As e-tailers, agencies, and service providers descend on Chicago for this year’s Internet Retailer Conference, optimism and growth seem to be recurring themes across the eCommerce space.

As we gear up for this year’s conference where the theme has shifted from last year’s “avoiding getting you’re a** kicked in a bad economy to kicking a** in a rebounding economy,” here’s 5 key sessions that will feature great speakers discussing relevant topics that can impact your bottom line. So jump into these sessions and countless others, but make sure you take advantage of the great networking and conversations as well.

There are usually two sides to every company’s eCommerce website team: the marketing team who have done research and set metrics of success, and the creative team who have also done research and applied usability standards. Because this team is still fairly new and undeveloped for most online businesses, their respective goals often misalign. Marketing wants to see that conversion rate number get higher and higher, the creative team wants to guarantee an enjoyable shopping experience for the customer to build loyalty and brand. However, when push comes to shove, which I’m sure it does between numbers-oriented people and images-oriented people, who has the final say?

Everyone here at Groove is excited about our new office location. We are now located in the heart of Canton. Our new address is 2400 Boston Street, Suite 320, Baltimore, MD 21224.

The ETC is a venture ran by a non-profit business incubator called The Baltimore Development Corporation. It focuses on growing early-stage technology and biotechnology companies in Baltimore City. The ETC provides an environment in which these companies can accelerate their potential. Groove is excited about being surrounded by like-minded companies.

Wow, I can’t believe April is almost over. Things have been moving right along here at Groove, but I’m sneaking in some time to write this month’s Design 1, 2, 3 for all my faithful readers (the six of you. Ha.) With all this good stuff going on—new clients, site launches, a move into Baltimore’s ETC building, and a three year anniversary coming up—Groove has a few things to celebrate. This got me on a kick of checking out a lot of Baltimore’s restaurant websites. And there were many an error on these sites—so much that I’m not sticking to just three quick fixes, but giving you five this month!

Welcome Josh Lawrence

Josh is a web designer and front-end developer that adheres to all of the web standards that we pride ourselves on here at Groove. For that reason, we think he’ll fit right in.

A graduate of James Madison University and Baltimore-city resident, Josh began his career as marketing associate developing his design skills, front-end development, and search engine friendly coding ability.

Be on the lookout for some of Josh’s work in our portfolio in the coming months!