.

At or around the 6 month mark I decided I would commit to blogging for a year just to see where it might take me and to see what other opportunities might come out of it. Again, my expectations were far exceeded. During the first year and a half the site just kept getting better and my plate was beginning to fill up faster than I had imagined. There were many job offers, gigs, consulting projects, the list went on. I turned down many of these opportunities, including monetizing the blog, to follow through with my blogging commitment, and promise to my readers that they’d never have to worry about ads taking up space on the blog.

All this is good, right? Well, not so much. Let me explain.

eCommerce Optimization In 2008:

Around the 2 year mark I was forced to make a major choice… Either continue blogging for FREE and keep my promise, or go get a job where I could use my experience, help others and earn more income at the same time. After much thought and consideration I made one of the most difficult choices I’ve ever had to make, I stopped blogging. I’m sure a lot of people in my position would have done the same thing, but what made it hard for me was having to abandon something I was so passionate about, that also happened to be coming to fruition. Such is life.

eCommerce Optimization Now:

Now, the blog has been sitting for 2 years and I haven’t put much effort into it at all. I basically kept the content up so people could still use it at their discretion. I tried to sign on as often as possible to keep my eye on things, but wasn’t always able to address issues right away. Then a couple of months ago the blog got hacked (which some of you may know, and I sincerely apologize for). I have finally restored the site, the files and upgraded everything though, obviously.

So, now that you know my back story I can finally get to more of the juicy stuff.

New Beginnings:

Over the past couple of years I’ve had the great pleasure of working with some amazing people in the eCommerce and retail spaces. I’ve had several people offer to buy the blog/domain or run it for me, but in the back of my mind I knew this blog was going to be something I’d always come back to, so I never really entertained any of those offers. A couple of months ago I was contacted by an individual, whose identity will be revealed later, about re-launching eComerce Optimization. I felt very strongly that this person was the right fit for this site, and myself, and eventually decided to try and move forward with a re-launch.

I am extremely excited to be taking on this new venture with my new partner and feel confident that our new business model will be a hit among our readers and the industry. I don’t have all the details right now, but we’ll be posting more about that in the very near future. I think I’ve learned a lot the first time around, and since. And now that I have an opportunity to use what I’ve learned from past blogging I think we’ll be able to come up with a very special place for everything eCommerce.

What Has eCopt Been Doing?

I always get asked what I’ve been up to for the past few years since I stopped blogging. Basically, I got a full time job in Seattle where I live, I started some personal businesses online and I’ve been working on a special project that I can’t really go into at this time (it’s related to eCommerce and it will hopefully be ready sooner than later)! More on that in the coming months.

When Is All This Happening?

Actually, it’s already begun! We’ve started sending out contributor requests, we’ve gotten started on the development of our new theme, we’re making big plans and we’re trying to do it all as quickly as possible. You’ll probably notice some new content being posted soon, and over the next few weeks we’ll be testing new features, theme elements and some secret stuff!

How Can I Be Part Of This?

Well, if you’re reading this post, you already are a part of this! But if you mean you want to help us out, we’d love to hear about any ideas you may have. We’re looking for interns, contributors, moderators, press contacts, etc. Or, if you’d just like to help spread the word, that helps too! Go ahead… Tweet it, post about it, tell your friends, tell your clients, subscribe to our feed. We may even throw in some special goodies for those of you who go above and beyond.

Keep your eye out for more updates on the re-launch of eCommerce Optimization! Thanks again to all our loyal followers, you rock! Drop me a line if you have any specific questions not addressed in the post.

To catch up on past BIG Thanks, be sure to visit our Site News and Updates section.

Blogs that added us to their blogroll:

First, I’d like to give a huge thanks to Justin Palmer, author at Palmer Web Marketing…

Justin’s blog is one of my favorites in the eCommerce space. He typically blogs in list format, you know, like ’10 things to…’ and ’25 ways to…’ type posts. His posts are informative, accurate and easy to understand. The blog covers a variety of topics that related to eCommerce and marketing including branding, customer service, email promotions, local, video, search engines, SEO/SEM and much much more. Back in January we were lucky enough to get a spot on his blogroll, which we greatly appreciate and eventually led to this BIG Thanks. Sorry for taking so long to credit you for adding us Justin, we are proud to be listed on your blogroll and appreciate you sharing our eCommerce blog with your readers. I really look forward to watching Justin’s blog grow and urge any of our readers to stop by and have a look at the topics, content and links he provides. Thanks so much for adding eCopt to your blogroll Justin, we appreciate the support and being mentioned on a top-notch blog like yours. Keep up the excellent work!!

Next, I want to give a BIG Thanks shout out to Cartfly and the author at Cartfly Chronicles blog…

These folks develop a new eCommerce widget and application that allows sellers to publish products on nearly any page that accepts HTML, including Facebook and MySpace. They recently switched over from their Blogger blog to a WordPress hosted blog and updated their blogroll, which we now appear on. Cartfly is well worth checking out, if you haven’t already. It’s a sleek, clean widget builder and catalog that accepts PayPal for payments. Their blog is home to all things Cartfly, including updates, their story and release notes. Cartfly Chronicles blog is just getting up and going, but it will certainly be a blog worth watching in the future, especially if you’re an eCommerce widget/application junkie like me! Thanks so much for adding us to your blogroll, we greatly appreciate your support and encouragement and wish you the best of luck in your service ventures. Keep up the great work on Cartfly.

Lastly, I want to personally thank Richly Chheuy, author at MediaChase .NET eCommerce blog…

I don’t get a chance to dabble a whole lot in .NET eCommerce, however since I live in Microsoft country I can’t seem to get away from it. In addition, .NET eCommerce bloggers are beginning to expand in the space and post on new advancements in the .NET world. The folks at MediaChase seem to have it down. Richly’s blog is rather new to me, however from what I have seen so far, there appears to be a variety of posts covering a variety of topics that provide trusted information and advice. The blog categories include ajax, eCommerce, framework, Web 2.0, tips, tutorials and much more. Thanks so much for adding us to your blogroll Richly, we appreciate the support and link more than you know! I will continue to drop by and check on your guys over at MediaChase, hopefully you continue on your path and keep up the great posts and topics on the .NET eCommerce blog. See you around.

Blogs that mentioned us in a post or article:

I really want to give a BIG Thanks to Carlos del Rio, author at 100 Dollar SEO…

I’ve actually had a chance to meet Carlos, I believe it was at the SEOmoz Training Seminar in Seattle, but doesn’t really matter where. He is one of the brightest persona’s in the biz that I have had the privilege of meeting face to face. We had a beer and took some time to discuss some of the hottest industry topics. Carlos is an expert landing page designer (got second place in SEOmoz’s contest) and usability expert, as well as the self-proclaimed ‘Sexiest Man in Search.’ His blog is written very elegantly, with his own unique twist on the industry. I like the fact that he posts a ton on cheaper ways to get marketing methods started and getting the most out of your marketing dollar. 100 Dollar SEO blog covers topics including analytics, blogging, design, linking, rep. management, social media, search engines and, of course, landing pages. I can’t wait to see Carlos’ blog and career blossom to it’s potential, he really does deserve it with all the hard work and giving back to the industry. Thanks so much for mentioning us in your SEO for 100 Dollars post, we greatly appreciate the link and mention. By the way, my last name is Franklin. Keep up the quality blogging and research Carlos!

Next, I want to thank the ShoppersMap Experts, authors at ShoppersMap blog…

ShoppersMap is certainly worthy of a Big Thanks for recently linking out to our PayPal Storefront Widgets article. ShoppersMap operates a network and family of printed guides to antique and retro shops throughout Southern California and are currently working on building the new online presence of the ShoppersMap Network. The blog is completely new to me, however I really like the concept behind it, the niche they fill and their blog theme color scheme. I love those who are passionate about their industry and community and these guys seem to be just that type. Thanks a ton for mentioning us in your PayPal Widget post, we truly appreciate the support and link love. i look forward to checking in on your blog from time to time, keep up the quality work.

Foreign language blogs that added us to a blogroll or mentioned us:

The first foreign blog author I would like to thank is Eric, from SuperFiction…

SuperFiction is a French language blog that has been in existence for quite awhile, going back to around May 2006. Topics range from eCommerce, design and usability to mobile, Web 2.0 and buzz marketing. I do not get time to translate and read blogs in languages other than English often, however I always seem to find myself going through the trouble to take a peak at Eric’s content. He has a good writing style, provides informative advice and has been blogging for a couple years now. Thanks so much for adding us to your blogroll on SuperFiction, we appreciate your support and link Eric. Sorry it took so long for me to add you to our Big Thanks, you certainly have been patient and, in my opinion, deserve the link and credit for all your hard work. Keep it up, look forward to seeing more of your stuff in the future.

Next, I really want to thank Daniel Broche, author at the Daniel Broche blog…

Daniel Broche is another French language blog. It’s actually a really sweet one, in my opinion. They have been posting for awhile, have many subscribers and offer a ton of valuable resources related to eCommerce and selling online. Daniel recently added us to his blogroll, which we really appreciate. Thanks for the support and link, it’s an honor to be listed on a trusted resource like the one you manage. Categories cover a variety of topics including eCommerce, technology, ideas, projects, finance and perspective. Look forward to seeing more juicy content from you Daniel, thanks again for all your support over the months, keep it up.

Well, I guess that does it for the Bigger BIG Thanks catchup. I thought there would be more, and there might be some that I missed. If you linked to us, mentioned us or added us to your blogroll from January to April, be sure and send me the link in which our blog appears, we will be sure to get you mentioned in another installment of BIG Thanks. Look forward to more BIG Thanks link love in the future.

As always, you can grab our articles feed or subscribe via email for updates delivered to you!

So, it’s probably no secret to most of you who are regular readers here that I have been on a break for about the past two months. The beginning of the year is typically my busiest time (from January until taxes are done), hence I felt the need for a little break from blogging and posting here in order to a: spend more time with loved ones, b: spend more time catching up around the house, c: spend more time on my own eCommerce stores, d: spend more time catching up at my full-time job and e: spend more time on a few very important projects I have been working on.

Fortunately, I have been able to accomplish nearly all of the things above that were bogging me down and keeping me from being at the top of my game each and every day. So, for awhile at least, I will be back in the game and posting here at eCommerce Optimization again regularly.

I want to remind our readers that this blog, the content on it and the purposes I intended for it being available are all extremely important to me personally. I definitely intend on continuing with it as planned, even if there are a few instances where a break or two is needed. You see, I don’t currently make any extra income from my blog (except a few consulting gigs here and there), so it’s sometimes necessary for me to “pay the bills.” In instances where I need to focus on the monetary side of things, I’ll be sure to do a better job of informing everyone as to my absence and the expected data of return.

It’s strange, since I am still pretty new to the blogging game is always surprises me that there are so many dedicated readers of this blog that I certainly do not want to let down or keep waiting for more juicy tips. I’m not quite used to planning that far ahead in advance and should be doing a better job of letting all of you loyal readers know exactly what is going on, when it happens or before (I like to be as transparent as possible with my readers).

I am working on lining up a few very good guest bloggers who can step in and post some helpful articles, interviews or commentary in the event of my absence. Also, I plan on adding a ton more “back content” to fill in areas that are lacking on the site, so there should be a bunch of new stuff mixed in with the old for readers who may have read every single piece of content on the blog so far.

In short, I am back in the blogging game, I apologize to those of you who couldn’t live without eCopt the past two months and pledge to do a better job updating readers in my absence in the future including finding quality posters to contribute. Glad to back reporting again, feels like it’s been ages (I guess the eCommerce world moves fast). In the near future, look for the continuation of our Store Spotlight series, CSE series and the beginning of a new series dedicated to local search entities.

In case you haven’t noticed, be sure to check out our first, “Back In The Game” article with Stuart Larkins of DoubleClick Performics.

To catch up on past BIG Thanks articles simply visit Our Site News section.

Blogs that added us to their blogroll:

I would like to give a BIG Thanks to the author of Ecommerce Tutorials…

This site is new on my radar, however it has a pretty good domain name and the content seems to be pretty accurate. Although it is just getting going, there are plenty of beginner and intermediate lesson on the site already for others to check out. Topics range from beginning eCommerce articles about whether it’s right for you, choosing your sales medium, deciding on the right cart, tax info and shipping tutorials to information about accepting credit cards including the basics, definitions for merchant accounts, payment gateways and chargebacks. I look forward to seeing what the author puts together in the future, I bookmarked the site for later review and urge others who like the existing content to do the same. Thanks so much for adding us to your blogroll Ecommerce Tutorials, we appreciate the support and link love so very much, keep up the good work on your site.

Another blogroller I need to thank is Christian Delvaux, author at WebOutside.be…

I don’t speak fluent French, but I did get a chance to translate this French blog and was impressed by the content and delivery. The blog covers a variety of topics including information about business, internet and technology. It also has some fun and personality categories including one on humor, a diving category and even a whole category dedicated to Mac. The blog is rather new to the sphere, however there is quite a nice collection of posts building up, I suggest anyone who reads French to check it out. Thanks so much for adding us to your blogroll Christian, your support means a lot, we wouldn’t be where we are without others like you. Good luck with the blog, hope to see you go far.

Blogs that mentioned us in a post or article:

The first BIG Thanks for link mentions goes out to the folks at FlipSeek and Live Link Video…

We posted about these two companies this past week and reported about their innovative idea surrounding hypervideo and hyperlink video shopping. They were kind enough to add us to both site news pages, which we really appreciate, especially as their product has been getting a lot of buzz lately. I haven’t seen a blog from either company, but that would be a really great blogging niche, so I hope they decide to become the blogoshere analysts on hypervideos and live links from within media content. Thanks so much for adding our article link to your news pages guys, it’s awesome to see what you have put together and the amazing turn around time you offer for video reformatting. Keep up the great work on your products, look forward to seeing you evolve in the space.

Next, I want to personally thank Larry Sullivan, author at Local Biz Bits…

This blog covers tons of quality information for small business owners and concentrates on local search marketing topics. Other topics include conferences or events, listing with yellow pages, linking, mobile, social and even web design. The blog is newer to me, but I did subscribe to the feed and will continue to tune in for more local search goodness. Thanks so much for mentioning us in your local do-it-yourself resource roundup Larry, we greatly appreciate the link love and mention on your blog. I look forward to reading future posts and wish you the best of luck in all your ventures. BTW, I also wanted to thank you for you Sphinn support recently!

Another blogger I want to thank is Robert Carter, author at WebTigerSEO…

The WebTigerSEO blog is rather new to the blogosphere, but has already begun to make a mark in the space. The categories, articles and content topics are vast and the writing style is excellent. Although there are roughly less than 20 posts, the ones that are there provide generally good information. Categories include blogging, link building, local SEO, PPC, reputation management, social media, SEO and web design. The blogroll provides links to other excellent SEO bloggers. Thanks so much for the post mention this past week Robert. We truly appreciate your support and the link you provided to our local listing guide. I look forward to seeing where you take you blog, keep up the good work.

Lastly, I wanted to personally thank Jon Pape, author at Neurohancer blog…

This past week Jon featured one of our guides in one of his Cool Web things posts. We made the list with other prestigious blogs like Copyblogger, eMarketingPerformance, DoshDosh, SearchEngineLand and more. Jon’s blog is rather new to me though the content appears to be quality (archives go back to November of 2007). Categories include business, marketing, SEO/SEM, technology, web design and more. I like the Cool Web things series the best out of what I have read (no, not because we were listed in one, because they are great weekly roundups). Thanks so much for linking to us this past week Jon, the support and link are greatly appreciated. I enjoyed browsing through your blog, look forward to more from you in the future.

Forums that mentioned us in a thread or resource:

Only forum is Local Biz Builders and Brian Cook started the thread…

I haven’t joined or used this forum in the past however it appears to be quite a good resource for local marketers and industries surrounding local promotion. The forum currently has about 877 posts in 186 topics by 87 members. The forum seems new and on the smaller side, but I did read some really quality discussions on many of the threads there. If you are a forum addict and can’t keep all your profiles straight, this is certainly another one you should join. Thanks so much for mentioning us in your thread Brian, the link and exposure on your forum is fantastic, we really appreciate it. I like the theme you have installed on Local Biz builders, the topics seem to be coming along nicely. Keep up the good work, hope to see your member count skyrocket soon. Thanks again.

Well, that wraps up this weeks BIG Thanks shout outs. I am so very grateful to all our blog supporters, week after week. My only hope when first starting out as an eCommerce blogger was to reach people who I could potentially help and offer my personal insights into topics surrounding the industry. So far, it has all gone so much better than I could have possibly imagined. Through the power of the Web, technology and blogging software, not only are we able to reach our target audiences, hopefully we have been able to share thoughts and ideas with others who are interested in learning what we cover on the blog.

Really, thanks again everyone, your support is much appreciated.

To read past BIG Thanks articles, simply visit Our Site News and use the pagination at the bottom.

Here’s this weeks lineup in no particular order…

Blogs that added us to their blogroll:

A great BIG Thanks to Brennan Heyde, author at .MVC Madness…

This community is new to me, however it looks to be off to a spectacular start. I can’t say for sure how long it’s been around (looks really new as the blog and forum are still being developed), but the content and topics seem to cover nearly everything related to MIVA Merchant Stores (once it’s all in place). I like the niche sites like these that focus on one particular topic or another related to the eCommerce space. I saw another blog recently just on Zen Cart, this one reminded me of that, only Miva instead. I can’t wait to see how the .MVC community blossoms over the next couple of months and beyond. Thanks so much for linking to us from your blogroll Brennan, we greatly appreciate the support. I wish you all the best during the development of your new site catering to Miva merchants, it looks like it will be quite a task with all those different sections and all the content that needs to be developed.

Blogs that mentioned us in a post or article:

First, I want to personally thank Kay Frenzer, author at Real Estate Blog…

Kay is a Real Estate SEO professional who blogs regularly on the ActiveRain Real Estate Network. I don’t work directly in the real estate space so I am not personally familiar with Kay’s blog, however I have done a little bit of SEO on real estate sites in the past and have used many of the same tactics that she blogs about regularly. The blog is fairly new with posts spanning back to October of 2007, but there are plenty of sprinkles of great information within the posts that are in the archives. Many of her posts have generated quite a few comments, that’s always a sign of a quality blog. Thanks so much for mentioning our Local Listing guide Kay. I am encouraged by links and support from other like yourself, so know that I really appreciate the link love and mention.

Next, I should thank Manish Pandey, author of SEO Expert India blog…

This blog is not new to me, in fact I visit Manish’s blog from time to time and pick up fresh news and insights. The blog is roughly 9 or 10 months old and has quite a bit of useful, informative, relative content to the SEO/SEM space in general. Topics on the blog include Google, link building, making money, blogging, SEO, social networking and more. Be sure to grab the RSS feed once you are there as the Link Love posts are always worth reading. In fact, Manish was mentioned on this weeks BIG Thanks for mentioning us in his Link Love post from Wednesday. We really appreciate the link and support Manish, I am impressed with how far your blog has come and the quality of the content there, keep it up and best wishes.

Lastly, but certainly not least there’s Mathew Guiver, author at his personal blog…

Here’s another blog that’s completely new to me (I can’t believe all the bloggers out there with something to say, it’s great). Mathew’s blog covers topics related to search engine marketing in general. Categories include advice, articles, news, good reads, SEO and more. The blog is about 6 months old with a handful of post collected over that time. Thanks a ton for linking to our Local Listing Guide this past week Mathew, the support is much appreciated. I wish you the best on all future ventures including your blog and consulting business. Thanks again.

Forums that mentioned us in a thread or resource:

Only one forum, it’s The Warrior Forum and brunoski started the thread…

Haven’t used this forum before however the tagline below the log claims it’s the number one internet marketing forum since 1997, so it has been around quite awhile and most likely has quite a collection of useful threads and thread topics to search through and read. From the stats it appears as though currently, 29,688 of 68,706 members have made 96,6264 posts within 14 forums. There are currently 108,047 topics. That’s quite a big forum, it’s great to see that there’s so many individuals out there interested in Online marketing and business over the Internet. It always amazes me to see how many people actively participate in user forums like The Warrior Forum, can’t believe I hadn’t seen them in the past (maybe I just don’t recall it). Anyway, thanks so much for starting the thread mentioning our Local Listing Guide. We’ll take support from wherever we can get it and it’s always appreciated whether it is a blog or forum that links to us (even if they are nofollowed, I still appreciate the traffic they send).

Well, that wraps up this weeks installment of our BIG Thanks Series. As always, if you haven’t check them out before, BIG Thanks posts are available through our main articles feed as well as our site updates feed. Subscribe to either of those and get real time updates on future BIG Thanks post delivered to you. See you all next week for more links and blogs.

Categories for the different business portals include local search engines, yellow pages, local meta crawlers, business data providers and even local social networks.

Accessing The Local/Business Guide:

The Local Search Engine guide can be accessed by visiting the url location directly or from the merchant help and featured guides box located near the top of the sidebar on each and every page. I am also working on a main guides page which will appear within the main navigation below the header. The new guides page will list and link directly to every guide offered on our blog.

Local/Business Guide Categories:

Like other pages and guides on our blog, the local search and business listing guide feature navigation within the page for easier access to sections that appear further down the pages. Using the red colored navigation will make it easier to jump from category to category within the guide page only. You can also access each section of the page by visiting the corresponding links below.

• Local Search Engines
• Internet Yellow Pages
• Local Meta Crawlers
• Business Data Providers
• Local Social Networks

Using The Local/Business Guide:

Using the local search and business listing guide couldn’t be easier. Simply begin at the top and click the corresponding links for each listing to get your account, get your business listed or alternatively you can choose to find out more about the site you are listing with. In the future we plan on adding additional useful information or links within the individual sections for each site within the guide, but for now, all you need to get your business listings is available for you to view and use, if you choose.

We recommend listing with as many of the FREE sites as possible in order to gain an understanding of how they all work, what is required and as a way to foresee what purchased options may yield in return. Near the bottom of the guide you will find sections relating to help using this guide along with instructions on submitting feedback, updates, suggestions or praise (we appreciate them all, so be sure to share if you feel it will benefit our community).

I hope you get a lot of use out of this guide in the future and continue to share our resources with others who may be in need of them. Look for more featured guides to be released in the near future, along with updates to current guides, articles, features and sections.

First, I would like to give a BIG Thanks out to Brian Smith, author of Comparison Engines blog…

One blogger not only added us to his blogroll this week, but also linked to our blog from a post. If you’re not already familiar with Comparison Engines or Brian Smith, be sure to check out the article we wrote on his recent blog redesign. I currently subscribe to both of Brian’s blogs along with the blog he writes at SingleFeed. I urge anyone who has not already grabbed his feed, to subscribe to it ASAP as you are missing out on some great insights from a professional CSE guru. This past week, Brian redesigned his blog, adding our site to his prestigious blogroll. In addition, Brian also linked to us from a post he wrote about the blog redesign. Thanks so much for adding us to your blogroll and linking to our blog Brian, we really appreciate the link love, support and insights you provide on your blogs. Keep it up, see you around the industry.

Blogs that mentioned us in a post or article:

Next, we can’t forget about Linda Bustos, author at Get Elastic blog…

Linda recently began a new weekly series called Bloggers Digest where she rounds up different post from the industry and links to them with a bit of commentary about each one. It’s a great series and the most recent one got them a mention on this weeks BIG Thanks for linking to our eCommerce blogs and information sites article. If you haven’t subscribed to or read the Get Elastic blog you need to drop everything and go there now to subscribe to their feed and bookmark their page. It’s certainly one resource worth mentioning time and time again and something no eTailer should be without. Thanks so much for linking to us this past week Linda, we really appreciate the continued support from you and the team over at Get Elastic. Keep it up and Happy New Year.

Well, I think that’s it for this weeks BIG Thanks shout outs. It’s great to be able to thank different sites and authors each week, I really enjoy doing these articles and discovering new blogs or authors each week. It never gets old I tell you! Remember, if you happen to mention eCommerce Optimization on your own blog, or add us to your blogroll, we might just feature you in one of the BIG Thanks articles. Past BIG Thanks posts can be found here.

On to the BIG Thanks for this week.

Blogs that mentioned us in a post or article:

The only author we have to thank is Stephan Spencer, for a post he wrote on Search Engine Land…

Stephan also authors his own blog at Stephanspencer.com, called Stephan Spencer’s Scatterings. I recommend anyone not already familiar with this blog, or Search Engine Land to check them both out as soon as you can, you are definitely missing out on some great insights from terrific authors on the subjects of search, marketing, SEO, blogging, design and of course, eCommerce. While you are visiting be sure to grab each blog’s RSS feed to add to your reader of choice, that way you never miss out on new tidbits of knowledge from seasoned pros. Stephan linked to us from his article on sculpting PageRank, it appeared on Search Engine Land on December 20th. Thanks so much for linking to our Hot 100 Retail Websites post, we greatly appreciate the support and link love. Keep up the good work on your personal blog as well as any other blogging gigs you currently have. I always enjoy your posts on SEL.

That wraps up our one BIG Thanks. Remember, if you happen to mention eCommerce Optimization on your own blog or add us to your blogroll, we might just feature you in one of our BIG thanks articles. Until next week.

Anyway, lets get into the BIG Thanks for this week.

Blogs that mentioned us in a post or article:

First, I want to thank Tamar Weinberg, author at Techipedia…

Tamar is an excellent blogger, one who I have become very fond of reading over the last year or so. Techipedia is a great resource for anyone interested in Google, blogging, business, social media, viral marketing, industry events, SEO, web design and more. Tamar has been blogging at Techipedia since around September of 2006, so there’s plenty of content to keep a new reader busy. If you are a fan of RSS, then I suggest adding the Techipedia feed to your daily list. If you’re anything like me you’ll find yourself going back regularly. I had the chance to meet Tamar personally at PubCon and she is just as delightful in person as in her blog posts, really. Thanks so much for mentioning us and linking to our blog in your PubCon recap, we really appreciate the support and link love. Keep up the excellent blogging and hopefully the moderation job at Sphinn is going well for you too. See you at the next major event.

Next, is a personal thanks to Scot Wingo, author of CSE Strategies blog…

Scot’s blog is one of my personal favorites on the subject of comparison shopping engines. He’s the CEO of ChannelAdvisor, an eCommerce channel management solution. This blog is also featured on our best eCommerce blogs and information sites article. CSE Strategies is a great read and I urge anyone who hasn’t already to subscribe to the feed so you never miss a post on Scot’s blog. CSE Strategies made this weeks BIG Thanks for linking to our article on Google Base renaming their bulk upload tab to data feeds. Thanks so much for mentioning our blog and linking to our content Scot. We appreciate the link love and support from such an influential blog and eCommerce professional. Keep up the great work at ChannelAdvisor and on CSE Strategies, I enjoy reading your content and will continue to drop by from time to time and comment on some of your posts.

Foreign language blogs that mentioned us in a post or article:

Lastly, I would like to thank Fred Cavazza, author of his personal blog…

Fred’s blog is new to me and I do not speak French fluently so I have yet to read any of his posts (other than the one he linked to us from). It appears to be a good blog design, offers plenty of content and appeals to a wide range of topic browsers. Some of the topics on Fred’s blog include blogging, Web 2.0, usability, rich interfaces, user experience, management, Google, web design, eCommerce, marketing and much more. I recommend anyone who reads French blogs to check out Fred’s. Thanks a ton for mentioning our blog and linking to our article from your blog Fred, we really appreciate the support and link. Keep up the quality blogging.

Well, that wraps up our BIG Thanks for this week ending December 14th. Check back next week for more thank you shout outs to other authors, blogs, and sites that either support, link to or mention eCommerce Optimization in their content. If you manage a blog of your own and link to us, add us to your blogroll or mention us in a post, you may end up on one of our weekly BIG Thanks articles.

On to the BIG Thanks for this week…

Blogs that mentioned us in a post or article:

The first BIG Thanks for this week goes out to Barry Schwartz, author at Search Engine Land…

If you’re not already in-tune with search and haven’t heard of Search Engine Land, you should definitely be aware of it and add it to your daily blog list or subscribe to their RSS feed. It’s a blog by influential search professionals like Danny Sullivan, Vanessa Fox, Barry Schwartz and many more quality suthors and contributors. The site features content and topics across a variety of popular search categories including everything Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and other search engines, like Ask.com. It also features regular columns and a wide variety of information on searching, marketing and even industry conferences or events. Search Engine Land made this weeks BIG Thanks for mentioning our Froogle Remnants article in one of their daily SearchCap columns, specifically the one from December 4th. Thanks so much for adding our site on your prestigious SearchCap list Barry, we really appreciate the coverage and link love. Keep up the great work on Search Engine Land, see you at the next major event.

Next, I would like to thank Nicolas Leroy, author of his personal blog…

This blog is new to me personally and fairly new to the Web (archives go back to August 2007), but includes some terrific content about CSE’s, social shopping and even some Web 2.0 stuff. Nicolas Leroy blog covers a variety of other topics including photography, general topics and green topics. I have added it to my list of blogs to look into again and urge others with similar interests to do the same. Nicolas is French and it does cover some French topics also, but the blog is written in English. Thanks so much for mentioning our Google Product Search updates article on your blog Nicolas, we really appreciate the support and link love. Keep up the quality writing/blogging.

Foreign language blogs that mentioned us in a post or article:

The foreign language thanks this week goes to the author of ikom.fr blog…

This blog is brand new (archives go back to September 2007), but features some pretty good content. They should consider changing their WordPress theme from the default, but obviously content is what counts. The blog covers topics including U.S. and French eCommerce, marketing and click and mortar. Thanks so much for mentioning our 21 shopping cart best practices post in your article, we really appreciate the link and support. Keep up the hard work on your blog.

Well, that’s it for this weeks BIG Thanks. I appreciate all the support and links from all of you out in the blogosphere. Remember, if you mention us, link to us or add us to your blogroll, you may just get featured in one of our weekly BIG Thanks articles.

The first BIG Thanks is for Gabriel Goldenberg, author on YOUmoz, the SEOmoz UGC blog…

If you are not already familiar with YOUmoz, it’s a user generated content bog maintained by the bloggers at SEOmoz. Basically, anyone can sign up for an SEOmoz account using your email and password you can login and write or contribute posts, case studies, articles, opinions, lists, whatever to the YOUmoz section on SEOmoz. It’s a great way to test your blogging skills, knowledge or to gain feedback from others, it’s also a great place to network with other search marketers and search industry professionals. Gabriel linked to our blog from one of the posts he wrote on YOUmoz which listed 5 bloggers from Sphinn and YOUmoz that he recommended others should subscribe to. I am not listed in the main five bloggers, but rather as an additional one worth checking out near the bottom of the post. When I first read the post and saw my name with the others in the listings I was blown away. No way I consider myself in with the bloggers he listed, but it was flattering to see and I really appreciate the mention, along with the link to our blog. Thanks so much Gab, it’s been great reading your contributions over at YOUmoz and on SEOroi, keep up the terrific blogging and topics.

Foreign language blogs that mentioned us in a post or article:

This BIG Thanks is for Jochen Krisch, author of Exciting Commerce…

Exciting Commerce is a Typepad blog written in German. The blog looks to be well written and has quite a bit of original content surrounding the eCommerce space. There’s a lot of content on social shopping and shopping services, so if you read fluent German, please don’t hesitate to check out Exciting Commerce’s blog. I don’t regularly read German, however I did translate the post that Jochen linked to us from, our Internet Retailer Hot 100. Thanks so much for mentioning our post and linking to our article on the Hot 100 eCommerce sites for 2008. Keep up the quality blogging and thanks for continuing to help report happenings in the world of eCommerce.

That’s it for this weeks BIG Thanks. I know, only two this week. Hopefully there’s more next week, I enjoy analyzing and discovering new blogs, even the foreign language ones. Hope you liked this weeks article and check out next weeks BIG Thanks. Don’t forget, if you happen to mention eCommerce Optimization on your own blog or add us to your blogroll, we might just feature you in one of our BIG thanks articles.

This time around I mostly concentrated on reader and comment features that I hope will help to make our community even more enjoyable for our readers, especially those who comment on blog articles regularly. There are also some new additions to our blog sidebar that help tie in many of the comment features that were added.

So, what are the new features? Check them out and be sure to leave your feedback in the comments…

Sidebar Navigation – Top 5 Latest Comments & Recently or Most Commented:

I added some more navigation options to the sidebar which include the top 5 links to our latest comments, recently commented articles and most commented articles. Each heading also has an ‘All’ link next to it which takes you to the appropriate page on our blog featuring the top 50 latest comments, recently commented or most commented articles. The new comment navigation show up on the sidebar below our MyBLogLog readers and fans section.

New Recently & Most Commented Articles Page:

In addition to the sidebar navigation for the top 5 recently or most commented articles, we also added a new page which features the top 50 for each. Now readers or commentators can easily find and track content that has been commented on most or recent article comments all from one page. Each section is updated in real time.

Separate Comments & Trackbacks:

We used to have comments and trackbacks/pingbacks all showing up in the same area below each post. In order to add many of the other new features discussed on this page I had to separate them. Separation is not necessarily a bad thing, it personally bugs me when blogs have them all showing in the comments area, I just haven’t had the motivation to get it done on our blog. Guess the new comments features motivated me to finally get it done, so enjoy the separated comments and links back. Links back currently show up under the single article page comments, if there are comments available.

New Comments Subscription Options:

In an effort to boost overall reader subscriptions and keep commentators coming back, we decided to add in comment subscription options in addition to our standard feed, email and bookmark subscription options. The new comment subscriptions appear below the comments text area and allow readers to get notifications via email when comments are updated. Readers can also subscribe to comments without actually leaving a comment by entering their email into the appropriate form field. By default, the subscription box is checked and the comment without subscribing field appears below the comment text area on all single article pages.

New Reader Comment Box Headings:

You will also probably notice that there are new and improved reader comment boxes near the bottom of each single article page (the ones that have comments). I added a bit more separation to help users better distinguish between the different commentators, as well as an area to highlight the author of each comment. You will notice that it is much easier to tell where one comments ends and another begins. Later on, I may style my (eCopt) comments a little differently, but for now I think the added single pixel border and grayish background in the author name area does the trick.

Comments Box Reply & Permalink Navigation:

In addition to new comment box headings, there is also new navigation within the lower left area of each comment box. It’s not typical navigation like links from one page to the next, they are more like controls for commentators. The first two controls allow readers to reply to a comment or fetch the comment permalink (in order to link to specific comments). The reply control puts the comment text from the box you selected to reply to within the comment text area field wrapped with quote tags. Our site does not feature nested comments and the plugins available for it do not play well with my theme, so in my opinion, this is the next best thing. It allows commentators to easily see who has replied to their specific comment. If you aren’t replying to someone, simply use the comment text are as usual. The permalink control is great for linking to specific comments you have made or for referencing a specific comment on our blog.

Latest, Recent & Most Comments Navigation:

We already went over the latest, recent and most commented sidebar sections and the pages which feature the top 50 for each, but there is one more place where readers can quickly and easily access these blog sections, the comments box navigation. Next to the reply and permalink feature are links to the previously mentioned sections. We wanted to make it easy for commentators or readers to see their latest comment or find other content to comment on. The links for these pages appear right after the comment reply and permalink controls.

Reader Rating & Comment Thumbs:

One of my favorite of the new features are the reader rating and comment thumbs that now appear directly under each comment authors avatar. The avatars and comment thumbs are aligned right for easy reference by readers or commentators. To use the thumb system, simply click the blue up or red down thumbs, depending on whether you think the comment you are rating deserves a thumb up or down. Once a user has voted, the thumbs will turn gray and you will see the number next to the thumbs move either up or down (upon refresh), depending on what you, or others, have thumbed. Pretty cool right? Not only that, but the author name also appears before the thumbs so it’s easy to see who you are rating (another reason for the comment separation and comment box headings).

New Reader Ratings & Comments Thumbs Page (with avatars and links):

Finally, the best for last!! Well, almost last, we have one more little thing to mention after this. My favorite feature to announce would have to be our new reader ratings and comment thumbs page. It is the page that keeps track of all the thumbs up or thumbs down a reader receives and also lists things like total thumbs and total comments for the whole site. Not only that, but reader avatars and links back to their personal sites are included. Readers are then ranked depending on the number of thumbs up minus the downs. If there is a tie in the normal rating scale, the total comments will be used to determine the rating order. What are you waiting for, go check out our newly launched reader ratings page, and start commenting so you can get some thumbs and potentially a link to your personal site from that page. For specific details about the reader rating table columns, refer to the table key. Avatars are updated using MyBlogLog and a Yahoo! ID.

Reader Ratings Navigation:

The final navigation element to the comments box area is a link to the previously mentioned reader ratings page. For the same reasons we linked to the latest, most and recent comments sections we have also linked to the main reader ratings page. It is there to keep commentators motivated and so they can keep track of how many thumbs up or down they get. The ratings link is right after the reply, permalink, latest, recent and most links. It’s the closest one to the actual thumb ratings for each comment.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts:

Whew, that pretty much sums up everything I accomplished over the break. As you can see I worked on this relentlessly in an attempt to have it up and running smoothly for today, barely made it. I also had some articles to update and few new ones to write, so I managed to get those done too. One post I updated worth mentioning again is the SEOmoz Premium Membership Rating and Reviews article.

I hope you all enjoy the new eCommerce Optimization blog features, I am eager to hear your feedback, so please don’t hesitate to speak your mind and let me know exactly what you think about all the new features, or even just one.

Blogs that mentioned us in a post or article:

The first BIG Thanks goes out to Gary Price and Shirl Kennedy, editors of ResourceShelf.

For those of you not already familiar with ResourceShelf, it’s basically a site where several editors scour the Web in search of topical information and content that is of the highest quality, very authoritative or from a trusted source or author. It was founded by the two authors mentioned above. I have used, subscribed and read ResourceShelf for quite some time now. It is a regularly linked to source on Danny Sullivans’ Search Engine Land, specifically the Daily SearchCaps. I recommend anyone interested in search news, Web 2.0, domains, online education, online resources, RSS, analytics, statistics, multi-media, social networking and much more definitely check out ResourceShelf and subscribe to their RSS feed. Thanks so much for linking to our interview with Jon Glick about Become.com, we really appreciate getting mentioned on such an authoritative, prestigious site such as ResourceShelf.

A BIG Thanks goes out to authors Sreecharan and Shashikanth, of ecomZera Blog…

This blog is completely new to me, however I do like the fun and creativity they use in posts and other blog sections and the blog is not new to the blogosphere (archives go back to May 2006). ecomZera covers topics ranging from content, tech, links, marketing, general topics to fun categories like party time, CEO ranting, sandwich boards and more. I recommend checking it out if you’re looking for a broad range of topics from more than one author. ecomZera made the BIG Thanks list for linking to two of our articles this week, one on the top eCommerce blogs and our shopping cart usability best practices post. Thanks to both of you for linking to our articles and helping to spread the word about how to succeed in the world of eCommerce. keep up the excellent work on your blog, content and topics, I will stop by from time to time and read some more.

Foreign language blogs that mentioned us in a post or article:

This weeks only foreign language thank you goes to Thomas Lang, author at Carpathia blog…

Thomas mentioned our Internet Retailer Hot 100 article in a list format roundup of the different categories and percentage chart we made. The blog is written in German although it is on a Swiss domain name. It appears to be a well written blog with lots of content (going back to February 2006). Thanks so much for mentioning and linking to our categorized version of the Internet Retailer Hot 100, we really appreciate the support. Keep up the great work on your e-business blog.

Well, that pretty much wraps up this weeks BIG Thanks shout outs. Remember, if you happen to mention eCommerce Optimization on your own blog, or add us to your blogroll, it may lead to you and your blog getting featured in one of the weekly BIG Thanks articles here.

I try as hard as humanly possible to get each BIG Thanks posted THE week they are actually live on the Net, however there are some sites, blogs and links that slip through the cracks or that I don't notice until later on. In addition, I recently just started adding in foreign blogs into the mix, so any foreign language blogs that linked to us in the past or mentioned us in a post or blogroll may be getting listed even though they linked to us a month ago. Hope this answers the question, feel free to leave me a message in the comments or through the contact form if you need a better explanation.

On to the thank yous…

Blogs that added us to their blogroll:

The blogroll thanks for this week goes to Jeroen Korving, author of Eye on European E-commerce…

Recently, Jeroen added us to his blogroll along with other trusted world eCommerce resources including Get Elastic, Techcrunch, Business 2.0, CSE Strategies and Comparison Engines. Wow, I am really flattered to be linked to in a blogroll with so many other great sites and eCommerce industry authors. This isn’t the first time I have seen and read this blog, it has been around since about July 2007 and continues to report top-notch news, commentary and happenings about the European E-commerce market. Topics include analysis, comparison shopping, e-business, acquisitions, statistics and unique ideas for merchants. I have added this blog to my watch list and will continue to check out what Jeroen has to say regarding overseas eCommerce. Thanks so much for adding our site to your blogroll, we really appreciate the link support and traffic you have sent so far, keep up the god writing and topical content. I look forward to seeing what you come up with in the future.

Blogs that mentioned us in a post or article:

A BIG Thanks shout out goes to Yan Bezugliy, author of ProBargainHunter.com blog…

This blog is one I recently discovered and took a liking to immediately, mostly due to the fact that I love bargain deal sites and news, but also because of his writing style and content offering. Yan has done a great job on the blog, which covers topics ranging from business, saving money and shopping to tips, tools and lists about bargains, deals and coupons. I have subscribed to ProBargainHunter and will be watching it for awhile in my feed reader as it looks like a great resource to have on hand. I really appreciate the support and link Yan, you have done a wonderful job on the blog, topics and content, I look forward to seeing more of your posts in the future. Keep up the good work and bargain reporting, see you in the sphere.

Next, we would like to thank Kim Roach, author of ZanyPixel…

This blog is rather new to the blogosphere (archives go back to October 2007), however Kim is certainly off to a great start, I have read quite a few hidden gems or content so far and there’s only a few months worth of posts to go through, not bad. ZanyPixel covers topics including link building, Photoshop, social media and more site tips or showcase posts. The article that Kim linked to us from is a great resource for link builders and actually gives away quite a few secrets of the pros and tactics that have been used, but rarely are brought up or spoken about through blogs or social sites. I have added Kim’s blog to my watch list and will continue to tune in to her new content. I recommend anyone interested in these topics to check it out too! Thanks so much for the mention and link Kim, we really appreciate the recent support. If you write one post a week like the 100+ post, you will certainly become one of my top blogs to read, good job. I look forward to seeing what you come up with in the future, plus I like you theme and colors.

The next author to thank is Jacob Wolfsheimer, author at WolfTrust, an Online marketing blog…

Jacob was kind enough to link to two of our articles this past week and barely made this BIG Thanks post as his Holiday tips article was written and discovered today! I recently found this blog, although it appears that Jacob has been posting off and on since October 2005 (posts have been more steady over the past 5 months). I have added it to my list of blogs to watch and will continue to tune in from time to time to see what Jacob has to say about the world of Online marketing. Thanks so much for not only mentioning one of our articles on your blog, but for going all out and linking to two of our posts, much appreciated. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the Holiday link roundup and discovered some great posts I hadn’t seen before, good job writing it. Keep up the quality writing and content delivery, see you around.

Well, I think that’s it for this weeks BIG Thanks shout outs. It’s great to be able to thank so many sites, blogs and authors each week (when we first started this series there was literally only one or two each week, now we get five to eleven pretty steadily). Remember, if you happen to mention eCommerce Optimization on your own blog, or add us to your blogroll, we might just feature you in one of the BIG Thanks articles here.

Ok, enough of that, on to this weeks BIG Thanks…

Blogs that added us to their blogroll:

First, I’d like to thank Christine O’Kelly, author of Self Made Chick blog…

Christine manages a bunch of Online businesses, but has also recently begun blogging about making money Online, working from home and her personal journey as an Online entrepreneur. This past week Christine added us to her blogroll on Self Made Chick. I love the theme of this blog, Cory Miller does a great job, he actually helped me out quite a bit on my blog theme. I have just recently discovered this blog and by the looks of things so far, it’s shaping up to be a great resource from a fine writer. I have added it to my list of blogs to watch and will remain subscribed to the feed. Topics covered range from blogging to networking and also include posts on freelancing, business development, opportunities and more. Thanks so much for linking to our site from your blogroll Christine, we really appreciate the support and wish you the best of luck on all your business ventures.

Next I want to thank Donna Miceli, author over at Searchfairies blog…

This blog covers a ton of topics that personally interest me including SEO, SEM, Online marketing, eCommerce and a bunch more search and marketing related niche topics. It is a great general resource for information relating to search and search engines. I am not really sure when Donna added us to the blogroll at Searchfairies, but I noticed it this past week so I am including it in this BIG Thanks. The blog looks rather new (archives go back to August 2007), but the content and theme look great and it’s an honor to appear on such a prestigious blogroll with sites such as Get Elastic, Comparison Engines, MarketingSherpa, Search Engine Land and Techcrunch. Nice work on the blog Donna, keep up the good work. I enjoyed your post on the Amazon redesign. THanks again for recognizing us on your blogroll and for the continued support.

That’s it for the Big Thanks post this week. If you happen to mention eCommerce Optimization on your own blog or add us to your blogroll, we might just feature you in one of our BIG thanks articles. As always, you can stay up to date on posts like this by grabbing our Articles Feed.

The following thank yous are in no particular order, I arrange them in order of discovery by me!

Blogs that added us to their blogroll:

The first blogroll blog thank you goes out to authors of The Ecommerce Blog…

The Ecommerce Blog has been on my radar for quite awhile and even has a permanent place on my favorite eCommerce blogs list. That’s why it was such a pleasure to see our site listed on their blogroll! I am not quite sure if it was this week or not that we got added, but I only noticed it there starting this week. They have been around since about August 2006 and cover topics ranging from customer service, web development, hosting, marketing, industry news, PPC and reviews to things like scripts, security, SEO and usability topics. It is certainly a good read and worth subscribing to, in my opinion. Thanks so much for adding us to your blogroll, we truly appreciate the support and mention along with the other prestigious sites listed on it. Keep up the quality blogging, look forward to seeing what you put together with it in the future.

Next, I want to thank the folks over at Online Profits blog…

This blog covers topics relating to earning profits from Online selling strategies and covers categories including affiliate marketing, affiliate news, money making basics, traffic generation and search engine marketing. I haven’t dug into this blog yet, but did save it for later review. I like the color scheme and many of the graphic icons they use. So far, the content I have seen has been pretty accurate and full of insight, so if you are interested in the topics they cover, definitely check them out. Thanks so much for adding our blog to your blogroll, we appreciate the support we get from being listed there. Keep doing what you’re doing, seems to be working well from what I can see.

Blogs that mentioned us in a post or article:

First, I want to mention a new blog I discovered from Rick Galan, author of MarketingGiblets.com…

Rick currently works at Overstock.com’s marketing department and his blog is rather new to the sphere (archives go back to October 2007), but the content so far looks to be of high quality. I have added it to my watch list and will continue to drop in from time to time for new marketing giblets written by Rick. The topics range from analytics, blogging, eCommerce, development, management and, of course, marketing strategies. I am glad to have found another valuable resource to add to my blog arsenal, and am flattered that a post I wrote caught the eye of a marketing guru like Rick. Thanks again Rick, and keep up the quality blog posts and topical articles.

Another mention goes out to Kelly, author at Persuasive e-Marketing…

Kelly’s blog has been mentioned on a BIG Thanks post before for adding eCommerce Optimization to their blogroll. This past week Kelly linked to two posts we published, one about Like.com and also our 21 Best Practices article. Once again Kelly, we really appreciate the support and link love from your blog. I continue to check in on you and soak up some of the quality content you have been serving up lately, nice work! I look forward to seeing the future progress and the success of your firm, Sitebrand.

Next, I want to thank the folks over at Channel Intelligence for the link on their news page…

Awhile back we wrote about Channel Intelligence and conducted an interview with key members of their staff. I learned a lot about their solutions and specifically SellCast and their TrueTag Analytics programs. After the interview, I was surprised to see that they linked to us from their news page along with other big names including eCommerceTimes, eConsultancy and Internet Retailer. Thanks so much CI team for first agreeing to conduct the interview and secondly for linking back to it from your site. I look forward to watching your advances in the industry and seeing you expand on the products you currently offer merchants, manufacturers and publishers.

Here’s another new blog I found from Scott Wilson, author of The Cart Blog…

This past week Scott linked to our 21 Best Practices article from his blog. I just learned about this blog (thanks to the link back to mine) and am certainly glad I did. Scott runs a microconsultancy called That Software Guy where he enjoys customizing merchant solutions for programs like Zen Cart. Although he is just getting started with The Cart Blog, I have seen hidden gems of content on it already and have saved it for later review. One thing I noticed is my comment never posted, but such is life (let me know if you can tell me where it is will you Scott?). Thanks for the support and linky goodness, I look forward to seeing your blog progress and future posts. Keep up the good work!

The next thanks goes out two two authors, Brian & Stephanie Reindel of d’bug blog…

Brian mentioned us in one of his Monday editions of the d’bug link farm and linked to our 21 Best Practices article. The d’bug author duo has put together quite a nice offering of topical content related to CSS, Information Architecture, JavaScript, mySQL, XHTML, analysis and other general web development topics. I have noted their blog for later review and spent quite awhile reading around when I first discovered it. I enjoyed reading the posts and found some great articles within past link farm entries. Thanks so much for the support and links you two! Looking forward to future posts on d’bug.

Foreign language blogs that mentioned us in a post or article:

The first foreign language thank you goes to Lucia Navarro, author at Seraccesible…

This blog is the first of three foreign language sites we have to thank for linking to us this past week. Lucia mentioned our 21 Best Practices article in a list format roundup he did on their blog. Unfortunately, I am not fluent in Spanish, but I did translate the post he wrote about us and it was very flattering. It always amazes me to see the language barriers break down when it comes to business and specifically Online business. Thanks again Lucia, I appreciate the support and link, keep up the good work over at Seraccesible.

The next thank you is for Jorge Márquez, author at Usándolo.com…

Jorge linked to our 21 Best Practices post this past week from another list type formatted post on his blog. Once again, I am not fluent in Spanish, but did translate the page so I could read what was written in his article. I was impressed that more than one individual linked to that post from another country of origin. From the looks of things, Jorge has put together a quality blog. My favorite part is the theme and logo, especially since I cannot readily read the content (everything i liked was visual), but if you are fluent in Spanish, please check it out in your spare time. Thanks so much for the post mention and link Jorge. We appreciate the support and wish you great success in your future blogging or business ventures. Keep up the quality posts!

Next, we need to mention Jan Jursa, author of The Hot Strudel blog…

Strangely enough, Jan also linked to our 21 Best Practices article this past week. Once again, I am not fluent in German, so had to rely on translation software to read the, short but sweet, post Jan wrote. I am loving the fact that so many foreign language bloggers are reaching out to english language blogs for links, it truly is amazing to see these language barriers falling down. Germany has always been hugely into eCommerce, so it doesn’t surprise me to see that there are now many Dutch and German bloggers coving the space. Thanks so much for linking to our article Jan, we really appreciate the support and feedback about our content. I look forward to seeing your blog grow and absolutely love the shade of pink you chose for the theme. Thanks again.

Lastly, but certainly not least is Roman Zenner, author of Cooee.de blog…

Roman linked to our 21 Best Practices article today, and barely made it in time for this weeks BIG Thanks, whew, it was close. Cooee has mentioned us before in a post they did about Magento, where they mention the interview we did with their CEO. That post was before we started doing BIG Thanks posts and also before I started including foreign language blogs in the mix. I am glad that eCommerce reaches so many different countries and that there are good solutions for international merchants to use. I really appreciate the support Roman, thanks for linking our interview with Roy Rubin and for recently linking to our Best Practices article. Keep up the good work and nice job on your blog theme, it’s looking nice.

So there you have it. That wraps up the 11 sites, blogs and authors we have for our “BIG thanks” post this week. If you happen to mention eCommerce Optimization on your own blog or add us to your blogroll, we might just feature you in one of our BIG thanks articles.

Out first thank you goes out to Paul O’Brien, author of SEO’Brien blog…

Paul has been mentioned in a BIG Thanks post before for adding us to his blogroll over at SEO’Brien. The reason we are mentioning Paul again so soon is this week he wrote a post about our blog called, “eCommerce Optimization,” which is basically meant to inform his readers that we exist and that we are here for them should one choose to branch out for more news and commentary related to eCommerce or selling online. I was very flattered to see such a nice post written by such an influential figure in eCommerce and online marketing. Since we already wrote about Paul’s blog and the topics he covers i will spare you a recap, but if you haven’t already, be sure to check out what Paul has going on over at his blog. You won’t be disappointed. Thanks again Paul for mentioning us in a post on your blog. Looks like Zvents is going well!

Next, I want to mention Linda Bustos, an author on Get Elastic blog…

If the blog Get Elastic seems familiar to you, well, it may be because we have also mentioned them in a past BIG Thanks post for adding us to their blogroll on Get Elastic. Over the past few weeks/months I have been tuning in more to this blog and have really gotten to like what Jason, Linda and the rest of the team has going on and their contributions to the industry. There are videos, great blog topics, funny posts, webinars and so much more that it would take me all day to mention everything. They sure are a talented bunch of people and I for one can’t wait to see what they have planned for their blog and eCommerce software. Thanks Linda (and the rest of the team) for mentioning us in a post on your blog this past week!

Finally, I want to thank Carlos Del Rio, author of New Media Northwest blog…

Carlos actually linked to us from a blog post last week, but we didn’t have a BIG Thanks post on Friday so I am going to attempt to make up for it here. I haven’t discovered Carlos’ blog until recently, but the post he mentioned us in was certainly worth a read and actually reminded me that I wanted to bookmark his blog for later review. One thing I really like is that it’s a Northwest Media blog, and i live in Seattle so it’s close to home. I still haven’t had a lot of time to dig too much into New Media Northwest, but by the looks of things, it’s a great place for information about analytics, landing pages, web design and a whole bunch more. There is a recent post about Amazon’s new site layout that I truly enjoyed reading so i thought I would also mention that. Thanks again for mentioning us in a post on your blog Carlos, we really appreciate the support and wish you the best in all your future ventures.

Well, that wraps up our BIG Thanks for this week. Check back next week for more thank you shout outs to other blogs, sites and authors who either support, link to or mention eCommerce Optimization in their content. If you manage a blog of your own and link to us, add us to your blogroll or mention us in a post, you may end up on one of our BIG Thanks posts.

Blogs that added us to their blogroll:

BIG Thanks goes out to Paul O’Brien over at SEO’Brien…

Paul was kind enough to add us to his blogroll this past week. We made a short list which includes some excellent blogs like ComparisonEngines, Jeremy Zawodny’s Blog and Matt Cutts’ Blog. Thanks so much for adding us to your blogroll Paul. It is an honor to be included on such a presigious list of fellow bloggers and within your site. We really appreciate the support and I am glad you got Sphinn on your site too. Paul has been blogging steadily over at SEO’Brien since early 2006 and now also spends his time working with Zvents, a discovery site for things to do in local cities and towns. I have been subscribed and reading his blog for about 4 months now and always find something useful and informative. It is one of my favorites as he covers such a wide variety of topics and discussions and has real world experience with some big name companies. His articles and posts cover several topics including search/seo, comparison shopping, blogging, brand marketing, social media and of course Yahoo. Paul also knows a lot about vendors and other tech agencies including all kinds of useful insights, which he shares on his blog. Thanks again Paul for adding us to your blogroll this past week. I can’t wait to see what you get done at Zvents and any future happenings with SEO’Brien.

Well, that wraps up our only BIG Thanks for this week. Check back during the coming weeks for more thank you shout outs to other bloggers, sites and writers who either support, link to or mention eCommerce Optimization in their content. If you manage a blog of your own and link to us, add us to your blogroll or mention us in a post, you may end up on one of our weekly BIG Thanks posts.

Don’t forget you can check out past BIG Thanks in our Site News and Updates section, or you can subscribe to our articles feed, which includes each weeks BIG Thanks post!

Ok, enough of the commentary, on to this weeks BIG Thanks…

Blogs that mentioned us in a post or article:

A really BIG Thanks is in store for Marc Mezzacca over at Next Generation Shopping…

Marc has been authoring Next Generation Shopping for almost two years and has been on my blog radar for quite some time now. Next Generation Shopping covers topics ranging from Google, eBay and Paypal to mobile shopping, comparison engines and web 2.0. Marc also works on his Secret Prices project, which appears on our Product Listing Guide within the Shopping Deal Finders section. I really enjoy the posts over at Next Generation Shopping and will certainly continue to follow their reports, articles and commentary. Marc gets his BIG Thanks for mentioning us in a recent post titled, Pronto Launches Social Price Comparison – The Good and The Bad,” where he discusses the good and bad qualities of Pronto’s recent jump into social shopping. Check it out and be sure to leave your own thoughts below in the comments. For those of you who wish, there is an RSS feed you can subscribe to for updates delivered into your feed reader. Great job on the blog and SecretPrices Marc, I wish you the best on all your projects. Thanks again for linking to us this past week.

Sweet, that wraps up our one BIG Thanks for this week. Check back next week for more thank you shout outs to other bloggers, sites and writers who either support, link to or mention eCommerce Optimization in their content. If you manage a blog of your own and link to us, add us to your blogroll or mention us in a post, you may end up on one of our BIG Thanks posts.

As always, you can check out past BIG Thanks in our Site News and Updates category, or you can subscribe to our articles feed, which includes each weeks BIG Thanks post!