MySpecialPlace.com was an e-commerce website specializing in gifts and apparel for religious occasions, such as Communions, Baptisms, Weddings & Anniversaries and memorial keepsakes. (2006 - 2014)

I project managed the oscommerce site from the development stage to the redesign of it. A majority of the time, I had worked with our external programmer. I would send him Photoshop mock-up screen shots of what I wanted to do, and see if it was feasible and within budget. I was also responsible for keeping track of the projects, the time frame and the budget. In addition to working with our programmer on projects, I kept track of the integration of our site with our payment processors; Authorize.net and Paypal, our shipping processors; UPS and USPS and SSL certificate. 

On the home page, I was responsible for all of the maintenance. On the re-development phase, I proposed adding a main rotator (four different pages) and the three separate sub category/product pages below it. Utilizing data from Google Analytics, current sales and past years sales, I would make recommendations for the different categories/products featured on the home page. I designed/uploaded the images and linked them up to their corresponding landing page

The website categories were broken down into either an Occasion or a Shop. There was a total of

17 Occasions with 46 Sub-Occasions and 10 Shops with 41 Sub-Shops. I handled the graphics,

content verbage and meta-data for each page.     

I had managed over 1500 products uploaded to the site, from photographing the product at multiple angles and shots, to writing the product description, to uploading images, content, meta-data, and correct product placement in up to 99 different occasion/shop locations. Working with our programmer in the redesign phase, I introduced an “upsell section” (featuring up to 6 additional products), set up internal zoom imaging which reduced cost by not using an independent third party image hosting company, and added key social media buttons directly under main product image.

During the re-development phase, a major overhaul was done to the checkout pages. The first priority was to streamline the number of steps it took a customer to checkout. Other improvements included adding a shipping estimator, guest checkout, moving the couponredemption field, enhancing the address book capabilities and adding USPS to shipping options.

Paying close attention to enhancing the customer experience, with the redesigned checkout system, also meant applying that same close attention to the return process. Improving the return experience meant streamlining the inhouse return merchandise authorization process and remodeling the packing slip. Changes included simplifying the design to look cleaner while functionally retaining the basics; reiterating the return policy, explaining the RMA process and composing the packing slip to include a pre-filled return address label.

I was also responsible for the coupon marketing campaigns; creating the coupon, analyzing the offer, optimizing the design and comparing the delivery mechanism. A variety of coupons were utilized including printed coupons, coupon codes in emails, coupon codes on coupon websites, along with text, image and coupon codes for online advertising.

On the Google PPC Campaigns, I planned strategy for online marketing campaigns, including keyword research, creating ad copy, landing page optimization and all other aspects of PPC campaign management. I also worked with the programmer to develop and formulate SEO strategy. I was also responsible for monitoring Google Analytics, analyzing marketing data to develop strategy and gauge performance.

I created email marketing campaigns using Email Service Providers (ESP) platforms, from template creation, to opt-in/opt-out management, measuring and improving ROI.

I handled developing a social media channel by setting up blog, Facebook and Pinterest pages. A blog was created with Wordpress, as a tab under the name “Our Story” to improve SEO efforts and grow readership. I handled organizing blog content creation for contract work with various bloggers. I also kept track of and submitted blogs to social networking and news websites. In addition to the blog, I also set up Facebook and Pinterest pages.

I also performed customer service which included responding to customer inquiries on their orders, processing returns, reaching out to customers with escalated issues regarding their order through phone/email and effectively communicating with the customer to resolve their issues. I also handled all payment issues and returns on Authorize.net and Paypal.