Hello everyone.  I wanted to drop a note to make you aware of a few new subtle changes in your member's area.

Start by taking a look at your "site list" and you'll find a green  or a red  next to each of your domain names. 

The green  means your domain name is valid and configured to the proper DNS name servers. 

The red  means your domain is either expired or misconfigured.

We will soon add some automatic notifications to make you aware of a change in status so you can react quickly.

Next take a look at your "Manage Email" area.  We now show the mailbox usage next to each mailbox. 

One of the most common reasons people stop receiving mail is because they have their e-mail program misconfigured to "Leave mail on server".  This causes the mailbox to fill up and stop accepting mail.   Now you can see how full your mailboxes are. 
Contact support@websiteforge.com with any questions.

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

One of the shipping options I use on my Web site is First Class Mail. Many of you are saying why is he doing this! Well it is simple. Many people when they come to our site for the first time they poke around and only really want to order 1 thing and are not really sure if our site is safe. Try to think of a new customer like this. How many of you have seen a young child testing out the pool for the first time? They dip their feet into the water then run back to mommy or daddy. Then with a little reassurance they jump in. The same thing applies here. They can order 1 little thing and risk very little money and now I have a chance to get a customer for life. I break even or lose a little on this first class mail order but the return on this little loss could be great. A customer for life is worth me taking the chance on losing a few cents on that order to convert them into buying things on my site.

I have many small items on my site so I can do that. You may say, "I only send big things so how does this help me"? Well I am glad you asked. Practice random acts of Marketing Kindness. Pick a new customer every day and give them $5.00 in cash back as a thank you for ordering from you. Place the $5.00 in a nice envelope with the order and when they open the order up they will see it. The word will spread that you are a cool company and care about people. That $5.00 just became $100.00 in marketing good will.

 If you dont like the $5.00 concept then try this. Have the owner of your company or website send a personal thank you note written in the owners handwrittting to a new customer everyday. It all adds up in the end it is the personal touchs that set us all apart from the big guys.

As Always Have a Nice day!

Brian

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

[...] Hey everyone.  Please sign up for notification e-mails using this link: http://www.websiteforge.com/custom/websiteforgeblog/subscribe-to-blog/ [...]

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

Since spammers are here to stay -- we are forced to constantly battle each new spamming method.  Some spammers will abuse your contact forms with an automated script or software.

We have added a "Code Verification" field type to the Feedback Form module.  This is what you commonly see as an image displaying several letters or numbers that you have to read and retype to submit the form. 

This human readable image assures that your form is not mass submitted by a script or software.

You add this control just like you would add any form field.  Contact support@websiteforge.com if you have any questions.

Shane Merem
www.websiteforge.com
E-commerce and web design

I have had a few customers tell me they routinely hunt for declined orders and contact the customer to assist them with their purchase.  I am told that a high percentage of those sales are recovered.

Because of this fact, it was suggested that we allow you to optionally receive declined order notifications just like you would receive an approved order. 

This optional feature was added in the most recent upgrade.  Check it out and see if it's something that may help you recover otherwise lost sales.

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

There is now a search feature you can use to search for specific orders in your order list.  Take a look next time you log in to manage your orders.

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