Ya know, its been said time and time again that we are in an economic crisis and the fact is…we are. But what can you do to make a difference? Experts continue to advise people to shop online to save time and money. No wear and tear on your car, less frequent gas fillups and no lines is why there has been an increase in online sales over these last 6 months or so.

We all know that traffic is the single most important thing for a successful online business so its your duty to take advantage of all the options your Yahoo Store can provide you with. Coupons are a great way to offer FREE SHIPPING to your customers. You can add a coupon code and tell people that if they purchase X amount you will ship it for free. Just enter the coupon code at checkout.

Its important in these times with more online shoppers that you get an edge over your competition. If you don't do it, I promise you someone else will. Also be extremely public about your shipping offers. Add an image to your site that specifies that you offer dicounts and free shipping. Don't assume your customers will see it or search for it. You only have 1 shot at keeping your customers and getting them to buy from you so don't leave them wondering.

So, like many of you have already noticed, Yahoo increased their hosting fees. Starting Oct 1, 2008, those stores that are on the Standard and Legacy accounts will see a 33% increase in their monthly fee. From 99.99 per month to 129.95 per month. And here's a little shocker for ya… check out their info page http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/ecommerce/plans.php and you will not see a price change here. So guess what that means? All potentially new Yahoo store owners will get caught in a trap. Can you imagine doing your research, choosing Yahoo Merchant Solutions as their ecommerce solution of choice and within 30 days already get hit with a price increase?! Sounds quite shady really…

What aggravates me the most is that there is no changes to warrant a 33% increase. Yahoo already takes 1%, or more, of the total sales each month for doing nothing. Now they add an extra 30 bucks a month…thats like a instant 12 million dollar profit (PER MONTH!) for doing nothing more than they are doing right now.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE Yahoo Stores. Its easy to use, its really search engine friendly and it includes 95% of the features needed to operate an successful online business. I just hate the fact that companies do this type of thing knowing how handicapped most business owners are. I know that I am not packing up and leaving to start over somewhere else and other Yahoo store owners won't do it either.

Please don't take this message the wrong way. Sometimes we get used to being able to operate our business as cheaply and efficiently as possible and when someone throws a monkey wrench in the program, we get our panties in a bunch. All in all, a Yahoo store is still one of the cheapest ways to operate an ecommerce business online and as long as Yahoo continues to prove their system produces, we will keep on paying the price.

But it doesn't mean we cannot gripe about it from time to time;-p

Recently I had to work on a couple of stores with seemingly weird problems. In one store, on some pages layout was all over the place, and in the other, nothing showed up on the page except the store header. In both of these cases the culprit turned out to be buggy HTML. Since this wasn't the first time I encountered problems like this, I decided to write these notes so that you can avoid these mistakes.

When I looked at the first problem store, the page looked ok up to the bottom of the caption, but after that the navigation parts and footer were all messed up, misaligned and broken. Since most other pages were Ok, I suspected that the problem was not on the template level, but somewhere in the HTML entered by the store operator. So I edited the page and looked in the "Caption" field. Sure enough, they copied and pasted some table-based HTML layout, which, as it turned out, they created in DreamWeaver. I new something was amiss when I saw that their caption started with <td>. A <td> tag can never appear by itself, without an opening <table> and <tr> tag. Throwing extra or not enough of these tags around will without a doubt break any layout, especially table-based ones. To me the easiest way to fix something like that is to copy that HTML and paste it into Microsoft FrontPage. Now, say what you want, I do like FrontPage for a number of reasons, one of which is that if you paste any HTML into its "HTML View", then switch to "Design View" and then back to "HTML View", FrontPage will not only arrange and indent the HTML so that it's easy to follow, it will also fix up the HTML by adding missing opening or closing tags. While it doesn't always get it 100% right, a piece of HTML fixed up that way is a lot easier to correct than trying to hunt down the errors yourself. By the way, I use FrontPage 2000; newer versions don't seem to have this code-fixing / reformatting "feature", not sure why.

The second store, as I said, showed nothing after the beginning of the left navigation bar, but only in Internet Explorer. It was fine in Firefox. This happens if the code includes a <style>, <script>, or <!– tag without their closing counterparts. While Firefox is smart enough to implicitly close these when it encounters other valid HTML tags, Internet Explorer will simply treat the rest of the page as part of the style, script or comment block, essentially hiding the rest of the page completely. In most cases, I work in Firefox and only switch over to other browsers to test, so I got into the habit of always writing the opening and closing tags of these "problem" tags before I write anything else. For example, if I want to include a <style> block, I always write:

<style>

<!–

//–>

</style>

first, then go back and fill out the inside of that block. That way I won't accidentally forget the closing tag.

If you are an existing Yahoo store owner, you are already aware of the standard availability options for your products. From "Usually ships the same business day" to "Contact us for availability" the Yahoo Store standard variables allow store owners to set the availability for their customers to view. You can set this variable store wide by going to VARIABLES and then to the STORE PROPERTIES section. You should now see the Availability menu. (see below)

By setting the availability here, it will effect ALL your products in your Yahoo Store. If you have a few items that need to be set to something else, then you must navigate to those pages and manually override the availability value and set it on those pages.

Now here is where it gets cool. What if you would like to have something other than the standard options that Yahoo provides? Maybe you want your option to read "In Stock and Ready to Ship" or "Currently on Backorder". Database Upload to the rescue!

You can set custom values for Availability on a per product basis in the following way.

1. Make a note of the product IDs for which you wish to set a custom availability. Merchants can download their product database from Catalog Manager to set this for many products.
2. Create a spreadsheet with two columns: ID and Availability (or delete all columns except for ID and add Availability if using your product database from Catalog Manager).
3. Enter text in the availability column which you wish to appear on the product such as “Item is on backorder” or “Estimated release date January 2008″.
4. Save the file as .CSV format with the name data.csv.
5. Upload to the Store Editor using the database upload feature and click the Add button when uploaded. Note: Do not add this file as a Rebuild. This will wipe out your store contents except for the items and information in the spreadsheet. You can use the Revert feature if you make a mistake and Rebuild your store.
6. Publish your changes when ready.

Cool huh? Learn these and many more as a Backstage member.

I have some great news to share with you. Istvan Siposs has joined our team here at Y Store Tutorials! That is great for me but that is AWESOME for you.

If you are not familiar with Istvan, he has been providing Yahoo store owners with design, programming and consultation services since 1999. He also has authored the only complete reference on RTML, Yahoo Store's proprietory language. He is also a beta tester for all of Yahoo Store's major upgrades, enhancements and improvements. Who better to have direct contact with while learning how to own and operate your own Yahoo Store?

Together, Istvan and myself will help guide you in the right directions to make sure your Yahoo store is as successful as possible. Take advantage of our community forums and ask questions, thats what we are here for!

Always remember, if you need additional "hands on" help, you can visit our sister site, YTutorials.com and have us do the work for you.

Good news folks! I always wondered why I could get the security code (or CID as its called) from my Mastercard and Visa users but never could do it with American Express. Well, as it turns out, it was because of the processor. As most of you are already aware, Yahoo Stores use the FDMS (First Data Merchant Services) compatible platform. Up until now, they were not supporting the capture and authorization of those codes but that has changed.

American Express CID Codes

Merchants now have the option to process CID codes for shoppers paying with American Express. First Data Merchant Services (FDMS) recently added support for American Express CID (Card Identification) codes and we have updated Checkout Manager to allow for displaying this field and passing the value through FDMS to American Express.

Merchants who would like to use the CID code when accepting American Express will need to contact American Express directly to enable processing of the code and then publish your order settings. If your orders show a response code of “P” (Not Processed) then American Express has not enabled CID support for your merchant account yet. Please consult the Yahoo Risk Tools help for more information about this feature.

With the way American Express takes up for their customers, this is a very good thing. Maybe now, American Express will not be so fast to just hand over funds to the purchaser if you are presented with a chargeback.

Landing Pages are the weapon of choice for affiliate marketers. Marketers who do not employ Landing Pages either do not understand the concept, or they are just plain lazy. Usually, it is the latter. Laziness is often contagious.
 
A Landing Page is more than just a duplicate of your sales page renamed for a PPC campaign. A Landing Page often strips out many elements of "effective design" and focuses on selling the product or service. The main purpose of your Landing Page is to give the visitor two choices: Buy or Leave. Nothing else. Don't distract them with other options. That is why they are there - don't make the mistake of giving them too much to choose from. If you want to get them to subscribe for more information, fine. Then create a "name squeeze" page, but don't confuse yourself. Landing Pages are for one reason and one reason only… to make a sale.
 

Here is a short laundry list of what I do when I create a Landing Page:

Font Face, Color & Size:
There is one thing that most people hate, and that is 4-5 different fonts that clutter up the landscape of the page. Different Fonts for headlines is fine. Different fonts in your body text is not good, it is distracting. Don't do it. Keep to one font in your body text. Testing shows that the best "off line" (print) font is Times New Roman. This is why it is the default font on the internet. Big mistake. Testing shows that Times New Roman is one of the worst fonts online. Why? It causes rapid eye fatigue.
 
The best fonts? Verdana and Arial. Standardize on Verdana as it consistently outperforms every font out there in terms of reducing eye strain and increased readability. Use standard fonts in the  body of the page, if you want an usual font for a headline, create it as a graphic so it will look the same on every computer. You want your message to have the look you intended.
 
The text should be readable. The standard size is "2". Text should always be dark on a light background (black text on a white background is preferred). Landing Pages aren't designed to allow you to show off how "cute" you can be. This is serious stuff, you are selling. Put on your "best face".
 
Make the Links Easy to Find
Now, having a cool CSS file that makes the links change colors, add or remove underlines is fine on your site. Knock yourself out. However, they have no business on your Landing Pages. Why? Because confusing a visitor is not your priority, getting them to buy is. Use standard linking practices to avoid confusion. If a potential customer can't distinguish between text and a link you are going to lose. That's not good.
 
Standard colors are:

• Unvisited Link - Underline in Blue
• Active Link (when the mouse "hovers" over the link - Red
• Visited Link - Purple

I recommend not messing around with the visited link, just have the standard unvisited and hover  so the visitor has some interactivity and the link will "catch" their eye. I have done a ton of testing and the standard linking practices always have better conversion ratios.
 
Color Scheme
The colors you choose should match the product or service you are selling. Soothing yellows, greens and blues are best for skin care. Pick your color carefully as they will either bring the visitor in deeper into the sales process or turn them away. A site for men shouldn't have pink as the primary color… or secondary color for that matter.
 
Not sure the colors to use? Look at the competition, as it is a great place to start. And if you still aren't sure, test.
 
White Space
White space has been referred to as "negative space" by many designers and thus, avoided. All of those designers should lose their jobs. This is not high school art class. You are selling here, remember? White space is good. White space is your friend. When I look at a Landing Page with effective use of white space, I see perfection. Without white space, text becomes unreadable, and the graphics and other important elements become "washed out" and the message is lost.
 
White space is more than just a background "color" - it is a part of your conversion design.  This also leads into another area, page backgrounds. Don't use them. Over the years I have seen floral designs on iPod sites, vacation pictures as backgrounds, and even a woman and her cat as the background …. and these were ALL landing pages.
 
Page Width and Page Height
Have you heard the term "above the fold"? I am sure you have. It comes from the newspaper industry and referred to ads and information that was above the folded area. Testing found that 86% of the people who picked up a newspaper at an airport, train station, office waiting room, never "flipped" the paper over … they just looked "above the fold" only. The same is true online. Did you know that of the people who don't scroll down that 6% of them don't because they don't know how? Yes, you read that right. They don't know how.
 
If your landing pages scrolls vertically on a 1024×768 resolution you need to redo it. And if you are forcing a visitor to scroll HORIZONTALLY, you are guilty of one of the worst web design mistakes of all time. The scroll bar is your enemy. All of your important information, including your Call to Action must be above the fold. Period.
 
Page Theme
A Landing Page is geared to sell a particular product or service. So, if I am doing a search for left-handed golf clubs or a Hawaiian vacation, I am expecting to see a page about those topics. Don't be lazy. Deliver what I want, and I will be more likely to buy. Don't dump me on a cookie tracked version of your home page either. The content needs to match my search. If not, I will most likely leave. Stress Benefits, Not Features - Very few people care about features, most care about benefits. Stress the benefits of the product or service and you will increase your conversions.
 
Call To Action
A no brainer, right? Wrong. Too many sites fail to have an effective Call to Action. This is typical of most new and non-experienced sales people. They fail to ask for the order. They just assume that the prospects understands. Newsflash: They don't. Explain what you want them to do in easy to understand language, or an effective graphic. A "Buy Now" is a Call to Action, and often a very effective one.
 
That's it - we know you'll be able to put these simple, but tested and proven landing page strategies to work in your own business, whether you're an affiliate or marketing your own products.

Have you actually used your gift certificates in your Yahoo Store? If not, you should! They are very easy to setup and implement and since they are sent to the recipient via email, there is no actual physical fulfillment to worry about.

Just be sure to check 2 things when doing a gift certificate.

1. Create an item like normal but be sure to identify it as a Gift Certificate. See below…

2. Configure your Gift Certificates in the Business Control panel. See below…

This area is pretty self explanatory. Just remember to do step 1 because the Yahoo Store shopping cart must know how to handle them.

There ya go…now get those gift certificates added!

I was browsing around and found an article about search engine stats. According to this article (Nov 07), Google is the search engine monster that you must make happy.

• Google: 57.7%
• Yahoo: 17.9%
• Microsoft: 12.0%
• AOL: 4.5%
• Ask: 2.7%

Thats some serious numbers for a search engine folks. What does this mean to you? Well for starters, it means making sure you have a store that is search engine friendly. Having real HTML pages is critical to your success. Now don't get me wrong, there are plenty of other shopping carts on the market (X-Cart, Miva Merchant, Amazon, Ebay, Monster Commerce, Pinnacle, StoreFront, 3dCart, Shopsite, Volusion, etc) and they all have their own caveats, but when the smoke clears, I don't want to make it harder on myself or my employees.

The moral of the story is Yahoo Stores are extremely search engine friendly so if you are on the fence, this is one check mark you can place in the "pro" column.

Hey there…

http://www.stompernet.net/jvp/aw.aspx?B=25&A=140