As it is nearing holiday shopping crunch time, she said that social networks are especially important because consumers are going there to find last-minute gift ideas. For this reason, O’Shaughnessy told us that marketers should take advantage of these opportunities.

She advises that they make clear goals, target a very specific audience, and have a clear call to action. If these steps are applied, she believes they can have a successful holiday season, while meeting the needs of consumers.

However, Adam Thierer, a senior research fellow with the Technology Policy Project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, doesn’t think that either of these bills offers an effective solution to the problem. He told WebProNews that these laws would essentially give states the authority to create a system for collecting Internet sales taxes, which he thinks would tax everyone at a higher level.

He co-wrote a paper with Veronique de Rugy and introduced 3 different approaches to the problem. The first option abolishes sales taxes completely. The second would implement a nationwide sales tax that would give states a certain portion of the income. While both of these serve as options, Thierer doesn’t favor either one.

Instead, he is pushing an “origin-based sourcing rule” that would tax consumers at the origin of sale and not where the destination takes place, which is the approach that the states are taking. Thierer told us that this method would help to increase tax competition between states, eliminate constitutional tax headaches, and keep interstate vendors from having to deal with complex tax systems.

Do you think this sounds like an effective plan?

Henry Kim, the company’s President and Co-founder, spoke with WebProNews and explained that the app uses Facebook own social tools to emulate an offline shopping environment. Since shopping is a social experience and Facebook has mass traction, Kim told us that the two fit together perfectly.

Sneakpeeq also plans to further its social integration as Facebook’s new changes are fully rolled out.

Attorney Mark Rasch, who is the Director of Cybersecurity and Privacy Consulting at CSC, spoke with us about the issue and said that the online retailers are really just buying themselves time. He believes that they will eventually have to pay sales taxes through a federal law.

Should online retailers have to pay sales tax? Why or why not?

In other words, businesses should focus on their core product in order to send a message of authority and authenticity that reaches their niche markets. This method will better persuade consumers to make a purchase. For example, Amazon has hundreds of thousands of products but has expert employees over specific topics. When small businesses apply this model, their sales will likely increase.

Another area that businesses often struggle with is the shopping cart. As Boisvert explains, businesses need to have their contact information and, if possible, a live chat located beside their shopping cart. He said this gives reassurance to customers and reduces their fears.

Although businesses also worry about the number of steps in the shopping cart process, Boisvert believes this argument is overblown. He goes on to say that the number of steps should depend on the value of the product. For instance, a low-valued product could have a single-page process, while a higher-valued product would be better matched with a more detailed process.

In addition, Boisvert discussed the latest news with Yahoo’s small business division. The company recently announced a partnership with Unbound Commerce, which will allow all orders to be maintained in one place. Also, the company launched a customer registration system that leverages OpenID.

The study revealed that consumers want the online shopping experience to include a social aspect as well. Fortunately, Ripple6 offers a solution to this need as George Moser explains. The company provides a social media platform that provides benefits for consumers, retailers, and even the manufacturers.

The Ripple6 platform makes the online shopping experience more than just a purchase process. It allows consumers to connect with other consumers, make friends, chat, write reviews, and more. After a purchase is made, it offers the buyer an option to connect with 20 other individuals who also purchased the product to share and compare their experiences. The platform also allows manufacturers to have conversations with consumers, which helps everyone in the long run.

Since social has long been a notable presence offline and is quickly becoming a mainstay online, it only makes sense that it should be incorporated into the online shopping experience as well.

Some ecommerce websites are only converting 1-3 percent of their incoming traffic, which translates into 1 conversion for every 100 visitors. For comparison, sites like Amazon are getting conversions at a 12-14 percent rate.

According to Khalid, conversion optimization is where the real ROI is. There are a few basic assumptions that ecommerce sites need to realize about their traffic. The first is that roughly 25 percent of the visitors to your site are probably there by accident. Secondly, you need to understand that another approximated 25 percent of your traffic are offline shoppers simply comparing prices.

You are now left with 50 percent of your traffic to convert. There are a few quick tips for converting such as correcting headlines and images, but Khalid says you have to take a systematic approach to get the conversions that really matter.

Going back to basic marketing, having a thorough knowledge of your target audience is the first step in this approach. Use your market research and translate the data into personas and then determine how they interact with your website.

Here are several common mistakes that ecommerce sites make that prevent conversions:

1.    Neglect to understand what customer is looking for
2.    Shopping cart and shipping costs aren’t clear
3.    Assume customers are “committed” to shopping transaction
4.    Fail to include security seals
5.    Insist shoppers complete forms before shopping process begins

What are some other mistakes that ecommerce sites make that you have experienced as a shopper? From a marketing standpoint, what advice would you offer to ecommerce site looking to improve their conversions?

“We’ve become an online shopping culture and new technology has made finding shoes online easier and more enjoyable than ever.”

Shoe-Mall’s supply consists of a diverse selection of brand names and styles of shoes for women and men.

Both Alan and Brian have noted that since implementing common SEO strategies into their respective online shops, their businesses have seen almost exponential growth in both traffic and revenue streams. What areas did these intrepid entrepreneurs focus on with their site optimization strategies? One fundamental aspect they both agree upon is the balance between paid and organic search listings. Focusing too much on one or the other is not the most efficient way to achieve optimum search rankings, but a holistic approach that takes focuses on the interdependency of paid and organic listings has proven to be the most effective strategy in the long term.

Also, pay-per-click should be viewed as more of a testing mechanism to chart the conversion rates for certain keywords, rather than a complete marketing tool. Social media is playing an increasingly important role in online retail, so it may be in the best interests of retailers to tap the blogosphere for product reviews, with the caveat of full disclosure if the reviewer is receiving product compensation for his or her time. The goal should be to facilitate discussion about your products, and not to influence the conversation.

What other tips and tricks to Alan and Brian suggest for e-tailers? You’ll have to watch the video to find out!