veryone!  Another new feature announcement!  GOOGLE 1+ integration.  (one plus)

 

Google 1+ integration is becoming widely used.

 

1+ is a way to say "This is pretty cool" or "I like this"..

 

What is it?  Check it out here http://www.google.com/+1/button/

 

 

Check it out on our home page at www.websiteforge.com (must be logged into your google account to use it).

 

MAKE SURE YOU Facebook LIKE and Google 1+ our websiteforge.com web site!!  And this blog!

 

Contact support at http://ticket.websiteforge.com asap to add it to your site. 

 

Other recent FREE e-commerce web site upgrades:

 

- Improved Checkout

- Facebook Integration

- Twitter Integration

 

Upgrades Coming Soon:

 

- Instant MOBILE SITE delivery

- Constant Contact API integration www.constantcontact.com 

- Go Data Feed www.godatafeed.com integration

 

Recent Feedback from Website Forge e-commerce web site customers:

 

 

Ginger Rushing says: June 28th, 2011 at 11:20 am   Edit Delete I upgraded both www.yourlightsite.com and www.coppergaslanternsplus.com a few weeks ago.  I LOVE the new checkout.  A lot of my customers call me to order due to the nature of my products and I am now able to enter their orders while they wait, with ease.  If I can do it quickly and easily, I know my customers can also.  The wait was worth it.  Thanks Shane for this great "free" upgrade.

 

 

Cary Anderson says:

June 29th, 2011 at 10:39 am

Edit

Delete

I upgraded www.westroadcandles.com and love love love it!!!  I really like how it shows the customer what step in the checkout process they are at as well as showing them a little thumbnail image of the items they are purchasing.  And it still gives the option of creating a site profile, but now doesn't require it, which is nice for those who fear their information will be mismanaged if placed in the wrong hands.  So far, no complaints, just big Thanks!!!

 

Brian says:

June 28th, 2011 at 10:39 am   Edit Delete

We here at ShopBakersNook.com have seen a dramatic decrease in cart abandonment rates with the new websiteforge e-commerce check out process. This is a no brainer upgrade that is free and a great addition to the websiteforge e-commerce platform.

 

Thanks again for all the great feedback!  WE ARE LISTENING!!!

 

Shane Merem

www.websiteforge.com

e-commerce web site design 

Hey!  Check out the new on-demand videos for your Website Forge e-commerce web site!

 

Go to http://videos.websiteforge.com to check them out!

 

Also you can subscribe to our YouTube Channel at https://youtube.com/websiteforge 

 

Please provide feedback!

 

Shane Merem

www.websiteforge.com

e-commerce web site design

Well, as Brian Shockly mentioned -- a bit prematurely :)  Website Forge plans to provide a .mobi version of your e-commerce web site on-demand.

 

It's true that Website Forge e-commerce web sites work perfectly on most mobile devices -- some people request that a smaller/ligher version run across a .mobi for a number of reasons.

 

So "coming soon" -- MOBI functionality for your Website Forge e-commerce web site.

 

Thanks Brian for making me jump on really fast and make this annoucement at 5:12PM .. LOL

 

I'm sure there will be plenty of typos in this post.  :)

 

Stay tuned

 

Shane Merem

www.websiteforge.com

e-commerce web site design

 

P.S.  Brian's site is www.shopbakersnook.com 

Hello everyone!  Been a while since I blogged.

 

We have started rebuilding our video library from scratch at http://videos.websiteforge.com 

 

You can also subscribe to our YOUTUBE channel at https://youtube.com/websiteforge 

 

Our goal is to add roughly 20-40 vidoes per month.  They should cover basics up to the more complex features!

 

Take a look at a few play lists on our YouTube channel:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's really important we get your feedback on the videos.  So please feel free to comment!

 

Have a great Holiday Weekend!

 

Shane Merem

www.websiteforge.com

Website Forge

E-Commerce Web Site Design

Happy Friday WebsiteForge Clients,

 

As requested in the Forum http://www.WebsiteForge.com/forum (<-- shameless plug) here is a list of WF Updates from the past several months that you may not know about!  I'll get right to it...

Navigational Menu frame:
Many already know about this, but some may not.  This new frame allows you to add a Navigation Menu literally ANYWHERE in your website (anywhere that's an editable Content Area of course).   The process for adding buttons to the menu is similar to the Classic WF "Site Menu".

Check this link to see the Frame Type:  http://my.jetscreenshot.com/4815/20101217-v6id-22kb

Here is a shot of the Config Screen with no options configured:  http://my.jetscreenshot.com/4815/20101217-tvud-38kb

As you can see, the advantage this menu has over the Classic "Site Menu" is that it allows you to control and edit the look of the menu.  You can even upload your own buttons to be used in the menu.  Here is another shot that shows more options:  http://my.jetscreenshot.com/4815/20101217-m7io-46kb

 

 

Automatic SEO-friendly URL's for products and categories:

 

Old URLs for Categories and Products looked like this:
/6.html?m5:cat=/Accessories/Wallets
/m5_view_item.html?mX:item=CODE001

We have made them SEO friendly without removing references to a page (6.html), a module (m5) and the SKU (CODE001). Now they look like:
/6m5/Accessories/Wallets.html
/m5/CODE001--Black-Leather-Wallet.html

BTW:  You can change the product title to whatever and it will not break old URL's because the system will only use the SKU from the URL to locate the product.


Layout Builder: Making fields Members-Only
Now you can make any field in a Layout Builder hidden unless a Member is logged into the site.  See here for an example:  http://my.jetscreenshot.com/4815/20101217-swlo-73kb


Search for Expiring Members:
In the Modules > Membership > Members & Groups section...  If you have Member Signup Packages, you can now search the Membership module for expiring Members.  See an example here:  http://my.jetscreenshot.com/4815/20101217-olj1-11kb

 

 

Mass Mail Members from search results:

In the Modules > Membership > Members & Groups section...  See the new button here:  http://my.jetscreenshot.com/4815/20101217-lcw5-18kb
This will send the list of Members below to the Mailer for a One Time email.  So for example, you could use the new "Expiring Members" option mention above to find Members who are exiring within 2 weeks, then with one click send those Members to the Recipient list of a One Time email.

 

 

Membership module: Expired and Unpaid Member Entry Pages.
Using this new Setting you can make expired and unpaid Members automatically redirect to specific pages when they log in.  These can be configured in two places: in General Settings of a Membership module, which will specify module-wide entry pages, and in Group properties (go to Members & Groups, then click Edit on a group), which will override these settings for particular groups.

If neither module-wide, nor per-group page is specified for one of these settings, normal entry page will be used instead.

FYI:  An "Unpaid Member" is a Member who selected a paid package and was directed to the payment form, but did not finish the payment.

 

 

Membership: Upon Purchase Redirect:

This parameter was added to the Frame Settings of an Edit Profile frame in addition to the old one Upon Profile Edit Redirect. This will allows for the Member to be redirected to specific pages depending on if they did a purchase or just edited their profile.  See here for an example:  http://my.jetscreenshot.com/4815/20101217-qvm1-18kb

 

 

Membership: Upon Free Signup Redirect To:
The "Edit Profile" frame, in addition to "Upon Purchase Redirect To" and "Upon Profile Edit Redirect To" settings, now has "Upon Free Signup Redirect To" settings. This allows for different behavior depending on whether the visitor signed up with a paid package or a free one.

 

 

Close Menu When Moving Mouse Out:

The option "Close Menu When Moving Mouse Out" has been added to the Site Template and Settings page.  Checking this option will allow your Site Menu submenu(s) to disappear when the mouse moves off of the menu.

 

 

Have a Very Merry Christmas and a Safe Holiday Season!

 

Sincerely,

Kevin Ledezma

Website Forge

E-Commerce web site design

www.websiteforge.com

One of our hard working customers was featured on KILLER STARTUPS recently. 

 

ShopBakersNook's owners work relentlessly to provide an excellent web site and customer experience.  Couple that with the Website Forge technology and marketing team and you have the "Perfect Storm".

 

Without driven business owners --this would not be a reality! 

 

Check out this video:

 

 

Shane Merem

www.websiteforge.com

e-commerce website design

Ok.  This has to be the MOST EXCITING UPGRADE to your Website Forge site in quite some time!!

 

We recently added a new feature called "VISITOR TRACKING" to your web site!  This feature includes:

• Real time list of anyone on your web site!
• What browser your visitors are using..
• The IP address of your visitor
• How much time your visitors spent on your web site
• How much time your visitors spent on each individual page
• The FULL history of each and every page visited and how long
• The CURRENT search used on your web site
• And more....

You have to check out this video to see the Visitor Tracking feature in action:

 

 

Login to your Website Forge Member's Area right now!  Check out who is visiting YOUR site!

 

Shane Merem

www.websiteforge.com

e-commerce website design

Here are a few exciting upgrades you should be aware of...

 

1) New cross-browser editor is available.

 

Just use a non-IE browser (like Firefox or Mac Safari) and you'll see it. Users with IE are still using the old one.  Please test it out and report any bugs you find.  We will iron them out quickly.

2) Java uploader addition.

 

A Custom File option can be configured to accept either all files or images only, and in the case of images only, they can be forced to be downsized to a certain pixel size.

3) PayPal Pro DirectPayment Gateway.

 

DirectPayment Gateway now sends customer shipping address to PayPal allowing for third-party software which pull order info from a PayPal account.

4) General performance improvements.

 

We have done several performance improvements.

 

***DO NOT FORGET to sign up for one of our weekly tele-classes.  FREE TRAINING!  Go to www.support.websiteforge.com for class schedule.

 

Thanks,

Shane Merem

www.websiteforge.com

Website Forge News Topics:

 

-  Unprecedented FULL 12 Month Guarantee on Website Forge web sites!

-  Customer Service at it's Best!

-  Google struggles with SAAS solutions

-  Take full advantage of your SEO technology

-  A look at Dabble DB -- A great new web idea

 

Unprecedented FULL 12 Month Guarantee on Website Forge web sites!

Website Forge has long been the ONLY company to provide a real 30 day money back guarantee. 

 

The only company to survey their customers every 7 days during their project development. 

 

The only company to provide unlimited pages, products, and bandwith in a CUSTOM DESIGNED web site.  The only company that includes hundreds of thousands of dollars of improvements to it's clients every single year.... 

 

Once again we have gone over the top. 

 

We are so sure you will love your Website Forge web site we will back it up with a 12 month guarantee.  That's right.  If after ONE FULL YEAR you don't love your web site -- we will refund your entire purchase price!

 

No other web site company has the confidence in their company to offer such an amazing guarantee on their custom web site solutions... NOBODY!

 

 

Customer Service at it's Best!

 

I received a call Friday night from Dale Spenrath (CEO of www.posprocessing.com) around 7:00 PM asking me if Website Forge was having any techincal issues. 

 

I told him I was unaware of any problems.  Dale was already on the phone with the technical guys at Linkpoint to see why our mutual customer had called him with a card processing problem.

 

I hung up and a few minutes later Dale called me back on my cell phone and informed me that Linkpoint did, in fact, have some temporary problems and it would be resolved in a couple hours.  I was able to notify our clients so they could be aware of this issue.

 

When was the last time Henry Ford and Good Year's CEO called each other to work out a technical detail for their car owners?  I just call that "Customer Service at it's Best!".

 

Take full advantage of your SEO technology

 

I make it a point to run our clients through a few questions to make sure they are doing all they can to promote their online business.

 

1.  Have you enabled your "Google Sitemaps" feature in your web site yet?

 

2.  Have you exported your products (if any) to Google Base? (formerly called Froogle)?

 

3.  Have you spent time every day/week/month to improve your site copy with keyword rich content? 

 

4.  Have you considered rewriting your product descriptions to help prospective customers make the decision to purchase your product?

 

If you have answered NO to any of these questions.. Please reply here and we will have our team give you some specific actions so that you can get the most out of your web site...

 

Google struggles with SAAS solutions

 

I am a freshbooks.com customer and I ran across a couple good articles.  Recenly they posted a message about Google and some problems they have had supporting their SAAS (Software As A Service) products.  You will find the article interesting.

 

www.freshbooks.com/blog/2009/01/30/google-proves-saas-is-hard-even-for-big-guys/

 

A look at Dabble DB -- A great new web idea

 

If you are "show me the data" kind of person -- take a look at Dabble DB.  You can cut and paste any excel file data into a web page and create awesome drill down charts and graphs in minutes. 

 

I created dozens of charts from a bunch of my boring excel reports and it's a great concept.

 

Check it out at www.dabbledb.com

 

Thanks, Shane Merem

www.websiteforge.com

Web Design and E-commerce

Love it or get your money back!