Hello everyone.  Here are a few upgrades added last Sunday:

1) Custom Date / Custom Number options for products now available

2) Custom Weight option added
3) URL fields in the layout builder can be set up to open in same window/new window/popup.
4) Instant unsubscribe links for blog and membership.
5) Ability to quickly unsubscribe a member from blog categories (all or some) on Edit Member form.
6) Image / Image List fields and option images display a hand cursor if they are clickable to help people see they can click the image.

REMINDER! Make sure your site is indexed properly by Google and Yahoo!

Don't forget how valuable it is to configure your web site for Google Sitemaps!  It is a built in feature of Website Forge to provide important page and product informationto Google!  Contact support so that we can help you with this feature.

Shane Merem

www.websiteforge.com

Web Site Design and E-commerce

One of the most difficult things to determine is whether or not an international order will end up as a fraudulent order. 

Will you ship the product only to find that it was a stolen card and because this crook is from a far away land -- you can hardly do anything about it?

What about trying to get a product through customs?  Is it worth the time and effort?

I'm pleased to announce that we are working with an international solution provider to REMOVE ALL THE RISK FROM INTERNATIONAL orders!

New FiftyOne service will improve international shopping experience and simplify international fulfillment

We are planning on integrating a leading-edge international ecommerce and logistics service later this year called FiftyOne into the Website Forge platform. 

FiftyOne is a service that will automatically present all of your products in foreign currencies to international visitors by detecting the country they are coming from, and for any international orders that results, FiftyOne eliminates all of the headaches associated with international order processing, including landed cost calculation, international shipping, credit card fraud and customs compliance. 

FiftyOne will:

• Convert your USD$ prices automatically into the buyer's local currency based on their IP address
• Calculate and guaranteed fully landed costs at checkout (i.e. complete end-to-end shipping, duties, taxes)
• Provide international payment processing and protection from international credit card fraud
• Pay you at order time in USD$
• Manages all customs clearance, brokerage, parcel tracking and end delivery (your customer will never be asked for C.O.D.)
• Provide a view into all order detail within a new “International Tab” in your Website Forge Account Management Portal (i.e. returns, billing inquiries, tracking information)
• Send international order and shipment confirmation emails, providing international customers with complete tracking information 
   

Once you sign up for FiftyOne, your website will automatically become multi-currency and be welcoming to an international customer.

You will not be required to make any changes to your existing business, financial, operational or fulfillment processes.

All international orders will be provided to you as U.S. orders with a U.S. credit card and a New Jersey shipping address that you will fulfill to and bill to as you normally would.

I think this service will drive more revenue for those who subscribe to it. 

Website Forge Merchant Partners who would like to enhance their websites for international visitors with a risk-free fulfillment process will be able to sign up for the service for a low monthly subscription fee of $14.95 plus a reasonable commission on sales.

At a time when the volume of international orders are growing due to the sagging USD$, having an improved international ecommerce and logistics service in time for Holiday 2008 will be a great advantage.  And saving time and money because you no longer need to handle customs paperwork is an asset. 

Let me know if you feel you would benefit from using FiftyOne and you intend to enroll when it becomes operational later this year.

Shane Merem

www.websiteforge.com

Web site design and e-commerce

Hello everyone.

We finally released the upgraded new and improved Website Forge site.

Take a look at www.websiteforge.com 

We face the same issues that you do -- never enough time in the day.  This new site design is way overdue and it's finally here.

Please post your comments.

P.S.  Don't forget to subscribe to our new Website Forge Community forum at http://websiteforge.com/forum

Shane Merem

www.websiteforge.com

Web Site Design and E-commerce

Ecommerce Module:
- Code change meant to fix the repeated order number issue.
- Customizable order status notifications. Admin can control which order statuses will trigger emailed notifications and which won't.
- A way to change the shipper in the order.

Ad Module:
- mX_edit_item.html page can be called with ?mX:cat=XXXX parameter which will cause the category to be preselected when creating an ad.
- If the Add button is clicked from the mX_item_list.html page and if this page displays only ads from particular category (mX_item_list.html?mX:cat=XXXX), this category will be preselected on the Add form.
- Item List interfaces have "No items found" text configurable, HTML allowed.
- When adding to cart a product with Custom File options and if at least one file is selected, "Please wait" will be displayed while files upload.

Import/Export:
- On the import pages, there is now a message recommending to split files into pieces.

Members' FTP folders: Are now named after member ID and email, i.e. mXXXX-yyy@zzz.com, instead just XXXX. So the owner always knows whom the folder belongs to. Also, on the Edit Member page there is now a quick link to member's FTP area.

Feedback forms:
- For File fields (with Max Number of Files=1), Please Wait message is shown while uploading.
- For File fields with Max Number of Files > 1, an in-page frame is now used instead of a separate browser window to select files for uploading.
- Form frame now has a new parameter, "Email Mode", which can be set to "Text" (suitable for automated processing), "HTML" (like before), and "HTML with Layout" (mimcs the form layout).

Multimedia Features:

- FLV thumbnail mode. On Product Types/Fields you can set fields of type File to display as a thumbnail. When clicked, the thumbnail will display a player in a popup window.
- FLV's and other media in ecommerce. COOL FEATURE!! Audio File, Video File and FLV file subtypes of File fields are now available for the ecommerce modules. This means you can put videos in your product details.

New File Upload Interface:
Multiple files and Java uploader support for Product Options. Product Options of type Custom File can be set up to allow multiple files, with limits on quantity and total size. They can also be set up to allow uploading via Java applet. If configured this way, the option will not display on the product list, but instead, when clicked "Add to Cart", it will open a popup for uploading. The popup can work both in regular mode and in Java mode (if enabled). All the uploaded files will be zipped and the link to this zip file will be added to the cart.

*** NOTE *** The Java uploader is not yet available to use in the Image/File store, it will be added soon.

Other features:
- Tree-like membership groups. Groups can now be organized in a tree like ecommerce categories. This will allow 3LG stores to divide users into companies, departments, subdepartments etc. This feature is systemwide and is available for all membership modules.
- Multi-level group selection. On Registration and Edit Profile forms, and also on Edit Ad forms of Ad modules, multi-level group selection is now supported. To enable, open the corresponding page in the memeber's area, select Frame Settings for the form frame, and change "Tree" setting to "Multi-level" for the group selection control. Republish the site. In this mode, the user first selects the first level of groups (e.g. companies) in one dropdown, the second level in the second dropdown etc. Like we have for tree-like options. This feature is available systemwide for all membership and ad modules
- Aliases in Google Sitemap. Made it possible to use aliases just like real pages.
- Membership. Trial Period for LinkPoint recurring payments.
- Site favicon feature.
- Login frames have now two configurable messages: a) for invalid logins and b) for inactive accounts. HTML is allowed.
- Shipping Source product field can be now exported and imported.

2) Mac compatibility.

- MAC users are now able to input and save products to the ecommerce module

3) Ecommerce:
- SQL query optimizations.
- Customizable customer fields in the invoice.
- Add to Wish List button available in Multi-Buy Mode.

4) Sub-accounts:
- Fixed access to newly added pages
- Manage Content Areas screen for sub-accounts

Olivia E Guerrero

Customer Service

Project Manager Assistant

Training Specialist

http://www.websiteforge.com

http://support.websiteforge.com/trainingclasses.html

1) Not Indexed by Search Engines parameter. Found under Page Settings screen. This parameter affects rendering of robots.txt system file.

2) Bookmarks in WF member's area. Lets you remember spots you visit often and jump in their with a couple of mouse clicks.

3) UI tweaks in member's area:
- Email Accounts and Spam White List screens merged together
- Site backups screen moved under Site Stats screen.
- Bread crumb fixes
- Shipping Sources screen improved

4) Other fixes and tweaks:
- Membership Import/Export
- Blog: Add Post button added in admin
- Inactive Products being purchased fix etc.

Olivia E Guerrero

Customer Service

Project Manager Assistant

Training Specialist

www.websiteforge.com

It's true!  And I have PROOF!

Because of the updates we affected last Sunday to all the Website Forge web sites -- you are getting more traffic because your products and keywords are more effective than ever in Yahoo!, Google, MSN and more!

Imagine:  Your Website Forge web site is moving to a higher position in the major search engines right now as you read this article! 

Brian Shockly at www.shopbakersnook.com just sent me via email:

JUST BECAUSE IT'S SIMPLE DOESN'T MEAN IT IS EASY!  You still need to work at marketing your web site in the search engines.

Buying a car with all the latest features doesn't make you a better driver -- it just makes driving easier. 

Fact: Your Website Forge site is loaded with technology that exponentially increases your ability to rank well in the search engines

Fact: Garbage in -- Garbage out

You need good content to have good search engine results!  If you don't take the time as a business owner to make sure your web site and product descriptions are written with plenty of keywords  then your web site will not be relevent to search engines.  It's that simple.

If you have not yet talked to our SEO expert, email us at support@websiteforge.com and we will schedule a time for Kevin Gannon to contact you and see what things you can do to make the most out of your Website Forge web site. 

He will give you free advice and offer a strategy.  I cannot name any business  that is successful without good marketing of some kind.

Shane Merem

www.websiteforge.com

Web Design and E-commerce