Google and the Magento team are joining forces in presenting Magento’s native implementation for Google Website Optimizer. If you are passionate to increase sales and conversion rates, improve your landing pages, and decrease the cost of your customer acquisition, sign up for the webinar today. The webinar will take place on Wed., December 3rd at 9:30 AM PST (17:30 GMT).

Topics will include:

• A quick introduction to website testing and why you should test
• How you can radically increase your conversion rate with Google Website Optimizer and Magento
• Top testing tips plus mistakes to avoid on your first test
• Live landing page critiques of eCommerce implementations
• Tips and Tricks on getting the most out of the Google Website Optimizer
• Questions and answers

Date: Wed., December 3rd 9:30 AM PST (17:30 GMT)
Registration: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/128534696

Varien, the Magento company, is continuing to grow and we are seeking a talented, motivated and entrepreneurial minded project manager. Our product, Magento, is the fastest growing eCommerce platform in the world with over 500,000+ downloads. If you enjoy working in a fast paced, innovative environment, this is the place for you.

The individual will provide structure and overall vision on our projects. This includes interfacing heavily with our technical teams to assure that the solutions are understood and address the customer’s business requirements.

Responsibilities:

• Act as the main point of contact between Varien and the client.
• Develops technical specifications for web applications and feature upgrades.
• Oversees the launch of new features.
• Coordinates among cross-functional teams to identify challenges, recommend and implement solutions.
• Provides support, administration, and user training for web-based tools.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in engineering, communications, or information sciences, with two (2) plus years experience in Web/interactive/technical product or project management
• Solid understanding of web technologies, usability, and information architecture.
• Understanding of platform and browser compatibility issues.
• Knowledge of basic data management, database concepts, and database-driven Web applications.
• Excellent communication, project management, and expectation management.
• Ability to handle multiple, competing priorities, meet deadlines, manage risk, and troubleshoot problems.
• Detail-oriented approach to work.

This is a full-time position in our Los Angeles headquarters.

Interested in joining our team? Send an email to jobs@varien.com with your resume and salary expectation. We look forward to hearing from you!

As the Varien blog continues it’s short somewhat long hiatus, a Magento update post is in order. Here’s whats happening in the Magento world:

• Magento 1.1.x is now available for download. For this major release we focused on expanding Magento’s product configuration options, streamlining integration between strategic Magento modules and external applications (API), increasing the flexibility of the core tax module to allow for Canadian and EU tax rules and boosting the overall performance of the Magento Platform.
• Magento wins ‘Best New Open Source Project’ at the 2008 SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards!
• Magento also wins ‘Best of Open Source Enterprise Applications’ at InfoWorld’s BOSSIE awards.
• Magento Developer Challenge #1 is announced, with the goal of integrating Magento and Google Spreadsheet.
• Varien’s Roy Rubin and Yoav Kutner answer grueling questions by the Magento community via video.

The highlights above are a short sample of the exciting developments in the Magento world. Stay tuned and keep up to date at the Magento Blog.

Our friends at the Get Elastic blog will be conducting a Web Analytics webinar (details below) on Thursday, July 17th, 2008 at 9 am Pacific.

You are probably tired of having a boatload of data and nothing much coming of it. Not any more. In this webinar, leading analytics author and evangelist Avinash Kaushik covers three specific areas you need to focus on to get the highest possible ROI from your Web Analytics investment. You’ll learn:

• The fun clickstream analysis you should do
• Interesting ways to listen to your customers
• Why you need to fall in love with experimentation (and all it takes to fall in love is six minutes)!

More info on the get elastic blog

We are extremely excited and proud to announce the production release of Magento 1.0 (Download | Release Notes). The new community site will be online later this week and feature additional functionality, highlighted by Magento Connect.

Use CSS ya page load quicker, make your client satisfied like they eatin on a Snicker

About a month and a half ago, I did an ecommerce usability review on search page attributes. It’s about time for a bit of a follow up on that. So this round, I’m offering a look at advanced search pages. Unfortunately, there aren’t that many of them left any more. But we’ll give it a shot.

I really like this Abe Books advanced search page. Book ecommerce Web sites, as you will see, remain the last strong bastion of what are considered “advanced search pages.”

You can see all the great search options that allow you to narrow it down to exactly what you are looking for. No searching through pages of results of nothing more than vague keyword matches. Some other features of this advanced search page include:

• Fully navigable to the rest of the Web site.
• Ability to look at top search terms (for inspiration).
• Capability of sorting results how you want them (price, relevance, etc.)
• Various options uniquely applicable to the ecommerce business.

This sort of page makes online ecommerce shopping much easier and more enjoyable.

Barnes and Noble also offers a good advanced search page. I especially like the tabbed advanced search, allowing you to search different types of media.

I like that Chapters.indigo.ca offers tips for more effective search on its advanced search page.

One thing that I’ve been finding in terms of advanced search pages is that they are becoming rare among ecommerce Web sites. Out of the top Web sites for usability, very few had the advanced search option. Instead, the “refine search” option is taking its place. This PC Connection page is a good example of how “refined search” is taking over.

You can see, above, how off to the side all of the fields that might be included on advanced search pages to narrow things down a bit are included. You can choose categories, and you can choose how to sort the search results from a sidebar. Of course, this means that you have to type in broad keywords to get to a starting point, and then narrow it down.

Coach offers search that I am not terribly fond of. It just flops of pictures of everything that matches, with no attempt to refine further. I do like all the images, which make it easy to instantly see whether you like something, but it is hard to narrow the results.

Below, see more examples of advanced search pages, and “refined search” options. Which do you prefer? Would you rather start broad and work from there? Or would you rather narrow the search immediately? With too much narrowing, I think, there is the possibility that you could miss something that you would otherwise find when you start broad.

Abt

Ace Hardware

Amazon

Apple

Art.com

Audible

Brooks Brothers

Bulbs

Drugstore.com

FYE

Gap

Home Depot

HP Shopping

Kohls

Oneida

Magento has been selected to present in Under the Radar: The Business of WebApps Conference, taking place on March 20th in Mountain View, CA.

Under the Radar will uncover 32 startups, that have launched within the year, showcasing the newest web apps created by developers with a quest for innovation and a tendency towards disruption. Having launched numerous companies into startup stardom, acquisition and beyond, Under the Radar is the most discerning and reliable platform today for discovering tomorrow’s leading technology companies … Out of the hundreds of nominations and startups we found in our own research - we’ve looked at them all - these startups are the best of the best. We’re looking for game-changers, innovators and, most of all, startups that have a real shot at success.

We’re excited to take part in this prestigious event. Past companies include Zimbra, Writely, Flickr, Userplane, and more. Thanks to the selection committee for giving us a shot

From the Varien family to yours, Happy Holidays.

When you are an ecommerce retailer, it is important to provide as much detail as possible for customers. And during the holiday season, the main piece of information that your customers want to know is this: Will my purchase get here by Christmas?

The good news is that you can figure out whether the merchandise you sell will reach your customers in time. And that means you can also post “last call” dates for holiday shipping on your Web site. Keep in mind that this year, with Christmas on a Tuesday (close to the previous weekend), and with heavy shipping days delaying delivery, customers may have to order — and you’ll have to send out packages — earlier. Here are some of those last call holiday shipping dates for destinations in the U.S. For international destinations, click on the links provided to find the proper information from the source.

U.S. Postal Service: First class cards and letters (for special business associates and customers), as well as Priority Mail, need to be out by Dec. 20. Express Mail’s last call is Dec. 22, and you only have until the end of this week (Dec. 15) if you want your Parcel Post to get there in time.

UPS: UPS offers 3-Day Select as late as Dec. 19 to get there in time for Christmas Eve. UPS 2nd Day Air has to be in by Dec. 20, and Next Day Air requires that you have your order in by the 21st. For an additional fee, you can squeeze in Next Day Air on the 22nd.

FedEx: FedEx offers a rather handy chart that provides an easy visual as to when it’s too last for your holiday shipping. Dec. 17 is the last day for FedEx Ground and Home Delivery. The dates move closer to Christmas as one progresses from Dec. 19 (FedEx Express Saver) to Dec. 22 (FedEx Overnight options). FedEx SameDay does, in fact, offer Christmas Day service. But I imagine it’s rather pricey.

DHL: DHL offers a rather comprehensive list of when it will be accepting packages and making deliveries. But if it’s last call holiday shipping you want, ground delivery has to be in by Dec. 14, 2nd day by the 19th, and next day by the 21st.

The last call for holiday shipping on your orders will depend on what shipping service you use. Figure out when things need to be sent now (if you haven’t already), and how much it will cost. Expedited shipping during the holidays can be more expensive. And make sure that the last call holiday shipping and price information can be easily located on your Web site, so that customers can find it quickly.

Tags: last call holiday shipping, holiday shipping, ecommerce, ecommerce retailer,
ecommerce holiday season, shipping by Christmas