Michael Roebuck's Blog

February 2012 Yahoo! Feature Release Information

2012-02-20T11:03:00.002-06:00

Early this week, enhancements to Yahoo! new Site Search beta, Catalog Manager, and Customer Registration features are planned to be released. The release work is planned from 7:30 p.m. PT on February 21 until 6:30 a.m. PT on February 22. As with all releases, the time and date is subject to change without notice pending quality assurance best practices. Additional information follows about the specific enhancements and changes in this release.

New Site Search Beta and Catalog Manager Features
In late 2011, Yahoo! released the new Site Search beta, which included features designed for better merchandising on your search results page and an improved search experience. This week's release adds more features designed to achieve this, and makes some improvements to the search functionality. Upon release, you will be able to:

Specify items to appear first in search results when a search term matches an item. For example, if you wish to show matching items with higher margins, this new option can help you do this.*
Enable a "quick look" view on the search results page for item results.
Specify categories to show in the search bar category drop-down list.
Make brand name letter casing consistent for all brands displayed in the brand filter.
Search by UPC.
Choose whether or not to show Customer Registration and Floating Cart links on the search results page. This option is for custom templates only.
Enable the new Site Search beta for stores built using Web Hosting tools.

*Note: A new "promoted" attribute has been added to Catalog Manager as part of the option to specify items to appear first in search results. Instructions for how to add this attribute will be available in the new Site Search online help section upon release.

Going forward, the new Site Search will be enabled by default in all new Yahoo! Merchant Solutions accounts.

Facebook ID for Customer Registration
Registration and authentication options for our Customer Registration system are expanding. This release adds Facebook as a provider ID shoppers can use to register and authenticate with your store. Instructions for enabling this option will be available in the Customer Registration help section upon release.

Additional Changes
In addition to the changes outlined above, several minor fixes were completed in this release. These fixes include the ability to add "Keywords" as a custom attribute in catalog manager tables and the ability to search by an option attribute in catalog manager advanced search.

Important Release Information
Once the release work is complete, your Publish Order Settings link may become active. Please note that an Order Settings publish is not required following this release. If you are using the Database Inventory feature, you will need to change your "Quantity Can Exceed Availability" settings to "Yes" for the release period. For more details about the release work, please check your Store Manager or the System Status page.

Coupon Codes and Gift Certificates

2012-02-09T09:33:00.001-06:00

Please note Yahoo has recently fixed a bug that was allowing people to use site wide coupon codes to buy gift certificates at that discount. Many of you were using this bug as a feature. Please note coupon codes will no longer be allowed to purchase gift certificates at a discount. There is not a way around it.

For example, you will no longer be able to receive 10% off a $100 Gift Certificate by using coupon code xyz.

Retail Price Matching

2011-04-14T15:07:00.001-05:00

I'm sure you've gone into a brick and mortar store and tried to have that store match the price of a website. They probably refused.

Quite a few big box retailers have decided not to price match websites. In fact, some stores including Wal-Mart won't even price match items found on Wal-Mart.com or their own company website! And now the hot news topic is about some retail stores that are charging a "fitting fee." This is a fee charged to consumers to try on clothes. The fee is refunded if items are bought. Apparently, stores are getting fed up with consumers trying on clothes and then buying them online.

Is this a good policy? After all, E-Commerce is here to stay and a very valid rival for consumer dollars. No policy is going to change that. By having a blanket online price exception, you are strongly reinforcing the message that E-Commerce sites offer better deals. And you are then robbing yourself of the opportunity to fight that perception.

You can argue that websites have lower overhead and therefore can charge less. This may be true. But to not even price match against your own corporate website! That is wrong on so many levels. A customer is in your store with one hand on an item and the other on his wallet and the retailer decides not to do business with them. Probably because the sale can't be tracked back to the website and given proper credit. Some marketing guru with a Masters Degree determined that one!

Perhaps big box retailers forget that no-one has any money nowadays. Perhaps they don't care. Perhaps they didn't have dads continually beat into them that if a customer is willing to part with his or her hard earned money, take it any way you can and thank them very much.

My guess is that Amazon.com is making lots of money by the mere stupidity of others. And as long as companies refuse to merge channels and work in the best interest of the consumer, Amazon will make more!

Social Sharing Now Available In Your Yahoo! Store

2011-04-04T13:40:00.005-05:00

Yahoo! recently announced the availability of Social Media Sharing. The Social Media Sharing feature lets you add "Share on Twitter" and Facebook "Like" options to your store's product pages, which can encourage your customers to spread the word about your products to their social media networks. This boost to your marketing efforts can help you reach a wider audience, which in turn can help to generate more quality traffic for your store.

The Social Media Sharing feature is currently supported for Editor 3.0 templates, and can be enabled from the Store Editor Variables page (requires adding CSS), or by running the Design Wizard (NOT recommended for existing custom designed stores). If you're using custom templates, this feature can be enabled by inserting a new RTML operator into your store templates and adding CSS. The CSS styles can be downloaded from our Social Media Sharing CSS reference page.

To learn more about the Social Media Sharing feature, contact us!

Yahoo! Customer Manager Updates

2011-02-23T10:38:00.003-06:00

Yahoo! has just announced the availability of the Customer Manager. When Customer Registration was released in mid-August, you were able to offer your customers the ability to register with your store, and to enjoy a more streamlined checkout process. Customer Registration is in use today by nearly 2,000 merchants with over 100,000 registered users. Until now, you haven't been able to view your registered customer data in one place.

With Customer Manager, you now have unique visibility into your registered customer data. With quick access to order history, average order value, total order value, last login date and more, Customer Manager brings new marketing segmentation capability to your business.

To view the Customer Manager, log into your store and you'll see the "Customer Manager" link directly under the "Orders" link in the "Process" column.

Read the help file here: Yahoo! Customer Manager

Google Sucks All the Way to the Bank! (My Version)

2011-01-19T11:28:00.005-06:00

Jill Whalen, CEO of High Rankings and a popular SEO Consultant published an article titled, "Google Sucks All the Way to the Bank!" I highly recommend you read the full article and subscribe to her newsletter if not already.

The article basically calls out Google for the decline in search result relevancy. It seems she is frustrated with seeing fluffy informational pages show up in the SERP's instead of retail commercial websites. She blames money as the tipping point stating PPC (where Google generates its revenue) is retail and traditional SEO (free) is fluffy information pages.

Isn't that what Google wants? Of course it's about the money. I agree with Jill that search results suck but I think they suck across the board. I don't have a solution either.

I've been a long believer that content should not be king in all instances. By telling clients to add content, you are telling them to create crap. Not just any crap, but unique crap that hasn't been created yet. How many different ways can you write about a retail product? I really only care about reading features and model numbers. I then go to Amazon to read the reviews. Anything over that is fluffy junk that some person had to write to fill space. Anything extra rarely has any meaningful purpose. Any extra fluffy content should be in the "About Us" section or other areas of the website.

And before you come back and say the content should be how to use the product, and what benefits it will give you, I tell you most of that content is junk as well. It was written to satisfy Google's requirement for content and therefore it was created for Google. NOT the customer.

Don't get me wrong, there are products out there that could benefit from explicit content. And I know that when 50 different websites are selling the same products there has to be differentiation. But I do believe there has to be a better way. It just hasn't been invented or implemented yet. Which means we will continue to see fluffy content pages rise to the top of the results.

Is this really part of Google's plan to make more money by forcing retailers to use PPC? Will organic SEO be replaced entirely by paid results? I'll have to consult my crystal ball and get back with you.

One thing is for sure; As long as Google rules the world, we must play by their rules.

Michael Roebuck speaking at Yahoo! Merchant Summit and attending Developer Summit

2010-09-09T09:59:00.002-05:00

Yahoo! is hosting another Merchant Summit for its merchants on September 13-14 in California. Michael Roebuck, President of All Web Promotion (A Yahoo! Small Business Developer Partner), will be participating in a panel discussion on Practical SEO and SEM. The session will discuss practical tools in hand to help you improve and monitor your search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO) results today. Learn real-life tips to improve your ad performance and site conversion rates. Presentation will include LIVE SEO site reviews. (Michael Roebuck is rumored to be talking specifically about PPC growth techniques such as A/B testing, keyword research and a Search Query Report.)

Later on, Michael will be hosting his own Round Table Speed Review Session. Get personalized feedback on how you can improve your site - for free. You’ll have a few minutes with a range of developer partners who will each share their opinions on steps you can take to improve your site. There's never been a quicker or more cost effective way to get individualized website feedback! Be sure to sign up to see Michael or any of the other Developer Partners.

Also, everyone is welcome to stop by the All Web Promotion table. We'll have design books showing various website and social marketing designs as well as information on our email capabilities.

Following the Merchant Summit, more All Web Promotion designers will appear for an exclusive two-day Yahoo! Developer Summit. This will consist of two days of Developer Training. Several of the All Web design team will be in attendance and receiving advanced training on the many Yahoo features we customize. From Account Registration to Website Analytics. In addition to general updates and information sessions, the designers will be taking an advanced programming course and Michael will be taking an advanced analytics course. By working and training with Yahoo, we can continue to improve our services, learn about the latest offerings and bring this back where we create the best websites possible.

Interview with Michael Roebuck about the importance of on-site customer reviews

2010-07-01T15:08:00.002-05:00

Michael Roebuck, General Manager of All Web Promotion, talks about the importance of on-site customer reviews during an interview at Internet Retailer 2010.

Click to hear Interview with Michael Roebuck

Clicking link will open new browser window and start playing MP3 file. Entire interview is 7:49 minutes.

iPhone 4 Email Push Fix

2010-07-01T13:53:00.002-05:00

I love my new iPhone 4 but it keeps pushing email to the phone even though I have everything turned off and to manual. After speaking with numerous Apple service representatives, and trying everything from network resets to reinstalling email, I finally found a senior level rep named Tom who was extremely helpful. Thanks, Tom! No-one was able to provide a solution, but Tom listened, tried, and actually called me back a few times. Here is my scenario:

My iPhone has several email accounts including Gmail, Yahoo! Business Email and Mobile Me Email. I want the Mobile Me email to push to the phone immediately. This is my "emergency" email address. The other accounts are various work and social accounts that I only want to check when convenient for me. My problem was that the iPhone was pushing email from all accounts regularly. My phone was constantly vibrating or beeping to let me know I had new email. This was not going to work!!

It was actually talking with fellow employee Karl that we solved the problem. He was having the same issue. Here is what you do: Turn off Email Multi-Tasking. Yes, friends. You heard it here first and I can only hope Apple will release a future update that gives me the option to select which applications I want to use Multi-Tasking for.

Apparently with Multi-Tasking, even though you closed out of email, it was still active and therefore checking email. This may be a problem with other applications as well and may be cause for battery drain or other issues. Time will tell.

So how do you turn off Multi-Tasking? Easy. Double tap or click the "Home Button" located at the bottom center of your phone. (It's the round button with the white square on it) After double tapping, you'll see the icons of all the running applications. Find the email icon and put your finger over it. In a second or two it will wiggle and show a red circle with a line through it. Touch the red circle and it closes email from multi-tasking. Pretty easy, huh? Hard to believe several hours of support phone time (most of which was on hold) and this was the solution.

It's still quirky as you have to remember to close out of email every time or the phone will continue to check. But like I said, hopefully Apple will release a fix to give us the ability to select which applications to allow multi-tasking.

You heard it here first! Hope this helps.

AllWebEmail Among the First to Adopt eec’s New Email Marketing Standards

2010-07-01T11:02:00.000-05:00

AllWebEmail made the news recently regarding it's standardization of terms and definitions that are used in measuring email marketing reporting as introduced by the Email Experience Council of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA/eec). This standardization will help provide consistent email metrics throughout the industry.

Read the full article here.

AllWebEmail, a division of All Web Promotion, Inc., is a leading email marketing service provider helping businesses for over 10 years to use email to effectively communicate with their customers. The company is managed by Peter Roebuck with help from partner, and brother, Michael Roebuck and has offices located in Oglesby, Illinois and Point of Rocks, Maryland.

AllWebEmail is an active member of the Email Experience Council (eec), an advocate for defining email standards and best practices, and has partnered with Return Path, Inc., a leading email deliverability authority.

For more information on AllWebEmail, their services, and role they play within the email marketing industry, please call 877-932-7766, or visit http://www.allwebemail.com.

Michael Roebuck of All Web Promotion will be speaking at Yahoo! Merchant Summit

2010-06-03T16:33:00.002-05:00

Yahoo! is hosting a Merchant Summit for its merchants on June 11 in Chicago immediately following the Internet Retailer Conference. Michael Roebuck, President of All Web Promotion (A Yahoo! Small Business Developer Partner), will be participating in a panel discussion on Practical SEO and SEM. The session will discuss practical tools in hand to help you improve and monitor your search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO) results today. Learn real-life tips to improve your ad performance and site conversion rates. Presentation will include LIVE SEO site reviews. (Michael Roebuck is rumored to be talking specifically about Yahoo! Store Manager Features that can be used to help identify keywords as well as track performance.)

Later on in the day, Michael will be hosting his own Round Table Speed Review Session. Get personalized feedback on how you can improve your site - for free. You’ll have a few minutes with a range of developer partners who will each share their opinions on steps you can take to improve your site. There's never been a quicker or more cost effective way to get individualized website feedback! Be sure to sign up to see Michael or any of the other Developer Partners.

Also, everyone is welcome to stop by the All Web Promotion table. We'll have design books showing various website and social marketing designs as well as information on our email capabilities.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Click the link to visit Yahoo! Merchant Summit

Long Tail and Short Tail Keywords: How they both can benefit your campaign

2010-05-18T11:15:00.001-05:00

As the population becomes more internet savvy, so do their search queries. Every day, users are typing in more specific terms into their search engines to get a more direct and particular search result. This is because people have a better understanding of the way search engines work, and they also are coming to terms that they can be as broad or as specific as they want. More serious buyers know what they want, from the brand to the type of product they are looking to buy online. This is why it is vital to show up in the search engine auctions for specific terms. To clarify, a search engine auction is where you place a bid on keywords that are relevant to your target market. Based on the bid you place and the analytics of the search engine, it is then determined where your ad will show. This is why keyword selection is important to obtaining a successful pay per click campaign.

Going forward, there are two different of types of keywords. There are "short tail" keywords which are broad terms and "long tail" keywords which are more narrow and specific. (http://bit.ly/ck46H) As far as which type will generate more valuable traffic, the answer is debatable. The fact is both types of keywords have the ability to benefit you in different ways. With a broad match term, you have a chance to enter the same auctions as some long tail keywords. The downside is that they will not be guaranteed to show up in all auctions. The benefit of a short tail keyword is that it allows you to show up for unexpected and possible revenue generating queries. However these unexpected queries can lead your keyword to high costs and unnecessary traffic to your site. When you choose to use long tail keywords, you are at least guaranteed to show up for the more specific terms that your customers are searching for.

If you can incorporate both types you can cover all bases to ensure that your keywords are going to be seen by your target audience. Studies have shown that long tail keywords have a higher conversion rate than short tail keywords mainly because they are specific in nature. In many cases, if someone is searching for a specific type of product they are more apt to buy which is why long tail terms may be useful to a campaign. (http://bit.ly/6H2zje) While each type of keyword has its advantages there are downsides to both. Every business is different but with a little bit of experimentation you can find out what works best for you and your business.

Search Engine Optimization and Articles

2010-05-10T14:00:00.001-05:00

Search engine optimization are the techniques people use to get their website to appear in the search engines for certain keywords. When people go online to find information, they type words and phrases into the search engine. If your website is related to those words and phrases - you want it to appear when people are searching for information. This is why you need to use SEO techniques - to get your website in front of readers who are interested in what you have to offer.

One method of improving your positioning in the search engines is through the use of articles.

Make Your Way to the Top of the Search Engine Results

The easiest way to increase traffic to your website is to get your website listed in the first page of search results for the commonly used keywords for your topic. One word typed into a search engine (Like Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc) is a "keyword", while a series of words typed into a search engine is called a "keyword phrase". You want to know what people are typing in to find information related to the content of your website.

If you have a website about getting out of debt, you would want your website to appear in the search engines when people type such keywords and phrases like "get out of debt"; "pay off credit cards", and other related terms. The more relevant your website is to the keyword or keyword phrase being typed into the search engine, the better your positioning in the list of sites that come up after the internet user clicks "search".

As a website owner, your goal is to get your website to the top of the search engine results. Ideally, you would want to see your site in the first three spots - but anywhere on the first page should bring you a decent amount of traffic for your relevant keywords and keyword phrases.

Using Articles for Search Engine Optimization

Many people use articles as an SEO technique. Using articles for SEO is commonly referred to as "article marketing". If you are consistent with article marketing, you can often find your website listed on the first page of search engine results for your targeted keywords.

Article marketing works both on your website or blog, and through the use of article directories and other people's websites or blogs.

When you provide your own site with articles that include information about your topic area, search engines will recognize your website as one that provides useful information to readers looking for information on that topic.

When you post articles on your topic area to article directories and on other people's websites and blogs on similar topics, always include a link back to your site with your keywords or keyword phrases.

Linking to your site from other sites gives you what is called "backlinks". Backlinks play an important role in where your website is found in the search engines when people search for your topic.

You can contact website owners and bloggers who write about similar topics and ask if they would publish an article you write on their site. If they agree, ask for a link to your site using one of your keywords or keyword phrases. Each time you receive a quality backlink to your site using one of your keywords, you improve your search engine positioning for that particular keyword.

People say that "content is king" online, and this is true whether you are looking to engage readers on your website or trying to increase the number of visitors who come to your site. Write informative articles on your subject matter and post them both to your website and to article directories with links back to your site as a do-it-yourself search engine optimization technique.

What Are Keywords and How Many Do You Need?

2010-04-30T11:41:00.008-05:00

It used to be that website owners needed to use keywords in their website content as a certain percentage of the overall content. You would obtain better search engine results if you had keywords placed in specific areas of the page, too.

Keywords are the words and phrases people type into search engines to find information. These are the same words that website owners and bloggers need to use in order to promote their website and increase the visibility of their website in the search engines for people who are looking for information.

Know What People Are Typing Into Search Engines

You first need to have a good idea what types of words and phrases people will type into Google or their search engine of choice in order to find the information you provide on your website. If you have a website about parenting children with autism, for example, what sort of keywords would people type into the search engine to find information you offer?

One method of discovering what people will type into search engines that gives you better results than guessing is to use Google's Keyword Tool. You can type in a phrase, such as "parenting children with autism" and it will return a list of similar and related keyword phrases, as well as how many people searched for those phrases in the last month, and as an overall average.

The Keyword Density Question

In recent years, the keyword question used to always be how many keywords you needed to include on your page in order for the search engines to determine your website is relevant to that topic.

Google and MSN used search algorithms to rank websites based on how many keywords were on the page and where they were located within the text. The search algorithms changed regularly, which made it hard for website owners to get their websites listed in the top of the search engine results for their targeted keywords.

Now, keyword density (the number of times your keywords appear on a page as a percentage of the total number of words) is no longer the big deal. The bigger search engines, including Google, have given up on keyword density as the method of sending traffic to a website and now use other methods for determining the quality of a website.

Google and Keywords

You no longer need to have keywords as a certain percentage of your content. Instead of striving for your keyword phrases to appear 5% of the time on your web pages, it is more important to create quality content that describes your topic clearly. Most of the time, you will use keyword phrases as you write the information naturally. Your content should be no less than 250 words.

Once you have written what needs to be said, you can go back and add a keyword phrase or two into your opening paragraph and maybe once or twice in the body of the text - but it should read normally and not feel "forced".

Yahoo and Keywords

Using the same natural writing method with one or two keywords added in will work for Yahoo's search engine optimization, as well. In addition to that, you may also want to place your keyword or phrase in the last sentence of your text since Yahoo places a little more priority on the last paragraph than Google does.

Your website content has always been important to your website rankings, and while the process has changed your content will always play a role in the amount of traffic your website receives. Updating your website or blog regularly with quality content will improve your page rankings and the amount of traffic your website receives.

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2010-03-24T08:33:00.001-05:00

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Getting Products for Your Online Business

2010-02-12T17:38:00.002-06:00

Online businesses that sell products have two primary choices: stock inventory or use a dropshipper. Choosing whether to buy and stock an inventory of products on-site or rely on a dropshipper's inventory and delivery methods is a difficult decision that should not be taken lightly. There are pros and cons of both methods of getting products for your online business that must be considered carefully.

Stocking Inventory

Having your own products in stock can help you maintain quality customer service with fast shipments. You are in completely control of how long the ordering process takes from start to finish from the time the customer places their order until the time they receive their item.

Stocking your own inventory is a slightly higher risk business model than using a dropshipper for a new online business owner, since you need to purchase inventory before you have orders for the items. There is always the risk that the inventory you purchase and keep on hand doesn't sell.

When you maintain your own inventory, you pay less for the items you sell which enables you to turn a higher profit when your customers purchase your inventory at retail prices. You can purchase your items in bulk and at a discount if storing your own inventory; as opposed to buying one item at a time from the dropshipper when your customers place orders.

The main reason many people decide not to stock their own inventory is due to space concerns. Depending on how successful your online business is, you may soon find yourself out of room to store all of the items you keep in stock. If you outgrow your home or storage space, you'll need to find additional storage space in order to keep growing your business. The more inventory you maintain, the harder it is to keep track of what you have and where it's located as well - which can slow down your ability to send shipments to customers.

Using Dropshippers

The primary advantage of using a dropshipper is that it ends the hassles of stocking and tracking inventory and shipping to your customers. It's a business model that takes less effort than stocking your own inventory, and offers lower risk to you since you aren't faced with having to purchase items in advance that may or may not sell.

Using a dropshipper means you'll have access to stock photographs of the items you want to sell. Sometimes, a dropshipping company will even provide you with a turnkey website - making it quick and easy to set up your online shop and start selling. The downside to this is the amount of competition. The ease of entry into an online business relying on dropshipments means you'll be competing against large numbers of people trying to sell the same items and having websites that look similar to everyone else selling those same items.

Despite the advantages of using a dropshipper for your online business, there are a number of disadvantages you should consider as well. When you use another company to deliver your product, you may end up with customer support issues if your customer doesn't receive their purchase in a timely manner. You are relying on another company to ship the items on time - but it's really out of your hands if they fail to do so. Your customers won't care that those items are coming from a dropshipper, they're going to form their opinion of your company based on the dropshippers ability to get the products out on time.

If a product is returned by a customer, they're going to return it to you and expect a replacement or refund. When you receive the return, you'll then have to deal with the dropshipper to find out how to return the item and get your money back for the purchase.

Payment Processors

2010-02-01T16:30:00.001-06:00

Having a home based or online business means you need a way to process payments from your customers. Accepting credit cards is absolutely necessary if you want to accept payment online. Imagine what would happen if you allowed customers to place orders on your website, but then required them to mail a check or money order before they could finish their purchase? Chances are, you'd lose every customer to your competitor's website where they could finish their purchase immediately by entering their credit card details for payment.

Choosing a payment processor or merchant account for your business can be overwhelming - you want to choose the one with the features you need and that will charge you the lowest fees. Luckily, you have many options and a variety of payment processors that offer different features that should accommodate whatever industry your business is in.

Merchant Account Options for Internet and Home-based Businesses

Home-based and internet businesses have a number of options for accepting credit cards from their clients. Where as retailers use a card reader to accept credit cards face-to-face, an internet business needs an online method for securely accepting cards as payment. Internet business owners can choose between a merchant account with a banking institution, independent sales organization or third party payment processor. Many merchant account providers have high approval rates, even with less than perfect credit ratings of applicants, and offer a variety of special features and options for an internet-based or home-based business.

Third Party Providers

When you use a third party provider to accept credit card payments, the customers payment gets deposited into a merchant account that works with the third party provider. Then you can transfer the funds to your bank account. This process can take several days from the time the customer pays and the time you can access the money and if you choose a fraudulent business as the third party provider, you may not see the funds from your transactions. Do your research carefully if working with a third party provider rather than a merchant account directly, to ensure they are a reputable business.

Merchant Accounts with Banks

When you open a merchant account with a bank, you have the confidence that the banking institution is secure and dependable. Online businesses may have a harder time opening a merchant account with a traditional banking institution however, as they are seen as a higher risk than a retailer with a physical location. You're also more likely to find yourself with a closed merchant account if you have charge backs from your internet business.

Independent Sales Organizations

For new businesses or business owners with less than perfect credit, using an independent sales organization is a good option for accepting online payments. Most of the time this type of organization is going to charge higher fees than other methods of accepting credit cards, but it's a good option for businesses who need to establish their credit before they can get other forms of merchant accounts.

Getting Paid from Credit Card Payments

When your customers pay for their purchases with credit cards, the funds are automatically moved from the merchant account to your business bank account. Fees are charged by the bank, third party processor or independent sales organization. The higher your sales volume, the lower the fees you'll be charged.

You have a number of choices for accepting credit card payments. Make sure to weigh your options and the fees each option charges before making a decision for which company to use as your payment processor.

Renewed Faith in Humanity

2010-01-20T17:05:00.002-06:00

I recently became affiliated with an organization whose goal in a teeny-tiny nutshell is to help others. It is the lifelong brain child of a long lost friend of mine. Through "divine timing" as he calls it, our paths crossed and here we are. Since I'm the Internet guy, I decided to help out by buying the domains he will need to progress. I find out that he lost his primary domain by changing his email address and the domain expired. He didn't get the renewal notices and the domain expired and was picked up by someone else. This is the golden domain. The big one. The primo domain for his organization. In the hands of someone else. My thoughts were a domain broker with a Mercedes.

We consulted back and forth for a while and decided to contact the domain owner and see if they were willing to sell. It was a private registration and not listed as available to buy so I was not very hopeful. I've bought domains before. I've had clients pay over $100,000 for a domain and I recently acquired one for just over $14,000. I think the cheapest I've ever paid for a domain from someone was $500. My friend and I decided we could spend about $100 for the domain. Remember, this is a new organization with little to no actual money but a line of people wanting some.

I sent an email to the domain owner on Thursday morning. Two hours later I get a reply stating the domain wasn't really for sale, but what am I willing to give for it. That was it. No way could we afford to buy it. I told my friend we might as well give up. I'll reply with our offer but we better start working on an alternate plan.

He tells me to just reply with the truth and let it roll. So Friday morning I reply;

"....The previous owner of the domain didn't update his new email address and didn't realize the domain had expired. It is being set up for a charity website that does job training and job placement. It's been in the works for over 15 years now and we are now incorporated and in the final stages of approval and getting this started. We realize this is not your concern but wanted to let you know we aren't deep pockets. We'd like to offer $100 to acquire the domain...."

Yeah, right. I barely wanted to even sign my name to that. No way would I get a response now. The domain owner probably fell out of their chair laughing. Friday afternoon comes and goes. No two hour response time anymore.

Later Monday morning I received an email from the domain owner. A reply! A spark of hope! I open an email which reads:

"Hi Michael, I'm sorry for the delayed response. After considering everything that is going on in my life and in the life of the citizens of Haiti, I would like to offer it to you for the price that you listed ($100) but please donate the money to an organization that will send the money for relief. I will honor your word if you are willing to donate it. Let me know what the process will be in order for you to obtain the domain name. Many Blessings to you, ~ Mabel ~ "

The Angels started circling and singing in my office. I started thinking about how my family adopted our last child. We try to help an orphanage in Mexico and sponsor a girl in Africa. Both my brother and sister have adopted children and do charitable things, my sister-in-law is heavy into Habitat for Humanity, my Dad has his own list of donations and the list goes on. Maybe she is for real and just wants to do her thing to help out a little bit. We all do our good deeds but still focus on the negatives in people. Mabel is the spark of hope that we all need sometimes!

It's now Wednesday night and the domain has been transferred to my registry account and the organization has it's domain. The children of Haiti have $100 and I have a new friend; Mabel.

And Everyone else should have a renewed Faith in Humanity!

Luv Rules!

Website Uptime

2009-10-28T17:33:00.000-05:00

Is your website up and working properly? I received a call from my sister over the weekend who stated she published her Yahoo Store website and since the publish, could not add any items to the shopping cart.

This type of thing rarely happens at 11:00am on a Wednesday when everyone is in the office. No, Whenever Yahoo or Google have a meltdown for whatever reason or wants to reject an ad, it occurs at 10:00pm on a Friday or Saturday night. My sister called me around 2:00pm on Saturday afternoon as I was driving in the country looking at property with one of my kids. Over 30 minutes from home and an Internet connection (There is only so much one can do with an iPhone!)

Yahoo stated in an email sent to customers today that it had a power outage...

"Dear Yahoo! Merchant Solutions customer, We experienced short service interruptions that were noted on our system status page. These affected, at different intervals, page-serving and add-to-cart functionality for some visitors to Yahoo! Merchant Solutions and Yahoo! Store sites. As a result of this short service interruption, some merchants were also unable to access their Store Manager for a period of time. We would like to take this opportunity to apologize for these interruptions, and to provide you with information on their root cause."

The letter further goes on to explain what happened and the safety precautions in place to prevent further disruptions and so forth. It was a nice, informative letter and I'm sure much appreciated by the customers.

I believe my sisters problem was an affect of this power outage. I went home and her website was performing fine. I published a few times and all seemed to be in working order. Only my Saturday afternoon activities were cut short. Maybe Yahoo should send my son a t-shirt or something to make up for his lost afternoon.

Anyway, things happen and sites go down periodically. It's a fact of life. But you should know exactly when and for how long these events take place. Don't just assume you had a bad sales day when in reality your Google PPC was turned off for reaching it's budget or you accidentally password protected your entire website (Yes, this happened to a client once! See below)

All Web Promotion monitors several clients' websites roughly every 10 minutes. Meaning if there site ever goes down, I'm paged within 20 minutes of the failure. I monitor pages within the website as well as the secure shopping cart. I'm working on a program that will actually add an item to the shopping cart to ensure all aspects of the site are operational.

We also monitor Google Pay Per Click accounts. Meaning if your Google account is ever shut off due to reaching it's budget limit or some other reason, we are paged as well.

Along with monitoring, I have systems in place that automatically read email and if an email is received that contains a pre-programmed actionable trigger, I get paged and the email forwarded to my phone.

I do all these things not because I like to ruin my nights and weekends but I feel you need to know when something isn't working right. Some clients pay me money to ensure there site is monitored and all systems are a go. (Yes, I charge my sister. It's payback for her picking on me while growing up)

Why I started Monitoring Websites:
One Saturday afternoon I was having lunch with my wife and her family at a restaurant (Pappa's in Spring Valley) when I received a phone call from a major client stating his website was not working. I went home and it turned out the client had password protected his entire website. Yahoo Stores have the ability to set up an account access which basically password protects the entire site. He accidentally activated this feature the day before and didn't know how. Because his sales stopped, he figured his website had a problem. He lost 2 days worth of sales because of this. Fortunately, it wasn't my error!

Pay Per Click Monitoring Scenario
Client had a product that was mentioned on nationally syndicated TV show. The TV show drew so much click traffic that they exceeded daily budget and was shut off. Since sales were justified, we increased budget and client continued to receive sales.

In short, be prepared. Knowledge is Power. Know when your site is up and when and why it may be down! Contact me if you have any questions.

Facebook and Twitter updates on search?

2009-10-22T16:15:00.003-05:00

Google and Microsoft have both inked deals with Twitter, and Microsoft has also inked one with Facebook to integrate Twitter and Facebook updates into Bing search results. Google will be adding tweets to search results.

How cool is that? You need to be sure your accounts facilitate discussions and good keyword rich content. If you don't have a Twitter or Facebook account yet, now might be a good time to get one!

Yahoo New Access Manager

2009-09-24T09:37:00.004-05:00

Yahoo has recently launched a new Access Manager. Now you have more options for the types of access you grant to others, so you can make sure your developers, order processors, and anyone else working on your store have only the access you want. With the new administrator role, for example, you can provide a user with access to both your Store Control Panel and your Web Hosting Control Panel. Other new roles are more focused to specific sections of your account. A store editor can work only with your site building tools, but won't see your site statistics, while a order processor can only see orders but can't modify store pages or catalog.

More information can be found here: http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/smallbusiness/access/access-03.html

I have taken most of the different access levels and placed them on a spreadsheet for easier referencing. Please let me know if you want a copy of the spreadsheet.

This is a nice new feature and I encourage you all to reset your users to the best access levels. Certain people don't need access to store statistics, customer credit card data, etc.

If you have any questions or need help understanding this new feature, please let me know.

Microsoft and Yahoo Search Deal

2009-07-30T14:01:00.002-05:00

On July 29, 2009, Yahoo! and Microsoft announced an agreement that will improve the Web search experience for users and advertisers, and deliver sustained innovation to the industry.

After reading several posts and news articles full of opinions and forecasts, I decided to post a few facts that were mentioned on one site that was written in plain English meant something to me:

Microsoft's Bing will be the exclusive algorithmic search and paid search platform for Yahoo! sites.
Self-serve advertising for both companies will be fulfilled by Microsoft's AdCenter platform, and prices for all search ads will continue to be set by AdCenter's automated auction process.
The companies are hopeful that closing can occur in early 2010.

The companies have established a website at http://www.choicevalueinnovation.com to provide consumers, advertisers and publishers with additional information about the benefits of the agreement.

The transaction will be subject to regulatory review. (Insert my opinion here: Didn't Google try to get in bed with Yahoo and then back out after regulators said it would be a monopoly or something like that? I'm sure Google will try to block this somehow, won't they?)

Continuing with my opinion... Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz states, "With Microsoft powering Yahoo! Search, we'll be able to focus on the things we do best -- being the center of people's lives online with properties like our homepage, mail, finance, news, sports, entertainment, mobile, etc."

Where does Business fall in there? Is Yahoo! Small Business really for sale? Could Rob Snell, Greg Sterling, New York Times and Reuters, to name a few, all be right?

BulletBlocker BulletProof BackPack

2009-06-16T20:20:00.001-05:00

I live behind a corn field in Illinois. My idea of a traffic jam is a school bus or a tractor and I like it that way. I also have 5 kids, two of which are currently in High School.

We all know about the Columbine High School Massacre. That was all the way in Colorado. Must have been a big city, right? In the year 2000, my nearest town (Ottawa, Illinois) had a population of 18,307. Columbine, Colorado has a population of 24,095. But that crazy shooting stuff doesn't happen around me. We are safe.

I also live an hour away from Northern Illinois University and personally know 3 families that had kids directly affected by the shooting that ended with 21 people shot and 5 killed in February, 2008. My oldest starts College in 2 years.
Remember the Virginia Tech Massacre in 2007 that killed 32 people? The deadliest peacetime shooting incident by a single gunman in United States history, on or off a school campus. Both my brother and sister went to Virginia Tech. (Fortunately, not at that time)
I graduated Virginia Wesleyan College in 2004. In October, 2006 one of the security guards was killed by a knife-wielding attacker while making nighttime rounds on campus.

Still think I'm safe? My kids? Think you are safe? Your kids? What the heck is going on nowadays?

I predict you will either be on one side of the fence or another. Obviously these are extreme ends but one stating that we shouldn't glorify these deaths and create panic or the other side of arming your kids with bullet proof vests and possibly weapons of there own.

Being Web Designers, we do all kinds of work for all kinds of people. Imagine my surprise when I see information come across my desk about someone that sold bullet proof backpacks. Emotions ranged from interesting to rage. Interesting in the fact that it was a unique idea. Rage followed when I thought someone was trying to take advantage of today's violence in schools and instill fear in people.

After reviewing the website, BulletBlocker, I find the products were developed by a father who had 2 kids of his own. He saw a problem and reacted to it. He wasn't trying to capitalize on people's fear but provide some protection in a crazy time. I did pick up on the fact that these school killings are recent. Nothing bad happened when I went to school. Not to minimize Kent State or others but as far as I can remember, school shootings weren't really in the public eye. It just didn't happen. Now metal detectors and armed guards are commonplace.

As a Sociology major, I'd love to write about my thoughts pertaining to why these are crazy times, but let's focus on the BulletBlocker products. Regardless of what your personal beliefs are, this product is here and I'm willing to bet here to stay.

BulletBlocker products claim to be 100% Legal and state they are stylish Bulletproof Protection that you can afford. All BulletBlocker vests and backpacks are certified at NIJ Threat Level IIIA protection - the same quality of bullet proof protection that has saved over 3,000 police officer's lives.

My first question is, "What the heck is NIJ Threat Level IIIA protection and what does that mean to me?" After searching the web for a while, because I wanted my own opinion, not that of the vendor, I found:

Level IIIA offers the highest protection (most handgun calibers)
There's no such thing as a 'bullet-proof' vest. Any vest hit enough times, or by a high-velocity penetrating round, can fail. To help you determine how much stopping power you need against various weapons and bullets, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) developed its Threat Level Matrix. NIJ Certification tests are performed at approved independent labs like H.P.White Laboratories, Inc. in Maryland.
...Level IIIA body armor provides the highest level of protection currently available from concealable body armor and is generally suitable for routine wear in many situations. However, departments located in hot, humid climates may need to evaluate the use of Level IIIA armor carefully.

I'm not a gun person and I'm still not sure exactly what it means, but everyone seems to agree that NIJ Threat Level IIIA protection is the best.

Does it work? When in doubt, search YouTube. Someone, somewhere had to shoot one of these things:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9ghbckC5js

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeIjx8-Lp4I

OK. So they actually do stop bullets. What about the style? Am I now carrying a 50 pound rucksack in addition to my 50 pounds of books? NO! I bought the Blue Executive Bullet Proof Backpack. It weighs a little more than a regular backpack, but the website does state the protection panel adds about 20 ounces. Note the protection panel does not seem to be accessible and I presume it can not be removed. The backpack is great and has pockets for everything.

I also bought the BulletProof Notebook. The original plan was to shoot at this one, but I feel enough people already did. I like the fact this notebook zips closed. It will most likely replace my current notebook that doesn't zip closed. I usually stuff it with client papers and don't always look the greatest at meetings. It also has many pockets and sleeves for notes, papers and pens. The 3-Ring binder capability is an added plus because it will allow me to add a few extra folders for even more client junk. It is not heavy and I believe the protective panel is behind the pad of paper and can be removed.

Both items arrived securely packaged and in good condition. They also came with a letter that I'm sure was written by the lawyers. It basically reads the items are sold "As Is" and the company is not liable for anything. The letter also includes a manufacture date and further states the items have a 5 year lifespan. I guess after 5 years, materials can break down and the bulletproof panels are not as good as when newer.

The only confusing part was the return policy. The website states two different policies:

If at any time, within 10 days of receiving your order, you are not satisfied with the fit, style, quality or design of a product(s), return the item(s) to us in like-new condition and we will refund your purchase price 100% or exchange the item. It's your choice.
Return Policy: Due to the nature of the products, under no circumstances will any returns be allowed, other than for defective manufacture.

BulletBlocker Warranty: BulletBlocker warranties all BulletBlocker products against defects in workmanship for 1 year from purchase date. and on and on....

In summary, the items were as advertised and seem to perform they way they were meant to perform. Would I buy all my kids one? I'm not sure. At $195 per backpack the price is very steep when you have 5 kids. Buying bulletproof inserts or bulletproof binders would be a cheaper alternative but the covered protection is less. When it comes to my kids, I'd rather them have more protection but you get what you can afford.

For smaller families, I would say a no brainer. Buy the backpack and hope it never has to be put to the test. Don't think that nothing can happen to you. The new school year is coming. Start saving now!

As for the backpack I bought. I will hand it down to my oldest son. He's currently taking the EMT class this summer at the local college and his current backpack has seen much better days. With only one more year of high school left, he can take it to college and hopefully never need to use it!

Please note this article is my own personal thoughts. I have not consulted with BulletBlocker nor there lawyers and I have written this solely because of BulletBlocker being such a unique product. I neither endorse this product nor not endorse it. However, if given the opportunity, I'll start selling them! How could you not? It's a great product for today's crazy times. Be sure you check out there website for more information, statistics and news stories: www.bulletblocker.com

Yahoo! Fax Feature Workaround

2009-06-11T19:37:00.001-05:00

If you receive copies of your Yahoo orders via fax, then you know that the fax feature has been "temporarily" disabled. Yahoo has posted an Outlook workaround for those of you who use Outlook as an email client. If you haven't read it, please go here: Yahoo Email Orders Help Article.

For those of you that don't use Outlook, or are Merchant Starters and don't have the order fax ability, here is your solution: Automatic Print Email

Here's how it works in a nutshell:

Set up a separate email address for orders only. (This is totally optional. But if you receive hundreds of orders daily, or don't want anyone accessing your email, it may be convenient.)
Set your Yahoo Manager to email your orders immediately and as an Adobe PDF attachment.
Load Automatic Print Email on a computer that will remain on. Set it up to read your email and set a filter to only print the order attachment. (My bigger accounts are set to check every 2 minutes.)
Watch the orders print automatically.

Once set up correctly, the Automatic Print Email software will log into your email account at pre-determined intervals set by you. It will scan your emails and print those that trigger the filters you set, such as orders. Instead of checking the fax for new orders, you simply check your printer.

Automatic Print Email comes with a fully functional 30 day trial period so you aren't out any cash while you check it out. If you do like it, the cost is only $49.90 so it's not very expensive either.

NOTE: The orders you print out will look just like the downloaded orders EXCEPT they will NOT have credit card data. Remember, Yahoo will NOT email credit card data on orders because it isn't secure. If you want credit card data, use the Yahoo solution as previously listed here: Yahoo Email Orders Help Article.

Here's how to set it up:

Determine an email address to send orders and Download and run the Automatic Print Email program. The rest of the rules pertain to the software program.
Set up a POP 3 Email account. If using a Yahoo Business Email account, remember to check the secure connection box and change the Server Port Number to 995.
When you hit Next, Be sure to select "Print Only Attachments"
Select "Advanced Options" and be sure to select "Yes" to print all pages of the documents.

Click "OK" to finish setting up the email account.

You are almost done now. You have set up the email address to check, now you just need to set up the filter to tell the software what emails to print.

Click on the "Filters List" button and "Create New Filter."
When setting up rules, because you only want to print orders, it's easier to set a rule stating what NOT to print. Therefore, I set my rule to state that if the subject doesn't contain "Yahoo! Orders as PDF" then don't print. Note that this screen gives you a check box providing the ability to delete mail from your mailbox. This is nice if you get lots of orders.
Next, select "More Actions." Here, you only want to print the attachment.
Click OK. You are basically done now. One last item to do is tell the software how often to check for email. To do this, click, "File" - "Options" - "Visual Appearance and Usage"
Under the left nav bar of "Visual Appearance and Usage" you'll see where you can select minutes and seconds to check your email.
Finally, after everything is set, you will see a little countdown timer on the bottom left corner of the main screen. This will tell you when it will check your email again. Other columns are pretty self explanatory.

That's it! I hope this helps you with receiving your orders. If you have any questions or need any help, please be sure to contact me.

Two New Yahoo! Enhancements

2009-06-01T15:45:00.001-05:00

Customize buyer-facing order number prefixes

By default, order numbers displayed to your store customers are prefixed with your store ID. For example, if a customer's order number is 792, and your store ID is yhst-12345678911011, the order number is displayed to the customer as yhst-12345678911011-792 on order confirmation and order status pages in checkout, in order and shipment confirmation emails, and on printed order materials (order invoice and packing slip).

Now, you can customize what comes before the order number, using the new "Order Number Prefix" field in the Shipment and Order Status section of Store Manager. If your store name is "Widget World" and you want to replace the store ID in the order number with "widget-world," you can now go right ahead. Your customized order number prefix will be shown in the buyer-facing locations noted above. (Merchants should note that for printed order materials, the custom order number prefix will appear on materials printed to PDF, but not on materials printed to HTML.)

Replace your store ID in order numbers using the "Order Number Prefix" field.

Custom order number prefix displayed in checkout.

Specify a sender name for order and shipment status emails

Order and shipment status emails use a default sender name in the "From" field, pulled from the "Title" variable in your Store Manager. Should you wish to customize the "From" field, you may do so using the "Catalog Name for Confirmation/Update Emails" field in the Shipment and Order Status section of Store Manager. So if your "Title" variable was "All Paws Up - Pet Supplies for the Pampered Puppy," and you wanted your email sender name to simply be "All Paws Up," you can change this using the "Catalog Name for Confirmation/Update Emails" field.

Customize the sender name used for order and shipment confirmation emails using the "Catalog Name for Confirmation/Update Emails" field.

If you haven't yet enabled order and shipment status emails and want to learn more about setting these up, please see the "Configuring shipping and order confirmation emails" help page.

Hope this helps customize your Yahoo! Store a little bit more! As always, contact us with any questions or if you need help implementing these updates.