Telescope: Everything You Need to Know About Search

Welcome to this edition of Telescope on Search, our monthly newsletter devoted to search. Our goal is to offer a regular, quick-browse e-newsletter with useful information, tips, and news of the latest developments on Site Search, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, and site usability. If you have any feedback or questions please direct them to newsletter@sli-systems.com.

In this issue:

• SLI’s “Best of 2008” – Our End-of-the-Year Hit List
• Partner Spotlight: MyBuys
• SLI Systems & Customers in the News
• Upcoming Events

SLI’s “Best of 2008” – Our End-of-the-Year Hit List

Shaun Ryan CEO, SLI Systems Happy Holidays! Well, it’s hard to believe, but the end of another year is here. As we’ve done in the past, we’d like to close out the year by sharing with you some of the news items, blog posts and podcasts from this year that seemed to generate a lot of interest – in case you missed them the first time around, or perhaps as a good refresher.

Here are some of the highlights:

4 Simple Steps to Tweak Site Search
This article talks about the dramatic results our customer Black Forest Décor saw by enhancing its site search – centering it at the top of the page, increasing its size and using bolder colors.
Find out how much impact enlarging your search box really has...
Click here to download our case study

Vermont Teddy Bear Increases Traffic and Sales
Vermont Teddy Bear Co. increased traffic and improved target marketing for its three e-commerce sites using SLI's Learning Search technology that connects shoppers with products they’re most likely to purchase.
Read how Vermont Teddy Bear was able to more effectively display its merchandise and better guide shoppers

Site Search Essential to Online Retail Experience
As more and more consumers shop and conduct other personal activities online, their expectations for a seamless experience grow ever higher.
Read about the simple ways to improve key areas of the search function and navigation

And from our own newsletter, catch up on the most valuable articles in 2008:

Get SaaSsy and Recession-Proof Your Business
There are simple ways to improve key areas of the search function and navigation on your site that can turn your browsing visitors into buying customers.
Read how powerful site search can convert browsers to buyers

Site Search, SEO and Email Marketing are Key for E-tailing Success, Says New SLI Survey
Our recent survey of more than 300 U.S. retailers shows that site search, SEO, and e-mail marketing matter the most when promoting online businesses.
Click here to read more interesting findings from our survey

On our SLI blog, we keep up a running dialogue on everything fresh and interesting going on in the world of search. Here are some of the best-read entries from the past year:

What a Bon Jovi Concert Can Teach You About Site Search
Liana Evans of Search Marketing Gurus draws several parallels between her concert experience and the interactions/experiences of consumers…
Read how we translated her 7 items to apply to site search

The Benefits of Auto-Complete
Our auto complete feature uses previous user’s searches (in aggregate) to automatically create keyword suggestions.
Find out how auto complete is helping people find what they are looking the first time

And finally, over the past year we launched a new podcast series – EcommercePodcast.com – which features interviews with our customers and partners, and with experts in online marketing and search. Here are some of our favorites:

Bill Cronin, Vermont Teddy Bear
Shaun Ryan, CEO of SLI Systems talks to Bill Cronin, Ecommerce Director of Vermont Teddy Bear

Jason Marrone, Jelly Belly
Shaun Ryan, CEO of SLI Systems talks to Jason Marrone from Jelly Belly

As we head into 2009, we want to wish all of you much success and we thank you for your continued support. We look forward to having many conversations with you about your businesses, and new ideas and technologies for making great search even better.

Partner Spotlight: MyBuys

This month, our partner spotlight is on MyBuys, a provider of personalized product recommendation solutions for online retailers. Led by a seasoned team of e-commerce experts, MyBuys builds deep, actionable and persistent profiles for every shopper and powers an optimization engine that delivers precisely targeted offers to help clients increase sales. For its more than 90 clients – many of which are on Internet Retailer’s Top 500 list – online and email conversion rates have more than doubled, average order value (AOV) is up 45% and overall online revenue has increased 5-20%.

The combination of MyBuys with SLI’s Learning Search site search enables a productive shopping experience for consumers and an increase in revenues for retailers.

MyBuys and SLI Systems work together with clients like Home Annex that use both solutions to increase the conversion rates and revenues of their e-commerce sites. While SLI optimizes search results and category pages, MyBuys optimizes cross-sells or up-sells on the home page, product detail pages, and checkout pages. When integrated, MyBuys and SLI share data about a retail client’s personal preferences, thereby increasing the effectiveness of both solutions.

SLI Systems & Customers in the News

Below are links to recent press releases, news articles, blog posts and podcasts highlighting SLI’s Learning Search service:

Site Search and SEO Hold the Keys to Ecommerce – contributed by Shaun Ryan to DM News, December 2008 (article on p. 21)

Learning to Work with Social Networks– eMarketer, December 2, 2008

Cyber Monday bigger than Black Friday online – December 2, 2008

Jeffrey Zwelling from YLighting – December 18, 2008

Alan Lim from Purely Gadgets (UK) – December 8, 2008

Upcoming Events