Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from MonsterCommerce!

Pop Up Code

Here are some instructions for creating a pop up window on your MonsterCommerce store.

First, You will need to create the page that you want to be the popup. Upload this

.html

, or

.htm

file into your root directory of the File Manager.

Second, paste this code into your Site HTML > Message Editor

Third, change the red text below to match the name of your site.

<script type="text/javascript"> function readCookie(name) { var cookieValue = ""; var search = name + "="; if(document.cookie.length > 0) { offset = document.cookie.indexOf(search); if (offset != -1) { offset += search.length; end = document.cookie.indexOf(";", offset); if (end == -1) end = document.cookie.length; cookieValue = unescape(document.cookie.substring(offset, end)) } } return cookieValue; } function writeCookie(name, value) { document.cookie = name + "=" + escape(value); } var holder = new String(window.location); if(readCookie("yoelpop") == "" && !holder.match(/https/g)) { writeCookie("yoelpop", "set"); window.open("popup_sign.htm", "_blank", "directories = no, location = no, scrollbar=yes, titlebar = no, status = no, width = 400, height = 400 "); } </script>

MonsterCommerce Says Goodbye to James A. Arconati

The following was posted in the internal company newsletter.

Tech Support wants to wish long-time Monster Jim Arconati the very best in his future endeavors. Jim’s last day is this Thursday. He will be taking a Web Administrator position with the Ferguson-Florissant school district, which is three minutes from his house. His contribution to Support and customer service has been very much appreciated as well as working on the JumpStart program since its inception late in 2005. Best of luck ArcoJedi!

Ecommerce FAQs

The following Frequently Asked Questions are relevant to the Pro Ecommerce solutions with Network Solutions.

What Do I Do for My DNS Settings?

DNS stands for Domain Name Servers. In order for your site to be live at your domain name, your registrar needs to have the domain's record pointed to the proper server, usually at your web host. Until that point, your site will only be available at an IP address or a third-level domain. How to change these settings varies on whether your domain is registered with Network Solutions or not.

Registered with Network Solutions

Using your Account Manager, select the Pro Ecommerce package from your list of services, and scroll down to a section labled Manage Hosting Domains & SubDomains. You should see a green button labled Assign Domains. Use this to select your domain and assign it. DNS changes will usually take about 24 hours or more to update.

Not Registered with Network Solutions

Follow the same steps above, but then when you get to the Assign Domain Names page, click the link to assign a domain that is not listed. Carefully type in the domain name that you want to use and assign it to the store. Once this has been done, the Account Manager will give you some instructions and settings for your DNS at the registrar. As above, DNS changes will usually take about 24 hours or more to update.

How Do I Set Up Categories?

Setting up categories for your new site is very simply. Once logged into the Storefront Admin Panel, go to the Inventory menu under the Sales Manager area and then select the Category Manager. Using this tool, you can add categories, delete categories or rename categories and also add details to the category pages. Once your categories are done, you can assign products to them using the Product Manager, also under Inventory.

You can also use DataPort to upload product and category information from a spreadsheet on your computer. Learn more about DataPort.

How Do I Load Products?

The best resource for adding products is the following QuickGuide - Product Creation - Admin Panel Entry

For a new client, the easiest way to learn about the Product Manager is to edit an existing product, which is why most clients start with a Sample product. Go to Inventory > Product Manger and use the Search feature at the bottom of the menu. Leave the box blank and hit 'Search'. You should then see the one Sample product with three links to the right of it; Edit, Basic Edit and Delete. Use the Basic Edit to get started and familiar with the system. You will see two tabs; General and Images. You can customize this product and see where the text shows up by using the link at the bottom of the General tab to view the product.

You can also use DataPort to upload product and category information from a spreadsheet on your computer. Learn more about DataPort.

How Do I Do Extra Customizations (Fonts & Colors)?

You can do quite a bit of customization to the store template. You should start in Layout > Theme Builder and then customize your chosen theme from there in the HTML and Layout menus. The best references for modifying your site's theme are the following QuickGuide pages -

• Designing Your Online Storefront - Site HTML
• Designing Your Online Storefront - Site Layout
• Designing Your Online Storefront - Site Wide Colors
• Designing Your Online Storefront - Site Wide Fonts
• Designing Your Online Storefront - Site Wide Borders & Misc

Where Do I Go for More Help?

Technical support is available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. If you are in your Network Solutions administration panel, you can create an express service request, or you can call our technical support team at 888.252.ECOM.

How Do I Add Extra Custom Fields Into the Shopping Cart / Checkout?

Checkout can be customized to add additional questions with the Checkout > Checkout Questions menu. You can also learn more about customizing checkout with the following QuickGuides -

• Checkout Settings
• Checkout Workflows

Do I Need MonsterMerchantAccount?

If you will be accepting credit cards online and do not have any other method for completing the transaction (such as a physical terminal), then you will need a Merchant Account and an online Payment Gateway. But you do not need to use MonsterMerchantAccount specifically. If you do not yet have a gateway, however, it is recommended. Our software is also compatible with many other gateways, including but not limited to the following.

• CyberSource: Getting Started
• LinkPoint API: Getting Started
• PayPal Website Payments Pro
• 2Checkout: Getting Started
• Google Checkout: Getting Started

How Do I Set Up Email Boxes?

You can set up your email addresses from your Network Solutions Account Manager home page. In your list of services, look for Hosting Package E-mailboxes. Set some up and there are several links from there to set them up using any POP3 email client (like Microsoft Outlook).

• Use a Wizard or
• View Instructions

How Do I Register My Domain Name?

If you didn't already register your domain name when you first signed up, you will want to the Network Solutions home page and search for the name you want and then follow the steps to purchase it. Once you have this name in your account, you can assign this domain name using the instructions for your DNS settings.

When Will My Site Go Live?

You can make your site live whenever you would like. Once your DNS settings are set for the first time, it can take 24 hours or more to be completed. From there, your site can be live. However, you can also set your site to be Disabled. To manage this setting, go to Admin > Enable/Disable Store and set up a construction page. As long as your store is disabled, unless a user is logged in as administrator, they will only see that construction message.

Copywriting And Design Rules for Successful eCommerce

Here is a good article found on WebProNews.com.

What are the secrets of converting visitors into customers? Most ecommerce sites that struggle to convert suffer from the same half dozen minor problems.

If the site is selling something that people want, at a price they're willing to pay, some simple copywriting or design adjustment can make a big difference.

So here goes - the six things you must do to give your ecommerce site a chance...