Well…not exactly.  Unfortunately, there is no magic marketing wand to wave in the wonderful world of e-commerce.  There are, however, best practices and tried-and-true techniques that can help you leverage position against your competition.
Check out how BlairCandy.com leverages Pay-per-click (PPC), Social Media, and other marketing efforts to maximize advertising budgets.  PracticalEcommerce.com interviewed the merchant to [...]

Tags: blair candy, pay-per-click, search engine optimization, SEO, SMO, social media, www.blaircandy.com

We live in the land of the free and the home of the brave, but are you aware of all of the free resources and tools Solid Cactus offers?  You are already reading the blog, but be sure to browse around through all the categories.
Are you reading eBiz Insider magazine?  If not, start now!  The [...]

Tags: free marketing resources, Google, marketing forums, MSN, online forums, online marketing, Pay Per Click, pay-per-click, Yahoo

As a merchant, you should always be looking for new ways to keep your audience engaged and to keep your site fresh.  Sometimes, a feature that ultimately benefits you can feel like an extra bonus to the consumer.  For example, if you check out the Scratch and Save feature on www.BlairCandy.com,  you’ll see that a [...]

Tags: Google Adwords, msn adcenter, Pay Per Click, pay-per-click, scratch and save, Yahoo! Search Marketing

I like to think I’m never without words. I studied writing and I use it daily in my PPC ads, emails, and of course this blog.
So why have I struggled to find a blog topic for over a week now? It’s been a busy couple of weeks here at Solid Cactus, and that’s truly a [...]

Tags: inspiration, pay-per-click, Research

Last week, we were very fortunate to have our representatives from Google come to visit during Boot Camp. During their visit, they dropped off some super cool Google aprons & cook books for the team here. We wanted to say THANK YOU to Google for all they do and for the gifts that you see [...]

Tags: Google, pay-per-click

If you read the official Inside Adwords blog, you’ll already know that Google is planning a complete overhaul of the Adwords web interface.  They’ve even started a new series to highlight the upcoming changes, dubbed “New Interface Thursdays”.
I attended a webinar a couple of weeks ago that went through many of the features in the [...]

Tags: Adwords, adwords editor, Google, interface, pay-per-click

Are you confused about Social Media Optimization (SMO)?  Don’t worry; you aren’t alone!
Solid Cactus recently partnered with eMarketing NEPA, a local business networking group, to demystify the enigma of SMO, which is a form of Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  Solid Cactus’ smallest and tallest SEO superstars Alicia Magda and Jeff Stolarcyk reviewed best practices and [...]

Tags: honda experiment, Internet Marketing, pay-per-click, SEO, SMO

On Saturday, March 28th, the world celebrated “Earth Hour”. Participants turned off lights for an hour from 8:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. to raise awareness about global warming and greenhouse gas emissions. Check out these amazing photos where structures seem to disappear into thin air; be sure to click on the photos where [...]

Tags: Earth Hour 2009, online marketing, pay-per-click, viral marketing

So your asking yourself, “What else can I be doing to help boost sales?”  The strategy and game plan you had in place last year has most likely been thrown out the window.  Constantly making necessary improvements to your site, product selection, even communication needs to be revisited with these changing [...]

Tags: communication, competitors, content, customer reviews, Google Analytics, Marketing, Paid Search, pay-per-click, search engine optimization, SEO, strategy

I often have people ask me what they should focus their energies on - PPC or SEO. Is one better than the other? Where will they get the best return?
We did our own PPC/SEO competition on Friday when Alicia and Robyn decided to have a friendly arm wrestling competition:

The funny part is - the match [...]

Tags: Internet Marketing, Marketing, pay-per-click, SEO