Dispatches from Search Engine Strategies

I am attending some sessions at the Search Engine Strategies conference this week. Here are some brief (very brief) thoughts on one of the sessions I attended.

Search Behavior Research Update

• Anne Frisbee of Yahoo! Search Marketing shared details of a report, The Long Winding Road to the Cash Register. Some interesting findings from that:
  • Search allows for research at every phase of the buying process meaning that instead of a funnel of conversion, merchants need to think of it as more of an hour glass or “tumbler”.Takeaway: It’s never too late to convince buyers to purchase from you if they are researching at each phase. Create compelling content that buyers researching products will find.
  • Buyers enjoy researching and often do not always purchase right away.Takeaway: Give buyers a way to bookmark your site so they can come back, and even better give them a reason to return to your site by offering product reviews, testimonials, and product comparisons.
• Bill Barnes of Enquiro presented some eye-tracking research (where researchers track where users look on web pages when using them). The reports are not available for free but there is more information and sample pages available on the web site.
• David Willams of 360i presented research into search queries and transactions that begin and end with non-branded and branded searches. You can download their latest whitepaper with this research for free (registration required).
• Robert Murray of iProspect spoke about how users search and their behavior when searches are unsuccessful. I wrote a post about this study that includes a link to download it, and what it covers.

Stay tuned for more.

Paul Boisvert
Yahoo! Small Business

Yahoo! Small Business merchants featured on the new Yahoo! Corporate blog

This week Yahoo! launched Yodel Anecdotal, the Yahoo! corporate blog. Today, three Yahoo! merchants (DogToys.com, Morrco Pet Supply, and Glamour Dog) are featured in an article on the Yahoo! blog dedicated to Work Like a Dog Day. Check it out to learn about the experiences of three long-time successful merchants.

Jenny Cu
Yahoo! Small Business

Opening your Yahoo! Merchant Solutions store for business has never been easier

We understand that time is a very precious commodity for our merchants. The quicker merchants are able to conduct business and accept orders, the quicker they move towards profitability. That is why we are introducing a new interface that helps simplify the process to open your store for business.

Starting late 8/3, we will be unveiling the new Open for Business control panel, aimed to help guide new merchants to efficiently get their store opened for business. If your store is not yet open for business, just sign in to your Store Manager and you will be directed to the new Open for Business control panel.

The Open for Business control panel highlights only the tasks that a merchant must complete before they can start taking orders:

• Designing a site
• Adding products
• Setting up pay methods
• Setting up tax rate
• Setting shipping rules

In addition to providing merchants with help instructions for each of the required tasks, the Open for Business control panel will also provide the merchant with the status of their open for business progress towards completing the required tasks.

Participation is easy. So what are you waiting for? Opening your Yahoo! Store for business has never been easier. Sign in to your Store Manager today and be one step closer to opening your store for business and begin accepting orders.

Also, in coming months look for other exciting enhancements to assist new merchants in opening for business.

Duncan Shen
Yahoo! Small Business