According to several sources, including CNN Money, the PC isn’t as popular as it used to be, 6% less popular than last year, in fact. And while this may not seem like a large percentage, keep in mind that the average smartphone or tablet can do all or nearly all of the tasks that at one time, users depended on their PC’s to do.

What does this have to do with social, mobile, and tablet commerce?  For one thing, while I’m not trying to say that you can’t engage in (or sell, or promote, or offer) social commerce via a PC-optimized only site, but the fact is that you’re going to run into some barriers when you try to reach mobile or tablet users with either one. 

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Have you ever wondered what makes Facebook users decide to friend or unfriend one another? A recent study found that not surprisingly, there are a variety of reasons for this.
Even though this study focused on friending and unfriending rather than liking and unliking, it’s safe to assume that people use the same reasoning for all of these types of actions in most cases.  So if you’re wondering why people decide to like (or unlike) your Facebook fan page, here are some facts to consider.

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Today’s blog post comes to us from Gillian Muessig, Founding President of SEOmoz

Credit for this actionable, ecommerce-focused checklist goes to Casey of Slingshot SEO in Indianapolis. An SEOmoz recommended consultancy, Slingshot SEO was recently listed number 58 of the Inc 500 fastest growing companies. Woohoo! I love it when Mozzers do well! You can read the original post, complete with information on related primary research here. While it focuses on Cyber Monday, the tips apply to all cyber shopping days leading up to Christmas.

Today is Cyber Monday, but it isn’t the only Cyber Monday of the year.  Begun in 2005 as a one-time marketing effort, Cyber Monday has become a juggernaut phenomenon that continues to boost instant and long term business for e-commerce sites the world over.

Since the advent of Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping days have occurred on the Mondays leading up to Christmas, and Green Monday, the second Monday in December, will be here before we know it.

With $1.028 billion in online spending, Cyber Monday 2010 saw the heaviest online spending day in history. According to Comscore, Cyber Monday 2010, was the first to pass the billion dollar threshold with the online spend reaching a respectable $1.028 billion. Hey, a billion here, a billion there; soon you’re talking real money. Here’s how to get your share of it and more.

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Social commerce, once a buzzword with a vague meaning and an even vaguer real-world application, is now almost as ubiquitous online as social media itself.  There are many reasons for this, including the fact that consumers can now access the Internet and shop from their desktops, laptops, phones, and tablets. 

The main reason, though, is that social commerce is a natural extension of an activity that the majority of Internet users engage in on a daily basis: interacting with their friends on Facebook and other social media platforms.

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Since Google unveiled Google+ Pages for businesses a little over a week ago, a number of businesses have been scrambling to create profiles.  Many companies that specialize in providing Facebook marketing services for corporations have also been preparing to offer similar services for Google + business marketing. 

If you have recently created a Google+ Page for your business, but aren’t sure how to get started , you’re not alone.  While similar in some ways to Facebook, Plus has its own unique format, navigation, and rules that users must familiarize themselves with.

Here are some tips about building and managing your circles on Google + to help you get started:

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Today’s blog post comes to us from Gillian Muessig, Founding President of SEOmoz

Social media had been the watchword of the day for months now. As ecommerce site owners, we are exhorted to set up Facebook pages, LinkedIn profiles, Twitter accounts. We’re supposed to get our customers to check in on FourSquare, and give us a thumbs up on Google Plus. Will it never end?

Well, yes. And no. Expect the social media space to continue to burgeon over time. Mobile apps, social platforms, and crowdsourcing platforms will continue to grow and diversify for the near future. After awhile, however, things will not just settle down, the platforms will begin to buy each other up and converge again. So keep breathing. This post will make you feel better about the effort you’ve been (and will be) putting in to your social media efforts.

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As every ecommerce storeowner knows, and as I have mentioned (and will continue to mention) numerous times on this blog, the 2011 holiday shopping season is almost here.  With it come early analysis and predictions of shopping patterns, trends, and behaviors geared towards helping merchants have a more successful shopping season.

This year, mobile, tablet, and social commerce are all predicted to be big trends. The average consumer is going to be looking for social ways to shop online in the form of the ability to virtually compare prices, read reviews, and of course, seek out the recommendations of friends on Facebook before making a purchase.

In other words, people are using technology to engage in social shopping, which should come as no surprise since people, like animals, are naturally social creatures.

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With Halloween still a couple of weeks away, Thanksgiving and Christmas may still seem like events far into the future for some of us. Ecommerce merchants, however, know that these holidays, and the subsequent increase in consumer spending that goes along with them, are right around the corner.

Black Friday, or the day after Thanksgiving is traditionally the kickoff of the holiday shopping season and as such, is a point of focus for many online and brick-and-mortar retailers. Followed closely by “Cyber Monday” or the Monday after Thanksgiving, sales from both of these days are seen by many merchants as a predictor for overall online ecommerce sales during the holiday season.

How can you make sure that your store is ready for Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Here are some tips that can help.

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Most ecommerce stores have their own Facebook page, and behind each one is an ecommerce store owner (or employee or team of employees) whose job it is to promote their company’s presence in the social media sphere.

Whether you’re just starting out with your Facebook business page or have had one for a while, you know that gaining fans and maintaining relationships with them online can involve many things. With this in mind, here are some simple Facebook marketing tips to help you improve your Facebook presence and social engagement.

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Today’s blog post comes to us from Gillian Muessig, Founding President of SEOmoz

For sellers of the unusual, the unique, one-off’s, few-off’s, and artisanal products, this article will really hit home. But, even if you’re selling products that everyone else is selling - name brand stuff that its sold strictly on who-has-the-lowest-price-including-shipping metrics, these ideas will help you set pricing that works, rather than simply competing to sell at the lowest possible price.

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