Now, to get real, you wont be able to stop fraud. The most you can do, at this point, as these online ID thefts get smarter, is minimize fraud which should be the goal until you have such few fraud issues that they wont affect your bottom line. So much time small businesses are focused on sales and the push of marketing that you need to put things on pause for a bit and make sure you’re looking at your fraud prevention methods to ensure you’re not shipping out orders to fraudulent customers. This is such an important and hurting issue to merchants because at the end of the day, you WILL LOOSE chargebacks on fraud for the most part.

So, what are some steps you can do to see if you’re order is a fraudulent one?

1) IP ADDRESS – The IP address of an order can be telling of fraud. Let’s say you have an order that is large and you’re weary about shipping it. You can tell by the IP address what country its from so if you have an order with a billing address (2nd warning) with a country such as U.S. and the order going to somewhere like U.K., Canada, Iceland, etc, you can tell by IP where the order originated. You can see that here http://whois.domaintools.com

2) BILLING ADDRESS – The billing address is an important element in an order because if an order has a shipping address that is different than the billing, there is room for concern. Nevertheless, millions of people shop for each other so its a common thing but it is something to look for. It is recommended by processors that for first time customers, you ONLY ship to them if they have the same billing and shipping. If you are dealing with major online fraud issues, implement this rule until you can see a decline in fraud, if not, just something to look for any weird signs.

3) AVS & CVV2 CODES – These two codes are very important in an order detail. The AVS is the address verification and the Cvv2 is the 3 digit number on the back of the credit card (4 digits for AMEX in front). Make sure you have a system in place that will tell you if these two will match or not match. If the AVS code doesnt match but the Cvv2 does, its to your discretion whether to ship order or not. IN THAT CASE, we call customers to make sure someone picks up.

4) PHONE VERIFICATION – This is one of the best ways to prevent fraud but its not 100% proven. Somtimes these thiefs have the nerve to actually put a number where they can be reached just for this purpose, but most of the time, if the number is legit and someone verifies the order, you’re good to go. Ask them to verify details such as cvv2, etc.

5) EMAIL ADDRESS – An email address COULD BE telling of a fraudulent order. Now this may just come from instinct or common sense, but if you look at an orders email, you can tell if it may be someones real email address or fake. You can also Google that email address as it may appear someone may have it on some report as a scam, etc.

I just came acorss this site, ScamBusters.org, and you can check out updated scams going on online.

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"People who have signed up to be Facebook “fans” of the women’s apparel retailer will receive a status update in their news feeds offering them a special 30% discount offer on its infinity scarf. Then, if they want, Facebook fans can buy the product right from that feed page, sometimes known as the wall–all the way through entering their credit card details and shipping address.

The sales messages will only appear in the feeds of people who have already signed up to be fans of the brand, or who have friends that decide to share the offer with them.

It’s one of the most direct attempts yet to make Facebook a platform for sales, not just advertising and marketing. Brands have previously used Facebook to run ads, set up fan pages–and even to sell products on a separate tab on their fan pages. But this is the first time commerce has been inserted directly into the the heart of Facebook, says Resource Interactive, the marketing agency that came up with the approach."

If all the brands, that you sign up to on a FAN PAGE being using Facebook streams to sell its most popular items, now you can have personalized shopping at your finger tips and the steps to purchase a product, will literally be ONE click. In online marketing, how many clicks it takes for a user to get to the product they want and make that purchase is crucial. This makes Facebook a ONE click platform away from shopping. If they go in this direction, it wouldn't be surprising if Facebook, in a short period of time, decides to actually allow brands and ecommerce retailers to build profiles and give them a shopping cart platform to sell their products and charge fees. Then they can also join forces with PayPal, Google Checkout, Amazon Payments, or make one of their own and capitalize on fees. The opportunities are endless with online retail for Facebook and they know it.

e-mail promotions were at the top of retailers’ online marketing strategies.

In a recent e-marketer article titled, “Evaluating E-Tailer Holiday Strategy,” they report, “BDO Seidman, in its “Retail Compass Survey,” found that e-mail promotions were at the top of retailers’ online marketing strategies. A focus on free shipping offers just edged out search marketing for second place.”

They go on to report, “Shop.org found that 100% of online retailers surveyed planned e-mail marketing efforts to house lists this holiday season, and nearly 97% would do paid and organic search marketing activities. Social media usage was increasing at a higher rate, but from a smaller base. ”

CNBC examines who will be the Cyber Monday winners:

According to eMarketer, online retailers are already planning ahead and investing to compete with the current online environment and their competitors mostly in the social media space. The main reasons for these investments are branding, sales, and advertising. Social media campaigns such as blogging is a huge plus for SEO, after all, it is important companies keep creating content.

“This includes replacing a whole e-commerce platform as well as adding services such as customer reviews and ratings, product personalization, live chat and improved site search.

Social marketing was also high on e-tailers’ list of priorities, with nearly one-half planning to add initiatives this year.”

“The last time many retailers installed a new e-commerce platform was five years ago, and those systems aren’t robust enough to support all of the new technology that’s changing the very nature of how consumers are shopping online,” David Fry, founder of Fry Inc., told Internet Retailer. “Smart retailers know they need to implement better technology now or they’ll miss out on the recovery and a big opportunity.”

Let's look at some of the search marketing essentials for this website:

Search Engine Optimization:

> You cant say enough about the SEO of this website which definitely is a big part of the business' success. Thy pretty much rank for essential keywords that drive millions of visitors each year.

1 baby items
1 babycenterstore
1 diapers com
1 diapers online
2 baby store
2 baby store online
2 da vinci cribs
2 diapers com

Paid Search Marketing: (Pay-Per-Click)

> It seems Diapers.com made a big push in Jan. 2009 in their paid search efforts. It seems they bid on over $4k keywords. They advertise in all three search engines (Google, Yahoo, and Bing.) I also wouldn't be surprise if they advertise in all contextual networks and shopping comparison engines such as Shopzilla and PriceGrabber.com.

Social Media:

> By now, I'm sure this companies social media strategy is just to let the customers take care of it such as in this example of a customer in a large Facebook group giving out a coupon for $10.00: http://ms-my.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=32352587436&topic=8669

The company doesnt seem to be on point with the opportunities that there is in the social media space. Is this their Twitter page (I believe, not 100%) and seems to be very weak in both design and followers. Should be much higher with the amount of traffic they get and acquired customers.

Traffic Stats by Compete.com:

Here is a great ad found in YouTube for Diapers.com:

In the Inc article, Marc Lore states, "When we launched the company, our biggest competitors were already at scale. We knew early on that the key would be how fast we could ship stuff, what prices we could sell for, and how many product lines we could carry."

Let’s go down the list:

* There might not be ads on all search results, even for queries that advertisers are bidding on.

This usually happens with very broad keywords or trademarked terms.

* Just because there is low competition for a keyword doesn’t mean that it will be inexpensive.

This is the big question for most new advertisers. Google knows what each keyword is really worth to an advertiser based on the data of searches for that keyword. So, just because no one is bidding on that term, doesnt mean your bid will be .5 cents.

As they explain it:

“Remember that competition is only one of the variables that determines your actual CPC. The price you pay for a click is also determined by your relative keyword Quality Score for that query. If your keyword has a low Quality Score relative to the other ads on that page, you may find that your actual CPC is close to your maximum CPC, even though there is low competition for that keyword. Keep in mind, though, that you’ll never be charged more than your maximum CPC for a click, no matter how low your Quality Score.”

* Your ad position is not a factor in your Quality Score.

This has also been a mis-conception as those who argued that bidding higher will get you a better CTR, hence better QS. Truth is, Google is smart enough to understand if you are in the 7th position, there is an expected CTR for that ad.

* Your bid primarily impacts your rank, not your Quality Score.

If you outbid your competitors, doesnt mean you have a higher quality score and won’t get you one. Although it may get you a higher ranking. Read point above.

* Quality is given extra consideration when determining which ads appear in the top slots.

Basically, they are saying, look, if you are bidding the same as an advertiser, what will push you over the ranking spot is your quality score.

* Your ad conversion rate does not affect your Quality Score.

* A few bad days of performance will not ruin your Quality Scores.

* Quality Score doesn’t suffer when your ads are showing infrequently or not showing due to pausing or budgeting.

* Restructuring your account doesn’t cause you to lose your historical Quality Score information.

* Google does not keep track of your landing page quality history.

Check out these post for more QUALITY SCORE related post and PPC Related Post:

– Guide to Google Quality Score (Video)

- How Google Adwords REALLY Works

- Optimizing Your Ads for Better Conversions

Disclaimer: THIS IS NOT A SPONSORED INTERVIEW AT NO COMPENSATION TO PALATNIKFACTOR.COM.

Q: What are some important factors clients need to have in their e-commerce platform

A: There are many important factors for any e-commerce platform, but I will describe the top six factors that FORTUNE3 considers to be the most important, and therefore the factors which we have prioritized for our shopping cart software and service:

The first and foremost, would be site perfect functionality. A successful online store needs to function with perfection, never showing customers errors or problems while browsing or shopping. This is something that is basic, but far too many e-commerce software providers overlook. Fortune3 has given special emphasis to having all of our customers’ sites perfectly functioning and arranged.

A second and equally important factor is feature set. Having a system that has a complete feature set is essential, it enables a site administrator to alter the site, the shopping cart and checkout functionality to the point where it is fully flexible, adapting to the needs of each company. Having a good feature set can also make the order fulfillment process and offering support to your customers a much easier task, saving you money and time.

The third most important factor is having a software that optimizes online stores for marketing and search engines. An e-commerce website cannot sell unless it is exposed to potential customers on the web, therefore an essential part of establishing a successful online store is the ability of the e-commerce platform / software to get the site listed on search engines, with a high ranking. Fortune3′s software has accomplished maximum search engine exposure for our customers by making sure that every single page on our customers’ sites is properly optimized for search engines (meta tags, creating .html static pages, text optimization, etc).

The fourth important factor is having a superb customer support team for the e-commerce platform. Getting quality, fast, and efficient customer support for your online store is as essential as anything else. A complete e-commerce system is a huge software, containing millions of lines of code and thousands of features and functionalities, therefore, it is important to have an expert support staff ready to answer your questions, guiding you to fixing issues, and helping you with anything that you cannot figure out on your own. A successful online store cannot be sustained without a proper customer support staff. This is why in our company, we pride ourselves of offering 24/7 customer support, answering 95% of our support inquiries within 20-60 minutes.

The fifth most important factor is security. Security is an essential part of achieving online sales. At the first sign of any security vulnerability, most of your customers will abandon your checkout, mostly because they are afraid that their personal and payment information will not be safe. The checkout and secure pages must, and I emphasize this, must have a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate installed, and clearly visible for your customers. A lock icon should be shown on the browser on all secure checkout and login pages, where customers enter sensitive information. Fortune3 provides all of our shopping cart software users with a free Geotrust SSL. It also always helps to get additional security products that assures your customers that their information is safe. For example, we offer customers the ability to purchase more advanced SSL certificates, which can include a clickable Site Seal by the trusting agency (Geotrust) being shown on each page of the site, assuring customers that their information is secured through a Geotrust SSL, and the Browser “Green Bar” SSL, which turns the URL bar of your site to a green color, and displays your company name to customers on your secure pages. Our ecommerce hosting platform and databases are also 100% PCI compliant, offering our users the ability to sign up for a PCI-Scanning account through a company like ControlScan or McaFee, so they can display a logo or Seal on their site certifying that your site is PCI Compliant to their potential customers. All of these additional security features and seals can greatly increase an online store’s sales, by up to 20%.

The sixth and final factor is design, layout, and branding. Having a beautiful and professional site layout and logo can really impress visitors and build visitor trust in your company. Many potential customers could be turned away by a non-professionally designed website. Impressing potential customers on their first click with a high-end professional and clean design, will surely increase any company’s sales. Branding is also very important, and so having a good logo can make all the difference in the world. This is why we have made the Fortune3 ecommerce software completely flexible for design and layout, and we also offer custom design services, which involves our expert graphic and web design dept. building a professional custom design, logo, and page layout for our users.

Q: What current trends do you see rising right now that will have an impact in the next year for online retailers?

A: Social features and video

Q: With the current economy in a downturn, what are some things online retailers can do during times like these to stay on top of their game?

A: A good strategy during economic downturns is always to balance your budget, finding the best solution your dollars can give you, for the lowest dollar amount possible. This is a big reason why our monthly plans are very inexpensive, to give our customers and users a chance to have a successful online business, without breaking their wallets.

Q: What would you say is the major upside between having software based e-commerce store than web-based?

A: There are many advantages to having a partially PC based e-commerce system like ours, as opposed to a fully web based (browser based) system. There are also some disadvantages, but the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages, and that is why we chose to have our software partially PC-based.

In more detail, the 3 most important advantages of having a PC-based ecommerce system are the following:

a. Your PC is and always will be much faster than any web site, or anything being accessed by a web browser. Therefore, building and making changes to your e- commerce site will always be much faster with a PC-Based software like ours.

b. Your PC is equipped with great tools, that web applications are not equipped with, making the software more versatile and easier to manage when it is PC-Based. A great example is our software’s unique Product Tree structure, which allows you to manage your products in a Tree-like structure, making it extremely fast, efficient, and easy to build and make changes to your product information and structure. Our PC-based “Tree” structure also enables you to quickly and easily re-organize your categories, products and options, or any part of your product structure, with tools like copy / paste and drag / drop. The use of most of these tools would not possible with web-based software, and isn’t. These are tools that make our software and system truly unique.

c. Data and Backups stored on both local PC, and servers. By using a PC-based software like Fortune3, you will have backups of your site’s data on both your computer, and on our servers. This assures you that no data will ever be lost with our platform. This also enables you to recover older backup files and data, in case you make a mistake and need to retrieve an older version of your site, this is always available with a system like ours.

Q: Has the current economic situation affected the amount of businesses opening up web-based stores or do you see an increase in business?

A: We have seen a slowness in growth in new businesses opening up online stores, but it is starting to turn around now. E-Commerce is a young and growing industry, and it is still continuing to grow even with the current economic down… a slowdown in growth is all we noticed, but that seems to be abating now as well.

Q: What is Fortune3 doing to stay innovative in the world of e-commerce?

A: Fortune3 is always releasing new features, new versions, and integrating new technologies that become available into our ecommerce software platform. We release a new major version once a year, and deploy about 200 new features each year. These new features are always built using the latest programming technologies, to make them as efficient and user-friendly as possible.

Q: In the coming year, will fees for e-commerce businesses, such as credit card fees, online store fees, increase? Decrease?

A: Fees for online stores and credit card processing are usually pretty stable, since they are mostly based on transaction fees (percentages). I do not see this changing in the next year, but this also depends on overall economic inflation / deflation.

Q: If you had to give one piece of advice for someone is about to jump into an e-commerce business, what would it be?

A: Find the best software, with the best support staff, and best hosting platform (Fortune3- sorry for the shameless plug but I believe and endorse our product), work hard to have a beautiful and professional site, and to get your site exposure, and you will be successful.

Thank you David. If you’re looking to try out a software based e-commerce platform, you can download the Fortune3 free shopping cart software trial at www.Fortune3.com

“Looking further into the findings, 44% of the e-tailers reported increases of over 10%, 14% showed increases up to 10% and 13% reported flat sales.

In the survey, about 70% of both consumer brand manufacturers and multichannel retailers reported online sales increases. However, Web-only merchants had a different situation. About six in 10 reported Web sales declines.

“It seems that consumer confidence is getting better,” Sucharita Mulpuru, a Forrester analyst, told Bloomberg News. “Hopefully the worst is behind us.”

As I said before, while many companies believe cutting advertising budgets is the way to cut expenses, I believe now is the time to try and step up your budgets and establish a great online presence.

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