Hello Website Forge users.

Today it was brought to our attention that the USPS International shipping methods were changed by the US Post Office.  It appears this was done without any warning.

Many methods were deleted, merged or modified.  I already sent a personal e-mail to the owners of affected sites.

We performed an emergency code update to reflect the new USPS methods and rules.  We updated the server cluster shortly thereafter.

If you are using International USPS shipping methods and haven't received my email.  Please contact LIVE SUPPORT tomorrow during the day or email support@websiteforge.com for assistance.

Basically you just need to go to your shipping methods and re-select the most appropriate method from the new methods in the list.

Have a good night.

Thanks,

Shane Merem
www.websiteforge.com
Web Site Design and E-commerce

Hi.  Another upgrade we performed Sunday was a "Free Shipping" flag in your shipping settings.

You always could offer free shipping, however you would need to create a custom shipping method.  Then when you accepted an order and entered your tracking number you would have to choose how it was shipped.

With this upgrade, you can turn a standard shipping type (UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL, etc) into FREE without the extra work.  Just one click.

I'll ask our video wizard Olivia to record a video and add it to our library!

Enjoy.

Shane Merem
www.websiteforge.com
Web Site Design and E-commerce

Hello. 

I had an urgent issue from a customer Friday where the formatting of his site was all messed up.  Turns out he was using cut and paste to place the content on his site and the source text had some hidden codes that were not "web friendly".  This happens occasionally depending on the source of your text.

He was obviously quite frustrated and wanted it fixed immediately (rightfully so).   I determined the likley issue and resolved it.  I found out after that he did not "PREVIEW" his changes before publishing.

Here is the main point of this post.  Using the "PREVIEW" feature to review the page before hitting the "PUBLISH" button may save you undue anxiety.  

It's easy to get in the mode of hitting PUBLISH each time you make a change to your site because usually things look fine -- however it's important to remember to PREVIEW your changes each and every time you update your site to avoid a similar situation.

P.S.  I am a big offender of this rule myself.  So this is a reminder for myself as much as a helpful reminder for our Website Forge customers! :)

Shane Merem
www.websiteforge.com
Website Design and E-commerce

My first urge is to rant and rave about the ridiculous marketing scheme that Microsoft put together to force people to spend hundreds of dollars for the EV (Extended Validation) certificate.  However I already did that in this article .

This posting is to inform you, our Website Forge customers, that we have bit the bullet and purchased the EV certificate.  This means that your web sites will always report as completely safe (by Microsoft's standards anyway).

There is an important technical item that I must share with you.   Of course when we installed the certificate we all opened the latest Internet Explorer 7 browser, slammed an item in a shopping cart and looked for the "GREEN BAR" that is supposed to be there.  To our total dissatisfaction the green bar did not show up.  After calling a few people we found that some browers wouldn't turn green.

Here is an article I found explaining that if you change ANY settings in your IE 7 -- the green bar will not glow.  I have no idea why this is.  I'll let everyone know as soon as we find out why.

If your browser doesn't "GO GREEN" read this article for the explanation.  Please don't yell at us -- Its not our fault :)

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1369032&SiteID=1

Anyhow, please enjoy your updated web site security and maybe take advantage of Microsoft's marketing machine and advertise the upgraded security to your prospective customers.

Have a great Easter weekend!

Shane Merem
www.websiteforge.com
Website Design and E-commerce

With 27 new videos to choose from -- take a look and let us know what you think!  So far customers that have used the videos are giving us great feedback.

Click here to see the updated video index: http://www.websiteforge.com/support/55.html

Videos on site management, import/export, and email configuration are included in this list.  There are many more.

Please post your suggestions if there is a demonstration video you would like us to add to the list.

Shane Merem
www.websiteforge.com
Website design and e-commerce

With the assistance of Brian at www.shopbakersnook.com we have added a new feature to Website Forge.

Some web sites offer the ability to calculate shipping before "checkout" to determine how much shipping will cost them.  We have added a new feature that provides this new functionality.

To view the feature.. Go to www.shopbakersnook.com , add an item to the shopping cart and you will see a button allowing you to view your shipping cost.

Your comments are welcome.  I'm sure Brian will tell us if it makes a difference in sales volume and customer service.

Shane Merem
www.websiteforge.com
Website design and e-commerce

Yes.  I've done it too!

We are glad to announce a new feature of Website Forge that will save our tech support team as much grief as it will save you.  :)

Before now -- if you needed a page recovered from backup we would need 24 hours to recover it from our backup system.  This used to take up to two hours due to the large size of our backup files.

NOW we can instantly un-delete any deleted page or module if you make the request within 14 days of the "incident".

If you need a page or module recovered please contact LIVE SUPPORT or email support@websiteforge.com and we will be happy to recover the page for you.

REMEMBER that the recovered page will be restored over any changes you made to it.

Shane Merem
www.websiteforge.com
Website Design and E-commerce

Just a fast note to our Website Forge customers.  As you know we recently performed some very important Search Engine upgrades to follow changes in how Google, Yahoo, MSN and other Search Engines index your web site.

In just a couple weeks I have found over 23,000 more Website Forge web pages pages indexed in Google since we upgraded Website Forge behind the scenes to improve search engine penetration.

This number will increase exponentially as the search engines revisit your web sites and as Website Forge continues to follow trends in Search Engine technology.

Just think of the people who might lured into purchasing a web site that they host as an individual application.  Their web site is obsolete as fast as it is complete without a team like ours to constantly improve and update their web site!

We are dedicated to make sure your Website Forge Website is always secure and updated to the latest technology and business standards.

Shane Merem
www.websiteforge.com
Website Design and E-commerce

For new customers or customers that have recently hired new employees that might maintain your web site we have finally produced and published online training videos.

We will add many more very soon.  It's a high priority to provide a full suite of videos covering all aspects of Website Forge.  It's no small task!

Please take a look at http://www.websiteforge.com/support/55.html to check them out.

Your feedback is appreciated.

Shane Merem
www.websiteforge.com
Web design and e-commerce