Web Development / Internet Marketing Blog

E-commerce is by no means a new concept, although in South Africa it only truly began to take hold in 2005, when people started adopting ADSL. Internationally, particularly in the US and Europe, widespread use of commerce goes back further than that. From our side, limited and often unaffordable internet access, coupled with lax implementation of security systems for making online payments and submitting sensitive information, were primary reasons for our delay in embracing e-commerce.

  Remarketing (also known as behavioural targeting) is a Google Adwords feature that allows you to get your message across and connect with your users based on their past interaction and visits to your site. Some people think that remarketing is akin to stalking or spying on your customers, but rest assured, if it’s done in the right way, it’s simply a very clever marketing tactic.

Welcome back! In part 1 of our blog post on Embracing Social Commerce we looked at: • What social commerce actually is • What consumers are saying and doing about it • What some of the benefits of social commerce are and • How it works Following on from that, we’re going to delve a little deeper into Social Commerce and look at a couple more aspects of what is set to be online marketing’s next big thing.

Firstly, what is it? “Social Commerce” stems from the integration of e-commerce and social media in the form of: forums, social shopping tools and apps, and online ratings and product reviews written by and for one’s peers. Essentially, consumers have shifted the interaction of the in-store shopping experience to that of the online experience.

While the scope of South Africa’s general internet access and online activity admittedly isn’t quite comparable to that of the US, Europe or Asia, one would be hard pressed to deny that our e-commerce industry is growing in leaps and bounds. With stringent privacy policies and internet security systems settling into place, people are vastly more receptive to the idea of online shopping, and if latest stats and figures are anything to go by, we’re making up for lost time.

In our previous post we explained what Content Strategy is, why it’s important and how it ties in with your CMS design as far as specifying features such as content models, metadata and work flow.

Much has been said about content strategy over the last decade or so, but what is it exactly and why has it become so important in the web development industry? We break it down for you here and also tell you why it’s so necessary to develop it alongside your CMS.