The SmartSwipe Online Security, Shopping and Technology Blog

Coremetrics, the web site sales tracking firm, announced some exciting numbers from Cyber Monday 2009. According to their numbers, consumers bought 30% more items on Cyber Monday 2009 than on Cyber Monday 2008! Moreover, total sales were up 13.7% when compared to 2008.

These are some incredibly encouraging numbers from the world of online retailing. However, not all of Coremetrics numbers were quite so good. One particularly important metric (shopping cart conversions) was 3.11% lower than in 2008. And both sports retailers and department stores saw their average order volume drop when compared to Cyber Monday 2008.

Matthew Hines wrote an excellent article last week on how malicious software vendors have 'mastered' search engine optimization to the point that, when breaking news hits, they are able to consistently beat legitimate news sites. The problem is that these malicious sites are getting to the top of Google's rankings, thus turning the search engine and people's natural curiosity about current events into a tool to distribute malicious software.

Hines cited some research conducted by Roger Thompson, who is AVG's Chief Research Officer. Thompson specifically focused on the recent earthquake in Samoa. In doing so, he discovered that 50% of Google's top stories contained some form of malicious threat. Sites that host malicious software even beat out such big names as CNN and the Guardian!

I read an awful lot, but despite (or perhaps because of), the sheer volume I read, not many pieces really fire me up. However, this morning, I was lucky enough to read a terrific article by Jim Mortleman. Entitled "Business in the 21st century: Stay tuned for brave new world", this article is a must read for anyone interested in social media (whatever that is), web 3.0 and the future of business.

In my spare time/quasi-professional life, I am something of a search dork. I speak of Google with reverential tones normally reserved for religious figures, Sphinn drama almost always makes me laugh, and I have been known to spend entire weekends investigating Google's site link algorithm in tandem with Google's one line site links.

Certain things are expected of search dorks. Search dorks generally love statistics and linguistics. We read disgusting amounts of information. We 'understand' (and have felt the pains of) Google Voodoo (I think we should start calling it 'goovoodoo'). And we read Matt Cutts' blog with more than passing interest.

Do you own/operate an online shopping website? Have you ever wondered what kinds of things shoppers look for before they decide to buy something on your site? If you answered 'yes' to those questions, this article is for you.

If you follow this space regularly, you will remember that I talked about a report that the United Kingdom's Office of Fair Trading released. "Findings from consumer surveys on Internet Shopping" is full of information that online retailers should pay attention to. However, here is some of the most useful information in that entire report.

Through the tough economic times online retail was always the one bright spot. Consumers seemed to me more willing to spend online for various, speculative reasons. But after continued growth it looks like the projections for the rest of 2009 are more in line with the rest of the economy...sort of.

While online shopping was growing, growing, growing many are predicting it will flatten out for the rest of 2009 and into 2010. Although it is not shrinking, flat ecommerce spending is still scary because, unlike brick and mortar stores, ecommerce has not yet matured as a market.

If you, or anybody you know runs an online shopping site, please make a comment with your site's URL. You see, I would love to add a number of new shopping sites to the SmartSwipe database. The first five sites that are posted will even get a special bonus!

If you would like us to try out your shopping site and include the payment page in our database, please comment below. When your site is listed in our database, all of our customers will be able to experience the speed and convenience of regular safecheckout whenever they shop on your site. Thanks for the comments and I am looking forward to checking out what you have to offer!