SLI Systems Blog » Site Search

Sam Russell, Customer Success Consultant at Avolin, looks at the accelerating importance of search in e-commerce, and highlights how intelligent search tools are critical to ensuring retailers op...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/call-off-the-search-bridging-the-gap-between-inspection-and-selection.html

Tim Rentowl, Vice President of Product Management, examines how AI can deliver real value to e-commerce strategies. While it hasn’t yet reached the outlandish Hollywood depictions, AI has defin...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/ai-and-the-online-economy-a-perfect-partnership.html

Tim Rentowl, Vice President of Product Management, looks at how online retailers can best prepare for their peak season rush. Black Friday 2019 saw a staggering 93.2 million US shoppers making pu...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/navigating-the-search-for-peak-sales.html

Set Specific Goals and Plan to Achieve Them As an e-tailer, it’s likely you have very clear goals for your business. Whether you’re focused on increasing new visitors to your site, improving ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/think-outside-the-search-box.html

You’ve got the core functionality in place on your Magento store. Now you need to enhance your site to increase sales and optimize your customer experience. That’s where Magento extensions he...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/best-magento-extensions.html

E-commerce merchandising has one goal in mind – connect shoppers with the right product so that they “Add to Cart” fast. Merchandise well and you’ll increase conversion rates and boost yo...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/ecommerce-merchandising-guide.html

Just as in brick-and-mortar stores, the importance of designing your online site to sell most effectively can’t be overstated. Building online merchandising equivalents of in-store experiences ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/is-your-merchandising-working-2.html

Dozens of e-commerce companies, thought leaders and SLI partners convened this fall at Carnegie Hall in New York City for our third annual SLI Connect event. During packed presentations and break...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/things-amazon-personalization-prevail-sli-connect-nyc.html

Every year it seems like just as we start settling into the summer haze, holiday planning kicks into high gear! Since 31.5% of the $343 billion transacted online occurred in the fourth quarter la...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/master-2015-holiday-trends-clinch-2016-holiday-sales.html

I have a confession. For more than a decade, SLI has been far too modest about our e-commerce innovations. Perhaps our engineering team has garnered so many patents that they haven’t stopped to...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/sli-buyer-engine-heart-powerful-e-commerce-suite.html

Those in search of the perfect foundation, the best anti-aging serum or the hottest shade of lipstick used to have to go from makeup counter to makeup counter, only to be disappointed by a limite...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/perfecting-e-commerce-beauty-industry.html

If you find yourself wondering what you can do to increase traffic, revenue and cart sizes for your online retail business, there’s plenty of research to show that the search box is the right p...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/infographic-site-search-matters.html

When fashion brand Superette launched in 2002, it was purely a brick-and-mortar store. Almost 15 years on and the brand has cemented itself as one of Australasia’s leading online style destinat...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/seamless-search-drives-high-growth-superette.html

Each time I interview an SLI customer for a case study, it’s a privilege to hear firsthand how our solutions make a significant impact on retailers’ growth. One of my most recent interviews w...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/fighting-for-better-e-commerce-everlast-finds-its-big-win-in-sli.html

Even those who aren’t in the e-commerce space know that the holiday season is the most profitable time of the year. But that doesn’t mean the other three seasons can’t be revenue-generating...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/spring-clean-your-e-commerce-site.html

Some people are just born lucky. You know the ones. It doesn’t matter if they are at a garage sale, flea market or thrift store, they are going to find exactly what they are looking for every t...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/your-shoppers-shouldnt-need-luck.html

What once was considered a niche market is now a booming billion-dollar industry. Savvy parents are ready to spend a pretty penny to give their bundles of joy the best start in life. Despite decl...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/win-parent-shoppers-with-a-baby-friendly-site.html

Your online retail site is about more than just the products you sell. It’s also a valuable resource for your users. It should be engaging, offering unique photos, videos, articles and features...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/the-path-to-selling-includes-sharing.html

Love was so last Sunday. Now spring is in the merchandising air. Never mind the polar vortex hitting the East and Midwest. Easter and its Bunny are arriving Sunday, March 27 – a full three week...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/get-ready-for-bunnies-blooming-e-commerce.html

Cupids (disguised as last-minute shoppers) are aiming their arrows at the hearts of their beloveds. Guide them to the perfect gifts with insight from last year’s Valentine’s Day e-commerce tr...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/help-cupids-find-the-perfect-valentines-day-gift.html

Last week SLI Systems sponsored the Internet Retailer webinar Amazon & You: Top New Competitive Strategies for 2016. eShopportunity founder Fahim Naim and Medelita CMO Dan Stephchew took a look a...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/amazon-you-how-to-win.html

Easy is a critical feature for today’s technology solutions – easy-to-implement, easy-to-use, easy-to-measure and easy-to-update. Of course solutions need to be effective and results are the ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/easy-a-deciding-factor-for-e-commerce-technology.html

This year, industry-leading retail magazine Retail TouchPoints recognized 18 innovative retailers with a 2015 Customer Engagement Award. According to Retail TouchPoints, each winner has gone the ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/dressbarn-wins-award-for-customer-engagement-success-using-sli.html

It was an interesting move when Toys R Us removed the gender filters from its UK website. There has been pressure for toy retailers to do this to stop reinforcing gender stereotypes and Toys R Us...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/are-gender-filters-necessary-to-search-for-toys.html

As the biggest shopping week of the holiday season draws to an end, the numbers are in. Exceeding analyst forecasts across the board, e-commerce sales soared, increasing 15%-16% due to sharp spik...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/black-fridays-2015-e-commerce-shift.html

This morning (when I was supposed to be sleeping, but wasn’t because of jet lag), Flipboard popped up an article about Google’s scale that mentioned Google serves 1.2 trillion searches per ye...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/a-surge-in-query-volume-is-coming.html

Right after Halloween, the catalogs started arriving as usual for the time of year – Frontgate, Lego, Learning Express, Uncommon Goods, Crate & Barrel, Tinyprints and many, many more. Each holi...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/how-catalogs-can-succeed-in-an-omnichannel-world.html

Don’t be surprised if you have Princess Leia, Darth Vader or Yoda knocking at your door this Saturday, looking for treats. Star Wars mania is in full swing and is dominating the 2015 Halloween...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/top-costumes-for-halloween-2015-ready-to-feel-the-force-2.html

The world of e-commerce is constantly evolving. When site search was first introduced, the functionality was clumsy at best and completely frustrating at worst. Shoppers typed their entire search...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/the-next-innovation-in-e-commerce-enhanced-rich-auto-complete.html

The business-to-business industry is rarely considered glamorous. But don’t let its reputation fool you. Think of the almost-invisible wallflower who shows up to prom transformed and looking li...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/for-a-successful-b2b-site-take-advice-from-b2c.html

My last blog outlined the main SEO tools that businesses need. Tools like Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools, when set up correctly, help you monitor both the positive and negative factors that...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/increase-positive-seo-signals-and-reduce-negative-signals.html

As important as it is in brick-and-mortar stores, the need to design your online store to sell most effectively can’t be overstated. Building online merchandising equivalents of in-store experi...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/is-your-merchandising-working.html

Amazon’s practice of misleading customers with search results is again on trial, after the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling on a trademark infringement suit by ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/advice-for-amazon-be-honest-with-search-results.html

The U.S. Supreme Court opened a new opportunity for merchandising on Friday, June 26. Whether or not you agree with the 5-4 decision making same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states, it’s undeni...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/when-lovewins-smart-merchandisers-win.html

Summer is officially here. But before your shoppers can splash in the pool or lounge on the beach, there is one necessary item of attire that must be purchased – a bathing suit. Is there anythi...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/how-online-bathing-suit-shopping-could-save-summer.html

Mobile commerce is exploding! The majority of traffic to e-commerce stores is coming from mobile devices (Shopify 2014) and mobile commerce is growing three times faster than overall e-commerce...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/after-mobilegeddon-focus-on-site-search-for-mobile-friendliness.html

SLI Receives Magento’s Highest Partner Honor Last week at Magento Imagine, SLI received the “2015 Magento Technology Partner Spirit of Excellence Award for North America.” The annual award ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/sli-receives-magento-partner-award-and-other-2015-accolades.html

It’s big news that the U.S. leapfrogged to the number one spot in the A.T. Kearney 2015 Global E-commerce Index this week. But don’t miss the fact that the Americas as a whole took seven of t...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/top-30-e-commerce-countries-include-7-in-americas.html

Our inaugural SLI Connect AU is a wrap! I would like to thank all of our engaging speakers and thoughtful attendees for making our first SLI Connect in Australia a great success. Speakers include...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/at-inaugural-sli-connect-au-retailers-discover-how-to-stay-competitive.html

Now that more than half of all time spent shopping online is done via mobile devices, mobile commerce is growing three times faster than overall e-commerce. In its “Spotlight on Modern Retail 2...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/for-best-seo-check-off-mobile-optimized-site-search-by-apr-21.html

SLI Connect is sparking exciting e-commerce discussions on both sides of the globe this month. Earlier in March, we had our most successful SLI Connect UK yet. With an unprecedented 200 attendees...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/at-sli-connect-retailers-imagine-an-omnichannel-future.html

50+ years ago, futurists predicted that advances in technology would provide a life of ease. Instead, we use today’s technology to do more, faster – even with shopping. As an increasing numbe...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/five-site-features-that-speed-shoppers-love.html

There’s no question. Site search isn’t sexy, but it doesn’t have to be, because the revenue it drives speaks for itself. Internet Retailer Senior Editor Thad Reuter said it best in his Febr...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/site-search-isnt-sexy-it-scores-sales.html

                                                        Besides the obvious first-place choices of diamonds and roses, see which gem stones, flowers, food gifts and ty...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/infographic-top-e-commerce-searches-for-valentines-day-2015.html

Does your retail operation manage both online and brick and mortar shopping experiences? If so, you understand the importance of showing shoppers a wide variety of products online, while also giv...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/amplify-omnichannel-marketing-with-geospatial-search-results.html

With Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday, many are asking which team is most popular. The Seahawks and Patriots are not only competing for the championship, but also for most die-hard fans. Do Seahawks fan...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/second-annual-super-bowl-e-commerce-study-uncovers-fan-loyalty-for-2015.html

At the beginning of each year, many people ask me what trends to expect in e-commerce technology for the year ahead. For 2015, I see vast opportunities for increased personalization in the online...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/time-to-take-e-commerce-personally.html

When it comes to holiday shopping, peak shopping days and times are experiencing a dramatic shift that could impact the timing of critical promotions. Consumers are shopping on days that were pre...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/time-to-rethink-holiday-promotions-timing.html

Neil Thomas knows what it takes to grow a world-leading Software as a Service (SaaS) company. In his previous role as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales of cloud-based business analytics fi...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/meet-neil-thomas-slis-new-chief-revenue-officer-president-north-america.html

SLI Systems CEO Dr. Shaun Ryan and his brother and co-founder Dr. Grant Ryan were named “2014 New Zealand Engineering Entrepreneurs of the Year” at the New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awar...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/sli-ceo-honoured.html

SLI’s capabilities to deliver insights into online shopping during Halloween and Thanksgiving is receiving exposure in global news outlets such as Forbes and CNN Money. The company studied 201...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/sli-reports-on-halloween-and-thanksgiving-shopping-trends.html

Hear in a recent video testimonial how U.S. gourmet food and gifting company Harry & David saw a US$437,000 increase in 2014 sales after implementing SLI’s Site Champion™. Other recent video ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/major-corporations-endorse-sli.html

Welcome to the first edition of our new bi-annual investor newsletter. In this newsletter we plan to provide updates on the company and its customers along with the deeper information you need to...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/sli-ceo-confident-of-growth-prospects.html

As 2014 holiday shopping statistics roll in, SLI Systems found some interesting trends among search query data for the 800+ e-commerce sites it serves. In addition to seeing a record-breaking Cyb...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/e-commerce-search-queries-hit-new-high-thanksgiving-weekend.html

When you open up your front door for trick-or-treaters this Halloween, you are more likely to be visited by Queen Elsa, and other ‘Frozen’ characters like Princess Ana and the lovable Olaf, t...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/top-costumes-for-halloween-2014-spine-chilling-or-just-chilly.html

Each year, online sales take a bigger slice of the ‘total retail sales’ pie. This year, analyst firm Forrester expects e-commerce sales in the United States to reach $294 billion, a small 9% ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/e-commerce-sales-growing-but-we-can-do-better-than-9-2.html

This is first in a series of guest blogs where online retailers offer insight into their e-commerce success. At Chalkfly, providing everything our customers need while making it easy for them to ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/make-back-to-school-shopping-a-breeze-even-with-60000-products.html

It’s no secret here at SLI that we are arming online retailers with the e-commerce tools they need in the battle against Amazon – and creative content is proving to be a valuable weapon of ch...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/from-blog-to-buy-content-that-converts.html

Aussie retailers Appliances Online and SurfStitch have been picked as equal winners for ‘Best Pureplay Online Retailer’ at the Online Retail Industry Awards (ORIA). The annual awards, which r...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/appliances-online-and-surfstitch-win-online-retail-industry-awards.html

Are you addicted to cosmetics? Hoarding makeup is not uncommon. If you own multiples of eye shadows, lipsticks, blushes and brushes (as I do…), then you’re not alone. Indeed, it’s globally ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/why-you-dont-need-to-brush-your-hair-when-you-buy-cosmetics.html

Though many of us are barely settling into summer, retailers are already touting back-to-school clothes and supplies. This year, the role of e-commerce in back-to-school shopping is bigger than e...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/technology-that-makes-back-to-school-shopping-elementary.html

Want to drive e-commerce sales, plus bring customers to your site instead of going to competitors’ sites or Amazon? Think content. The creative use of content can give your customers a unique a...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/learn-to-entice-shoppers-with-great-content.html

As IRCE prepares for its 10th annual e-commerce conference and exhibition next week (June 10-12), I look forward to my 10th year of attending on behalf of SLI Systems. SLI will have a strong pres...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/10-years-of-irce-and-this-one-could-be-the-best.html

If you’re like the vast majority of online retailers, you will face the need to re-platform at some point. Maybe you’re in the middle of one of these initiatives now, or are about to get star...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/overcome-the-limitations-of-your-e-commerce-platform-search.html

The SLI Connect end user conference in London recently brought together more than 100 e-commerce thought leaders to discuss best practices, plans for the coming year and SLI’s role in achieving...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/omnichannel-strategy-a-key-focus-for-83-of-retailers.html

Earlier this week, eConsultancy posted the article: 25 Effective Design Patterns for E-commerce Site Search Results. The article highlights great examples of search relevancy, site design and ref...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/effective-design-options-you-may-have-overlooked.html

When I’m shopping for clothes, beautiful, colorful displays tend to catch my attention, as do big “sale” signs. But if I’m shopping for something less personal, like housewares or gardeni...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/do-more-selling-within-search-start-merchandising.html

Kidrobot is one of those brands that people love to Like – it’s common for a single Kidrobot post to receive more than 1,000 Likes on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook or Twitter. As the retailer�...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/kidrobot-makes-more-munny-with-social-content-in-its-search.html

Search results pages are usually the place where online shoppers convert or leave. If your search really works and shows visitors the products they’re looking for, you’ll strengthen loyalty f...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/do-your-search-results-pages-drive-customers-to-buy-or-bounce.html

Have you ever conducted a search on an e-commerce site, only to wish it could read your mind and deliver the exact items you’re looking for? OK, maybe expecting “psychic search” is a little...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/get-psychic-with-search-by-improving-relevancy.html

Sasha Butkovich is senior writer for Ecommerce Outtakes and a guest blogger for SLI’s Site Search Today. When it comes to e-commerce site search, what’s going to be the next big trend? Well, ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/three-of-the-best-trends-in-e-commerce-site-search.html

SLI Systems’ mission is to accelerate sales for our e-commerce clients by helping their site visitors find the products they want to buy. We’ve done this over the past 12 years by developing ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/sli-launches-learning-recommendations.html

Online Valentine’s Day shoppers will spend 31% more than those who purchase items related to Valentine’s Day in a physical store, says the National Retail Federation. Broken down to amount sp...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/why-do-online-valentines-day-shoppers-spend-more.html

The popularity of yesterday’s Super Bowl related blog spurred us to create an infographic! The findings are based on recent online shoppers’ searches on e-commerce sites powered by SLI System...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/infographic-retail-site-searches-show-super-bowl-fan-favorites.html

Football fans around the world are gearing up for the biggest day of the season. On Super Bowl Sunday a record-breaking 111 million viewers are expected to be glued to their sets to see whether t...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/denver-or-seattle-online-shopping-behavior-shows-fan-popularity-for-super-bowl-2014.html

As I look through articles on trends and business strategies for 2014, it’s clear that Amazon is driving many online retailers’ business decisions this year. With Amazon’s advantages in ful...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/2014-could-be-the-year-that-online-retailers-outsmart-amazon.html

It’s only been a year and a half since we last revised the Big Book of Site Search Tips. But as the speed of innovation for eCommerce increases, we found there were just too many new things we ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/the-new-big-book-of-site-search-tips-2014-has-launched.html

Imagine yourself walking through the mall. You want that red shirt that you’ve seen your favorite singer wear on the latest episode of TMZ. You’ve got money in your pocket. You arrive at your...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/which-shopping-experience-would-you-prefer.html

Imagine getting your online storefront ready for holiday shoppers during the lucrative Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping days and beyond, only to have the entire eCommerce experience shut do...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/saas-based-site-search-offers-reliability-during-black-friday-and-cyber-monday.html

The results from our annual eCommerce survey are in. Unfortunately, what our latest survey revealed is that a majority of marketers are not taking advantage of the extra “punch” that site sea...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/survey-reveals-ecommerce-marketers-are-leaving-money-on-the-table-are-you.html

This new infographic highlights some of the results from the SLI Systems Global eCommerce Site Search Survey. Click here to download a full report of survey findings.  

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/infographic-the-biggest-missed-opportunities-for-ecommerce-marketers.html

Sasha Butkovich is Senior Writer for Ecommerce Outtakes and a guest blogger for SLI’s Site Search Today. In case you haven’t noticed, I’ll say the obvious: mobile eCommerce is growing like ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/give-your-mobile-shoppers-what-they-want.html

If site search is one of your upcoming high priority projects, then you know that 43% of visitors on a website conduct a search (Marketing Sherpa). If search is not one of your projects, then you...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/top-3-excuses-for-not-improving-site-search.html

As consumers, it seems the more technology-savvy we become, the more impatient we also become. Once we catch a glimpse of what it’s like to have an amazing customer experience, we expect other ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/give-me-relevant-results-now-or-never.html

Want your voice to be heard? It’s survey time again, when SLI Systems asks our network of online retailers and other eCommerce experts to weigh in on their current experiences with site search ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/get-heard-get-prizes-take-our-annual-ecommerce-survey.html

In my last blog regarding usability, I detailed some of the design features and functionality that make eCommerce user-friendly for an older demographic. The important features to optimize site s...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/what-do-young-consumers-want-from-ecommerce.html

As an eCommerce professional, you’ve likely been preparing for the holiday shopping season for months – deciding which products to feature, planning orders and organizing marketing campaigns....

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/optimize-your-search-merchandising-for-the-holidays.html

Natural Wellbeing is a site rich with reports, reviews and expert advice about the holistic and natural wellness products they offer. Such quality content can really help move shoppers through pu...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/customer-success-natural-wellbeing.html

Buttered Popcorn… Cream Soda… Toasted Marshmallow… most of us have favorite likes or dislikes when it comes to Jelly Bellies. And it’s nice to be able to order those favorites from Jelly ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/sweet-success-with-jelly-belly.html

Many of us know someone over 65 who is hesitant to shop online, or even use a computer or smartphone. This leads to the common perception that users 65 and over are resistant to adapt to changing...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/usability-features-for-the-65-online-shopper.html

One of the most frequently asked questions when evaluating site search solutions is why a SaaS-based solution is better than on-premise. The reasoning may follow that with on-premise, you pay for...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/saas-vs-on-premise-solutions.html

In many situations in life, redundancy is undesirable. Our language and writing teachers told us to avoid use of redundant phrases – totally destroyed, armed gunman, exact same, merge together�...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/in-ecommerce-be-really-really-redundant.html

Every day we see how introducing great site search is one of the easiest and quickest ways to turn more visitors into buyers. Earlier this month our customers were telling their stories at IRCE 2...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/the-growing-need-for-outstanding-site-search.html

This article is part of our monthly “CSM of the Month” feature, in which an SLI Systems Customer Success Manager discusses a current client example. One of the more interesting projects I’v...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/csm-of-the-month-mark-lawson-on-analysys-mason.html

We may be halfway through the last day of the exhibit hall at the World’s Largest eCommerce Event, but there’s a lot yet to see and learn today for those at IRCE 2013, the Internet Retailer C...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/advice-for-ecommerce-success-live-from-irce.html

This is third in a series of success stories on eCommerce sites that are growing their business with advanced site search. Also in this series, read about Party Supplies Delivered and Vermont Ted...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/find-your-way-out-of-any-paper-jam-with-this-online-store.html

This is second in a series of success stories on eCommerce sites that are growing their business with advanced site search. See live presentations of these stories at the SLI Theater at IRCE June...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/a-beary-good-success-story-vermont-teddy-bear.html

This is first in a series of success stories on eCommerce sites that are growing their business with advanced site search. See live presentations of these stories at the SLI Theater at IRCE June ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/reason-to-party-203-more-conversions.html

Changing to a new eCommerce platform is a huge investment, not only in dollars, but time spent integrating your site and training your team on the new features and functions. When you’ve just s...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/technical-ability-matters-dont-overlook-advanced-site-search.html

When you are looking for a vacation rental, there are certain specifications that you need or want. Location, the number of rooms, price and amenities are all ways that people describe what they ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/csm-of-the-month-john-michael-santora-on-vacation-rental-pros.html

The best eCommerce websites understand the needs and buying behaviors of their customers. In the case of hair care and beauty products, shopping for the right product is very personal. Whether co...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/join-tomorrows-webinar-with-folica.html

Are you stuck between a rock and a hard spot when it comes to your eCommerce system? Does it have some features that you still like, but is missing crucial others that can make or break your busi...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/replatforming-is-it-right-for-you.html

For many, the process of shopping is social. While social media and online shopping continue to evolve, the essential act of gathering information or sharing our experiences with others is deeply...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/non-product-content-for-a-full-user-experience.html

We talk a lot on this blog about how site search can help retailers improve conversions, merchandise products better and increase average order value. Some retailers have also launched new succes...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/how-site-search-helped-one-company-launch-a-new-product-line.html

Does it really come as a surprise that eCommerce purchases on tablets is outpacing smartphones? No, probably not. Though they share the same mobility and ease of use as smartphones, tablets are a...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/tablet-browsing-made-easy.html

In “brick and mortar” stores, we rely on product design and packaging, product placement such as shelf locations or end caps, and discount signs to help draw shoppers’ eyes to special deals...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/powerful-merchandising-in-three-quick-steps.html

The fashion and beauty industries lead the way in eCommerce with innovative features and web design that are fun, modern and most importantly, useful. The customer experience has been thoroughly ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/dont-miss-our-upcoming-apparel-ecommerce-webinars-feat-tea-collection-and-cache.html

We just released the results of a recent study we conducted among several fashion, accessories, and beauty sites, about how they approach the online user experience (download it here). Understand...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/what-online-retailers-can-learn-from-fashion-brands.html

Here’s our infographic from our 2013 eCommerce survey results, showing top resolutions and goals for online retailers in the New Year. You can find the full results of our 2013 survey here.  

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/2013-ecommerce-resolutions-infographic.html

As 2012 comes to a close, we’ve seen an increase in adoption of new features and general trends among online retailers, including growth in the development of mobile sites, improved merchandisi...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/2013-ecommerce-predictions.html

I knew working with Lakeshore Learning would be interesting because we were supplying them with our full suite of products – Learning Search, Learning Navigation, Rich Auto Complete and Site Ch...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/csm-of-the-month-freddy-jovel-on-lakeshore-learning.html

SLI Systems just released our latest eCommerce survey and infographic, which illuminates new trends about online retailers’ priorities for the coming year, as well as for this holiday shopping ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/surprising-results-from-slis-ecommerce-survey.html

With the way technology has hastened globalization, it’s less easy to qualify languages other than English as “foreign.” It’s easy for us in English-speaking parts of the world to forget ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/site-search-in-different-languages.html

When I worked with HealthPost on their Japanese-language site, it was a truly new and educational adventure. SLI Systems’ clients have websites in numerous countries and languages, but this wa...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/csm-of-the-month-michelle-polglase-on-healthpost.html

The numbers are in – and there were two major takeaways from this year’s Black Friday sales. First: eCommerce made a huge leap this year. Revenues for online sales exceeded one billion dollar...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/black-friday-roundup-ecommerce-sales-exceed-1-billion.html

Unfortunately for online shoppers, bad search is more common than you might think. And if you routinely visit sites with great to fairly-good search, finding a bad search is all the more noticeab...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/bad-search-is-everywhere.html

This holiday season, online retailers are expecting to see a much stronger surge in holiday sales – Forrester has predicted online revenues of $68.4 billion this holiday season, a 15 percent...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/online-shopping-forecasts-are-looking-merry-and-bright.html

A surprising fact was just reported: older consumers are most likely to make holidays purchases online this year. The study, conducted by Velaro, highlighted some interesting facts that online re...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/surprise-older-shoppers-are-more-likely-to-purchase-online.html

The market for online shoppers can be dark and perilous territory for eCommerce sites. Customers come and go, and it can be easy to disappear forever in a forest of competing stores. Don’t be s...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/site-search-horror-stories-horrific-hidden-search-boxes-and-menacing-merchandising.html

For eCommerce sites, there is nothing more terrifying than discovering your products are buried six feet under. Ineffective site search can bury relevant results to the point where your customers...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/site-search-horror-stories-texas-relevance-massacre.html

One factor to consider when building a brilliant site search is how stock levels should impact the search. A great search should deliver a product that the searcher wants to buy and that the reta...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/stock-levels-and-site-search.html

Talk to any dog owner, and you’ll quickly find that their pet is just another member of the family. They’ll do anything they can to protect them. DogIDs sells pet collars with built-in ID tag...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/csm-of-the-month-kish-maharaj-on-dog-ids.html

In contrast to the brick and mortar stores where we all grew up shopping, online shopping offers a variety of ways to put the right items in front of your customers. Instead of sorting through ra...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/ecommerce-merchandising-made-easy.html

Traditionally, men have led in purchasing in the eCommerce space, buying digital media, computers and other consumer electronics. However, as more eCommerce sites have expanded their reach to app...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/how-women-are-shaping-ecommerce.html

Assume you’re searching for new clip in shoes for your road bike, but you’re not sure exactly what you want. You go to your favorite bicycle or sports outfitter’s website and search ‘bike...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/increase-conversions-with-better-search-relevancy.html

When you are in a niche market and your customers are looking for very specific products or information, it’s really important to have a website that can deliver highly-relevant results fast. T...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/csm-of-the-month-gina-chase-on-bulk-reef-supply.html

As social media and mobile device usage transform the online eCommerce landscape, retailers are keeping a close watch on how these trends change the way visitors search and navigate around their ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/new-edition-of-popular-big-book-of-site-search-tips-now-available.html

Creating a great e-commerce website is a team effort, and at SLI, we love to work with customers to make their online vision a reality. We recently started working with OQVestir, a Brazil-based w...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/csm-of-the-month-joe-riney-on-oqvestir.html

It’s nothing new that good customer service is key to customer loyalty, referrals, and greater revenue. A recent survey conducted by Echo Research shows that a majority of consumers believe th...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/another-reason-for-good-site-search-customer-service.html

This month, I’d like to fill you in on a little known eCommerce industry secret: More and more online retailers are using their site search solutions to improve the efficiencies of their call c...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/when-site-search-answers-the-call-service-goes-up.html

King Arthur Flour is an excellent example of an eCommerce website that has taken its community and content to the next level. Not only does the website have tools and materials for bakers, they h...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/csm-of-the-month-justin-matsui-on-king-arthur-flour.html

We talk a lot in this blog about ways to get more business value from site search. Today, I’d like to talk about the importance of navigation, and more specifically the navigation pages in deli...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/consistency-in-search-and-navigation-lends-to-a-stronger-brand-experience.html

I worked closely with MonsterCable.com to implement their latest site search, and it was great working with them. Personally, I enjoy playing with electronics and have brought some of their headp...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/csm-of-the-month-kish-maharaj-on-monster-cable-products.html

I recently implemented our search solution on a customer site called Thompson & Morgan, and wanted to let you know about it. It was a pleasure working on their site, and I learned a lot about pla...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/csm-of-the-month-chris-edge-on-thompson-morgan.html

Discussions about how site search helps businesses add to the bottom line, and SLI systems itself, have been hitting the news lately. So, I thought I’d round the recent ones up for you, in case...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/site-search-in-the-news.html

Since visitors who use site search convert at a higher rate and spend more than those who don’t, it’s no surprise that retailers are inventing new ways to drive their visitors to search. Our ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/how-to-get-more-visitors-to-use-site-search.html

Summer’s almost here, school will soon be out and it’s time for barbecues and the beach, right? If you’re like most in the retail business, Cyber Monday is the furthest thing from your mind...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/csm-of-the-month-summer-jordan-says-its-time-to-get-ready-for-cyber-monday-now-dont-wait.html

I like to keep up to date on the latest trends in site search and ecommerce, and thought it would be a good idea to share some of my resources with you. I’ve compiled a list of my favorite site...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/useful-resources-for-site-search-and-e-commerce.html

We are very excited about this year’s Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition (IRCE 2012), which will be the biggest ever. The exhibit hall has sold out and the number of expected attendees w...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/irce-2012-its-all-about-connections.html

When you begin to design your site search experience, one of the first questions you face is how many columns of items do you want to display.  More columns means more product results will be se...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/retailers-hand-shoppers-the-keys-to-personalizing-their-search-experience.html

In stock or not? In the old days, shoppers had to add an item to their cart to answer this question. As e-commerce technology evolved, the stock status of a product became readily available on th...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/the-ins-and-outs-of-using-product-stock-status-in-site-search.html

What do you see when you look at your top search terms report? I typically see brand terms and product category terms in many of the top spots.  I also see a great opportunity to create a more c...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/hybrid-search-category-landing-pages-are-merchandisers-playground.html

Behind every great site search experience sits a rich set of information that describes every possible search result.  For retailers, this product information is in the form of attribute labels ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/product-tagging-the-hidden-workhorse-of-top-retail-search-experiences.html

Now that many retailers have made video a key component in their merchandising strategy, we are seeing more studies about the impact that video is having.  According to a recent study by e-comme...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/lights-camera-action-putting-video-to-work-in-your-site-search.html

While Henry Ford was great at making cars, he clearly missed a key opportunity to delight his customers when he said, “People can have the Model T in any color – so long as it’s black.” F...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/colorize-your-search-to-delight-your-customers.html

In light of all the transformations we’re seeing on the web, one aspect must be kept top of mind: speed. Consumers’ expectations for pages to load quickly – whether on traditional or mobile...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/is-your-site-search-speedy-enough.html

Basic search refinements make it easy for customers to find what they are looking, but dynamic search refinements can supercharge your site search experience and provide a host of other usability...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/dynamic-search-refinements-improve-usability.html

Deciding what product information to include in your site search results can be tricky.  Should you take the approach of “the more the better” or look at this as “less is more?”  The an...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/site-search-product-information-roundup.html

Lots of online retailers incorporate personalization into different aspects of their websites to give customers a more intimate and familiar shopping experience. Did you know you can also persona...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/personalize-the-site-search-experience.html

In continuation of our series on site search box best practices this post will provide our findings on what text online retailers include in their search box to help guide their customers.  Of t...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/site-search-box-best-practices-part-3-help-text.html

In continuation of our series on site search box best practices, today we dive into the size of the search box.  In our analysis of search boxes of the top 50 retailers on the IR 500 we looked a...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/site-search-best-practices-part-2-size.html

Floating Search Box Increases Search Usage and Website KPIs As we’ve discussed in our Big Book of Site Search Tips and in our blogs, site search users are responsible for a proportionally large...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/floating-search-box-increases-search-usage-and-website-kpis.html

Got “no results”? Give customers an alternative When someone searches your site only to get a “no results” page, their visit will likely come to an end – whether you’re an e-commerce ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/got-no-results-give-customers-an-alternative.html

Last week I began a series of discussions on the Site Search and the User Experience LinkedIn group that focused on the site search box.  I asked questions of the group to identify some best pra...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/site-search-box-best-practices-part-1-placement.html

With the skyrocketing growth of Pinterest I’ve been on the hunt to identify all of the ways online retailers can use Pinterest to grow their business.  I found countless articles and blogs wit...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/faster-pinterest-pinning-through-site-search.html

Online retailers are going to great lengths to create content that informs, educates, inspires, and entertains their customers. They are producing fantastic articles about how to use their produc...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/how-well-are-you-merchandising-your-content.html

The web was buzzing last week with news of the Facebook IPO. Much of the news seemed to focus around Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth and the new crop of millionaires that will be made out of Facebo...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/facebook-announces-ipo-learn-how-are-retailers-cashing-in-on-facebooks-success.html

What’s On the Radar for 2012: Social, Tablets, Personalization, and Video We’ve noticed several trends percolating over the past several months, which we believe will become more mainstream i...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/whats-on-the-radar-for-2012-social-tablets-personalization-and-video.html

With all of the retargeting options available to online retailers now, the creation of banner ads has become a regular task for creative teams. Coming up with fresh creative can be a challenge bu...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/guerrilla-marketing-with-site-search.html

As I discussed in my last post, “2012: The Year of the Tablet”, what’s hot in online retail this year seems to be trends that began bubbling up over the past several months. We already dis...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/how-to-keep-customers-engaged.html

How about sharing your thoughts on what 2012 will bring? I’ll start – While 2011 could be called the year eRetailers got interested in mobile and social media, 2012 will likely be the year of...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/2012-the-year-of-the-tablet-and-continuation-of-social.html

The use of smartphones and tablets for shopping this holiday was featured among the NRF’s list of the Top 10 trends for 2011. They predicted that half of Americans with smartphones and 70 perce...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/mobile-commerce-consumers-have-a-split-personality.html

Welcome back everybody and Happy New year! This Holiday season was great, by most measures, which has prompted me to write about it. While the news for brick-and-mortar stores was good overall, i...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/looking-back-on-the-2011-holiday-season.html

The 2011 online holiday shopping season had a strong start, with record Cyber Monday sales of $1.251 billion and a significant jump over last year. Depending on whose numbers you believe, this ye...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/record-cyber-monday-sales-offer-promising-start-to-holiday-e-retail-season.html

Since our last year in review, the march toward mobile has continued to revolutionize the way we look at site search and navigation. Of course, the spread of mobile devices, and consumers’ inte...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/year-in-review-the-march-toward-mobile-and-focus-on-usability.html

Ed Hoffman just pointed out an interesting search box on the LA times site. When you click on the search box it pops up to a larger box and includes a link to their advanced search. Before you cl...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/cool-search-box.html

The process of prepping your online storefront for holiday shoppers begins earlier every year – but there’s still time for last-minute “quick hits” that can help boost conversions and enc...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/5-quick-ideas-for-holiday-merchandising-in-search-and-navigation.html

In an ideal world visitors will come to your website, find what they want and make a purchase. In the real world only a small portion of users will follow this pattern. Many will get interrupted,...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/help-interrupted-users-return-to-their-previous-session-with-search-history.html

Just like in a physical store, it’s important to merchandise your navigation pages with information about what products are on sale, the promotions you’re running, what items are marked for c...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/merchandise-navigation-pages-for-more-click-throughs.html

When approaching navigation it’s important to remember that search engine spiders are a key audience. Google, Bing and other search engines analyze site navigation structures as they crawl your...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/improve-seo-with-simple-tweaks-in-navigation.html

When you’re trying to find something on a poorly designed or overly cluttered website, it can feel like you’re in one of those computer games where you’re trapped in a dark hallway and don�...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/got-questions-about-navigation-download-our-big-book-of-navigation-tips.html

Refinements are an important part of navigation, as they help narrow a broad category so visitors get to items they’re looking for more quickly – and also help them get to particular items to...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/refinement-display-narrow-down-broad-categories-in-an-easily-digestible-way.html

Most e-commerce sites, and even non-ecommerce sites, have customer ratings and reviews. The ratings give people a quick view at how well a product (or content) has fared among people who’ve alr...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/maximize-ratings-and-reviews-by-integrating-them-into-your-site-navigation.html

The relevance of the search results is critical to helping your visitors find the products they are looking for quickly, as well as keeping them browsing to increase the order values. Last week, ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/bnet-podcast-10-ways-to-improve-your-site-search.html

The 2011 Multichannel Merchant (MCM) Awards are out, and we now know which are the top 10 retail sites with the best search and navigation. It’s great to see such an influential industry public...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/top-10-2011-mcm-awards-puts-spotlight-on-great-site-search-navigation.html

Today marks the 10th anniversary since SLI Systems was incorporated. So we’re celebrating. We’re having parties, giving gifts to our staff and I though I would take a little time to reflect o...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/10-years-in-business.html

Earlier this week we had a problem at one of our data centers. The way it was successfully handled makes for an interesting story that I’d like to share. The outage We use multiple data centers...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/the-story-of-the-outage-that-wasnt.html

Earlier this week we had a problem at one of our data centers. The way it was successfully handled makes for an interesting story that I’d like to share. The outage We use multiple data centers...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/the-story-of-the-outage-that-wasnt-2.html

This month, we have a tip on boosting conversions from people who land on your product pages from searches via Google and other Internet search engines. The tip is to show a tailored product bann...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/use-site-search-data-to-capture-a-nice-conversion-lift-from-search-engine-traffic.html

SLI Systems Blog, Guest Post Contributed by: Ed Kennedy, Business Development, Guidance Recently, I was listening to APM’s Marketplace Tech Report which highlighted how Google and Bing are now ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/bring-social-to-search-and-search-to-social.html

Next week we’ll be exhibiting at the annual Retail World conference in Sydney, taking place June 27-29. If you’re attending the event, be sure to see us at stand #51, where we’ll be demonst...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/join-us-next-week-at-retail-world-in-sydney.html

Minor changes to search and navigation, such as the way search results or images are displayed, can improve conversions and increase orders, while helping streamline the customer experience. Howe...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/new-conversion-optimizer-helps-improve-revenue-per-visitor-and-conversion-rates-of-search-and-navigation-pages.html

Your website visitors have high expectations of quickly finding the products or content they need. However, visitors often struggle to figure out exactly what terms they should use in the search ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/related-search-suggestions-help-visitors-home-in-on-products-and-content.html

Our customer U.S. Toy has found that cross-linking site search results across its three different websites has increased revenue and reduced confusion among shoppers. The online retailer of toys ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/cross-linking-site-search-results-reaps-benefits-for-site-owners-and-visitors.html

From the look of things, UK eRetailers have bought into the idea of Site Search as a Full-Service to provide the best user experience on their sites, while removing the headaches commonly associa...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/full-service-search-gaining-ground-in-the-uk.html

I spotted a story in Twin Cities Business blog  about 3M suing Shoplet over their site search results and thought it was worthy of a comment or two. I found this interesting because its not ofte...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/3m-sues-shoplet-over-their-site-search-results.html

SLI Systems Blog, Guest Post Contributed by: Steve Warren, Vice President of Business Development, Fifth Gear Every retail transaction has a lifecycle. In ecommerce, that lifecycle includes four ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/4-stages-of-a-great-shopping-experience.html

At SLI, we spend a lot of time talking with our clients about ways they can improve performance of their site search and navigation, and options to consider for merchandising results pages. We’...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/when-implementing-searchandising-best-practices-test-test-and-test-again.html

We just posted our latest video tip by Shaun Ryan today, the 2nd of a two-part series on site search refinements. This latest tip (just 6 ½ minutes long) covers many aspects of how best to displ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/latest-video-tips-reveal-what-why-and-how-of-site-search-refinements.html

MagnetStreet, an online retailer of personalized save-the-date items and wedding invitations, has four distinct lines of business: one for real estate agents and general businesses, one for schoo...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/should-separate-lines-of-business-have-their-own-site-search-ask-magnetstreet.html

With the recent growth in mobile shopping, coupled with new technologies that bring online shopping to the physical world (and vice-versa), the lines between online and offline have blurred. It�...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/blend-online-and-offline-marketing-and-deliver-a-better-brand-experience.html

Multichannel Merchant announced today the finalists for its 2011 MCM Awards, which recognized the top multichannel retail sites across a number of vertical industries. Given the critical role tha...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/congratulations-to-mcm-award-finalists.html

I’m finding that more and more, consumers are attracted by solutions that seamlessly blend their online and offline shopping experiences. Although consumers are becoming more appreciative of th...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/blending-mobile-search-and-shopping-to-improve-the-customer-experience.html

SLI will be at two key industry events over the next couple weeks – if you plan to go to Internet Retailer Web Design or eTail West, come by our booth and see a demo of our learning-based searc...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/heading-to-irwd-or-etail-west-visit-us-and-win-an-ipad.html

Not long ago, you could implement key technology upgrades to your e-commerce site a few months in advance of the crucial holiday shopping season, all in one go – then leave your site alone unti...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/the-must-have-online-commerce-features-for-2011-and-beyond.html

In my last post, I offered some tips for improving the visitor experience at online retailing sites. To continue the discussion, below are some simple website enhancements that can help your cust...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/dont-leave-money-on-the-table-part-2-enhancements-that-forge-stronger-customer-connections.html

As head of SLI’s customer success management team, I’ve had lots of interactions with online retailers and have seen many instances of companies not doing all they can to turn online visits i...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/does-your-site-deliver-as-many-sales-as-possible-or-are-you-leaving-money-on-the-table-pt-1.html

One of our goals for 2011 is to significantly beef up our arsenal of useful, educational content. Along those lines, we’ve just made available a new Ecommerce Podcast interview with Tim Parry, ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/new-educational-content-available-podcast-with-multichannel-merchant-writer-and-video-tips-on-creating-mobile-site-search.html

Last week, Brian Burstein of MarketingSherpa shared some useful tips on the SherpaBlog for maximizing your site search (a few were provided by our CEO, Shaun Ryan) in his post “On-site Search: ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/marketingsherpa-offers-tips-for-improving-your-site-search.html

It’s hard to believe another year is coming to a close. In 2010, site search continued to evolve into an important merchandising technology that positively impacts online businesses. As we’ve...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/year-in-review-mobile-and-social-media-shake-up-search.html

During the internet boom/bust years companies such as boo.com were criticised for trying to sell apparel online. Common opinion was that the internet wasn’t mature enough and business models (o...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/the-fashion-industry-looking-sharp-being-smart.html

In my last post on list, grid and hybrid views, I discussed the pros and cons of list and grid views and offered a new alternative – the hybrid view for search and navigation pages, which takes...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/more-on-hybrid-view-driving-and-converting-traffic.html

For retailers selling online, the question of “Grid View or List View?” for results pages is a common struggle. As Linda Bustos points out on her “Get Elastic” blog, “When presented w...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/grid-view-list-view-or-hybrid-view.html

With the holiday shopping season well underway, there is talk of recent ecommerce site failures and anticipation of how these failures will impact online businesses during this season’s shoppin...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/avoid-costly-website-failures-with-software-as-a-service.html

I had a surprising experience this week. I failed to find one of the most popular books in the world in the world’s biggest bookstore. It all started when my son picked up the first Harry Potte...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/couldnt-find-harry-potter-on-amazon.html

Have you ever shopped for clothing, books, or sporting supplies on your mobile device? If so, was it an easy process, or was it cumbersome and time-consuming? While the numbers vary a bit from re...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/launch-your-m-commerce-website-in-just-a-few-days-with-sli-mobile.html

Last week Google unveiled Instant Previews. This gives you the ability to preview a page by clicking a magnifying glass icon next to the title. This is a cool feature, although I’ve found that...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/google-instant-previews-any-lessons-for-site-search.html

One of the best things about site search is that almost everyone is familiar with the concept of being online and starting their journey with a keyword search. The search results page is one of t...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/why-site-search-is-so-important.html

In our latest Ecommerce Podcast, Dave Baird, vice president of marketing and co-owner of MagnetStreet, spoke with our fearless leader, Shaun Ryan, about how site search data helped MagnetStreet i...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/ecommerce-podcast-with-magnetstreet-site-search-data-drives-new-line-of-business.html

Lately, we’ve been beating the mobile drum pretty loudly. A few weeks ago, we announced our new SLI Mobile solution to help retailers quickly create a mobile version of their websites. And just...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/shoppers-say-theyre-going-mobile-for-the-holidays.html

In last month’s newsletter, we explained how to identify the most useful refinements for your site search, depending on your customers’ needs and the product mix. Figuring out which refinemen...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/organize-and-display-refinements-to-streamline-the-site-search-experience.html

As you might know, SLI Systems recently entered the mobile arena with a new solution to help e-retailers quickly and cost-effectively create a mobile website. Next week we’ll be demonstrating o...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/visit-sli-at-the-mobile-shopping-summit-next-week.html

Each year it seems the online holiday shopping season starts earlier than the year before. Consumers are already flocking to the web to get a jump on their holiday shopping, yet many retailers ar...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/register-for-our-webinar-with-susan-aldrich-of-patricia-seybold-group.html

If you haven’t yet developed a mobile version of your website, it’s time to put this task at the top of your list. The mobile device market is growing at exponential rates, and your customers...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/get-ready-for-the-mobile-commerce-revolution-with-sli-mobile.html

Recently we issued our first “SLI E-Retail Holiday Index,” a report on site search and shopping trends that reveals the most sought-after items in various retailing categories. The data was p...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/the-holidays-are-almost-here-what-are-people-shopping-for.html

Disaster planning and business continuity are an important part of any hosted service offering – and in particular, with the holidays coming up, retailers need a search solution that won’t fa...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/business-continuity-planning-and-holiday-preparedness.html

It’s only September, but many consumers have already starting their holiday shopping. And the outlook for this year’s holiday spending online looks fairly bright. So if you’re an online ret...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/prepare-for-the-holiday-shopping-season.html

Refinements or facets, are one of the most important ways to address the myriad ways your online visitors can search your site. They allow visitors to narrow down search results based on certain ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/create-refinements-that-make-your-site-search-more-user-friendly-increase-customer-engagement.html

We have a growing number of customers implementing Rich Auto Complete. We have some preliminary data from them and the results are looking very interesting. First of all some background… What �...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/rich-auto-complete-is-looking-good.html

Earlier this week we announced our new Learning Search for Publishers, a new variation of our hosted site search product aimed at the online publishing/digital media industry. The value propositi...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/digital-media-site-need-good-site-search-too.html

If you’re like most online businesses, by now you’ve probably taken the plunge into social media marketing. Maybe you have a company blog, or you’ve created a Facebook page and/or a Twitter...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/bring-social-media-content-into-site-search-results-to-increase-visibility.html

On Wed., July 28 we’re hosting a free webinar featuring Forrester Research Principal Analyst Brian Walker. The webinar, “Unlock Powerful Customer Information to Generate Higher Conversions wi...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/sign-up-for-our-webinar-with-brian-walker-of-forrester.html

This year’s Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition was a great success – thanks to the team at Internet Retailer who worked so hard to pull off an amazing event! Probably to nobody’s s...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/irce-2010-success-in-the-windy-city.html

Visitors to your website should always be offered easy ways to navigate your site, shortening the time it takes from the beginning of their search to their discovery of just the right product or ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/with-rich-auto-complete-pictures-help-tell-the-story-and-convert-customers.html

Earlier this month we moved our North American headquarters into a new space in downtown San Jose. Our new location at 333 W. San Carlos Ave. is bigger, giving us plenty of room to grow. And if t...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/new-office-space-broadens-our-horizons.html

No matter if you’re selling products, services or information online, to be successful, site visitors must be able to quickly and easily find what they came for – or they will leave, often ne...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/site-search-helps-fill-cienas-b2b-sales-lead-pipeline.html

We recently conducted a survey of more than 400 e-commerce companies about their plans and activities in mobile commerce (m-commerce). The feedback was intriguing, to say the least. We found th...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/our-m-commerce-survey-reveals-retailers-see-opportunities-in-mobile-commerce-but-are-slow-to-address-them.html

Most likely, you already know that with web analytics, you can uncover valuable information about how and where your visitors use your site to purchase products or download information. Did you a...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/site-search-and-web-analytics-put-a-wealth-of-data-at-your-fingertips.html

This week we complete the series of site search tips taken from our “Big Book” free whitepaper (which you can still download at http://blog.sli-systems.com/whitepaper/bigbook). As we close ou...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/final-chapter-on-site-search-tips.html

If you’re involved in e-commerce, we’d like to invite you to participate in our latest survey pertaining to trends in mobile commerce. Even if you don’t have a mobile commerce site, or even...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/take-our-mobile-commerce-survey.html

Your website may have the hottest products on the market, and the most engaging content – but if the site doesn’t have “findability,” potential customers won’t even know you exist. They...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/boost-search-engine-findability-by-watching-site-search-behavior.html

This week’s site search tips re-visit the topic of refinements. Refinements are an important aspect of site search because they make it significantly easier for visitors to sort through results...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/more-on-refinements.html

We’re nearing the end of our weekly Site Search Tips series, with just two more weeks to go. However, you can always download our free Big Book of Site Search Tips to see all 80 suggestions for...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/small-steps-can-have-a-big-impact-on-your-visitors-search-experience.html

If you’ve put forth the effort to have a highly intuitive, impactful site search but you’re not looking at your site search reports, you could be missing out on more opportunities to improve ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/site-search-reporting-offers-a-goldmine-of-data.html

If you’ve been following our series of site search tips, you know that each week we reveal a few tips from our latest “Big Book of Site Search Tips” whitepaper (available for free download ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/mixing-up-the-big-book-tips.html

Given the rapid adoption of smartphones, everyone in ecommerce knows the importance of developing a mobile version of their web site. What’s perhaps even more important is creating a mobile ver...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/mobile-site-search-needs-to-be-fast-streamlined-and-relevant.html

Fast on the heels of our “Big Book of Site Search Tips,” we’ve published another whitepaper about e-commerce site search and how companies can leverage it to improve the way people buy onli...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/new-whitepaper-improve-the-way-people-buy-online-with-better-site-search.html

This week we return to the topic of site search tips, and provide a few more tips below from our “Big Book of Site Search Tips” which is available for free download at http://blog.sli-system...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/more-tips-to-help-improve-the-presentation-of-site-search-results.html

This week, our tips are about using Refinements in your site search to improve your visitors’ experience and help them more quickly and easily find what they’re looking for. Refinements are e...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/dont-forget-refinements.html

This week our site search tips focus on relevance. In a nutshell, if your site search results aren’t relevant – and what’s relevant will vary from person to person – your visitors may ver...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/the-importance-of-being-relevant.html

This week we return to basics with some general tips for how to improve performance of your site search. Both of the tips below are very simple to implement and can increase usage of your site’...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/back-to-some-general-site-search-tips.html

If you’ve invested time and energy in an effective, relevant results-oriented site search solution, you’ve probably seen an impact on your web site – higher conversions for people who use t...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/pain-free-testing-optimizes-search-and-navigation.html

When people search your site, it’s not enough to just provide a page of results – no matter how relevant the results are (although admittedly, relevance in results does count for a lot). Cust...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/how-to-merchandise-your-site-search-results.html

Site search and site search reporting are critical parts of your online business success. If you’re not doing so already, you should review your site search reports regularly to make sure your ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/more-on-site-search-reporting.html

This week we’re offering a couple tips on how to improve relevance of your site search, and also how to leverage data in your site search reports to make improvements. Our own research shows th...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/relevance-and-reporting.html

This week’s tips – taken from nearly 80 tips in our “The Big Book of Site Search Tips” – focus on refinements in site search. Refinements refer to the filters or categories you create t...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/lets-talk-refinements.html

Download the Big Book of Site Search Tips Improving the look and feel—and usability—of your site’s search feature usually requires more than one change. Many small changes and enhancements ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/the-big-book-chock-full-of-site-search-tips.html

Today we’ll share a few more tips from our new white paper “The Big Book of Site Search Tips” (available for free download). As we mentioned last week, the full paper includes nearly 80 tip...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/some-tips-about-page-lay-out.html

As mentioned in our earlier post, we’re starting a new series of tips here on our blog for improving your site search, as part of our new whitepaper “The Big Book of Site Search Tips” that�...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/a-few-basic-tips-to-get-us-started.html

Today we’re kicking off a new series of blog posts with tips for improving your on-site search. The series is part of a new SLI Systems whitepaper called the “Big Book of Site Search Tips”....

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/site-search-tips-improve-the-way-people-find-what-they-seek-on-your-site.html

The past year saw continuous improvement in site search, particularly in the search interface. We rolled out Auto Complete to most of our clients, and we’re offering it as a standard feature fo...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/a-look-back-and-forward-our-thoughts-on-whats-to-come-in-2010-for-site-search.html

When your customers are browsing through dozens of search results – for instance, if they’re searching a general category instead of a specific item – the task of viewing each product can b...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/mouse-over-pop-ups-make-searching-for-products-faster-and-more-fun.html

The busy holiday shopping season is already underway – but it’s not too late to make small improvements that will make it easier for shoppers to find their way around on your site, as well as...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/helpful-hints-for-better-site-search-navigation-during-the-holidays.html

Today we issued a press release about Hard Rock Cafe and the work we are doing with them. The press release explains why you need ecommerce specific features in a site search solution for a site ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/rock-on.html

A recent article in Internet Retailer notes that speed sells on ecommerce sites. At the same time, consumers want more rich features that can, consequently, slow down their sites’ performance ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/introducing-ajax-search-no-page-reloads-faster-results.html

Today Google announced Google Commerce Search. Strangely enough, we very rarely compete with Google and we have been expecting them to do this for years so I was very interested to see the new pr...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/google-commerce-search-a-critique.html

Today we posted an interview with Lee Brown from Online Golf on the ecommerce podcast. One of the really interesting pieces of data that Lee shares during the interview is that people who view a...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/viewing-videos-increases-sales.html

In our August newsletter, we outlined some basic steps to make your existing site search even better for your visitors. We have more good advice in store for you this month, with ideas that can m...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/back-to-basics-tips-for-how-to-get-the-most-from-site-search-2.html

Is search really the new navigation, as the CEO of DMV.org (an SLI customer) said last year? Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital seems to think so: the firm now features a large search box as th...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/nothing-but-a-search-box.html

We’re always excited when one of our customers gets recognition for something innovative or unique that they’re doing – and even more so when that recognition involves our search technology...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/centurynovelty-com-creates-award-winning-site-search-experience.html

Most web browsers, such as Internet Explorer and Firefox, now feature an integrated search box. Typically these search boxes are pointed to Google or another popular search engine to make it easy...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/drive-more-traffic-to-your-site-through-open-search.html

We spend a lot of time in this newsletter talking about the importance of a good site search – how it can lead to higher conversions on e-commerce sites, how it can improve the overall user exp...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/back-to-basics-tips-for-how-to-get-the-most-from-site-search.html

I apologise for the title of the post – it’s fairly scentsless. Earlier this week I was listening to a Jared Spool webinar on site search: Search, Scent and the Happiness of Pursuit. In this ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/scents-make-sense-and-cents-and-dollars.html

About 10% of all searches on your site have no results. The “No results” page is an important part of your site and you can benefit from giving it some attention. Your site search logs should...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/attend-to-no-results-pages-and-improve-your-customers-on-site-experience.html

Over time companies have come to recognize that populating a web site with lots of images significantly improves the user experience. This is especially true for e-commerce sites, where people sh...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/add-some-color-to-your-web-site-and-the-site-search.html

ABCNews recently announced they had improved their design, navigation and search.  I took a look at it and had a few comments. It’s nice to see images in the search results – although I thin...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/a-critique-of-abcnews-search.html

This week we posted an interview with Tammie McKenzie from Cruiser Customizing. This was a very interesting interview. Cruiser Customizing started as community for  for those who are passionate...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/an-interview-with-tammie-mckenzie-from-cruiser-customizing.html

I was on the Marketing Sherpa site today, reviewing the article that published last week about our customer Jelly Belly and I noticed that their site search could do with some improvement.  The...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/a-critique-of-the-marketing-sherpa-search.html

If you’ve been putting off blogging because you’re not sure how it will help your business, it may be time to get on the blogging bandwagon. A recent article in E-Commerce Guide points out th...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/bring-blogging-into-site-search-results.html

When Google added a color picker to their image search last week I thought it would be worthwhile sharing a few ideas about the use of color refinements in site search. First – let’s take a l...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/refining-search-results-by-colorcolour.html

Our primary aim is to help create a better online experience for our customers’ visitors, and help improve our clients online business, through more relevant search. As we’ve discussed in re...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/show-reviews-and-social-tags-in-site-search-results.html

Evan Schuman mentioned the idea of being able to search within an individual store – so you can see if your local store has the product you’re looking for. I like this idea and I would use i...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/searching-within-a-store.html

I promise this will be the last time I write about this fairly trivial feature about putting the focus on the search box…. In our February newsletter we ran a poll asking: “Do you think the c...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/focus-poll.html

I saw an excellent write up about winning strategies for no results pages by Greg Nudelman. Greg includes plenty of examples of what does and doesn’t work.  I recommend reading it. Here is...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/no-results-page.html

I read an article in the Ecommerce Guide recommending that online stores should blog. The article covers some of the basics of blogging and its benefits – including helping to engage your cust...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/blogging-ecommerce-and-site-search.html

I spotted a post by Bryan Eisenberg at FutureNow listing the top 10 online retailers by conversion rate. First of all – I was pleased to see three SLI customers in the list – FTD, Blair.com ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/top-10-retailers-by-conversion-rate.html

When I was at the Internet Retailer design show in Miami last month I noticed that more and more retailers are using video on their site. Fat Brain Toys president and co-founder, Mark Carson sho...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/incorporating-video-into-site-search.html

  Yesterday we released a podcast interview with our customer Ian MacDonald from Century Novelty. During this interview Ian talks about how he started off as a stock boy while he was at school a...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/interview-with-ian-macdonald-from-century-novelty.html

Last week I spotted an interesting blog post by Anna Skaya and Adam Salamon – over at Bazaarvoice. They described how our UK based customer Boden is using social tags to enhance their site se...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/social-tags-and-site-search.html

We’re currently running a mini poll on LinkedIn. When on a site, do you search or navigate more often?  Which do you do first?  Take the poll and see the results here www.tinyurl.com/8wyuvq.

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/mini-poll-search-vs-navigate.html

I was reading Jacob Neilsen’s Alertbox article on Interaction Elasticity today. In the newsletter he mentions that shorter navigation paths are usually better. “4 easy clicks are more usable ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/focus-focus-focus.html

I was just looking at the data from our search logs and noticed that we served 20% more queries on behalf of our customers on Cyber Monday than we did on Black Friday. To be clear these are sear...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/cyber-monday-bigger-than-black-friday-online.html

We have just released this interview on the ecommerce podcast with Aaron Magness, the Business Development Manager from Zappos. Aaron talks about the approach Zappos takes to customer service and...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/interview-with-aaron-magness-from-zappos.html

Over the past few months we have been upgrading our infrastructure to provide improved redundancy to our customers.  Specifically we’ve enhanced our geographic redundancy so there is now no si...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/improved-redundancy-in-time-for-the-holidays.html

In case you missed it, last week the National Retail Federation (NRF) released the results of an ecommerce survey conducted by Shopzilla® for Shop.org, which show that a majority (56%) of online...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/nrf-shopzilla-ecommerce-survey.html

I wanted to send out a note of caution for those of you who may be talking to someone from one of our competitors, Thanx Media. Take what you hear from them with a grain of salt. We are gettin...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/thanxmedia-a-word-of-warning.html

Well known venture capital firm Sequoia Capital made a now famous presentation to their portfolio companies titled “RIP: The Good Times”,  warning these companies about the seriousness of t...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/sli-is-in-a-strong-position.html

SLI Systems CEO Shaun Ryan speaks to Melissa Campanelli of eM+C about the importance of Site Search within an ecommerce site http://www.emarketingandcommerce.com/podcasts.

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/shaun-ryan-and-melissa-campanelli-of-emc-discuss-site-search.html

As we highlighted in a previous post, we recently conducted a survey of 322 retailers asking them about the tools they give top priority to when it comes to online marketing. We were happy to fin...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/thank-you-for-your-participation-in-our-survey.html

This is a question that we are very interested in here at SLI. Most of our customers are retailers. Through our services we are talking to these people every day. Our relationship with them feels...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/what-impact-is-the-economy-having-on-on-line-retailers.html

Yesterday we announced that WEBS has implemented our Learning Search to power the site search on its all-things knitting ecommerce site Yarn.com. Aside from strengthening its online brand visibil...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/on-a-completely-different-thread.html

Omniture announced yesterday that they are going to acquire certain assets in our competitor Mercado. The deal needs the approval of the Israeli government and that may not happen until the end o...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/omniture-to-buy-mercado.html

Today we announced that Jelly Belly are using SLI’s Learning search and Site Champion. We’ve also released an interview with Jason Marrone, Jelly Belly’s e-commerce marketing manager. The ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/jelly-belly-2.html

There are numerous rumors going round about the demise of one of our competitors, Mercado Software. They have a decent reputation but appear to be having severe cashflow problems. I would like to...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/a-call-to-mercado-software-customers.html

I saw an article by John Ferrara discussing how Alan Turing’s ideas apply to search (thanks to Daniel Tunkelang from Endeca for pointing this out on his blog). John observed that people often ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/the-turing-test-and-search.html

I see Google has finally put the Google Suggest functionality on their home page. I’m a big fan of this feature and use it all the time in their toolbar. We’re recently started offering our e...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/google-suggest.html

I saw this question posed on Marchiahoo’s blog and I felt it deserved a response. My first response – is that if you’re going to ask questions on your blog then you should allow comments! ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/site-search-nice-feature-or-not.html

Is site search the new navigation? DMV.org, an ad-driven independent Web portal known as the “Unofficial Guide to the DMV,” certainly thinks so. We announced earlier this week that DMV.org is...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/dmv-org-relies-on-search-to-drive-visitor-satisfaction.html

How important is site search to your overall e-commerce strategy? We’d love to find out! Participate in our short survey and enter to win a $200 Apple gift voucher.

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/221.html

Aaron Wall spotted Google showing Related Searches below search results. This is his image. I really like these – we’ve been generating them for almost a decade. They made their first appeara...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/related-searches-with-search-results.html

Last week we announced that Lighting by Gregory, one of the largest lighting and ceiling fan distributors in the U.S., has seen some impressive results from using our Learning Search site search ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/lighting-by-gregory-sees-sales-light-up-with-sli.html

We recently released an autocomplete feature that’s been picked up by many of our clients. This uses previous user’s searches (in aggregate) to automatically create keyword suggestions, which...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/the-benefits-of-auto-complete.html

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-newsle...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/july-2008-do-slow-loading-web-pages-scare-away-your-customers.html

We strive to continually improve the service that we offer our customers. One part of that is ensuring that the search and navigation pages load quickly. The graph below shows how the average tim...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/the-need-for-speed.html

Today we’re announcing that Spencer’s and its sister company, costume retailer Spirit Halloween are using our Learning Search and Site Champion services. Spencer’s sells humorous gifts and ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/spencers-and-spirit-halloween-now-using-sli.html

Steven Seiller wrote an article outlining the 11 things he hates about site search. He makes some good points and captures the passion that people feel when site search isn’t there, can’t be ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/some-passion-about-site-search.html

Avi Rappoport did an excellent post on search log junk. This is the set of queries that aren’t very useful  when you’re analyzing search logs, mostly from crawlers, hackers and spammers. We...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/search-log-junk.html

Last week Coremetrics announced that they making free ecommerce data available to their customers for benchmarking. Their announcement included some sample data including the fact that 15% of con...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/site-search-conversion-data-from-coremetrics.html

Last week we sent out our latest edition of Telescope on Search, our monthly email newsletter on; site search, seo, search engine marketing and usability. The March 2008 Newsletter contains: Blac...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/march-newsletter-black-forest-decor-discovers-the-importance-of-site-search-size-and-placement.html

I spotted this post touting the benefits of mining your site search. It’s a point I’ve made before but it’s valuable and worth repeating – your site search logs are a fantastic source for...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/mining-your-site-search.html

Google’s new Search within a Search offering seems to be getting a fair amount of attention, but not necessarily for the right reasons The New York Times piece this week: A New Tool From Google...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/googles-search-within-a-search.html

Last week Liana Evans of Search Marketing Gurus blogged about a recent Bon Jovi concert she attended. She drew several parallels between her concert experience and the interactions/experienc...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/what-a-bon-jovi-concert-can-teach-you-about-site-search.html

Yesterday, we announced that Vermont Teddy Bear Co., the largest manufacturer of American-made teddy bears, and parent company to leading gift sites, Pajama Gram and Calyx Flowers, is using our L...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/vermont-teddy-bear-chooses-sli.html

Yet another study shows the importance of site search. This British study on consumer satisfaction was sponsored by RightNow (they provide CRM solutions). It found that 19% of online shoppers a...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/study-shows-importance-of-search.html

This week we’re exhibiting at the Internet Retailer Web Design ’08 Conference in Miami, FL. The theme of the event is Designing Web Sites That Sizzle – and Sell. Visit us at booth 45 for...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/internet-retailer-web-design-08-conference.html

I spotted that Lou Rosenfeld is running a site search analytics seminar on March 18 in Sunnyvale. I’ve chatted to Lou about this topic before and he definitely seems to know what he’s talki...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/site-search-analytics-course.html

Next week we’re exhibiting at the Channel Intelligence Retail Marketing Summit and the Shop.org Strategy and Innovation Forum (booth 203) . These two online retail events are being held in O...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/channel-intelligence-retail-marketing-summit-shoporg-strategy-and-innovation-forum.html

A couple of people in the SLI team spotted this thread in a web analytics forum: Question about Internal site Search . I was proud to see three different customers of ours responding (with no pro...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/some-happy-customers.html

I saw a post by Joe Dolson pointing to a thread at Cre8asuteforums called “When lots of your visitors go straight to site search “. The thread contains some speculation about what drives peo...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/when-lots-of-visitors-go-straight-to-site-search.html

I spoke to analyst Robin Bloor from Hurwitz and Associates today. Going by his blog post today – At last, a Self-Education Search , Robin agrees with the approach we take with our Learning Se...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/a-believer.html

Yesterday we announced the findings of a customer site search survey we conducted using Zoomerang. We found that more people than we realized – 73% – said they’ll leave a site in just a min...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/survey-says-consumers-have-low-tolerance-for-poor-search.html

At SLI we provide search, navigation and automated SEO services. One interesting and topical subset of the site navigation services we provide is the gift finder – a useful tool that gives peop...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/creating-a-gift-finder.html

We had an interesting experience recently with one of our customers who uses IBM’s WebSphere platform (several of our customer use this). This customer found out that there was an upgrade to t...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/websphere-search.html

Last week Internet Retailer covered a story about how our customer, Cable Organizer , improved their conversion rate with their new site search . We’ve put a lot of work into their search and...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/site-search-improves-conversion-rate-at-cable-organizer.html

I saw this blog post about a Web Analytics day in Brussels last week. It was interesting to see their take aways about site search, specifically: Visitors using site search are better customers....

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/improving-the-visibility-of-site-search.html

Marketing Sherpa released a Search Marketing report today. It contains some interesting information about search marketing but – also, a lot of information about internal search (aka site sear...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/marketing-sherpa-search-marketing-report.html

Jakob Nielsen posted an interesting article today about the U.S. Census Bureau’s website . The article was primarily about how fancy formatting doesn’t necessarily help attract users eyes but...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/site-search-on-the-us-census-bureau.html

In the last couple of weeks we have announced a couple of new customers and SLI’s sixth birthday. The two new customers are the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) and A&S BMW Motorcycles ....

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/new-customers-and-another-birthday.html

I came across these ads the other day and thought I would share them. These ran back in 1999/2000 when Snap.com was promoting itself heavily on TV. They are focusing on the fact that Snap.com use...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/globalbrain-ads-some-history.html

We’re now powering the site search on Danny Sullivan’s Search Engine Land. Danny has requested a slightly different format to normal – with the facets at the bottom. You can get to them by ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/search-engine-land-search.html

This week we announced that FTD is using our learning search. They are one of the oldest and largest floral companies in the world and we are proud to have them as a customer. With Learning Searc...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/ftd.html

I had previously pointed out that the apple.com search sucked . They’ve now upgraded it and it is much better. In typical Apple style they have innovated with site search but I still think they...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/applecom-search-now-better.html

I would like to share with you my thoughts on how user reviews can improve site search on an ecommerce site. We are seeing an increasing number of our customers allowing their visitors to write r...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/user-reviews-and-search.html

We put together some interesting stats from across a handful of our clients on misspellings on internal search. We used a broad definition of a misspelling. If a search phrase contained a word wh...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/10-of-site-searches-are-spelled-wrong.html

I was listening to a practical ecommerce podcast yesterday where Mitch Bettis interviewed Anne Holland from MarketingSherpa asking for marketing tips for eCommerce sties. It’s a good interview...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/marketing-sherpa-says-site-search-is-the-most-important-page-on-your-site.html

We can’t help you find a bride – but we can help brides find wedding favors, gifts and accessories. This week we announced three bridal sites that are using the SLI search : American Bridal ,...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/searching-for-brides.html

I noticed recently that Amazon has started showing Related Searches on their search page. I am a big fan of Related Searches. They offer a an easy, unobtrusive way of doing query refinement. Th...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/amazon-related-searches.html

I spotted this presentation on tuning up site search by Chris Farnum from Enlighten at the IA Summit 2007 earlier today. It’s great to see people talking about improving site search. I did...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/tuning-up-site-search.html

I’ve just been speaking at the Search Engine Room conference in Sydney. This is the first search marketing even I’ve been to in Australia. It was interesting to compare the Australian attitu...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/search-engine-room.html

The Aberdeen site search report was released recently and is available for free from their site. The report emphasized the value of a high quality site search, particularly for retailers becau...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/aberdeen-report-on-site-search.html

Do you ever find that you are typing in the wrong box when you’re trying to use the site search? Many sites are so eager for people to subscribe to their newsletter or RSS feed that the text bo...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/which-box-is-the-search.html

At eTail last week Chris Anderson spoke on the long tail. Chris is the editor in chief of Wired magazine and author of the book The Long Tail. He described how the most popular things are way mor...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/the-long-tail-chris-anderson-at-etail.html

I noticed that Google are experimenting more with related search and someone had spotted an ad where MSN was touting their related search (sorry, I can’t find the link to this). This is good f...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/related-search-on-google-and-msn-good-for-users-search-engines-revenue.html

Apple is one of the most visited ecommerce sites. They have an image of being slick and user friendly. I had high expectations of their website – which they meet for the most part: their produc...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/applecom-search-sucks.html

So how big was Cyber Monday? I took a look at the search traffic on a handful of our retail customers’ sites and compared their search traffic on Monday November 27 to their average search traf...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/cyber-monday.html

Lots of people criticize the reliability of the Alexa toolbar – see the comments on Matt Cutts’ blog or more recently from Om Malik . I would like to offer some qualified support for the Ale...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/alexa-vs-search-traffic.html

Stephan Spencer sent this through to me. You’ve got to laugh – a search for “Internal Search ” on Technorati returns a Search Error :). It is working now – but it is amazing how useles...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/searching-for-search-on-technorati.html

There is growing interest in using Ajax with search. Google is experimenting with it at Searchmash.com . Microsoft are using it on Windows Live Search and Amazon are using Ajax on A9 . Eurek...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/ajax-search.html

We continuously try to improve our best practices around site search. Recently we’ve been looking at layout options. Specifically, which is the best layout grid or list . The grid view is mo...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/grid-vs-list-view-for-search-results.html

Following on from my earlier post speculating that there are way more site searches than web searches . Why is it that we hear so much less about site search? Both site search and web search are ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/more-on-site-search-vs-web-search.html

What type of searching is more common: web search (using Google, Yahoo, et al) or searching within a site? The number of web searches done daily is approximately 200 million . Google gets about...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/site-search-vs-web-search.html

Danny Sullivan announced that he was leaving search engine watch this week. The main reason was that Incisive Media, the owner weren’t letting him share in the wealth he was creating for them....

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/danny-sullivan-leaving-search-engine-watch.html

Google and the other search engines allow you to specify different matching options in paid search campaigns. I would like to share some data we have collected on the different conversion rates. ...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/conversion-rates-for-broad-match-vs-exact-match.html

It’s been a while since my last post. I’ve been busy travelling and trying to get on top of things since I got back. Part of my travels included the Internet Retailer show in Chicago. We went...

https://www.sli-systems.com/blog/internet-retailer-2006.html